“I stand on the shoulders of hundreds of people who saw something in me and who gave me an opportunity to be successful,” he said. “It was up to me to continue to push forward, but there were hundreds of people who actually pried the door open or at least gave me a glimpse of what success looked like.”

As a member of the President’s Council—a group of successful alumni who are committed to mentoring Fordham’s future leaders, funding key initiatives, and raising the University’s profile—and a loyal supporter of both Fordham athletics and the Fordham Founder’s Undergraduate Scholarship Fund, Caldwell said he is able to pay it forward to students who “need that one shot or opportunity. That’s all it took for me to get where I am today: just somebody opening the door and showing me what’s possible.”

Redefining Success

Caldwell and his siblings were raised by their mother, Dawn, in Baltimore. He didn’t have much ambition as a kid: His goals were to earn a high school diploma, secure a job in government, and have a baby—“that was what the legal route of success was,” he said. Though Caldwell is close to his mother and counts her as the most positive influence in his life, as a kid, the most financially successful people in his life were drug dealers.

“I vividly remember modeling myself behind my uncle, who was in that life and who sold drugs, and trying to be like him because he was the richest person I knew, thinking, ‘If I want to be rich … then I need to do what he does or act like him,’” he said.

Fortunately, Caldwell was a talented athlete who earned a basketball scholarship to attend St. Paul’s School for Boys, a college preparatory school outside of Baltimore. And when two of his brothers were murdered when he was in high school, prompting his mother to send him to live with one of his classmates, he got a glimpse at another kind of success: His classmates were thinking about colleges and careers, and they had both a “mom and a dad at home,” showing him “oh, this is what a family looks like.” Caldwell realized that not only did he now want the same things, but with a bit of focus and effort, he could persevere and earn them. When he earned a football scholarship to attend Fordham, he got his chance.

Leveraging an Injury for a Master’s Degree

At Fordham, Caldwell studied finance at the Gabelli School of Business. Though he had a new focus and determination, he said he couldn’t have succeeded without the support he received on campus: He, and countless other student-athletes, had a Catholic nun, Ann Walsh, R.H.S.M., behind them. As a sort of second mom, “she was the person that, if we were doing something we shouldn’t have been doing, would discipline us in her beautiful way. … You could tell it came with love,” he said.

She would “bring you to her office and walk you through an entire book; she’d read an entire book with you to make sure that you understood the coursework,” he said. “She went above and beyond what her job required to help us succeed. She will always be one of the catalysts of my success.”

During his first year on the football team, Caldwell was injured, giving him the option to come back for a fifth year to play. He agreed, but only if he could get into a master’s program. He did: He earned a B.S. in finance in 2010, an M.A. in humanities in 2011, and an M.B.A. in 2017.

Getting a Leg Up from the Fordham Network

Though he worked hard and made the most of the support and opportunities the University offered him, Caldwell is the first to point out that he owes many of his career breaks to the Fordham alumni network.

He learned about his first job after graduation, as an associate on the variable annuity sales desk at MetLife, from one of his teammates, whose father was an executive at the company. Since then, he’s worked at three other companies, and every job he’s gotten since he graduated has been through a Fordham alumnus.

Arguably the most important connection he forged at the University, though, was with Katheryn Pereyra-Caldwell, FCRH ’08, now his wife. Already parents to 2-year-old Chloe, the couple is expecting their second child, a boy, in November.

“I met my wife at Fordham,” he said. “The first three clients I brought on here at Goldman have been Fordham alumni. … Fordham has just been the anchor of my career, of my time and my life here in New York City, so I feel like it’s my duty to give back as much as I can.”

Holding Open the Door

Caldwell said he feels indebted to the University for “opening so many doors, creating so many opportunities when it comes to jobs, or advice, or mentors,” and that’s why he feels that it’s his duty to give back however he can—sharing his time, speaking at events, giving financially.

This past May, Caldwell attended a graduation reception at the Rose Hill campus for first-generation college students, getting to know the small group of attendees and encouraging them to stay in touch.

Through such events and serving on the President’s Council, Caldwell said he believes he’s in the best position to help pry open doors for Fordham students from backgrounds similar to his own, students who just need a chance to thrive. He also hopes that, with that support, those students feel empowered to take risks.

“I wish I would’ve taken more chances [growing up],” he said. “As a Black man in America, I felt like I didn’t have that many chances, so when I get this one opportunity, I got to take it and I got to make the most of it. Now how I look at life is it’s okay to fail. It’s okay to fall short or to start over. It’s not about how many times you get knocked down; what’s more important is how many times you get back up.”

Fordham Five (Plus One)

What are you most passionate about?
I’m most passionate about the next generation. Some would argue that I’m a success story, but what they fail to realize is that I could not get to where I am in life without the help of others. Because of this, I feel like it’s my duty to give back to the next generation. This is why I go out of my way to help as many people as I can.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?  
Don’t be afraid to take risk. Success in my mind is about how many times you get back up after being knocked down.

What’s your favorite place in New York City? In the world?
This is a tough question. When I was younger, I would have said the end zone after scoring a touchdown on the football field at Fordham, but now I would say the whale room at the American Museum of Natural History, [where I go]with my 2-year-old daughter, Chloe.

My favorite place in the world is back home in Baltimore with my mom and siblings, enjoying a bushel of Maryland blue crabs.

Name a book that has had a lasting influence on you.
The Daily Stoic, a book written by Ryan Holiday that provides 366 meditations on peace, wisdom, and perseverance. Each day, you’re supposed to read an excerpt from the book, which gives you a full day of insight and reflection.

Who is the Fordham grad or professor you admire most?  
The Fordham grad that I admire the most is my wife: one of the hardest workers I know. She has overcome a tremendous amount of adversity and is now a well-respected attorney.

What are you optimistic about?  
Although the political and social landscape has been rocky, I am encouraged when I see diversity in leadership at big institutions like Fordham University. I haven’t had a chance to meet Tania Tetlow yet, but I’m excited to see the first woman and first lay president to lead Fordham University since it was founded.

“Both of them loved Fordham,” said their son, William J. Toppeta, FCRH ’70, a University trustee who with his wife, Debra Toppeta, created the scholarship in 2000 to honor them and benefit Fordham students—just one of their many generous gifts to the University.

The scholarship has turned out to be a richly rewarding way to honor his parents’ legacy.

For years, it helped bring a Fordham education within financial reach for several students at a time. Then, five years ago, the Toppetas modified the scholarship to cover full tuition as well as living expenses for one student facing high financial hurdles, in the process forming a bond with the students—two, so far—who have received this full support.

In 2020, seeking to advance the cause of racial justice, the Toppetas once again modified the scholarship so that it’s awarded with a preference for students who, in addition to showing academic merit and financial need, are first-generation college students or come from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. The murder of George Floyd “had a huge impact on us,” William Toppeta said. “We wanted to actually do something that was impactful as an anti-racist example in action.”

They are also making a new contribution to their scholarship fund, advancing two priorities of the University’s $350 million fundraising campaign, Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student: access and affordability, as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion.

A Personal Bond

The current Toppeta Scholar, Gianna McGrath, a sophomore in the Gabelli School of Business, got the news in her second week at Fordham and was immediately moved to tears of joy. “It’s kind of an indescribable feeling, an eternal gratefulness,” she said.

The scholarship allayed her and her family’s worries about her loan amounts and allowed her to cut back on part-time work in favor of other things, like exploring the city and joining student clubs. She soon learned that the Toppetas were personally interested in her success. After meeting them at dinner with her family, she found they were “very genuine and down to earth,” said McGrath, who was born in Jamaica. “They’re so loving of all cultures, all people.”

The first recipient of the full scholarship, Huiling Cai, GABELLI ’21, immigrated from China seven years ago and earned an associate degree from LaGuardia Community College in New York City, learning English along the way. Receiving the Toppeta scholarship made possible her Fordham education and everything that has flowed from it, including her former job at EY and her current job at PwC, she said.

And the Toppetas became a welcome presence in her life in many ways, such as visiting her during her first month at Fordham; attending a ceremony for her and other Dean’s List honorees; and providing advice and support during challenging moments. “They are truly my angels,” she said.

The benefits go both ways. “It’s not just Gianna and Huiling who’ve benefitted from this. We’ve gotten a lot back,” Debra Toppeta said. “It’s just enriched our lives tremendously.”

In an interview, they elaborated on their reasons for modifying the scholarship, as well as lessons learned over the course of their careers—he, as an executive at MetLife and president of management consulting firm Macomber Peak Partners; she, as an attorney and founder and publisher of the award-winning website Woman Around Town.

Can you tell me more about your decision to refocus the John and Rita Toppeta Endowed Scholarship on students from underrepresented groups?
William Toppeta: My father felt very strongly about Jesuit education. He thought that the training that he got at Fordham was strongly morally based. And I think that again sort of connects to what we’re trying to do here with the scholarship. We believe very strongly that this is the right thing to do. Racism is still part of this country, but it’s been part of this country for hundreds of years, and each of us needs to do something about it.

What we’re doing, we think, is 100% consistent with Fordham’s history and philosophy. Fordham has always been a place that was focused on the underdog, the people who did not have the advantages. What Bishop John Hughes had in mind when he founded Fordham is that he wanted to give opportunity for people to get a higher education who otherwise would not have had that opportunity. At the time, most of those people happened to be Irish, and he, of course, was Irish. Then later on it was others—it was people from Eastern and Southern Europe. My father was one of those people.

Your mother knew something about facing discrimination too, I think?
William: She did talk about it. Her father was a lawyer, and she and my father practiced with him in New York City for a time. She said to me that when her father first sent her to court, she answered the calendar call for her client and the clerk of the court said to her, “No, no, no, you have to be a lawyer to answer the calendar call.” And she said, “I am a lawyer.” So she faced a lot of obstacles, but I think it made her tougher.

What career advice would you offer students?
William: When I was at Fordham, we learned a lot about the Ignatian and the Jesuit perspective, and one of its fundamentals is that a person should have a contemplative life and an active life. I think part of the contemplative part of life is to think about getting to know yourself and understanding yourself, and your abilities and qualities, in as objective a way as you can. Somewhere along the line, either someone else is going to ask you or you’re going to ask yourself, can I accomplish that? When you’re offered a job or an opportunity, you’d better know the answer, because you may not be given much time to decide. I’ve had situations in my career where I was given 24 hours to decide whether I was leaving the country or not for an opportunity. I think in our times, things happen very, very fast, and so if you don’t take time to think quietly about things, you’re going to miss a lot of chances. A lot of life comes down to fundamental principles and understanding, and I think Fordham is very strong on these.

Debra Toppeta: My advice would be to always continue to grow. The way to really get to know yourself is to just keep pushing forward and trying new things. Stay flexible, keep informed, and keep never stop learning so you’re always prepared for your next opportunity, because they’ll present themselves in ways you didn’t expect. I started in business, and then I went to law school, and then I started Woman Around Town. My partner, Charlene Giannetti, came up with the idea; she was a journalist at Businessweek and wanted to branch out on her own, and she knew I could write, and that I was a lawyer and was looking for my next endeavor.

So I jumped at it, and it’s been terrific. It was very challenging when we started, but we also had great opportunities because it was during the Great Recession, when print media was laying off reporters, and we were able to offer them work. We’ve received over 30 awards for journalism from various organizations.

Is there a book that has had a lasting influence on you?
William: I would point to categories of books. I read a lot of history and biography because they’re the story of challenges that people faced, when they succeeded, when they failed. I don’t necessarily think that history repeats itself, but we can certainly learn from history and see parallels. I just finished reading a very good history by Simon Sebag Montefiore of the history of the Romanovs, the family that ruled Russia for 300 years. And if you read that history, and then you think about what’s going on today with Russian president Vladimir Putin and Ukraine, you can see very clearly that Putin is just a continuation of the czars in a slightly different form.

Debra: I read The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson, about the Great Migration of African Americans from the South to the North and West. It’s a collection of stories that shows you just what people will do to improve their lives and their family’s lives. Each one of those stories is like a profile in courage and very inspirational.

Looking at the world today, what are you optimistic about?
William: I’m optimistic about a couple of things. One, people are still free to think and say what they want within very broad parameters in this country. So it makes me optimistic that at least at the moment, we are still operating democratically. The other thing I’m optimistic about is the young people. The more young people that I meet, the more confident I am about the future. I really do think that the younger generation is better equipped than we were, and that they’re genuinely trying, in most cases, to do the right thing.

To inquire about supporting scholarships and financial aid or another area of the University, please contact Michael Boyd, senior associate vice president for development and university relations, at 212-636-6525 or [email protected]. Learn more about Cura Personalis | For Every Fordham Student, a campaign to reinvest in every aspect of the Fordham student experience.

“General, you will be remembered as one of the finest and most dedicated soldiers in a long and storied history of the United States military, no question about it,” the president said after describing Keane’s distinguished 38-year Army career stretching from his time as a cadet in the Fordham ROTC program to the Vietnam War to the post-9/11 wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Among other achievements, Trump said, Keane “designed new training methods to ensure that military leaders would always be extremely well prepared for the intensity of combat command,” and also designed “state-of-the-art” counterinsurgency combat training for both urban and rugged environments.

In his own remarks, Keane said he was “deeply honored by this extraordinary award.”

“To receive it here in the White House, surrounded by family, by friends, and by senior government officials, is really quite overwhelming, and you can hear it in my voice,” he said. “I thank God for guiding me in the journey of life,” he said, also mentioning his “two great loves”—his wife Theresa, or Terry, who died in 2016, and the political commentator and author Angela McGlowan, “who I will love for the remainder of my life.”

“With all honesty, I wouldn’t be standing here without their love and their devotion,” he said.

Fordham Ties

Keane is the sixth Fordham graduate to receive the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. The most recent alumni recipient was sportscaster Vin Sully, FCRH ’49, awarded the medal by President Barack Obama in 2016.

Keane has advised President Trump and has often provided expert testimony to Congress since retiring as vice chief of staff of the Army in 2003. He is a Fordham trustee fellow and a 2004 recipient of the Fordham Founder’s Award.

Keane grew up in a housing project on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and was the first member of his family to attend college. He had 16 years of Catholic education, including his time at Fordham, where there was a prevailing idea that “you should have a sense of giving things back, and finding ways to do that,” he said in an interview last week on Fox News Radio’s Guy Benson Show.

Six other Fordham alumni, including some who were his contemporaries at Fordham, attended the ceremony. One of them, Joe Jordan, GABELLI ’74, said he’s impressed with how Keane, on television, “can say so much in such a short time that makes sense.”

“He attributes a lot of it to the philosophy courses he took at Fordham,” said Jordan, an author and speaker specializing in financial services who met Keane about 15 years ago, when he was a senior executive at MetLife and Keane was on the board. “He’s a guy who’s extremely successful, extremely humble, has a common touch, and always remembers his friends and attributes a lot of his success not to himself but to the people around him, and the people who helped form him.”

Also in attendance was retired General Keith Alexander, former director of the National Security Agency, who has appeared at Fordham events, including the International Conference on Cyber Security.

Turning Points

Keane earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1966. He became a career paratrooper, going to Vietnam to serve with the 101st Airborne Division, which he later commanded.

He was decorated for valor in Vietnam, which was a turning point for him, with its close combat in which “death was always a silent companion,” he said.

“It was there I truly learned the value of life, the value of human life—to treasure it, to protect it,” he said in his White House remarks. “The experience crystallized for me the critical importance of our soldiers to be properly prepared with necessary skill and the appropriate amount of will to succeed in combat.”

He said he spent his Army career “among heroes who inspired me, and I’m still in awe of them today.”

“My sergeants, my fellow officers, and my mentors shaped me significantly, and several times they saved me from myself,” he said. “That’s the truth of it.”

The 9/11 attacks were a second major turning point for him, he said. He was in the Pentagon when it was attacked, and helped evacuate the injured. He lost 85 Army teammates, he said, and two days later was dispatched to New York City to take part in the response to the World Trade Center attacks.

“It was personal, and I was angry,” he said. “I could not have imagined that I would stay so involved in national security and foreign policy” after leaving the Army, he said. “My motivation is pretty simple: Do whatever I can, even in a small way, to keep America and the American people safe.”

Watch the ceremony honoring General Keane

Several Fordham alumni attended a reception honoring General Keane on March 10. From left: Scott Hartshorn, GABELLI ’98; Phil Crotty, FCRH ’64; the Rev. Charles Gallagher, FCRH ’06; Paul Decker, GABELLI ’65; Laurie Crotty, GSE ’77; General Jack Keane, GABELLI ’66; and Joe Jordan, GABELLI ’74. On the right is Roger A. Milici, Jr., vice president for development and university relations at Fordham.