Michael Dowling speaks at Manhattan University.
MANHATTAN.EDU / COURTESY
Brooke Della Rocco, Senior Writer
The James Patterson Honors Program (JPHP) welcomed CEO Emeritus of Northwell Health, Michael Dowling, to Manhattan University (MU), to present his memoir titled, “After the Roof Caved In: An Immigrant’s Journey from Ireland to America,” and help motivate students toward advancing in their career paths.
Dowling is a highly accomplished executive, as he has received TIME’s global health recognition and served as president and CEO of Northwell Health for more than 20 years.
The JPHP adds him to a long list of representatives in their speaker series, where they expose students to different influential executives in the industry.
“The JPHP provides selected MU students with personalized coursework and advising, priority access to an alumni mentoring network, and opportunities for community and global engagement,” MU wrote on their Linkedin.
William M. Mooney Jr. wrote an introduction for Dowling, but was unable to attend the event. Senior vice president of development at MU, Thomas Mauriello read Mooney’s introduction, which praised Dowling’s life journey and accomplishments.
“We both come from Limerick, Ireland,” Mooney wrote and Mauriello said. “If you know anything about Limerick, you know it is a place that builds character, sometimes out of necessity. It’s a place that teaches you nothing is given and everything is earned. But while we share a hometown, Michael’s journey is entirely his own and it is without exaggeration, one of the great American stories [of] today.”
As an Irish-American immigrant, Dowling focused intrinsically on how his background and childhood experiences shaped the type of person he is today. Dowling’s family was particularly poor during the time of his upbringing in Ireland, so much so that he used to constantly daydream about what came next in life. His biggest dream was to somehow go to college one day, even though he recalled not knowing what college really was.
“I believe I had the love of learning,” Dowling said. “My favorite pastime today, as it was when I was a kid, was reading. I read everything. I imagined what it would be like not to be where I was [and] to be someplace else.”
Dowling also credited a lot of his success to his mother, who instilled numerous positive qualities in him. A deaf woman, he described her as the kindest person he ever knew.
“My mother loved reading also,” Dowling said. “She instilled a lot of learning in me. She had books [all] around the place. I never knew where she got them. We didn’t have much money for anything other than books she found.”
Dowling was able to attend college despite his family’s financial struggles, with his academic journey beginning at the University College Cork in Ireland and later Fordham University for his master’s degree. He excelled in his studies to such an extent that he later went on to work at Fordham University as a professor and assistant dean.
Freshman psychology major Elma Lamany, attended the event and expressed the positive impact Dowling left on her.
“I thought the event was really inspiring,” Lamany said. “I came because I wanted to learn from a leadership perspective about how [he was] able to endure such challenges and still become successful.”
Dowling emphasized repeatedly how it took him 40 years to become CEO Emeritus of Northwell Health, providing advice to the students at the beginning of their careers.
“Persistence is key,” Dowling said. “You don’t fail when you lose, because you will lose. There will be loss….You fail when you quit.”
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