The Office of Program Development and Office of Multicultural Affairs are pleased to partner for the Sankofa Lecture Series, beginning Friday, Feb. 26. The new lecture series will become an annual component of the University’s Black History Month Celebration, and feature an alumni speaker of African descent to discuss their career path and experiences after graduating from Syracuse University.
Gisele Marcus
The inaugural speaker is Gisele Marcus ’89, an executive director at Cushman & Wakefield and alumna of the Whitman School of Management. Marcus will speak on Feb. 26, at 5:30 p.m. in Gifford Auditorium. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Marcus formerly served as the global director of the program management office for Johnson Controls (a Fortune 75 company). Prior positions she held there included Global Operations & Americas Group account leader for their financial services vertical market, with responsibilities for the operational oversight of a $800 million business and the profit and loss of its $100 million Americas region. Additionally, as transition director, she led the operational mobilization of new business valued at $100 million for a client in one of her favorite countries to live and work, South Africa. Previously with the company, she served as customer business director, leading the profit and loss of a $30 million business, general manager of metromarkets strategy and director of client retention. Her tenure with Johnson Controls spanned 11 years.
Marcus boldly welcomes and actively seeks new challenges to blaze her own trail. Prior to Johnson Controls, she was a successful entrepreneur leading a strategic consulting practice, which was preceded by a six-year career at Ameritech (currently AT&T), a former regional bell operating company. At Ameritech, she held roles of increasing responsibility from a manager who led a team of 70 high-performing professionals in the development of a new product offering to the role of director of customer operations for their wholesale division. She is the author of two patents for products developed during her tenure.
The event is co-sponsored by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.
