Publisher & Investment Banker Roland DeSilva to Receive
Distinguished Alumni Award at C.W. Post Commencement

Brookville, N.Y. – Roland DeSilva, a magazine publishing executive who founded the nation’s top investment bank for media companies, will be given a Distinguished Alumni Award at the 47th Commencement exercises at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University on Sunday, May 14, 2006.

DeSilva graduated from C.W. Post with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1962 and forged a career as a publisher, holding leadership positions such as chief executive officer, chief operating officer, international director and publisher at prominent U.S. companies including Thomson Corp., McGraw-Hill, and Capital Cities/ABC, Inc. (Chilton Company). In 1983 he founded U.S. Business Press, a nine-magazine business-to-business publishing company, in a deal that foreshadowed his future success in the world of publishing mergers and acquisitions.

In 1995 DeSilva founded DeSilva & Phillips, an investment bank catering to the unique needs of media industry clients. Today, the company has completed more than $5 billion in transactions, and is the leading investment bank for the media industry.

DeSilva is a member of American Business Media, Magazine Publishers of America and the Association of Medical Publishers. He was a member of the US-USSR Trade and Economic Council and one of the first American publishers in the People’s Republic of China before normalization occurred with the United States in 1980.

DeSilva is a passionate supporter of organizations that safeguard the environment and promote social responsibility. He serves as vice chairman of World Information Transfer, a charity dedicated to exploring the threat that environmental abuses pose to human health and well-being. DeSilva also works on behalf of Echoing Green, a non-profit which funds entrepreneurs who develop innovative solutions to social problems.

DeSilva and his wife, Mary, live in Old Greenwich, Ct. They have three children, Guy DeSilva, Christine Nee and Patrick Nee, and four grandchildren.

More than 2,300 students will graduate on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 14, 2006 at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University’s 48th commencement exercises. The Campus has awarded more than 92,000 degrees in its 51-year history, through a broad range of undergraduate and graduate programs. The Class of 2006 includes 949 baccalaureate degree candidates, 1,376 master's degree candidates, 16 graduates receiving the Psy.D. in clinical psychology and three receiving the Ph.D. in information studies. This year, C.W. Post’s commencement ceremonies also include graduates from Southampton College and the Southampton Graduate Campus of Long Island University.

Posted: May 12, 2006