Robin Quittell Ponticelli '94 has always been an active member of the RCDS community from her work as an AEB member for over 5 years and now as an active parent at the School. This past fall Robin approached the Office of Alumni Relations with a unique opportunity for RCDS young alumni to apply for an extraordinarily competitive internship at Fortress Investment Group LLC where she is the Managing Director; Chief Human Resources Officer & Counsel.
Fortress is a leading, highly-diversified global investment manager with approximately $40 billion of assets under management as of June 30, 2019. Robin felt very strongly about the importance of giving a fellow RCDS alum the opportunity to work in a highly competitive firm, an opportunity he or she may not have had if they were seeking a job on their own.
Robin asked the Office of Alumni Relations to post her internship to the RCDS LinkedIn page and the Rye Country Day Alumni Group on Facebook. As resumes came into the Alumni Office, they were immediately filtered to Robin and her team who conducted all of the interviews themselves. Robin and her colleagues were impressed with the quality of each and every RCDS applicant. She described them "as personable, smart, thoughtful, and articulate" and felt this was "a real testament to the quality of education that they had received at RCDS."
Hannes Boenig '17 was ultimately offered the summer internship. Robin and her team felt that Hannes was "super bright, driven, personable and a real team player." They were also very impressed with the depth of his resume, engineering background, and public speaking skills.
Hannes began his internship in early June and felt it was a genuinely enriching and educational experience. He felt that as an engineering student, it was particularly valuable to have the opportunity to work with deal team members on Infrastructure and Energy related projects at a renowned and publicly traded asset manager. When speaking with Hannes, he expressed how impressed with the depth of the internship program at Fortress. He shared that it involved weekly "Lunch and Learn" sessions during which senior leaders at the company, including the co-CEO, gave talks and answered questions from Fortress interns. He describes this experience as being "really special to be able to have a back and forth with one of the most well known private debt investors in the country " and surely something he would not have had access to without this internship. Hannes wanted to emphasize how incredibly grateful he is to Robin for facilitating his internship and acting as a mentor in his time at Fortress. Her devotion to supporting members of the RCDS community and building out the alumni network as it has certainly had a positive impact on his life and young career.
Both Robin and Hannes hope that a greater number of our more established and experienced alumni will follow Robin's lead and consider offering similar summer positions and mentorships to our young alumni.
Robin, through her firm Fortress, is offering another summer internship opportunity for 2020. Please check our RCDS LinkedIn page and the Rye Country Day School Alumni for more details as we will be posting this in early October. If you are interested please submit your resume to Melissa Mahoney Wirth '97, Manager of Alumni Relations at melissa_wirth@ryecountryday.org.
Additionally, If you are interested in posting about and/or offering a job or summer internship for our alumni at your place of employment, please email Melissa Mahoney Wirth '97, Manager of Alumni Relations at melissa_wirth@ryecountryday.org