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Meet the Team

Adrián Franco, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Adrián Franco is an entrepreneurial executive with 20 years of experience providing strategic and operational leadership on education and economic development initiatives. In February 2021, NJCU named Franco as the inaugural executive director of the Guarini Institute and manager of a $5 million gift to the university to launch the institute. Prior to his current role, Franco was an officer and director at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York where he supervised a portfolio of education and community development programs and oversaw advisory boards for the bank’s president.

Franco was the inaugural executive director of Qualitas of Life Foundation, a nonprofit organization advancing financial inclusion that has served over 60,000 immigrants. In Mexico, where he was born, he was a member of President Elect Vicente Fox’s transition team and held senior roles in the public sector.

In 2023, Franco became a member of the Komansky Children’s Hospital Family Advisory Council. He has been a member of the executive board of TruFund Financial Services since 2019 and the advisory boards of higher education institutions in New York and �鶹��ý. He graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and holds a Master of International Affairs and a Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Lucca Cordone
Student Assistant
Lucca Cordone is an international student and soccer player from Manantiales, Uruguay. He started his student-athlete path at Keiser University in Florida and later transferred to �鶹��ý where he continued his degree in Global Business m. He joined the Guarini Institute as a Student Assistant in order to pursue his passion for acquiring knowledge and helping people while doing so.

Joaquin Pluis
Student Assistant
Joaquin Pluis is an international student from Buenos Aires, Argentina. He started his journey in the United States as a student-athlete playing tennis at Bethel College, Kansas. After his sophomore year, he transferred to �鶹��ý where he continued studying a bachelor’s in Political Science while working for the Guarini Institute at NJCU. After graduation, he would like to continue studying in the U.S. with the hopes of becoming a lawyer.

Contact Information

Adrian Franco, Ph.D.
afranco@njcu.edu
Phone: 201-200-3462

Lucca Cordone
lcordone@njcu.edu

Joaquin Pluis
jpluis@njcu.edu