JOHN GRIFONETTI , 37

BBA ’90
Former President and
COO,
Datek Online

The American Dream still works for John Grifonetti. Born in Italy to a family that “owned a few acres of vineyard,” he was raised in Queens and sent to public schools. He went straight from Baruch to one of the Big Four accounting firms, working as part of the audit team at Deloitte & Touche for seven years before being named, at age 29, chief financial officer of Datek Online Holdings Corp. Less than two years later he was named president and chief operating officer.

Grifonetti is modest about his accomplishments. “I was lucky enough to find really great people to work for me,” he says. “I owe a lot of my success to the people I hired.”

When Datek was sold to Ameritrade Holdings Corp. in 2002, Grifonetti became special advisor to the executive management team. When his contract expired last August, he and his wife, Kathryn (’90) decided he should take some time off to plan his next move.

Grifonetti is a trustee of The Baruch College Fund and an active mentor to a graduate finance student. “I look at him,” he says, “and I see myself. When you go to a public school, sometimes you feel like you’re at a disadvantage. But at the end of the day it’s all about how aggressive and motivated the student is. I think he’s going to do really well in the corporate world.”

—Pam Widener

<BACK