More Than Networking...Trio of 1995 Alumni Supports Whitman Experiential Programs

When you think about networking, you might think of crowded happy hours and the exchange of business cards and LinkedIn connections. You might even think about how networking can sometimes feel impersonal.

Enter Steven Kron, Michael Savner and Erik Siegel, all Whitman School Class of 1995. These three Whitman alumni, now all well into successful careers on Wall Street, have for years maintained a network that turns these stereotypes on their heads. They have given their time and expertise — together and individually — to help Whitman students gain a foothold in the competitive world of the New York finance sector.

In the early 1990s, Kron, Siegel and Savner were students with a shared love of Syracuse sports and an interest in starting their finance careers at an academically rigorous university.

Kron was from Long Island and Siegel from the Bronx. Both wanted to attend school relatively close to home. Savner grew up in Chicago and was looking for a school with a rigorous business curriculum and proximity to Wall Street.

Savner and Siegel were brothers in Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. Kron and Savner have another thing in common: They met their wives, close friends and also 1995 graduates, at Syracuse. All three attended countless football and basketball games.

From Syracuse to Wall Street…

After graduation, the lives of Siegel, Kron, Savner and other Syracuse 1995 classmates continued to be intertwined, as many of them began careers in New York City, started families and generally did life together.

The three Whitman alumni fulfilled their goals to work on Wall Street. Today, Kron is director of Americas equity research at Goldman Sachs. Savner is associate director of research at Balyasny Asset Management. Siegel is a portfolio manager at Moore Capital Management.

About six years ago, when Kron met then-Whitman Dean Eugene Anderson for breakfast, the Dean asked if he might be interested in hiring an intern for the Whitman Semester in NYC program. Goldman Sachs has participated in the program every year since. That meeting with Anderson marked the beginning of Kron’s increased involvement with Whitman alumni activities.

Savner and Siegel also increased their involvement in the Syracuse alumni community around the same time, with a particular focus on experiential activities. All three have participated in Whitman on Wall Street, hosting or speaking to students visiting Manhattan to explore finance career options.

“Seeing Steve, who has been really, really good at supporting the program, and hearing more about it kind of galvanized and catalyzed my engagement,” says Siegel. (Coincidentally, when he was a student, Siegel had a job making phone calls for alumni engagement.)

…and Back to Campus

Today, Kron still finds time to visit campus.

“I try to go up at least once a year, and when I do, I always make it a point to let the business school know that I’m coming,” he says. “And whether it’s sitting down with faculty, Interim Dean [Alex] McKelvie or especially students and just having discussions, I try to be that sounding board to help in any small way that I can.”

The Syracuse experience also has come full circle for Savner and Siegel, both of whose daughters are now students at Syracuse University. Siegel says he enjoys hanging around campus with his family, dining at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que and reminiscing about old haunts that are no longer there.

Asked to sum up the Whitman alumni experience, Savner brings it back to his friendship with Siegel and Kron.

“We’ve all been friends since college, traveled similar paths on Wall Street and are all highly motivated to see Whitman’s influence on Wall Street grow stronger. The three of us together have actually done quite a bit in terms of both helping to lend our thoughts to the administration at Syracuse in terms of what we think is important for students to be learning,” he says. “We’re eager to meet with both students as they come to the city, but also to meet with other alumni and expand the Syracuse network.”

That’s not just networking. That’s the Whitman connection.