Alumnus Credits St. John’s with Excellent Preparation for Career Challenges
Robert V. Ricca ’03MBA has enjoyed considerable success in the corporate and legal realms—and St. John’s University planted the seeds for that attainment. Today, Mr. Ricca is Senior Vice President for Corporate Development at Scopely, a video game developer and publisher.
When it came time for him to study for his Master of Business Administration degree, he turned to St. John’s—a school his family knew intimately. His father, Bob Ricca, was head football coach for nearly 25 years, and his mother, Lynn Schoppmann Ricca, is an alumna.
Having that business background was the key to my success in law school, and it was key to getting my first job at one of the top law firms in the country. Having that background was a huge advantage for me.
“I was working in New York City doing advertising sales for News Corp at the time,” Mr. Ricca explained. “I knew the school well thanks to my dad. I wanted to earn my M.B.A., and St. John’s had a strong program.”
Mr. Ricca took an undergraduate-level Business Law class and discussed the prospect of earning his M.B.A. with several faculty members.
Once there, Mr. Ricca knew he had made the right decision and credited several of his St. John’s professors with bringing their essential, real-world experience to the classroom. “I was so inspired by that.”
He was also part of the Student-Management Investment Fund, which provided him with practical experience not often found in a classroom. “It gave us a taste of investing in the real world and managing risk,” he observed.
Mr. Ricca grew up on St. John’s Queens, NY, campus, and remains a rabid Men’s Basketball fan to this day. “As a student, I really enjoyed working on campus with my fellow students on group projects during the weekends. It was fun working together, and I was furthering my career.”
After St. John’s, Mr. Ricca opted to attend law school, and dipped his toes in both the business and legal worlds until he found his true niche.
“My M.B.A. education was critical preparation for law school and the kind of law I planned to practice,” he said.
Mr. Ricca set his sights on corporate law, which he explained entailed mergers and acquisitions, securities law, and venture capital finance. “Having that business background was the key to my success in law school, and it was key to getting my first job at one of the top law firms in the country. Having that background was a huge advantage for me.”
He then transitioned that corporate law expertise to the business side, leading business development and corporate development for companies in the video game industry over the past ten plus years. At Scopely, he added, “I partner with world-class game makers across the globe. We have games in many different genres on different platforms, and we’re constantly building.”
Mr. Ricca lists his proudest career accomplishment as helping Scopely with its tremendous growth since his hiring in 2018. “Over that time, we raised more than a billion dollars of capital, were acquired for $4.9 billion, and have deployed several billion more in capital, becoming the largest mobile game developer and publisher in the Western world.”
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