Eight to be honored at 2025 Alumni Awards Ceremony

Rutgers Business School will recognize seven individuals for their achievements and contributions during an awards ceremony in September. Deloitte also will be honored for its generous and enduring partnership with the business school. 

“We established the annual RBS Alumni Award Ceremony three years ago to begin a tradition of acknowledging outstanding individuals, who through their time, contributions or influence positively impact Rutgers Business School and the educational experience of our students,” said Dean Lei Lei. 

Sharon Lydon, Rutgers Business School’s associate dean of Alumni and Corporate Engagement, said the annual ceremony generates school pride as well as inspiration. “The award celebration honors extraordinary individuals whose remarkable achievements and generous spirits inspire us to nurture and empower the next generation of Rutgers Business School leaders,” Lydon said.

The 2025 alumni award recipients are:

Deloitte will be presented with the Corporate Partner Award.

Rutgers Business School alumni Brian Smith and Craig Washington will both receive an Industry Leadership Award.

Smith, who completed a Rutgers MBA, is chief procurement officer for Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine.

Washington, a lead tax partner at PwC, received his undergraduate degree in accounting at Rutgers.

An Alumni Service Award will be presented to Jeff Hermann and Gary Horowitz.

Hermann is a graduate of the Executive MBA Program whose financial contributions created and support the Road to Supply Chain Leadership Program. He is chairman and CEO of Hermann Services, a family-owned warehousing, logistics and transportation company.

Horowitz is a managing director at EY who has volunteered for the past 11 years in the TeamUP mentoring program, providing professional guidance to undergraduates. He has mentored 22 students. In 2022, he also began working with first-gen students in the UFirst mentoring program. Horowitz earned his undergraduate degree in economics and his law degree from Rutgers.

The recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Leadership Award is Alex R. Picou, vice chairman of JP Morgan who received his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University. Picou has helped to create a strong partnership between JP Morgan and Rutgers by hosting many alumni events at the company’s buildings in Brookly and Manhattan. 

Rutgers MBA alumnus Rob Falzon, former CFO of Prudential Financial, is this year’s recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Business Excellence Awards will be presented to Rutgers alumna Toacca Bailey Rutherford, a managing director at J.P. Morgan Chase who sits on Rutgers Business School’s board of advisors, and Amy Towers, a philanthropist and former hedge fund COO who has served on Rutgers University’s Board of Governors since 2020.

Both women are credited with bringing distinction to Rutgers Business School and embody the school’s four pillars: Resilience, Resourcefulness, Responsibility and Reinvention. Towers was recently named “An Enterprising Woman in Commerce – Platinum Category,” by the Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey.

A dinner celebrating the alumni and other award recipients is scheduled for Sept. 16, 6-9 p.m. at the Rutgers Club on the university’s Livingston Campus in Piscataway.