18. Stuart Rabinowitz

The eighth president of Long Island’s largest private institution of higher learning, Stuart Rabinowitz, has had a major impact on Hofstra University and the Island he calls home. The Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, now in its fourth year, is poised to graduate its first class next summer. During his administration, the university launched two new schools: the School of Engineering and Applied Science, which has seen its enrollment increase by 69 percent since 2011, and the School of Health Sciences and Human Services, where the number of freshmen and freshwomen has more than doubled. Under Rabinowitz’s guidance, Hofstra hosted not one, but two presidential debates, in 2008 and 2012, elevating the school’s image to the global stage, and also hosted a 2010 gubernatorial debate. With friendly persuasion from Rabinowitz, Hofstra alumnus and former university board member Lawrence Herbert, the ex-CEO of Pantone, gave a multimillion dollar gift to benefit the School of Communication and was duly honored by having the facility renamed after him. Rabinowitz is not stuck in his ivory tower—he’s dedicated to doing his part to make the Island a better place. As chairman of the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council, he helped Long Island garner $83 million in state grants to foster an array of ground-breaking projects that go well beyond his campus in Hempstead.