Carol A. Ammon, MBA ’79, ’10 (Hon.)
After a successful 23-year career in the pharmaceutical division of El du Pont de Nemours and Company, during which she earned her MBA at Adelphi, Carol A. Ammon led a management team in the 1997 buyout and founding of Endo Pharmaceuticals, where she served as CEO until 2005, and retired as chair of the board in 2007.
Dr. Ammon was named CEO of the Year in 2004 by the Eastern Technology Council, and received the 2003 Greater Philadelphia Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Health Sciences category. In 2005, she won the Paradigm Award, the Philadelphia region’s most prestigious award for businesswomen. In 2020, she was awarded the Pete du Pont Freedom Award which is presented annually to an individual or organization who has championed a successful idea which has led to economic growth or brought innovation to the private sector.
In 2018, Dr. Ammon enrolled at the Jefferson College of Nursing in Philadelphia where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing on an accelerated track. As a nurse, Dr. Ammon’s goal is to provide more immediate, one-on-one support to those who need it most. She joined a mission in Haiti to provide free care to patients. She continues to pursue advocacy in vulnerable communities. She earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice in 2021.
She is the past chair of the Myeloma Center Advisory Board; a past chair of the board of trustees and current trustee of ChristianaCare and a trustee of the University of Delaware; past vice president of the board of trustees of the Hagley Museum in Wilmington, Delaware; and a former member of the Harvard Healthcare Advisory Board.
Dr. Ammon served on the Adelphi University Board of Trustees from 2005 through 2010 and received an honorary degree from the University in 2005. She has established several endowments benefiting Adelphi students and faculty in the Ruth S. Ammon College of Education and Health Sciences, School of Social Work and Robert B. Willumstad School of Business. The Adelphi University Ruth S. Ammon College of Education and Health Sciences is named in memory of her mother, who received her teaching degree from the University in 1942.
Great teachers inspire. The best teacher I ever had was my mother, Mrs. Ruth Ammon, a member of the Class of 1942. Creating an endowed chair in her name was my way of guaranteeing that Adelphi’s tradition of great teaching continues.