When David Gautschi, former Dean of Fordham’s Graduate School of Business invited me to join the faculty as an adjunct professor in his new Master’s in Investor Relations Program at the Lincoln Center campus, I jumped at the chance to return to my alma mater. This was a unique opportunity to combine my experiences as both a corporate speechwriter along with my ability to quickly connect with an audience, but this time with grad students. MBA meets SAG card? Check. The mission? Oversee a 5‐year plan that would introduce the students to the Tri‐State Investor Relations community and get them ready to pursue their own paths to becoming Chief Information Officers.

After a great deal of teamwork with the faculty and student leaders, the Fordham Investor Relations Society Team was created and soon its Guest Speaker events were incorporated into the curriculum. FIRST hosted regular panel discussions with top IR executives that encouraged lively give‐and‐take exchanges with the students on topics including activist shareholders, the appropriate use of social media, and the differences between public vs. private IR. Students were challenged to present on‐the‐fly solutions to “crisis situation” scenarios, oftentimes based on the news of the day.