Gerard J. Rooney

President, St. John Fisher College

Years in current role: 6.5

What was your biggest success in 2021?

The resilience and continuing commitment of the entire St. John Fisher College community in navigating the pandemic and reimagining the ways we learned and worked. We never wavered from our two guiding principles — maintaining our focus on the health and safety of the campus allowed us to achieve our second guiding principle, which was to deliver an in-person living and learning experience for our students.

What are your expectations for 2022?

Given the innovations and accomplishments that we have experienced in recent years, we are moving to refresh our Strategic Plan to build on these successes and continue to move Fisher forward. We are also planning for a return to a greater sense of operational normalcy in the next academic year.

What is your biggest takeaway from dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic?

Our community rose to the challenge, pivoted quickly, adapted seamlessly, and demonstrated their willingness to do what it took to keep each other safe and to deliver the best quality education to our students. I am very proud of the ability of our community to remain together and deliver on the mission of the College.

This profile is part of Rochester Business Journal's Power 100 list for 2022. Information used in this profile was sourced from the honoree. View the full list at rbj.net.