SBL alum named Vice President of Group Account Management at Lincoln Financial Group

Kerry Brooks ‘92, business management, was recently promoted to Senior Vice President of Group Benefits Account Management at Lincoln Financial Group (LFG). Featured in the May 11, 2022, Business Wire press release, Kerry is described as a talented leader and instrumental in driving success at LFG. The School of Business and Leadership connected with Kerry to learn more about her career and leadership journeys. 

SBL: You graduated from Nazareth with a bachelor's degree in Business Management in 1992. What was your favorite part about the program? Were internships part of your program?

KB: My favorite part of the program was the professors. The passion so many of them had for their area of expertise created a positive learning environment. In fact, a few are still with Nazareth, including Jerry Zappia and Joseph DaBoll-Lavoie, who was also my senior advisor. Additionally, I was fortunate to secure an internship with the NYS Attorney General’s office where I worked as a mediator in the Bureau of Consumer Fraud and Protection department.

SBL: What did you do after Naz? What were the steps between that first internship experience and where you are now (Senior VP of Group Benefits Account Management at Lincoln Financial Group)?

KB: I’m pretty sure no one has ever had a goal of a career in insurance when they were in college including me. It’s an industry most of us simply stumbled upon. When I graduated in 1992, the labor market had yet to rebound following the 1990-1991 recession. In September of that year, a family friend mentioned that an insurance carrier in central New York was hiring for a new class of entry level claims positions. Through that contact, I was fortunate to secure an interview and was subsequently hired by MetLife in Utica, NY.

After 5 years and a few small promotions, I knew I wanted to further my career in the insurance industry. I also recognized that I would have made a physical move to further expedite those opportunities. In 1997, I accepted a management role with Liberty Mutual in their group benefits business and relocated to North Carolina. I remained with Liberty Mutual for more than 20 years where I progressed through roles of increasing responsibility. During that time I made conscious decisions to take on responsibilities outside my area of expertise to develop a more holistic understanding of the business. 

In 2019, Lincoln Financial Group acquired Liberty Mutual’s group benefits business. I was fortunate to be included on a team that led the integration of the two businesses. This experience provided yet another opportunity to expand my knowledge of the business from a merger and acquisition lens. It was also a pivotal moment for me as a leader being from the company that had been acquired. Not only did this require the need to quickly win the trust of my new peers but the required significant focus on how we bring two disparate organizations together and lead the integration of two cultures with optimism.

Over the next 4 years my role and span of control grew within the combined organization and in May of 2022, I was named Senior Vice President and joined the senior executive team within Lincoln Financial?

SBL: How did Naz play a role in achieving your goals? What are you most proud of?

KB: I started off as an Accounting major. As I progressed through the program, I realized a career in Accounting just wasn’t for me and found other areas of my coursework far more interesting: economics and finance. I changed my major in the second semester of my junior year. In order to graduate in 4 years, I had to take 18 credit hours over my final 3 semesters. I’m proud of the fact I was able to do so and navigate the internship with the Attorney General’s office during that time. 

To this day, I look back on the internship as a pivotal point for me. The mediation work with the Attorney General's office helped me begin moving from a fixed to a growth mindset as it reinforced that success was as much about effort and continued learning as it was about intelligence.

SBL: What is the advice you would give to current and incoming business and leadership majors and minors?

Remember leadership and management are not synonymous. You will be far more successful as a great leader than a great manager.

KB: Practice relationship building skills now! Keeping your head down and doing great work will only get you so far. The ability to forge relationships across and above you will be highly beneficial as you move through your career. You can refine these skills by being intentional about building relationships with faculty members, career counselors, joining advisory boards, student government, etc. Also ensure you are expanding your circle with individuals of diverse backgrounds and ethnicity.

Use of technology and digital connectivity will continue to drive how we work and how businesses deliver. Be sure to maintain awareness on how tech is changing and influencing business.

Dean Rhee bids farewell to SBL, Naz

Greetings, Nazareth School of Business and Leadership students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community supporters,

I have accepted an opportunity to serve as Dean of the Girard Business School at Merrimack College starting July 1, 2022. My four-year experience at Nazareth College has been immensely rewarding and gratifying. I have had the opportunity to work with excellent faculty, staff, and students, and we have been able to accomplish many great things together. All good things must come to an end, though, and I look toward a new endeavor for the future.

I will miss the great people at SBL and Nazareth. I strongly believe SBL has great potential, and it will thrive under the able leadership of the new interim dean, Dr. Rose Hair. I have many fond memories of SBL and will always treasure them. I remember what Steve Jobs said during his speech at the Stanford University commencement ceremony of 2005: "Stay hungry, stay foolish." I believe that as long as SBL continues to innovate in business education and generate future transformational leaders, it will continue to thrive and make valuable contributions to our stakeholders. 

Good Luck & Godspeed.   

Kenneth S. Rhee, Ph.D.

Congratulations to the 2021-2022 High School Investment Challenge Winner!

High-school student from India wins this year's Finance Investment Competition. He shares how this experience expanded his knowledge of investment strategies.

Shiven Chambial is a 17-year-old high school senior at Delhi Public School Gurgaon based out of Haryana in India. With an avid interest in enterprises, innovation, and economies, Shiven is set on a path to explore the intersection of finance, law, and entrepreneurship. In tandem with these interests, Shiven has served as an intern for Sierra Succession LLC and Hunniwell Lake Ventures, where he explored the fields of private equity and venture capital. Having a penchant for shaping policy, Shiven is the appointed President of the student council at his school, where he represents 6000+ students and ensures smooth cohesion between relevant stakeholders. He regularly participates in policy writing competitions, model United Nations conferences, and public debates.

"The competition provided me with a dynamic platform to leverage my experiences and knowledge in a safe and beneficial learning environment. It allowed me to think critically and test various self-developed investment strategies in a way consistent with realistic real-time investing. It gave me insight into the work undertaken by asset management professionals and allowed me to learn various new financial concepts such as options, corporate bonds, and diversification. The competition was a unique and holistic learning experience!"

In his spare time, Shiven loves to watch period dramas and space operas. Ultimately, he wishes to become a dynamic leader in a corporate or governmental setting.

Spain experience teaches life lessons

Nazareth business management major Isaiah Bishop ‘23 enhanced his communication skills, grew as a person, and had great experiences while studying in Valencia, Spain, for the spring semester. He shares what he learned while navigating the language barrier.

Struggling with a second language and eating squid and other foods new to me in another country have helped me grow as a person.

At Valencia marble benches, Sevilla, Spain

For example, presenting in Spanish when I barely speak Spanish was very nerve racking and hard. I don’t like it even in English, but facing that fear left me feeling capable of more afterwards.

Also, hanging out in a group of Spanish kids is fun, but I’m not able to follow all of the conversation. Sometimes they laugh and I don’t know what it’s about. In America I was always worried I was being laughed at or judged, but after months of not knowing, I realized it doesn’t really matter. I can’t control it and I can’t let it control me. 

Burning of the Fallas, Valencia, Spain

My interests and goals aren’t super precise right now other than to be happy, but I do know I feel happy when I include others. Being the odd one out has shown me how to do that, and how it feels to not be included. I think the best way to grow is to be uncomfortable and put yourself in unfamiliar situations. Studying abroad has forced me to do that every single day and for that I am grateful. I’m still far from where I want to be, but challenging myself mentally daily helps me get closer to that goal of happiness each day.

I’ve also grown in my language skills and perspective on building relationships. From the first day I came to Spain, my host mother took me in and treated me so well. She always spends dinner time with me asking about my day and plans for the future. At first it was difficult — because she only speaks Spanish, and I hadn’t taken Spanish since high school. So first we communicated with just a smile and the simple words I knew like “Gracias.” Now I have learned so much and we are able to have better conversations.

Dinner with friends of Spanish classes

Every night she cooks an amazing traditional Spanish meal — which was another adjustment because the food is very different. Things like squid, blood sausage, and rice with sunny side up eggs were new to me, but I could either go hungry or accept what she made, and now I look forward to all the “different” meals. I learned that you don’t need to be able to talk, but instead have mutual respect to have a healthy relationship. 

 

 

Being an effective leader of change

City government is an electric atmosphere of helping citizens solve problems and investing throughout the community with limited budgets. Tremain Harris understands the challenges. He is using the skills from the Nazareth College Master of Science in Leadership & Organizational Change to help his city.

Tremain Harris '22G
Leadership and Organizational
Change

Tremain Harris, an operations associate for Recreation & Human Services at the City of Rochester. He is busy focusing city youth on sports and other constructive activities.

“The LOC program has strengthened my knowledge on being an effective leader of change.”

City government can be disruptive as voters decide new leaders. New employees arrive with the new administration and are often perplexed by the city culture.

“In class I learned about a cultural assessment. Not only did I apply it to my position, but I asked several staff and youth take the same assessment. It improved our empathy with each other.”

Tremain shared the assessment outcomes with his department commissioner. “As a result, the commissioner used some of my recommendations for onboarding new employees and team-building activities. Morale lifted as we created awareness of the current and future state of the department culture.”

“Ultimately, the graduate Leadership & Organizational Change helped me professionally and personally through sharing my knowledge and making effective changes in my community.”

Tremain found something common with the new mayor of the City of Rochester. Malik Evans is a graduate with a master’s degree from Nazareth College.

Ninety miles (or less) seems like a long drive. Think of it as a 90-minute trajectory to a new career.

Ninety miles (or less) seems like a long drive. Think of it as a 90-minute trajectory to a new career. Only one very active weekend per month to transform you into a leader that your team is eager to follow.

The Nazareth College Master of Science in Leadership & Organizational Change develops your skills in the following areas:

• Agile Leadership
• SCRUM Project Leadership
• Team & Conflict Management
• Leadership Analytics
• Creating High-Performance Organizations
• Developing Innovative Strategies
• Non-Profit Consultation 
• Leading Organizational Change

Online reading and videos replace lectures. Your instructor is a coach who creates team activities that reinforce a leadership topic. The weekends are practice to enable you to try your skills on Monday. Our delivery is successful and fun.

The last two years of disruption and uncertainty remind us we need leaders to navigate organizations to a successful and sustainable future. That leader is you!

Please visit our LOC website for more information. 

Invest the small time it takes to reach Nazareth College to change your life.  We have coffee waiting for you.

Connecting with and enlightening students through music and corporate ethics

With a vast education background in the fields of History, Economics, Law, Music, and Business, Professor Roy Stein, who teaches in both the School of Business and Leadership and the School of Music at Nazareth College, uses his knowledge to help his students grow professionally as they reflect in their lives and futures. His passion for music and interest in the corporate world, led him to co-found and direct the Music Business degree at Naz. He shared his path through doing what he loves in the present day, including the formation of a band with one of his former students, Ignatius Marino.

Education Journey  

Professor Stein is a first-generation college student. Supported by his parents to do well in high school and college, he double majored in Economics and History at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. While in college, he was also a musician. After graduating, he took a year off to play music. He was accepted into the University at Buffalo School of Law, graduated in 3 years, and passed the bar exams. From there he practiced law and taught part time at Nazareth, and eventually Naz offered him a full-time professorship. He realized he loved the College and truly enjoyed teaching as evidenced by his 38 years working at Naz.

“Music, when I was young, music was like my sport, so I put my energy into playing drums.”

Musical Background and Inspiration

By the time he was 17, Stein was playing out in clubs. In his 20s and 30s, he was involved with some major record labels. He tried balancing life as much as he could and continued playing music while realizing that his primary commitment was to Naz. Some memorable music experiences have been opening up for and playing with well known bands, such as The Pretenders. He also became good friends with Joey Ramone of the Ramones. “It had been a separate journey outside Naz until the Music Business program. Then, these two separate paths combined,” he added. Growing up in the 60s, Stein was inspired by some of the greatest rock and roll bands and drummers of all time: Led Zeppelin and Ginger Baker, to name just two. He continues to study drums with guidance from a world renowned instructor, Dom Famularo, in Long Island. Stein was inspired by him because he was a wonderful teacher. Other musicians from this region have also had a big influence on him, “the most inspiration comes from people in your community that you play with. I got lucky to play with great musicians in the Rochester area, and that’s always inspiring.” His wife, April, whom he has been married to for 25 years, is also a musician.

Co-founding the Music Business Degree at Naz

One legacy Professor Stein will leave with Naz is a part of the Music Business degree program, which he co-founded and directed from 2008 to 2020. “The idea to have a Music Business program came from Dr. Mark Zeigler. He is also a musician with a PhD in Choral Studies,” Stein said. They talked and decided to create a dual program using resources from both departments, the School of Business and Leadership and the School of Music, to offer this degree. After 12 years as the program co-director, Stein thought he had spent enough time in that particular leadership position, and handed it on to another talented musician, Professor Kristen Shiner-McGuire, and entrusted her with its future. “I greatly enjoyed working with the music department, and the music department enjoyed working with the business students. It was, and is, a successful program.”

The creation of the new Sports and Entertainment management program

Professor Stein has recently been involved with creating the College’s new Sports and Entertainment Management program. He will direct this new and exciting program that begins in the fall of 2022.

Courses Taught at Naz

Over the past 38 years at Naz, Stein has taught close to 30 different courses. He originally taught micro- and macro- economics, principles of management, and the legal environment of business. The content of the last one changes focus over time as the culture, the world, and the rise of the internet, as well as the way we communicate, change. Over the past 25 years, Stein has also taught the management ethics course, one of his favorite courses to teach. “It is important to the greater good of our community, but I think it’s a course of real value to the students who take it,” he said. The music business program allowed him to collaborate with colleagues in the music department better, and he was able to teach some courses such as Music/Business 1 and Recording Engineering as a member of that department. Stein stopped practicing law for the most part a few years ago, but he continues to practice some law selectively, and that helps with his teaching in the law field.

Teaching Philosophy

Professor Stein has always been interested in collaborative learning within the classroom. “Primarily my teaching philosophy is that when students walk in, they would’ve done readings and searched on the internet, and to have applied that material to their lives. Exams are rare in the courses I teach, but my students write a lot of papers. In permanent teams, in class, students share what they have written and talk about how it relates to their lives and future.” He sees himself as a facilitator in the class adding his expertise as he deems appropriate. “I never saw myself as a lecturer in the last 30 years of my teaching,” he added.

For Stein, one of the most memorable aspects of being a professor has been discovering how knowledgeable students are, in all facets of life. “What amazes me is the innate ability in students. You develop respect for the incredible knowledge and wisdom students have. As a teacher, I try to provide material and knowledge that will be useful to them in relation to where they are.” He sees this coming in music as creativity or in an ethics course as values and vision of what a good life is.

Ignatius Marino on lead vocals
and Stein on drums

Lips Turn Blue

Stein currently plays in a band with a recent Naz music business graduate. When asked about his experience in collaborating with students in this way, he said, “It’s absolutely joyful to play with younger musicians because there really is no difference. Of course, they bring energy and effusiveness to it. I don’t think they see much of a difference either. It comes back to what I said earlier, of how much knowledge and talent students have.” Professor Stein mentioned that he does not have a favorite instrument. He loves the acoustic guitar and piano; however, he thinks there is something immensely physically enjoyable about playing the drums.

“The passion I have for music really helps me relate to the various athletic and creative passions all students have and perhaps appreciate it more, so I think it helps in a lot of ways in the classroom.”

 

Life Outside the Classroom

One accomplishment that Stein is most proud of is his daughter, Emmarae, who graduated from Naz in 2020 and is currently working in PR at WXXI. He also likes to exercise and walk his dog, Smudgie. Practicing zen meditation has been a part of his life as well.

When asked for a quote that he lives by, Professor Stein shared with SBL a simple expression by the Buddhist scholar, 20th century teacher, Thich Nhat Hahn: “Be glad you don’t have a toothache.” For him, it's a reminder to focus not only on what you have but also on what you do not have. “It’s like counting your blessings”, he added.

Advice to Naz Students

Professor Stein has always liked the expression ‘Seize the day.’ However, in his experience and wisdom, he thinks a more balanced approach to living is ‘Let the day seize you.’ “I think there’s something about letting the day seize you and being openly receptive to that. I’m not sure you can do that if you’re full of self-doubt. Believe in yourself, and let the day seize you.”