Grad CCD Miami Connect is back…in Miami!
This year marked the first time that we were able to connect again students from a variety of graduate programs from Wellesley and Miami with company hosts and presenters live and in person in Miami!
About 25 students joined us on January 11 & 12 in Miami for this signature 2-day Grad CCD event. Eight different companies across industries, from start up to big corporate, met with us for a 1 to 1.5 hour presentation and Q&A, either on the Miami campus or onsite at their office location.
We were very excited to welcome Galium Capital (real estate investment), Regional One (aviation, manufacturing), Uber Eats (tech), Accenture (consulting) and Chewy (e-commerce) on the Miami campus and to learn about their respective markets, cultures and efforts to retain talent with measures like the Regional One University to enable better succession planning and career growth.
We saw and felt more of the company environment and culture when visiting SAP (cloud tech) – who treated us with a delicious light breakfast including Krispy Kreme doughnuts – where we gained insight into how SAP helps their corporate customers to redefine success in light of ESG Environmental Social Governance standards. At VISA Innovation Center (tech) – where Babson alum Jose Maria Fuster, BL Miami MBA ’21, Innovation Manager, let students experience an augmented reality experiment – we were fascinated by how VISA lives innovation every day and by the high level of diversity of the team.
The outdoor visit at one of the PADL stations (leisure) on Virginia Key Beach Park with Babson alum Jose Lorido, BL Miami MBA ’20, Partner Business Development at PADL, was a wonderful way to end the first day of company visits while listening to PADL’s growth path and discovering a beautiful part of Greater Miami.
The students loved the experience – hear for yourself:
Rodrigo Custodio, BL Miami MBA ’23:
After these two intensive days visiting great companies and having the chance networking with great professionals, I definitely have two main takeaways to share with you how this experience impacted me:
• Have the chance to meet people from different industries that I’ve never thought before helped me to “open my eyes” for other possibilities where I could apply my skills. This changed a lot the way that now I’ll look into a company and opportunities.
• Visit companies on site also helped to feel the culture of a specific company that impacted a lot, because I could observe the way those professionals interact with each other. It was awesome!
Jose Muixi Gancedo, MBA ’23:
Miami Connect brought me a lot of confidence for the last part of my MBA, the most important because I have to secure a job. Here are some of the key highlights:
• The group, staff, and speakers were incredibly dynamic; I loved that most companies did not use a ppt for the presentation, which involved us asking questions and learning from them.
• Babson network is very supportive. This event has taught me that Babson Alumni is the best resource we can have.
Sabrina Fernandez Marino, BL Miami MBA ’23:
I think the selection of companies, even if many were unknown to me before the event, was very clever as it allowed us to understand different markets and industries what opened our minds to new opportunities. As you said, “you don’t know what you don’t know” and now we know.
Patricia Maggie Shultz, BL Miami MBA ’24:
After this event, I feel more prepared to engage in a conversation with speakers in this type of events and it has increased my interest in companies like VISA, SAP, Chewy, and even Regional One (which was impressive).
The hosts and speakers – among them some Babson alumni who are always excited to help and connect with the Babson community – were very impressed by the quality of questions and the engagement that our students showed:
Alejandro Abdala, MBA ’16, Senior Operations Manager at Uber Eats:
I really enjoyed spending time with the students and answering all their questions, I was impressed with their engagement and the high-quality questions I received.
Claudia Allouche, Global Executive Recruiter at SAP:
Thank you again for such an amazing experience with the BABSON team here in Miami. […] Wishing you and BABSON family always success.
Jose Maria Fuster, BL Miami MBA ’21, Innovation Manager at VISA:
It was my pleasure and honor to welcome you to Visa. […] I think students value it as a great initiative for career purposes, but also to build network, which in the end is one of the best and most useful things we can create together as Babson members (I feel like a member too).
Taline Karozichian, ’20 Vendor Performance Manager, & Amanda Greenslet, ’12 Senior Product Manager, both at Chewy:
We truly enjoyed our time yesterday as well […] Special thanks to the students, who did a fantastic job engaging in conversation and thought around how Chewy WOWs its customers, as well as for welcoming us back into a lecture hall once more.
We had a lot of fun as well and look forward to next year hoping to welcome again in Miami a lot of very engaged and enthusiastic students from all graduate programs!
Susanne Schneider-Kivelitz (she/her/hers)
Associate Director, Alumni & Working Professionals MBA Career & Engagement Manager