2018 – Distinguished Alumni and Speaker Awards /distinguished-graduates Wed, 20 May 2020 17:10:06 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 Denise Rover ’84 /distinguished-graduates/2018/05/21/denise-rover-84/ /distinguished-graduates/2018/05/21/denise-rover-84/#respond Mon, 21 May 2018 14:41:49 +0000 http://www.montclair.edu/distinguished-graduates/?p=43 Denise Rover is a 1984 magna cum laude graduate of vlog. She received a B.A. degree with a major in Speech and Theatre/Concentration in Broadcasting.  A 35-year veteran of NBCUniversal Media, LLC, Denise has held various positions in Sales, News, and Programming at WNBC-TV.  She is an Account Manager in the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations Sales unit.

Denise recently completed two consecutive two-year terms as the President of the New York Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  In her 37 years as a member, she was elected to the Board of Governors of the New York Chapter for three terms.   She also served as Secretary and Treasurer of the organization.  Denise was elected as a Trustee of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for two terms, and was Chair of the Moving Forward: Daytime Emmy ® Awards Committee.

Skating has been a passion for most of Denise’s life.  She remains active with U.S. Figure Skating, a governing body of the U.S. Olympic Committee.  She has attended 23 World Figure Skating Championships, and several Winter Olympics.  With her combined skating and media backgrounds, Denise often shares insights and ideas with skating officials on broadcasting and advertising matters.

Denise established the Rover Family Fund for Breast Cancer Research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center as a tribute to her late parents.  She works closely with staff to fund it annually.

vlog, and specifically its School of Communication and Media, is important to Denise.  She was appointed to the Board of Advisors of the College of the Arts.  Denise has been an active donor to her alma mater over the years, and has underwritten some College of the Arts scholarships recently.

Faith and philanthropy are important pillars to Denise.  She was recently reappointed to the Finance Council of the Archdiocese of Newark, NJ.  She also serves on the Budget Committee, and Insurance and Benefits Committee.  Denise was also appointed to the Board of Overseers at Seton Hall University/Immaculate Conception Seminary.  She was invested into the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, and has rank of a Lady Commander.

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Emanuel “Manny” Scrofani’ 61 /distinguished-graduates/2018/05/20/emanuel-manny-scrofani-61/ /distinguished-graduates/2018/05/20/emanuel-manny-scrofani-61/#respond Sun, 20 May 2018 18:16:48 +0000 http://www.montclair.edu/distinguished-graduates/?p=132 Manny Scrofani devoted his career to education, first as a teacher and then as an educational leader at school, district, state and national levels. He was a teacher in New Jersey and California, a principal and assistant principal in seven California schools, and superintendent of Schools in Napa and Sonoma. He then became an associate professor of Organizational Leadership at the University of La Verne in Southern California.

Dr. Scrofani received his BA in Business Education in 1961 at Montclair State, where he was the captain of one of the four undefeated football teams in the University’s history. As a result of his athletic accomplishments, he was named NJ State College Alumni Association Distinguished Athlete and was the All-State Northern New Jersey Selection Football Team Captain at Seton Hall Prep, where he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. In 2007, Dr. Scrofani led the effort, along with his football teammates, to establish the Coach Jerry Edwards Athletic Endowment Fund to honor their coach and to create a special fund to assist men’s sports at Montclair State.

Dr. Scrofani received an MA in Supervision and Administration from California State University, Los Angeles, and an EdD in Educational Administration and Management from the University of Northern Colorado. He had post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Texas at Austin, at University of California at Santa Barbara and at Pepperdine University.

Dr. Scrofani has served on numerous boards, committees and advisory groups, and in other leadership positions. He was director of research and evaluation and assistant executive director of board development for the California School Boards Association. He served as commissioner for teacher credentialing for the California State Department of Education. He was on the boards of directors for the California Institute of School Improvement and the California Consortium of Educational Foundations. He was on the advisory boards of the Sonoma State University Administrative Credentialing Program and the Far West Regional Laboratory.

Dr. Scrofani and his wife, Meg, who spent many years as a school principal, now live in Napa Valley in the town of Angwin, Calif.

Bio as of May 2018

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Lucia Capozzoli ’83 /distinguished-graduates/2018/05/20/lucia-capozzoli-83/ /distinguished-graduates/2018/05/20/lucia-capozzoli-83/#respond Sun, 20 May 2018 14:46:50 +0000 http://www.montclair.edu/distinguished-graduates/?p=49 Lucia Capozzoli ’83 prior to retiring in December 2019, Lucia was a principal in Deloitte’s Risk and Financial Advisory practice. Her primary role was to advise Deloitte’s largest and most complex global financial services clients on business, risk management, security and controls, and other financial and organizational challenges. As the lead client service principal for a number of Deloitte’s clients in the insurance sector, Lucia was responsible for driving account strategy, managing financial performance, developing and sustaining senior executive relationships, managing risk, and overseeing account teams and work delivered.

In addition to serving clients, she served as the chief talent officer for Deloitte’s U.S. Client Experience and Marketing Organizations. In this role she was responsible for developing and implementing talent strategies related to employee performance management, learning and development, and well-being for approximately 2,000 Deloitte employees. She also served as the client relationship executive community leader. In this role, she was responsible for overseeing a group of professionals focused on driving key client executive relationships.

Lucia held a wide range of leadership positions throughout her 30-year career at Deloitte. Prior to assuming her role as lead client service principal, she served as secretary to the U.S. Board of Directors of Deloitte LLP. As secretary, in addition to serving as the chairman’s primary liaison on governance, risk and regulatory issues, Lucia teamed with key stakeholders to support the Board’s oversight of U.S. and global strategic priorities, succession activities and scenario planning. She served as the Control Assurance service line leader of Deloitte & Touche LLP’s Enterprise Risk Services practice. Lucia also served as Deloitte & Touche LLP’s Northeast Women’s Initiative Leader and Diversity Champion and led Deloitte LLP’s Northeast Regional Women’s Initiative program.

Her many honors include, recipient of Catalina magazine’s “Inspirational Leader Award.” She was also recognized by the New Jersey Fund as one of the “Top 30 Women of Influence in Finance” (2007) and named by NJBiz as one of the “Top 50 Woman in Business.” She has been featured in Working Mother magazine “Got a Mentor?” and honored by the Executive Women of New Jersey in their “Salute to the Policy Makers.” Lucia has been a frequent speaker on business and women’s workplace issues.

Prior to joining Deloitte, Lucia was employed as an internal auditor with Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Co.

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Wendy Gillespie ’73 /distinguished-graduates/2018/05/19/wendy-gillespie-73/ /distinguished-graduates/2018/05/19/wendy-gillespie-73/#respond Sat, 19 May 2018 18:21:21 +0000 http://www.montclair.edu/distinguished-graduates/?p=138 As a successful entrepreneur since 1991, Wendy Gillespie ’73 has been a co-owner and is now President and CEO of Frontier Trading Inc., a binational company exporting to and distributing grocery products in Mexico and Latin America. Previously, she spent 13 years with the IBM Corp. in various sales and marketing management positions, including an assignment at IBM’s Asia Pacific headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. Wendy is also President and CEO of the Capdevilla Gillespie Foundation and is involved in the San Diego business and philanthropic communities. She currently serves on several boards, including the La Jolla Playhouse, Pacific Arts Movement, National Council for the American Theater, Strategic Roundtable of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, The U.S. District Export Council and the University of San Diego School of Leadership and Education Sciences. As a young immigrant from the United Kingdom, Wendy is committed to making a difference in our diverse communities.

Wendy has found recent success as a N.Y. Broadway producer. Her current production, Come from Away, which premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse, received seven Tony Award nominations, with Chris Ashley winning “Best Musical Director.” Her first production, , made its debut at the Old Globe in 2012 and premiered on Broadway in 2015-16. Diana and Working Girl are currently in development.

She was recently inducted into the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame, received the Junior Achievement Worldwide Gold Leadership Award, and has been recognized as a San Diego Woman Who Means Business, Girl Scouts Cool Woman, YWCA TWIN (Tribute to Women in Industry) and in 2016 received the UPAC (Union Pan Asian Communities) Visionary Award and the JACL (Japanese American Citizens League) Civil Rights Leadership Award for her work with Allegiance.

Wendy has been a dedicated supporter of Junior Achievement San Diego for the past 20 years, with 15 years of service on the Board. Wendy and her husband, Marty Capdevilla, played a key role in finding a new home for the Junior Achievement office, creating the Capdevilla Gillespie Center for Junior Achievement in Mission Valley in 2006. JA’s new home lead to the creation of the , a 10,000-square-foot mini-city where 16,000 fifth graders each year discover how to start and run a profitable business. Wendy was also part of the leadership team that successfully opened JA’s newest experiential learning center, Mission Fed JA Finance Park in 2015. She considers JA Finance Park and JA BizTown her proudest achievements and living legacy for San Diego’s youth.

Wendy is a charter member of the San Diego Women’s Foundation and the San Diego World Trade Center, where she served on the Board for 15 years.

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Dorothy Pelak Bognar ’62, ’67 MA /distinguished-graduates/2018/05/19/dorothy-pelak-bognar-62-67-ma/ /distinguished-graduates/2018/05/19/dorothy-pelak-bognar-62-67-ma/#respond Sat, 19 May 2018 14:44:44 +0000 http://www.montclair.edu/distinguished-graduates/?p=46 Dorothy Pelak Bognar earned a BS in Physical Science in 1962 and MA in Science Education in 1967 at Montclair State. She then received an MS in Biochemistry from Fairleigh Dickinson in 1971.

Dorothy has spent 55 years as an educator. She was a supervisor of student teachers at Ramapo College for 16 years.  Prior to that, she taught chemistry for 39 years at Ramapo High School in Franklin Lakes.

She is passionate about science education and equipping young people with the foundation to pursue their interests in various related fields.

Montclair State provided Dorothy with an entree into the field of science at a time when there were few women – and prepared her to be competitive. Once in the classroom and attending professional National Science Foundation Institutes, it became that much more apparent to Dorothy that her foundation at Montclair State had put her on track to a career that she loved and to excel at it.

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Frederick Bonato, Ph.D. – Friend /distinguished-graduates/2018/05/18/frederick-bonato-ph-d/ /distinguished-graduates/2018/05/18/frederick-bonato-ph-d/#respond Fri, 18 May 2018 18:19:02 +0000 http://www.montclair.edu/distinguished-graduates/?p=135 Dr. Bonato is the provost and vice-president for academic affairs for Saint Peter’s University in Jersey City. From 1995 to 2012, Dr. Bonato served Saint Peter’s in a variety of roles, including professor, director of faculty research and sponsored programs, senate president and chair of the psychology department. From 2013 until 2017 he served as the associate provost for academic affairs at vlog before returning to Saint Peter’s in July 2017 to serve as university provost.

During his tenure at vlog, Dr. Bonato had numerous accomplishments, including, co-leading a project for the creation of the School of Nursing and providing leadership for the development of the Center for Clinical Services that opened in 2016. In addition, Dr. Bonato oversaw the modernization of electronic systems for the Institutional Review Board, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs and Career Services. He also chaired the task force that resulted in Montclair State’s Carnegie Foundation classification as a Community Engaged Institution in 2015 as well as initiated the transition of the Office of Service Learning to the Center for Community Engagement.

Bonato earned his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. from Rutgers University. He has published widely on aeromedical topics such as sensory interaction, motion sickness, space motion sickness, and commercial spaceflight. His work has been funded by agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the U.S. Department of Education. Media outlets including NBC and the Science Channel have covered his work. Since 2010, he has served as the editor-in-chief of Aerospace Medicine and Human Performance, the official journal of the Aerospace Medical Association.

Dr. Bonato is a past president (2016-2017) of the Eastern Psychological Association—the largest and oldest regional psychology association in the United States. He is a fellow of the Eastern Psychological Association and the Aerospace Medical Association. In 2015 he was nominated and elected to the International Academy for Aviation and Space Medicine. In 2018, Bonato was honored as the inaugural distinguished speaker at the vlog School of Nursing’s first convocation, where he was also awarded the school’s first ‘nursing pin’ at its traditional pinning ceremony.

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