Boston College President William P. Leahy, SJ, will present Grasso with the President's Medal for Excellence, which honors individuals who have distinguished themselves through personal and professional achievements which exemplify the ideal proclaimed in the University's motto, "Ever to Excel."
The annual dinner is sponsored by the Wall Street Council, which is chaired by University trustees Charles I. Clough Jr., chief investment strategist for Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., and Richard F. Syron, chairman and CEO of the American Stock Exchange. Dinner co-chairs are Mario J. Gabelli, chairman of Gabelli Funds, Inc.; Jay Mahoney, managing partner, CMJ Partners; and Thomas F. Ryan Jr., president of the American Stock Exchange.
Richard A. Grasso
Grasso has been chairman and chief executive officer of the New York Stock Exchange since June 1, 1995, after having been elected president and chief operating officer in June 1988 and assuming the additional title of executive vice chairman in 1991. He is the first member of the NYSE staff to be elected to any of these positions in the exchange's 206-year history.
After joining the NYSE in 1968, Grasso rose steadily through the exchange's ranks. In 1977, he was promoted to vice president for corporate services and named a senior vice president in 1981. He became marketing group executive vice president in 1983 and executive vice president for capital markets in 1986.
Grasso has received honorary degrees from Fordham and Pace universities. He has served on numerous civic and charitable organizations at the municipal, regional and national levels and has received a host of awards reflecting his contributions in these areas. Grasso is also an advisor for the Yale School of Management and serves on the International Capital Markets Advisory Committee for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
-Reid Oslin