Unique Scholarship Continues to Connect Bloomfield College Students with Alumni

A dedicated member of both the Bloomfield College Board of Trustees and the Bloomfield College Alumni Association, John Skowronski '91 aims to foster student-alumni interactions with many different initiatives, including the creation of his scholarship, the John B. Skowronski '91 Communications Scholarship Fund.

A unique aspect to the parameters is the scholarship recipient is required to interview at least one notable member of the alumni community. The interview would then later air on WBCR, the Bloomfield College radio station.

Adebola A. Taiwo '09, Trustee and alumna, spoke with current Broadcast Journalism major, Rayne Russell, on overcoming obstacles, succeeding when others think you can't, and explained why she remains deeply dedicated to her alma mater. Taiwo has established two scholarships at the College as well.

Taiwo works for Verizon within the Business Excellence group. She is responsible for leading Verizon’s strategic initiatives. Current initiatives include the implementation of Zero Based Budgeting and saving Verizon $10 billion over 4 years.

Prior to these role, she was a Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) Project Management Officer, responsible for ensuring Verizon's entity-wide compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) 404 internal control requirements. She led the annual SOX risk-based scoping process at the account and process level, and provided governance, risk and compliance guidance to process owners. She played a vital role in the success of IT integration and training of the Yahoo Global Compliance team on the AOL environment.

Taiwo has over 10 years of combined experience in a variety of Finance functions including Auditing, Financial Planning & Analysis and External (SEC) Reporting. She previously served in Finance and Audit roles at Johnson&Johnson, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Prudential. She has her CPA and a Bachelor of Science with a Major in Accounting from Bloomfield College.

She has a passion for community service and has worked with various not-for-profit organizations, including a previous role of Director of Scholarships on the National Association of Black Accountants Board - NJ chapter.

Taiwo was elected to the Bloomfield College Board of Trustees in 2016. In this role, she has gained a reputation as the "student's advocate" as she supports students by providing Accounting scholarships, mentoring and career development. She is also a member of the Bloomfield College Alumni Association and serves as the Acting Secretary.

WBCR is a student-run radio station operated by the Broadcast Journalism program. For over 10 years, the Station has given students the opportunity to gain hands on experience with the medium. The current manager of the station is adjunct professor Douglas Doyle. The video of the interview was produced by broadcast journalism student Janelle Blake under the supervision of Professor Esther Dillard.

You can watch the interview in full here.