Montclair State’s 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients

As part of Montclair State University’s Convocation exercises, the University honored alumni from each college and school with the 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award. The School of Nursing also celebrated their first undergraduate convocation and honored distinguished speaker, Fred Bonato, Former Associate Provost for Academic Affairs. Listed below are the Montclair State graduates who received the award in their respective colleges or schools.

• College of Science and Mathematics: Dorothy Pelak Bognar ’62 ’67 MA
• College of Humanities and Social Sciences: Wendy Gillespie ’73
• College of Education and Human Services: Emanuel (Manny) Scrofani ’61
• Feliciano School of Business: Lucia Capozzoli ’83
• College of the Arts: Denise Rover ’84

College of Science and Mathematics
Dorothy Pelak Bognar ’62 ’67 MA

Dorothy Pelak Bognar ’62, ’67 MA earned a BS in Physical Science in 1962 and MA in Science Education in 1967 at Montclair State. She then received an MS in Biochemistry from Fairleigh Dickinson in 1971. Dorothy has been the supervisor of student teachers at Ramapo College for the past 15 years. Prior to that, she taught chemistry for 39 years at Ramapo High School in Franklin Lakes. She is passionate about science education and equipping young people with the foundation to pursue their interests in various related fields. Montclair State provided Dorothy with an entree into the field of science at a time when there were few women – and prepared her to be competitive. Once in the classroom and attending professional NSF Institutes, it became that much more apparent to Dorothy that her foundation at Montclair State had put her on track to a career that she loved and to excel at it.

College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Wendy Gillespie ’73

As a successful entrepreneur since 1991, Wendy Gillespie ’73 has been a co-owner and is now President and CEO of Frontier Trading Inc., a binational company exporting to and distributing grocery products in Mexico and Latin America. Previously, she spent 13 years with the IBM Corp. in various sales and marketing management positions, including an assignment at IBM’s Asia Pacific headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. Wendy is also President and CEO of the Capdevilla Gillespie Foundation and is involved in the San Diego business and philanthropic communities. She currently serves on several boards, including the La Jolla Playhouse, Pacific Arts Movement, National Council for the American Theater, Strategic Roundtable of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, The U.S. District Export Council and the University of San Diego School of Leadership and Education Sciences. As a young immigrant from the United Kingdom, Wendy is committed to making a difference in our diverse communities.

Wendy has found recent success as a N.Y. Broadway producer. Her current production, Come from Away,which premiered at the La Jolla Playhouse, received seven Tony Award nominations, with Chris Ashley winning “Best Musical Director.” Her first production, Allegiance: A New American Musical, made its debut at the Old Globe in 2012 and premiered on Broadway in 2015-16. Diana and Working Girl are currently in development.

She was recently inducted into the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame, received the Junior Achievement Worldwide Gold Leadership Award, and has been recognized as a San Diego Woman Who Means Business, Girl Scouts Cool Woman, YWCA TWIN (Tribute to Women in Industry) and in 2016 received the UPAC (Union Pan Asian Communities) Visionary Award and the JACL (Japanese American Citizens League) Civil Rights Leadership Award for her work with Allegiance.

Wendy has been a dedicated supporter of Junior Achievement San Diego for the past 20 years, with 15 years of service on the Board. Wendy and her husband, Marty Capdevilla, played a key role in finding a new home for the Junior Achievement office, creating the Capdevilla Gillespie Center for Junior Achievement in Mission Valley in 2006. JA’s new home lead to the creation of the McGrath Family JA BizTown, a 10,000-square-foot mini-city where 16,000 fifth graders each year discover how to start and run a profitable business. Wendy was also part of the leadership team that successfully opened JA’s newest experiential learning center, Mission Fed JA Finance Park in 2015. She considers JA Finance Park and JA BizTown her proudest achievements and living legacy for San Diego’s youth.

Wendy is a charter member of the San Diego Women’s Foundation and the San Diego World Trade Center, where she served on the Board for 15 years.

College of Education and Human Services
Emanuel (Manny) Scrofani ’61

Manny Scrofani devoted his career to education—first as a teacher and then as an educational leader at school, district, state and national levels. He was a teacher in New Jersey, and California; a principal and assistant principal in seven California schools; and superintendent of Schools in Napa and Sonoma. He then became an Associate Professor of Organizational Leadership at the University of La Verne in Southern CA.

Dr. Scrofani received his BA in Business Education at Montclair State, where he was the Captain of one of four undefeated football teams in the University’s history. As a result of his athletic accomplishments, he was named NJ State College Alumni Association Distinguished Athlete and was the All State Northern New Jersey Selection Football Team Captain at Seton Hall Prep, where he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. In 2007, Dr. Scrofani led the effort, along with his Montclair State football teammates, to establish the Coach Jerry Edwards Athletic Endowment Fund to honor their coach and to create a special fund to assist men’s sports at Montclair State University.

Dr. Scrofani received an MA in Supervision and Administration from CA State University, Los Angeles, and an EdD in Educational Administration and Management from the University of Northern Colorado. He had post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Texas at Austin, at University of CA Santa Barbara, and at Pepperdine University.

Dr. Scrofani has served on numerous boards, committees, and advisory groups, and in other leadership positions. For example, he was Director of Research and Evaluation and Assistant Executive Director of Board Development for the CA School Boards Association; and Commissioner for Teacher Credentialing for the CA State Department of Education. He was on the boards of directors for the CA Institute of School Improvement and the CA Consortium of Educational Foundations. He was on the advisory boards of the Sonoma State University Administrative Credentialing Program and the Far West Regional Laboratory.

Dr. Scrofani and his wife Meg, who spent many years as a school principal, now live in Napa Valley, in the town of Angwin, CA.

Feliciano School of Business
Lucia Capozzoli ’83

Lucia Capozzoli ’83 is a principal in Deloitte’s Risk and Financial Advisory practice. Her primary role is to advise Deloitte’s largest and most complex global financial services clients on business, risk management, security and controls, and other financial and organizational challenges. As the lead client service principal for a number of Deloitte’s clients in the insurance sector, Lucia is responsible for driving account strategy, managing financial performance, developing and sustaining senior executive relationships, managing risk, and overseeing account teams and work delivered.

In addition to serving clients, she also serves as the chief talent officer for Deloitte’s U.S. Client Experience and Marketing Organizations. In this role she is responsible for developing and implementing talent strategies related to employee performance management, learning and development, and well-being for approximately 2,000 Deloitte employees. She also more recently served as the client relationship executive community leader. In this role, she was responsible for overseeing a group of professionals focused on driving key client executive relationships.

Lucia has held a wide range of leadership positions throughout her nearly 30-year career at Deloitte. Prior to assuming her role as lead client service principal, she served as secretary to the U.S. Board of Directors of Deloitte LLP. As secretary, in addition to serving as the chairman’s primary liaison on governance, risk and regulatory issues, Lucia teamed with key stakeholders to support the Board’s oversight of U.S. and global strategic priorities, succession activities and scenario planning. She has also served as the Control Assurance service line leader of Deloitte & Touche LLP’s Enterprise Risk Services practice. Lucia previously served as Deloitte & Touche LLP’s Northeast Women’s Initiative Leader and Diversity Champion and led Deloitte LLP’s Northeast Regional Women’s Initiative program.

Her many honors include, recipient of Catalina magazine’s “Inspirational Leader Award.” She was also recognized by the New Jersey Fund as one of the “Top 30 Women of Influence in Finance” (2007) and named by NJBiz as one of the “Top 50 Woman in Business.” She has been featured in Working Mother magazine “Got a Mentor?” and honored by the Executive Women of New Jersey in their “Salute to the Policy Makers.” Lucia has been a frequent speaker on business and women’s workplace issues.

Prior to joining Deloitte, Lucia was employed as an internal auditor with Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Co.

Lucia received her BS in Accounting from Montclair State University in 1983 and is a certified information systems auditor. Lucia resides in New Jersey with her husband, Matt, and their three sons.

College of the Arts
Denise Rover ’84

Denise Rover graduated magna cum laude from Montclair State University in 1984 with a BA in Speech and Theatre and a concentration in Broadcasting. A 33-year veteran of NBCUniversal Media, LLC, Denise has held various positions in sales, news and programming at WNBC-TV. She is an account manager for sister station WNJU-TV in‌ the Telemundo unit.

Denise is also president of the New York Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She was elected to the Board of Governors of the New York Chapter for three terms. She has also served as secretary and treasurer of the organization. Denise was elected as a trustee of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for two terms, and was chair of the Moving Forward: Daytime Emmy ® Awards Committee.

Figure skating has been a passion for most of Denise’s life. She remains active with U.S. Figure Skating, a governing body of the U.S. Olympic Committee. She has attended 21 World Figure Skating Championships, and several Winter Olympics. With her combined skating and media backgrounds, Denise often shares insights and ideas with skating officials on broadcasting and advertising matters.
Denise is the managing partner of the Rover Family LLC. She also works closely with staff at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to support the Rover Family Fund for Breast Cancer Research. She established this fund as a tribute to her late parents and continues to fund it annually.

Faith and philanthropy are important pillars to Denise. She was recently reappointed to the Finance Council of the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J. She also serves on its Budget, Insurance and Benefits, and Development committees. Denise was also appointed to the Board of Overseers at Seton Hall University/Immaculate Conception Seminary. She was invested into the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and has the rank of a Lady Commander.