Name: Steve Gorsun
Sport: Baseball
Years Played: 2006-09
Year Graduated: 2009
Major: Marketing
Share some of your favorite SJC Memories
There are a flood of memories that come to mind and it is hard to pick only a few. On the field, I always look back on winning the NAC championship and earning the first NCAA tournament bid in program history. Getting to that milestone and celebrating with teammates was a great moment.
Off the field, the friends I’ve made are still my closest and there are too many experiences to recount, but those bonds will be lifetime ones. My experiences in the classroom and with our business department bring back fond memories as well and I certainly owe a huge dept of gratitude to the mentorship and guidance I received from my advisor, Ed Hellenbeck, during my time at SJC.
Most importantly, I was lucky enough to meet my now wife, Sheena, while at school. We’ve been together for over eight years and I couldn’t ask for a better partner to take on whatever life throws our way.
Notable Performances as an SJC Athlete
I laughed a little when I got to this question. For those who don't regularly thumb through the Monks Baseball record books, it is unlikely that you’ll see my name on the ballot for the SJC Athletics hall of fame.
While I wasn't a star player, I have always been very proud of what the teams I played on accomplished and how we represented the school and helped to advance the baseball program. Over four years I shared the field with a number of great players, was a part of championship teams and formed some great memories and long lasting friendships. The ultimate accomplishment for me was serving as a captain in my senior season and I was humbled at the end of that year to be the recipient of our athletic department’s Neile Nelson Award recognizing strong leadership by a student athlete on an off the field.
Where are you employed?
A few weeks after graduating from SJC, I started working for Unum in Portland, ME. Many of the experiences I had in the classroom and on the field at SJC helped prepare me to enter what was then a new program at Unum called the “Professional Development Program.” As a part of this rotational leadership development program I was able to get experience within a number of different departments throughout the company. Within my first four years at the company I spent time in underwriting, marketing and benefits roles and worked at a number of locations including Portland, Columbia, SC and Worcester, MA. Last fall I began a new role as an Assistant Vice President in Unum’s National Client Group Underwriting organization in our Worcester location.
One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about working at Unum is that the culture reminds me a lot of SJC. While it is a large company, it feels like a tight knit community. Over my 6 years at Unum, I’ve been lucky to work with a number of great people who have been willing to offer their own time to help me learn, grow and develop and I feel very lucky to have landed at such a great company.
Tell us about your family?
Sheena and I have been married for close to three years and were blessed to have lots of great family and friends, many of them fellow SJC alum, on hand when we tied the knot. A few years ago we moved from Maine to Worcester and have settled in here nicely. We still spend a lot of time in Maine visiting friends and family and catching an SJC baseball game at least once a year.
What do you do for fun?
I still try to stay active and play a lot of pick-up basketball, but have made the switch from baseball over to rec-softball. When I’m not at work, I try to spend as much time as I can with friends and family and still stay very close to a lot of the guys I played ball with at SJC. There are a few of us who all rent a beach house for a week each summer and it is always a week we look forward to every year.
