Fifteen young alumni across a variety of industries and disciplines have signed on to mentor current students in the 2021 LA Tank entrepreneurial competition. The program was hatched by Sam J. Serio ’16 during his senior year at LA and is designed to inspire students to explore entrepreneurship while building relationships between Loyola students and alumni.
At the start of each new session, students are grouped into teams and tasked with identifying an existing problem to solve with a new product or idea. At regular check points throughout the product development phase, alumni speakers deliver workshop-style presentations to the teams of students.
What started as a simple idea to give students a jumpstart on their career paths has evolved into a type of thought-laboratory where students can navigate complex life and work environments under the guidance of alumni experts in their fields.
Now in its sixth year, the program is off to a great start under the guidance of the following alumni mentors:
Katina Burke ’14
Texas Christian University, BA in economics
Capital Investments Analyst at Equity LifeStyle Properties, Inc
Mary Kate Vanecko ’13
College of the Holy Cross, BA in political science and government
Management Consulting Analyst at Accenture
Mariette Bahati ’14
American University, BA in international law and legal studies
Account Executive at Yelp
David Blobaum ’06
University of Chicago, BA in sociology
Partner at Summit Prep
Brittany McCray ’12
Lake Forest College, BA in communications
Business Development Intern at The Gettys Group
Liz Gambacorta ’14
Miami University, BA in finance
Associate Corporate Real Estate Analyst at CDW
Kate Valenti Tess ’03
Georgetown University, BA in psychology, English
Kellogg School of Management, MBA
Senior Director at CBRE
Tanea Crawford ’16
Loyola University Chicago, BS in molecular/cellular neuroscience
Owner of Tanmar by Tanea Marie
MJ Puch ’09
Marquette University, BA in business administration and management
Key Account Sales Specialist at Primrose Candy Company
Mike Mulroe ’10
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, BA in economics
Associate at Tilia Holdings
Kay Dosu ’09
Suffolk University, BA in advertising
Digital Communications Lead, Infrastructure & Energy at Macquarie Group
Greg McDonnell ’14
Saint Louis University, BA in entrepreneurship, business operations and emergency management
Assistant Project Manager at Aldridge Electric
Melody Ogoke ’16
University of Missouri-Columbia, BBA in business administration, management and operations
Lead Server at University Club of MU & University Catering
Miguel Mereles ’18
Seattle University, strategic communications major, entrepreneurship & innovation minor
Social Media Intern at Seattle University Communications Department
Steve Conway '09
University of Notre Dame, BA in finance and computer applications
Senior Enterprise Account Executive–Commerce Cloud at Salesforce
Stay tuned for more news and updates from the 2021 LA Tank competition! For more information, watch
this short video featuring
Angelina Simon ’20, who used her experience in the program to secure an internship at Sophia Steak, owned by
Ryan O’Donnell ’95, founder of Ballyhoo Hospitality.