Susan McManama Gianinno ’70, P’93
1972 Correspondent: Lawrence Edgar ledgar4@verizon.net 530 South Barrington Avenue, No. 110 Los Angeles, CA 90049 This column is easier for me to write than usual thanks to a series of messages filled with news that I received from John Morin, JD’76. A retired vice president of John Hancock, John is now a part-time securities arbitrator and fly-fishing guide. John, who is the widower of Elizabeth Harrington Morin ’86 and the father of three, lives in Winchester. His father, Paul, was in the Class of ’48. John reports that Ed Herbert is the president of Taylor Freezer in Norwood and a resident of Milton. Walt Kelly practices law and lives in West Roxbury. Jim Dunn is an officer with Dedham Savings and lives in Needham. Mike Coyne is an associate judge at Boston Municipal Court and a resident of Cohasset. Dennis Riordan has had a career with the Mass State Police and lives in Dedham. Larry Niland, also a John Hancock retiree, is a resident of Scituate. John saw former hockey star Bob Haley ’70 at last year’s BC–BU game and reports that he’s a very youthful-looking grandfather. Bob’s former teammate Scott Godfrey is also a grandfather and works as a lobbyist. He spends much of his time in Florida. • Besides the news from John, I’ve called several Gold Key Society classmates, including Mike Spatola, the chief fundraiser at BC Law School, who reports that his second daughter, Julie ’06, works in San Francisco, and her sister Elizabeth ’04 is employed by the San Diego Chargers. Mike is a resident of Hingham. • I called Bob Paige to congratulate him on the championship won by his Phillies. He’s the chief of administrative services for the New Jersey Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services and a resident of Medford. • Ed Jantzen, JD’75, reports from Laguna Niguel, CA, that the first trip he took as a retiree from the FBI was to the White House, where he got to talk to Press Secretary Tony Snow before Tony’s untimely passing. • Coleman Szely still has his CPA practice in Bergen County, NJ, and attends most BC home football games. He’s the former president of his chapter of the New Jersey Society of CPAs. • Margaret Nagle is a new member of the Council for Women of Boston College. The council is dedicated to furthering the role of alumnae as leaders and active participants in the University.
as good as advertised successful advertising executive must know a thing or two about human psychology—something that’s never been a problem for Susan McManama Gianinno ’70, P’93. She graduated from BC with a bachelor’s degree in the discipline and was pursuing her doctorate in behavioral psychology at the University of Chicago when a serendipitous meeting led to a job in advertising. Academia’s loss became Madison Avenue’s gain. Since 2003, Gianinno has been chairman and CEO of Publicis USA, one of the nation’s leading ad agency networks. She oversees all North American operations for the Paris-based group, which provides advertising solutions to such heavyweights as Procter & Gamble, Advertising executive Susan McManama L’Oréal, Hewlett-Packard, and Citigroup. Gianinno won the 2008 MATRIX Award As business changes in the digital age, for Women in Communications. Gianinno is making sure Publicis evolves too. “We’ve led the charge to retrain employees and revamp the organization so that it offers a full complement of digital services to meet the needs of our clients,” she says. Gianinno spends her “down time” assisting BC as a trustee associate and has been on the board since 1991.
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Below, Gianinno shares her thoughts on her career and her alma mater: what is the most satisfying moment in your professional life?
what is the most important lesson in life?
Among many: Winning the 2008 MATRIX Award for Women in Communications and serving as chair of the Advertising Council.
To always keep in perspective what really matters and make decisions accordingly.
in your personal life? Watching the development of my daughter, Alexandra ’93, who is the deputy executive director of the State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs.
what is your best bc memory? Meeting my husband, Lawrence Gianinno ’70.
what is your next goal? Finding a way to balance work with family.
how much can you sing of the bc fight song? Do you mean the fight song that starts, “Sweep Down the Field…” or “For Boston…?” I know all the words to both of them.
how have you changed since graduation? The core of who I am hasn’t changed much, but my worldview has expanded because of the network of people I’ve met.
what have you enjoyed about being a trustee and trustee associate at bc? I’ve loved working with Fr. Monan, Fr. Leahy, and the amazing people on the board throughout the years. I’ve chaired the Academic Affairs Committee and have been part of some exciting personnel decisions, such as hiring Provost and Dean of Faculties Bert Garza.
who has influenced your life the most? My father, who’s the best physician and the most principled person I’ve ever known. (Gianinno’s father, John McManama ’37, was a physician for BC Athletics for more than 40 years until he recently retired.)
where is your favorite spot on the bc campus? Bapst Library.
for more q&a with susan mcmanama gianinno, visit www.bc.edu/alumni/gianinno.html.