Michael Balboni named 11th president of Adelphi University
Michael A.L. Balboni, a former state legislator, public safety official and influential political consultant, has been named the 11th president of Adelphi University, the school’s board of trustees announced Wednesday.
The appointment of Balboni, described by political colleagues as a skilled negotiator and consensus builder, comes after a period of upheaval in the university’s leadership, and as colleges across the country face challenges ranging from federal investigations and budget cuts to the growing use of artificial intelligence in classrooms and workplaces.
It is also the first time the Garden City school has chosen an Adelphi graduate and Long Island native as its leader.
Balboni, 67, will start his new job on June 1. Balboni and college officials declined to say what his salary will be.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- Michael A.L. Balboni, a former state legislator, public safety official and influential political consultant, has been named Adelphi University's 11th president.
- Balboni, 67, of East Williston, will start his new position on June 1. His salary was not provided Wednesday.
- Balboni's appointment comes after a period of upheaval in the university’s leadership, and as colleges across the country face a variety of challenges.
Balboni said his plans for raising the school’s profile include exploring potential international programs in nations such as Portugal and India. The programs could involve sending Adelphi students abroad as well as attracting more international students.
“Across the world, we want people to see Adelphi as a welcoming place that gives a great education and has this duality of a safe, beautiful campus with this wonderful opportunity in Manhattan,” he said, a reference to Adelphi’s new Manhattan Center, which is set to open this summer with a nursing program and with more programs in the fall.
Balboni also said he would like to forge more partnerships with employers, particularly in health care.
Balboni works as president and managing director of RedLand Strategies, a consulting and lobbying firm, and as executive director of the Greater New York Health Care Facilities Association, which represents nursing homes. He said he will step down from both roles after a short transition period.
'Incredible return to home'
Balboni has maintained ties to the school for nearly a half-century, earning his bachelor's degree in biology with honors from Adelphi in 1981.
“Back then, as I was walking to class, if you’d told me that I'd be doing this — no way,” Balboni said in an interview Wednesday morning before the announcement. But, he said, “over time, Adelphi kept tapping me in the shoulder, saying, ‘Well, I want you to come back, I want you to get involved.’… It's an incredible return to home.”
After earning a law degree at St. John’s University and getting elected first to the State Assembly and then to the State Senate, Balboni became an adjunct political science professor at Adelphi from 2000 to 2014. One of his daughters, Olivia, earned her bachelor's degree from the school.
Balboni joined the university's board of trustees in 2018 and became board chair last June. He stepped down from the board in March so he could be officially be considered as a candidate for president.
The university’s first female president, Christine M. Riordan, left her $1 million job in June 2025 after nearly a decade at the helm. Riordan and the university did not comment at the time about the reason for her departure. The 61-year-old Riordan pleaded guilty in April to disorderly conduct and reckless driving charges stemming from a September crash at the Garden City LIRRLong Island Rail Road station.
Adelphi conducted a national search for its next president. Balboni said roughly 100 people applied for the job, and about 10 did video interviews.
William Fuessler, acting chair of the board of trustees and chair of the university’s presidential search committee, said in an interview Wednesday, “We just feel he’s the right guy. ... And what he's trying to do is really expand Adelphi's reputation beyond the immediate market."
Balboni said he plans to name a transition team that includes a faculty leader, and share governance duties with Christopher Storm, the current interim president and a longtime academic leader.
Storm has been appointed to the newly created position of senior executive vice president of academic affairs and provost, the board of trustees said Wednesday. Balboni and Storm will engage in a “complementary leadership structure,” Adelphi said in the announcement Wednesday.
“I expect him to be very focused on external relationships, fundraising, building partnerships, resources for our students and institution,” Storm said in an interview. “And I'll be very focused on overseeing the academic portfolio, working to support student success, retention, graduation outcomes and all of the things internal to the university.”
The school has more than 7,000 students at its main campus in Garden City.
Adelphi said in its announcement that its $100 million fundraising campaign is nearing its goal, and it has a $282 million endowment along with a balanced budget. The school has earned high rankings for programs including its undergraduate and graduate degrees in nursing, social work, psychology, education and business. Its new Manhattan Center will offer graduate programs in those fields, as well as in artificial intelligence.
Political background
Balboni lives with his wife, Stephanie, in East Williston, where they raised their four children.
He was elected to the State Senate as a Republican in 1997, after serving 7 years in the Assembly. He left the Senate in 2007 to serve as a top public safety and homeland security official under two Democratic governors, Eliot Spitzer and then David Paterson, who took office after Spitzer resigned.
Balboni’s work as a lobbyist has drawn scrutiny. In 2019, the administration of then-Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone brought in RedLand and California-based security vendor Palo Alto Networks to assess the county's cyber preparedness. The previous year, RedLand had filed documents with the state to lobby in Suffolk County for Palo Alto.
After the county experienced one of the nation’s worst-ever ransomware attacks against a municipality in 2022, Suffolk ultimately approved spending more than $25 million in the wake of the attack, including $8.1 million that went to Palo Alto, a 2024 Newsday analysis showed.
In 2023, RedLand signed a contract with the Bellone administration to help coordinate its response to the cyberattack, among other work. There were no accusations of wrongdoing against Balboni, RedLand or Palo Alto. Balboni and Bellone have said RedLand did not advise the county on the hiring of vendors.
However, the Bellone administration’s overall spending in response to the ransomware attack came in for criticism. Suffolk County Comptroller John Kennedy said in 2024 that the Bellone administration spent $13.8 million on items that either were not needed or never used.
In a separate matter, unrelated to the county’s ransomware attack, New York’s inspector general, Lucy Lang, reportedly sent a letter to the state ethics commission, asking it to determine whether two state officials violated state law in their interactions with Balboni and RedLand, who were doing consulting and lobbying work at the state level, according to a 2024 article in The New York Times. The letter reportedly did not ask the commission to rule on Balboni’s actions.
A spokesman for Balboni told the Times that he “acted ethically and disclosed all his activities appropriately.” The inspector general’s office did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
Balboni said in response to questions about the lobbying and consulting work that “ethics and compliance with regulations have been the core of my entire public life, and I pride myself on that.”
Balboni said he had not been contacted by the state inspector general and that in all the vetting he has undergone by federal and state agencies, “there have never been any issues.... I really pride myself on my ethics."
Balboni's political colleagues on Wednesday praised his talent for building relationships.
“He leads with kindness,” said former Suffolk County Legis. Paul Tonna "He's willing to listen ... but he's not willing to back down from a challenge.”
Tonna added, “when Michael has an opinion, I always listen because it's well thought out. ... It's not, ‘Oh, I do this because it's politically expedient.’ ”
Balboni “has always been a voice of reason and moderation and calm, which I think will be for the benefit of Adelphi,” said State Sen. Jack Martins (R-Old Westbury). “We live in rather complicated times between federal, state and local government ... and Michael brings a unique perspective that ties all of those elements together.”
The Adelphi faculty union’s president, Nathan Ross, said in a statement that Balboni “has expressed support for the role of collective bargaining on campus." Ross said the union looks forward to “building a positive working relationship” with the new president.
Leading a university “is a tough job, and it's a different job than it used to be,” said Stuart Rabinowitz, former president of Hofstra University. “It's much more fundraising, it's much more government relations, it's much more donor relations than it used to be, and I think he's a good choice. He's obviously highly intelligent and he's articulate, and very importantly, he has a deep connection to Adelphi.”
Maura McDermott covers education. Since joining Newsday in 2012, she also has worked on the investigations team and covered real estate and the business of health care.
