Donor Spotlight: Vladimir Andral ’95
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When Vladimir Andral ’95 studied computer science at the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science, he couldn’t afford a computer of his own, and the computer labs at the Engineering Building closed at 10 p.m.
So when he had to work late on a class assignment, he grabbed a pen and paper to write out all the lines of code by hand, carefully thinking through the possibilities and outcomes. Then when he’d have access to a computer again, he’d input all the code and see if he was right.
“That actually made me a really, really good programmer, but I shouldn’t have been forced to do that,” he says.
As the child of working-class Haitian immigrants and a first-generation college student, Andral faced and overcame many challenges to earn his degree. Today, as the director of product management for global payments at Visa, he gives back to Watson College to help those students facing similar struggles today.
“I wasn’t a great high school student. I didn’t go to a top high school — it was a challenging neighborhood in Queens,” he says. “I went to SUNY Plattsburgh for one year and did well, but I knew there was no computer science major there. It was always the plan to transfer to Binghamton.”
Andral spent his first year at Binghamton in Harpur College, and at first he had trouble finding his footing academically. He attached a personal plea to his application to join Watson’s Department of Computer Science: “I included this handwritten note telling them that I’d done the best I could. I didn’t have a 3.9 [GPA], but I really, really hustled. They took a chance on me, and I’m always going to appreciate that.”
Since leaving Binghamton, Andral has worked for some of the biggest names in tech and finance, such as Hewlett- Packard, Amazon, Bank of America and now Visa. His gifts to support Binghamton have benefitted the Educational Opportunity Program; the National Society of Black Engineers; the Watson College Scholars Program; and the Binghamton Fund for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, among others.
“It’s all about giving thanks for what was given to me, and helping others who are coming behind me to do as good and hopefully better than I did,” he says.