On Sept. 18, “Working at Travelers: Quinnipiac University Alumni Panel and Information Session” put students in the room with recent Quinnipiac graduates who are putting their degrees to work with fulltime careers at Travelers in Hartford, Connecticut.

The interactive panel discussion in the School of Business auditorium gave Bobcats a first-hand look into meaningful internship experiences which have now turned into careers for alumni, fostered by Travelers Emerging Talent Programs.

Director of Employer Relations, Career and Experiential Learning Brooke Penders said the university’s strategic partnerships give students significant exposure to companies like Travelers, which are seeking the qualities and skills of Quinnipiac graduates.

“It’s building important relationships which can consistently expose students to professional opportunities,” said Penders. “We really wanted to be more thoughtful and strategic about how we engage employers with our students. How do you bring them together more often, in a way where students can really get a lot of insights and good next steps? Career fairs are terrific; but how are we actually working with people who really love our students? Travelers is one of those companies that said, ‘We want more Quinnipiac University students.’”

Travelers Assistant Vice President of Emerging Talent Acquisition, Jamie Roshka, said this strategic partnership has created an important pipeline for Travelers leadership and development programs.

“Quinnipiac produces top talent and great students for us, and the majors really align with the job functions that we’re looking for,” Roshka said. “We have great partnerships with professors and with career services. It’s just nice to be able to come back, bring our alumni and share their experiences of going to school at Quinnipiac and now landing at Travelers.”

The panel discussion provided an opportunity for Bobcats to hear directly from alumni about their Travelers internship and leadership program experiences, learn more about Traveler’s internship opportunities and Emerging Talent Programs, and to consider joining a spring 2026 field to trip to Travelers Hartford headquarters.

The program was co-sponsored by Quinnipiac University’s Business Analytics Information Systems (BAIS) Society; Economics Club; Girls Who Code; and Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

Alumni panelists were Mia Troiano, ’25, a software engineer with Travelers Engineering Development Program; Brandon Kauffman ’24, MBA ’25, a pricing analyst with Travelers Product Management Development Program; Thomas Kwashnak ‘24, a data engineer with Travelers Business Insights & Analytics Leadership Development Program; and Luke Lappe ’25, a member of Travelers Finance and Accounting Leadership Development Program. Additionally, Krystal McMahon, a member of Travelers Human Resources Leadership Development Program, joined the panel discussion.

“As you can see, the different career opportunities that we have at Travelers are in a wide variety of areas that any corporation or any large business would have,” Roshka said.

At Quinnipiac, Troiano earned her bachelor’s in computer science with a minor in mathematics. Kauffman, a 3+1 student, earned a BS in Computer Information Systems and Master of Business Administration. Kwashnak earned a BA in Computer Science and BS in Data Science. Lappe earned a BS in Finance.

Each panelist recounted making immediate and lasting contributions as student interns through meaningful real-world experiences at Travelers where their skills were matched to opportunities across the organization. Travelers’ robust internship program also offers networking, mentorship, and advancement of skills and career development as interns take on projects with bottom-line impact.

Lappe said his finance and accounting internship experience went beyond building practical skills to include provisions such as intentional time to sit down with various leaders throughout the company, participation in events like case competitions, and opportunities to present projects in the works.

“I think Travelers does a really good job at structuring in a way to really maximize your 10 weeks as an intern,” said Lappe.

In addition, all Travelers interns are also the special guests of a CEO fireside chat, said Roshka.

“That is very important to our CEO,” said Roshka. “He loves to spend time with the interns because he knows that they are the future workforce of our company, and they’re going to be the future leaders, as well.”

During her internship, Troiano worked on a proof of concept for an application that was planned for implementation in May, 2025.  Troiano said the challenging work allowed her to build her JavaScript and React.js skills as part of her internship.

“I pretty much wrote it from the ground up; and what was really cool is after leaving my internship and finishing my senior year, I came back and they had already started the project, so I got to jump right back on,” said Troiano.

Across all Travelers internships, Bobcats can expect to enter a fast-paced period where they will be given the opportunity to make a lasting impact, said Roshka.

“Your internships are 10 weeks, but it’s a really quick 10 weeks. The role that you’re given as an intern is real work – it’s a real job. The projects that you work on live on long after you leave your internship,” Roshka said. “The point is to really give you an opportunity to see what it’s like in that program, in that job function. We want you to have a good experience, so you want to come back.”