Senior Director, Growth & Retention, Pepper
Managing Director & Partner, Boston Consulting Group
Industrial Technology Investment Banking
RBC Capital Markets
Principal, Renaissance Technologies, LLC
VP -Head of HR Business Partnering, Corebridge Financial
Principal and Co-founder, Silverman
As CEO, I oversee ANY’s strategy and direction and work to ensure we always live up to our core values of excellence, accountability, community, integrity, curiosity and data & results. My mission as CEO is to rally all of our stakeholders, staff board members, partners, donors, Fellows and volunteers around a shared north star: results for Fellows.
Why I love working at ANY: This is a beautiful, diverse community of changemakers – I love walking into a workshop and feeling the energy in the air.
My favorite quotation: “It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life — daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct.” – Viktor Frankl
Where you can find me outside of work: Reading on my couch with my dog.
Reach out to me with questions about: ANY’s strategic plan, program model, mission, culture, history and future
More about me: After serving as a Mentor Coach, I joined ANY staff in 2012 and became its CEO in 2018. Previously, I was the New York Executive Director of Peer Health Exchange, a health education nonprofit. Before that, I worked at an international philanthropy consulting firm. I graduated from Harvard College with an English degree and spent time as an undergraduate volunteering for mentoring, education and health-related organizations, including Learning Enterprises (LE) and Pediatric HIV/AIDS Treatment Support (PATS). I am an area committee member for the Harvard Center for Public Interest Careers (CPIC), and I love hosting dinner parties.
May Chiu is the Senior Director, Growth & Retention at Pepper. Before that she was Head of Ecommerce & Digital Marketing at Mario Badescu Skin Care Inc., overseeing all of Digital for the brand. Prior to joining Mario Badescu, May spent nine years at L’Oreal in various roles within the Luxe Division. She started her career in Supply Chain Management, eventually leading demand planning and supply planning for Ralph Lauren and Designer Fragrances. She then pivoted to Ecommerce and Digital Marketing, spending over two years leading the Kiehls.com business and over one year managing Lancome’s Customer Relationship Management initiatives.
May earned a B.S. in Supply Chain Management and Finance from Rutgers Business School – New Brunswick. In her spare time, she loves to volunteer and give back. May started working with America Needs You in July 2019 as a NJ Mentor Coach and the Fundraising Chair on the Associate Board. In 2020, she became the Chair of the Associate Board, leading a group of 20 volunteers to fundraise support for future cohorts and recruit & engage Mentor Coaches. She is also currently the Communications Co-Chair at Rutgers Business School Alumni Association.
Renee is a Managing Director & Partner at BCG and a core member of the Consumer & Retail practices. She has expertise in consumer strategy, go-to-market strategy (including pricing, promotion, and assortment), portfolio strategy, and store format redesign. Renee also leads the Women@BCG network in the New Jersey office.
Before joining BCG, Renee was in Financial Planning & Analysis at PepsiCo and in Valuation Services at Duff & Phelps where she focused on business and investment valuations.
Renee earned her MBA at Columbia Business School. She also holds undergraduate degrees in Finance and Real Estate & Urban Land Economics from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
In her spare time, Renee enjoys spending time with her husband and two young children, visiting and hiking in national parks, seeing favorite musicians perform live, and reading novels.
Joseph Gasparro is a Director in the Industrials Investment Banking Group at RBC Capital Markets where he advises industrial technology companies and innovators. He engages with global clients on a broad range of strategic matters, including M&A, public and private capital markets, corporate governance, as well as geopolitical and policy matters.
Previously, he was Head of Americas Capital Introduction Strategic Advisory at Credit Suisse. He advised sovereign wealth funds, pensions, endowments, and family offices on allocating capital to emerging technology and sustainability themes and authored market studies which were regularly quoted by Bloomberg, Financial Times, and the South China Morning Post. Earlier in his career, he was a Research Assistant at Harvard Business School for the Chair of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit.
For over a decade Joseph has served on the non-profit boards of America Needs You and Youth INC, organizations dedicated to enhancing the economic mobility and competitive position of underserved students through mentorship, career readiness, and STEM education. He co-authored several books to advance financial literacy, including Investment Banking: Valuation, LBOs, M&A, and IPOs, which are used in 200+ universities worldwide and have been translated into Mandarin, Spanish, and Arabic.
Joseph is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations Term Member Program, Economic Club of New York, Robert S. Brookings Society at the Brookings Institution, and YCC Acquisitions Committee at the Guggenheim Museum. In recognition of his civic commitment to foster positive social change, Joseph is a two-time recipient of the President’s Volunteer Service Award, bestowed by the President of the United States.
In her 25 years on Wall Street, Jennifer Graf has been a leader in innovating financial operations and a driver of career development through her leadership roles in 100 Women in Finance’s CFO/COO/Operations Peer Advisory Group, the TCNJ School of Business Dean’s Advisory Council and the Rutgers University “Road to Wall Street” Leadership Committee. As Director of Operations for Renaissance Technologies, a quantitative hedge fund, Jennifer knows what it takes to develop a successful career. Beyond work, her goal is to pass on that knowledge to the next generation of women leaders.
During a decade plus career at Goldman Sachs, she was actively involved in the firm’s recruiting and training efforts. She was selected as a divisional trainer for the firm’s “Delivering Client Service Excellence” program and was an inaugural recipient of the firm’s Citizenship and Diversity Award. While supporting the firm’s launch of their Salt Lake City office, she was responsible for building a long standing relationship with the University of Utah and developed and delivered a course to students on exploring careers in Finance.
Since then, in addition to her role and responsibilities at Renaissance, she has been a sponsor of the TCNJ Women’s Leadership Summit and has been a guest leader and student advisor at the annual Leader Shape Institute for TCNJ students. In 2013, Rutgers University recognized Jennifer for helping drive career education and mentoring and in 2020, she received the TCNJ Alumni Citation Award, considered to be the premier award of the TCNJ Alumni Association.
A theme of Jennifer’s career advice is knowing how to navigate the world we operate in. She is a strong advocate of giving students the tools and knowledge they need to be successful in whatever endeavor they choose to pursue. She has backed that advocacy up with many years of hands-on commitment to helping people and supporting valuable networks.
Josh Kagel is a strategic human resources leader with global experience in leadership development, talent management, organizational design, talent acquisition and business partnering.
As Vice President, Head of HR Business Partnering at Corebridge Financial, Josh leads a team of HR Business Partners who help executives develop human capital strategies that enable the successful delivery of organizational goals.
Previously, Josh served as Chief Talent and Inclusion Officer, responsible for designing and implementing Talent Development and Talent Acquisition strategies and programs across the enterprise. He has also held senior global HR Leadership roles at AIG in New York and Hong Kong. Josh is a graduate of Marquette University and currently serves as a Mentor Coach with America Needs You!
Jim Sperduto is the President of Small Business Services, Retirement Services and Insurance Services for ADP. In this role, he leads a team focused on helping ADP’s small business clients achieve their entrepreneurial dreams by providing them integrated solutions for payroll, HR and benefits.
Previously, Jim served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of ADP Retirement Services. He was responsible for leading ADP’s Retirement Services business, which provides recordkeeping services for employers. He oversaw the client and plan participant experience, providing them with advanced technology, proactive service, and a range of investment options to meet their unique needs. His senior leadership team led areas including Operations, Service Delivery, Strategy and Marketing, IT, Finance and Sales. In addition, he was responsible for determining the next generation of product and services, leveraging technology and analytics to deliver intelligent, integrated Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions.
Jim holds a Master of Business Administration from New York University’s Stern School of Business and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame.
Val is a Managing Director and Senior Partner, focused on TMT (Tech, Media, and Telecom). A member of NAMR TMT leadership team, Val oversees TMT activities in the North East system. In addition, Val is a member of the Global Telecom leadership team, focused on Corporate Finance and Strategy topics. Commercially, Val leads relationships with a North American telecom operator and a global technology company.
Val has led several transformation programs across many clients, strategic growth programs in telecom and digital media, organizational transformations across many TMT clients, strategic M&A due diligences, and large scale efficiency programs.
Val has co-authored several recent BCG publications, including:
Prior to joining BCG, Val headed the launches of several innovative products at Verizon Communications as a Director in the Product Design and Development Group. Val holds two patents for products he developed while at Verizon.
Val holds an MBA from Columba Business School, as well as a Masters of Engineering and Bachelor of Science Degrees in Computer Science from Cornell University.
Val lives in Madison, New Jersey, with his wife and three children. He enjoys strategy games and supporting Liverpool soccer (football) club.
Zak DeOssie was Captain of Special Teams and Long Snapper for the New York Football Giants. Drafted in the fourth round of the 2007 NFL Draft, Zak won two Super Bowl Championships with the Giants, Super Bowl XLII and Super Bowl XLVI, against the New England Patriots. He was also named to two Pro Bowl winning teams, selected in 2008 and 2010 as the NFC’s need player. Zak served as the NFL Players Association Representative for the Giants, and was active during the resolution of the 2011 Lockout. He is an avid supporter of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Lupus Foundation of America, and Punt, Pass and Kick Clinics with the Special Olympics of New Jersey.
Zak earned a B.A. in Public and Private Sector Organizations from Brown University. There, he played Linebacker for Brown Football, and was a two-time I-AA All-American and Buck Buchanan Award finalist. He was also named First-team All-America by The NFL Draft Report, Third-team All-America by the Associated Press and First-team All-Ivy League for three consecutive years.
Zak and his father, Steve DeOssie, hold the distinction of the only father-son pair to have won a Super Bowl for the same franchise. Originally from North Andover, MA, he currently resides in Hoboken, NJ with his wife Kate.
Kate H. DeOssie is Co-CEO and Founder of CareerGoggles LLC, a career management firm focused on launching and advancing outstanding careers. Kate specializes in professional branding, resume development, interview preparation and networking.
Prior to founding CareerGoggles, Kate spent three years at Goldman Sachs in the Investment Banking Division. There, with the Strategic Relationship Management group, she was responsible for all inter-divisional business development efforts with the firm’s strategically important clients. She was active in recruiting, captained Community TeamWorks and was the IMD Women’s Network Steering Committee Communications Director.
Kate earned a B.A. with Honors in Economics and a B.A. in Visual Art from Brown University. She served as a University Writing Fellow, an intensive peer coaching role, and was elected to the inaugural class of Women’s Launch Pad, a selective mentoring program for senior class women transitioning into professional life. She was a Business Teaching Assistant, Pembroke Scholar, Valedictorian finalist, and received Brown’s highest award in Financial Economics for her honors thesis.
Originally from Maplewood, NJ, Kate currently resides in Hoboken, NJ with her husband Zak.
Joe DeSilva is President, Small Business Services, Retirement Services and Insurance Services at ADP. With over 20 years of experience in institutional financial services and comprehensive outsourcing, Joe is a dynamic leader who brings valuable insight and perspective on the Human Capital Management (HCM) marketplace.
Over the past 2 years Joe has been responsible for leading ADP’s Retirement Services business unit which provides a wide range of services for retirement plan types to meet the needs of small-, mid-, and large-sized companies. Under his tenure, the business has accomplished significant achievements from record revenue and NOI growth to improving the client experience through easy to use online plan administration tools and expanding ADP’s mobile footprint through market leading technology. In July of 2017 Joe was appointed to his current role leading ADP’s Small Business Services division. Under Joe’s direction are nearly 3000 associates world-wide all aimed at providing Human Capital Management solutions to business owners in the small business sector.
Joe joined ADP in 2003 and has experience leading several teams at ADP over the last 15 years. He has a proven track record and well known for his ability to build winning teams, skillfully negotiating the market landscape and driving results. Prior to becoming the leader of the Retirement Services business unit, Joe was National Head of Sales for the organization starting that role in 2012. Under his guidance, the division realized record results in both in sales growth and sales expense reduction. He also led Retirement Services Sales for ADP’s Major Account Division where he redefined the firm’s go-to-market strategy resulting in record annual growth rate. In his first leadership role at ADP Retirement Services, Joe was responsible for institutional sales and grew the firm’s distribution channels securing major relationships with Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and other firms within the financial services industry. Joe’s most notable achievement is the success he has leading people and driving associate engagement across the business units he has led.
Prior to joining ADP, Joe held sales leadership roles with Mellon HR Solutions and PwC specializing in benefits and retirement outsourcing.
Joe is a lifetime New Jersey resident and a graduate of Seton Hall University where he earned his MBA in Finance as well as a graduate of Monmouth University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Management. Joe, his wife, and three children reside in Verona, New Jersey.
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