Queens Chamber of Commerce and St. John’s Talk Company

February 3, 2023

At a pregame reception held before the St. John’s University Men’s Basketball group squared off in opposition to the Pirates of Seton Hall College, local New York City company leaders, little small business entrepreneurs from Queens County, and senior users of the University talked about enterprise, sports activities, and the at any time-transforming company of sports.

Collected in the cozy College Club on the Queens, NY, campus for the pregame networking occasion sponsored by the Queens Chamber of Commerce were being active customers of the Queens Chamber, neighborhood small business owners—many of whom are graduates of St. John’s—looking for methods to leverage the energy and attain of the Queens Chamber with company opportunities in the borough and beyond.

Established in 1911, the mission of the Queens Chamber is to foster connections, educate for achievements, build/apply plans, and advocate for members’ pursuits. It represents more than 1,300 firms with about 125,000 Queens-centered workers.

In his welcoming remarks, Thomas J. Grech, President and Main Executive Officer of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, was effusive about the people today and options that Queens County provides. “Queens is open for organization we want your business, and we are usually on the lookout for means to harness the diverse talent and the challenging-performing people today of the borough. St. John’s does a amazing job of attracting pupils to come to are living and study in Queens—and we want to hold them dwelling and operating listed here when they graduate.”

St. John’s is one particular of the nation’s most diverse institutions of larger instruction, enriched by a tapestry of cultures that complement an internationalized curriculum. Its New York Metropolis roots also give deep connections to the corporations and chances located in a person of the world’s most globally related cities.

Rev. Brian J. Shanley, O.P., President of St. John’s, prolonged text of welcome. “St. John’s is a organization, and just as you spend in your businesses, we devote in our pupils. We are generating a key expense in the well being sciences with the building of our new St. Vincent Wellbeing Sciences Centre.”

He additional, “Continue to search to St. John’s students and graduates when you seek the services of and continue on to guidance, root for, and do company with St. John’s.”

Brian Browne, Associate Vice President of College Communications and General public Affairs, acknowledged the very long and collaborative romance concerning St. John’s University and the Queens Chamber. “St. John’s is proud to be a contributing member of the Queens Chamber and to work with their management, particularly Tom Grech, to advance small business in the borough. The University, our varied educational courses, and the numerous ongoing money initiatives on campus are just some of the touch factors and chances for additional company improvement now and in the upcoming.”

Mike Cragg, Athletic Director at St. John’s, then spoke of some of the lots of ongoing improvements in collegiate sporting activities, such as insurance policies addressing identify, graphic, and likeness (NIL), a term that describes the usually means by means of which school athletes are authorized to acquire economical compensation for the use of their identify, picture, and likeness by way of advertising and marketing and other marketing endeavors.

“If you are a business proprietor, we want to hear from you and share strategies and opportunities to support our college student-athletes and their achievement,” he claimed.

Concluding the lively occasion was an look by Robert Cornegy, a previous member of the New York Town Council and Chair of the Council’s Committee on Compact Enterprise. Standing six-feet-10-inches tall, Mr. Cornegy was once specified by Guinness World Records as the tallest politician in the world.

Very long just before he was elected to general public workplace, he performed his very first yr of higher education basketball beneath Naismith Memorial Basketball Corridor of Fame Mentor Lou Carnesecca ’50C, ’60GEd, ’00HON as a backup middle on the 1984–85 Ultimate 4 staff. “Coach Carnesecca and St. John’s taught me as a 17-calendar year-aged college or university kid important classes that I continue to keep with me nowadays,” he stated. “I believe that in St. John’s and the Queens Chamber I believe that and fully grasp the value of small business, and I applaud you all for sharing those beliefs.”