
ITHACA, N.Y. — Ithaca College alumna and Compass Advisors LLC founder and CEO Monica S. Diglio will be the keynote speaker for the college’s commencement ceremony on May 18, the college announced.
Founded in 2021, Compass Advisors provides strategic advisory support to senior-level executives, private-equity investors, and boards of directors with a focus on human-capital strategy and management, business leadership, talent development, and organizational planning.
“Monica Digilio is a dynamic alumna whom this year’s graduates will find inspiring,” Ithaca College President La Jerne Terry Cornish said in the announcement. “A first-generation college student, her educational grounding in the liberal arts tradition, when combined with her majors, prepared her for a successful career as one of the nation’s leading HR executives and corporate strategists. Like Monica, our graduating students will find that they are well-prepared to take on anything that comes their way, no matter their major or intended career path.”
(Sponsored)

When Can an Employer Request an Applicant’s or Employee’s Salary History?
In a tight labor market, many employers struggle to provide the most competitive employment offers, including competitive salaries and wages. Are employers permitted to request an applicant’s current salary in

Written Contracts for Freelance Workers Now Required
Originally planned for May, the requirements of New York State’s Freelance Isn’t Free Act (“FIFA”) became effective August 28, 2024. The law has flown under the radar for many employers. The
Digilio graduated from Ithaca College in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in cinema and photography and received a master’s degree in communications in 1986 from the college’s Roy H. Park School of Communications. She has led human resources for a number of global brands in hospitality and entertainment including Atlantis Resorts, One&Only Resorts, Caesars Entertainment, and Montage International. In those roles, she served as a trusted advisor and collaborator, successfully leading large-scale transformation and growth initiatives, executing financial/organizational restructuring, and implementing strategies to enhance workplace culture and employee experience.
“I vividly remember my graduation from Ithaca and all the mixed emotions I had about what was to come as I journeyed into the real world, leaving the safe cocoon of South Hill,” Digilio said. “Candidly, everything I thought and hoped it would be is so incredibly different from what it actually is, but in the best possible way. Forty years later, I am honored and excited to return to celebrate the 2025 graduates and deliver their commencement address. I hope to inspire this incredible class to remain open to all the possibilities around them, even the ones they may not see.”
Her alumni service has included membership on the Park School Board of Advocates. Digilio currently serves on the boards of directors of Seaport Entertainment Group, The Venetian Resort Las Vegas, CopperPoint Insurance Companies, and Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. She also serves on the advisory board for Cornell University’s Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship.
The commencement ceremony takes place at 10 a.m. in Glazer Arena of the Athletics and Events Center on the Ithaca College campus.