Meet Your Career Advisor / Book an Appointment

Julia Nietsch-Kouris advises M.S. and M.B.A. students who are pursuing careers in media, entertainment, and marketing. Additionally, she is an adjunct professor at the Gabelli School of Business. She brings nearly 15 years of experience working in public relations and over 12 years working in media. Prior to joining the  Gabelli School she was VP of Communications at NBCUniversal. A Fordham alumna, she holds an M.B.A. in Marketing and Management, and earned a B.A. in Strategic and Organizational Communication from Temple University.

Robert P. Gach, is currently an adjunct professor and chair of the Gabelli School of Business Advisory Board. He also serves on the President’s Council of Fordham University. Previously, Gach spent 37 years at Accenture, a global consulting and technology firm. During his tenure at Accenture, his client work included service to capital markets clients (investment banks, wealth managers, exchanges, and custodians). Gach led engagements on strategy development, cost and efficiency improvement, market development, digital transformation, technology planning, operations strategy, and enterprise change.

Alex Carlin is a User Experience (UX) researcher at Google, where she has been for the past 4.5 years. In her current role, she focuses on understanding the user needs and behaviors of the GCP Operations suite of tools—working cross-functionally with Engineering and Product Management to drive strategic and tactical design direction for the product. Prior to Google, Carlin worked as market researcher for American Addiction Centers (AAC), where she managed a team of four and created, executed, and analyzed market research projects in order to gain insight into the consumer preferences and behaviors within the addiction treatment space. AAC acquired a digital marketing company, Recovery Brands, for which Carlin worked as a researcher prior to the acquisition. During her tenure at both Recovery Brands and AAC, she leveraged consumer data and market trends to strategize on data-driven content and campaigns. Carlin is an undergraduate and graduate alumna of Fordham University—she graduated from the Rose Hill campus in 2015, where she majored in psychology, and then graduated from the  Gabelli School of Business in 2018, where she earned and M.S. in Marketing Intelligence.

Madeira Ginley serves as the chief operating officer of MIMO Studios, a female-owned and operated media company that specializes in kids and family content spanning live-action, animation and preschool. Prior to MIMO Studios, Ginley oversaw key relationships at Nickelodeon with partners including Saban Capital (Power Rangers), eOne (Peppa Pig) and Spin Master (PAW Patrol) in programming, music marketing and partnership development.

Ginley began her career at Nickelodeon in the programming world, where she went on to apply the fundamentals of programming as a marketing tool, to support specific strategies that took IP from hit tv series to billion-dollar franchises. She earned an M.B.A. in Corporate Finance and Media Management from the Gabelli School of Business and earned an undergraduate education from Emerson College.

Marc Hanson has been with PepsiCo for 17 years, working across numerous marketing and innovation roles in the North American and Global Beverages Team. He currently serves as the senior director of commercial marketing for the Beverages Portfolio, working across multiple categories and brands, including carbonated soft drinks (Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Starry), energy (Rockstar), sports drinks (Gatorade, Propel), and RTD coffee (Starbucks) and tea (Pure Leaf, Lipton), to drive brand relevance and growth.

Hanson has worked across several consumer marketing and innovation roles in his time at PepsiCo, including leading the energy drink (Rockstar, Mtn Dew Energy) and ready-to-drink tea portfolio (Pure Leaf, Lipton, Brisk, and Tazo), consumer engagement for the iconic Mountain Dew brand on key initiatives like DEWmocracy, a consumer driven innovation platform and the brand’s video gaming experiential programs. He also has driven the innovation pipeline across several categories, led the North America beverage portfolio strategy and talent agenda as the chief of staff to the chief marketing officer, and drove the global beverages transformation agenda to address evolving consumer demand trends that are reshaping the future of beverage consumption.

With 20+ years of marketing experience, Hanson has also held roles with Dannon Yogurt and on the advertising agency side, working on media planning strategy across the financial services (Datek/Ameritrade, Merill Lynch), telecom (Verizon Wireless), and tourism (Bahamas) categories.

Hanson was born in New York and holds an M.B.A. from Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business and a Bachelor’s in Management from Binghamton University. He lives in Westchester, NY with his wife, Meredith, and their two children. In his spare time, he likes to play and watch tennis.

Hana Kalaie is from Venezuela with a mix of Middle Eastern heritage in her background. She has a bachelor’s degree in applied economics and moved to New York City in 2019 to pursue a Master’s in Marketing Intelligence from the Gabelli School of Business . She has worked in different fields including CPG, retail, banking, and tech. After earning her master’s degree in 2020, she received a full-time job off at Grubhub as a senior associate in loyalty programs. She spent two years learning about CRM, 360 marketing campaigns, collaborating with multiple teams including data, engineering, branding, and finance. After her time at Grubhub, she accepted an offer at Amazon Business as a product marketing manager, driving customers to the site and owning on-site marketing strategy. She has been able to dive deep into the data, creative assets, and project management, understanding the opportunities to drive customers with the right message at the right time. In her spare time in addition to being a 5 AM Club member, she plays flag football and spends time at the gym and with her dogs.

Ned Kleinschmidt is an executive director at RPA, specializing in financial and advisory turnaround services. For over 25 years, he has focused on advising lender groups and debtors in various distressed situations and bankruptcy matters. His consulting experience includes strategic planning, business plan analysis, complex negotiations, financings, mergers and acquisitions, interim management and fiduciary roles, cost reduction strategies, and forensic services.

Kleinschmidt has extensive experience as an acting CEO and advisor to lenders in a large number of commodities related and hard asset industries, including almost all value chain segments of oil and gas, power generation, mining and minerals, ethanol, and biofuels. He has served as a member of the board of directors, chairman of the board, and CEO of over a dozen companies, encompassing industries such as telecom, energy, automotive, and manufacturing. He also has held CFO and controllership positions in the manufacturing, real estate, and senior and assisted living industries.

Prior to founding RPA Advisors in 2011, Kleinschmidt was a member of Capstone Advisory Group, and a senior managing director with FTI Consulting. He also was an audit manager with Ernst & Young, LLP and worked for Policano & Manzo.

Kleinschmidt holds a B.A. in Public Accounting from Fordham University, and an M.B.A. in Finance from Pace University. He has been qualified as a Certified Public Accountant, and Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor. He also is a member of the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors (“AIRA”), the Turnaround Management Association, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the New York Society of Certified Public Accountants. He is recognized as an expert on restructuring and energy issues and has presented, written, and been called upon to provide expert testimony in these areas.

Chenyi Li is currently a senior data scientist at Spotify, where she sits on a strategy team focusing on research and analytics topics around market intelligence, consumer behavior, and performance diagnostics. Prior to Spotify, she held various roles within the beauty industry, most recently as the fragrance growth intelligence senior manager at the Estee Lauder Company. Li’s professional areas of expertise include data science/analytics, consumer insights, and business strategy. She initially earned her bachelor’s degree in food science, but decided to make a career shift and moved to New York City in 2017 to earn a Master’s in Marketing Intelligence from the Gabelli School of Business. She is passionate about music, perfume, and exploring nature.

Alison R. Smith has two decades of experience working with entrepreneurs, families, foundations and investors. She is a managing director at Bernstein Private Wealth Management, which advises high net worth clients on planning for—and living with—the complexities that come with wealth. Before joining Bernstein, Smith was a partner and head of strategic growth at Rethink Capital Partners, a venture capital and real estate investment platform. Before joining Rethink, she was a managing director of Cornerstone Capital Group, a registered investment advisor that serves clients who want their investments to contribute to a more sustainable and inclusive world without sacrificing financial performance. Prior to joining Cornerstone, for over a decade, Smith worked at TIGER 21, an investment think-tank for high-net-worth individuals. She often is asked to speak at conferences and guest lecture at universities on topics including: aligning your portfolio with your values, impact investing, strategic growth, authentic financial marketing, and how do you measure success. Smith is a graduate of Fordham University’s Graduate School of Business (now the Gabelli School of Business) with an M.B.A. in finance and marketing. She earned a B.A. at Ithaca College. Smith served on the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society Advisory Board and regularly gives time as a mentor of a teen mother through the Big Brothers Big Sisters Program.