It takes more than stats to be COO of Steiner Sports

• Having a mentor in the corporate world is key.
• In a five-year span at Steiner Sports, Joseph was promoted four times.
• "I want to be known as someone who is balanced, spirtual and a businessman."

College students with no clue about what they want to do once they graduate could take some tips from Kelvin Joseph.

Joseph, who was recently named chief operating officer and executive vice president of sales at Steiner Sports Marketing & Memorabilia in New Rochelle, says he had a defined plan for success from the time he was a high school student on Long Island.

"I knew that one day I wanted to be the CFO of a large company," says the 34-year-old. "So I did some research on how to get there, and discovered that most CFOs started out in accounting. Accounting is the language of business and the fastest way for me to get to being the boss."

As a junior at Walt Whitman High School, he signed up for a Pace University's COAP program (Career Opportunities in the Accounting Profession) which promotes accounting as a career option, with an emphasis on minority groups historically under represented in the profession.

"It was a sleep-away for would-be accountants," he says. "I was into 'Wall Street' and wanted to be like Gordon Gekko, wear a suit and be a businessman.

"Actually, I really thought I wanted to be an investment banker until they took us to the American Stock Exchange and I saw the stress level and the level of balding — seriously, I really noticed that all these people are bald in there. They are stressed out," he says. "This was my high school mind at work and right then and there I said, 'Accounting sounds pretty good.' "

Joseph, whose family emigrated from Grenada, enrolled at Pace to study public accounting. He was also accepted at INROADS, a national program that works to develop and place talented underserved youth in business and industry, and prepare them for corporate and community leadership.

After getting his bachelor's in business administration in 2001, he worked at Ernst & Young before joining Steiner in 2009 as chief financial officer. In his new role, he oversees the daily operations of the company and the strategic direction of all sales and business development operations.

"It's the dream job for a sports fan with an entrepreneurial spirit," he says of working at Steiner, which represents a gamut of sports superstars, from Mariano Rivera and Eli Manning to Derek Jeter and Mark Messier.

"We're a $50 million company looking to double to $100 million in the next five years; we are in a tremendous growth cycle," he says. "We are almost 25 years old. It (takes) a long time to become a success overnight."

Unless you're Kelvin Joseph. He answered a few questions about his success:

What is INROADS and how has it helped you move forward in your career?

INROADS is more than a program; it's a process, they take talented minority students and push them to another level. It's highly competitive; when I applied, you had to have a minimum GPA of 3.3 just to be considered. There are top companies involved and very high achievers. It's actually not only the training they provided; you could be incredibly smart but what do you know about working in corporate America or going on a job interview? The program encompassed all that. The reality for me, when I left college, was to land a job at a Big Four accounting firm, and I was able to do that.

Did you like accounting? You became a CPA at 22.

It was a lot more fun than I thought. It was such a young group of people. Ernst & Young hires 100 people fresh out of college. I benefited from internships and networking. I had a lot of contacts there. One of my mentors was the managing partner of the New York office, Mark Beska. We kicked it off. There were a lot of people who mentored me.

How important is having a mentor?

Having a mentor in the corporate world is key. When I was interning at Ernst & Young, people told me, 'You need to pass your CPA exams while you are still in college and used to studying.' I passed all four parts when I was 20. I got advice like that. The mentorship and the learning came from INROADS and came from Ernst & Young. Being around people who are the best, you can't be lazy.

You joined Steiner Sports in 2009. What has that been like?

I like to say that Steiner gave me the opportunity to be aggressive and grow my career. In a five-year span, I got promoted four times. My personality fits my passion. Even though I studied accounting and worked in the field, I always thought of myself as a businessman, not accountant, so joining Steiner fits right in with that.

What are some of your key goals?

To make companies aware that they can work with us and the power of sports to help grow their business. We also want to make more women aware of the Steiner brand. Steiner has built a reputation where we are a household name with sports fans and those who collect memorabilia, but we are not a household name with women. We are trying to reach that market of decision-makers to make them aware we provide cool gifts, such as a family day at Yankee Stadium.

When did you feel that you had become a success?

The 16-year-old me would have defined success differently. Then, I was all about getting as much money as possible. Now that I am married and have a family, I want a balance between spiritual things, family and then work. My success now is my kids — are they well-rounded and good kids. Is my wife is happy? You can't buy happiness. It is difficult when you come from humble beginnings as I have, but I want to be known as someone who is balanced, spiritual and a businessman.