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Joseph H. Moglia, Class of 1967

Inducted in 2009
Prep Coach (1968-1970)
Financial Services Executive; Football Coach, NCAA; Author
Member, Prep Board of Trustees (1995-2001)

Induction Video

If there was ever any doubt about the elasticity and value of a strong work ethic and a Fordham Prep education, Joe Moglia has put it to rest. It is possible that Moglia is the first person to have written books on both investing and football, but it is near certain that he is the only author to have simultaneously held the positions of head coach of an NCAA football team and chairman of the board of a major investment services firm. Between the afternoons he spent helping at the family fruit market on West 181st Street in Washington Heights and the lessons he learned on and off the field during his Rose Hill years, the future chairman of the board of TD Ameritrade and head coach of the Division I Coastal Carolina University Chanticleers received the solidest of foundations on which has built not one, but two remarkable careers.
 
Joseph H. Moglia was born in 1949 to John Moglia, who had come to America in 1927, and Frances McLarnon Moglia, whom John had met while stationed in Northern Ireland during World War II and courted by mail for four years before she joined him in the States in December of 1947. John was a greengrocer by trade and Frances was a homemaker who helped manage the family business and would eventually open her own beauty salon in Yonkers after her children were grown. Joe was the oldest of their five children, in whom they instilled, by word and example, the virtue of hard work, the importance of faith, the value of education, and in particular, the love of family. 
 
Growing up in Manhattan, Joe first came to Hughes Hall in 1963. Straightaway, the broad-shouldered freshman in Mr. Lennox’s homeroom made his mark in Prep athletics, playing all four years for the baseball and football squads, eventually captaining both teams. But he also participated in the spiritual and charitable life of the school by devoting time to the sodalities and volunteering with the Christian Action Group — after all, as his father and mother had always told him (and as he echoes in his book Coach Yourself to Success): love is “putting others’ needs before your own.”
 
While Moglia is remembered by classmates as a standout athlete under the coaching of fellow Hall of Honor member Joe “Sammy” Ososki, it is his depth of character that truly stands out in the hearts and minds of those who know him. In the words of Joe’s classmate and long-time friend John O’Leary: “Joe has always led the humble life of a true man for others. He has generously shared his success with his family and friends, his alma mater, his colleagues, and dozens of worthy institutions across America.”

Joe graduated from the Prep in 1967 and from the university in 1971. During his college years at Fordham University, while starting and supporting a family and pursuing his undergraduate degree in economics, Moglia coached Prep football alongside yet another Hall of Honor member and school legend, Bruce Bott.

Leaving Rose Hill, Joe went on to coach football for 16 years prior to entering the financial services industry. During this first phase of his professional life, he turned two high school programs around, won two Ivy League Championships as defensive coordinator at Dartmouth College and set school and national records as the defensive secondary and special teams coach at Lafayette College, authoring numerous articles in national coaching journals along the way.

Moglia left coaching in 1983 for a career in finance, working for 17 years at Merrill Lynch before joining TD Ameritrade as CEO in 2001. In the years following, Joe’s vision greatly influenced TD Ameritrade, taking the firm from a small dot-com brokerage to one of the most widely-recognized names in financial services. In his seven years as CEO of the company, he remained faithful to his game plan — making carefully calculated business decisions centered only on the needs of the firm’s clients, shareholders and associates. His leadership skills and charisma inspired the company’s management to take pride in and live out the firm’s mission to provide financial literacy for the typical American family.

With Moglia at the helm, TD Ameritrade’s market capitalization grew from $700 million to $10 billion as the company became a global leader in the number of US retail online equity trades. In fiscal 2008, Joe’s final year with the firm, the company delivered its sixth consecutive year of record earnings results in spite of the worst debacle to hit the economy since the Great Depression. 

Having successfully made it through the worst of the global financial crisis and with the company in the soundest shape of its existence, Moglia felt it was time to name his successor as CEO and to step into the role of chairman of the board where he could continue to represent the shareholders’ interests by providing strategic guidance in shaping the growth strategy of the firm. 

Joe also felt it was the right time in his life to return to his beloved gridiron and took a position as executive advisor to the head coach at the University of Nebraska. He would spend two solid seasons with the Nighthawks before being hired as head football coach by Coastal Carolina University. Upon joining the Chanticleers’ staff in 2011, Moglia remarked at a press conference: "I cannot imagine anything more rewarding than helping 18-22-year-olds become men through football." 

Coach Joe has six children: Kelly, Kim, Kara, Kevin, Johnny and Jeff.

Over the years, Joseph Moglia’s accomplishments in both his fields of endeavor have been recognized and honored by various organizations, as well as by the many institutions to which he has lent his support. In 2005, Joe was honored by the National Italian-American Foundation for his business leadership accomplishments and by the Columbus Citizens Foundation in 2006 for his lifetime of professional achievements. In 2009 he was nominated for the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and honored at the American Institute for Stuttering with an Achievement Award. He holds two honorary doctorates, one from Fordham and one from Bellevue University.

Moglia’s support of the Prep has been steadfast and generous, as have his gifts of time and talent. Joe has served on the Fordham Prep Board of Trustees as a member of its Executive Committee. He has addressed the Prep’s Wall Street Forum at the Yale Club of New York City and also delivered the Prep’s 2005 commencement address which he closed with this statement:

"If you take the power of love and combine that with spiritual soundness, dedication, and courage, you have the concepts that make good men or women great. It’s really the stuff that truly great leaders are made of. I began to learn this at Fordham Prep: the strength and talents you have been given are God’s gifts to you. What you do with those strengths and talents will be your gifts back to God."

In gratitude for his major gift to the Igniting Our Mission/175th Anniversary Campaign, the Commons was rededicated as the Moglia Commons on May 7, 2022.

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