Stan Soroka, IT Project Manager, Cigna

Stan SorokaStan graduated from Temple’s Fox School of Business in May 2009 with a BBA in Management Information Systems. Shortly after graduation, he began his career at Cigna with the Technology Early Career Development Program (TECDP). TECDP is a three and a half year rotational program designed to enable associates to gain a broad IT understanding, build experience, and develop leadership skills. The purpose of the program is to develop high potential, high performing professionals with health services expertise, strong technical knowledge, and solid analytic skills into future leaders within Cigna’s IT organization. Throughout each of his rotations, he has held the role of Business Management Analyst, Production Support Project Manager, and Enterprise Project Manager within multiple healthcare business segments.

Following his completion of the TECDP Program, he posted into the role of Enterprise Project Manager within the Healthcare Reform Program (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act). His responsibilities include solution delivery, financial management, and operational readiness for multiple projects and compliance initiatives within the Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) and Admin Adherence & Simplification workstreams. He works in close partnership with application development, quality assurance, portfolio governance, and senior leadership teams supporting various business segments to deliver enterprise-wide solutions in compliance with federal and state regulations introduced by the Healthcare Reform law.

“I believe the MIS program prepared me exceptionally well for the wide array of responsibilities and challenges that I have experienced throughout my early career. The course curriculum, whether business process analysis, project management, database design, or application development, allowed me to gain an understanding of each delivery function and role, prior to even stepping foot in the Cigna office. The MIS program not only taught me deep technical knowledge in support of SDLC methodologies, but more importantly, how each and every function relates to core business goals & principles, and ultimately, how it impacts the customer.”

Ilya Rogov, Associate Consultant at LiquidHub

ilya-pic (400x389)“I graduated Temple Fox School of Business in May 2010 with a BBA in MIS. Initially I worked as a web developer for a medical publishing and then a medical services company in the Philadelphia area. During the summer of 2012 I was offered the great opportunity to work at LiquidHub through the close connections I made via the Fox MIS program. LiquidHub is a global management and technology consultancy focused on fueling business transformation for their clients in the healthcare, life sciences, financial services, insurance and other progressive markets.

My work at LiquidHub involves assisting with a merger between two large independent music distributors, specifically data migration. This process consists of having a solid understand of industry-specific business concepts to create data models that can be easily manipulated and transferred. I utilize tools such as Talend and my understanding of relational databases to develop jobs to move data across systems. It’s fun and challenging work.

The MIS program at Fox has prepared me well for my current role. The database course along with the programming classes have helped me tremendously to grasp the technology fundamentals that lie behind every system I’ve worked with. Furthermore, the business and analytical background I was taught have aided me with planning and communicating my responsibilities effectively. Finally, the close connections I have made at Temple through the Fox School and MIS have proven to be an invaluable resource both personally and professionally.”

Michelle Dy-Reyes, Systems Integration Analyst, Accenture

IMG_9976 (445x445)Michelle graduated from Temple’s Fox Business School in May 2012 – earning her B.B.A. in Management Information Systems.  A few months before graduating, she was offered a full-time position as a Systems Integration Analyst in Accenture’s consulting workforce.  She has always known that she wanted a career in consulting and was ecstatic to start at Accenture.   Michelle worked with many Accenture consultants in her previous internship at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals and was thoroughly impressed at the excellent rapport they had with the client.

As a Systems Integration Analyst in the Technology Growth Platform, she is being exposed to a wide variety of projects, technology, roles and responsibilities. Currently she is involved in the business process and designing the functional specification of an SAP implementation.

“I am especially appreciative of the availability of a student professional organization like Temple AIS which has developed much of my leadership and communication skills. I think the real-world simulation that SPO’s provide is an opportunity all college students should take advantage of as it teaches valuable people skills – like how to ask questions and get the answers you need (which is a key business analyst skill!). Finally, the networking opportunity available to MIS/Temple AIS students is exceptional! I’ve met a lot of key industry people through FoxMIS/Temple AIS and it has opened many doors for me – I strongly encourage others to take full advantage of it.”

Liudmila Davidzenka, Application Consultant, IBM

I graduated Temple Fox School of Business in May 2012 with major in Marketing and minor in MIS. Shortly after graduation, I got an opportunity for an amazing job at IBM as an Application Consultant and lead analyst in a very fascinating area – social media. My team, CIO Social Media Analytics, specializes in integrating social listening, social analytics, social monitoring, and human insight analysis to provide actionable insights.  Through the use of social media we transform the results into intelligent data, thus enhancing IBM’s business intelligence. Without the great professors helping me learn the skills needed for this role and them directly exposing me to awesome networking event this opportunity may not have become a reality.

As an application consultant and lead analyst I use a combination of analytic applications such as Cognos Consumer Insight (CCI), IBM Content Analytics (ICA), and SPSS Modeler and provide a human insight analysis to enhance sophisticated analysis of social media content. Leveraging the power of these tools, combined with human insight analysis, enables the company to identify patterns, view trends, and reveal unusual correlations, spikes, and anomalies, and thus, bring the power of business intelligence to all of the company’s information.

Temple University made a significant contribution to my professional development and enhancement of my skills. I’m grateful to all of my professors, who shared their knowledge and expertise, which prepared me to compete with other highly qualified candidates for this particular position. An outstanding curriculum and amazing professors helped set me aside from other job candidates not only through academic preparedness but by personal recommendations on my behalf.

I greatly appreciate the effort that my professors took to encourage their students to constantly seek networking opportunities. Professor Johnson, for example, exposed us to multiple networking events by inviting inspiring speakers to our Social Media class. These speakers made me passionate about social media and the value that businesses can get from it if they learn how to utilize its content. Thank you very much, Temple University, and MIS Department in particular for opening the door for me into fascinating career opportunities with a bright future.

Ruslan Gorbonos, IT Specialist/COTR, General Services Administration (GSA)

I graduated Temple University in 2008, where my major was Marketing and minor was MIS. Immediately after graduation, I was hired as the IT Specialist by the Federal Government, at the United States General Services Administration.  As an IT Specialist, I currently manage all aspects of the acquisition life cycle on more than 25 active IT and Professional Services procurements on behalf Federal agencies such as:  US Army in Europe, Navy, Defense Logistics Agency, Defense Security Service, TRICARE Management Activity, Department of Veterans Affairs, Social Security Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, and Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). These procurements are valued at greater than $750 million dollars.

I assist client agencies by providing cradle to grave acquisition support and full range of project management expertise for their IT requirements by developing technical requirements tailored to meet their unique acquisition needs.  I serve as the technical expert, Chair of the Source Selection Panel and a business advisor by providing technical recommendations to internal and external stakeholders and assist clients in the evaluation of proposals to ensure that all proposals are evaluated properly and that all rules of the solicitation are followed.

As for few notable accomplishments, I assisted CMS with the development of technical requirements and provided guidance and expertise through solicitation and evaluation of proposals for CMS’ Healthcare Integrated General Ledger Accounting System (HIGLAS) acquisition. The HIGLAS acquisition was valued at approximately $500M.  I provided acquisition support on the Army Europe Information Technology Training (AE-ITT) program’s $45M contract that provides theater-wide Information Assurance and Information Technology training for all of DoD and Non-DoD users across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In the 1st year, this contract provided training to over 2,200 military end-users.  I would like to thank Temple’s FoxMIS program for giving me the IT knowledge, IT foundation, and the opportunity to find an amazing job and thereafter successfully progress with my career.

Taahir Khan, Engineering and Systems Support Specialist, The Boeing Company

I’m currently working as an Engineering and Systems Support Specialist in the Field Services division of Defense, Space and Security at The Boeing Company.  My team, Service Engineering, provides maintenance support for the V-22 Osprey Tilt-rotor aircraft.  I am responsible for a variety of things that range from Information Technology to Project Management.  One ongoing task is to manage and maintain all the data that flows to and from the group using various Boeing approved systems and provide monthly metrics to my team and upper level managers.  Also, I work as a CAM (Control Account Manager) where I monitor various repairs and/or changes to the aircraft from ‘cradle to grave’.  Also, I’m currently training for my new project where I will be the lead in setting up the LAN (Local Area Network) for various military bases nationally and eventually internationally.

The Fox School of Business and the MIS Program did a spectacular Job in preparing me for my current position at The Boeing Company.  I find myself applying many of the things I’ve learned in and out of the classrooms to my everyday work life.  The Project Management course stands out when I think back over my curriculum.  It taught me two important lessons: (1) how to successfully collaborate with others in a group setting and (2) time management.  These two skills are invaluable in the work place and can help you succeed in all aspects of life. Also, networking was one other important element that I truly solidified while going through the MIS program.  It’s very healthy to create and maintain friendships with your peers and faculty because this skills and those relationships will eventually travel with you throughout your professional careers.  I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to learn these things from the MIS Program.

Adam Feld, Dow Chemical, Business Intelligence-Analyst

Dow’s diversified industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agro sciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 160 countries and in high growth sectors such as electronics, water, energy, coatings and agriculture. In 2010, Dow had annual sales of $53.7 billion and employed approximately 50,000 people worldwide. The Company’s more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 188 sites in 35 countries across the globe.

I am currently working in Business Intelligence where my main focus is in Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S).  We are currently going through a transition from a heritage SAP ERP system to a current more up to date version.  With that said I am gathering requirements from different countries to translate to BW architects what is needed for reporting.  I have also done multiple projects in SharePoint and My Site’s which are part of Microsoft’s new BPOS suite.  The Reporting team has been recognized as being the elite in the IT industry which led us to be highlighted in CIO magazine as a result of Diamond System’s.

The MIS program at FOX has given me the tools/skill sets to understand issues inside and outside of the box.  It taught me that not only that there is a way to solve a problem, but that the solution should be the most effective, efficient and cost saving approach.  This program is not just for the tech savvy geeks in all of us, but for the business professionals who understand technology and can integrate it with high performance business using innovation.

Lyndsey Martorana, Business Analyst, JPMorgan Chase

I am a current participant in the Technology Corporate Development Program that is comprised of recent college graduates at JPMorgan Chase in Newark, Delaware. The CDP Program is a 2 year program for select new hires that includes a 5 week ‘IT Boot camp’ training program that is held in Jersey City, NJ. I am currently a Business Analyst within JP Morgan’s Investment Bank Technology – Securities Core Processing group in Newark Delaware. As a business analyst, my major areas of responsibility include business process and system modeling, as well as management of our SharePoint site and project documentation. I will also be participating in User Acceptance Testing in the upcoming months. As an analyst in IB Technology, I work very closely with other analysts and developers as well as our operations groups that are located not only in Delaware, but in New York City, London, and Bournemouth.

The Fox MIS program has given me the necessary skill set and problem solving abilities to have a successful and meaningful career at JPMorgan Chase. I find myself applying the educational tools and critical thinking skills I have acquired from courses such as Business Process Analysis and Project Management to accomplish my responsibilities successfully. Many of the topics covered throughout the Fox MIS courses such as the SDLC, process modeling, and application development were also included in the JPMorgan IT Boot camp curriculum that I attended this summer. Having a strong background and understanding of these topics and tools before attending the Boot camp gave me an advantage at training.

Robert Keogh, Logistician, Sabre Systems, Inc.,

Do you know Bob Keogh? About six months ago, he placed 13th overall in the NCAA Outdoor Championships for the hammer throw event and earned All-American second team honors, Bob Keogh Becomes Temple Track & Field’s First All-American Since 1994. On top of being an athlete, Bob was also a MIS student at the Fox School of Business. Bob graduated in Spring 2011, and Sabre Systems Inc. hired him as a logistician. At his new job, Bob was able to apply all the information that he learned while at Temple as a MIS student.

He was kind enough to share his experience with us below:

“About two months after graduating this past spring, I managed to get an interview with Sabre Systems, Inc., a contracting company that specializes in IT, engineering, and logistics services for government agencies and private sector. A week later I was hired as a logistician.  My initial responsibility was to support the engineers of the Visual Landing Aids (VLA) for NAVAIR in Lakehurst, NJ. Now I am being prepped to work in the Automated Logistics Environment for NAVAIR because of my IT knowledge and experience. Logistics is a specialization that thrives off information systems and technology, and I’m so grateful for the quality of education that Fox MIS has given me.

-Bob Keogh Class of 2011

Bob’s story is just one of many alumnus who went from being a MIS student to having a great career. His story has inspired me to try to replicate his achievements. To do so, I must take advantage of the opportunities that Fox MIS has to offer. As a Temple alumni, Bob brought prestige to the University through his academics as well as athletics. We are proud to have him representing Fox MIS students.

More info on Logistician’s: http://money.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2010/12/06/best-careers-2011-logistician

Eric Enders, Mobility Consultant, SAP, America Inc.

A day after I graduated from Temple University, I received an offer from SAP, America Inc.  I accepted the position where I am currently a Consultant working in the Mobility spectrum.  In this position I am custom developer of mobile applications, specializing in iPhone and iPad devices.

FoxMIS prepared me for this position both academically and physically.  First, my programming classes and capstone are the reason why I was qualified for this position that I am currently in.  In my capstone class, I built a website and programmed functionality for a business idea that my team and I came up with.  FoxMIS also prepared me physically for the hard work and preparation it takes to make it in the real world.  If it weren’t for my hard work and FoxMIS, I would not be where I am today.