Dowling College - John Power

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A View From Above: Dowling MBA Grad Explains How He Got to the Top and What Lies Ahead Viewing John Power as he sits at his desk at Mellon Investor Services' Jersey City, NJ, offices, it is evident he has an impressive background. That's not speaking of the Statue of Liberty and New York City skyline framed by his window, but of the series of increasingly challenging positions that have brought him to his current position of Chief Administrative Officer at Mellon Investor Services. "I have a great opportunity here at Mellon Investor Services (MIS)," says John of an industry leader that counts among its clients 20% of the Fortune 1000. "I see many new markets we can tap by leveraging and partnering with the many segments within the broader Mellon franchise." John traveled from his home in Forest Hills to attend Dowling's Saturday M.B.A. program. He graduated in 1993. What initially attracted him to Dowling was the convenience of attending class on Saturdays. What he found in Oakdale was everything he wanted. "It was an intimate setting with small classes. It was very comfortable," John recalls. John says his most memorable class was a business ethics course taught by Bruce Haller. He was also impressed with the luncheon speakers that were featured, including Charles Wang of Computer Associates. Today, he calls on much of what he learned in his classes, which focused on "team-based scenarios." John began his undergraduate schooling with three years of electrical engineering before shifting to business. He graduated from Manhattan College with a Finance degree 18 months after making the switch. At his first job, John constructed the billing system at RCG Information Technology, and then served as a Financial Systems Analyst at retailer and jewelry manufacturer Best Products. He moved to Spear, Leeds and Kellogg, a division of Goldman Sachs, and then onto Bank Julius Baer, where he served as Controller and Chief-of-Staff for the U.S. Private Banking Division, of the international private bank, which boasts $75 billion in assets. Then it was onto E*Trade Financial, where he began as Chief Financial Officer of the Corporate Services Division in 2003 before being named Director of Finance for its entire retail segment in 2005. Among MIS' core services are acting as a transfer agency for public companies, managing their record keeping, organizing mergers and acquisitions, and overseeing shareholder activities such as annual meetings, dividend disbursement, and communications. MIS also manages employee equity compensation plans, including stock option purchases, of many leading corporations. "With the new regulations around expensing, requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley and the growing complexities in this arena, our expertise has allowed this to become a growth business for us," John notes. "Our expertise and comprehensive services allow us to bring true economic value to our clients and sets MIS apart from the competition." Among the goals John has for MIS is branding its subsidiary broker-dealer business, Mellon Securities, as a source for companies seeking assistance with Capital Strategies, deploying cash in repurchases or raising cash in private and public stock placements. Traditionally, Mellon Securities' business had been focused on supporting the Transfer Agency with effective execution, but John sees an opportunity for adding to the breadth of services. Just as he succeeded in moving from engineering to finance during his college days, John has achieved his goal of crossing from technology into the financial services industry. In part, the skills gained at Dowling and the multi-disciplinary MBA program enabled him to successfully make this transition and shape the vision for his future. "I was a systems professional with finance background, but I wanted to become a finance professional with a systems background," John explains. The breakthrough occurred in landing his job at Spear Leeds & Kellogg and he is continuing to build on his vast experience at Mellon. At 38, John is a young star in the industry. Married for 11 years and the father of two boys, 9 and 1, John is active in his community of Bayside, participating in church events and the Cub Scouts. When he's not traveling for work, you might find him visiting relatives in Europe, a favorite getaway for his family.