Steve Somers '82

A 1982 graduate of St. Joseph’s College and a current member of the College’s board of trustees, Stephen Somers is the owner and president of Vigon International, Inc., a leading manufacturer of high-quality flavor and fragrance ingredients. Based in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, Vigon has grown from a nine-person, $5 million company in 1998, to the 65-person, $100 million operation it is today. It has been ranked six years running as one of Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing companies, and selected as one of the best companies to work for in Pennsylvania for the past four years.

Somers is an avid supporter of local charities, and for the past 10 years has provided financial incentives for an honor’s program at Hackettstown High School. He has also served as a member of the financial board at Cathedral Prep Seminary in Queens, where he personally supported the construction of a new science laboratory and sponsors an annual scholarship in his father’s name. Somers is a frequent guest speaker at high school honors inductions, college business entrepreneur meetings and various school clubs.

A Queens native, Somers graduated from St. Mel’s Catholic Academy in 1974 and Cathedral Prep Seminary in 1978. He considered a vocation as a priest before deciding to study organic chemistry at St. Joseph’s Brooklyn Campus. Somers also holds a master’s degree in analytical chemistry from St. John’s University. He lives in Hackettstown, New Jersey, with his wife of 31 years, Sharon Petty Somers ’82, and a schnoodle named Milo. His son, Stephen, has worked with him at Vigon International since 2010, and his daughter, Kristin, is a third-grade teacher in Wyckoff, New Jersey.