Alumnus Flexible and Adaptive to Ever-Changing Corporate Dynamics
John Sarkis ’95SVC, ’97CBA, ’02MBA came to St. John’s University envisioning a future in professional baseball. While that dream did not materialize—and the road was far from easy—his journey ultimately led to remarkable success in a very different field.
Today, with decades of experience in the global technology sector, Mr. Sarkis serves in a sales leadership role at Oracle Cloud. Having begun his career on the infrastructure side—focusing on data centers, real estate, power, cooling, and the physical environments where servers operate—he later pivoted into AI and public cloud economics, expanding his expertise through advanced certifications and professional development.
"St. John’s is a very special place. It is quintessentially New York. You look around, and the diversity is there. That is the real world. It prepares you for anything."
- Finance, Bachelor of Science•
- Executive Management, Master's of Business Administration
- The Peter J. Tobin College of Business
By embracing lifelong learning, he has successfully navigated the rapid evolution of the industry and shown how reinvention is essential to remain relevant in today’s digital economy. Over the years, he has led large sales organizations at several major companies, where he was often called upon to structure complex, transformative deals that seamlessly integrated both technical and commercial frameworks.
Mr. Sarkis’s path, however, was anything but linear. He originally enrolled in the pharmacy program at St. John’s while pursuing his dream of playing baseball. Balancing the rigors of academics and athletics quickly became overwhelming.
“I didn’t have enough hours in the day, and everything started to suffer,” he recalled.
By his third semester, he stepped away from both pursuits. Determined to reset his academic foundation, he enrolled in community college to raise his grades before returning to St. John’s. “That was hard—but the experience changed my life,” he said.
Armed with renewed motivation, he worked with a dean to chart a path back and, upon re-enrollment, shifted his focus to finance. From that moment on, he thrived academically, ultimately earning his associate’s, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees from the College of Business Administration (now, The Peter J. Tobin College of Business).
“St. John’s created an environment where resources were available if you sought them out,” he reflected. “Pharmacy wasn’t for me, but business was. Once I found my niche, I got serious—and everything changed.”
He added, “St. John’s is a very special place. It is quintessentially New York. You look around, and the diversity is there. That is the real world. It prepares you for anything.”
Mr. Sarkis would not change how his academic journey unfolded at St. John’s. It ultimately led him to the heights of professional success and gave him the fearlessness to undertake new challenges he might never have possessed.
“St. John’s gave me the ability to pivot, to be successful at something completely different from what I originally intended. Today, I’ve achieved every professional goal I’ve set for myself, and I’m ready for whatever comes next.”
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Steven DiPardo, C.P.A. ’07TCB, ’08MS made it his mission years ago to advocate for students who shared his desire for a college education at St. John’s University—as well as attaining a prosperous and meaningful place in the world.
“I have always been very interested in recruiting and connecting with St. John’s students, listening to what their questions are, and being able to provide them with answers that are based on my life experience and what I experienced during my years as a student,” said Mr. DiPardo, a certified public accountant who earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and a Master of Science degree in Taxation from The Peter J. Tobin College of Business.
Brooklyn, NY, native Peter Gonzalez Jr. ’02TCB loved his St. John’s experience—both of them. He spent the first three years of his academic career on the Queens, NY, campus, and the last at the former Staten Island, NY, campus.
“I always knew the name. I always liked the Men’s Basketball team, but as I investigated further I learned they had a great finance program and an attractive campus,” Mr. Gonzalez recently recalled. A commuter student, he ultimately transferred to Staten Island for ease of travel.
Success as an entrepreneur is not about how successful you become. It is about how much you impact others.
So says Ravinder P. Singh ’85M.B.A., businessman, tech entrepreneur, and proud alumnus of what is now The Peter J. Tobin College of Business. Mr. Singh, founder of four successful companies, uses his St. John’s University “Education That Elevates” to elevate others.