Marketing communications professionals are navigating an era of unprecedented disruption and change with data-driven decision-making, AI, AR, influencer marketing, and an increased focus on brand authenticity all driving transformation in the field. The Gabelli School’s online M.S. in Strategic Marketing Communications (MSSMC) program gives students the tools to thrive in this rapidly evolving landscape. The success of the alumni featured is a testament to the program’s capacity to prepare students for what comes next.

Ebonique Edwards is the global head of talent attraction, engagement, and employer brand at Colgate-Palmolive. Responsible for the company’s global talent branding strategy, Edwards leads campaigns that showcase culture, attract global talent, and strengthen Colgate-Palmolive’s reputation as an employer of choice. She also has played a key role in shaping the company’s overall employer brand identity, including the launch of its new employee value proposition, corporate logo, and tagline.

A graduate of the Gabelli School’s MSSMC program, Edwards credits the program with sharpening her ability to connect brand strategy with audience insight and shaping her holistic approach to communications.

Edwards began her career at Verizon, where she developed a second-chance program to expand employment pathways for individuals re-entering the workforce, and later served as global head of talent attraction and inclusive recruitment programs at X (formerly Twitter), where she guided EVP initiatives and embedded data-driven storytelling into the company’s talent brand.

Edwards believes that her Fordham education continues to inform her work. “I couldn’t predict my career trajectory when I enrolled, but looking back, the program definitely prepared me in more ways than I expected.”

A pioneer in AI-assisted filmmaking, Justin Suarez serves as senior curator for talent and artists at Secret Level, a global AI-native entertainment studio that creates ads and campaigns for numerous Fortune 100–500 brands; music videos for artists like Wu-Tang and will.i.am; and original IP, including feature films and television shows.

Suarez took an unusual path to his current role. Melding his passions for filmmaking and fishing, he produced fishing programming before joining a marketing company that catered to the fishing industry. To expand his career options, Suarez enrolled in the MSSMC program at the Gabelli School. The program’s online format enabled him to balance live virtual classes with his work responsibilities. “Within weeks, I was using the things I was learning in class at my job,” he said.

Suarez feels he benefited not only from the guidance of his professors, but also from his relationships with his classmates.

After Suarez completed the program, he held a senior role in physician marketing at Penn Medicine before deciding to go all in on AI, eventually assuming the role of CCO at Mirsive Media and partnering with Machine Cinema to organize events to foster community among AI users.

Suarez now teaches as an adjunct professor in the MSSMC program. His classes combine film theory, ethical analysis of AI applications, and hands-on skill building with digital tools.

Sylvester McClearn is the director of the $11 billion Emerging Manager Program for the New York State Common Retirement Fund (NYSCRF), one of the largest public pension plans in the United States. In this role, he executes the Program’s strategic initiatives across the fund’s public and private asset classes and develops the next generation of investment managers.

“I’ve always been in the financial service industry, primarily in roles in sell-side sales, trading, management, capital markets, and currently as an asset allocator,” McClearn said. He spent most of his career at Citigroup in the United States and Europe, where he helped build the organization’s execution platform for equity capital markets.

“The Gabelli School thoroughly prepared me for these roles,” McClearn noted, adding that its rigorous curriculum, Jesuit traditions, and location in New York City gave him a competitive advantage.

His lifelong connection to Fordham began when he earned a B.S. in Business and Information Science, which was followed by him completing an M.B.A. at Fordham as well. A scholar-athlete, he was captain, and later, assistant coach of Fordham’s football team. He met his wife, Kathleen McClearn, (FCLC ’87), at Fordham, and their two children were christened by the late Joseph O’Hare, S.J., who at the time was president of the University.

A member of Fordham’s Board of Trustees for 16 years, McClearn is now a Trustee Fellow. He has led business students on tours of the Financial District and the New York Stock Exchange, and recently joined the faculty as an adjunct professor teaching The Ground Floor course.

“I’ve come full circle,” McClearn said. “I’m instilling in students the importance of being prepared while also being strategic about how they plan their careers. We, at The Ground Floor, are preparing students early on in their college years so when an opportunity arises, they can go for it with confidence.”

When she arrived in the United States from the Philippines, Dr. Imelda Tavas faced many obstacles in being able to practice as a physician. This dilemma forced her to reshape her career in unexpected ways. Rather than pursuing a path of clinical practice, she saw an opportunity to impact health care on a much larger scale by transforming entire delivery systems that serve the most vulnerable.

Today, as chief administrative officer at Essen Health Care, Tavas leads multiple teams across a diverse health care continuum in New York and has made an impact by reducing silos and enhancing the velocity of communications. Her leadership style directly relates to her personal and professional background and identity. She brings together the clinical insight of a physician, the strategic thinking of a business leader, and the deep empathy forged through her own immigrant experience. Her ascent to roles of increasing scope of responsibility has been guided by a leadership philosophy that was enhanced and refined through her time in the Gabelli School’s EMBA program, during which she learned to build resilient, adaptable, accountable processes and systems while never losing sight of the human element in health care. Earlier this year, Poets & Quants named her one of the Best and Brightest Executive M.B.A. graduates, recognizing her efforts to transform health care for those who need it most. “I understand what it means to navigate systems that weren’t built with you in mind,” Tavas reflects. “That drives my commitment to making health care accessible and responsive for our most vulnerable populations, while proving we can do it sustainably.”

Marketing communications professionals are navigating an era of unprecedented disruption and change with data-driven decision-making, AI, AR, influencer marketing, and an increased focus on brand authenticity all driving transformation in the field. The Gabelli School’s online M.S. in Strategic Marketing Communications (MSSMC) program gives students the tools to thrive in this rapidly evolving landscape. The success of the alumni featured is a testament to the program’s capacity to prepare students for what comes next.

When she arrived in the United States from the Philippines, Dr. Imelda Tavas faced many obstacles in being able to practice as a physician.