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For this month’s Alumni Spotlight, we are highlighting one of our local Founding Fathers. Manny Becerra '87 was one of the original eight guys who helped start Sigma Phi at FIU's campus, with the vision to become Sigma Phi Epsilon. 40 years later, the fraternity is still going strong, thanks to our Founders.
What are you doing now? I am the Chief Innovation Officer for Assurant, a Fortune 300 company. I am also the President of Assurant Home Warranty, a newly launched business line. For the majority of my career I have run various businesses for Assurant.
What are some of your favorite memories of the fraternity? My Favorite memories with Sig Ep relate to starting as a local, and moving to Sig Ep at a neck-breaking speed. I enjoyed seeing all of the leaders at that time called to make a difference for the university by driving the growth of greek life. The initial group comprised diverse, high-performing individuals.who were already impacting the general community. I remember Ben Sardiñas working on the radio station and Ruben King-Shaw, Jr. launching P.A.R.I.S. trade company. Tim Benjamin was taking increasing leadership roles in Student Government and many more just stepping up. It made me proud to be associated with the group. I remember raising $4k for a charity and showing up at the telethon to deliver the check to the charity's. I remember hanging out with the Phi Sigs, the only other national group at the time. I remember flag football games with the likes of Joaquin Urquiola and Steve Bovo. I was a bit older, so I remember sharing advice with brothers about leadership and what it meant to be a real man. I also remember stopping ideas people had for doing things that were not aligned with the culture we were trying to build.
What inspires me about staying connected? Hope that the original vision for the fraternity can be maintained. Hope that it can be an instrument for guiding the development of men who will make a positive difference. Hope that we will always have leaders within the ranks to guide the active brothers and keep the fraternity moving in the right direction. We have very successful people among our alumni. Our obligation is to help the next generation.
What would I say to encourage attendance at the 40th anniversary? Come to the event and reconnect with your brotherhood. You have an incredible network available to you that can help you elevate. Come to the event to reminisce and rekindle friendships and learn the incredible things that your brothers have been doing since graduation.
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