As a salesman in college, Howard Talenfeld got used to getting doors to open and finding opportunities. It taught him tenacity.

It's also how he got his first job in the law. But that's not where he was headed when he left Pittsburgh for college in upstate New York.

“I was a little unsure. I loved the sciences. I also loved math. And then I was also a high school debater,” he said. He won a chemistry contest and a state debate competition.