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Three alumni of Lafayette have been elected to the College’s Board of Trustees. They are George M. Jenkins of Radnor, Pa.; Richard A. Grossman of Greenwich, Conn.; and Barbara J. Lombardo of Chester Springs, Pa. Each began a five-year term July 1 (2002).
Jenkins, a member of Lafayette’s class of 1974, is a general partner and chief operating officer of Apax Partners, Inc., a leading international private equity investment group that manages more than $11 billion. Jenkins joined the firm in 1987. He is also a member of the firm’s managing executive committee. Jenkins began his career in the banking industry at Midlantic Bank, where he was vice president and division head of the special industries and technology group. In this position, he was responsible for one of the bank’s three principal commercial lending groups, the bank’s business as an intermediary, and its investment in venture fund limited partnerships. He also spent five years overseas running banking operations in Europe and Asia.
Jenkins serves on the boards of directors of Hearthstone Assisted Living, Inc.; Medsn; bigchalk.com; IntelliSec Inc.; and Freedom Scientific. Jenkins is involved in a number of charitable organizations and is on the board of Trout Unlimited, an environmental conservation organization. He and his family are very active in supporting organizations that assist the sight-impaired.
In addition to a Lafayette bachelor of arts degree in economics, Jenkins holds an MBA in international accounting and finance from Pace University and has completed graduate work at Stevens Institute.
As an alumnus, Jenkins has played an active role in the Lafayette community. He recently served as a member of Lafayette Leadership Council and the President’s Advisory Board. He also spoke last year at Lafayette’s Conference on Technology, Entrepreneurship, and Venture Capital.
Jenkins participated in varsity tennis and track and a variety of intramural sports at Lafayette. He was a member of Student Government and was rush chairman of Sigma Chi fraternity. Jenkins and his wife, JoAnn, have two children, Heather and Merritt.
A Phi Beta Kappa graduate in the class of 1964, Grossman previously served as a Lafayette trustee from 1987 to 1997. He is president of Interstate Building Corp. He has been an officer of the company and its affiliates, Gibraltar Management Company and Empire State Construction Corp., since 1969. Interstate Building operates as a general contractor specializing in shopping center and office building construction.
Grossman and his wife Rissa Welt Grossman are longtime supporters of Lafayette. Grossman helped the college garner $213 million during the Lafayette Leadership Campaign as a member of the Campaign Cabinet (1996-2001) and Steering Committee (1997-2001). The campaign allowed Lafayette to achieve a national reputation for academic excellence and solidify its standing among America’s top colleges and universities. The 2,400-square-foot gallery in Lafayette’s Williams Visual Arts Building was named after the Grossmans in honor of a substantial gift they gave during the campaign.
In 1992, the couple established Lafayette’s Grossman Visiting Artist and Exhibition Series, which supports the presentation of significant exhibitions and gives students the opportunity to interact with major artists serving residencies at the college. Recent artists have included Frank Stella, Sam Gilliam, Ann Hamilton, and Gregory Gillespie.
Grossman graduated from Lafayette with a bachelor of arts degree in economics and business and earned a law degree from Harvard. He has served the College in several other volunteer positions, including board associate and president of the Alumni Club Executive Committee. The Grossmans have four children, Sharon, Jeffrey, Matthew, and Sabra.
Lombardo, a member of the class of 1983, is a director in the Learning Solutions Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting and program director for eArmyU, a $453 million, five-year program providing distance learning opportunities to enlisted soldiers. She led the team responsible for securing the eArmyU project, the largest single contract ever won by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Lombardo has managed many large, complex initiatives for higher education institutions, ranging from strategic planning to packaged software implementation to e-learning strategy. She has more than 14 years of consulting and teaching experience serving higher education, nonprofit, and public institutions. She leads teams that develop and deliver solutions integrating online learning programs and services tailored to meet the specific needs of clients.
Lombardo has served on the board of the Portland Business Committee for the Arts in Portland, Ore., and as an adjunct professor of nonprofit management at Lewis and Clark College and Portland State University.
Lombardo graduated summa cum laude from Lafayette with a bachelor of arts in economics and business and went on to attain MBA and Ph.D. degrees from Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a member of Lafayette Leadership Council and has served as an alumni admissions representative.
A resident of Chester Springs, Lombardo is married to Jeff Romeo and has two children, Isabella and Juliana.