Press Release
April 14, 2005
WELLESLEY, Mass., April 14 (AScribe Newswire) -- Joseph J. Grano Jr. will speak at Babson College's 86th Undergraduate Ceremony on Saturday May 21 at 10 a.m., Babson College Upper Fields.
Grano is Chairman and CEO of Centurion Holdings LLC. From 2001-2004, he was Chairman of UBS Financial Services Inc. (formerly UBS PaineWebber). Grano is also Chairman of the Homeland Security Advisory Council, reporting to Secretary Michael Chertoff under the U. S. Department of Homeland Security. In addition to being one of the financial service industry's leading executives, he is involved in many educational and philanthropic endeavors.
Grano was instrumental in helping to bring about the merger of PaineWebber with UBS in 2000, when he was named President & CEO of UBS PaineWebber and the following year was named Chairman & CEO. He was Chairman of the Board of Governors of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and a member of the NASD's Executive Committee.
He holds honorary degrees from Pepperdine University and Queens College, City University of New York. He served as Vice Chairman of the Queens College Foundation Board of Trustees, and was on the Board of Directors of the YMCA of Greater New York. He is a member of the Council for the United States and Italy, a member of the City University of New York's Business Leadership Council and a member of the Board of Directors at Lenox Hill Hospital.
In 2002, Grano received the Corporate Leadership Award from the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund for his commitment to education. He was the 39th recipient of the USO Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Service, and was named Business Leader of the Year by Georgetown University's School of Business. In 1998 he received "La Bellissima America" award for his leadership role in preserving the heritage of Italian-Americans, and in 1996, he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in recognition of distinguished contributions to our country.