Alumna Recalls Mentorship and Camaraderie at St. John’s

New Jersey native Carol Santos ’09GSRM always had an aptitude for math and science. After earning her Finance and Actuarial Science degree from New York University, she began her career in the insurance industry. Eventually, she focused on the emerging field of business technology, finding her niche thanks to her time at St. John’s University.

While working at Goldman Sachs, her manager recommended that the next step for her career development and technical knowledge was to take insurance classes. She researched graduate programs where she could enroll part time and discovered the program at St. John’s. She was drawn to its enhanced curriculum that integrated insurance, finance, and real-world application to culminate into a master’s degree.

Ms. Santos learned more about the program by speaking with the director, and soon after, she decided to apply because it was in line with her career goals. She enrolled at the Greenberg School of Risk Management (now the Maurice R. Greenberg School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science), whose original campus on Murray Street in New York City was close to her office. 

Ms. Santos added, “The campus was cozy, class sizes were small, and the curriculum was customized and specialized. We often had group projects, and I loved the energy that came with collaboration and enhancing our ideas. Everyone seemed eager to learn and invest in their future. The professors were approachable; I remember that they stayed after the lecture to answer questions.”

She loved the Manhattan, NY, campus location and its proximity to the financial world. “I lived in the financial district, so my routine was walking to work and then to school. The labs were open on weekends when my classmates and I needed to meet for projects.”

Ms. Santos mentioned Maurice R. Greenberg School of Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Science professors Jim Barrese, Ph.D.; W. Jean J. Kwon, Ph.D.; and Nicos A. Scordis, Ph.D., as particularly influential during her time at St. John’s. 

“The combination of theory and its application to current events made the classes and assignments engaging and relevant,” she explained. One of Ms. Santos’s papers focused on the correlation between a basketball player’s height to their compensation. She accepted a position at Google in 2010.

“I first learned about captive insurance (a way for a company to ensure its own risks instead of paying a third-party insurance company) from Dr. Barrese and ended up forming two captive insurance companies at Google, one based in Hawaii, and one based in Dublin, Ireland. His class was so relevant to my work,” she stressed. Ms. Santos was also on the ground floor of rolling out warranty coverage for Google’s hardware.

Ms. Santos has enjoyed many pivots throughout her career, from insurance and actuarial science to technology and now to cloud privacy and security. Through it all, she had mentors who believed in her.

Eventually, she was recruited by Facebook (now known as Meta) to build out their data security protocols “and work on governance for the user and business data that Facebook collects,” she explained.

If there was a theme to Ms. Santos’ time at St. John’s, it would be the real-world applications of what she learned and the teamwork with fellow students that translated to nearly every industry position she held. “At first, I thought it would be easier to work independently as I was working a full-time job. I quickly found that learning alongside peers was important to my understanding and enjoyment of the topics. It was a great community,” she shared.

Ms. Santos strongly advises students to be proactive in seeking support and mentorship from their professors, advisers, fellow students, and the broader community. Over the years, she has mentored others, viewing it as a way to reciprocate the guidance she received during her professional journey.