Joe Plumeri
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Joseph J. Plumeri II (born July 7, 1943) is
vice chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, 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 gro ...
of the
First Data First Data Corporation was a financial services company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The company's STAR Network provides nationwide domestic debit acceptance at more than 2 million retail POS, ATM, and at online outlets f ...
Board of Directors. He was the
chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, 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 gro ...
and
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...
of
Willis Group Holdings Willis Group Holdings plc was a multinational risk advisor, insurance brokerage and reinsurance brokerage company headquartered in the Willis Building in London. It was the third-largest insurance broker worldwide by revenues. In 2016, the com ...
(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, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...
-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 negoti ...
, 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 product (business), goods and services related to the primary operations of a business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some compan ...
s in the world. Plumeri worked for
Citigroup Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, t ...
from 1968 to 2000. During that time he held the roles of President and
Managing Partner A partner in a law firm, accounting firm, consulting firm, or financial firm is a highly ranked position, traditionally indicating co-ownership of a partnership in which the partners were entitled to a share of the profits as " equity partners" ...
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 corporation, multinational financial services corporation specializing in Broker, retail brokerage. It is the wealth & asset management division of Morgan Stanley. On January 13, 2009, ...
, Vice Chairman of Travelers,
Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, 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 gro ...
and
CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...
of
Primerica Primerica, Inc. is a multi-level marketing company that provides insurance, Investment management, investment and financial services to middle-income families in the United States and Canada. Primerica is the parent company of National Bene ...
, 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 D ...
. The team plays in Samuel J. Plumeri Sr., Field, named after his father. In addition, he funded the construction of Plumeri Park, the stadium of 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 wo ...
baseball team. A philanthropist, he has made multimillion-dollar gifts to The College of William & Mary and the Make-a-Wish Foundation.


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. 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 (1962). He then studied at The College of William & Mary, 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 wo ...
football team (on scholarship as a halfback for Lou Holtz) 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 provisional chapters across the United States and abroad with over 15,500 undergraduate mem ...
. Upon graduation, he first taught History for two years at Langhorne's Neshaminy High School in
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, American law school in the Tribeca neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City. The third oldest law school in New York City, its history predates its official founding in 1891 by Theodore William Dwight, T ...
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 a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...
area. Entering 55 Broad Street, he looked at the lobby directory and noticed the name Carter, Berlind & Weill. 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. The man he interviewed with was Sandy Weill, 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, and Weill sold it to
American Express American Express Company or Amex is an American bank holding company and multinational financial services corporation that specializes in payment card industry, payment cards. It is headquartered at 200 Vesey Street, also known as American Expr ...
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 corporation, multinational financial services corporation specializing in Broker, retail brokerage. It is the wealth & asset management division of Morgan Stanley. On January 13, 2009, ...
. 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 multinational 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 t ...
's Primerica Financial Services 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. 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, 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 Roberts Kravis (born January 6, 1944) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist.leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is the acquisition of a company using a significant proportion of borrowed money (Leverage (finance), leverage) to fund the acquisition with the remainder of the purchase price funded with private equity. The assets of t ...
firm,
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global private-equity and investment company. , the firm had completed private-equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total ...
(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 Sunday 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 N ...
'' 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"
''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday 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 N ...
'', 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 An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
, and had it listed on the
New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...
. 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, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...
."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, formerly and still commonly referred to as the Sears Tower, is a 110- story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan ...
in Chicago, the tallest building in North America, being renamed the
Willis Tower The Willis Tower, formerly and still commonly referred to as the Sears Tower, is a 110-storey, story, skyscraper in the Chicago Loop, Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer F ...
, 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 ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
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 Telex Communications, Inc., originally Telex Corporation, was a Burnsville, Minnesota-based manufacturer of hearing aids and audio equipment. Founded in 1936 as a maker of hearing aids, it entered the computer peripherals businesses in the 1960s. ...
(from 2000), Commerce Bancorp (from 2003), the
Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...
, 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
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 D ...
."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 Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...
team, the Jersey Shore BlueClaws, the High-A affiliate of the
Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...
. It is located in Lakewood in
Ocean County Ocean County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the southernmost county in the New York metropolitan area. The county borders the Atlantic Ocean on the east and in terms of total area is the state's largest county. Its co ...
, on the
Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore, commonly called the Shore by locals, is the coast, coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The term encompasses about of shore, oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Perth Amboy in the n ...
. He also invested £100,000 towards a minority interest in the Plymouth Argyle Football Club 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 incl ...
of the
New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA) is an independent authority established by the State of New Jersey in 1971 to oversee the Meadowlands Sports Complex. Originally consisting of Giants Stadium and the Meadowlands Racetrack in ...
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 Str ...
with his son Jay. In 2010 his son opened a restaurant named "Race Lane" in
East Hampton, New York East Hampton is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York United States. It is located at the eastern end of the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island. It is the easternmost town i ...
.


Philanthropy

Plumeri Park is the 1,000-seat baseball facility of 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 wo ...
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 (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 List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...
, 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 Mount Sinai Hospital, formerly at times known as Mount Sinai Medical Center, is a 319-bed major urban hospital in Chicago, Illinois, with its main campus located adjacent to Douglass Park at 15th Street and California Avenue on the city's West Si ...
, the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum, 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 was a private college in Albany, New York. It was founded in 1920 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet as a Catholic women's college, and it became fully co-educational in the 1969–1970 academic year. The foll ...
in 2006, Richard Bland College of the College of William and Mary in 2008, and the
College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest instit ...
in 2011. In November 2015, Plumeri and his wife Susan donated $5 million to
New York Law School New York Law School (NYLS) is a private, American law school in the Tribeca neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City. The third oldest law school in New York City, its history predates its official founding in 1891 by Theodore William Dwight, T ...
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 Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...
) * 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 ( Make-a-Wish Foundation 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 an 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 i ...
) * 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 (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the ...
* 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,
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 provisional chapters across the United States and abroad with over 15,500 undergraduate mem ...
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 that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
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 themselve ...
. His brother Samuel J. Plumeri Jr., is vice chairman of the New Jersey State Parole Board 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 (state), New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate c ...
. His nephew Paul Plumeri Jr., is a graduate of Columbia University and Head of AI Responsibility Marketing at Google. 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 Flickr

Joe 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 Trenton Catholic High School alumni William & Mary Tribe baseball players William & Mary Tribe football players Primerica