Hurricane can't stop success of Foundations of Business event for Coggin College

Despite hunkering down just a day before as Hurricane Idalia roared through Florida, more than 200 Coggin College of Business freshman students turned out for the Foundations of Business event at the University Center on the UNF campus. 

The event held on the evening of Aug. 31 even featured a visit from UNF President Moez Limayem who kicked off the special night. President Limayem used his usual avuncular style to welcome the new business students to campus and thanked them for their tenacity to remain on campus, even though the outer bands of the hurricane skirted the First Coast and UNF only a day before. 

Meanwhile, Coggin College Dean Richard Buttimer hosted a discussion on “Networking with Business Leaders” that featured five key business leaders in the Jacksonville area. The panel fielded questions from enthusiastic students who just joined UNF for their initial semester on campus while entering the Coggin College of Business. The students sought advice on how to network in professional settings. 

The panel included: David Emmanual, Chief Human Resources Officer of JEA; Don Hune, President of Lift Power Inc.; Steve Moore, President of The Vestcor Companies; Swarup Patra, Treasurer of TIAA Bank; and Jessica Salazar, Managing Partner of Northwestern Mutual. 

“The students loved it, and the speakers absolutely loved it,” Dr. Buttimer said. “I don’t think any other college on this campus could have pulled off an event of that scale.” 

The question-and-answer session lasted about an hour and was immediately followed by a mixer where students could interact with the business leaders in a more casual setting.