Events and Programming

The Eugene J. McCarthy Center for Public Policy and Civic Engagement invites all to the Mark Kennedy Frontiers of Freedom Lecture on Monday, November 18, 2019, at 7:00 p.m. in the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater at Saint John’s University.

This year’s keynote will be given by Lauren Simmons, Vice President of Investment Risk at CTRL USA, a private investment company. Her speech, titled “The Power of Being the Other in the Room,” is free and open to the public.

Simmons graduated from Kennesaw State University in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in genetics and a minor in statistics. In 2017, Simmons made history at 23 years old, becoming the youngest female and the second-ever African American woman to work as a trader at the New York Stock Exchange in 225 years. 

Simmons has been featured in a wide variety of media outlets including ABC, CNBC, CNN, and Fox and a film is being made about her life. She has earned numerous honors including being named an Ebony Magazine Power 100 honoree, a Woman of Impact by Politico and a Woman of Distinction by the American Association of University Women.

This event is co-sponsored by Bennies in Business, Black Students Association, Donald McNeely Center for Entrepreneurship, Intercultural LEAD, John and Elizabeth Myers Chair in Management, Joint Events Council, and the Sr. Nancy Hynes Institute for Women’s Leadership.

The McCarthy Center is excited to bring back A Year-End Look at the Economy this December! Joining CSB/SJU Economics Professor, Louis Johnston is Chris Farrell, a senior economics contributor at Marketplace, American Public Media’s nationally syndicated public radio business and economic programs, and MPR Editor-at-Large, Gary Eichten ’69.