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Your Commissioner
Henry "Hank" DeGeneste was raised in a middle class section of Newark, NJ where he graduated from Central High School in 1958. Hank began working his way through college, performing a number of jobs including draftsman, welder, postal worker, and teacher. He graduated from Adelphi University with a BA in Business Management and applied for several police positions because they were paying more than his current teachers' salary. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department in 1967 subsequently hired him. Henry is justly proud of the unique 1800 member Port Authority Police Department whose officers are cross-trained as firefighters. The Port Authority police are responsible for: Kennedy International, Newark International, and LaGuardia Airports; the George Washington Bridge; the Lincoln and Holland Tunnels; the Outerbridge Crossing and the Bayonne and Goethals Bridges; the Port Authority Bus Terminal; the PATH Commuter Railroad; the World Trade Center; and the New York and New Jersey Marine Terminals. The case he most remembers was his involvement with the Lufthansa Air Cargo robbery of 1977 where five million dollars was stolen with inside help. While several persons associated with the crime went to jail, the money was never recovered, and a number of suspects associated with the case were murdered. The book and movie "Goodfellows" is based on this event. Hank rose rapidly through the ranks becoming the Operations Captain for Kennedy International Airport and then the Chief at LaGuardia Airport. He was the Superintendent of Police and Director of Public Safety from 1984 to 1990. DeGeneste related, "I really enjoyed my 24 years in law enforcement, there was always something going on. With airports my major concerns were passenger related; with marine port facilities the concern was theft." Today, Henry's responsibilities find him in his New York City office, near Wall Street, before 7:00 AM. As the Director of Security and Senior Vice- President for Prudential Securities, a subsidiary of the Prudential Insurance Company of America, Hank is responsible for over 300 facilities around the world! Getting to the office early is necessary because he will have e-mails from London or Tokyo to answer. He describes his nine-year job with Prudential as "very interesting" as his duties include overseeing internal and external staff investigations, and "due diligence" responsibilities. This typically means keeping Prudential from being inadvertently involved in money laundering by clients, and monitoring ethical investment and account management by company officials, along with regulation compliance. Additionally, Henry supervises investigations of any major losses from investment banking. Henry became a CALEA Commissioner in 1991 representing the business sector. He is currently Treasurer on CALEA's Executive Committee, a post he holds until January of 2000. Henry is also on the Corporate Affairs Committee, which oversees CALEA's budget and finances. Commission Chairman William Miller extolled Henry's investment abilities as making a significant contribution to CALEA's financial soundness. Miller said, "Henry has the confidence and strong support of fellow commissioners." DeGeneste expressed his views concerning law enforcement and CALEA. "Law enforcement is still a craft not a profession like medicine or education because there are no national benchmarks or standards. CALEA is necessary to establish professionalism and has done a lot to achieve that goal. However, there is still a long way to go. CALEA was an organization founded by visionaries and is here to stay." Henry's other credits include a position on the graduate faculty of John Jay College, in New York City, as an adjunct professor. He has been a consultant to government organizations, including England's Scotland Yard. He is the author of Policing Transportation Facilities (1994), a law enforcement text book. In addition, he is a Certified Fraud Consultant and a David Rockefeller Fellow - class of 1997-1998. Henry is a deep-sea fisherman and stays trim by regularly placing tennis. He and his wife Edna are avid moviegoers.
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