Alumni Career Day Highlights the Power of Connections

Powers graduated from The Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, with a bachelor’s degree in finance. He currently works in real estate at Industrious, a premium flexible-office provider headquartered in New York City. Recognized as one of America’s 500 fastest-growing companies in 2020 by Inc. Magazine, Industrious offers flexible terms and locations in more than 50 U.S. markets. At Industrious, Powers is responsible for the day-to-day growth of growing the business across the Northeast, Midwest, and Bay Area. He sources, underwrites and negotiates new partnership opportunities with prospective landlords. Prior to joining Industrious, he worked at Ernst & Young on various teams, including Business Development, Structured Finance, and Strategic Negotiations. 

In addition to being a prefect, Powers played three varsity sports at Gunn, basketball, tennis and soccer. In his senior year, he served as editor of The Highlander Newspaper, was inducted into the Cum Laude Society, and was the recipient of the Head of School’s Prize. "At Gunn, everything is orchestrated for us — our community — but at college, you have to seek out opportunities," he said.

Around 2016, he approached Chief Development Officer Sean Brown P’22 with an idea to build an alumni and networking subcommittee of the Alumni Association. “Since then, he and a small group of volunteers, along with our office, have helped connect hundreds of alumni. Mentors support mentees by giving them advice on resumes, helping them find internships, prepping for interviews or just being sounding boards for career advice,” Brown said. “The great thing about this program is, it lets you know that you are not alone. When you start thinking about internships and majors, remember, there are people in our network who have been through the same process and would be happy to connect with you and help you.”

Powers stressed the importance of making connections through the experiences and relationships that students will have in college and beyond. For him, one brunch meeting with the friend of a friend served as the foundation for his idea to create a formal networking platform. “I grew up in a small town. I didn’t have a lot of those connections. Many of my friends in college did have them. One of the most amazing pieces to The Frederick Gunn School is this incredible alumni base,” said Powers, who has helped put together a framework to help facilitate those connections among Gunn alumni, whether for resume updates, interview prep, or making an entry into a new industry. “Hopefully you’ll want to both give advice and get advice, which is the beautiful part of the program,” Powers said to the seniors.