Mount Announces 2024 Scholarship Tribute Dinner
3/14/2024
Annual Fundraising Gala—the First Under Our University Name—Returns to Gotham Hall This May
The University of Mount Saint Vincent is delighted to announce that community members from near and far will once again fill the seats of Gotham Hall on Tuesday, May 7, 2024 in celebration of our annual Scholarship Tribute Dinner.
The signature fundraising event—the first to be held under our new university name—unites leaders in business, healthcare, education, government, social services, and more. All attendees gather in support of a single, worthy cause: our talented, dedicated, and worthy student body.
Rivaling the Academy Awards’ best dressed list, donors, alumnae/i, friends, employees, Sisters of Charity, and, of course, student representatives will join us in the heart of Manhattan looking their finest for an evening of testimony and fundraising.
The Scholarship Tribute Dinner directly supports life-altering scholarships and financial aid awards, providing our students with the best academic and co-curricular opportunities available. Last year, Mount Saint Vincent awarded over $40 million in scholarships and grants—something quite remarkable. We rely on the support of our generous donors to continue to enable us to award 100% of our undergraduate student population financial assistance. Can we count on you to continue to make our students’ dreams a reality?
Tickets and sponsorship opportunities are available now. Can’t make it, but still want to support our students? Make a donation to the Dinner.
Becoming a university is no small feat.
Since its founding as the Academy in 1847, the Mount has sought to expand educational opportunity to all students—regardless of financial means. Over 175 years later (and a few changes in our charter), the University continues to serve a diverse population of students who make every effort to earn a degree, often juggling work, family commitments, and other hardships among their studies.
Nearly half of all Mount students are among the first generation of their families to pursue a higher education. Likewise, over half of all Mount students are Pell-Eligible, meaning their estimated family contribution is within the lowest percentile and they qualify for all (or nearly all) of available Federal Pell Grant funds per semester.
The Scholarship Tribute Dinner allows the University to both recognize the generosity of our scholarship donors and maintain our commitment to serving each and every student to walk through our campus gates.
This year, we’re pleased to announce two incredible honorees who serve as exceptional stewards of the University’s mission: Kevin M. McGovern and Allen J. West.
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Kevin M. McGovern is Chairman and CEO of McGovern Capital. McGovern Capital serves as an investment, strategy, and licensing principal and advisor to global businesses. Through McGovern Capital and its affiliates, Kevin and MGC have co-founded over 25 companies, six of which have become world or category leaders. Kevin has also been lead negotiator/principal in over a dozen global joint ventures.
McGovern Capital currently has over 20 investments in diversified segments, such as telemedicine; water filtration; innovative food and beverage companies; unique skincare technologies using CBD; the drug development of medical cannabis; esports; various impact and environmental opportunities, such as rare earth minerals, plastics-to-fuel, and carbon underground agricultural products; and has partnered with several sports personalities and on numerous sports projects.
Kevin was a founder of SoBe Beverages, the fastest growing beverage company ever in the United States that was later sold to Pepsi, and McGovern Capital was one of three owners of KX Industries, L.P., the largest manufacturer and worldwide source of carbon water purification filters. Kevin has spent the last several decades working to provide clean drinking water to people with the worst water contamination issues.
Kevin teaches courses in global innovation at the business schools of both Cornell University and Stanford University and has taught at MIT, Harvard University, NTU Singapore, and KAUST in Saudi Arabia. He is a Trustee Emeritus of Cornell University, serves on the Board of the Smithsonian, is a senior advisor to Consumer Reports, serves on the Board of the Baptist Health Foundation/Baptist Health South Florida, and serves on the Doctors Hospital and Miami Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Institute Council.
In addition to his other board appointments, Kevin serves on the Board of Point Hope, providing global assistance to orphans. Because of his involvement with Point of Hope, Kevin has an affinity toward Mount Saint Vincent’s Mott Street Scholarship Program, which provides the benefits of a higher education to youth who have aged out of foster care or who are formerly homeless.
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Allen J. West is a writer, director, executive producer and social impact entrepreneur.
Allen’s past credits include: music supervisor for the Emmy-nominated, four-part original series hosted by Rev. Al Sharpton, Murder in Black & White, which aired on TV One; producer for Mike Tyson’s event series, Iron Mike Productions, which aired on Fox Sports in 2014 and was the number one-rated show on the network that year; creative producer for the television series Give, which won the 2017 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s or Family Viewing Series; executive producer and supporting actor of Life Love Soul, which aired on BET Her in 2018; and director and executive producer of a ten-part opioid epidemic docudrama titled Addition Unplugged, which premiered on A&E in 2019.
In 2020, Allen launched Studio Miami Media, a full-service content and event company with its debut livestream concert featuring reggaeton mega-star Nicky Jam. Recently, Allen co-produced a boxing/music event with boxing legend Floyd Mayweather and professional boxer and mixed martial artist John Gotti, III that streamed live on the Zeus network from inside FLA Live Arena in June 2023.
Allen is also the creative director of CEEK VR, a streaming service for virtual events with more than seven million users and collaborators with top-tier brands and celebrities including Apple, Meta, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Dwayne Wade, U2, and many more.
Allen is currently producing and directing a full-length documentary feature film created to spotlight the challenges and triumphs of foster care youth aging out of the system, titled Foster Dreamzzz, which will be released later in 2024.
Allen is the founder of the Foster Dreamzzz Foundation—which sparked the title of his documentary—a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization powered by GVNG.org, and he sits on the Board of Directors of Florida Foster Care Review, a nonprofit organization established in 1989 that advances the safety, stability, and success of children in foster care.
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We could not be prouder of the work both Kevin and Allen have done in support of students around the country and, now, in support of our very own Mount Saint Vincent students. We are delighted to recognize their lives of achievement and service, which reflect a profound dedication to their principles, as illustrated by the values of the University.
Help make this year’s Scholarship Tribute Dinner a success! We hope to see you on May 7!
All proceeds raised at the gala directly support scholarships for undergraduate students at the Right Place on the River. To find more information on this year’s Dinner, our honorees, and to review ticket and sponsorship opportunities, please click here.
About the University of Mount Saint Vincent
Founded in 1847 by the Sisters of Charity, the University of Mount Saint Vincent offers a nationally recognized liberal arts education and a select array of professional fields of study on a landmark campus overlooking the Hudson River. Committed to the education of the whole person, and enriched by the unparalleled cultural, educational, and career opportunities of New York City, the University equips students with the knowledge, skills, and experiences necessary for lives of achievement, professional accomplishment, and leadership in the 21st century.