Monmouth University will celebrate its 40th Annual Holiday Ball on Saturday, December 6, 2014. The festivities begin at 6:30 p.m. in the grand ballroom of the University’s historic Wilson Hall, West Long Branch, N.J.<\/p>\n
The event, which was founded in 1974 by the independent Monmouth University Library Association to raise funds for the campus library, now serves as the University’s premier fundraising gala, with proceeds supporting the Monmouth University Scholarship Fund.<\/p>\n
For the second year in a row, the black-tie event will be co-chaired by Wall, N.J., couple Karen S. Leoncavallo, who earned her master’s in Education from Monmouth in 1998, and Richard L. Ricciardi who earned his M.B.A. at Monmouth in 1986.<\/p>\n
Leoncavallo was formerly the principal of Red Bank Primary School and the supervisor of Early Childhood in New Brunswick. Ricciardi, who also owns a home in Monmouth Beach, N.J., retired as an executive with 3M, and currently serves as vice chair of the Monmouth University Business Council. Both are actively involved in a variety of civic, community and University causes and are members of the Green Gables Croquet Club in Spring Lake.<\/p>\n
The 2014 gala will include spectacular holiday trees, decorated with the personal ornament collection of seasonal designer Susan Musica of Neptune, N.J., and will feature a live and silent auction, restaurant raffle, cocktails and dinner, and dancing to the music of Mission Dance.<\/p>\n