Continued Growth Amidst Crisis

Michael Dowling, GSS ’74, president and CEO of Northwell Health, was at the epicenter of the pandemic when New York state was hit hard last spring. Dowling said that despite the economic fallout, Northwell continues to occupy nearly 20 million square feet of real estate in the state. He added that the institution expects to continue to expand as it has for the past decade, which is at about $1 billion a year.

“Every month we expand and just to give you an idea, we hire between 150 and 200 employees every single week,” he said. “We have a very, very large footprint.”

Dowling said that regardless of the economic sector, the pandemic has accelerated changes that were already underway, mostly due to advances in technology.

“One of the issues for us right now is to figure out how many of our employees will forever be working remotely, will be part-time, or will be full-time,” he said.

He added that even with so many of its employees on the front line, more than 10,000 Northwell staffers continue to work remotely, which has actually increased productivity.

“Those people seem to be happier and the productivity has been enhanced,” said Dowling, who also served as a professor of social policy and assistant dean at the Graduate School of Social Service after he earned his degree. “That raises the question of what does that mean for the real estate side of my business.”

Manage for Today, Lead for Tomorrow

Dowling said though many employees will continue to work from home, it doesn’t mean he will pull back from constructing or leasing space. Rather, he said, the pandemic has provided him an opportunity to replace existing spaces with other functions, consider infrastructure upgrades, and, “obviously,” technology enhancements.

He said Northwell’s overall vision for new construction projects remains the same.

“It’s a temporary blip. You know, it was difficult and I don’t want to minimize it,” he said of the deadly pandemic. “But we will recover from this, … I don’t think it will be the same exactly. But I do think we will come back strong and I think New York will continue to be the city of dreams.”

He added that he expects to rent in Hudson Yards soon, which he described as temporarily “dormant” due to the crisis, though he predicted the site to be “flush” in three to five years.

“I’m always thinking five years away, seven years away,” he said. “You manage for today which will lead for tomorrow.”

Built-In Health Tech

He also predicted that consumers will come to expect certain technological advances they’ve become accustomed to during the pandemic, such as telemedicine, and new construction must accommodate that. They will also expect to be kept safe.

“We also have to build now to make sure that we’re completely adaptable for infection control, safety mechanisms—and that’s not just hospitals, by the way, that’s for all construction,” he said.

Jeffrey Levin, founder and chairman of Douglaston Development/Levine Builders/Clinton Management, reminded viewers that at the beginning of the pandemic people were concerned about touching contaminated surfaces. This led him to consider building projects with an eye toward utilizing technologies so that residents don’t necessarily have to push buttons or open doors.

“You can use your iPhone to call the elevator or open your apartment,” he said. “We’ve already moved over to electronic latches into apartments because people initially wanted that for the ease, but now it’s more for the concept of hygiene.”

Dowling said housing is part of health care.

“Good housing promotes good health,” he said. “I think you’re going to see more and more of an integration between health care delivery systems and housing development.”

Getting Back to the Office

Jennifer Stewart, global head of real estate for BNY Mellon, said that from a workforce perspective the past year was a major test of at-home technological capacity.

“The biggest beta test ever for the technology was when we all had to leave our offices and go work from home,” she said. “It was a tremendous effort, but you know what? We passed the test … And if there’s anything we’ve learned from using this technology, is that it’s made us all more forward-thinking.”

Yet, Stewart said that with vaccines making headway, she senses “a pent-up demand and energy” to get back to work in person, albeit with caution, “once the kids are back in school,” and safety at the office is assured.

“Being able to work in a hybrid way or virtually is an added bonus, it gives people flexibility, and it adds to wellness,” she said. “But at the same time, we’re social beings, so this idea of you can just work from home forever, well I don’t think that any industry, in any way, shape, or form believes that.”

James Nelson, principal and head of Tri-State Investment Sales Group at Avison Young, moderated the discussion that also included industry experts Chris Mills, president and CEO of Plaza Construction, and Marc Zuluaga, CEO at Steven Winter Associates.

“Vaccines don’t save lives; vaccination saves lives,” said Ronald A. DePinho, M.D., FCRH ’77, a distinguished researcher at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, during a virtual panel discussion on Monday, December 21. “It’s very important that when you have the opportunity to get vaccinated, please get vaccinated.”

He and fellow panelist Michael Dowling, GSS ’74, a Fordham trustee and president and CEO of Northwell Health, the largest health system in New York state, emphasized the safety and efficacy of vaccination, as well as the public health messages that need to be widely spread.

“The COVID crisis is not over,” said Dowling, who described a surge of COVID-19 patients in Northwell’s hospitals over the past three weeks. Both he and DePinho said that wearing masks, socially distancing, and washing hands will remain critical well into the new year to prevent the spread of the disease.

The two Fordham graduates were the panelists for “Our COVID-19 Odyssey: Vulnerabilities Revealed, Historic Scientific Progress Achieved, and a Nation Awakened,” hosted by the Fordham University Alumni Association (FUAA) as the inaugural event in its Insights and Impact speaker series. Fordham Provost Dennis C. Jacobs, Ph.D., moderated.

The event came exactly one week after Northwell made history by administering the first doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and granted emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration on December 11. A second vaccine, developed by Moderna, got the same approval four days ago, on December 18.

Masking Up

With healthcare workers and other vulnerable groups getting first priority for the vaccines, the general public would probably be receiving the vaccine in the late spring, making continued precautions necessary, Dowling said.

Masks are a good idea even for those who are vaccinated, since it’s still not fully known whether they can transmit coronavirus after getting the shot, DePinho said. “I think it’s going to be very hard” for this to happen, he said, “but until we really know, the safe and proper thing to do, the compassionate thing to do to protect others, is to wear a mask.”

Dowling said he thinks masks are here to stay, not only because of uncertainty about how long the coronavirus vaccination lasts but also because of their potential for suppressing the seasonal flu.

An Astounding Advance

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were each found to be 95% effective in clinical trials, a rate that DePinho called “astounding,” noting that the FDA standard was just 50%.

“This is an extremely safe vaccine and a very effective one,” said DePinho, professor, past president, and Harry Graves Burkhart III Distinguished University Chair in the Department of Cancer Biology at MD Anderson.

“You’re more likely to get harmed driving on the way to the hospital to get the vaccine than you will actually getting the vaccine,” he said.

They both emphasized that aftereffects like a sore arm, fatigue, or low-grade fever are actually a good thing. “It means the vaccine is working,” Dowling said.

He and DePinho addressed safety concerns such as allergic reactions that might be brought on by ingredients within the vaccines. The medical profession is “very skilled at handling those allergic reactions,” DePinho said. “On the other hand, as Michael will attest to, you do not want to get this virus.”

“This is a virus that kills,” and brings long-term problems like diminished lung capacity, strokes, and cardiac problems, he said. “This is a bad virus with enormous capabilities.” Compared with the manageable side effects of vaccines, he said, “the decision should be quite clear.”

At Northwell, people have to stay for 15 to 20 minutes after being vaccinated, and staff members are there to address any negative reactions, Dowling said. Most recipients feel few side effects, he said.

Making the Case

Overcoming skepticism—which exists even among healthcare workers—and convincing enough people to get vaccinated to achieve the estimated “herd immunity” threshold of of 70% will be “one of our biggest challenges,” Dowling said.

The stakes are high, DePinho said. “We’ve got to vaccinate about 5.6 billion people for herd immunity across the globe. Until we do that, this virus is going to keep coming back in waves, and as we just learned in the U.K., this virus mutates, it adjusts, it becomes more virulent, more infective.”

“So we have to really get ahead of this quickly and decisively, and it’s going to require worldwide immunization. No one’s safe until we do that.”

Dowling described the challenges of administering the vaccine, noting that the one from Pfizer has to be stored at minus 70 degrees Celsius and requires two doses 21 days apart.

DePinho said global vaccination efforts could be helped along by rapid scientific advances of recent years, like new messenger RNA-based therapeutics or nanotechnology that could be used to create dry powder vaccines that can be stored at room temperature. “Globally, those kinds of technologies are going to have a huge impact,” he said. “We’ve seen science really transform our ability to go from essentially a cold start to vaccinating people and protecting the public.”

Jacobs invited a comment about vaccines from Sally Benner, the vice chair of the FUAA advisory board who kicked off the event by introducing the panelists. Benner is the associate vice president of development for medical sciences at the University of Oxford, which developed a coronavirus vaccine that was licensed by AstraZeneca and is awaiting a trial in the U.S.

The speed of the vaccine’s development came from scientists having “a very long runway,” she said—they began working on a “Disease X” similar to the coronavirus five years ago at the urging of the World Health Organization, she said.

Community Leadership

In addition to vaccines, ending the pandemic requires a “strong, sophisticated communication mechanism and campaign to get people to understand [getting vaccinated] is the right thing to do … if you want to protect your community and yourself,” Dowling said.

He’s involved in statewide discussions about how to overcome people’s reluctance, particularly in African American and other minority communities that are disproportionately affected by the virus.

Clergy, pastors, and other leaders in those communities can play a valuable role by getting vaccinated, talking to others about it, and advising on how best to communicate the need to get vaccinated, he said.

Sandra Lindsay—the intensive care nurse who was the first Northwell employee vaccinated—is Jamaican, and has been “very vocal” in her community about the safety of the vaccine, Dowling said.

Celebrities could also play a role, he said, noting how Elvis Presley publicly took a vaccine for polio in 1956 to encourage young people to take it.

DePinho said the Catholic Church is “an incredible” platform for encouraging vaccination, since Pope Francis understands the importance of disease prevention and vaccination. Fordham and WFUV, the University’s public media station, could also spread the message, he said.

Education and Preparation

“Knowledge is disease’s greatest vulnerability,” DePinho said. “Vaccines have been one of the great triumphs of the last century,” he said, going through a list of maladies that people simply don’t think about anymore.

“We have to try to stay ahead of these viruses. We’re under constant assault,” he said. “This won’t be the last pandemic.”

“In much the same way we have ‘war games,’ we need to have ‘germ games’” to foster preparedness, he said.

Last spring, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, FCRH ’79, named Dowling co-leader of a statewide council on expanding hospital capacity in the face of the pandemic.

Asked about lessons learned, Dowling said hospitals learned “to cooperate an awful lot more together” and constantly share information, with stronger hospitals backing up the weaker ones. Northwell has also formed reciprocal agreements with other large health systems around the country to share staff as needed when crises arise. He said he hopes for broad strategies to be developed in the U.S. and globally to prepare for future pandemics.

A Sputnik Moment

DePinho said the pandemic is “like our Sputnik moment,” referring to the 1957 satellite launch by the Soviet Union that spurred new technological, educational, and other advances in the United States. The pandemic has brought tragedies but also opportunities to improve health care delivery, infrastructure, “and the disparities that exist in our society.”

“We need to invest in health care and prevention, not just disease care, particularly for underserved communities,” he said. “In much the same way that we had our Sputnik moment, hopefully in the decades ahead we will look back on ‘the COVID moment’ where we transformed the way that we work together to serve the public good.”

In closing remarks, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, said the event delivered a clear message: “We should be advocates for, ambassadors for, evangelists for the vaccination programs,” he said. “Tell people in all the worlds that you inhabit that this is the way toward a brighter future.”

He noted  the date, December 21, the winter solstice and the shortest day of the year. “Light will grow from this moment on,” he said, “and part of the light [that]will grow is the light that we derive from listening to you, sitting at your feet, and hearing all the experience-based wisdom that you had to offer.”

The Fordham University Alumni Association (FUAA) launched the Insights and Impact speaker series to showcase Fordham alumni making a positive difference in society. On January 21, the FUAA will host its annual Recognition Reception. Visit the event page to learn more and register.

Dowling, president and CEO of Northwell Health, stood by on Monday as an intensive care nurse at Northwell’s Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens, N.Y., received the vaccine granted emergency use authorization by the Food and Drug Administration on Friday, December 11. The vaccination, televised widely, kicked off Northwell’s effort to inoculate the staff at its hospitals.

“Today is V-Day in our fight against COVID-19,” Dowling said, calling it a long-awaited “historic day for science and humanity.”

On Monday, December 21, Dowling will join a virtual panel discussion about vaccination and the coronavirus. Organized by the Fordham University Alumni Association, the event is open to Fordham alumni, parents, and students.

The intensive care nurse who received the dose, Sandra Lindsay, said she felt “great” afterward. “It didn’t feel different from taking any other vaccine,” she said.

“I want to instill public confidence that the vaccine is safe,” she said. “We’re in a pandemic, and so we all need to do our part to put an end to the pandemic.

“As a nurse, my practice is guided by science, and so I trust science.”

The vaccine, developed by Pfizer, was found to be 95% effective in preventing COVID-19. It requires two doses three weeks apart. Northwell is seeking to vaccinate all of its essential frontline hospital staff as well as any physicians, nurses, or other staffers who work in direct contact with COVID-19 patients. Lindsay’s vaccination was the first to take place outside clinical trials.

Another Fordham graduate, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, FCRH ’79, took part in the event virtually, via video link, asking questions of Lindsay and the doctor administering the dose.

Pandemic Leadership

Last spring, soon after the pandemic began, Cuomo named Dowling co-leader of a statewide council on expanding the state’s hospital capacity to cope with the pandemic. A Fordham trustee, Dowling has served as a professor of social policy at Fordham, assistant dean of the Graduate School of Social Service, and director of the Westchester campus. Since 2002, he has been at the helm of Northwell, the largest hospital system in New York state.

COVID-19 has killed more than 300,000 Americans, and New York was widely considered an epicenter of the pandemic last spring.

“COVID-19 took our loved ones, disrupted our lives, and forced us to deal with unthinkable circumstances,” Dowling said. “But hope brings prosperity, and we never ended our fight. We never did wave the white flag.”

Lindsay spoke hopefully about the vaccination effort after receiving the dose. “I hope this marks the beginning to the end of a very painful time in our history,” she said.

“It’s one of the best preventative ways to try and stop the transmission. That’s been demonstrated not only here but everywhere else,” said Michael Dowling, GSS ’74, in an interview with IrishCentral posted March 25, as hospitals were facing increasingly dire conditions because of the influx of patients.

It was one of many recent media appearances related to Dowling’s new role as co-leader of a statewide council tasked with expanding hospital capacity to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

Dowling has long played a prominent role in New York healthcare as president and CEO of Northwell Health, the state’s largest health system, comprising 23 hospitals and more than 750 outpatient facilities. He took the helm at Northwell in 2002 after a long career in state government, in the healthcare industry, and on staff at Fordham, where today he serves on the Board of Trustees.

In another interview, Dowling emphasized New York hospitals’ ability to accommodate more patients but also acknowledged the unknowns, like the eventual number of patients afflicted with COVID-19—the disease caused by the novel coronavirus—and the availability of supplies like masks, gloves, and gowns for hospital workers.

“We’re working unbelievably hard to make sure that we access as much supply as we possibly can,” he told WCBS Newsradio 880 in New York City in a March 17 interview.

Dowling joined the council on March 16 at the request of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a 1979 graduate of Fordham College at Rose Hill. Cuomo is “driving the ship in a big, big way, and he’s looking at every possibility,” Dowling told WCBS. “So nothing is off the table here.”

Communicating in a Crisis

Dowling stressed the need to be “creative and adaptable” during a crisis in an interview with HealthLeaders, posted March 25, about his approach to running Northwell Health. Also key to his leadership style, he said, is communication. “You’ve got to be calm. You have to be upbeat. You must also give people data,” he said.

In December, Northwell Health entered into an agreement with Fordham to develop new programs to train health professionals. And Northwell’s research arm is taking part in three clinical trials for drugs to treat COVID-19.

While the trials offer hope, he stressed the importance of the public’s behavior. “If they’re not compliant with the public policies, then we’re going to prolong [the pandemic] longer than we should,” he told HealthLeaders.

Dowling is co-leading the council with Kenneth E. Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association and himself the father of a 2008 Fordham graduate, and also working with New York State Commissioner of Health Howard A. Zucker, M.D., a 2000 graduate of the Fordham School of Law.

Here are four things to know about Dowling’s life and career:

He’s no stranger to challenges. Dowling grew up in rural Ireland, the oldest of five children, in a home with mud walls and a thatched roof and without electricity, heat, or running water. He helped support his family and raise money for college by working summers on the New York City docks starting at age 17.

He held leadership roles at Fordham. After graduating from University College Cork, he returned to New York to earn a master’s degree in social work at the Graduate School of Social Service (GSS) in 1974. Five years later he joined the Fordham faculty, serving as a professor of social policy, assistant dean of GSS, and director of the Westchester campus.

He held leadership roles in state government. Dowling spent 12 years in New York government, including seven years as state director of health, education, and human services and deputy secretary to the governor.

He remembers his roots. Every year, Dowling brings 20 students from Ireland to gain work experience at Northwell. The company gives employees tuition reimbursement for attending college, and Dowling is known for making time to meet new employees every Monday morning.

Dowling is president and CEO of Northwell Health, the largest health system in New York state. He spent 12 years in state government, including seven years as state director of health, education and human services and deputy secretary to the governor.

A member of Fordham’s Board of Trustees since 2018, Dowling has served as a professor of social policy and assistant dean at the Graduate School of Social Service and director of the Fordham campus in Westchester County.

He talked to Crain’s about leaving Ireland for New York, the Affordable Care Act, and the optimism immigrants bring to the country. Read the interview here.

“One of the things that Fordham does well is manage a constant flow of new talent onto the Board of Trustees,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the University. “The board’s diversity of expertise and points of view enables us to respond to strategic opportunities and challenges in a timely and effective way. I am deeply grateful to our board members—ably led by Bob Daleo—for their generosity and dedication to Fordham.”

Some of the trustees, like financial services executive James Rowen, practically grew up on Fordham’s campus, beginning with Fordham Prep. Others have ties that bind to family, like attorney Maryanne Lavan, who has honored the memory of her late brother, a Fordham graduate, with an endowed scholarship. For others, the Fordham mission is a mission shared with family. Real estate executive Jorge B. San Miguel started his term as a trustee just a month after his brother, Luis E. San Miguel, completed his service on the Fordham board.

 The new trustees will bring both arts and science perspectives in addition to their primary expertise. Investor James Buckman is a former board member of the New York Philharmonic, and Gregory C. Chisholm, S.J., a Harlem pastor, holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering from MIT.

Most bring perspectives on contemporary civic issues and ethics from a variety of fields. Insurance executive John Lumelleau is a champion of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City. Andrew Hinton served as a federal prosecutor focusing on white-collar crime. Anthony Carter is a nationally recognized expert on diversity and inclusion. And Michael Dowling’s rise from hardscrabble Irish immigrant to leader of New York’s largest system of hospitals and long-term care providers reflects that of Fordham’s own Irish-immigrant founder, Archbishop John Hughes.

Here, in brief, are their biographies:

James E. Buckman, FCRH ’66, PAR ’05
Buckman is the retired vice chairman of York Capital Management, a New York-based hedge fund firm with approximately $14 billion under management. Currently a private investor, Buckman had a long career as a corporate general counsel, much of which he spent in the hospitality industry, particularly with the Cendant Corporation. After Cendant’s dissolution, he became a board member of the Wyndham Destinations, Inc., one of Cendant’s spinoff companies, and continues to serve as director of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Inc. Earlier in his life he served as a first lieutenant in the Connecticut Air National Guard, the Georgia Air National Guard, and the United States Air Force Reserve. He is also a former board member of the New York Philharmonic, where he and his wife, Nancy, have endowed a chair in the orchestra for a cellist. He is a trustee of Fordham Preparatory School, where he is also a member of the Hall of Honor. At Fordham, the Buckmans have an endowed a chair in the theology department—the James and Nancy Buckman Applied Chair in Christian Ethics—and the James and Nancy Buckman Endowed Scholarship. Buckman co-chaired the University’s Excelsior Campaign and in 2009 received the Fordham Founder’s Award. The Buckmans have three daughters, Elizabeth, Anne, LAW ’05, and Julia.

Anthony P. Carter, FCRH ’76, PAR ’15
In 2015, Carter retired as vice president, Global Diversity & Inclusion, and chief diversity officer for Johnson & Johnson. Under his leadership, the company was consistently named one of the top 10 among the 50 best American companies for diversity by DiversityInc magazine, earning the number one position in 2009. Carter has been recognized by Black Enterprise magazine as one of the top chief diversity officers in America.  At Fordham, Carter served as chair of the University’s search committee for a chief diversity officer, was a member of the University’s Diversity Task Force, and was Fordham’s executive champion while he was at Johnson & Johnson. In May of 2017, Carter was the speaker for the Gabelli School of Business diploma ceremony and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Fordham. He also served on the University’s President’s Council and supports Fordham’s CSTEP program. Carter grew up in the South Bronx in a family of 10 children whose parents died when he was young. He and his wife, Wendy, have three children, Austin, Ashley, and Dayne, FCRH ’15.

Gregory C. Chisholm, S.J.
Father Chisholm is currently pastor of the Parish of St. Charles Borromeo, Resurrection and All Saints in Harlem.  He is also dean of the Central Harlem region of Roman Catholic parishes. He joined the New England Province of the Jesuits in 1980 and was ordained a priest in 1993; he now belongs to the USA Northeast Province of the Jesuits. Father Chisholm received his doctorate in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and taught mechanical engineering at the University of Detroit Mercy.  Since 1998 he has been in full-time parish ministry in Los Angeles and New York City, serving largely African-American and Latino communities. He has served on the governing boards of several universities as well as Cristo Rey New York High School. He currently is on the board of Xavier High School. Father Chisholm grew up in Harlem, where his family attended St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church. He attended Catholic schools in Harlem and the Bronx.

Michael Dowling, GSS ’74
Dowling is president and CEO of Northwell Health, the largest system of hospitals and long-term care providers in New York and the largest private employer in New York state. Dowling was instrumental in the merger of North Shore and Long Island Jewish hospitals. Before joining Northwell Health in 1995, he was a senior vice president at Empire Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Dowling also served in New York State government for 12 years, seven of which were spent as state director of Health, Education and Human Services and deputy secretary to the governor. He was also commissioner of the New York State Department of Social Services. Before his work in public service, Dowling was a professor of social policy and assistant dean at the Fordham Graduate School of Social Service (GSS) and director of the Fordham campus in Westchester County. In May of 2017, he received a doctor of humane letters and spoke at the GSS diploma ceremony. Dowling is the oldest of five children; he grew up in a home in Limerick, Ireland, without electricity, running water, bathrooms, or heat—but, he says, his family always had plenty of books. He and his wife, Kathy, have two children, Brian and Elizabeth.

Andrew J. Hinton, LAW ’89
Hinton currently serves as vice president of global ethics and compliance at Google, where he spearheads efforts to identify and mitigate compliance risk and expand upon the company’s core values. He joined Google in 2006. After receiving his J.D. in 1989 from Fordham Law, where he was a member of Fordham Law Review, Hinton worked as a litigation associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP in New York, with concentration on commercial litigation and white collar criminal defense. He went on to work at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York as a federal prosecutor, focusing on white-collar crime. He serves on the Ethics Research Center Board of Directors and has lectured at the Compliance & Ethics Institute. Hinton has remained connected to Fordham Law, serving on the Class of 1989’s 25th Reunion committee in 2014. He lives in Palo Alto, California, with his wife, Joy, and their two children, Sarah and Eric.

Maryanne Lavan
Lavan is senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary at Lockheed Martin Corporation. She joined Lockheed Martin in 1990 as an attorney and served in increasingly senior positions within the legal department. The company’s first female general counsel, she is responsible for managing the corporation’s legal affairs and law department. Lavan became involved with Fordham University after her youngest brother, Matthew Lavan, FCRH ’98, passed away in 2003. She supports the Matthew J. Lavan Endowed Scholarship at Fordham, established by Matthew’s classmate, and has given generously to the Global Outreach Program at Rose Hill, which Matthew participated in as a student. In September 2014, Lavan joined the President’s Council Executive Committee. Several members of her family are Fordham graduates, including her father, Thomas Lavan, UGE ’57, and late mother, Ann Lavan, UGE ’54, who met at Fordham. She and her husband, Larry Harris, have two children, Mikayla and Zachary.

John Lumelleau, FCRH ’74
In 2017, Lumelleau retired as the president and CEO of Lockton, the world’s largest privately held independent insurance broker. Under his leadership, the Lockton team grew to become a global organization with more than with 85 offices worldwide and more than $1.4 billion in fiscal revenue in 2017. He now serves as an adviser to the board. Lumelleau has been a supporter of Fordham Athletics programs for many years. In recognition of his consistent support of the Fordham Football program, Lumelleau, a former player at Fordham, was honored with the Walsh Award in September 2015. Lumelleau joined the Executive Committee of the Fordham President’s Council in August 2015. Outside of Fordham he has long been involved in civic issues, serving previously on the Board of Directors of the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers; the Board of Overseers of the St. John’s University School of Risk Management & Actuarial Sciences; and as an ambassador for the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City, an organization he supports together with his wife, Loretta. The Lumelleaus have three children, Ryan, Matthew, and Anne.

James S. Rowen, FCRH ’86, GABELLI ’98
Rowen is the chief operating officer at Renaissance Technologies, LLC, a New York-based registered investment adviser. His career spans 25 years in the financial services, including the equity derivatives, prime brokerage, and structured finance businesses. Rowen holds positions on the Founders Council at the Managed Funds Association, where he previously served as vice chairman. Before Renaissance, he was the chief financial officer of hedge fund firm SAC Capital Advisors LLC. Prior to that he was responsible for Deutsche Bank’s Global Equity Finance and Prime Brokerage business. In addition to his two degrees from Fordham University, Rowen is a 1982 graduate of Fordham Preparatory School and has served as chairman of that school’s board. He has also served as a member of the Fordham College at Rose Hill Alumni Board. He and his wife, Diane, have two children, James and Kaitlin.

Jorge B. San Miguel, GABELLI ’82
San Miguel is the president of the San Miguel Foundation, where he is responsible for fundraising, investment, and portfolio management at the family foundation. During his thirty-year career, San Miguel served as executive vice president and chief information officer of Florida East Coast Industries and as chief financial officer of Codina Group, Inc., a South Florida based real estate development company. Prior to that, San Miguel worked at Ernst & Young, where he developed a Latin America mergers and acquisitions group. San Miguel resides in Key Biscayne, Florida. He currently serves as treasurer of Miramar United Elite FC youth soccer academy and coaches both soccer and football at his high school alma mater, Immaculata-La Salle High School in Miami.

“Where we see problems, it is best to see opportunities. People need experiences of salvation because we live in a turbulent world,” said his Eminence Óscar Andrés Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga, S.D.B., archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, delivering the keynote address (full remarks here) to an estimated crowd of 20,000 gathered at the Rose Hill campus for the University’s 172nd commencement.

“You have a whole world to discover. But you also face new risks: The one who’s paralyzed in front of risks loses opportunities.”

Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga, a key adviser to Pope Francis and a robust Catholic voice for addressing global poverty and social injustice, was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters during the ceremony on Edwards Parade. He encouraged the 5,077 graduates to “be present in public debate, in all the areas where humanity is at issue,” and to make God’s mercy and tenderness visible for every creature.

To be spiritual is to live life according to the Holy Spirit, he said, through “transcendent humanism,” a seemingly paradoxical tradition of Christian mysticism that is centered on both the search for God through Jesus, and on human experience in the search for fraternal love.

“Transcendental humanism acknowledges that the experience of God is inseparable from commitment to all that is human,” he said, including “the preferential love for the poor and the suffering.” He encouraged the graduates, therefore, to face today’s fragmented, polarized society “committed to work with courage and heroism for the cause of the human being.”

“Before a culture of violence and death this is what we propose: The culture of good.”

A Call to Live Well

In his address to those graduating in the University’s Dodransbicentennial year, Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, sounded a cautionary note, acknowledging that the world today is difficult, discouraging, challenging, and often destructive. As Fordham students and New Yorkers “by birth or by adoption,” the Class of 2017 has been personally affected by current events.

“You learned that when a rock is thrown in the Gaza Strip, a heart is broken in a neighborhood in Brooklyn, and when a bomb goes off on the London tube, we shudder on the Number 4 line at Grand Central,” he said.

“When children starve in a refugee camp anywhere in the world, the streets of Manhattan stream with tearful demonstrators, and when there is political unrest in Korea, the news unsettles your friends whose families live in Korean communities all over the city.”

The key, he said, is to “embrace the motto ‘living well is the best revenge’ by becoming society’s standouts, guides, and [society’s] conscience.” He told the graduates to live lives “not marked by conspicuous consumption but conspicuous compassion.”

“Remember that the principles in your heart are worth nothing if they are locked away in your hearts,” he said. “Set them loose and let them direct your every action. You will transform the world with your gritty New York generosity; your hard won, discerning wisdom; and your daring compassion.”

New York Senator Charles Schumer, in brief remarks before Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga, likewise urged students to embrace the unknown, as he said their generation is uniquely qualified to tackle today’s challenges.

[doptg id=”85″]In addition to the cardinal, this year’s recipients of honorary degrees include:

Anne Anderson, Ireland’s ambassador to the United States;

Joseph Cammarosano, FCRH ’47, GSAS ’56, longtime Fordham faculty member;

Anthony P. Carter, former vice president for global diversity and inclusion and chief diversity officer for Johnson & Johnson;

Michael Dowling, the president and CEO of Northwell Health;

Jane Iannucelli, S.C., president of the order of the Sisters of Charity;

Gregory Long, CEO and the William C. Steere Sr. President of the New York Botanical Garden;

and Eric T. Schneiderman, attorney general of New York State.