Formerly NBA senior vice president for business and league operations, Dennis Robinson (MBA ’90) is the new president and CEO of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, overseer of the Meadowlands Sports Complex, which Robinson led for a time in the late 1990s.

Himself a former athlete (at Wesleyan, he returned three punts for touchdowns and led the NCAA’s Division III in average punt-return yards his senior year), Robinson returns to his former stomping grounds at a busy time. Several big projects are in progress: a $2 billion shopping and entertainment complex; a $175 million rail link; and the new $1.3 billion Giants/Jets football stadium, which is due for completion in 2010. These undertakings are major priorities, of course, but when Robinson told the (Bergen County, NJ) Record (December 3, 2007), “My fundamental goal is to ensure that the Meadowlands remains No. 1 in North America, if not the world,” he was talking about harness racing. Who knew?

Of his management style, Robinson said, “Everyone approaches challenges differently, which doesn’t mean one way is right or another is wrong. The only question to me is, ‘Are you effective?’ ”

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