Christine Birnbaum is a professionally certified executive coach and Principal of Claremont Coaching. She retired from the New York Life Insurance Company where she was a Vice President of Human Resources. In this role, she was a Human Resources Business Partner responsible for supporting both the investments finance and technology functions.
Prior to this role, Christine was the Talent Management executive for Investments. In addition, she served as the Investments Diversity and Inclusion Officer. She was a co-head of The Women's Initiative at New York Life. Christine was also active in New York Life's Volunteer for Good program.
Previously Christine worked at JPMorgan Chase as a senior human resources executive and worked in a variety of businesses including credit card, middle marketing banking, international private banking, and consumer banking.
With the Financial Women's Association (FWA) she has served in a number of Board positions and currently is responsible for a leadership initiative called Pacesetters and mentors at Seton Hall University.
In addition, Christine is a member of Ellevate (formerly known as 85 Broads) and a volunteer at the Morris County Interfaith Food Pantry.
Christine graduated from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and has a B.A. in History and a M.Ed. in Education. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
Johanna O’Bannon, an alumnae of SEU (Class ‘02), received her Bachelors in Science
in Biology with a minor in Chemistry. She graduated with high honors and was a recipient
of the Catherine Ann Lowry award for Biology.
During her undergraduate years, she was president of the Tribeta Club, a part of the
honors society program (Kappa Gamma Pi) and the Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF)
program.
She volunteered her time on campus by tutoring students on Biology/Chemistry courses,
helped feed families at the Morristown Soup Kitchen, and assisted with cleaning up
highways via the adopt the highway program. She also worked part-time on campus for
the Microbiology Department assisting with setting up labs.
Johanna interned at the University of Missouri in the Breast Cancer research program.
After graduation, she began her professional career at Organon pharmaceuticals as
a Quality Control Microbiologist then later pursed her Master Degree in Biomedicine
at the University of Medicine and Dentistry. She continued advancing her career by
working at Abbot Laboratories, Schering Plough and Discovery Labs.
Currently, she works at Ferring Pharmaceuticals as a QC Supervisor. Her major contribution
has been overseeing the construction and implementation of a brand new laboratory.
Johanna is excited to be a part of the Mentoring Advisory Board and is eager to help
expand the platform of opportunities for students in all disciplinary fields. Her
advice for students looking to explore a career is to leverage your studies by volunteering
and doing internships in your field of interest. She believes these opportunities
will make you marketable in the competitive workforce and will better prepare you
for the corporate world or entrepreneurship.
Johanna hopes to encourage students to engage in opportunities that will foster their
professional growth. She enjoys helping others, traveling, running and cooking healthy
foods.
Cyndi Roberson currently serves as Director of Volunteer Recruitment & Corporate Relations
for Students 2 Science, a non-profit organization with a mission to inspire, motivate
and educate elementary, middle and high school students to pursue careers in science,
technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects.
She is responsible for recruitment and placement of volunteers for two programs at
two locations (East Hanover, NJ and Newark, NJ). These volunteers work with students
in the organization’s labs and in classrooms of participating schools throughout New
Jersey.
Ms. Roberson received her B.A. from Wright State University (Ohio) with a concentration
in broadcasting. She has also received a Master’s of Public Administration from Seton
Hall University (NJ) with a concentration in leadership, governance and policy that
strongly emphasized managerial and analytical skills, along with ethical and professional
values.
Ms. Roberson has had an extensive career in grant writing having served as Associate
Director of Grants for Essex County College and Government Grant Writer for Eva’s
Village, a non-profit social service organization in Paterson. She has a strong passion
for post-secondary education and believes in the power of mentorship as a means of
retention, completion and non-traditional participation.
Samantha graduated with a Bachelor's degree in English and Managerial Communications
and a minor in Women's Studies from SEU. She went on to obtain her Master of Public
Administration from Rutgers University in 2014. Throughout her time at SEU and beyond,
Samantha has dedicated her career to working in support of educational access opportunities
and initiatives for minority students and students of color - regardless of where
they fall in their academic trajectories.
Currently, she works as the Associate Dean of Scholars Programs at NJ SEEDS - an educational
access organization that prepares and places high achieving students with limited
resources in selective high schools and colleges across the nation.
Samantha's favorite thing about SEU was the friends she made through the EOF Program.
The program provided her with the opportunity to intern at various public service
organizations and connected her with a large network of like-minded people that positively
impacted her college experience.
The advice Samantha has for current students is, "Claim your college experience. Lots
of learning and professional development happens beyond the classroom and you can't
be afraid to take advantage of those opportunities. You never know where they may
lead!"