Bill Loehning has Conference Center Name for Him

February 2, 2016

Foundation; William F. Loehning, alumnus and Kean University Foundation Board of Directors member; Edward A. Esposito, President, Kean University Alumni Association; and Steve Fastook, Kean University Foundation Chair

CONFERENCE CENTER TO BE NAMED FOR BROTHER WILLIAM F. LOEHNING

William F. Loehning ’70, an alumnus of Kean University and a retired Executive Vice President at Fidelity Investments, has donated $250,000 to Kean to underwrite the Conference Center in the Green Lane Academic Building on the University’s main campus in Union. The conference center will be dedicated in his name at a ceremony to be scheduled for early spring 2016.

“I am proud to lend my name to this symbol of Kean University’s transformation as the University moves forward with initiatives to prepare Kean students for careers in the global economy,” Mr. Loehning said. “President Farahi envisioned a unique space that is truly world class in terms of function, style and technology. I hope my gift and the spectacular conference center itself attract more philanthropic investments in the University.”

The donation supports the conference center in the Green Lane Academic Building, which is an integral component of several academic initiatives, including Kean University’s growing Global Business School and its efforts to connect students with internships and job opportunities around the world.

“Bill Loehning is the epitome of the Kean success story,” Kean University President Dawood Farahi said. “His leadership in the boardroom is equaled by his generosity and his devotion to the mission of the University. 

Like many of our students, Bill knows how hard it is to work your way through college. He is committed to doing all that he can to help the next generation of students manage that difficult balancing act.”

The conference center is a glass-enclosed meeting space on the sixth floor of the award-winning Green Lane Academic Building with views of the Manhattan skyline. The room features a 22-foot diameter circular conference center, with a revolving glass turntable and a technology-enabled base that allows for real-time conferencing around the world. 

Since officially opening in 2014, the conference center has hosted state, local and regional leaders in more than a dozen roundtable sessions on some of New Jersey’s most challenging public policy issues, including the impact of the heroin epidemic, the use of solitary confinement in prisons, and special needs education practices and policies.

“The center is highly-functional and is an impressive place to work, generate ideas and develop strategies for success,” Mr. Loehning said.

Corporate and not-for-profit organizations also have rented the facility to host their own retreats, work sessions and policy discussions. To date, rentals have generated more than $22,000 in revenue for the University.

Before his retirement in January 2015, Mr. Loehning was an executive vice president for Fidelity Financial Advisor Solutions (FFAS), a division of Fidelity Investments. Fidelity Investments is one of the largest mutual fund companies in the United States. It is a leading provider of investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, benefits outsourcing and other financial products and services to more than 20 million individuals, institutions, and financial intermediaries.

Mr. Loehning graduated from Kean University in 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in history teacher education and subsequently received both his Chartered Life Underwriter and Chartered Financial Consultant designations from The American College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. He received Kean University’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2011 and the William Livingston Award for Excellence in Business and Philanthropy at the Kean University 17th Annual Gala in 2014. Kean University also awarded Mr. Loehning an honorary doctorate degree at its May 2015 commencement.

His career accomplishments include being inducted into the Insurance Retirement Institute Hall of Fame in 2009, the first person from an asset management company to receive the honor. Mr. Loehning is a member of the Kean University Foundation Board of Directors and also served on several other boards of directors, including those for Roger Williams Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island and the Insured Retirement Institute (formerly the National Association for Variable Annuities [NAVA]) in Washington, DC. He is chairman of the advisory board of Make-A-Wish Foundation® of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. 

The father of three children, Mr. Loehning was also named Father of the Year by the American Diabetes Association and the Boston Father’s Day Council in 2013. He and his wife Doris live in Jupiter, Florida.

Photo L-R: Carla S. Willis, Vice President, Institutional Advancement, Kean University and President, Kean University Foundation; William F. Loehning, alumnus and Kean University Foundation Board of Directors member; Edward A. Esposito, President, Kean University Alumni Association; and Steve Fastook, Kean University Foundation Chair