Johnson College has selected Paige Gebhardt Cognetti, Mayor of the City of Scranton to give their 2020 commencement address to graduates on Saturday, May 16th, 2020 at 10 A.M. at the Theater at North.

Mayor Cognetti is the newly-elected Mayor of the City of Scranton and the first female to hold the position.  She came from her role as Special Assistant to the Pennsylvania Auditor General, the chief fiscal watchdog of the commonwealth. She advised on financial management, governance and transparency. Her areas of focus included public school districts, care for older adults, criminal justice reform and student debt.

Mayor Cognetti previously served as a director on the Scranton School Board, overseeing a $160M budget and helping navigate the district’s dual crises of financial distress and public mistrust.

Before moving to Northeastern Pennsylvania, Mayor Cognetti lived in New York and worked as an investment advisor at Goldman Sachs, sourcing new assets and managing investment portfolios for private business. Prior to this private sector work, she served in the Obama administration from 2009-2012 as a senior advisor to the Under Secretary for International Affairs at the U.S. Treasury Department. She has been a fundraiser and project director on numerous democratic political campaigns. Mayor Cognetti holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Oregon Clark Honors College with a BA in English Literature and Romance Languages.

Mayor Cognetti is originally from Beaverton, Oregon. She lives in Scranton with her husband, Ryan, and their daughter, Sloane.

Scranton, PA – Johnson College announced that it has earned the 2020-2021 Military Friendly® Top Ten School designation.

Institutions earning the Military Friendly® School designation were evaluated using both public data sources and responses from a proprietary survey. More than 1,000 schools participated in the 2020-2021 survey with 695 earning the designation.

The 2020-­2021 Military Friendly® Schools list will be published in the May issue of G.I. Jobs magazine and can be found at www.militaryfriendly.com.

Methodology, criteria, and weightings were determined by Viqtory with input from the Military Friendly® Advisory Council of independent leaders in the higher education and military recruitment community. Final ratings were determined by combining the institution’s survey scores with the assessment of the institution’s ability to meet thresholds for Student Retention, Graduation, Job Placement, Loan Repayment, Persistence (Degree Advancement or Transfer) and Loan Default rates for all students and, specifically, for student veterans.

Jessica Farrell, the Director of Financial Aid and Certifying Veterans Official at Johnson College, said, “As the College’s certifying official, it’s my goal to make sure the process of using military benefits is streamlined and easy to understand. As the wife of a veteran I know first-hand the dedication and commitment these men and women have given to our Country and the last thing they should be worried about is how they are going to pay for their education.”

Military Friendly’s National Director Josh Rosen stated, “Our ability to apply a clear, consistent standard to colleges creates a competitive atmosphere that encourages colleges to invest in programs to provide educational outcomes that are better for the Military Community as a whole.”

For more information about Johnson College’s student veteran programs, visit Johnson College’s website at https://johnson.edu/future-students/veterans/.

About Military Friendly® Schools:

The Military Friendly® Schools list is created each year based on extensive research using public data sources for more than 8,800 schools nationwide, input from student veterans, and responses to the proprietary, data­-driven Military Friendly® Schools survey from participating institutions. The survey questions, methodology, criteria and weighting were developed with the assistance of an independent research firm and an advisory council of educators and employers. The survey is administered for free and is open to all post­secondary schools that wish to participate.

Criteria for consideration can be found at www.militaryfriendly.com.

About Johnson College:

Johnson College provides real-world, hands-on learning in a caring environment and prepares graduates to enter into or advance in their careers. Johnson College was founded in 1912, and is the region’s premier technical college, offering associate degrees in 14 programs. An emphasis on hands-on instruction is supported by a low student-to-teacher ratio. Located in Scranton on a 44-acre campus, Johnson is an accredited, private, non-profit, co-educational institution with a strong tradition of working with regional business and industry to ensure a skilled and qualified workforce. For additional information on Johnson College, please call 1-800-2-WE-WORK, email admit@johnson.edu, or visit www.johnson.edu

About Viqtory:

Founded in 2001, VIQTORY is a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business (SDVOSB) that connects the military community to civilian employment, educational and entrepreneurial opportunities through its G.I. Jobs® and Military Friendly® brands.  VIQTORY and its brands are not a part of or endorsed by the U.S. Dept of Defense or any federal government entity. Learn more about VIQTORY at www.viqtory.com.

For further information or to arrange interviews, contact:

Johnson College
Melissa CarestiaManager of Communicationsmcarestia@johnson.edu
570-702-8928

Military Friendly
Josh RosenMilitary Friendly National DirectorJosh.Rosen@militaryfriendly.com