Published Sept. 11, 2017
Ben Sylvestri, a Risk Management and Insurance major, participated in a nine-week
summer internship with Gallagher Global Brokerage at its Monroe location.
At the end of the internship, Sylvestri and his partner were named the GGB Division
Sales Competition Winners at the 2017 Southern Regions Intern Conference in Houston,
Texas.
Sylvestri and his partner appeared before a panel of executives who judged their presentation
entitled “Why Gallagher.” Their sales pitch was on the rising industry concerns of
terrorism and cyber liability.
“We made our scenario that we were presenting to a group that was made up of a stadium
owner (CEO) and their fellow leadership execs,” Sylvestri explained. “We were pitching
to them how Gallagher’s specialties in the fields of terrorism coverage and cyber
coverage were uncontested.”
Competing against 18 GGB offices from six states, Sylvestri and his partner competed
in four rounds to win the competition.
The senior from Rayville said the intern experience really prepared him for his future
in risk management, saying, “The overall experience of my internship was great. It
allowed me travel and network with hundreds of interns and employers from all over
the country (and world) and get hands-on experience with great people from the great
office in Monroe.
“It also allowed me to develop as a person and as a professional. It was such an honor
to get to represent ULM against some bigger colleges, but at the same time, it was
so great to win that competition. It shows the quality of education coming from the
ULM College of Business, and the Risk Management Program. I felt like I was more exposed
and familiar with the industry in comparison to students from other programs,” he
said.
