July 06, 2010
For Thomas E. Bonhag, graduate study at St. John’s combined the
best of everything a student could hope for.
“In 1975, I was working for Chase [Manhattan Bank],” he
recalled, “and our employees were offered the chance to do their
MBA at St. John’s, paid for by Chase, with classes offered at
Chase’s facilities in lower Manhattan. Aside from the convenience
and the financial support, St. John’s was the perfect school for
me. It had a demanding curriculum, outstanding professors and a
very supportive University administrative structure. Combine these
traits with the Vincentian core
values and you have a magnificent university.”
Bonhag is currently Managing Director of National Madison Group,
Inc., a firm specializing in wealth preservation and transfer
planning for affluent families and philanthropic advisory services
for non-profit institutions. Throughout his professional career he
has held various positions in the financial services world
involving marketing, management and field sales as well as a number
of professional advisory positions. He credits much of his success
to what he learned while studying for his MBA.
“I
feel that a good deal of my professional success is attributable to
what I learned at the University and how to put it into practice in
my professional world,” he said. “I still employ operations
research techniques that I learned during my studies at St.
John’s.”
During the more than three decades since his graduation, he has
maintained a strong affiliation to the University, serving as an
Alumni Mentor to students seeking to enter the financial services
industry and participating as a panelist in Career Nights for both
undergraduate and graduate students. He recently shared his
financial planning expertise with fellow alumni at a Meet the
Experts forum on the Staten Island campus.
He is also a member of
The Loughlin Society, and in 2004 a grateful University
presented him with the Alumni Outstanding Achievement Award.
“I find that I can’t say ‘No” to St. John’s,” he remarked. “Even
though I was a night student and really knew no one there, the
people who worked at the University treated me like I was the most
valuable student in St. John’s history. That’s outstanding customer
service, and I’ve never forgotten it.”
Bonhag strongly embraces the Vincentian values that have served
as the foundation of the University’s mission since 1870, and
believes that every alumnus and alumna should make an effort to
foster those values by supporting St. John’s in every possible
way.
“The Vincentian values are most important to me, because they
form the core of my belief system. They have never, in my life,
been more relevant than they are now due to the complexity of our
world, the number of critical issues that exist today and the speed
with which situations change. These values form the foundation of
our ethical decision-making.”
Of particular importance to him is the commitment to service
that lies at the heart of the St. John’s experience. He believes
that putting this commitment into practice in realistic ways will
help to ensure that the University will have the ability to reach
out to those in need for generations to come.
“The foundation concept of the University is service to our
fellow man,” he noted, “and to be true to St. John’s, I feel
an obligation to do what I can to assist those coming through the
St. John’s experience behind me. The benefits that we have received
must be available to others, and I have an obligation to see that
this happens. In my opinion, so does each and every member of our
alumni. If each of our alumni were to contribute a mere $100 per
year and continue to contribute each year, the University would
have the sound financial underpinning and the financial strength to
carry on the Vincentian ideals for which it has always been
known.”
He is also in the initial stages of working with colleagues at
National Madison Group, Inc. to plan initiatives designed to help
St. John’s build its endowment fund and add additional endowed
chairs to the academic structure of the University.
Reflecting his strong affinity for St. John’s current students,
Bonhag advises them to, “Learn well, live well and have fun. Never,
ever, forget the opportunity that St. John’s gave to each of us,
and remember that it is our obligation to see that those same
opportunities, and more, are available to those who follow after
us.”