Charting a New Path
AN EXECUTIVE FINDS HAPPINESS PROVIDING AN MBA SCHOLARSHIP AND IN-DEPTH MENTORING TO STUDENTS
In the space of a year, Susan Cybulski lost both of her life’s passions — her husband, John, of 48 years and the finance career she’d built over five decades. “I stopped working about a year before he [John] died because I needed to be with him, so I no longer had my career and then I lost him. It was huge,” recalled Cybulski. “I was at ground zero and needed to find a way to build a new life for myself.” Te 77-year-old former senior vice president at Bank
of America went about it in the way she does most things, strategically. “I needed help to find a path to start moving forward in my life,” said the Hungary native. “It sounds mundane, but life is for the living, and as much as I miss him [John] and I miss him to this day, I recognize he’s not coming back, and I’m entitled to find a way for me to be happy.” Tat’s one of the reasons she became involved in the
THINKING ABOUT YOURSELF AS A GOOD PERSON IS ONE THING BUT DOING SOMETHING TO DEMONSTRATE IT IS SOMETHING ELSE. YOU HAVE TO PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS.
Queens community, initially participating in Te Learning Society. Ten in 2019, she began mentoring students at Queens, and last year she created Te Susan Cybulski MBA Scholarship. Tis involves scholarships for two students, who she personally mentors. “It was one of these ‘aha’ moments when I was looking at my financials and realized I really should be giving back,” she explained. “I started with nothing, and I had a great life and now I could give back.” Cybulski immigrated to Canada with her family in 1962, and then to the United States with her husband in 1991. She credits education as an important factor in shaping her life and considers her MBA (McGill University ’79) a gamechanger. Working specifically with students in Queens’ MBA program was the perfect fit for her. “She’s been such a great sounding board,” said Sara
Dir MBA ’20, who worked with Cybulski while studying at Queens. “She has always been incredibly supportive of me being a female working in finance.” Dir is now an index review analyst at the London Stock Exchange. Cybulski admits that when she was coming up in the
industry, women were expected to stay in low-level jobs. “It was hard, very difficult and required a lot of patience,” she remembered. “It was very difficult to be taken seriously, and career progression was very slow.” One of her scholarship recipients this year, Akira
— Susan Cybulski
Shavers MBA ’23, says he’s equally grateful for Cybulski’s financial and personal support. “It’s pretty incredible to be
12
MAGAZINE
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
