“This is a way for Fordham to celebrate the theme of this year’s National Catholic Schools Week, Catholic Schools: Learn, Serve, Lead, Succeed, encompassing the core values that can be found in the schools of the Archdiocese,” said Gerald M. Cattaro, Ed.D., director of the Center for Catholic School Leadership and Faith-Based Education. 

For many of the approximately 800 children from 19 different Catholic schools across New York City, it was also an opportunity to see a college campus for the first time. 

“By giving them the opportunity to visit classrooms, see college students in classes, and walk the same paths as college students, we hope to inspire these visiting students to reach higher in their academic choices and study habits,” said Virginia Roach, Ed.D., dean of GSE. “We want to show children, especially those who could be first-generation college-bound students, that there are pathways to realize their dreams of a college education.”

Shortly before 10 a.m. last Monday, students started to arrive at the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, located across the street from Fordham College at Lincoln Center. For the next hour, they sat in the wooden pews and attended morning Mass. They sang hymns like “Here I Am, Lord” and “City of God,” led by choir singer t’Jacques Guillot, a Fordham College at Rose Hill senior, and Timothy Perron, a Fordham Jesuit scholastic and pianist. At the beginning of Mass, they were reminded of one of Fordham’s guiding tenets: 

“At Fordham, we’re committed to the idea of cura personalis. That’s Latin for caring for the individual. We really care deeply about you and supporting you today, tomorrow, and after you graduate,” Anthony P. Cavanna, Ed.D., associate dean for academic affairs at GSE, said to the students. “No matter what college or high school or university you finally choose, you map out cura personalis. Take care of yourself, take care of others, and God bless you.”

Presiding over Mass was Joseph M. O’Keefe, S.J., a scholar in residence at GSE and the first provincial of the newly created USA East Province of the Society of Jesus. He urged the students and teachers to continue to care for one another in “one family of faith and goodness and hope.” 

Today, he said, they were celebrating the feast of Saint Angela Merici—a religious educator who was dedicated to the education of girls. 

“When Catholic schools only taught boys, she said Catholic schools should educate girls, too. Girls, you think that’s a good idea?” he said to applause. “Absolutely … so we gather to celebrate Catholic schools and remember the heroes of Catholic schools like Angela Merici.” 

After Mass, the students split into two groups. Half of them toured the Lincoln Center campus; the other dined on pizza in Pope Auditorium with Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. 

For Isabella Marina Martinez, an eighth-grader at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs in Washington Heights, it was her first time at Fordham College at Lincoln Center. This past spring, she visited her cousin, Xienna Dejesus, a student at Fordham College at Rose Hill, at the Bronx campus.

“I’ve seen it in pictures, and I wanted to see it [in person], so she took me one day,” said Martinez, who said she’s considering a future as a lawyer—and keeping an eye on the Fordham School of Law.  “It would be cool to come here.” 

For half an hour, Martinez and her classmates explored the Lincoln Center campus, including Hughes Hall. It was Matthew Capellan’s first time seeing a trading room with Bloomberg terminals. It was also a special experience for his classmate, Manuel Ramirez. 

“The part that I found most interesting about the tour today was the business room—how they had all the stocks going around on the screens and how every computer is updated to the most recent stocks,” said Ramirez, who lives in Morris Heights and wants to become a biologist. 

Nisha Reyes, an eighth-grader who wants to study business or law, said she was struck by the number of student clubs and overall diversity. 

“Everyone’s so different, but they come together in such a special way at Fordham,” Reyes said. “It doesn’t matter where you come from. You can still come together; everyone can be part of a family at Fordham.” 

Father O’Keefe’s appointment, which was announced by Father General Arturo Sosa, S.J., on Oct. 24, came a week after the Father General issued an official decree that will unite the Society’s Maryland and Northeast Provinces into one province, which will become the largest in the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. In 2014, the Society of Jesus underwent a similar reorganization when the New England and New York Provinces unified to establish what is currently the USA Northeast Province.

Father O’Keefe’s appointment will be effective July 31, 2020, the feast day of the Jesuits’ founder, St. Ignatius Loyola.

“The geographic reach and number of institutions within the new province will require superior leadership and organizational skills,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham.

“Father O’Keefe’s wide experience and his deep Ignatian spirit uniquely qualify him to become the inaugural provincial superior of our new province.”

In his appointment announcement, the Father General wrote that that Father O’Keefe’s “noteworthy personal gifts equip him well to unite the members of the new province in a single apostolic body at the service of the universal mission of the Society of Jesus.”

Father O’Keefe entered the Society of Jesus in 1976, graduated from the College of the Holy Cross, and went on to receive advanced degrees from Fordham and the Weston School of Theology in Massachusetts. He was ordained a priest in 1986. After completing an Ed.D. in education from Harvard University, he joined the faculty at Boston College, where he also served as a dean. He subsequently joined the faculty at GSE.

At Fordham, in addition to his role at GSE, he currently serves as superior of the Ciszek Hall house of First Studies and the Spellman Hall Jesuit Community at Fordham.  In 2016, he was a delegate to the Jesuits’ 36th General Congregation in Rome.

In an interview, Father O’Keefe said he was excited to take on responsibility for a province that will encompass 11 universities, 19 secondary schools, nine middle schools, 17 parishes, and seven retreat houses. More than ever, he said, the Society of Jesus is needed to help people find God in an increasingly secular society, walk with people on the margins, reach out to youth, and promote stewardship of the earth, priorities that the pope has highlighted.

“How do we bring the message of Pope Francis to the contemporary world? I think Jesuits are well-poised to do that, and the provincial is the person who creates the conditions where Jesuits can thrive,” he said.

At the same time, Father O’Keefe said he planned to use his experience working in academia to form deeper partnerships with lay people.

“We’ve discovered the wonderful gift that that lay people bring to our work,” he said. “It’s about brokering relationships, getting people to see the greater good, and seeing how we can work together.”

Although he won’t be able to stay on to fulfill his Fordham roles or his term on Fordham’s Board of Trustees, he noted that he might be available again in 2026, when his term as provincial ends.

“This is my second spin at Fordham, and I’m really sad in many ways that I won’t be able to stay at Fordham in the way I have. Maybe in six years, I’ll come back,” he said.

“An institution is only as strong as the people who lead it,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the University.

“I am pleased to say that Fordham is blessed with the leadership and support of immensely talented and dedicated trustees, upon whom I depend for their broad expertise and wise counsel. I—and the Fordham community—are grateful for their generosity in time, gifts, and expert advice. I know everyone at Fordham joins me in welcoming these new members to the board.”

Carolyn Albstein, GABELLI ’82
Retired, Finance Executive

Albstein received an M.B.A. from the Gabelli School of Business in 1982, attending the school as an evening student. From 1984 to 1997, she worked as a senior manager of pension investments at Unilever, and from 1997 to 2000, she served as director of pension investments for Bristol Myers-Squibb. She is married to Andrew W. Albstein, LAW ’81. Together with her husband, she has been very involved with the University. She is a former chair of the President’s Council, a former member of the Gabelli School of Business Advisory Board, a Fordham Law Cornerstone Founder, and a member of the Archbishop Hughes Society. The couple’s daughter Cindy is a second-year student at Fordham Law. In 1979, the Albsteins, along with Andrew’s sister, Iris Albstein, LAW ’78, established the Nathan H. Albstein Memorial Endowed Scholarship at Fordham. They created it in memory of Iris and Andrew’s father, who was an employee of the chemistry department at Fordham for many years.

Nora Ahern Grose, GABELLI ’84
Retired, Real Estate and Construction Manager

Grose earned her B.S. in architecture from Catholic University and an M.B.A. in finance from Fordham. She worked in commercial architecture at the Washington, D.C., firm Deupi and Associates before becoming project manager for Halpern Real Estate Development and the property development firm Olympia and York. Grose first joined Fordham’s Board of Trustees in 2011 and is returning for another term. She is a former member of the boards of Blair Academy and the Greenwich Land Trust. Grose and her husband, Madison Grose, support and volunteer at several schools as well as environmental, health, and children’s charities. During her prior term as a Fordham trustee, Grose served in the roles of vice chair of the board, secretary of the board, chair of the Facilities and IT Committee, and vice chair of the Board Strategy Committee and the Facilities and IT Committee. She serves on the Executive Committee for the Gabelli School of Business Advisory Board. She and her husband are members of the Archbishop Hughes Society.

Alexis Klemish, LAW ’93
Senior Corporate and Tech Transactions Counsel, GM Cruise, LLC

A 1989 graduate of U.C. Berkeley, Klemish began her legal career as a senior policy analyst for California Governor Pete Wilson. She was later appointed as first general counsel and assistant director for the California Department of Information Technology. In 1997, she left public service to pursue a career providing legal counsel in Silicon Valley. She began as a business associate specializing in technology licensing for Cooley LLP, and gradually moved into positions of greater responsibility. She served as associate director of legal at Twitter and general counsel and executive vice president of human resources and compliance at Digital Media Solutions Group. Most recently, she served as outside counsel to various technology and consumer product companies before joining Cruise, a self-driving vehicle company based in San Francisco.

Kevin O’Brien, S.J., GSAS ’01
President, Santa Clara University

After serving for three years as dean of the Jesuit School of Theology, Father O’Brien was appointed president of Santa Clara on July 1. He previously spent eight years at Georgetown University, the last five as vice president for mission and ministry. A native of Montreal, he graduated from Georgetown University in 1988 and became a naturalized American citizen at age 22. He practiced corporate litigation for two years after completing law school before a mini-epiphany led him to take up teaching social studies at Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach, Florida. He joined the Society of Jesus in 1996, and in the course of his formation, he earned a master’s degree in philosophy from Fordham and a Master of Divinity and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology, now part of Boston College. He was ordained a priest at Fordham’s University Church in 2006. His book The Ignatian Adventure, Experiencing the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius in Daily Life (Loyola Press, 2011) has been translated into three languages and has sold more than 40,000 copies.

Joseph O’Keefe, S.J., GSAS ’80
Scholar in Residence, Graduate School of Education

An internationally recognized expert on Catholic education, Father O’Keefe is the editor or co-editor of 12 books and author or co-author of more than 40 articles and book chapters on Catholic education and educational leadership. In 2004, he was the recipient of the F. Sadlier Dinger Award for his contribution to Catholic education. Father O’Keefe entered the Society of Jesus in 1976 and was ordained in 1986. He received his bachelor’s degree from the College of the Holy Cross, and a Master of Divinity and Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology, now part of Boston College. In addition, Father O’Keefe received a master’s degree in French from Fordham and a doctorate in administration, planning, and policy from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

Valerie Irick Rainford, FCRH ’86
Managing Director, Head of Advancing Black Leaders & Diversity Advancement Strategies, JPMorgan Chase & Co.

As a member of JPMorgan Chase’s human resources operating committee, Rainford works to attract, hire, retain and advance top black talent at all levels of the bank. In three years in the role, she has embedded transformative strategies that increased JPMorgan Chase’s black senior executive talent by over 70 percent. Prior to JPMorgan Chase, she served for 21 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where she rose to become the most senior black woman and the first to achieve a senior vice president title. The author of the memoir Until the Brighter Tomorrow: One Woman’s Courageous Climb from the Projects to the Podium (Eloree Press, 2014), Rainford is the founding member of the Black Women for Black Girls Giving Circle; the co-founder and board chair of Black Women of Influence; and the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions, including Black Enterprise’s Most Powerful Women in Business and The Network Journal’s 25 Most Influential Women in Business.

Gualberto Rodriguez, FCRH ’95
Chairman, Grupo Navis LLC, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Semillero Ventures LLC

Rodriguez has served as Chairman of Grupo Navis—the holding company of what is now a group of food companies with combined revenues in excess of $100 million, since 2017. He has held leadership roles in the company, which was founded by his grandfather in 1960 as Caribbean Produce Exchange, for the last 17 years. From 2005 to 2017, he served as president of the San Juan-based firm, which serves supermarkets, restaurant chains, wholesalers, and cruise ships and posts sales exceeding $84 million annually. He earned an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management and has completed executive education programs at the London School of Economics and Harvard Business School. An avid surfer who has served on the Board of the Foundation for Puerto Rico and the Advisory Board of the Center for the New Economy, Rodriguez was recently honored by the Fordham Alumni Association Award for his commitment to social and economic development.

Dario Werthein, GABELLI ’91
Director of Grupo Werthein

Upon graduation from Universidad de Buenos Aires, Werthein earned an M.B.A. from Fordham. He began his career at Barclays Bank PLC in London and returned to Argentina in 1994, where he was appointed adviser to the National Industry Secretariat and joined Banco Mercantil Argentino as deputy general manager. Since 1996, he has held senior management responsibilities at various companies within the Werthein Group, a firm whose portfolio includes mass consumption, energy, insurance, agribusiness, real estate, and technology. As part of a commitment to improving society, Werthein chairs the Tzedaka Foundation, one of the largest social welfare organizations in Argentina. He has also participated on the board of Vida Silvestre, an affiliate of WWF. His book Pampas: Argentine Productive and Natural Field, (Sudamericana, 2018), makes the case for biodiversity for a balanced ecosystem and addresses how to achieve responsible production without destroying wildlife and the environment.

“It does so in theology and catechesis and worship—in those explicitly religious dimensions of the schools with which we are involved,” he said on May 18 at the 16th annual Catholic School Executive Leadership Dinner at Fordham. The event, staged each spring by the Graduate School of Education, honors top Catholic school educators.

In his keynote speech on the Lincoln Center campus, Father O’Keefe extolled four aspects of the vocation of the priest that he said are central to the work of Catholic education. They include:

• helping to identify the sacred;
• helping people to discern;
• bringing people together; and
• helping people face death and new life.

He said the writings of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J., helped him see the holiness of education, the godliness of scholarship and the sacredness that is found throughout the physical world.

“Catholic schools teach us that holiness is to be found in the awesome complexity of the natural world, in the poetic word, with its power to transform, in the triumphs and tragedies of human history,” said Father O’Keefe, dean of the Lynch School of Education at Boston College.

“Catholic schools teach us that holiness can be found in beauty of mathematical logic, in the cadence of a song, by peering into the microscope along with peering into the missal,” he said.

Others who received the annual Catholic School Executives Award included:

• Father Michael Farano, vicar general of the Diocese of Albany;
• Monsignor John Graham, pastor of the Church of Saint Raymond in the Bronx;
• Monsignor Thomas Healy, pastor Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Corona, Queens; and
• Monsignor Brian McNamara, director of priest personnel in the Diocese of Rockville.

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., Monsignor John Graham and Timothy Mc Niff, Ph.D., superintendent of schools, Archdiocese of New York Photo By Bruce Gilbert

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, thanked those in attendance and noted how proud he is that nearly half of Fordham’s undergraduates come from Catholic schools. Although he and his brothers went to different high schools and colleges, Father McShane said they all went to the same grammar school and that they still marvel at how extraordinary the nuns were who ran the school.

“We did not have a pedagogy of terror; we had a pedagogy of great love,” Father McShane said. “But make no mistake about it—we were never insulted with low expectations. We were given the great compliment of having high expectations presented to us, always within an environment that was extraordinarily loving and supportive.”

“This is the magic of Catholic education, where you never insult someone with low expectations, but empower them with love,” he said.

Father McShane also praised the honorees for performing, through their work, an act of faith.

“Almost every kid who goes to a Catholic grammar school or high school or college will go through a period of functional atheism,” he said. “But you have to believe that what you do for them convinces them at a most important and intimate level that—at a formative time in their lives—the church loved them and cared for them. That will always remain with them.

“So at moments of stress and moments of crisis, they’ll come back. They’ll come back on their own terms, but they will come back because they know that the church loves and that, for them, that means that God loves. Do not forget that.”