Q&A: Michael McCarthy
QA
Ramapo College has maintained a long-standing relationship with businesses in North Jersey through its Business Partners program. Corporations that participate support the College’s efforts to award student scholarships and provide faculty development opportunities through an unrestricted gift to the Business Partners program. Ramapo College encourages corporations to avail themselves of the wide range of benefits and privileges to augment their organizational needs.
For more than a decade, the College has been proud to have Stryker Orthopaedics as a Business Partners. The corporation also supports the College’s major events including the Distinguished Citizens Dinner and the Annual Golf Outing.
Michael McCarthy, controller, Accounting Operations and Planning, is Stryker’s Business Partners liaison. McCarthy participates in various special Business Partners luncheons hosted by Ramapo President Peter P. Mercer and the College’s prestigious research symposium sponsored by the School of Theoretical and Applied Science. This past spring, McCarthy was instrumental in working with the Ramapo College Foundation, Emma Rainforth, associate professor of Environmental Science and Geology at Ramapo College and key executives from Stryker to develop a cooperative education opportunity for two Ramapo College students. The students were hired to assist Stryker Orthopaedics in achieving LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification. In this capacity, the students will review and follow the LEED credit checklist, obtain data to support potential credit qualification and facilitate multi-department collaboration for project support. LEED concentrates its efforts on improving performance across five key areas of environmental and human health: energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, materials selection, sustainable site development and water savings.
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Recently, we had the opportunity to talk with McCarthy about the partnership between Ramapo College and Stryker and its strong commitment to supporting Ramapo College.
Q: Stryker and Ramapo College have built a strong relationship over the past 13 years. Stryker’s annual support of the Business Partners program provides Ramapo College with an unrestricted gift. What is the importance to Stryker in supporting Ramapo this way?
MM: At Stryker Orthopaedics, we understand the importance of education and pride ourselves on providing world class medical education to the healthcare professionals we work with each and every day. Equally, we understand how important education is as a foundation to one’s growth and development. With Ramapo College only a few miles away, we know we have a business partner who stresses quality education as much as we do. We can always count on Ramapo College to assist us in various ways; from faculty/student research and knowledge-sharing to providing a talented pool of internship candidates. It has been a pleasure to work so closely with Ramapo College over the past two years.
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Q: The Business Partners program provides a mutually beneficial relationship for both Ramapo College and Stryker Orthopaedics. Please describe how Stryker benefits.
MM: As a member of the Business Partners program, Stryker benefits in a number of ways. First and foremost, we have access to the multitude of well-educated and highly driven students at Ramapo College, some of whom we get the chance to interact with professionally through our co-op program. Secondly, we continue to utilize the Ramapo College facilities for the many conferences, meetings and team building events we hold throughout the year. It’s nice to be able to hold meetings in such a great environment within a very short drive of our Mahwah headquarters.
Michael McCarthy, controller, Accounting Operations and Planning for Stryker Orthopaedics
Q: Many of our local corporate neighbors have joined Ramapo College as a Business Partners. Have you had the opportunity to meet others from the Business Partnerss program and, if so, what benefits do you see from this network? MM: Networking is very important and with our Business Partners relationship, I get the opportunity to meet with the large number of local businesses that also participate in the Business Partners program. The opportunity to meet fellow corporate leaders, exchange contact information and continually support our local community is very important to all of us at Stryker Orthopaedics Corporation. Ramapo College invites corporations to become Business Partners. For more information, please contact Kara Brennan, assistant vice president of Institutional Advancement, 201.684.7254.