Monday, June 9, 2008

Alumni Receive Awards During Alumni Weekend 2008

William P. McGoldrick ’68
The Reverend Benjamin Kuhn, O.F.M. Award for specific contributions to improve the Siena Community
James A. Donsbach ’68
The Reverend Benjamin Kuhn, O.F.M., Award for specific contributions to improve the Siena Community
Robert L. Guido ’68
The Professor Joseph A. Buff Award for outstanding career accomplishments or achievements
John J. Breyo ’68
The Professor Joseph A. Buff Award for outstanding career accomplishments or achievements
Robert J. Edwards ’73 & Ralph C. Giuliano ’73

The Professor Egon Plager Award for accomplishments in advancing the welfare of other human beings

Please click below for detailed biographies for our 2008 distinguished alumni:

Bill McGoldrick- During his 37 year career in educational advancement, Bill has built a reputation as a successful professional and an outstanding teacher, speaker and consultant. His skills, experience and passion for education led him to join Sue Washburn to establish Washburn & McGoldrick, Inc. in 1995, an international consulting firm dedicated to educational institutions.

Bill served Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as director of development for five years and as vice president for eleven years leading the alumni relations, communications and development programs, and two campaigns that secured more than $260 million. He also served as a major gift director in a $20 million campaign at The College of William and Mary.

He has been active with the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and served on the CASE Board of Trustees. Bill has been a faculty member at many CASE sponsored programs and was a featured speaker at the AGB National Conference on Trusteeship. He has spoken at international conferences on fund raising and campaign management in the United Kingdom and Australia and has authored chapters in three books related to development and campaigning. In 1990, CASE Middle Atlantic District presented him with its Professional of the Year Award. In 1993, the Hudson-Mohawk Chapter of the National Society of Fund Raising Executives named him its Fund Raising Executive of Distinction.

Bill earned a bachelor's degree in English from Siena College and holds a master's degree in journalism from Syracuse University. He served two years as Public Affairs Officer in the United States Navy.

He is active as a board member for various community organizations including serving two terms as a member of the Board of Directors of the Siena College Alumni Association and is currently a member of Siena College’s Board of Associate Trustees.

Bill is not only a great volunteer but a generous donor as well. In addition to being Annual Fund President’s Circle Member and Saints Alive! Boosters, Bill and his wife Betsi have made substantial gifts to several restricted projects at Siena. They established the M. Margaret McGoldrick Scholarship for students who are active community members and have financial need in honor of Bill’s mother. They supported the building of the Sarazen Student Union, Standish Library and renovations of Siena Hall. Bill has been a leader among the Class of 1968 for their class endowment fund.

Jim Donsbach- The Donsbach name is synonymous with Siena College. Jim has been part of the Siena Community for the better part of his lifetime. His dad was the legendary accounting professor, Carl Donsbach, who taught at Siena for over 30 years before passing away in 2000.

Beyond the family ties, Jim has been a dedicated Siena volunteer. He has served as an officer in the Capital District Alumni Chapter, a volunteer for the Annual Fund, which he chaired for two years, a panelist at student orientation events, a sponsor of Festa Vino and a member of his class reunion gift committee. Jim also established an endowment fund for a series of annual accounting lectures in memory of his father.

After earning his undergraduate degree in business from Siena in 1968, Jim completed a graduate degree in higher education from SUNY Albany. His career spans of over thirty-five years in higher education and he currently manages a program office for the office of higher education at the New York State Education Department.

Jim celebrated his 40th class reunion this summer and looks forward to continuing the family legacy at Siena College.

Bob Guido, retired Vice-Chair of Ernst & Young LLP, was responsible for the firm’s Assurance and Advisory Practices. Bob was a member of the firm’s Americas Executive Board, which is composed of partners responsible for the leadership and direction of the firm. Bob has been a speaker at many Directors Institutes and forums on Corporate Governance (including the FORTUNE Boardroom Forums).
Bob served as the coordinating partner on some of E&Y’s largest global clients in many industries (and countries), including manufacturing, consumer products and energy. Bob also co-chaired E&Y’s Global Client Steering Committee, which is represented by some of the firm’s most senior. Bob has been involved in the development and improvement of accounting and audit methodologies since he joined E&Y in 1968.
Bob graduated with a B.B.A. from Siena College and a M.B.A. from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western University. In addition to holding a Certified Public Accountant certificate (CPA), he also holds a Certified Management Accountant certificate (CMA).
While based in Cleveland, Ohio, Bob was active in many organizations – including serving as President of The Zoological Society, Treasurer of Cleveland Scholarship Inc., Boys & Girls Club, United Way, Leadership Cleveland, and chair of the Accounting Advisory Board at Case Western University’s Weatherhead School of Management. Since his 1997 transfer to Georgia, Bob joined Emory University’s Goizueta Business School Advisory Board, assisted the Boys and Girls Club of Atlanta with their Capital Campaign, served on the Governor’s Business Advisory Board, and served as a volunteer at the East Lake Golf Club in connection with the PGA’s Tour Championship Event.
Presently, Bob remains active on the Business Advisory Board at Emory University, on the Board of Cleveland Scholarship, Inc., and involved at East Lake with the Tour Championship.
In May 2007, Bob was appointed to the Siena College Board of Trustees – serving on the Executive and Audit Committees (Chairing Audit), as well as the College Athletics Committee.

John Breyo- John is a native of Schenectady, N.Y., and an honors graduate of Linton High School, Siena College and Albany Law School, where he graduated 12th in his class. John was admitted to the New York State Bar in June of 1972. In 1971, he joined The Ayco Corporation. Founded on the belief that the tax code was becoming too complex for even the most knowledgeable of corporate executives, Ayco quickly gained a reputation for professionalism and competence. Ayco now provides financial planning services to executives of Fortune 500 companies, among many other services.

As the founder of Ayco’s tax practice, its Encompass consulting practice, Ayco Asset Management, Ayco University and many other innovations, John has played a pivotal role in the growth of Ayco’s success. In 1986, he was named to the office of the president. In 1994, under John’s leadership, the company underwent a management buyout, at which time he became President of The Ayco Company, L.P., and a major shareholder. In June 1997, John became chairman and chief executive officer and president of the parent company and all its subsidiaries and general partner of all its partnerships. He was instrumental in the July 1, 2003, sale of The Ayco Company, L.P., to Goldman, Sachs & Co.

When Goldman, Sachs & Co. acquired The Ayco Company, L.P., John was named a Managing Director at Goldman, Sachs & Co., as well as chief executive officer of The Ayco Company, L.P.

He has sat on the board of trustees of Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Albany Law School, Greenwich Street Capital Partners I and Greenwich Street Capital Partners II. He was named the 1999 recipient of the William Golub Tikkun Olam Award for his humanitarian endeavors by the United Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York. In 2002 he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Siena College.

John retired in November 2006 from The Ayco Company, L.P., but remains under contract to Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Robert J. Edwards & Ralph C. Giuliano - During the 1991 Alumni Reunion Weekend, where Dr. Jerry Hough was honored with the Dr. Egon Plager Award for Humanitarian Effort and ran into his classmate Dr. Robert Edwards ’73, a dentist from Stockbridge, Massachusetts. “Jerry told me about his experience helping children in La Victoria (Dominican Republic) and it interested me. I have always wanted to get involved in this type of work,” Edwards said.

Dr. Edwards joined Dr. Hough and a few years later he recruited his classmate, Dr. Ralph Giuliano ’73, a dentist in Southbury, CT to join the team’s efforts. Upon Dr. Edwards’ arrival he discovered sparse and outdated dental equipment and they were desperately low on supplies . They were hindered with a lack of refrigeration, and dental instruments were being washed by hand in basins filled with local contaminated water. Electricity wasn’t guaranteed everyday either.

Edwards and Giuliano spent most of their days treating children at a clinic pre-school and educating Dominican dentists on new procedures. “We noticed a lot of dental decay in the children down there due to their habits of chewing and brushing their teeth with sugar cane,” Edwards said. They also conducted inventories that would allocate future funds and supplies. “You realize how much easier it is to practice in the United States,” Dr. Edwards said. “Working under these conditions you get a real feeling of accomplishment, and it makes you want to contribute a little more.”

Over the last two decades, these Siena alumni have volunteered one week per year as they installed back up power generators, helped build an outpatient hospital, donated dental chairs and medical supplies, and used the week to catch up with each other.

“There are a lot of people working to make the town of La Victoria a better place. It isn’t a big deal in our minds,” Edwards said. “This isn’t something that becomes difficult over time. You develop relationships with the people and look forward to returning every year.”

In 2001, the Siena graduates, along with numerous other volunteers from the United States, helped put the finishing touches on a new outpatient hospital. Included in the hospital was a dental clinic. “Our goal was to be able to get this place to be self-sustaining,” Giuliano said. “We wanted to do what we thought was best for these people.” Today the hospital has two full-time dentists who serve the 500 children of La Victoria. The dental clinic cleans the children’s teeth for free, courtesy of Dr. Hough’s parish. Now that the clinic at La Victoria is self-sustaining, the Siena trio is considering a new location to help the less fortunate. “The world is our community,” Giuliano said. “As human beings, we have a responsibility to this community.

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