Born in South Carolina in 1916, she moved to New York City to live with an aunt during the Great Depression. By 1974, when she earned a bachelor’s degree from Fordham College at Lincoln Center, she was in her late 50s. She had served as executive secretary of the city’s Community Mental Health Board, and two years earlier, helped form and lead Black Citizens for Fair Media, a volunteer group that challenged broadcasters’ discriminatory employment practices and negative depictions of Black people.

“At first we thought broadcasters could do as they pleased. … Then we found out that ‘the airwaves belong to the people,’ and that phrase became our slogan and call to action,’” she once wrote.

They pressured major networks into changing their programming, employment, and training policies—and if they resisted, Bowen’s group filed challenges to the renewal of their broadcast license with the Federal Communications Commission until they relented. In the late 1980s, her group became the Foundation for Minority Interests in Media. Renamed the Emma Bowen Foundation following her death in 1996, it connects students of color with internships at leading media companies.

At Fordham, Emma Bowen’s spirit is reflected not only in the public service mission of WFUV but also in the students supporting Bronx farmers markets through the Center for Community Engaged Learning and in alumni like trustee Valerie Irick Rainford, FCRH ’86, and Patricia David, GABELLI ’81, recently honored by Inclusion magazine as “trailblazing leaders who wrote the playbook for implementing” diversity, equity, and inclusion values and practices in the workplace. Bowen’s life and legacy deserve to be better known.

Fordham trustee Valerie Irick Rainford, FCRH ’86, and Patricia David, GABELLI ’81, are among the eight executives in the magazine’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Hall of Fame Class of 2023.

In her “Last Word” column in the winter 2023 issue of the magazine, Sheila A. Robinson, the founder Diversity Woman Media, noted that Rainford, David, and the other honorees “began this work before there even were titles like chief diversity officer.”

“While we still have a long way to go and much work to do, now is the time to salute those women and men on the front lines who have made a difference. … They paved the way for the rest of us,” Robinson wrote, “and their tireless work in the trenches of the battle for equity, inclusion, and belonging is why I feel optimistic for the next generation.”

A ‘Pay-It-Forward Commitment’ to Elevating People

David, who was born in England and grew up in the Bronx, graduated from Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in finance and economics and a minor in accounting. She capped a decades-long corporate career at JPMorgan Chase, where she served as the chief diversity officer and was instrumental in launching the company’s Advancing Black Leaders strategy and its Office of Disability Inclusion, which she described as her proudest achievement.

“Disability can and will affect everyone,” she told Inclusion magazine. “Raising awareness, busting the myths, and being intentional about this community was personally refreshing to me.”

The magazine also noted David’s “pay-it-forward commitment” to supporting students at Fordham, where she has “led large-group diversity education sessions for first-year students” at the Gabelli School of Business and supported a high-school pipeline program to help bring more students of color to Fordham.

In 2016, she received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Fordham and delivered the keynote address at the Gabelli School of Business graduate diploma ceremony. One year earlier, the Gabelli School paid tribute to her by creating the Patricia David Trailblazer Award, presented annually to a graduating senior who has demonstrated a dedication to inclusiveness in the business world.

Since retiring from JPMorgan Chase in 2018, David has been working as a mentor, coach, and consultant. She also recently published a book, The ‘Her’story of Davidisms: My Straight-Shooting Answers to 30 Years of Career Questions People Have Asked Me (Picard Press, 2021).

Challenging Assumptions, Providing Opportunities

Like David, Rainford grew up in the Bronx and eventually worked at JPMorgan Chase, where she was a managing director and led the company’s Advancing Black Leaders strategy.

“Under her leadership, representation of Black professionals rose to historic levels, with an increase in Black senior executives by over 50 percent in three years,” Inclusion magazine reported.

Prior to her tenure at JPMorgan Chase, she had a 21-year career at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where she was the first Black woman to rise to senior vice president. Today, as the founding CEO of Elloree Talent Strategies, she advises C-suite executives on the best strategies for advancing diverse talent.

She is also the author of an award-winning memoir, Until the Brighter Tomorrow: One Woman’s Courageous Climb from the Projects to the Podium (Eloree Press, 2014), and a founding member of the Black Women for Black Girls Giving Circle. She has received numerous awards and distinctions, including recognition on Black Enterprise’s list of the Most Powerful Women in Business and on The Network Journal’s list of 25 Most Influential Women in Business.

Rainford has been a generous supporter of Fordham and its students. She joined the University’s Board of Trustees in 2019, and in early 2021, she was the driving force behind the creation of the Diversity Fund, which provides financial aid to economically disadvantaged undergraduates and those from underrepresented groups who are living on campus.

“I want my legacy—from struggle to success—to challenge long-standing assumptions and expectations for what talent from underserved communities can achieve when provided with access and opportunity,” she told Inclusion magazine.

“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.