Alumni Award Recipients Named
Ann Torregrossa ’70 J.D., Former Director of the Pennsylvania Governor's Office of Health Care Reform (GOHCR), and Paul A. Tufano ’83 B.A., ’86 J.D., Executive Vice President, General Counsel and President of Government Markets of Independence Blue Cross, will be honored with the 2011 Villanova Law Alumni Association Service Awards by Villanova University School of Law at a dinner on Thursday, March 24, at the Crystal Tea Room in Philadelphia.
“Ann and Paul embody the many values Villanova Law School strives to instill in its students, most notably their commitment to excellence and concern for the greater community,” stated Villanova Law School Dean John Y. Gotanda. "They have played a significant role in advancing Villanova, our state and our region, and we are delighted to honor them as our Alumni Service Award recipients this year.”
Torregrossa, recipient of the Donald W. Dowd Alumni Association Award for Public Service has dedicated her 40-year career to serving countless people in need, particularly in the area of health care. As Director of GOHCR, she helped develop Governor Rendell’s comprehensive health care reform initiative, Prescription for Pennsylvania, and was responsible for coordinating health policy among the state agencies that provide health care coverage or services and for implementing Governor Rendell’s health reform plan.
Before joining the Rendell Administration, Torregrossa was co-founder and director of the Pennsylvania Health Law Project, a public interest law firm that provides free assistance to consumers facing difficulties obtaining needed publicly funded health care. She also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, where she taught an interdisciplinary graduate course on Publicly Funded Health Law, and at Villanova Law School, where she taught Poverty Law.
Tufano, recipient of the Gerald Abraham Alumni Association Award for Service to Villanova Law School, currently serves Villanova University as a member of the Board of Trustees and as a member of the Law School’s Board of Consultors. Most recently he served on the Steering Committee for the Campaign for Villanova Law, designed to help fund the construction of the new law school building, and as co-chair of the Law School’s Dean’s Search Committee.
Prior to joining Independence Blue Cross, Tufano served as General Counsel of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from January 1995 until November 1999. In November 1994, he was appointed by then Governor-elect Tom Ridge to serve on his seven-person transition team, and later, in November 2002, by then Governor-elect Ed Rendell ’68 to serve as co-chairman of his transition team. Tufano has also been active in his support for funding legal services for the poor. He worked with Governor Ridge in reestablishing state funding for such services in 1995, and is a past member of the Board of Trustees of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation, which exists to raise funds for legal services for the poor.
For more information on this year's Service Awards Dinner or to purchase individual tickets or sponsor a table, call the Alumni Relations Office at 610-519-7054.
