Financial Services Professional Was Destined to Attend St. John’s
Catherine Sanford-Flores ’03TCB seemed destined to attend St. John’s University. She met her husband on the Queens, NY, campus during her sophomore year and her mom is a graduate and active member of the St. John’s community.
“When it came time to select a college, I looked for a school that would give me a chance to learn personally and professionally,” Ms. Sanford-Flores recalled. “I wanted to be close to New York City and close to home—but not too close—and St. John’s had these brand-new residence halls, so it really fit what I was looking for.”
When it came time to select a college, I looked for a school that would give me a chance to learn personally and professionally. St. John’s really fit what I was looking for.
She credits St. John’s with much of her professional and personal success.
“I had some really useful internship opportunities,” she added. “My first one was on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange supporting the trading team. That led to my second internship at Merrill Lynch, which gave me a taste of wealth management, which I am a part of now.”
Those internships led Ms. Sanford-Flores to a series of positions in financial services. Her first full-time position was on the marketing team at Wall Street Access, a discount brokerage firm in lower Manhattan. Ms. Sanford-Flores then transitioned to Bear Stearns, where she worked on the global clearing side.
It was at Bear Stearns where she met Andrew Hart, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Next Capital Management. Next Capital Management is an independent registered investment advisory firm with approximately $1.8 billion in assets under management.
Mr. Hart would soon ask Ms. Sanford-Flores to join him at Next Capital Management as a client relations assistant. Promoted from client relations assistant to portfolio analyst, she eventually became Director of Operations, supervising the firm’s analyst team. In 2020, she was named Chief Operating Officer, responsible for implementing Mr. Hart’s strategic priorities.
“I wear a number of hats,” Ms. Sanford-Flores explained. “I manage our compliance and billing process and I still cover several legacy clients because I built strong relationships with them. I am also part of the management team and work to ensure that the firm is operating smoothly and meeting its goals.” She has been with the firm for more than 18 years.
Born in Boulder, CO, Ms. Sanford-Flores grew up in Chappaqua, NY, near the IBM headquarters in Armonk, NY, where both her parents worked. She entered St. John’s majoring in mathematics, but switched to marketing. That change of majors served her well. More than two decades after graduation, she remains a dedicated alumna who stays in close touch with the University.
Ms. Sanford-Flores is the daughter of Linda S. Sanford ’74ED, ’98HON, a pioneer in the technology industry and member of theWomen in Technology International Hall of Fame. Ms. Linda S. Sanford recently received the Alumnae Lifetime Achievement at the Women of St. John’s luncheon. Among the family’s contributions to the University was the establishment of the Sanford Family Cyber Security Lab in St. Augustine Hall.
Ms. Sanford-Flores attended the luncheon with her husband Victor M. Flores ’02CCPS, Adjunct Assistant Professor of EconomicsatThe Peter J. Tobin College of Business, and their two daughters. They currently reside in Westchester, NY.
Ms. Sanford-Flores thoroughly enjoyed her St. John’s experience and believes it set her on a path to success. Her advice to the current generation of Johnnies is to lean into the faculty’s expertise and embrace all opportunities available at the University.
“Reach out to your professors—my husband, for example, gives internship advice all the time,” Ms. Sanford-Flores said. “Make those connections and networking opportunities because they really go a long way.”
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“Not all my friends took the college route after high school—and to be honest, I was on the fence about it, too,” he said. “But it was important to my parents, so I enrolled. Then I told them over Thanksgiving: ‘I’m not going back.’”
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She found her true path at St. John’s University.
For Whitestone, NY, native Dennis Kirincich ’93CBA, “something just clicked” with St. John’s University when he considered colleges.
“So many people in my community went there,” he recalled. “Several of my brother’s friends attended, as did students from my high school. It’s well-known, respected, and has a great reputation for business, which is exactly what I wanted.”