For over 50 years, Stuart Bernstein has been a recognized leader in real estate development and investment in the Mid-Atlantic region, with the focus of his business efforts centered in the Washington, DC area. In 2001, he was appointed by President George W. Bush to represent the United States as Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark where he served with distinction until January 2005.

A graduate of American University, Stuart was a member of the Board of Trustees of that institution for twenty years. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush appointed Stuart as a Commissioner of the International Cultural and Trade Center. The following year, in recognition of his achievements, President George H. W. Bush appointed him as a Trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Currently, Stuart serves on the Board of Trustees of the Council of American Ambassadors, is a Trustee of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a Society of Fellows member of the Aspen Institute and is on the Board of the US Diplomacy Center Foundation.

He is a native Washingtonian and with his wife Wilma, have three grown children, eleven grandchildren, and thirteen great grandchildren.

Gary D. Cohn is an American business leader, investor and the former director of the U.S. National Economic Council. He is an internationally recognized expert on the financial markets, global economy and economic policy.

Mr. Cohn is Vice Chairman of IBM, working in partnership with IBM’s Executive Leadership Team on a wide range of business initiatives and external engagement in areas including business development, public advocacy and client relationship management.

Mr. Cohn served as Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council from 2017-2018. As chief economic advisor to the president of the United States, Mr. Cohn managed the administration’s economic policy agenda and led the successful effort to grow the U.S. economy, create jobs and increase wages through tax and regulatory reform.

Before serving in the White House, Mr. Cohn was President and Chief Operating Officer of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. from 2006-2016. He joined Goldman Sachs in 1990 and held several other leadership positions including Global Co-Head of the Equities and Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Division. He was a member of the firm’s Board of Directors and Chairman of the Firmwide Client and Business Standards Committee.

Mr. Cohn began his career at U.S. Steel before moving to New York to trade on the New York Commodities Exchange from 1982-1990.

Mr. Cohn actively invests in private companies and serves on many private corporate boards including Abyrx, Lazurite, Sotera Digital Security and Pallas Advisors. Additionally, Mr. Cohn serves on the advisory board for Starling. He is a member of the Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee (SRAC) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Mr. Cohn has long been dedicated to advancing healthcare and education. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of NYU Langone Health and serves as Chairman of the Advisory Board for the NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital. He is also on the Board of Overseers of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. In 2019 Mr. Cohn was a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics.

Mr. Cohn lives in New York. He grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and received his undergraduate degree from American University in 1982.

Michael G. Rosenberg is an entrepreneur and American consumer-packaged goods producer. In October 1979, Mr. Rosenberg founded a company with $150 from his dorm room as an undergraduate at the American University Kogod School of Business. By August of 1980, Rosenberg amassed $10,000 and formally incorporated the company, known today as PIM Brands, Inc. (“PIM”). Forty-six years later, PIM generates over $1 Billion in global revenues and continues diversifying as one of the world’s largest makers of confections, snack foods and consumer health products. PIM’s portfolio of loved and iconic brands enjoyed by millions across the world each day, includes the famed WELCH’S® Fruit Snacks, WELCH’S®Fruit ‘n Yogurt™Snacks, WELCH’S®Juicefuls®, WELCH’S®Fruitfuls™, SUN-MAID®Chocolate Raisins, SOUR JACKS®Sour Candy, TUXEDOS®Chocolate Almonds and many others. PIM is also a leading producer of Gummi Supplements including Hair Skin & Nails, Melatonin, Vitamins C, D, and Multi Vitamins under some of the world’s best-selling brands. From headquarters in Park Ridge, New Jersey, the company’s operations span Canada, Mexico, the UK, Spain, Switzerland, India as well as Latin America and Asia. Under Rosenberg’s guidance, PIM is ranked by Crains as one of the largest privately owned companies in Metro New York and repeatedly by Boston Consulting/IRI as one of fastest growing CPG’s in North America, with six top ten listings in the past ten years. Mr. Rosenberg is a long-standing industry leader as past Treasurer, Vice Chairman and Chairman of the National Confectioners Association. He sits on the Board of the National Confectionery Sales Association, the National Confectionery Education Advisory Board and Candy School at University of Wisconsin, is a member of the World Cocoa Foundation, a long-time member of the American Association of Candy Technologists, is Founder and Chairman of The American Museum of Candy History and serves on numerous philanthropic boards including as current Chairman of the Chemotherapy Foundation of New York. He has long been a fundraiser, donor and reliable supporter of charitable organizations focused on child food insecurity and has received an array of recognition for his diverse endeavors including induction into the Candy Hall of Fame, is a recipient of the highest confectionery lifetime achievement Kettle Award, an NCA Silver Candy Dish Lifetime Achievement award, and recognized by the National Association of Theatre Owners with a Paul J Rogers Award for his contributions to the Movie Theatre Industry. He was first ever recipient of the National Association of Concessionaires Show-East Legacy Award recognizing charitable work and lifetime contributions encompassing movie theatres, theme parks, stadiums and arenas. Mr. Rosenberg maintains residences in Woodcliff Lake, NJ, Sagaponack, NY and Naples, FL, is passionate about ice hockey, antique trucks, football, art and classical music, and recently joined the Board of the New Jersey Symphony.

Steven Shapiro began his career in 1968 while studying at the Kogod School of Business at American University. His auditing professor, John Quigley, introduced him to Hughes Computer Systems, a company providing computerized accounting solutions to small and mid-sized businesses. Four years later, Hughes was acquired by Automatic Data Processing (ADP), where Shapiro rose to the role of Vice President. Early in his career Shapiro became a CPA, served in the Army reserve and raised a family.

Shapiro’s leadership in operations and sales management at ADP led to his promotion to Vice President before he transitioned to the telecommunications industry. He spent another 15 years with Cellular Communications, Inc., serving as President of the Northeast Ohio Market, operating under the Cellular One brand—now part of Verizon—and as President of Cellular Communications of Puerto Rico. Under his leadership, the company was sold to AT&T for $815 million.

Shapiro is a co-founder of eHealth Ventures (eHv), a global consortium of leading healthcare organizations and investors focused on identifying and scaling disruptive digital health companies. Over the past eight years, eHv has built a portfolio of more than 28 innovative companies commercialized across six countries. Based in Israel, eHv continues to drive innovation in digital health. In 2024, eHv was recognized as Israel’s second most active healthcare VC.

In addition to serving on numerous for-profit and nonprofit boards, Shapiro actively consults for early stage companies, manages a family office, and played a pivotal role in establishing the Veloric Center for Entrepreneurship at American University. Shapiro and his wife Susy are active members of the Meltzer Schwartzberg Center for Israel Studies also at American University. He is a sought-after speaker on topics including innovation and Israel’s role in global entrepreneurship.

Susy and Steve live in Bethesda, MD, and have six children and eight grandchildren.

Jeff Sine is a Co-Founder and Partner of Raine. Prior to founding Raine, Jeff was Vice Chairman and Global Head of Technology, Media & Telecom Investment Banking at UBS Investment Bank. He joined UBS in April 2001 and was named a board member in 2003. Prior to that, Jeff was Global Head of Media Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley. Jeff’s clients have included many of the leading global media, technology, and communications companies. Over the course of his career, Jeff has advised on over $1 Trillion in Transactions.

Prior to Morgan Stanley, Jeff was an attorney at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York and London. Jeff is a current or past board member of The Manhattan Theatre Club, The International Radio and Television Society, The Museum of Television and Radio Media Center, National Public Radio (NPR) (Past Chair), The USC Annenberg School of Communication/Law Center Joint Venture, ITHAKA, Educational Testing Service (Past Chair), TelevisaUnivision, ARM Limited, and American University (Past Chair). He has also produced many plays and musicals over the past two decades on Broadway and in London’s West End, and is a three-time Tony Award winner.

Jeff also serves on the boards of many Raine portfolio companies and subsidiaries. Jeff has a BA from American University and a JD from the University of Southern California.

Susan Zirinsky is the President and Executive Producer of CBS/Paramount's See It Now Studios. She was formerly the President and Senior Executive Producer of CBS News, a position she began on March 1, 2019.

Within her first nine months, Zirinsky oversaw an overhaul of the news division, including launching the CBS EVENING NEWS WITH NORAH O'DONNELL and moving the broadcast to Washington, D.C., where it is the only broadcast network nightly newscast to be based in the nation's capital. She has re-imagined the CBS THIS MORNING anchor team with co-hosts Gayle King, Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil and has further integrated the linear and digital newsrooms to continue to grow CBS News' multi-platform presence. She also named new executive leadership and several new executive producers of several flagship programs including 60 MINUTES, CBS THIS MORNING, CBS EVENING NEWS, 48 HOURS, and a newly created CBS NEWS SPECIAL EVENTS unit.

Zirinsky, an acclaimed journalist and highly respected senior executive producer at CBS News, began her career in the CBS News Washington bureau two weeks after the Watergate break-in. Over the next four decades she produced a wide variety of award-winning documentaries and programs, and she covered a range of historic stories, from the Gulf War to the student uprising in Tiananmen Square, from the White House for 10 years to the 9/11 attacks, and from the Paris terrorist attacks to the mass shooting at a Parkland, Fla. School.

Prior to taking on her new role, Zirinsky was the senior executive producer of the award-winning 48 HOURS and was responsible for numerous CBS News breaking news specials. She was also the senior executive producer of 48 HOURS: NCIS and the senior executive producer of the CBS primetime series WHISTLEBLOWER.

A prolific producer on a variety of issues and subjects, her work has been lauded by critics and honored by her peers with journalism's top honors, including Emmys, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award and the George Foster Peabody Award.

Zirinsky brings to the position extensive experience leading teams of investigative journalists, building and developing new non-fiction programs; creating innovative ways to report news; and mentoring and guiding the careers of some of the industry's brightest journalists.

She has executive produced many highly praised and compelling news documentaries, including "The Spymasters - CIA in the Crosshairs" for SHOWTIME in 2015, co-produced with filmmakers Gideon and Jules Naudet and Chris Whipple, featuring, for the first time, interviews with all 12 living former and current heads of the CIA, appearing in one program. In 2004, also for SHOWTIME, she executive produced "Three Days in September," which told the story of a school taken hostage in Beslan, Russia. Narrated by Julia Roberts, that documentary was also featured in the Tribeca Film Festival. In addition, in 2002, she co-executive produced with the Naudets and firefighter James Hanlon "9/11," the most comprehensive account of the tragedy. Hosted by Robert De Niro, more than 39 million people watched this Peabody and Emmy Award-winning documentary.

Zirinsky executive produced the 2013 CBS News documentary series "Brooklyn DA," a candid look behind the scenes at investigators pursuing crime and punishment.

Additionally, Zirinsky is a successful producer of CBS breaking news specials. Those projects include the March 2018 documentary "39 Days," which followed the group of students who banded together after the Parkland, Fla mass shooting, co-executive produced by Judy Tygard. She has also produced breaking news specials on the royal wedding in 2018; the inauguration of President Donald Trump in 2017; the Dallas police shootings in 2016; the terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015; the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013; the mass shooting in an Aurora, Co. theater in 2012; and the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting also in 2012. She's produced specials following the deaths of Mary Tyler Moore in 2017, Muhammad Ali in 2016 and Nelson Mandela in 2013. In 2009 Zirinsky executive produced "Ted Kennedy: The Last Brother" and "That's the Way It Was: Remembering Walter Cronkite."

She also produced the documentary series "The Injustice Files" for ID Discovery and the CBS News documentaries "The Lord's Bootcamp," "In God's Name" and "Flashpoint." She executive produced "David Letterman: A Life on Television" in 2015; "Vanity Fair's Hollywood" in 2013; "The Grammys Will Go On: A Death in the Family," a 2013 documentary about the GRAMMYs and the night Whitney Houston died; and "Fashion's Night Out" with Vogue editor Anna Wintour in 2010.

Zirinsky got her start at CBS News at a critical time in the nation's history. Beginning as a part-time desk assistant in the CBS Washington Bureau in 1972 while attending college at American University, she was surrounded by the legendary CBS News reporting team led by Walter Cronkite that dominated Watergate coverage on television. In October 1973, she was alone in the Washington newsroom one night when word broke that President Richard Nixon had fired his attorney general, the so-called "Saturday Night Massacre." She found herself at the center of a huge story.

Continually growing within the division, Zirinsky became an associate producer for "The CBS Morning News" and then a producer on "The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite." In that role, she became a White House producer and spent a decade covering the Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan presidencies. She traveled with them throughout the world where she produced reports with Lesley Stahl, Ed Bradley, Bob Schieffer and Bill Plante for various broadcasts. She was promoted in 1987 to senior producer for the "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather" in Washington.

In 1984, while covering the Democratic National Convention, Academy Award-winning producer James L. Brooks interviewed her about her job. As a result, while still working at CBS News, Zirinsky became the technical advisor/associate producer for Brooks' film "Broadcast News," starring Holly Hunter as a Washington network news producer.

In 1989 Zirinsky was assigned to Beijing, China to run CBS News coverage of what was to be the first visit of a Russian President to China in 30 years. What it became was the student uprising in Tiananmen Square. CBS News broadcast the demonstrations and violence live from Beijing exclusively for several days until the Chinese government ordered the satellite transmitter shutdown. She was then sent to Panama as producer-in-charge as the U.S. invasion of that country occurred. A few months later she was dispatched to cover Operation Desert Storm, which was launched by the U.S. military and its allies following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Ever the fierce competitor, she maneuvered the first network team to arrive with the allied forces when they took Kuwait back from Iraqi soldiers.

In 1990 she moved from Washington to New York as senior producer of the "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather" and became the senior broadcast producer. In 1992 she was director of CBS News political coverage, and then executive producer of CBS News "Campaign '96." During that period, she was also CBS News' senior producer at the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville, France, where she oversaw the CBS News and Sports news desk for the Network. She served as executive producer of the CBS News magazine "Eye to Eye with Connie Chung" in 1994.

Zirinsky graduated cum laude from American University in Washington, D.C. The AU School of Communication honored her with the Dean's Award in 2018.

When the Kogod School of Business decided to launch its Hall of Fame, the choice for its inaugural inductee was clear: Robert P. Kogod.  

Decades after his time at AU as a student himself, Bob Kogod is known throughout the region and the country as a visionary changemaker and consummate philanthropist. He is and will forever be an inspiration for students across AU’s schools and programs.  

The Kogod name signifies an unwavering commitment to making a positive impact on the lives of countless individuals and communities, including our own community here at AU. 

Robert P. Kogod's family fled Europe in the early 1900s to escape antisemitism. Born in 1931 during the Great Depression, he grew up in Washington, DC, attended Theodore Roosevelt High School, and graduated from American University in 1962. 

Mr. Kogod’s work in real estate development and management with the Charles E. Smith Companies began in 1959, growing it to a company of several thousand employees that provided housing for more than 35,000 families, and office and retail space for more than 100,000 workers in the DC metro region and the Midwest. His work has left an indelible imprint on the DC landscape and community, notably the development of Crystal City in Arlington, VA.   

Beyond business success, Mr. Kogod and his wife, Arlene, are notable philanthropists—helping thousands of young people access education and supporting museums, fine and performing arts, healthcare, and numerous other causes. The Kogods established a research center on aging at the Mayo Clinic; the Smithsonian’s Kogod Courtyard; various theater spaces; and they continue to play an active role in the Jewish community—supporting institutions like the Shalom Hartman Institute in Israel, the Jewish Federation, Sixth & I Historic Synagogue and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.