Jersey City – Legendary investigative journalist of The Washington Post Bob Woodward will be the featured luncheon speaker at the 36th Annual Business Symposium sponsored by the Saint Peter’s College Board of Regents on Thursday, November 8 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Jersey City.
This year’s theme is The Three R’s: Risk, Reward & Responsibility. Fidelity Investments and the Aetna Foundation are the lead corporate sponsors for the event.
“This year’s program brings together an exciting and dynamic group of speakers, each a leader in their respective field, to discuss critical decision making in business,” said Bob Goldstein ’60, Chair of the Saint Peter’s College Board of Regents. “This event will be a terrific opportunity for business leaders and students to learn and network. Once again this event showed the strength of Saint Peter’s College in the marketplace.”
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Bob Woodward, legendary investigative journalist of The Washington Post, will be the featured luncheon speaker at the 36th Annual Business Symposium. This year’s theme is The Three R’s: Risk, Reward & Responsibility.
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Perhaps best known for the critical role he played in the Watergate investigation, Bob Woodward earned a B.A. degree from Yale University in 1965. After a four year tour of duty in the United States Navy, Woodward was accepted to Harvard Law School in 1970, but he chose to pursue a career in journalism instead.
He persuaded The Washington Post to give him an unpaid two-week try-out. Not one of the 17 stories he filed was printed. The Post editors concluded that he was not ready for a major metropolitan daily newspaper, and arranged for him to take a job as one of four reporters at a small suburban weekly, The Montgomery County Sentinel. He soon became the paper’s leading reporter, and by September 1971, The Post was ready to give him another try.
Early one Saturday morning, June 17, 1972, The Post’s city editor called Woodward to report on the Watergate investigation with Carl Bernstein. Years later, Woodward and Bernstein’s account of the Watergate investigation, All The President’s Men, became a national best-seller and was made into a popular motion picture. A second book by Woodward and Bernstein on the collapse of the Nixon administration, The Final Days, was also a huge success. Woodward has continued to produce best-selling books on previously hidden aspects of American life. Now an assistant managing editor at The Washington Post, Bob Woodward is responsible for the paper’s special investigative projects.
Other speakers at this year’s Business Symposium include Robert J. DiNicola ’69, Chairman & CEO, Linens ‘n Things, Inc.; Marilda L. Gandara, Esq. ’72, President, Aetna Foundation; and Jerry Della Femina, legendary advertising executive and founder of Della Femina/Jeary and Partners. The event will also include a special introductory tribute to James N. Loughran, S.J., by Sid Dorfman of The Star-Ledger.
Robert J. DiNicola, a veteran of the retail industry for the past 35 years, is the Senior Retail Advisor for Apollo Management LLP, a private equity investment firm in New York City. Currently, DiNicola serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Linens ‘n Things, a leading specialty retailer of home furnishings, owned by Apollo LLP. Previously, DiNicola served as Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of the Zale Corporation, located in Dallas, TX. During his 10-year tenure, DiNicola led the Zale Corporation from post-bankruptcy to its position as industry leader. DiNicola is a 1969 graduate of St. Peter’s College and a Veteran of the U.S. Army.
Marilda L. Gándara, Esq. joined Aetna in 1978 and now represents Aetna to the public on corporate citizenship issues. She serves as liaison to private, non-profit and public service organizations that work to improve the lives of people in the community. Numerous publications have listed Gándara among the nation’s most successful Latinas, including El Diario La Prensa’s "Top 50 Latinas in American Business" and Hispanic Business magazine’s 2005 Corporate Elite directory of 25 influential Hispanics in American corporations. Most recently, Latina Style featured Gándara on the cover for an article about Latinas in philanthropy. Boeing included her in its 2004 Women’s History Month poster featuring eight prominent women. She is the recipient of numerous national and regional awards. Gándara holds a J.D. from the University of Connecticut Law School and graduated from Saint Peter’s College in 1972.
Jerry Della Femina’s long history in the advertising industry includes legendary campaigns for Isuzu (Joe Isuzu), Meow Mix (singing cat), Beck’s Beer, Dow Brands (Fingerman) and Pan Am. In December 1992, Della Femina opened a new agency, Jerry Inc.,with the announcement that he had been awarded the Newsweek account, and soon added Marvel Comics and The New York Mets to its roster of clients. In May 1994, Jerry Inc. merged with the New York office of Ketchum Advertising, forming the current agency, Jerry & Ketchum. Della Femina serves on the boards of WNYC-TV, The Children’s Aid Society, Citymeals-on-Wheels and an industry-wide initiative called Ads Against AIDS. In recognition of his accomplishments in the industry, Della Femina has been recently honored as the Czar of Madison Avenue by Smirnoff Vodka.
Saint Peter’s College is the Jesuit College of New Jersey. Founded in 1872, Saint Peter’s has an enrollment of approximately 3,000 students in undergraduate and graduate programs. The main campus is located in Jersey City. The College has a branch campus for adults in Englewood Cliffs and also offers courses at various corporate sites at the Jersey City waterfront and in South Amboy.
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