The College of New Jersey Alumni Association will honor four distinguished alumni who have gone above and beyond in service, leadership, philanthropic efforts, and career advancements. The TCNJ Alumni Association will present the following awards at the Lions Pride Lunch at Alumni Weekend on April 29, 2022:
Jennifer Fierst Graf ’96 | Alumni Citation Award – As director of operations for Renaissance Technologies, a quantitative hedge fund, Graf knows what it takes to develop a successful career. In her 25 years on Wall Street, Graf has been a leader in innovating financial operations and a driver of career development through her leadership roles in 100 Women in Finance’s CFO/COO/Operations peer advisory group, the TCNJ School of Business Dean’s Advisory Council, and the Rutgers University Road to Wall Street Leadership Committee. Graf has sponsored the TCNJ Women’s Leadership Summit and has been a guest leader and student advisor at the annual LeaderShape Institute for TCNJ students.
Greg J. Bellotti ’92 | Distinguished Service Award – Bellotti, CIO for Elementis Global, became a member of the Alumni Association Board in 1999 and after five years was named president. During this time, Bellotti built a sustainable financial platform for the Alumni Association by implementing the Liberty Mutual Insurance program and allocating funds to build Alumni Grove and establish the brick naming campaign, which continues to generate revenue each year for the Alumni Association. He also devoted one year to the TCNJ Foundation Board and sat on numerous boards for former president R. Barbara Gitenstein, including vice president and coaching searches.
Noel B. Ramirez ’07 | Humanitarian Award – Ramirez’s career has been grounded in social justice and community mobilization. He has developed curriculum and initiated stigma reduction programming for HIV-positive gay/bisexual men of color in six different Philadelphia hospital systems. Ramirez also developed and co-ran an LGBTQ youth drop-in center, coached a run club for gay/bisexual men of color impacted by HIV, and recently assisted in expanding medication-assisted treatment across five different federally qualified health centers to increase access to treatment for individuals struggling with opiate addiction. Ramirez is the founder and director of Mango Tree Counseling and Consulting, an Asian American group mental health practice, and is working to develop a pipeline to foster more clinical talent in the AAPI community.
Parth M. Parikh ’14 | Young Alumni Award – While completing his undergraduate studies at TCNJ, Parikh gained professional experience at the Office of the Attorney General and State Democratic Committee in Trenton. After graduating, Parikh taught New Jersey’s youth as a member of Teach for America and was subsequently awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to teach in India. Upon returning from India, he enrolled at Notre Dame Law School, where he served as president of the Education Law Forum. Since graduating from law school in May 2021, Parikh has worked at the New Jersey law firm, Lowenstein Sandler, as an associate in their litigation department.