Kean to Honor Distinguished Alumni

Four Kean University alumni who built successful careers in fields from advertising to government will be honored Friday with Kean Distinguished Alumni Awards.  

The honorees are:

• Christina Carey Dunleavy ’98, vice president of Disney CreativeWorks and Multicultural & Inclusive Solutions
• Sergio Granados ’10, ’16 MPA, Union County commissioner
• Michael James, DBA, ’98, enterprise growth & engagement leader, Elevance Health
• Anthony Sa ’71, founder and retired president, Sa and Sons Construction Company 

“We are honored to welcome back and recognize these distinguished alumni,” said Kean President Lamont O. Repollet, Ed.D., who will present the awards during the inaugural President’s Alumni Ball. “These individuals so clearly demonstrate the value of a Kean University education and are models of achievement for our students.” 

Repollet will also present Presidential Excellence Awards to six members of the faculty, six members of Kean’s administrative staff and six students. The Excellence Awards recognize outstanding achievement from faculty, staff and students in the areas of teaching, scholarship/research and service in alignment with the pillars of academic excellence, safety and equity.

“The success of our alumni and our students does not happen in a vacuum. It is because hard-working faculty and staff like this year’s Presidential Excellence Award honorees dedicate themselves to Kean’s goals of scholarship, research, leadership and service,” Repollet said. “Our student award winners also lead the way on campus, living out Kean’s values each day to the benefit of all in the Kean community.”

Kean alumnus “Meteor Mike” Rizzo ’14, ’16 M.A., meteorologist at News 12 The Bronx and Brooklyn will be the emcee at the Alumni Ball.

The alumni honorees graduated from Kean in different decades and followed varied paths, but all credit the University with contributing to their professional success. 

Christina Carey Dunleavy ’98, vice president of Disney CreativeWorks and Multicultural & Inclusive Solutions, is responsible for the long-term multicultural strategy and business operations, strategy and activation of Disney CreativeWorks across The Walt Disney Company’s entertainment and sports offerings. At the helm of the newly created Multicultural & Inclusive Solutions Division, Dunleavy is leading Disney Advertising Sales’ continued investment in diversity, equity and inclusion and focusing on engaging diverse audiences with even greater relevance and authenticity. She has a bachelor’s degree in management science and marketing from Kean.

Sergio Granados ’10, ’16 MPA, was recently elected to his third term on the Union County Board of Commissioners. An Elizabeth native, he was the youngest commissioner elected in the county when he first joined the board in 2013. Under his tenure as chairman in 2018, Union County became the first county in the State to have police equipped with body-worn cameras in all municipalities. As chairman of the Public Safety Committee in 2021, Granados helped to oversee the County’s COVID-19 vaccinations and testing programs as well as community services. He earned both his bachelor’s degree in business management and his master’s in public administration from Kean.

Michael James, DBA, ’98, oversees the Government Business Division as growth & engagement leader for Elevance Health (formerly known as Anthem). In his professional career, James led the integration of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act for Empire. Outside of work, he generously volunteers at the Boys & Girls Club, CUMAC, and many food banks across the United States and is a member of Hope Cathedral Church in Jackson, New Jersey. In addition to his bachelor’s degree in communication from Kean, James is an alumnus of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the Fox Business School at Temple University, and the University of Phoenix.

Anthony Sa ’71, the son of Portuguese immigrants, graduated from Newark State Teachers College with a degree in math education and worked briefly as a 7th and 8th grade math teacher before leaving to start a paving construction company with his father and sister. He retired as president of the company after 50 years, and still works as a part-time consultant. At Kean, Sa was involved in activities throughout the campus, including student government and the school newspaper. He was and still is a proud brother of Sigma Beta Tau fraternity. His wife, Christine, also graduated from Kean in 1973.