High-Achieving Students Recognized at Annual Ceremony

Joseph J. Sitt holding his honorary degree with Dean Menon
70 NYU Stern Undergraduate College students were inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma, the nation’s oldest honors society for business students.

A group of 70 NYU Stern Undergraduate College students were encouraged to pursue their passions with resilience and integrity as they were inducted into the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society in Gardner Commons on Monday, May 5, 2014.
 
Joseph J. Sitt (BS ’86), who was this year’s distinguished speaker, encouraged the juniors and seniors in attendance to use every experience in their careers as an opportunity to grow.
 
“I have great honor and great pride in this university,” said Sitt, who studied Business Administration at Stern. “You all should be honored; you are the best and the brightest students we have. You are the ones we’re all counting on to continue the great name of Stern.”
 
Sitt is the founder and CEO of Thor Equities, a multifaceted international real estate development company. He also serves as chairman and managing principal of the Thor Urban Property Funds, and he oversees the Thor Retail Advisors and TOWN Residential. Sitt pursued his first business venture as an undergraduate student; he implemented a successful system of weekend parking lots, at New York City’s largest flea market.
 
“The most valuable aspect about my NYU education was that I learned how to learn,” said Sitt, who is on the board of The Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, among many other organizations. “NYU taught me to be unafraid; it gave me the base and confidence I needed to be successful.”
 
Sitt was introduced by Undergraduate College Dean Geeta Menon and inducted by Beta Gamma Sigma’s Delta Chapter of New York as an honorary member. All inductees received pins, special certificates and blue and gold honor cords, which seniors will wear with their cap and gown at NYU’s May commencement exercises.
 
“Lifetime membership in Beta Gamma Sigma is the highest honor that a business student anywhere in the world at an accredited school can achieve, and is the equivalent of Phi Beta Kappa in the liberal arts,” said Rohit S. Deo, Stern’s Vice Dean of Undergraduate Academic Affairs and Strategic Planning.
 
Beta Gamma Sigma is the first national honor society in business; the society celebrated its centennial in 2013. The students who were inducted joined some of the university’s most prestigious alumni as members of Beta Gamma Sigma, including Leonard N. Stern, Larry Tisch and Alan Greenspan. The juniors and seniors inducted were among the top 10 percent of their class years.

The Stern School of Business recognizes and rewards students who attain academic excellence and achieve distinction in extracurricular activities. Click here to learn more.​