The Siena College School of Business hosted two alumni on campus during the spring semester: Chris Wallace '98 and Mary Humiston '87.
Wallace is the chief communications officer with the LA Clippers. He returned to Siena to speak on his journey and the impact Siena had on discovering the right path for him — focusing on building his network, developing his core values and the evolution of the LA Clippers brand.
Wallace always had a passion for basketball and knew he wanted to continue to pursue this interest while in college. Siena’s men’s basketball coach at the time, Mike Deane, helped Wallace find the right fit for him as the team manager.
And find his fit he did. After graduating from Siena, Wallace spent five seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers, held a leadership role with Harris-Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, Translation, WTA and worked with companies such as State Farm, McDonalds, and the Nets and figures like Roger Federer and Serena Williams.
Wallace then returned to the NBA to join the Clippers Organization. Today, his goal is to separate the gap between the players and the fans of the organization. He constantly works to create content that allows players to tell their own stories and be authentic.
At the conclusion of his lecture, Wallace left some words of advice for Siena Students to follow to make the most of their journey and their futures, “Never stop working! When I worked summers at the Saratoga Race Track I made as many connections as possible. Every single day I made a list of all the people I heard were visiting that day and made sure I had a connection with them.”
In the second lecture of the semester, Mary Humiston ’87, executive director of Accenture’s Chief Human Resources Forum, visited campus to speak with current students.
Humiston talked to the Saints about the world of human resources and the opportunities the field has given her to travel the globe. Humiston recently returned to the United States after deciding she wanted to live closer to her family.
“It was a great 33 years, but as I think about career I have at least another 33 left to go. Career is just the productive energy you put forward in your life towards whatever matters to you.”
Her career has taken her all over the world, but her trip started in Brussels. Knowing no one, Humiston made the brave decision to move across the globe and chase her passion at Honeywell. From those first days living in Brussels to years later giving President Barack Obama a tour of her work facility (more on that later!), Humiston has become a rockstar of the human resources field.
Most recently, Humiston lived in London where she worked as the Chief Human Resources Officer at Rolls-Royce. It was a hard job, as she saw two CEOS and the entire executive team change out during her time there but Humiston never stopped making her career fun.
What does she mean by fun? Humiston was invited to a meeting at the White House during her time at Applied Materials, Inc. As she was leaving the meeting she offered Barack Obama, the president at the time, a tour of their facilities in Austin, Texas. He took her up on that offer and in May of 2013, Humiston was able to show the former president around. A few months ago, she was also able to meet Obama's former vice president Joe Biden.
Her advice for success? Never stop learning.
“Stay agile. Everything keeps changing and the minute you feel strongly about something, the world will move and change."
