Career Development Center Staff

Maricel Piriz develops and maintains the connections with employers who hire Gabelli School students. She provides a wide range of creative ways for companies, alumni, and industry leaders to connect with Fordham and get to know our students. The impact of her work is felt in a great deal of the Gabelli School’s career-development programming. Before coming to Fordham, Ms. Piriz was assistant director of the Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate at Columbia Business School. She holds a BS in business administration from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business and an MPA in public and nonprofit management and policy from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.

Lonnie Kussin is the Senior Assistant Dean for the Gabelli School of Business in the Graduate Advising and Student Engagement Office. In the interim, he is overseeing the Career Advising area of the Career Development Center. Prior to Fordham, he worked as an account executive in the sports industry for the New York Islanders and later as a consultant for the Yankees Radio Network. He recently completed his Educational Doctorate at Fordham’s Graduate School of Education and holds an MBA from Fordham University and a BS from Cornell University.

Ken Cavanagh advises students who aspire to careers in information systems, business analytics, data science, and business intelligence. Before joining the CDC, Mr. Cavanagh was a Fortune 500 IT executive in multiple industries. He is a Certified Information Security Manager and a Fordham alumnus, holding a BA from Fordham College at Rose Hill and an MSIT from Stevens Institute of Technology.

Advising Responsibility

Ellen Herman directly advises graduate students who seek careers in finance, valuation, and real estate. Before she joined the CDC team, she was an investment banker on Wall Street. She holds an MBA in finance and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) as well as a member of the CFA Society New York and the CFA Institute.

Advising Responsibility

Linda Chang Reals advises international MBA and MS students across all concentrations.  She brings to Fordham, 15+ years of career counseling experience.  Linda started her career in investment banking and private banking.  She holds a BA in Economics from Barnard College, Columbia University.

Advising Responsibility

Laura S. Bassin has been a member of the CDC team for the past 20 years (15 years full-time senior administrator, 5 years virtual career advisor) with prior experience at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. As a career changer and alumna of Fordham University, Laura has an MS in Education specializing in counseling from the Graduate School of Education. Additionally, she holds a BA in Drama from Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont.

Advising Responsibility

Julia Nietsch-Kouris advises MS & MBA students who are pursuing careers in media, entertainment and marketing. Additionally, she is an adjunct professor at Gabelli. Julia brings nearly 15 years of experience working in public relations and over 12 years working in media.  Prior to joining the CDC, she was VP of Communications at NBCUniversal. A Fordham alumnus, Julia holds an MBA in Marketing and Management, and she received her BA in Strategic and Organizational Communication from Temple University.

Advising Responsibility

Robert P. Gach, GABELLI ’80, is currently an adjunct professor and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Gabelli School of Business. He also serves on the President’s Council of Fordham University. Previously, Bob spent 37 years at the global consulting and technology firm – Accenture. During his tenure at Accenture, his client work included service to capital markets clients (investment banks, wealth managers, exchanges, and custodians). Bob led engagements on strategy development, cost and efficiency improvement, market development, digital transformation, technology planning, operations strategy, and enterprise change.

Joseph Dieguez graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Fordham in 2014 and his Master of Science degree in Professional Taxation from Fordham in 2015. He spent six years at PwC, first as a Tax Associate, then as a Talent Acquisition Senior Associate, and finally as a Talent Acquisition Manager before moving on to Google as a full-time recruiter in 2021.

Alison R. Smith has two decades of experience working with entrepreneurs, families, foundations and investors.  Alison is a Managing Director at Bernstein Private Wealth Management, which advises high net worth clients on planning for—and living with—the complexities that come with wealth. Before joining Bernstein, Alison was a Partner and Head of Strategic Growth at Rethink Capital Partners, a venture capital and real estate investment platform.  Before joining Rethink, Alison was a Managing Director of Cornerstone Capital Group, a registered investment advisor that serves clients who want their investments to contribute to a more sustainable and inclusive world without sacrificing financial performance. Prior to joining Cornerstone, for over a decade, Alison worked at TIGER 21, an investment think-tank for high-net-worth individuals.  Alison is often is asked to speak at conferences and guest lecture at universities on topics including: aligning your portfolio with your values, impact investing, strategic growth, authentic financial marketing, and how do you measure success.  Alison is a graduate from Fordham University Graduate School of Business with an MBA in Finance and Marketing. She earned her BA at Ithaca College. Alison served on the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society Advisory Board and regularly gives time as a mentor of a teen mother through the Big Brothers Big Sisters Program.

Yasmeen Hassan is the Coordinator of Corporate Partnerships & Recruiting with the Career Development Center. Yas supports both the outreach and recruiting functions as well as managing aspects of the careers portal. She holds a B.A in education from St. Francis College and an M.S in forensic science from Syracuse University.

Frank Graziano implements and manages the technological platforms and systems used by the CDC. He uses his engineering background and over two decades of IT experience to support students and the staff of the CDC with any system issues that arise. He is also responsible for capturing and maintaining data on all the CDC platforms.