Hofstra Magazine

Meet the 2009 Alumni Award Winners

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(L to r) Hofstra Alumni Organization President Laurie Bloom; Alumnus of the Year Kurt Lambert; Young Alumni of the Year Carlton B. Hickman and Michael Seiman; Hofstra President Stuart Rabinowitz; Honorary Alumnus Larry Bloom; Lifetime Service Recognition Award recipient Madelyn Leibowitz; Alumni Achievement Award winners James K. Donaghy, Joseph Sparacio and Stanislao Pugliese; and Hofstra Vice President for Development and Alumni Affairs Alan J. Kelly.

Alumnus of the Year
The Alumnus/Alumna of the Year Award is given by Hofstra University and the Alumni Organization in recognition of exemplary career achievement and/or outstanding service to Hofstra University or the Alumni Organization.

Award for Alumni Achievement
The Award for Alumni Achievement is given to those Hofstra alumni who have distinguished themselves in their chosen fields of endeavor and/or rendered exemplary service to Hofstra University.

Young Alumnus Award
The Young Alumnus Award was first presented in 1996 by the Hofstra Alumni Organization. It is awarded to alumni who, within 10 years of graduation from Hofstra, have achieved significant accomplishments in their professional lives or rendered outstanding service to Hofstra University or the Alumni Organization.

Honorary Alumnus Award
First awarded in 1977, the Honorary Alumnus/Alumna Award is given by Hofstra University and the Alumni Organization to friends of Hofstra in recognition of outstanding service to the University or the Alumni Organization.

Lifetime Service Recognition Award
Presented for the first time in 2009, the Lifetime Service Recognition Award is presented in recognition of a longtime history of alumni volunteer activity and support to the University.

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Alumnus of the Year

Kurt Lambert ’88

Dr. Kurt Lambert, who graduated from Hofstra with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, co-founded Zegora Investment Management in 2005 and serves as president of the board of directors and partner with the Zurich based fund manager that specializes in socially responsible investments.

Minoring in anthropology at Hofstra had a major impact on Dr. Lambert and prepared him well for working at a global company like Zegora. “Cultural anthropology, with its core underlying message of empathy, helped to reinforce an interest in and respect of other cultures, which is helpful when one travels as much as I do,” he said.

“Hofstra has played a pivotal role in arousing my intellectual curiosity, and the balance of work and play within the Hofstra environment made for four of the most wonderful and memorable years of my life,” he added.

In addition to his involvement with Zegora, Dr. Lambert is a member of the advisory board of the FTSE Hedge Fund Index and the board of trustees for Africa Foundation. He also recently founded the Zegora Foundation to provide support to disadvantaged sections of the Barbadian community in the areas of education, social development and entrepreneurship. Dr. Lambert’s financial services career includes the 1997 founding of Harcourt Investment Consulting, a provider of hedge fund products and services with more than $4 billion in assets under management as of June 2009. Prior to founding Harcourt, Dr. Lambert worked at Bank Leu and UBS AG.

Dr. Lambert was the February 2008 Alumnus of the Month, and in May 2008 he established an endowed scholarship at Hofstra.

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Honorary Alumnus

Larry Bloom

Larry Bloom spent nearly two decades at Hofstra University as director of sports facilities from 1987 to 2006, and in that stretch oversaw numerous construction projects that helped bring Hofstra’s athletic teams to a higher level.

Mr. Bloom earned a B.A. in political science and a M.Ed. from Northeastern University in 1969 and 1973, respectively. He began his administrative career in 1970 at Northeastern University, first as building director and then as assistant director of housing. In 1973 he relocated to Long Island University-C.W. Post Campus as director of housing, and three years later became its assistant director of athletics. Since his retirement, Mr. Bloom remains connected to Hofstra and is active as a season ticket holder for the Pride men’s basketball team. “Being a part of the Hofstra family is the best thing that happened in my career in higher education,” he said. “It’s something I’ll never forget.”

During his tenure as Hofstra’s director of sports facilities, Mr. Bloom helped facilitate the construction of key projects such as the Recreation Center and the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex. Ironically, Mr. Bloom’s career highlight came after he retired in 2006, when he was asked by President Stuart Rabinowitz to return to campus to coordinate the bidding and subsequent hosting of the third and final 2008 presidential debate at the David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be involved with the greatest event ever held at the University,” he said.

Now fully retired, Mr. Bloom enjoys golf and traveling with his wife, Lainie. As for the future, he may make yet another return to Hofstra should a bid by the University to host a 2012 presidential debate prove successful.

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Lifetime Service Recognition Award

Madelyn Leibowitz ’64

From the moment she arrived at Hofstra College in 1960, Madelyn Leibowitz has been an enthusiastic supporter of the school, with that passion that has never wavered over five decades. “I arrived at Hofstra 49 years ago, and I never left,” said Ms. Leibowitz. Since graduating from Hofstra, Ms. Leibowitz has held key leadership roles within the Hofstra Alumni Organization, including serving as president for two years. Her involvement began with Delta Chi Delta Alumnae Association, where she continues to serve as president. She was also named Alumni Organization Senator of the Year in June 1992 and received the prestigious Award for Alumni Achievement in fall 1998. She has been a member of the Hofstra Advisory Board since 1996.

“To be part of this dynamic institution brings me nothing but tremendous pride,” she said. As a student, Ms. Leibowitz was a member of the sorority Delta Chi Delta and was captain of the cheerleading team. As a member of the Hofstra Pride Club Board of Directors since 1993, she is still cheering on Hofstra Athletics and is currently serving as the group’s membership co-chair.

Ms. Leibowitz has also distinguished herself beyond Hofstra, serving as president and owner of ML Realty Group, Inc. and vice president for business development of the family-owned Atlantic Agency/DCAP Insurance and Taxes. In addition to several other charitable endeavors, she established the Ira Leibowitz Endowed Memorial Scholarship at Hofstra (in memory of her late husband) to assist undergraduate students with college expenses.

Ms. Leibowitz resides in Holtsville, New York, where she is close to her three children and five grandchildren.

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Young Alumnus Awards

Carlton B. Hickman ’01

Carlton Hickman, who graduated from Hofstra with a B.A in computer science, is chief technology officer and co-founder of CPX Interactive. Mr. Hickman describes himself as having been just an average student at Hofstra, but a friendship with fellow computer science student Michael Seiman led to the co-founding of CPX, a progressive online ad network and global marketing company.

Hofstra also fueled Mr. Hickman’s entrepreneurial success by offering many seminars with key computer science industry leaders. “You always had a lot of very interesting people coming to Hofstra,” he said. “The seminars help get you closer to your dream.” Mr. Hickman planted the seeds for CPX when he was a Hofstra student, after building his own ad server and network in 1999 and 2000. CPX has now grown to five ad servers and more than 90 employees. Mr. Hickman is proud to use the exposure generated by CPX to promote charitable causes of all kinds (i.e., LiveEarth.org and Children International). His ad network also produced and distributed a pro-voting online public service announcement starring celebrities Russell Simmons, LL Cool J and George Lucas.

Mr. Hickman credits Hofstra for playing a large role in the success of CPX. The combination of Hofstra’s small classes and knowledgeable professors was particularly appealing for him. “You got to know the professors very well,” he said. “It was a very good environment for learning.”

Michael Seiman ’01

Michael Seiman graduated from Hofstra University with a B.A in computer science. He is chief executive officer and co-founder of CPX Interactive, a progressive online advertising network and global marketing company recently named by Inc. Magazine as the sixth-fastest growing privately held advertising and marketing company in the United States. While a student at Hofstra University, Mr. Seiman teamed up with Carlton B. Hickman to begin monetizing a handful of entertainment Web sites they had created together. The ad server they built in 1999 set new standards for the industry and developed into a global company that now employs more than 90 people and serves more than 30 billion online ad impressions every month, in more than 60 countries.

Mr. Seiman credits his education at Hofstra and the relationships he developed at the University for the success story CPX has become. “[The small classes] definitely helped keep a tighter focus and helped develop a better relationship with the professors,” he said. “Hofstra provided a nice environment and well-rounded education that allowed me to prepare for a competitive environment.”

Mr. Seiman prides himself on his drive to “give back,” and to that end he established a philanthropic division at CPX that has contributed millions of ad impressions across its vast network to causes such as the Save Darfur Coalition and the American Diabetes Association. He is also a principal of an independent movie production house, Chaos2, which recently completed its first feature-length project, the retro-style “slasher flick” Bloodnight: The Legend of Mary Hatchet.

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Awards for Alumni Achievement

James K. Donaghy ’90

James K. (Jim) Donaghy, who graduated from Hofstra University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, is chairman of the Structure Tone organization, a $3.1 billion construction services firm headquartered in New York City. In 2009 the company was ranked No. 21 worldwide on Engineering News-Record’s (ENR’s) Top 400 Contractors List. Mr. Donaghy’s Hofstra experience included being a starting first baseman for the baseball team and a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, which helped him form many lasting friendships. “There was no down time when I was at Hofstra, which is important at that age,” he said. “Hofstra was a good experience for me.”

Mr. Donaghy is very active in a number of charitable causes, serving on the board of directors or as a committee member for organizations such as United Way, Capuchin Food Pantries, St. Thomas Aquinas College and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Structure Tone also supports more than 100 charitable organizations throughout the United States and United Kingdom by providing significant financial assistance as well as encouraging volunteerism among its employees.

Mr. Donaghy currently serves on a Hofstra advisory council discussing the potential for a new engineering school. He is thrilled to see the growth of Hofstra since his graduation. “I sensed when I was there that it was a school that was forward-thinking and forwardmoving,” he said. “It has a great reputation.”

Mr. Donaghy resides in Old Tappan, New Jersey, with his wife and son.

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Alumni Achievement

Kathryn V. Marinello ’84

Kathy Marinello, who earned an M.B.A in marketing at Hofstra, has been chairman and chief executive officer of Ceridian Corporation for the past three years. Prior to joining the Minneapolis-based human resources and payroll processing services firm, Ms. Marinello served as president and chief executive officer of multiple large General Electric businesses, including Fleet Services, Inc., Consumer Financial Services, Auto & Home Insurance, and the GE Financial Network.

Ms. Marinello was heavily influenced at Hofstra by businesses professors Dr. Joel Evans and Dr. Barry Berman, for whom she did research. “They were very passionate, committed and very bright,” she said of Drs. Berman and Evans. “They were two great professors who cared deeply about student learning.”

Ms. Marinello, as a member of the Business Roundtable Ms. Marinello, as a member of the Business Roundtable, has had the opportunity to meet with both Presidents Bush and Obama. She has also served on the board of directors of General Motors and was re-elected to the board of directors of the “new” General Motors. Through all her professional success, Ms. Marinello has always been grateful for her experience at Hofstra and has hired many fellow Hofstra alumni at Ceridian. “We try to reach out and bring Hofstra graduates into the company,” she said.

Ms. Marinello resides in Apple Valley, Minnesota, with her husband and three children.

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Awards for Alumni Achievement

Stanislao Pugliese ’87

Stanislao G. Pugliese is professor of modern European history at Hofstra University and Hofstra Cultural Center Fellow. A specialist on the Italian antifascist resistance and Italian Jews, he has authored, edited or translated a dozen books on Italian and Italian-American history. Professor Pugliese is a former research fellow at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and the University of Oxford.

Professor Pugliese became inspired to pursue a career in academia during his days at Hofstra, when he was fortunate enough to have four influential history professors in John Marcus, John Moore, Louis Kern and Michael D’Innocenzo. Additionally, two professors he credits for his career inspiration were Pellegrino D’Acierno and the late Tom Belmonte. “It was taking classes with these professors that really stirred my imagination,” he said. “It was also intellectually exciting.” Professor Pugliese directs the Hofstra Cultural Center’s Italian-American Lecture Series and has organized several international conferences at Hofstra. His essay “The Books of the Roman Ghetto Under the Nazi Occupation” was presented at Hofstra’s 17th Annual Distinguished Faculty Lecture in 1999, and he was awarded Hofstra’s Peter E. Herman Literary Award. He is currently editing a volume of essays titled Answering Auschwitz: Primo Levi’s Science and Humanism After the Fall, and collaborating on a film documentary on the Jews of Rome under the Nazi occupation. In 2009 Professor Pugliese’s newest biography, Bitter Spring: A Life of Ignazio Silone, was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Professor Pugliese and his wife, Jennifer Romanello ’87, have two children, Alessandro, 12, and Giulia, 9.

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Alumni Achievement

Joseph Sparacio ’89

Joseph Sparacio is chief executive officer and managing partner of the Woodbury, New York-based The Island Financial Group, a subsidiary of MassMutual. Mr. Sparacio credits his two-decade career in the financial services sector – including 16 years at Prudential – to his liberal arts-rooted curriculum at Hofstra. “A solid liberal arts background is really key in the business world,” he said. “The whole experience at Hofstra really positioned me tremendously for the career I have now.” Mr. Sparacio was active in Hofstra’s Student Government Association, and one of his college highlights was hosting then-Secretary of Defense and future Vice President Dick Cheney during a presidential conference about Gerald R. Ford. He also took advantage of Hofstra’s study abroad opportunities to spend a summer in Spain.

Mr. Sparacio has remained active as a Hofstra alumnus and in 2009 was selected to serve on the University’s Board of Trustees. He also serves on the Hofstra University Honors College Advisory Board and the Hofstra Pride Club Board of Directors, and is past president of the Hofstra University Alumni Organization. He has established the Joseph Sparacio Endowed Scholarship to assist Hofstra students majoring in speech communication. In addition, he is very involved as a major donor and an active volunteer with a number of charities, including the Breast Treatment Task Force and the American Cancer Society, which selected him as a 2007 honoree at the Coaches vs. Cancer Basketball Gala.

Mr. Sparacio and his wife, Robin, currently reside in Sag Harbor, New York, with their four children − Allison and triplets Elle, Ava and Anthony.

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