Rutgers Gives ‘Diamond in the Rough’ Access
School of Engineering alumnus Damian Rivera went from being a youth growing up in Harlem to the President and CEO of ALPFA, a national nonprofit where he helps empower the community to make an impact. He credits Rutgers for helping him “achieve his dreams.”
A year after Damian Rivera became a managing director at Accenture, a reporter asked him, “Can you tell us why it was so hard growing up in Harlem?”
He had heard this question many times before. This time, he wanted to explain how growing up in Harlem had strengthened his leadership. “I’ll answer that question, but first I will tell you why I am a better leader in the boardroom because of where I came from and how I grew up.”
To understand Rivera as a leader, you must understand the journey he went through, which includes, as Rivera puts it, “my transformative years at Rutgers, which built a level of confidence in me that I carry to this day.”
Kids would tease Rivera back when he attended public school in Harlem.
“I was a kid with holes in my shoes, and I didn’t own a pair of jeans, but what I had was a beautiful community around me that taught me how to read people and take action to create opportunity,” says Rivera, a 1997 graduate of the Rutgers School of Engineering. “It is humbling that this kid from Harlem is now in a position to help somebody else.”
Rivera attended the first public school in Harlem that started requiring school uniforms. “And all of a sudden I went from being the kid who didn’t have the cool clothes to everybody having the same clothes,” he says.
Rivera’s parents enrolled him in a program called the Upward Fund, where he was exposed to computer technology, etiquette, and social skills, helping him navigate a broader world beyond what he saw daily. It also provided him with access to visit colleges.
“One of the schools that I went to was away from the city, and it was this amazing place with grass and greenery, and that was Rutgers University,” he says. He knew that was where he wanted to go.
The program inspired Rivera’s interest in science, and he graduated from Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics. In his college application essay, he says he reflected on growing up in Harlem.
“I kind of tried to take the whole ‘diamond in the rough’ metaphor and change it into ‘I’m already a diamond, I’m just in a rough area, and all I need you to do is put me over here into a place where I have access to more opportunities.’”
His access at Rutgers led Rivera to a successful career first at Accenture, where he became a managing director in the company’s Resources Utilities practice, and then today as a leader of the national organization, ALPFA, which exists to develop leaders who are building a better future.
‘Priceless’ Programs at Rutgers
Before his freshman year at Rutgers in 1993, Rivera says he attended a special college preparation program at Rutgers–Camden. “These programs that Rutgers had were priceless,” he says.
Rivera, who received scholarship support at Rutgers, says he got involved with the university's Success in the Sciences program, which helped him secure internships, including one at Bristol Myers Squibb the summer before his senior year. “This completely changed everything because, all of a sudden, I started to be able to see who I was, as this engineering student with skills and knowledge to be able to apply in this major company doing phenomenal work.”
Rivera credits Rutgers for much of his success in life. “I wouldn’t be where I am today if not for some of the things that I experienced there.”
He had to learn to assess and analyze, and his education and internships helped him secure his first job at Accenture in the energy industry, where he worked for 21 years. He is now president and CEO of the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA).
Looking back, Rivera says he has fond memories of his time at Rutgers–New Brunswick, including chicken fat cat sandwiches (chicken subs with French fries, lettuce, and tomato) from the grease trucks and attending football games with his friends. He recalls his last night studying for finals and thinking, “I’m going to miss this. I know that I am going to miss this so much.”
He says his professors taught him valuable lessons. “The ability to be brilliant in what you do and also down to earth in how you engage with individuals” inspired him, Rivera says.
Rutgers also taught him how to break down problems and then rebuild them to solve them.
“That is the most significant technical skill that I learned that has carried forward with me,” says Rivera, who is on the board of the tech startup JourneyTrack in New York, and a technology angel investor. But technical skills alone were just the start. “The technical skills are kind of table stakes, and you expect to learn that in college,” Rivera says, “but Rutgers was also a masterclass in the soft skills, the interpersonal dynamics that really create the connection to movements in the world.”
Overcoming Shyness
Rivera, who has an MBA from Columbia University, says he is naturally introverted. He had to learn to get along with people and engage with them. “I am the shyest person out there. I asked my wife out by throwing a letter at her as I ran by. That’s the level of shy that I am.”
Rutgers also offered Rivera, who now lives in Scarsdale, New York, the opportunity to engage with people from a variety of diverse communities. “You need to embrace the fact that everybody’s going to be different, and you get to learn how to engage with everybody.”
Rivera looks forward to returning to Rutgers campuses a few times a year for ALPFA events, where he enjoys mentoring students.
“Rutgers is the university that provides access to make the impossible things possible,” he says. “If you have the grit, the will, and the determination to put the work in, it’s an environment that’s going to give you the opportunity to achieve all your dreams.”
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