Joseph J. Plumeri II (born July 7, 1943) is

vice chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

of the First Data Board of Directors. He was the

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Willis Group Holdings Willis Group Holdings plc was a multinational risk advisor, insurance brokerage and reinsurance brokerage company with its headquarters in the Willis Building in London until its merger of equals with financial services company Towers Watson ...

(Willis), a

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...

-listed

insurance broker An insurance broker is an intermediary who sells, solicits, or negotiates insurance on behalf of a client for compensation. An insurance broker is distinct from an insurance agent in that a broker typically acts on behalf of a client by negotia ...

, until July 2013. The company has 17,000 employees in 400 offices, located in 120 countries.Joe Plumeri, "Remarks to the British Insurance Brokers' Association"
May 19, 2010. Retrieved July 16, 2010. As of June 2010, Willis had the third-highest insurance brokerage

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive rev ...

s in the world. Plumeri worked for

Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi ( stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomera ...

from 1968 to 2000. During that time he held the roles of President and Managing Partner of

Shearson Lehman Brothers Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward ShearsonSmith Barney Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is an American multinational financial services corporation specializing in retail brokerage. It is the wealth & asset management division of Morgan Stanley. On January 13, 2009, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup an ...

, Vice Chairman of

Travelers Traveler(s), traveller(s), The Traveler(s), or The Traveller(s) may refer to: People Generic terms *One engaged in travel *Explorer, one who searches for the purpose of discovery of information or resources *Nomad, a member of a community withou ...

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

and

of Primerica, and CEO of Citibank, North America. He was appointed Chairman and CEO of Willis in 2000. Plumeri is also the co-owner of the

Trenton Thunder The Trenton Thunder are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. They are located in Trenton, New Jersey, and play their home games at Trenton Thunder Ballpark. From 1994 to 2020, it was a Minor League Baseball team of the ...

. The team plays in Samuel J. Plumeri Sr., Field, named after his father. In addition, he funded the construction of

Plumeri Park Plumeri Park is the College of William & Mary William & Mary Tribe baseball, Tribe baseball team's home stadium located in Williamsburg, Virginia.William & Mary Tribe The William & Mary Tribe is a moniker for the College of William & Mary's athletic teams and the university's community more broadly. William & Mary has won two team national championships (both in men's tennis), the AIAW championships in ...

baseball team. A philanthropist, he has made multimillion-dollar gifts to

The College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William I ...

and the

Make-a-Wish Foundation The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in the United States that helps fulfill the wishes of children with a critical illness between the ages of and 18 years old. Make-A-Wish was founded in 1980 and headquart ...

Early life

Plumeri is the son of Samuel J. Plumeri Sr. (a Trenton city commissioner and local businessman, who died in 1998) and Josephine Plumeri (who died in 2012). His grandparents immigrated to the United States from

Villalba, Sicily Villalba ( Sicilian: ''Villarba'') is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Caltanissetta in the Italian region Sicily, located about northwest of Caltanissetta, about southeast of Palermo and 68 km from Agrigento. As of 31 Decembe ...

. He was raised in North Trenton, New Jersey, in a working-class family. Speaking of his father, he said: "He never quit, and he always saw the good in everything. He was a dreamer, and because of my father ... I have an affection for people who are passionate." Plumeri attended Trenton Catholic High School and

Bordentown Military Institute The Bordentown Military Institute was a private high school in Bordentown, New Jersey, United States, from 1881 to 1973. History The institute was created in 1881, when Reverend William Bowen purchased the Spring Villa Female Seminary building an ...

(1962). He then studied at

, graduating in 1966 with a B.A. in History and Education. While an undergraduate, he played on the

William & Mary Tribe The William & Mary Tribe is a moniker for the College of William & Mary's athletic teams and the university's community more broadly. William & Mary has won two team national championships (both in men's tennis), the AIAW championships in ...

football team (on scholarship as a halfback for

Lou Holtz Louis Leo Holtz (born January 6, 1937) is an American former football player, coach, and analyst. He served as the head football coach at The College of William & Mary (1969–1971), North Carolina State University (1972–1975), the New Yo ...

) and baseball team (as a second baseman and outfielder). He was also a member of

Pi Kappa Alpha Pi Kappa Alpha (), commonly known as PIKE, is a college fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1868. The fraternity has over 225 chapters and colonies across the United States and abroad with over 15,500 undergraduate members over 3 ...

. Upon graduation, he first taught History for two years at Langhorne's

Neshaminy High School , motto_translation = , address = 2001 Old Lincoln Highway , location = , region = , town = Langhorne, Pennsylvania postal address , county = (Bucks Count ...

Bucks County Bucks County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the fourth-most populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Doylestown. The county is named after the English ...

, in Pennsylvania. There, he also coached football and two other sports. In 1968, he was in the Army Reserve for six months at

Fort Jackson, South Carolina Fort Jackson is a United States Army installation, which TRADOC operates on for Basic Combat Training (BCT), and is located within the city of Columbia, South Carolina. This installation is named for Andrew Jackson, a United States Army gene ...

. After he was released, he enrolled in

New York Law School New York Law School (NYLS) is a private law school in Tribeca, New York City. NYLS has a full-time day program and a part-time evening program. NYLS's faculty includes 54 full-time and 59 adjunct professors. Notable faculty members include ...

in 1968, but did not finish before leaving although he was given an Honorary Doctorate of Law from the school in 2015.

Business career

Plumeri worked at Citigroup Inc. and its predecessors companies from 1968 until 2000, when he was appointed as Chairman and CEO of Willis.

Carter, Berlind & Weill/Shearson Lehman Brothers (1968–93)

While in law school, one afternoon in 1968 he decided to look for part-time employment, and began knocking on doors in the

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for ...

area. Entering 55 Broad Street, he looked at the lobby directory and noticed the name

Carter, Berlind & Weill Cogan, Berlind, Weill & Levitt, originally Carter, Berlind, Potoma & Weill, was an American investment banking and brokerage firm founded in 1960 and acquired by American Express in 1981. In its two decades as an independent firm, Cogan, Berlin ...

. Assuming (incorrectly) that if a firm had three names or more than it must be a law firm, he applied for a job. He decided to take a position with the firm even after he discovered it was not a law firm but a brokerage house. Sanford Weill 2 Shankbone Metropolitan Opera 2009

Sanford Weill 2 Shankbone Metropolitan Opera 2009

The man he interviewed with was

Sandy Weill Sandy may refer to: People and fictional characters * Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Sandy (surname), a list of people * Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983) * (Sandy ...

, a founding partner of Carter, Berlind & Weill who later served as CEO of Citigroup, Inc. Weill hired the 24-year-old Plumeri as a part-time clerk, arranged for a closet to be converted into a tiny office, and mentored him. The two were co-workers for many years, with Plumeri as one of Weill's top lieutenants. Plumeri said: "Sandy has been my role model. He's the shrewdest, smartest businessman I've ever seen, and he's also the sweetest." Soon after starting to work at the brokerage firm, Plumeri dropped out of law school. The small brokerage ultimately became

Shearson Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward ShearsonAmerican Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation, multinational corporation specialized in payment card industry, payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Man ...

in 1981 for stock valued at $930 million ($ today). By 1985, Plumeri was a Senior Executive Vice President and director of national sales and marketing. Plumeri became the president & managing partner of

Shearson Lehman Brothers Shearson was the name of a series of investment banking and retail brokerage firms from 1902 until 1994, named for Edward Shearson

Smith Barney (1993–94)

In 1993, Weill bought Shearson back from American Express. He paid $1 billion ($ today), and merged it into its fellow stockbroker

Smith Barney Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is an American multinational financial services corporation specializing in retail brokerage. It is the wealth & asset management division of Morgan Stanley. On January 13, 2009, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup an ...

. Weill then offered Plumeri the presidency of Smith Barney. "That was the most satisfying moment of my life", recalled Plumeri. "I cried—as usual—and I remember that Sandy shed a tear, too." That year Plumeri became the President of the merged company, and managed the merger. Weill abruptly dismissed Plumeri in August 1994. Plumeri noted: "I was so intent on getting the job done, that I eliminated the input of other people. If I'd done better at nurturing relationships, who knows how it would have turned out?" Weill made Plumeri a Vice Chairman of Travelers Group Inc. almost immediately thereafter.

Primerica Financial Services (1995–99)

Plumeri was then made Chairman & CEO of

Travelers Group The Travelers Companies, Inc., commonly known as Travelers, is an American insurance company. It is the second-largest writer of U.S. commercial property casualty insurance, and the sixth-largest writer of U.S. personal insurance through indepen ...

Primerica Financial Services Primerica, Inc. (NYSE: PRI) is a company that provides insurance, investment and financial services to middle income families in the United States and Canada. Primerica is the parent company of National Benefit Life Insurance Company, ...

division (Primerica), a position he held from 1995 to 1999. In 1997, Plumeri earned at least $3 million ($ today) in compensation. In 1998, Primerica had net income of $398 million (on net sales of $1.65 billion), nearly double its 1994 $209 million net income (on net sales of $1.28 billion). Speaking of his approach in business, Plumeri said:

I am an emotional person with a lot of drive, and that has caused some problems in my career. But I come from the view that you've got to be yourself, for better or worse. And what got me where I am today was my emotion.

Citigroup (1999–2000)

Plumeri worked on the amalgamation of Travelers Group and Citicorp after the $70 billion ($ today) 1999 merger of the two to form

Citigroup Inc. Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking ...

Following the integration, he was appointed CEO of Citibank, North America by Citigroup co-Chairmen Weill and John Reed. J. Paul Newsome, an analyst with

CIBC Oppenheimer CIBC Capital Markets is the investment banking subsidiary of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The firm operates as an investment bank both in Canadian and global equity and debt capital markets. The firm provides a variety of financial s ...

, said: "He's not the spit-and-polish executive many people expected. He's rough on the edges. But Citibank knows the bank as an institution is in trouble—it can't get away anymore with passive selling—and Plumeri has all the passion to throw a glass of cold water on the bank." At this point, Weill and Reed stepped down. As CEO of Citibank N.A., he navigated the unit's earnings from $108 million to $415 million in one year, an increase of nearly 400%. In January 2000, somewhat unexpectedly, Plumeri retired from Citibank.

Willis (2000–2013)

The early years

While vacationing in Paris, the Plumeris by chance met

Henry Kravis Henry R. Kravis (born January 6, 1944) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist.leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is one company's acquisition of another company using a significant amount of borrowed money ( leverage) to meet the cost of acquisition. The assets of the company being acquired are often used as collateral for the loa ...

firm,

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strate ...

(KKR), had purchased the Willis Group in 1998 for $1.4 billion. When Kravis asked what he was doing, Plumeri's wife jokingly said: "Find him a job". Kravis called him two weeks later, and suggested that Plumeri run Willis. Initially, Plumeri had no interest in the position. He said: "I really didn't want the job. I didn't know anything about insurance. I certainly didn't know anything about London. And I didn't know if my act would fly in London, to be honest with you." But the more he examined it the more appealing it became, and Weill advised him that he should definitely take the position. Plumeri assumed the post of Chairman & Chief Executive Officer at Willis on October 15, 2000. He replaced John Reeve, who retired, and became the company's first non-British CEO and first non-insurance industry CEO. The staid, nearly 200-year-old, tradition-laden British-based company (established in 1828) had just incurred a loss in 1999 of $104 million ($ today). "This is exactly the kind of leadership opportunity I've been looking for to focus the next stage of my career", Plumeri decided. His five-year contract provided for an annual base salary of $1 million, guaranteed bonuses of $1 million annually, further incentive bonuses, and stock options for 5.2 million Willis shares at approximately $2.80 per share. Plumeri pledged to his employees that as long as he was CEO, he would not sell any of his Willis stock. He said: "Maybe I'd give it to charity, but selling the stock for my own benefit, I think is wrong. I'm supposed to be the chief cheerleader of the company, not only to investors but to my employees, and to exhort them to buy my stock, while I'm selling it, is wrong." He began his Willis career without much background in insurance brokering. Plumeri admitted, "I don't know what I don't know, so I've asked a lot of questions", but noted that "When you are in virgin territory without any baggage, sometimes that is better because you don't have a sense of what you can't do."

Changes

On arrival, Plumeri tried to unify the staff and create a sense of teamwork by providing each employee with a lapel pin and requiring them to wear it. ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' reported that once when Plumeri had a breakfast meeting with two of his executives at a New York hotel, he noticed that one was not wearing his Willis lapel pin. The paper described it as "probably a sacking offense".Martin Waller, "Sacking proves severe test of commitment"
''

'', April 26, 2008, accessed July 20, 2010 Thinking quickly, the executive responded: "I'm sorry, sir. I must have left it on my pyjamas." To bolster enhanced communication and cooperation, he ordered that all office doors remain open (or had them removed, including the door to his own office). He lowered the height of the partitions between cubicles. He himself flew about a year to meet with people, to help build the company.Adam Bryant, "Corner Office: On Passion and Playing in Traffic"
''The New York Times'', December 5, 2009, accessed July 16, 2010 The CEO of the company's global markets division, Grahame J. Millwater, said: "The sheer dynamism of the individual took us a little bit by surprise. We had a very different management style before." Plumeri observed:

Many companies do not articulate to their employees why they are there. You’ve got to figure out what the home run is. What we are doing here is creating a company whose value grows, and that value is measured by the price of our stock. That's the scoreboard.... Once people understand and buy into the vision, it's amazing what one can do.... If you don’t give people a vision, they don’t enjoy the trip because they don’t know where they are going.

To avoid having to reduce the number of staff members that he had inherited, Plumeri chose to move some of them to what he viewed as better-suited roles. At Willis, he has been an outspoken supporter of banning contingent commissions. In June 2001, he brought the company back to public ownership in an IPO, and had it listed on the

. At the time, its stock price was $13.50. Within two years, by May 2, 2003, it was $31.27, an increase of 132%. On February 27, 2004, it was at $38.35. For 2002, the company's net income was $210 million. In 2003, it rose to $414 million. By February 2007, he had grown the company at an annual rate of 12% per year. In 2008, Plumeri headed Willis' $2.1 billion acquisition of U.S. rival Hilb, Rogal & Hobbs Co. (HRH). By August 2008, Willis was worth $4.5 billion. In his first eight years at Willis, the company's net worth doubled, its margins rose from 7% to 32%, and its stock price rose from $3-per-share to $32-per-share. In 2008, he directed the sale of Willis's London headquarters at 10 Trinity Square, relocating to 51 Lime Street, the fourth-tallest building in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

."Willis Sells London HQ"
''Insurance Journal'', September 19, 2006, accessed July 20, 2010 Locals referred to the new headquarters as "Plumeri's Palace". The building incorporates Plumeri's "no-doors" policy, a policy which extends to his own office. In 2009, he struck a deal that led to the 110-story

Sears Tower The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108- story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM ...

in Chicago, the tallest building in North America, being renamed the

Willis Tower The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108- story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM ...

, as the company rented of its office space. He and Mayor Richard Daley unveiled a sign with the new name in a ceremony in July. Plumeri said: "You can call it anything you want... you can call it the 'Big Willie' for all I care. As a matter of fact, I wish you would." Plumeri received compensation of $8.1 million in 2007, $19.9 million in 2008, and $10.9 million in 2009 (consisting of a salary of $1 million, bonus of $1.7 million,

restricted stock Restricted stock, also known as restricted securities, is stock of a company that is not fully transferable (from the stock-issuing company to the person receiving the stock award) until certain conditions (restrictions) have been met. Upon satisfa ...

awards of $7.3 million, and other compensation of $.9 million). Willis extended his contract in January 2010 until July 7, 2013. As of March 2010, Plumeri owned 3.8 million shares of the company, representing 2.3%. By 2010, Willis had 17,000 employees in 400 offices located in 120 countries. With regards to his

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

of life, Plumeri said: "I’m from the school of anything's possible. I’m from the group that says it doesn’t matter where you are from, but that it does matter how big you dream."

Post-Willis (2013–present)

On August 19, 2013, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. LP announced Plumeri's appointment as Senior Advisor.

Boards

Plumeri's concurrent board responsibilities outside of Willis have included the boards of Telex Communications (from 2000),

Commerce Bancorp Commerce Bancorp was a Cherry Hill, New Jersey–based bank created in 1973. In 2007, it was purchased by Toronto-Dominion Bank, which merged Commerce with TD Banknorth to form TD Bank, N.A.; all of its banks and branches were given the TD Ba ...

(from 2003), the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is a nonprofit organization that is independent and nonpartisan. CFR is based in New York Ci ...

, and the American Institute for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters. Now he serves on the boards o
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia UniversityMount Sinai Medical CenterIntrepid Sea, Air & Space MuseumJackie Robinson FoundationCarnegie Hall
and th
Churchill Centre and Museum at the Cabinet War Rooms
in London.

Sports interests

Plumeri co-owns the

."7th Minor-League Team Coming to the State"
''The New York Times'', November 9, 2009, accessed July 20, 2010 The team plays at Samuel J. Plumeri Sr. Field, the 6,341-seat stadium he named after his father in 1999. In 2001, he became the co-owner of another New Jersey minor league baseball team, the

Jersey Shore BlueClaws The Jersey Shore BlueClaws (formerly Lakewood BlueClaws) are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. They are located in Lakewood, New Jersey, and are named for their locati ...

, the High-A affiliate of the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

. It is located in Lakewood in

Ocean County Ocean County is a county located along the Jersey Shore in the south-central portion of the U.S. state of New Jersey. It borders the Atlantic Ocean on the east. Its county seat is Toms River.Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May P ...

. He also invested £100,000 towards a minority interest in the

Plymouth Argyle Football Club Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

in the United Kingdom, giving him an indirect ownership interest in the club of less than 1%. He was introduced to the team by its chairman Sir Roy Gardner, who is also on the Willis board. Plumeri was

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority from 1997 to 2004.

Restaurant

In December 2001, he opened a family restaurant named "Plumeri" in

TriBeCa Tribeca (), originally written as TriBeCa, is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. Its name is a syllabic abbreviation of "Triangle Below Canal Street". The "triangle" (more accurately a quadrilateral) is bounded by Canal Stree ...

with his son Jay. In 2010 his son opened a restaurant named "Race Lane" in

East Hampton, New York The Town of East Hampton is located in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, at the eastern end of the South Shore of Long Island. It is the easternmost town in the state of New York. At the time of the 2020 United States census, it had a tot ...

Philanthropy

baseball team since 1999, constructed in large part on the basis of a donation by Plumeri in the autumn of 1996. He had it named in honor of his father. In 2008, he provided $2 million to create the Plumeri Awards for Faculty Excellence at William & Mary. He also funded the Joseph J. Plumeri Business Scholarship, the Joseph J. Plumeri Endowment Fund for baseball scholarships for the school, and the W&M/Plumeri Pro-Am Golf Tournament. He donated $2 million to the construction of the "Samuel & Josephine Plumeri Wishing Place", the headquarters of the New Jersey Chapter of the

Make-A-Wish Foundation The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in the United States that helps fulfill the wishes of children with a critical illness between the ages of and 18 years old. Make-A-Wish was founded in 1980 and headquart ...

(named in honor of his parents). It was the largest gift ever to the Foundation, nationwide. He also contributed $1 million to the College of St. Rose in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Cit ...

, for the development of the school's new Christian Plumeri Sports Complex. It was named in honor of his deceased son. Plumeri is a board member of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University (since 1998), Mount Sinai Medical Center, the

Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum The ''Intrepid'' Sea, Air & Space Museum is an American military and maritime history museum in New York City with a collection of museum ships. It is located at Pier 86 at 46th Street, along the Hudson River, in the Hell's Kitchen neighborh ...

, and Churchill Museum in London. He is a member of William & Mary's governing Board of Visitors, Business School Advisory Board, and Sir Robert Boyle Society, as well as a lifetime member of the President's Council and a trustee emeritus of the William & Mary Endowment Association. Plumeri was also the commencement speaker at the

College of Saint Rose The College of Saint Rose is a private Roman Catholic college in Albany, New York. It was founded in 1920 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet as a women's college. It became fully co-educational in 1969; the following year, the college a ...

in 2006,

Richard Bland College Richard Bland College is a public junior college associated with the College of William & Mary and located in Prince George County, Virginia. Richard Bland College was established in 1960 by the Virginia General Assembly as a branch of the Coll ...

of the College of William and Mary in 2008, and the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William ...

in 2011. In November 2015, Plumeri and his wife Susan donated $5 million to

to support the creation of the Joe Plumeri Center for Social Justice and Economic Opportunity.

Awards

*1991 Italian-American Hall of Fame (inducted) *2004 Good Scout Award (

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded in ...

) *2004 Award for Special Achievement in Business (the National Italian American Foundation) *2006 Insurance Leader of the Year ( St. John's University School of Risk Management) *2006 Humanitarian of the Year (

of New Jersey) *2007 Salute Award, in recognition of business achievements and philanthropic activities (the Intrepid Foundation) *2008 National Education & Leadership Award (The Sons of Italy Foundation) *2009 & 2010 Lists of "100 Most Influential People in Finance" (''Treasury & Risk'' magazine) *2010 Business Achievement Award (

Beta Gamma Sigma Beta Gamma Sigma () is the International Business Honor Society. Founded in 1913 at the University of Wisconsin, University of Illinois and the University of California, it has over 980,000 members, selected from more than 600 collegiate chapters ...

) *2010 Achievement in Industry Award ( The Jackie Robinson Foundation) *2011 Honorary Doctor of Public Service from

The College of William and Mary ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

*2011 Grand marshal, New York City Columbus Day Parade, Columbus Citizens Foundation *2015 Honorary Doctor of Law, New York Law School *2016 Distinguished Achievement Award,

fraternity https://www.pikes.orgabout-pike/news-and-media/recent-news/2016-distinguished-alumni-achievement-award

Family

With then-wife Nancy (née Walton) Plumeri, he raised three children: Christian J. (now deceased), Jay, and Leslie. He currently lives in New York City. Speaking of his son Christian, who died in November 2008 at age 39 from drug addiction, he said: "You deal with it, but it's so difficult. I think about it all the time; think about it every day. You always think about what you could have done differently." His brother Paul Plumeri Sr., is a

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themsel ...

. His brother Samuel J. Plumeri Jr., is vice chairman of the

New Jersey State Parole Board The New Jersey State Parole Board is a governmental body in the U.S. State of New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of Ne ...

and chairman the Capital Health Board of Directors. He also served as a Trenton police officer, Mercer County (New Jersey) sheriff, and for a decade was superintendent of Police/Director of Public Safety for the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorize ...

. His nephew Paul Plumeri Jr., is a graduate of Columbia University and leads brand marketing for the Google News Initiative. His mother, Josephine Plumeri, died on January 20, 2012, at the age of 97.

References

External links

Reuters bio"Joe Plumeri Live"
Interview by Mike Schneider on Venture, Bloomberg, February 6, 2009
"Beyond The Boardroom: Joe Plumeri"
Interview by Jonathan Tisch on Plum TV, August 24, 2009
Joe Plumeri page on FlickrJoe Plumeri playlist in YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plumeri, Joe 1943 births American philanthropists American people of Italian descent Bordentown Military Institute alumni Citigroup people Living people New York Law School alumni People from Far Hills, New Jersey People from Scotch Plains, New Jersey Businesspeople from Trenton, New Jersey The Travelers Companies William & Mary Tribe baseball players William & Mary Tribe football players Primerica