Livingston Education Foundation

September 29, 2015 Livingston, NJ – An internet search for the word ‘FemGineers’ would bring you to the Heritage Middle School's all-female engineering club.  At its inception seven years ago, it was attended by 10 eighth-grade girls and now has more than 60 members who use their science, technology, engineering and math skills to solve engineering problems.  Marilyn Joyce Lehren, Livingston Public Schools (LPS) Manager of Communications and Community Outreach, reported on the district website that, “The FemGineers, along with other initiatives, has inspired its participants to tackle more challenging high school math and science courses. Data comparing Livingston High to similar schools found female enrollment in technology classes at 26.1 percent, near the top.”

Each year, the Livingston Education Foundation (LEF) Hall of Fame committee recognizes LHS alumni in the areas of Science and Math, Business, The Social Sciences, and the Creative Arts who have distinguished themselves professionally as well as in service to others. On Thursday, October 15, LEF will induct two women into the Livingston High School Hall of Fame whose contributions to their professions in business and science have made huge impacts worldwide.  “It is our hope that their visit with students as part of the Sixth Annual Homecoming LHS Hall of Fame activities will support the LPS goals to inspire all students to meet the challenges of the 21^st century global community,” said Heidi Cislo, LEF Hall of Fame Committee Co-chair and LEF President. 

Jodie M. Gunzberg, (LHS ’92), is currently global head of commodities at S&P Dow Jones Indices.  She is responsible for the product management of S&P DJI Commodity Indices, which include the S&P GSCI and Dow Jones Commodity Index (DJCI), among the most widely recognized commodity benchmarks in the world. Prior to joining S&P Dow Jones Indices, Jodie worked for more than a decade analyzing commodities in various roles within the investment management and consulting business and was the chief investment strategist for an investment consulting firm. She has published industry pieces on hedge funds/commodity investing, given briefings to the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, participated in national think tanks, and is commonly quoted by the press and has been a guest on BloombergTV, CNBC Fox Business, Reuters, Sky News, Channel NewsAsia, ETNow, CCTV2. Jodie serves on several boards, including the Advisory Board for the Dept. of Finance, Hofstra University, is a member of numerous professional groups and is a STEM volunteer at the Tamaques Elementary School in Westfield, NJ.

Dr. Martha E. Vincent, (LHS ’71), Vice President of Development at Agensys is a member of the Senior Management Team where her responsibilities included filing 10 INDs with the FDA and Canadian regulatory authorities to initiate ‘first in man’ clinical trials that allowed for multiple Phase testing of ADCs to treat solid tumors and hematologic cancers. She started the department of Development that included toxicology, pharmacology and clinical employees to initiate studies in prostate, lung, ovarian, breast, bladder pancreatic cancers and lymphoma. Prior to that as Vice President of Global Development at Amgen, she served in many capacities including, the responsibility of filing of 6 BLAs and approvals leading to 3 blockbuster products that achieved multi-billion dollars in sales; and  FDA and EMEA Advisory panel presentations leading to product approvals. Under her leadership at Amgen, she started the department of Development from a single person that grew to 800 people worldwide. She serves on several non-profit boards and is a member of numerous professional groups. She is a Fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology. Of many awards, she most recently received the Healthcare Business Women’s Association Rising Star Award in 2012.

Joining Ms. Gunzberg and Dr. Vincent on Thursday, October 15 as alumni Hall of Fame inductees are ABC’s Modern Family five-time Emmy Award-winning writer and producer, Danny Zuker, (LHS ’82); Ronnie Spring, (LHS ’89), educator and current Vice President of the Livingston Board of Education; as well as LEAD Award recipients Ken Losi, former LHS teacher of Biological Sciences who was instrumental in establishing and serving as Director for the Alternative School Program; and Dr. John Rowley, former LHS math teacher who served several schools as an administrator and was the first principal of Heritage Jr. High School.  John also served as a Councilman and Mayor of Livingston.

Following a morning visit to Livingston High School, the Hall of Fame Reception which is open to the public will be held at the newly appointed Wilshire Caterers in West Orange from 5:00 pm to 9:00 p.m.

“The deadline for Reception reservations has been extended to October 7”, said Trudy Bier, Secretary of LEF and member of the LEF Hall of Fame committee.  Bier also noted, “It is also possible to send a message of congratulations to the honorees through our Hall of Fame ‘Roll of Honor’.”

LEF invites the public to join in celebration of education and all of the honorees at the Sixth Annual Livingston High School Hall of Fame Reception.   Click here to access the required reservation form for the Thursday, October 15 Hall of Fame event at The Wilshire Caterers in West Orange from 5:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. and to send a ‘Roll of Honor’ message to the honorees.  For more information about Livingston Education Foundation (LEF) go to the website www.livingston.org/lef.  Inquiries about the Hall of Fame can be made by email at lef@livingston.org or at (973) 535-8000, x8898.