Richard Cruz
MBA, 2008

Richard Cruz currently holds the position of Director of Asset Research for the Laurel Hill Advisory Group, which is located at 100 Wall St.

He represents facets of various industries, from companies going public in IPOs to private placements. He is an accomplished executive with a history of successfully leveraging multi-million dollar post-merger and acquisitions clean-ups for Fortune 500 companies. His concentration lies heavily in this area, where he helps deal with the problems that occur after a merger or acquisition takes place.

He has been requested on several occasions to advise on a few potential mergers, and he is actively involved in the programs, from the start of a company’s announcement to the closing date of the deal.

For the past seven years, Mr. Cruz has worked closely with top ranking attorneys at prestigious law firms, such as Skadden Arps, Paul Weiss, and McDermott. There he played an important role as Paralegal Manager and was part of the several acquisitions that took place. His two major accomplishments were working on the acquisition of Air Defense Inc. by Motorola and the merger of Hewlett Packard and Compaq.

As a young man growing up in the rough neighborhood of Washington Heights, Mr. Cruz dreamed of leaving 188^th Street to become an executive on Wall Street. That dream has now become a reality. Nevertheless, he still returns to 188^th St. to speak to others and advocate on the importance of following one’s dream.

He worked while attending Bergen Community College, where he was presented with the 2009 Hispanic Heritage Award. In 2002, he transferred to William Paterson University and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Economics with a minor in Sociology. While pursuing his education, Mr. Cruz worked his way up to become a paralegal manager and with the encouragement and recommendation of the attorneys at his company, he decided to pursue an MBA Degree.

He visited a few colleges, but none caught his attention the way Monroe College did. Monroe offered a positive energy and presence, with a family atmosphere that made him feel right at home. The faculty at Monroe helped him lose the fear of public speaking and gain the required skills to become a better project manager. These attributes helped him to build the most competitive team in the industry.

He was motivated to not only succeed in his career, but to use his acquired skills to give back to others.. As Richard Cruz says, “Going to Monroe College for my MBA has been one of the best strategic moves of my life!”