Leadership was not a new concept to Mark Musumeci ’15 when he came to UNCG for his MBA. As an undergraduate student in Pennsylvania, Musumeci was the captain of both the basketball and tennis teams, a resident assistant in campus housing, a recipient of the “Outstanding Graduate” award, and a speaker at commencement.
Playing basketball for all four years, along with being captain, taught him skills such as leadership, reliability, how to work with a diverse group of people, and more. Many of those skills, he found, could be applied to real-life situation. Transferring them to off-court life while at the Bryan School led him to receiving recognition for his work. He was awarded Student Employee of the Year after being nominated by not one, but by all three of the staff members on the team for which he worked.
During his time at UNCG, Musumeci also co-founded the MBA Mentorship Program. When he started the program with a peer, it consisted mostly of social events for graduate students, which wasn’t what he had envisioned. Instead, he’d wanted a program where a second-year MBA student was paired with a first-year student for a one-on-one mentor relationship.
Today, in its third year, that’s exactly what the group has become. Oftentimes, a student-run organization’s longevity relies on the founding students being active. However, the incoming MBA students saw the value in Musumeci’s vision and have worked to keep the organization growing and strong.
“Mark enthusiastically embraced the Mentoring Program and worked closely with cohort mates to take it from idea to implementation,” said Tuisha Fernandes, one of the staff members for whom Musumeci worked. “Staff members can only do so much to help students. Mark saw that and took initiative to make the program happen.”
“On the very day I graduated from UNCG,” Musumeci said, “I was offered a spot in Volvo Financial Services’ graduate program.” After completing the year-long program, Musumeci was hired as a credit analyst, making the Greensboro area his new home.
Writer: Alison McKane ’17
