Navigating Career Crossroads with Flexibility and Resilience: An Alumni Conversation

As we approach the one-year mark of a global health crisis that has disrupted the routines and expectations of individuals across the globe, many graduate students have navigated the pandemic’s uncertainties with flexibility and resilience. As the crisis persists, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) Futures program wishes to carve open a space for reflection and dialogue about embracing the unexpected in one’s life and professional journey.

Join GSAS Futures for a virtual roundtable discussion with four GSAS alumni who have embraced the unexpected in the context of their lives and careers. From switching fields and industries to building careers that uniquely merge their academic interests and intellectual pursuits with professional roles, the alumni speakers have encountered unexpected events and challenges as their careers took shape. They will be offering strategies and suggestions to students about how to remain curious and open to new experiences under conditions of uncertainty, disruption, and change.

Panelists

Gaspar Giordano, GSAS ’84, M.A., economics
Gaspar Giordano is the CEO and president of GC WEN Management, a franchisee of 28 Wendy’s restaurants in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Starting in 1991, Gaspar grew GC WEN from a single location with $1.5 million in annual sales to a present-day, award-winning organization generating $45 million in annual sales and mentoring 825 employees with an end-of-year projection anticipating 30 total locations due to strategic new builds, acquisitions, relocations, and restructurings.

Dovid Green, GSAS ’16, Ph.D., psychology
Dovid Green is a clinical psychologist working on government contracts within the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs (VA) medical system. His primary work relates to training and supervising clinical psychologists in the administration and evaluation of mental health assessments for veterans with disabilities. He also engages in the clinical assessment of veterans; disabilities and works as an expert advisor for medical opinions needed for the federal court system of the VA. Aside from his work with veterans, he maintains a private practice where he treats individuals through evidence-based treatments, including cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, and acceptance and commitment therapy.

Thomas Hughes, GSAS ’79, M.A., theology
Thomas D. Hughes is executive vice president and general counsel, corporate secretary to Greater New York Insurance Companies. He is also an adjunct associate professor of philosophy at St. John’s University, where he teaches a course on metaphysics. Before that, he was an adjunct professor of law at New York Law School, where he taught Legal Writing and Reasoning, Contracts Drafting, and Drafting Corporate Documents. Hughes spent 10 years as an investigative specialist in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s foreign counterintelligence division.

Stacie Yates, GSAS ’96, M.A., international political economy and development
Stacie Yates has more than 20 years of experience structuring alternative investment vehicles and legal, compliance, and regulatory issues from both the business and legal perspectives. As part of the newly formed Global Solutions Group at Macquarie Asset Management, Yates is responsible for identifying and/or building Macquarie investment products for the mass affluent/high net worth market. Prior to joining Macquarie, she was the head of investment product structuring at Artivest. While at Artivest, Yates was a senior member of the firm and responsible for all aspects of investment product development for the organization and its clients. In addition, she oversaw the RFP and operational due diligence process. Prior to joining Artivest, Yates spent more than five years at UBS Wealth Management, where she was an executive director of product development and management.