Veronica Caropreso is the recipient of the 2006 Ammi Hyde Award for Young Alumni Achievement presented at Founders Day. Photo courtesy of Veronica Caropreso
Veronica “Ronnie” Caropreso, BBA ’92, earned a business degree at the Women’s College because, she says, she was a technology geek who wanted the vocabulary to “translate tech.” Since graduating, her ability to talk tech in the boardroom has earned Caropreso increasingly challenging and rewarding positions.
Yet, it was Caropreso’s ability to translate William Faulkner that made her stand out in the classroom.
“The instructor was Margaret Whitt,” Caropreso remembers. “We were discussing The Sound and The Fury and I said, ‘Here’s the thing about Faulkner. You start reading a book and expect to be at the beginning and follow through, but he just drops you in the middle and you have to dig your way out of it.’ I was so frustrated I threw the book acrossthe room!
“Margaret smiled and said I had just explained the essence of Faulkner. It took me two more classes to get that point and put my book back in order.”
Caropreso is the recipient of the 2006 Ammi Hyde Award for Young Alumni Achievement presented at Founders Day. Her career has taken her from technology product development at IBM to building award-winning business systems for First Data Corp. She was recruited to lead the infrastructure engineering and operations units for the United States’ largest consumer bank, and today she is the Global Treasury Service CIO for Bank of America, responsible for innovating payments processing and the worldwide financial supply chain.
In addition to her professional success, Caropreso remains a dedicated alumna and a believer in community service. She serves on the boards of several nonprofits and continues to help DU’s Women’s College think strategically about its future.
“I have listened to her talk about her leadership philosophy, how she treats her staff, and I see the heart there, the kindness, the extra-mile reach,” says Whitt, an associate professor in the English department. “I see, too, the liberal arts imprint that her days at the Women’s College left on her.”
Caropreso agrees. “There are so many times that my liberal arts education has been an asset to me,” she says. “Critical thinking is core to technology management. The ability to look at an issue from many sides, to probe a problem and sometimes, like a Faulkner novel, to dig your way out — it just gives you an edge on finding solutions.”