NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. – Following his establishment of a committee to conduct a review of the policies and practices of Rutgers’ Division of Intercollegiate Athletics, President Richard L. McCormick today named the leaders from Rutgers and throughout New Jersey who will serve on the panel. President McCormick reaffirmed the importance of the committee’s independence and he expressed his appreciation to the individuals – none of whom are Rutgers employees – who have agreed to sit on the panel.

The committee members are:

          Alfred C. Koeppe (co-chair) – Koeppe is currently the CEO of the Newark Alliance. He has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) and Chief Executive Officer of Bell Atlantic-New Jersey. Koeppe was a member of the State's Domestic Security Taskforce, served as Chairman of Chief Justice Wilentz’s Supreme Court Commission to reform the New Jersey Court System and has also chaired the following institutions: the New Jersey Higher Education Commission, the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. As part of his reform efforts, in 2005, Acting Governor Richard Codey requested Koeppe to assume the Chairmanship of the New Jersey Schools Construction Corporation with a mandate to restore its financial integrity. He holds memberships in the New Jersey and American Bar Associations. Koeppe is a graduate of Rutgers-Newark and a member of the Rutgers University Hall of Distinguished Alumni.

·         Albert R. Gamper Jr. (co-chair) – Gamper is the former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the CIT Group Inc., from which he retired in 2004. He is chairman of the board of St. Barnabas Health Care System, a trustee of Fidelity Investments and a director of the Public Service Enterprise Group. A Rutgers-Newark graduate, Gamper is a past chair of the Rutgers Board of Governors and continues to serve on the board. He is a former member of the Board of Overseers of the Rutgers University Foundation and a current member of the Rutgers Board of Trustees.

          Dennis Bone – Bone is president of Verizon New Jersey Inc., responsible for all of Verizon’s corporate interests in New Jersey. Prior to the Bell Atlantic/GTE merger, Bone was president and chief executive officer of Bell Atlantic-West Virginia. Before that, he was vice president-external affairs for Bell Atlantic-New Jersey Inc. Bone serves on the board of directors of the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center the New Jersey Utilities Association. He is on the board of trustees of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the Newark Alliance, the Liberty Science Center, Centenary College and the New Jersey Network Foundation. A graduate of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology, Bone has an MBA in finance and economics from Rutgers and a Master of Science from The Johns Hopkins University.

          James Coleman – A New Jersey Supreme Court justice from 1994 to 2003, he is currently Of Counsel to Porzio, Bromberg & Newman P.C. Coleman focuses his practice on advising attorneys and clients on appellate strategy and on acting as a mediator or arbiter of complex, private and public disputes. Prior to serving on the Supreme Court, Coleman held numerous positions in the state judiciary, including as a judge in New Jersey’s Workers’ Compensation Court, Union County Court, New Jersey Superior Court’s Law and Appellate divisions (and also as presiding judge in the latter)  and as justice pro tempore in the New Jersey Supreme Court. Coleman, a graduate of Virginia State University and the Howard University School of Law, is chair of the board of trustees of Legal Services of New Jersey.

           Gabriella Morris – Morris is president of The Prudential Foundation and corporate vice president of the community resources unit of Prudential Insurance Company of America. In these positions, she oversees foundation grant making. Morris serves on the board of trustees of the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of Newark Inc., Women’s Board of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater Foundation, among others. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Princeton University and her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law.

           Frederick Lacey – Lacey is currently Special Counsel at Dewey & LeBoeuf, LLP. He served as a U.S. District Judge for the District of New Jersey from 1971 to 1986. During that period, he also served as a member of the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and the Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals. From 2005 to 2007 he served as the monitor for the U.S. Department of Justice of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and was a court-appointed Independent Administrator of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in 1989-1991. He was the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey 1969-1971. He has held the position of Adjunct Professor at Rutgers University Law School, the University of Texas Law School and Seton Hall University School of Law. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He received his law degree from Cornell Law School where he was an editor of the Cornell Law Review.

           Patricia Nachtigal – Senior vice president, general counsel and a director of Ingersoll-Rand Co. Ltd, Nachtigal is a member of the American Bar Association, the New Jersey Bar Association and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. She is an advisory trustee of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Greater North Jersey Chapter, and she formerly served on the U.S. Trade Representative’s Trade Advisory Committee on Africa. Nachtigal was a member of Rutgers’ Board of Trustees for 10 years, serving as chair in 2003-2004. She currently serves as vice chair of Rutgers’ Board of Governors. She is a graduate of Montclair State University and the Rutgers School of Law-Newark. She also holds a master’s degree in taxation law from the New York University School of Law.

          Hollis Copeland – A Principal-Institutional Stockbroker at Williams Capital Group, Copeland is a graduate of Rutgers College. He is a former vice chair of the New York Special Olympics. Copeland speaks to youth groups on behalf of the New York Knicks. He was a standout on the great Rutgers basketball teams of the mid-1970s. He is a 1996 inductee of the Rutgers Men’s Basketball Hall of Fame. He is a member of the National Basketball Retired Players Association and the Screen Actors Guild. He is a member of Rutgers’ Board of Trustees. During his tenure on the board, he has served on various committees, including Audit, Educational Planning and Policy, Athletics and the Board of Trustees’ Executive Committee.

          Abram Suydam – A senior partner at Suydam Insurance Agency, L.L.C., Suydam is a member of the Society of Certified Insurance Counselors and the Professional Insurance Agents of New Jersey. He is the current director and former chair of the Middlesex County Regional Chamber of Commerce. Suydam is the former director of the National Bank of New Jersey and New Era Bank. He formerly served as director of the Meadows Foundation. He is a graduate of Cook College and has served as a member of the Rutgers Board of Trustees for eight years.

Saying that it is important to take account of the recent events and reports that have raised questions about the athletics program at Rutgers-New Brunswick, President McCormick, in his written charge to the committee, committed the full cooperation of “the administration of the University, the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics, and all other offices and units at Rutgers” with the review.

“When issues of transparency and trust are raised, whether for institutions or individuals, it is clearly a very serious matter,” said co-chair Alfred C. Koeppe. “There is no substitute for cold and objective analysis on those occasions and I have every confidence that this committee is both capable and willing to apply that standard./”

The committee is expected to release its findings to President McCormick, the Rutgers Board of Governors, the university community and the public in early fall.

Established in 1766, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is America’s eighth oldest institution of higher learning and one of the nation’s premier public research universities. Serving more than 50,000 students on campuses in Camden, Newark and New Brunswick, Rutgers offers more than 280 bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and professional degree programs. The university is home to 27 degree-granting schools and colleges, and more than 150 specialized centers and institutes. Rutgers is also a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, a highly selective organization comprising the 62 leading research universities in North America.

Media Contact: E.J. Miranda
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E-mail: emiranda@ur.rutgers.edu