Author Skip Vaccarello shares his personal journey from Silicon Valley and how he found meaning through faith
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences hosted an event called Finding God in Silicon Valley on Thursday, Oct. 25 in Munson Chapel. This event was held to discuss the personal journey of “Skip” Vincent Vaccarello and others from Silicon Valley.
“I expected to learn about a fresh perspective. I come from a background where Silicon Valley is somewhere different than that,” junior biology major Brian Walker said. “Seeing how somebody is able to live out a faith background in an area that is urban and very much apposed to faith often times is something I am glad I was able to takeaway from this event.”
For over 35 years, Vaccarello was Vice President of Visicorp Industries. He has been CEO of three other Silicon Valley companies and part of the growth in the networking and communication industry.
Over the last four years, he has been providing business consultations and mentorship for business executives. He graduated with honors from Harvard University in 1971 and received his master’s degree with honors from Boston University in 1977.
“He’s got a heart for Christian students and Christian entrepreneurs. He is trying to see how we can expand our student understanding of what it means to be used by God,” said Jennifer Walsh, the Dean of College Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Vaccarello had a slideshow for the guests in attendance for this lecture. He started by breaking down what and where Silicon Valley is, his early faith and journey and lastly sharing stories from Silicon Valley.
“I am hoping that the audience learns how to integrate their faith in business and how to be inspired to reach out to those around them who do not know who Christ is,” Vaccarello said.
Vaccarello shared examples of people’s stories from Silicon Valley in which are many well-known and successful business entrepreneurs such as: Kirk Perry, President of Google, Brand Solutions, Deb Liu, an executive at Facebook and Promod Haque, a Top Venture capitalist.
“People can argue about theology and philosophy, but they can’t argue about how God has worked in the life of people. The book is one way to tell the story people can read about Silicon Valley leaders and how they came to faith and hope that people would consider coming to faith,” Vaccarello said.
Vaccarello said timing is everything. He began writing Finding God in Silicon Valley in 1996. However, because he was working full time, he was unable to finished the book immediately. It actually took Vaccarello over 10 years to complete the book that he said God intended him to complete.
“The idea of writing the book came in 1996 when I went back to a reunion at Harvard; and I was given a book called ‘Finding God in Harvard,'” Vacarello said. “I believe in the power of story telling, and this is why I wanted to write the book: to help those people who are not yet believers consider faith and to consider Christ when they would read a story.”