CDO Team

Abigail leads the Yale SOM Career Development Office where she gets to work with students, employers, alumni, and internal stakeholders in support of Yale SOM careers. What she loves most about her job are all the inspiring people and amazing organizations she gets to meet and interact with.

Prior to joining Yale SOM, Abigail led the Career Center for Working Professionals at NYU Stern. She has also worked as a leadership coach and trainer, in consulting at the Mitchell Madison Group, in marketing at American Express, and in financial services at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., Inc. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in anthropology and history of art from Johns Hopkins University.

While she knows you’re in great hands with the Career Coaches and Employer Partnership Team, feel free to reach out to her directly anytime.

Mike Minutoli is Director of Career Education and Coaching and focuses on program development and curriculum within the Career Development Office. Prior to SOM, Mike worked as the Director of Graduate Business Programs at Adelphi University and spent nine years at NYU Stern splitting time between the Office of Career Development, where he developed programs and oversaw the coaching team, and the Office of Student Engagement working closely with clubs, conferences and the Stern orientation program.

Mike is an alum of Clemson and Quinnipiac Universities and Chaminade High School on Long Island. He lives up the road in Cheshire, CT.

Rebecca leads the Employer Partnership Team, partnering with recruiters and hiring managers to build effective recruiting plans that result in hiring the fantastic Yale SOM students. She loves branding and marketing and leveraging the skills she learned as a former food & beverage brand manager to help employers and students successfully connect to build career opportunities. Rebecca is a proud alum of Yale SOM’s MBA program and earned her B.S. in Economics from University of Wisconsin. A mother of three, in her copious free time Rebecca likes to play tennis, tackle Spelling Bee in the New York Times, and peruse thrift shops.

Norma has worked in higher education administration since 1994.  Prior to SOM, she worked in Admissions and subsequently added the roles of adjunct professor and marketing manager;  teaching courses in media, communications and marketing at Albertus Magnus College.  As a marketing manager, she developed training programs and spearheaded corporate outreach initiatives.  Norma served as Director of Operations and Student Services at the School of Education at the University of Bridgeport since 2007.  Since 2012, she was also the Clinical Practice Administrator for Resident Teachers.  Norma is currently an Employee Partnership Manager with the Career Development Office at the Yale School of Management.  Norma holds a B.A. in Communications and Media from Western State University and an M.S in Business Management from Albertus Magnus College.

Julia started in career services at Yale in 2014 working with Yale College students before transitioning to the SOM Career Development Office in summer 2021. Julia works closely with Silver Scholars, and has introduced workshops for all SOM programs using design thinking for career exploration. She loves getting to know SOM students and support them on their career journey at Yale and beyond. Julia is a Boston University alum, and has worked in France and Italy. Outside of Yale, she is very active outdoors. Talk to her about skiing (downhill/touring) & snowboarding, surfing, and running 5ks!

Michelle joined the Career Development in the Summer of 2023. She has been at Yale for 10 years – recently on the MBA Admissions team. Prior to that she worked at the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce and Beekley Corporation.

She is a lifelong CT resident living in the Morris Cove section of New Haven with her husband, 2 teens and her border collie, T-Bone (he came with his name!) Now that the kids are older, she looks forward to spending more time riding around in her husband’s vintage MGB on the shoreline and travelling. Talk to her about all things New Haven and Cape Cod!

Recently Joining the CDO, Julia brings 20 years of experience from working with the undergrads, grad students and PhD’s at Yale’s Office of Career Strategy. She enjoys the excitement of recruiting and is always willing to lend a helping hand. She loves to bake, kayak, hike and spend time with family and friends.

Nursen is the employer partnerships manager for Investment Banking, Real Estate, FinTech, Economic Development, Construction, Engineering & Architecture industries at Career Development Office. Prior joining Yale SOM in 2020, she was the director of career services at Laureate International Universities and a career coach at SOM’s partner school Koc University in Istanbul.

Before transitioning into higher education, she worked in various recruitment roles at Microsoft headquarters in the US.

She was born and raised in Turkey, and immigrated to the US nearly 20 years ago. She lives in Connecticut with her husband, 2 daughters and their cat.

Valerie is a Career Strategist with the Yale School of Management Career Development Office and has over 20 years of experience in Campus Recruitment related activities. She joined the Yale School of Management in June 2022 to support the MS – Asset Management program. Most recently, Valerie spent 11 years as Head of US Campus Recruitment for Macquarie. Prior roles include: Campus Recruiting Manager for Goldman Sachs and Senior Relationship Manager in NYU Stern’s MBA Office of Career Development.  Valerie earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lehigh University.

Brian Frenette serves as Employer Partnership Manager in the Yale SOM Career Development Office.  He has worked in higher education/career services for over 16 years, 10 of them within the Yale community. In his current role, he works with employers in the technology, media, and telecommunication spaces to help them best engage with Yale SOM  students. Before coming to Yale SOM, Brian worked at Yale’s Office of Career Strategy, coaching Yale undergraduates, PhD students, and postdocs. Prior to Yale, he served as Assistant Director of Field Experience at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and as Employer Relations Coordinator at Wesleyan University. He has also held adjunct teaching roles at the University of New Haven (Sociology) and the University of Massachusetts Amherst (Communication Sciences).

Tim (he/him) has been with the Career Development Office since 2011.  While his work initially focused on logistics, operations, and customer services needs for the on-campus recruiting process, he now focuses on overseeing CMS (maintenance, improvements, vendor relations) and data requests and database management pertaining to employment outcomes.   He has served on the board of directors for North Haven Pride, The North Haven Lions Club, Medicare-for-All CT, and the People Investing in People Foundation (PIIPF).   Tim volunteers in various community capacities throughout the state advocating and organizing on issues of equity, labor, and health justice, and is also member of the Local 34 organizing committee with Yale SOM.  He lives in North Haven, CT with his family.

Stephanie Haffner is a Career Coach in the Career Development office. Prior to joining Yale, Stephanie spent 12+ years in Marketing, focused on brand management at The Clorox Company, Colgate-Palmolive, Gap Inc., Omnicom Group and Interbrand before transitioning into education and led the SAT college admissions Marketing team at The College Board. Stephanie holds undergraduate degree in Business from U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and an MBA from INSEAD. She lives with her family and 2 young boys by the beach in Fairfield.

Nahkia Henry, a career coach with a wealth of experience spanning over 15 years, brings a unique perspective to SOM students. With a background in coaching and human resources, Nahkia has guided professionals at all stages of their careers, providing them with the tools they need to succeed. She specializes in supporting individuals through career transitions and facilitating their academic and professional advancement. Nahkia’s student-centered methodology is enriched by her extensive industry knowledge, which encompasses aerospace, consumer products, and finance. This breadth of understanding allows her to tailor her guidance to each student’s specific career needs. Beyond her professional commitments, Nahkia is an active member of various local organizations, demonstrating her commitment to community advocacy.

Audrey has worked in the Yale SOM Career Development Office for almost 6 years, first as an Employer Partnership Manager in Finance, and now as Associate Director of Operations and Program Manager for the Career Education and Coaching Team. Before that, Audrey was Assistant Director at the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute (CELI), where she managed research and logistics. Audrey currently lives in Milford with her cat Roxy and an inordinate amount of books.

Rebecca (known around the CDO as “Becks”) is the Employer Partnerships Strategist, focused on developing and managing approaches to engage current and potential employer partners, with the goal of creating career opportunity connections for Yale SOM students.

After graduation from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT,  Rebecca worked for 13 years in corporate retail across Merchandising, Marketing, and Human Resources in New York City and Milwaukee, WI, before joining the Yale SOM team in 2019.

She is wildly passionate about preserving historic houses and calls an 18th century colonial in Higganum, CT home.  Her time away from work is filled with restoration and decor projects, visiting historic sites, and digging in the backyard with her young son for artifacts.

Nataly has over 10 years of work experience in career education & coaching. She joined Yale SOM in 2011 where she worked in the Career Development Office (CDO) managing on-campus recruitment and developing new employer relationships. Prior to transitioning back to the CDO in 2018, Nataly spent a year in the Office of Community & Inclusion (now the Office of Inclusion and Diversity) supporting diversity strategies and initiatives across student services, recruitment, enrollment and alumni engagement.  As a Career Coach, Nataly works with all SOM students to define and articulate career goals, provide strategic resources for their job search and guide students from the preparation stage through offer negotiations. When not at Yale SOM, she enjoys cooking, dancing, true crime podcasts and spending time with her family.

Rachel Ryan is a Career Coach in the Career Development Office. She started her career in executive recruiting at Spencer Stuart where she focused primarily on Chief HR Officer and talent management searches. After attending business school, she joined the post-MBA rotational development program at Estée Lauder with a focus on HR, completing rotations in organization design, HR M&A and as an HR generalist. She then went onto lead global HR for the Tom Ford Beauty brand, prior to joining Yale SOM. Rachel received her BA from Lehigh University and her MBA from Georgetown McDonough School of Business. She lives in Fairfield with her husband and young daughters.

Kennedy Sani is an Employer Partnerships Manager at Yale School of Management. He has held roles in corporate and employer relations management and is known as a passionate and tenacious partner who goes above and beyond to support student and employer needs. Originally from Kenya, Kennedy is fluent in Kiswahili and has a Master’s in Social Sciences from Montclair State University, NJ.

Mary Kate Scardillo is a Career Coach in the Career Development Office. Mary Kate has spent her career in higher education holding roles in athletics, graduate admissions, and graduate business career development. Mary Kate received her B.A. in Psychology from Nazareth College, M.A. in Education from Castleton University and is working toward her doctoral degree in Educational Leadership at Northeastern University.

Elizabeth is a Career Coach in the Career Development Office working primarily with EMBA students and Alumni.  Elizabeth’s professional journey includes almost a decade at General Electric where she focused on Talent Acquisition and Executive Recruitment globally working on the design and execution of a recruitment model to serve all business and across all talent segments.  In addition, she spent seven years in executive search where she focused on Strategy/Corporate Development, Sales and Marketing and C-level searches.  More recently, she had been running her own recruitment and coaching advisory firm working with executives on managing their careers.  Elizabeth holds a Master’s in Counseling Psychology and a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature both from New York University.  When not at work, Elizabeth enjoys being in nature, travel, playing sports and has a passion for volunteering and working with young adults.

Deborah’s professional journey has spanned corporate HR, where she managed recruitment efforts and change management processes for global companies in the advertising, media and insurance industries and Executive Coaching, where she worked with organizations like General Motors, Wrigley, Yahoo!, Procter & Gamble, American Express, Bloomberg and AXA XL, to help leaders identify and maximize their strengths and teams communicate and collaborate more effectively. Deborah is passionate about coaching and finds no greater satisfaction than helping students maximize their strengths to reach their professional goals. Deborah holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Relations Management from the University of Delaware, is a sports enthusiast and is also dedicated to community service throughout Fairfield and New Haven Counties.

Raushanah Williams is a Recruiting Coordinator in the Career Development Office at Yale School of Management. Throughout grade school and junior high, to maximize her talent for singing, she auditioned for solos; and has been a part of a state-wide chorus convention.  Philanthropy is a driving passion of hers. In 2019 she attended a Missions trip to Palmira, Colombia—to stay with children in an orphanage/foundation for ten days- it encompassed quality time, fun excursions, and gifts. She aspires to be a lawyer dealing with international affairs.