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Dynamic Companies Foster Culture of Entrepreneurship Within LIU Business Incubator

Photo credit: Steve Pfost

The businesses located within the T. Denny Sanford Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute are contributing to the vibrant culture of entrepreneurship at LIU Post.

The T. Denny Sanford Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute, located in historic Bush-Brown Hall, is the first high-tech business incubator in our community connected with a nationally-ranked business school, and is stimulating economic growth and development through new company formation and incubation, creating local jobs, and linking companies with entrepreneurial and experiential learning programs at LIU Post.  It is the result of a powerful public-private partnership made possible through New York State and celebrated philanthropist and entrepreneur, T. Denny Sanford.

It affords businesses access to both a student and faculty population. Both provide valuable resources: the students are a workforce invested in learning business skills from the ground up; LIU Post College of Management faculty members came from widely successful careers in business and finance and provide mentoring expertise as well as valuable contacts within related industries.

We spoke with the founders of three of the companies in the incubator– Sage Marketing, The Kobi, and eParel– to see learn more about their plans:

Kevin Schiesz, eParel

Can you give me a brief summary of your business?
eParel, L.L.C. administers an innovative web-based uniform platform that serves as a management tool for hotels, restaurants, and catering companies. Our Bib & Tucker apparel line empowers employees to take charge of their appearance with comfortable and stylish uniforms. Our proprietary technology makes managing uniforms simple, saving employers time and money.

Where are you now?
We’re in our soft launch phase, and have been working deliberately with a small number of clients to refine our product.

What do you hope to achieve?
Over the next year, we envision working with a small group of LIU student interns to canvas hotels and restaurants in Manhattan and Brooklyn—door-to-door with tablets in hand. We also have plans for a small, pop-up showroom akin to a Bonobos “Guideshop.” Once there, prospective clients could view samples and employee-customers could try on garments from our capsule collection, shop accessories, and leave garments for alteration.

Why were you interested in working in the incubator space?
The extraordinary commitment to entrepreneurship and innovation at the highest level of the University, through the vision of Dr. Cline and leadership of Dr. Valli.

What are you looking to get out of it? How can LIU help you get to the next level?
Just-in-time intellectual capital from the many disciplines on the Post campus, including management, accountancy, computer science, and fashion merchandising. Also, support and direction from advisors in LIU’s vast alumni community who have experience building successful companies.

 Andrew Ewen, The Kobi

Description of our business:
Robotics is a trend that has now undeniably entered almost every industry imaginable. Currently, many robotic developments are still in their beginning stages; however, the robotics industry is set for rapid growth with more complex robots. At The Kobi Company, we are at the forefront of this robotics transition with our multi-functional, scalable, robotics platform that will disrupt the lawn and garden, agriculture, construction, golf, cleaning and mining industries, just to name a few.

Why the LIU Incubator:
One of the reasons why we chose the LIU Incubator is because they were the most responsive of all the five incubators we reached out to. Additionally, as their Incubator program is relatively new, we felt we could help to shape it. Most importantly, the opportunities offered by the LIU Incubator were more in synch with the strategic endeavors of our company.

Where are we now and what we hope to achieve:
We are currently beta testing our lawn module and will be rolling out a minimal number of products for next summer for some advanced beta testing. Our goal is to disrupt the manual labor space by creating efficient automated solutions to meet the needs of commercial and residential consumers. How will we do this? We aim not to outperform competitors but to understand how to deliver a leap in value, via value innovation, to buyers.

Dan Klein, Sage Marketing

Description of the business:
 Sage Marketing provides turn-key branding and digital marketing support for small businesses and entrepreneurs. We are currently working in the financial services, real estate and healthcare industries.

Mini Biography:
Two founders – Dan Klein, President and CEO has over 25 years of experience working in financial services and has worked with thousands of financial advisors all around the country helping them to grow their businesses within the warehouse and RIA channels. Stephen Finkel (CFO), was just in profile magazine as one of the top CFOs in NY has been a CFO for many years and was previously the CFO of a national company with over $ 300 million in sales.

Why you choose LIU Incubator:
We believe that aligning with the thought leadership at LIU will help us grow faster. We are also excited to work with the students at LIU by providing internships which will equip them with practical experience while they are studying at LIU. The digital marketplace is changing so rapidly and we can introduce these new tools to the students to help compliment what they are learning in the classroom. Dan and Stephen are also alumni of LIU and are excited to be back on campus. We hope that by partnering with LIU we will have credibility as we speak to potential new clients as well as having great thought leadership around us at the college to help guide us as we look to expand our business.

Care for the Homeless and LIU Brooklyn Hosts Powerful Homeless Person Memorial Event

For most people, the Winter Solstice marks the shortest day of the year. However, for those who do not have adequate shelter from the elements or stable housing options, the longest, darkest night of the year can be especially brutal.

On December 21, local communities observed Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day (HPMD). In New York City, Care for the Homeless, in partnership with LIU Brooklyn’s MPA program and Urban Pathways, sponsored an HPMD observance for the sixth consecutive year at LIU Brooklyn.

The Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day remembered those who passed away in New York City this year without stable housing. Since they began in 1990, HPMD commemorations have now grown across North America, with annual observances held in approximately 180 cities. These commemorations are sometimes the only acknowledgments for those who have passed.

“In this time of changing public policy it’s important that policy leaders like the LIU MPA Program, Care for the Homeless, and Urban Pathways bring attention to an oft-forgotten issue,” said Edgar Troudt, Ph.D., assistant dean for research and strategic partnerships at LIU Brooklyn’s School of Business, Public Administration and Information Sciences. “But this is only the first step.  We each need to examine the 175 policy suggestions that LIU and CFH put forward this past summer and then start conversations within our communities on the next steps.”

The free event was open to the public and included a meal and memorial program. The program included the reading of the names of people who died in New York City without housing this year. The names were then projected on a screen as they were read, a bell tolled, and candles were lit to honor each individual. The program also included a “Wall of Remembrance,” where participants could honor those they have lost in 2017.

“Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day is a solemn day of remembrance and mourning for people our community has lost,” Care for the Homeless Executive Director George Nashak said. “It’s also a time to reflect on the fact that it doesn’t have to be this way. That we have it within our power to fight, prevent and over time to end homelessness as we know it, and along with it the terrible consequences of chronic homelessness including avoidable premature deaths and suffering.”

The event was featured on WPIX 11. Click here to watch.

Care for the Homeless and LIU Brooklyn support advocacy for funding for the Community Health Center Fund, which expired with the end of the federal fiscal year on September 30. The CHCF represents 70 percent of all federal funding for community health centers who serve nearly 27 million vulnerable and poor patients, and never turn anyone away, including the 8,000 homeless patients Care for the Homeless serve annually.

Student Spotlight: Nicole Canada

Nicole Canada is a student in the inaugural Global MBA program at the LIU Post College of Management. One of three sisters, she is fierce, determined, and already considers herself a success.

She comes to the Global MBA program via Google. Not as an employee (yet), but from the actual search function. This student has goals. A graduate of Penn State with two degrees (one in economics, one in international political science), she is looking to earn an MBA before applying for law school. Because her sights were set on a busy post-undergraduate career, she was looking for an accelerated MBA program that she could complete in just one year. So, she googled it. And LIU Post came up.

After meeting with Dean Robert Valli for two hours (“We didn’t just talk about the program,” she said. “We were just talking about life.”), she knew that LIU would be her home. “I like this,” she confided. “I really like this guy. I like this program. I think there’s a lot of potential here. I think I could really excel here.”

The Global MBA program allows students to have immersive learning experiences at three world’s business centers: London, Shanghai, and New York. Students gain functional knowledge of business and experience engaged learning from three leading institutions: Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge, School of Management at Fudan University, and College of Management at LIU Post. Students experience the cultures, economies, businesses, and public policies in Europe, Asia, and
North America.

One of the most important lessons Canada is learning is the ability to be agile. “That’s one thing that Dean Valli teaches – agility. When I first met him he said, ‘That’s my favorite word. You’re going to hear it all year.’ And literally, all the time: agility. And 
I was never good with adaption and change. That was my biggest weakness and literally a month into it, this program took my biggest weakness and is turning it into a strength.”

Harnessing that strength is what Canada knows she must do to become a success. The confidence that LIU Post is giving her tells her that reaching her goals is inevitable.

“With the College of Management, they’ve been so hands on,” she says. “So helpful. I feel like they want to see me win and I never really had that feeling. I know being here that I am going to be successful. It’s not even a question at this point, just—Nicole, you have to put in the work to make it happen. We could help you. Give you great professors, show you what you need to do, help you out whenever you need to be helped, but essentially, the ball’s in your court. Shoot your shot.”

Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Harvey Kushner

As the director of one of the nation’s leading online programs
 in homeland security and counterterrorism, and one of the world’s leading experts on the subject, even Dr. Harvey Kushner, Professor of Criminal Justice marvels at the power of the Internet.

“I published a post to 16,000 LinkedIn followers asking if any students were interested in homeland security education in an online program,” Kushner said. “Within two days, it had 30,000 views. Then, I posted that I would be putting out a cyber policy newsletter, and got an additional 10,000 views.”

Of course, Kushner has grown accustomed to seeing the power of online communication in a very different way–particularly in 1998, following the bombing of U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

“I remember when I was working on the Embassy Bombing trial–I was an expert there–I was given Bin Laden’s CD-ROM, which was put out there on the web as a recruitment tool, a ‘How To’ manual to recruit and do dastardly deeds.”

Since establishing the Criminal Justice program at LIU Post
 in the early 1970s, Kushner has witnessed–and reacted to– tremendous change in crime prevention. His work as director of the Homeland Security and Terrorism Institute at LIU Riverhead– recently ranked 10th by AffordableColleges.com among the nation’s online homeland security programs–reinforces the 
need to constantly adapt.

“Criminal Justice is a relatively new discipline,” Kushner said. “When I first started the program here in the ’70s, it was somewhat different. There were no computer crime courses. We didn’t have computer crime. But, it was a necessity to develop that.”

Just as criminal justice has had to adapt to fight computer crime, so too has the counterterrorism community been challenged to keep up with enemies’ online recruitment efforts.

“It is a major recruiting tool,” Kushner said. “This is something that started when you first had listservs back in the ‘80s. International terrorists, domestic terrorists and what we call ‘transnational terrorists’–a group transcending different nations–used the Internet, certainly for recruitment purposes.”

The changing face of crime continues to push Kushner to refine LIU’s offerings, ensuring that graduates are prepared to serve their communities.

“When you’re in a program that has tremendous practical application,” Kushner said, “to educate and train people to go into the public and private sector to do the work that society needs to get done, you need to take a look around you and see how that’s changing.”

In both criminal justice and homeland security, that means an increased focus on data and analytics.

“As we move further into the 21st century,” Kushner said, “we’re going to have to deal with new technologies, cyber-analytics, big data, all of these things which can impact our discipline, from the traditional type of law enforcement to privatization, risk management, and risk assessment.”

That constant process of adjustment is just part of the job of making sure that future generations of LIU graduates are prepared to keep our communities–and the world–safe.

Q&A with Dean of LIU Global: Duleep Doesthale

Dr. Deosthale’s professional journey has taken him across the globe in academia, into the start-up world of Silicon Valley, and back home to higher education at LIU where his unbridled enthusiasm is matched only by his vast experience and deep expertise.

Dr. Deosthale is the co-Founder & former Vice President of the Silicon Valley-based Admission Table and the former Dean and Professor of Humanities & Interim Dean at the School of Business at Manipal International University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He has served as Vice President for International Education at the Manipal Global Education (India) and oversaw all international education initiatives of the Manipal group of universities in India, Dubai, Malaysia, Nepal, and Antigua. He was President of the New York-based study abroad company KEI (Knowledge Exchange Institute) and has been a professor at both Marist College and the University of Alabama at Birmingham and worked as a visiting professor (MBA program) at the Fachoshule Tecnik Esslingen, Germany.

Dr. Deosthale believes that a global experience lends itself to a multitude of skills that transfer into a post-graduation life and career, including communication, entrepreneurship, and a renewed focus on diplomacy and international relations, which are more important than ever. In creating true global citizens, the whole world opens to possibility.

LIU Global provides exactly that pathway—offering a four-year global educational journey unmatched by any other university. LIU Global students are fully immersed in the cultures of eight or more countries on five continents through a unique program that combines classroom instruction, field study, and professional internships. This makes LIU Global’s Bachelor of Arts degree in Global Studies the only one of its kind in the world.

What brought you to LIU?

In the last several years— and in my past life in academia—I encouraged students to go abroad. They would start off with a few weeks, then a semester. Some would go for a year. And some would make the unusual request, asking if they could enroll in a third semester? So obviously, there is great interest from students. When I found out about LIU and the program here, I said, “Wow! This is amazing. Is this a new program?” I found out that
LIU Global has existed for several decades. It was a coming together of my personal belief in terms of what students should be doing and how it would be beneficial to what is happening around the world today.

Why is it important for students to travel abroad?

We live in a truly a global society. There should be no boundaries and no limitations. We are human beings, and we need to create a seamless society. But, for that
to happen, we need to understand that every society, every country, every culture, every human being, and every family has elements which makes them different. You need to be able to live in that. Scratch the surface. Go deeper. Get uncomfortable. I always say, get more uncomfortable and you will find out more. Because when fear dissipates – the desire to learn becomes that much stronger. When you start appreciating this, you realize that the person on the other side is probably feeling the same way. If we all have our defenses up, we will never understand each other. When you learn how to let your defenses down, you realize that it is not a scary world. It is a world of people; we just need to understand them. We must communicate with them, engage them, be in touch with them, reach out to them–allow a two-way dialogue to happen.

What kinds of careers do you see for graduates of LIU Global?

LIU Global Graduates have gone on to secure positions with leading organizations including the United Nations, OXFAM, UNICEF, the Earth Institute, the World Health Organization, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and many international nonprofits concerned with the developing world. They have built successful careers as linguists, analysts, scientists, journalists, teachers, social workers, diplomats, and professors. Many of our alumni have pursued graduate degrees in a variety of fields.

LIU Global creates tremendous opportunity to network across the world. When you look at the details of the program, you will see we have many opportunities to engage with local businesses, communities, governments, and the arts. We encourage each student to cultivate and move in the direction of whatever they feel is important and relevant, impressive, fascinating, or exciting for them.

Can you think of a place you visited where the culture initially intimidated you?

Many years ago, I developed a program on AIDS in South Africa for the NIH. I had an opportunity to go there and set up the program. I was studying how widespread the disease was and how it impacted communities, particularly, isolated communities.

I wanted to explore the life of Zulus in South Africa, so I spent several days with
a family in a Zula homestead. I was placed with a very large patriarchal family–in a very isolated and remote area. There was no TV, no electricity, barely any running water, and to top it all off, none of them spoke English! I spent several days with them—doing a lot of pointing and gesturing and smiling, trying to figure out what everyone was trying to say. It was a very challenging situation.

But, it was truly exciting and remarkable.

I learned a lot, and came away humble, learning that happiness and survival and things that we look at from our perspective are very different in remote cultures. There is an abundance of peace, quiet, tranquility, happiness, and excitement. All the things we are looking for, but prioritized differently in everyday life. The Zulus do much of the same things that we do, but we have our urban trappings. There, they have no limitations.

We are our own limitation.

LIU Post Scientist Featured on MLB Network

Dr. Lawrence Rocks, LIU Post Chemistry professor who authored “The Energy Crisis” in 1972 and worked with Congress to create the Department of Energy, was featured on MLB Network TV live at Disney World at the MLB winter meetings.

An area of interest for Rocks is sports chemistry, particularly how temperature affects baseball’s performance.

Rocks had teamed up with St. Louis Cardinal’s Paul DeJong to complete a lab experiment proving that at a maximum temperature of 80 degrees, baseballs achieve the most bounce.

 

LIU Fashion Students Receive Donation of 25 Pucci Mannequins & 50 Couture Gowns    

Fashion merchandising students gifted with top-of-the-line mannequins donated by Saks Fifth Avenue in Huntington and fifty vintage, high-fashion designer dresses

 Brookville, NY – Twenty-five top-of-the-line Pucci mannequins, donated by Saks Fifth Avenue in Huntington, arrived at LIU Post’s College of Management on December 13 to be used by students enrolled in its Fashion Merchandising program.  The mannequins arrived with an additional anonymous donation of 50 high-fashion vintage couture gowns from top designers, such as Jacques Fath, Ungaro and Yves St Laurent.

LIU Post’s growing fashion merchandising program is unique to the region, with a focus on the business end of the fashion industry.  The mannequins and dresses will be part of a Capstone project this spring where the students will catalog and display the items, creating a full fashion exhibition with detailed signage as their culminating project.

Cherie Serota, Director of Fashion Merchandising at LIU Post, was thrilled with the significant gifts for the program.  As part of the Intro to Fashion Merchandising coursework, students studied fashion by the decade from the Victorian era to the present. The couture gowns all come from the 1980s era.

“We have Halston, Saint Laurent, Lanvin, and all these different designers that we talk about,” Serota said. “We discuss the decade they’re from and what the lasting influences are and now we have this collection here.”

Students were on hand to help dress the mannequin. The pride and wonder they felt upon having a tangible class lesson come to life in their hands was palpable.

“I think it’s very cool to see pieces that we’ve seen in class come alive, and actually be able to hold them and dress the mannequins,” said Samantha Perez, a student in the Fashion Merchandising program. “Especially the fact that they are such important pieces from designers that we’ve already learned about.”

The pieces ranged from formal gowns from Yves Saint Laurent to cutting edge pieces from the father of haute couture Jacques Fath to iconic pieces, like a Burberry trench coat.

“It’s also revolutionary the ways everything changes from one era to the next,” said Fashion Merchandising student Judith Solorzano. “For example, the Burberry jacket. I could wear that right now on an everyday basis. I can see how it could sell just the same today. Just because of the brand Burberry.”

Solorzano considered a sequined dress. “What’s coming back are the puff shoulders in certain styles– not evening gowns, but on certain things like blazers.”

Students agreed that no other fashion programs that they could have applied to would have given them the same kind of experience.

“I could have had the option to travel to the city to go to FIT, but I chose to stay home and go to LIU,” Solorzano said. “And I say to my parents on almost an everyday basis that little did I know how awesome a program Professor Serota has for us. It’s not just for learning in the classroom but for outside experiences. And her experience in the business makes her so hands-on. You couldn’t get that from anybody else. She doesn’t teach you from books. She teaches you from experience.”

Being in close proximity to and having business relationships with Herschliefer’s and the Americana Manhasset mall has offered them opportunities to experience hands-on experiential learning. During the semester, they have gone into showrooms, into a trend forecaster, Mood fabrics, and more.

“We went to see Philip Lim,” said Perez. “We got to see his showroom. They us his past runway season and how he’s trying to be environmentally conscience about what he does. It was very cool, the entire atmosphere.”

“The whole experience –I would say was like a step-by-step for how production takes place for creating a design,” said Solorzano. “It’s like learning a chapter through an experience and talking to people in the industry. We met girls who are probably not so far from our age who have these jobs, who are working for Philip Lim and other brands and getting higher promotions. It’s inspiring to see girls just like us, getting out of college and getting jobs like that. It makes it feel achievable.”

 

 

 

 

Global Institute at LIU Welcomes Congressman Lee Zeldin

Brookville, NY (December 11, 2017)—The Global Institute at LIU hosted Congressman Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) for a conversation with former Congressman Steve Israel, Chairman of the Global Institute, at an executive breakfast Monday.

The Congressman discussed global affairs, including Monday’s terrorist attack at the Port Authority, ISIS, the Iran nuclear agreement, Syria, Russia, and North Korea. Although he and Congressman Israel sat on opposite sides of the party aisle, they agreed that moving the US embassy to Jerusalem in Israel was the right move for the President.

Congressman Zeldin took questions from prominent Global Institute members on issues of concern spanning the globe.

About Lee Zeldin
Lee Zeldin was born in East Meadow, N.Y., earned a B.A. at State University of New York, Albany, N.Y., 2001; J.D., Albany Law School, Albany, N.Y., 2003. He served in the United States Army from 2003-2007, where he was deployed to Iraq. He currently serves in the United States Army Reserve. After serving in the New York State Senate, Zeldin unsuccessfully challenged Congressman Tim Bishop in 2008, but defeated him in 2014 and was elected as a Republican to the One Hundred Fourteenth and to the succeeding Congress. Zeldin is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Co-Chairman of the House Republican Israel Caucus, and one of only two Jewish Republicans in Congress. He lives in Shirley with his wife and two daughters.

About the Global Institute
Chaired by former Congressman Steve Israel, The Global Institute at LIU is a premier regional platform for understanding a world that’s increasingly volatile, uncertain and complex. The Institute’s non-partisan mission includes bringing world leaders, thinkers and analysts to campus; serving as a resource for the University as well as regional business leaders and social activists for information and analysis of world events; and helping to prepare students to change our world with new models of innovation and social entrepreneurship. Past speakers have included General (Ret.) Colin Powell and President Bill Clinton. Upcoming speakers include President George W. Bush in 2018.

 

LIU Post Fashion Students Visit Victor Talbots, Learn What it Takes to Build a Brand

Students in the LIU Post Fashion Merchandising program have been very busy visiting some of the most interesting locations to learn more about their study of expertise. Organized by the Director of the Fashion Merchandising Program, Professor Cherie Serota, who has been a leader in the industry for over 25 years, the students took a trip to Victor Talbots, a one of a kind couture fashion brand for men, located in Greenvale, NY. As part of their studies of menswear fashion, the students had the opportunity to experience the world of menswear in its proper environment. Professor Serota worked in many areas of the fashion industry and ultimately built a multi-million-dollar global lifestyle brand, cultivating valuable industry connections in the process.

“I am a strong believer in experiential and applied learning, especially in the ever-changing world of fashion” said Professor Serota. “ I have implemented a curriculum at LIU Post that incorporates all facets of this practice, and in the study of menswear, how better to learn it than to touch it, see it, and hear it from the best in the business. With the gold standard of Men’s Fashion, literally up the road from us, why not teach our fashion students about the world of Bespoke Tailoring in the surroundings of the finest and most luxurious menswear fabrics from around the world. Victor Scognamiglio and his entire staff took the students and faculty (including our Dean of our Business school) on a journey, as we listened to the history of Men’s fashion, small business practicum, and the nuances of old world tailoring, a trade that seems to be a dying breed.”

Students were in awe after arriving at Victor Talbots and learning more about their “made to measure” suits made with the finest cloth and gabardines. Victor explained that he first opened the shop in 1985 after he has a vision in college about starting a menswear shop. He dreamed of being a business man although, at the time, he had been working in corporate finance. He began assembling his shop in Greenvale and hired staff to begin building his brand.

“With a great leader like Professor Serota, I’m glad to be apart of the Fashion Merchandising program” said student, Julia Porter. “Visiting Victor Talbots was an eye-opening experience and it was refreshing to learn about his journey in how he became an entrepreneur in menswear. My dream is to follow in his footsteps to one day create my own clothing and become a trend-setter for womans clothing.”

Today, Victor has had great success in menswear, tailoring suits to fit every curve and creating exclusivity by purchasing only in small quantities. The shop has been included in the 1995 film Sabrina, the 1999 film Meet the Parents, and is currently the brand being worn by the sportscasters on the NFL Today Show on CBS.

“Listening to Victor tell his story and show us his exclusive products has given me a new outlook on Fashion” said student Rebecca Joy. “It isn’t just about designing the clothing, it’s also about working hard, developing a brand, and being proud of the product you have developed from the ground up.”

LIU Post’s Fashion Merchandising program offers students a unique interdisciplinary program with experts at the helm and close proximity to New York City, affording entree to “fashion laboratories” where they can acquire experience in real-world environments, leading to jobs and internship opportunities within top companies in the industry.

To learn more about the Fashion Merchandising Program at LIU Post, click here.

Global Institute at LIU Hosts Conversation with General David Petraeus

BROOKVILLE, N.Y. (December 7, 2017) — The Global Institute at LIU hosted General (ret.) David Petraeus at Humanities Hall on the LIU Post campus for a conversation with the Institute’s Chairman, former Congressman Steve Israel.

General Petraeus is a partner in the global investment firm KKR, chairman of the KKR Global Institute, a Judge Widney Professor at
the University of Southern California, a member of the board of Optiv (a global cyber security solutions provider), and a personal venture capitalist.

Congressman Israel began the program by discussing the critical role the Global Institute at LIU plays in the region. Congressman Israel explained the deep perspective he gained on global issues as a member of Congress because of the firsthand access he had to world leaders who could explain the complexities of different issues.  He noted that when he left Congress, he wanted to create a forum for our region to have access to that insight that proved so valuable to understand a complex world.

“So we set up the Global Institute as a place to understand what is happening in the world and understand it not from whichever tribal media that you happen to watch or listen to, not from tweets and not from Facebook, but from the people who have been at the center of gravity of those challenges and the people who continue to be at the center of those challenges,” Congressman Israel said.

General Petraeus spoke with Congressman Israel about the global conflicts that the United States has and continues to face in a lengthy Q&A, including threats from ISIS and North Korea. He noted that ISIS will remain a threat even after they cease occupying physical space because of the threat they pose in cyberspace, and how we will need to adjust to that challenge.  And while he laid bare the stark challenges we face as a nation and a world in light of those threats, he also made a point to discuss how optimistic he felt.

“How can you not be optimistic, especially on a college campus on Long Island’s Gold Coast?” he asked.

After taking many questions from an audience primarily composed of  veterans and students, along with members of the community and political leaders, General Petraeus answered what he believed was the important unasked question of the night: What have we learned from the last 16 years of war since the events of September 11, 2001.

“I think there’s lessons,” he said. “And I think if you accept these, that the policy that falls out is actually very straightforward and this is also a lesson perhaps for the students in here of why you want to get the overarching big ideas right up front. So, for example with the surge in Iraq, the surge that mattered most was not the addition of forces, but the surge of ideas. We changed all the ideas of what our strategy had been 180 degrees. For one example, securing the people was job one. And we recognized that you could not secure the people by doing what we were doing, which was consolidating them on big bases and getting out of the neighborhoods. We had to go back into the neighborhoods and we ended up establishing seventy-seven more locations.”

That adaptability speaks to what Congressman Israel had mentioned in his introduction: that instead of focusing on “hardware,” he instead put resources into feeding the intellectual minds of the soldiers and worked on changing hearts and minds on the ground.

Prior to joining KKR, General Petraeus served over 37 years in the U.S. Army, including command of coalition forces during the Surge in Iraq,
 command of U.S. Central Command, and command of coalition forces in
 Afghanistan. Following his service in the military General Petraeus served as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

“General Petraeus is a longtime friend and colleague I am honored to host at Long Island University,” said Congressman Israel. “His wealth of experience in global affairs is virtually unmatched and brings depth and perspective to the global conflicts in the past and how what we’ve learned can help mitigate our involvement in the world going forward.”

Congressman Steve Israel is Chairman of the Global Institute at Long Island University, a university Writer-In-Residence. During his sixteen years as a Member of Congress, Israel’s office recovered nearly $9 million in retroactive benefits for New Yorkers who served in the Armed Forces. As a member of both the House Armed Services Committee and the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, Israel has unique expertise in national and global security issues. He maintains strong relationships with military, intelligence and national leaders at home and abroad. He’s experienced in the areas of missile technology, cyber defense and professional military education. Israel is also a widely sought expert on the National Intelligence Council’s quadrennial forecasts of future conflict. He created the Democratic Study Group on National Security and has lectured at West Point and the National Defense University, and delivered the commencement address at the Navy War College.

 

 

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