University of New Haven Announces New Affiliation Aimed at Increasing Diversity Across the Finance Industry

The University of New Haven’s Pompea College of Business has announced an affiliation with FactSet, a global provider of integrated financial information, analytical applications, and industry-leading service.

Through this collaboration, the University will be actively involved with FactSet’s Black Business Resource Group (BRG), one of the six BRGs that was created to help advance the company’s diversity and inclusion efforts.

“We are excited to take an active role in FactSet’s efforts to further enrich the diversity across the company and in the investment industry,” said Brian Kench, dean of the Pompea College of Business. “This is a terrific opportunity for the Pompea College of Business to support an important and influential initiative that will provide transformational opportunities for our students.”

“Organizations are at their strongest when everyone is represented,” said Phil Snow, CEO, FactSet. “FactSet’s BRGs elevate our efforts to recruit, retain, and advance a diverse workforce, and I look forward to furthering a pipeline of Black talent with the University of New Haven. I have been with FactSet for over twenty years, and I’m excited to help more students gain the same opportunity to grow their careers at a great company.”

As part of the University’s involvement in this effort, high-achieving University of New Haven students will be able to pursue internship and career opportunities with FactSet. Earlier this semester, a group of seniors from the Pompea College of Business and the Tagliatela College of Engineering were invited to take part in a special recruiting event with FactSet leaders to learn about potential positions for when they complete their degrees.

“As a Black man and an African immigrant who bootstrapped myself through graduate school, I very much understand and appreciate the value and the crucial difference a helping hand to that first quality job can make to young lives.”Oni Chukwu ’94 MBA

This relationship was created through the vision of University of New Haven President Steven Kaplan; Board of Governors member Oni Chukwu ’94 MBA, ’15 Hon, a visionary technology entrepreneur with decades of experience in the software sector; Dean Kench; and Ron Harichandran, dean of the University’s Tagliatela College of Engineering.

“As a Black man and an African immigrant who bootstrapped myself through graduate school, I very much understand and appreciate the value and the crucial difference a helping hand to that first quality job can make to young lives,” said Chukwu, who previously served as chief executive officer and is now executive chairman at Aventri, a leader in enterprise software-as-a-service event management software for global businesses. “When I first met CEO Phil Snow and his FactSet team to discuss this collaboration with UNH, they immediately got it and saw it as the perfect complement to their ongoing internal Black BRG company-wide initiative to attract, mentor, and retain Black employees.

“This is a match made at the intersection of optimal need and perfect opportunity, and will superbly position our Black underrepresented students for greater heights early in their professional careers when that intervention really counts,” continued Chukwu.

“I am very grateful for the leadership of Oni, Dean Kench, and Dean Harichadran and for the commitment of FactSet leaders to create this innovative and influential affiliation,” said President Kaplan. “We are pleased to support the important work taking place at FactSet and to be able to cultivate new and innovative opportunities that prepare our students to excel in their careers.”

The University’s collaboration with FactSet will also include mentorship programs and access to the company’s proprietary software. Both the Pompea College of Business and the Tagliatela College of Engineering include an emphasis across their programs on analytics, understanding big data, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

“The principles taught across the Pompea College of Business and the Tagliatela College of Engineering are inextricably linked,” said Dean Harichandran. “We have a responsibility, one that we embrace, to help foster diversity across all sectors, and we are pleased to be able to work with FactSet to provide invaluable experiences for our students that will undoubtedly lead to great professional success.”