Mercy College Student David Padilla ‘12, ‘15 Introduces President Obama at The White House

Mercy College student David Padilla ‘12, ‘15 introduced President Barack Obama at a White House press conference on Tuesday, mentioning Mercy College in his remarks.  The purpose of the event was to announce new hiring commitments for veterans and military spouses, which is a result of American companies answering President Obama’s challenge to hire or train 100,000 unemployed veterans and their spouses by 2013.

David served honorably for the United States Navy as an operations specialist second-class petty officer in two deployments – first, as a database manager in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and second, as an air controller and watch supervisor on an AFRICOM partnership for countries such as Kenya and the Congo.   

With the help of the GI Bill, he enrolled at Mercy College, earning his undergraduate degree in Business Administration and Finance in May 2012.  With the help of Paralyzed Veterans of America, which provides support to all veterans who are looking for work, UPS hired him as a dispatch supervisor, putting his
management training he received from the Navy to work. And after only four
months on the job, UPS recognized his leadership skills and promoted him. David is currently pursuing his MBA degree at Mercy College.

“David, thank you so much for your introduction and sharing your story, but most importantly, thanks for your extraordinary service to our nation.  We are very, very proud of you,” said President Barack Obama.