The competition has been named in honor of Judge Rosemary Gambardella, U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. Rosemary Gambardella was sworn in as a United States Bankruptcy Judge on May 3, 1985, becoming the first woman to serve on the Bankruptcy Court in the District of New Jersey. A native of Newark, Judge Gambardella attended Rutgers University where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and obtained a bachelor of arts degree in history in 1976. After receiving her law degree from Rutgers Law School-Newark in 1979, Judge Gambardella served as law clerk to Chief Bankruptcy Judge Vincent J. Commisa from 1979 to 1980. From 1980 to 1985, she was senior staff counsel to Hugh M. Leonard, then United States Trustee for the Districts of New Jersey and Delaware. Judge Gambardella served as Chief Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey from August 12, 1998 to August 11, 2005. She is a member of the Lawyers Advisory Committee of the Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey, a member and former President of the New Jersey Bankruptcy Inn of Court and a member of the Bankruptcy Committee of the Third Circuit Task Force on Equal Treatment in the Courts - Gender Commission. In addition, she is a member of the National Association of Women Judges, the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Turnaround Management Association and former member of the Bankruptcy Judges Advisory Group for the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. Judge Gambardella was the Bankruptcy Judge representative to the Judicial Conference of the United States (2009-2011) and is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy. Judge Gambardella was the recipient of the Rutgers School of Law - Newark Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012, the New York Institute of Credit Women's Division Judge Cecelia H. Goetz Award, the William J. Brennan, Jr. Award in 2013 and the Conrad B. Duberstein Memorial Award in 2015.