By: J.D. Ross
(315) 443-3094
Last Thursday, Syracuse University alumni gathered in New York City with faculty, staff and students from the School of Information Studies (iSchool), along with members of the iSchool’s Board of Advisors, to attend an event that highlighted the entrepreneurial culture emerging across Manhattan.
The event was called “Made in NY, with Orange Juice,” and featured a discussion with Steven Rosenbaum, the NYC Economic Development Corporation’s Entrepreneur at Large, and Founder and CEO of Magnify.net. Rosenbaum recounted his story of moving to New York to better situate his startup company, and shared resources available to startups and companies looking to head to the city to establish their businesses.
In addition to Rosenbaum, Syracuse University graduate and CEO and co-founder of reputation management company Brand Yourself, Patrick Ambron, also spoke at the event. Ambron noted that over the past several months, the company has hired four new employees in New York City, all graduates of Syracuse University.
Attending the event were fifteen students on the iSchool’s EntreTechNYC trip, a week-long immersion class that exposed them to the startup culture in New York. Jillian D’Onfro, a 2013 graduate of the iSchool’s undergraduate program used the event as an opportunity to connect with entrepreneurial alumni in the city.
“I learned so much about what it’s like to work at a startup in the tech industry in New York City,” D’Onfro said. She will return in the fall to start an internship as a technology writer for Business Insider.
iSchool board member and senior vice president at Fidelity Investments, Gene Delsener, explained that he believed excursions, like the EntreTechNYC program, and the student-alumni interaction they facilitate, “bring something very unique to the school and to the students. It distinguishes the iSchool from other institutions, with respect to how they integrate the program into the community here.”