Brett Amendola '91, director for Barnum Financial Group, a division of MetLife, credits his success to teamwork and old-style diligence.

His team of 125 financial advisers is responsible for about 10,000 clients, whom they advise on investments, insurance and tax and estate planning.

Passion, even more than ambition, is Amendola's spur. "I very much love what I do," he said.

Amendola directs his team in finding new business opportunities and markets, as well as growing their business. And his hard work has paid off. For the last three years, he has been ranked the no. 2 agency sales director in the MetLife enterprise.

"I'm a resource broker, a relationship manager, but I'm also a talent scout," he said.

Recruiting top talent is, in fact, Amendola's professed top talent. "I guess I've been in every Starbucks in the state, meeting with candidates." He personally recruited nearly half of the 125 advisors on his team, just in the last six years.

While some are recruited from competing firms, many come straight from universities. "I look for risk takers, hard workers with a track record of success.

With a BS degree in financial management from Quinnipiac, he was snapped up at a university job fair by IDS, which was later bought by American Express.

An enthusiastic mentor whose proudest achievement is "helping my advisers achieve their goals," Amendola looks back on his own student/apprentice years with gratitude.

He says that Quinnipiac's small, secure campus was an ideal proving ground: "We were encouraged to experiment, make mistakes and learn from them," he said, describing his internship adviser, Pat Healy, as "one of the hardest bosses I ever had."

"Our career is very entrepreneurial in the sense that you have to build it and work at it every day."