There’s no doubt that Rocco Abessinio is pleased with the third annual lecture that bears his name.  The speaker combines two of today’s hottest business trends: biology and entrepreneurship.

Renold Capocasale, chief executive officer and founder of FlowMetric, will deliver the third annual Rocco Abessinio Lecture in Management and Entrepreneurship on Tuesday, October 30, at 3 p.m. in the Bruder Multipurpose Hall. Capocasale worked for a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary for 13 years before launching his own company, FlowMetric, in 2010. He’s now the highly successful CEO of the firm that provides flow cytometry (identifying cells and their components) and cell sorting services to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries as well as hospitals and academic institutions.

Capocasale has authored more than 30 peer reviewed scientific manuscripts and publications. He is co-author of one US Patent and has been invited to speak at international conferences.

He earned his undergraduate degree from Villanova University. He is a board member of iPraxis, a not-for-profit educational institution focused on science and technology education, an adjunct professor at Drexel University College of Medicine, and a board member of Neumann University.

The first inaugural annual lecture in Management and Entrepreneurship was delivered by Rocco Abessinio himself on October 4, 2016. He and his wife Mary funded the Abessinio Lecture in Management and Entrepreneurship through their family foundation with the intention of bringing to campus each year a recognized professional with expertise in management and entrepreneurship. 

Mr. Abessinio, a 1979 alumnus and longtime friend of Neumann, is chief executive officer of Roch Capital, Inc., a privately owned capital management firm focused on making investments in assets that will be he held for the long term. He is also the founder of Applied Bank and Applied Card System, which grew to be the 10th largest issuer of Visa and MasterCard credit cards in the country.

In addition to funding an annual lecture, the Abessinio Family Foundation also established the Business Division Visiting Professorship in Management and Entrepreneurship in 2015. This professorship is designed to bring faculty to campus to teach in the proposed Entrepreneurship Minor starting in the fall of 2019. The Abessinio Family Foundation additionally funds an annual scholarship for a Division of Business student who has exemplified excellence in management and entrepreneurial understanding and application.