Corporate Responsibility

Felician College will pay tribute to Linda M. Doherty, president and CEO of the New Jersey Food Council (NJFC), at the college’s 29th Annual Founders Day Gala, on Thursday, April 28 at the Venetian in Garfield, N.J.

Dennis Daniels, VP of Keasbey, N.J.-based retail co-op Wakefern Foods Inc., whose members operate stores under the ShopRite banner, is chair of the gala. All proceeds from the event will go to support Felician’s Student Scholarship Fund and the NJFC Scholarship.

Doherty is only the fifth president in the 40-year history of the Trenton-based NJFC, a trade association representing supermarkets and the food distribution industry.

Doherty served on Gov. Chris Christie’s transition team as a member of the Economic Growth and Development subcommittee. She is also chair of the board of directors of Highland, Utah-based Food Industry Association of Executives, a national organization of state executives in the grocery and retail industry representing 95 percent of the U.S. grocery and food industry.

She additionally serves on the boards of the Food Policy Institute at Rutgers University, the Food Innovation Center, the Clean Communities Council, and the New Jersey Society of Environmental and Economic Development (NJSEED), and was recently named to the board of the New Jersey Food Processors Association.

Recent honors for Doherty include the prestigious Excellence in Government Affairs Award from the Grocery Manufacturers Association for her work on food retailer and supplier issues.

As well as honoring a noted member of the food industry, Felician’s annual event recognizes the current NJFC Scholarship recipient.

“Each year, the NJFC awards a full tuition, four-year academic scholarship to a deserving Felician College who works in or has an immediate family member who is employed in the food industry,” noted Wakefern's Daniels. This year’s scholarship recipient, Rosalee “Rosie” Ann Reed of Bayville, N.J., is the first in her family to attend college.

Founded in 1942, Felician is a coeducational, liberal-arts Catholic college of 2,300 students on two campuses, in Lodi and Rutherford, N.J.