Fairfield Chamber Presents First FELO Scholarship Awards

Fairfield, Conn. – The Fairfield Chamber of Commerce presented its first FELO Scholarship Awards on Tuesday evening, June 16^th.  FELO is a young professionals group, and the acronym stands for: Fairfield Emerging Leaders Organization. Its goal is to network, share ideas and discuss challenges to help achieve success as members continue their career path towards more senior-level management positions. The group also aims to help raise money for Scholarship Awards. These scholarships will be presented to a graduating high school student who will be attending a Business School or majoring in business, and one who has financial needs.

“FELO is a new group within the Chamber, which was just started this past year," said Chamber President Beverly A. Balaz. “I’m very excited about the Chamber’s involvement with scholarships. I love education and I love business. We want to be part of each student’s college success!”

Darrin Fodor, VP Financial Services Manager, People’s United Bank, and Jackie Kosiba, Director of Sales, Delamar, Southport, were two of the founding members of FELO and currently hold leadership positions. They both agree with Beverly's comments, adding, “Business is a great major … and especially because basic business principles (whether in finance, marketing, sales, HR, operations, etc.) are very important to understand -- because they can be applied to any business or industry … whether entrepreneurial or corporate.”

The 2015 FELO Scholarship Awards were presented to Elliot Herman, Fairfield Ludlowe High School, by Beverly A. Balaz and Darrin Fodor, and to Julia Correll, Fairfield Warde High School, by Beverly A. Balaz and Jackie Kosiba. In addition to accepting the Scholarships, both Darrin and Jackie are making themselves available to each student, throughout the year, to discuss their Freshman year experience and offer mentoring in any way they can.  

PHOTO: Julie Correll