It’s easy to point to the integration of New Jersey City University into Kean University — a move that will establish Kean Jersey City by the start of the fall semester — as the reason Lamont Repollet tops BINJE’s Best: Black Business Leaders 2026.
After all, the move will not only push Kean’s global enrollment above 20,000, it also will do so in a way that elevates one of the university’s greatest strengths: providing a pathway to a four-year degree for first-generation students.
But that accomplishment alone doesn’t fully capture the work Repollet has done since arriving in the summer of 2020, at the height of the pandemic. Consider these achievements:
- Established Kean as the state’s premier urban research university.
- Ensured affordability — including offering in-state rates
to all applicants. - Helped Kean rank among the Top 100 universities nationally
for social mobility. - Expanded Kean’s global footprint through partnerships
in Latin America and the Middle East, complementing its existing campus in China. - Committed to making Kean a center for innovation by embracing artificial intelligence as both a teaching tool and a requirement for the modern workforce.
What’s next?
Repollet essentially answered that question himself during his always-impactful opening address to students last fall:
“Today, we stand at the start of a new era. The question is no longer, ‘Can we achieve big goals?’ We’ve done that. The real question now is: ‘What will we do with the momentum we’ve built?’”
The guess here: plenty.
