The annual Cento Amici scholarship dinner – an event when top business leaders from all sectors mingle with dozens of student recipients from numerous New Jersey high schools and universities – always is a highlight of the fall season.
The hope, founder Bob Zito of Zito Partners said, is to give the need-based recipients more than a few bucks and an introduction to networking – it’s to impart a few words of wisdom from the guest honoree.
This year, Fiserv Chair and CEO Frank Bisignano did just that.
Bisignano told the students how all challenges can be viewed as opportunities – ones that not only can change your life, but also change society.
Bisignano detailed to the students how he was called on to handle a crisis at J.P. Morgan Chase, after the bank was (rightfully) criticized for foreclosing on a house that was owned by an active-duty military member who was serving overseas.
He detailed how he turned a negative into a positive.
“I went home that weekend, and I wrote a whole bunch of things down,” he told the audience of a few hundred.
“I said, ‘We’re going to create a military advisory board.
“We’re going to give away homes to wounded warriors at football games.
“We’re going to drop the interest rate for veterans.
“And we’re going to hire 100,000 veterans.’”
The effort had great societal impact. It helped hundreds of thousands of veterans obtain housing and jobs. It’s the reason veterans are now honored at sporting events.
It’s one of the reasons Bisignano was hired to run Fiserv, the largest Fintech company in the world.
How you can help
Cento Amici (100 Friends) is a community-based member organization that has been providing need-based scholarship assistance to qualified students in New Jersey since 1989.
Founder Bob Zito said: “Our mission is to enhance the educational opportunities for those who need it most and who are most underserved by existing need-based programs.”
This year’s event raised approximately $200,000. Between the scholarship gala, a golf outing and individual contributions, Cento Amici expects to raise more than $300,000 – a new record – this year.
To learn more and to contribute, click here.
To read our Nonprofit Profile on the organization, click here.
The company, which makes its N.J. presence in Berkeley Heights, has continued Bisignano’s pledge to hire veterans, becoming one of the leading employers of veterans in the country.
All of this led Bisignano to offer four key points to the students:
You have to be willing to work.
“I was committed to outworking everybody,” he said. “I wasn’t the smartest, I wasn’t the fastest, I wasn’t the best, but I knew I could outwork everybody.”
Work is a four-letter word – a beautiful four-letter one.
Only love is better, he said. So, find a job that you love – one that you can’t wait to get to every day – and embrace it.
Success doesn’t come alone.
Bisignano said finding a mentor – someone who will advocate for you – is key.
“Your boss has got to love you,” he said. Recognize opportunities and advocate for yourself.
Bisignano pointed out one of the heads of talent acquisition for Fiserv to all those in the room.
“If you don’t introduce yourself to her tonight, you’ve failed your first test.”
