Rider to Confer Honorary Degrees on Schweiker, Palmer

Rider University will confer honorary Doctor of Laws degrees on Mark S. Schweiker, former governor of Pennsylvania, and Douglas H. Palmer, mayor of the city of Trenton, at its 139th commencement on the Lawrenceville campus, Friday, May 14.

Mark S. Schweiker

            Schweiker became president & CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce (GPCC) in February of 2003. His appointment coincided with the merger of GPCC with its sister business organization, Greater Philadelphia First.
            As the head of a unified Greater Philadelphia regional business community, Schweiker has set an aggressive business advocacy and economy-building agenda. Under his leadership, the GPCC has created Select Greater Philadelphia, an affiliate of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. Select Greater Philadelphia has launched the region’s first large-scale, comprehensive effort to brand and market Greater Philadelphia to a national and international audience as a first-tier place to do business.
            Prior to joining GPCC, Schweiker served as the 44th governor of Pennsylvania – the only governor in the nation to hold the position as a direct result of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States – and enjoyed a relatively short tenure that was long on accomplishment.
            As governor, he worked to make Pennsylvania more attractive to both employers and employees. He focused on worker training and retraining, which paved the way for Pennsylvania to have one of the leading workforce development platforms in the nation. He also ushered in a new era of academic achievement and fiscal stability to the Philadelphia Public School System and initiated several far-reaching reforms to the Commonwealth medical practice system. 
            In July 2002, Governor Schweiker led one of the most successful mine rescues in national history when he oversaw a 77-hour operation in Quecreek, PA that saved nine trapped coal miners.  Following the rescue, Governor Schweiker implemented a series of safety enhancements to provide better protection for Pennsylvania miners. 
            He earned a bachelor of science degree from Bloomsburg University and a master’s degree in administration from Rider University.  After college, he entered the business world and advanced to positions at Merrill Lynch, McGraw Hill, and his own management consulting firm.
            He was first elected to public office in 1979 as Middletown Township Supervisor and in 1987 he was elected Bucks County Commissioner.  He was first elected Lieutenant Governor in November 1994 and re-elected in November 1998.

Mayor Douglas H. Palmer

            Mayor Palmer took the helm of leadership in New Jersey’s capital city on July 1, 1990, becoming the city of Trenton’s first African American mayor.
            Born and raised in Trenton, Mayor Palmer has worked toward the rebuilding of his hometown by implementing changes and improvements in every area of city government.  During his tenure, he has orchestrated plans that have provided hundreds of new and rehabilitated homes for working families, expanded recreational programs, improved healthcare (particularly for children, the elderly and poor) and created numerous economic development projects that have helped bring the about the city’s lowest unemployment rate in a decade.
            His non-conventional leadership roles have included securing grant funding and luring the state’s top medical school, the University of Medicine and Dentistry-New Jersey (UMDNJ), to Trenton to start the state’s first comprehensive drug treatment, research and educational facility.  He has also helped Trenton launch the country’s first federally funded Weed and Seed anti-drug program, creating such initiatives as after-school safe haven sites for neighborhood children.
           Palmer has also worked to bring the Family Development Program (FDP) to Trenton. The welfare reform initiative involves business and educational communities who seek to provide comprehensive individual job training, education and placement assistance for welfare recipients.
            Last year, Palmer was named president of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors. He is also president of the New Jersey Urban Mayors Association.  He is recipient of the city of Trenton’s first national “City Livability Award,” a prestigious award given annually by the U.S. Conference of Mayors to recognize mayors for exemplary leadership in the development of effective programs that improve the quality of life in their cities.
            Palmer attended Trenton Public Schools and later graduated from Bordentown Military Institute.  He is a graduate of Hampton University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in business management.  He played football and baseball at Hampton and was named to the all-conference baseball team in 1970, ’71 and ’72.  In 1993, he returned to Hampton to receive the University’s Outstanding Alumnus Award for his contributions to Trenton.

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