Presidents’ Council

As President, Dr. DeGioia is dedicated to deepening Georgetown’s tradition of academic excellence, its commitment to its Catholic and Jesuit identity, its engagement with the Washington, D.C. community, and its global mission. Under his leadership, Georgetown has become a leader in shaping the future landscape of higher education and has recently completed a $1.5 billion fund-raising campaign dedicated to enhancing the lifelong value of a Georgetown education.

Dr. DeGioia is a leading voice in addressing broader issues in education. He previously served as Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education and is currently Chair of the Board of Directors of the Forum for the Future of Higher Education as well as Chair of the Board for the Consortium on Financing Higher Education. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Board of Directors for the Business-Higher Education Forum, the NCAA Board of Governors, the NCAA Division 1 Board of Directors and is Chair of the Division I NCAA Committee on Academics.

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She has been a leader in Elon’s development as a prominent national university. As faculty fellow for strategic planning, she coordinated creation of the university’s Elon Commitment strategic plan. As associate provost, she spearheaded establishment of the Student Professional Development Center, creation of the residential campus plan, development of the Study USA program and growth of civic engagement initiatives.

In March 2015, Book was named the first female provost and dean in The Citadel’s 175-year history. She was honored with the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian Award for leadership of college-wide diversity and inclusion efforts, including helping The Citadel achieve record enrollment for African American, female and Latinx students during her tenure.

Since rejoining Elon in 2018 as its first female president, Book has forged strong ties across the university. She led the creation of Boldly Elon: Our strategic plan for 2030 and she launched the public phase of Elon LEADS, the most ambitious comprehensive fundraising campaign in the university’s history.

Book has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Louisiana State University, a master’s degree in education administration and supervision from Northwestern State University (Louisiana), and a doctorate from the Grady College of Journalism at the University of Georgia.

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Bradley has most recently served on Governor Cuomo’s NY Forward Re-Opening Advisory Committee and helped draft the guidelines for NY higher education re-opening in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. She serves on the Poughkeepsie Children’s Cabinet and Board of Trustees at Vassar Brothers Hospital. Bradley, a noted public health expert who created the first Masters of Health Administration on the African continent with the Clinton Health Access Initiative and pioneered a model of scale up with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, continues to be a strong advocate for education and public health, publishing opinion pieces in Forbes, Bloomberg News, and other national outlets regularly, as well as peer-reviewed research. Prior to becoming the President of Vassar, Bradley was on the faculty at Yale for more than twenty years, and was most recently the Brady-Johnson Professor of Grand Strategy and Faculty Director of the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute. Bradley’s research has focused on quality of hospital care and large-scale health system strengthening efforts within the US and abroad including in China, India, Ethiopia, Liberia, Ghana, Rwanda, and the United Kingdom. Bradley has published more nearly 320 peer-reviewed papers and has co-authored three books including The American Healthcare Paradox: Why Spending More Is Getting Us Less. She is the 2018 recipient of the William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2017.  She is a member of the Council of Foreign Affairs.

Bradley graduated phi beta kappa from Harvard in economics magna cum laude, earned an MBA from the University of Chicago, and a PhD in health economics from Yale University. While at Harvard, Bradley was captain of the Women’s Squash team. Bradley grew up in New Britain, Connecticut and is married to her husband John with whom she has three adult children.

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Burwell joined AU on June 1, 2017, succeeding Neil Kerwin.

Burwell has held two cabinet positions in the United States government. She served as the 22nd secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services from 2014 to 2017. During her tenure, she managed a trillion-dollar department that includes the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, and the Medicaid and Medicare programs; oversaw the successful implementation of the Affordable Care Act; and led the department’s responses to the Ebola and Zika outbreaks. Before that, she served as the director of the Office of Management and Budget, working with Congress to negotiate a two-year budget deal following the 2013 government shutdown. In both roles she was known as a leader who worked successfully across the aisle and focused on delivering results for the American people.

Her additional government experience is extensive and includes roles as deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, deputy chief of staff to the president, chief of staff to the secretary of the Treasury, and special assistant to the director of the National Economic Council.

Burwell has held leadership positions at two of the largest foundations in the world. She served 11 years at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, including roles as the chief operating officer and president of the Global Development Program. She then served as president of the Walmart Foundation and ran its global Women’s Economic Empowerment efforts. Her private sector experience includes service on the Board of Directors of MetLife.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in Government from Harvard University and a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.

A second-generation Greek American, Burwell is a native of Hinton, West Virginia. She and her husband Stephen Burwell are the parents of two young children.

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Over the course of his career, Dr. Chrite has helped governments, universities and foundations to develop programs and research initiatives aimed at bolstering emerging markets, entrepreneurism and capital development and reducing poverty. He has worked to strengthen economic conditions and improve business education around the world, including in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Namibia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and for the Tohono O’odhom Nation on the Sells Reservation in Arizona.

Dr. Chrite believes strongly that business can be a powerful force to solve problems that plague humanity.

As the president of Bethune-Cookman University, Dr. Chrite led the institution through an accreditation review that strengthened institutional governance and fiscal integrity. Under his leadership, the university secured continued accreditation while eliminating deficits and achieving institutional stability. In partnership with the university’s faculty senate, he overhauled faculty governance and consolidated academic units to allow more efficient operations and administrative leadership.

While serving as dean of the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver, Dr. Chrite oversaw the development of a strategic plan aligned with the changing higher education landscape, leading to new programs as well as increased enrollment, student satisfaction and revenues. 

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Before coming to William James, he was the Director of Psychology and Director of Training at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. He is a psychoanalyst, a member of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, and a former faculty member at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Covino was named the second president of William James College in 2002. Under his leadership, the college has grown from a single-degree institution to one with 4 academic departments and specialty training in military, global, forensic, and leadership psychology. In addition, the college offers consultative services to schools, courts, and business.

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Bolstered by this vision, the University has introduced new initiatives, become more nationally recognized for its academic prowess and broken University admission records. Father Donohue has also worked together with students, faculty, staff, alumni, and parents to strengthen the Villanova community and renew its commitment to the institution’s Augustinian, Catholic educational mission.

A champion of the role of service learning at Villanova, Father Donohue instituted an annual St. Thomas of Villanova Day of Service as a way for the University community to propel its Augustinian ideals into action. Each September, nearly 5,000 students, faculty, staff and alumni take part in projects throughout Greater Philadelphia. This is just one of the many service learning opportunities at the University, which boasts more than 250,000 hours of service in the local, national and international community.

Father Donohue is a tenured professor at Villanova who served as chair of the University’s department of theatre from 1992 to 2006. He annually directed musical theatre productions on campus, earning six Barrymore Award nominations and one Barrymore Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical from the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia.

Born in the Bronx, New York, and raised in Royal Oak, Michigan, Father Peter earned a bachelor’s degree from Villanova University in 1975 and was ordained an Augustinian priest in 1979. He has a master’s in Theatre from the Catholic University of America, a master’s in Divinity from the Washington Theological Union, and a PhD in Theatre from the University of Illinois.

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Dr. Eddinger’s service in the Community College movement spans more than 25 years, with senior posts in academics and student affairs, communications and policy, and executive leadership. Dr. Eddinger serves on a number of boards and commissions, including the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), GBH Boston, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the Boston Foundation (TBF), the Massachusetts Workforce Development Board, the Boston Private Industry Council, Achieving the Dream (ATD), the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy, and the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU). Dr. Eddinger was honored in 2016 by the Obama White House as a Champion of Change. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Barnard College and her master’s and doctorate in Japanese Literature from Columbia University.

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Her professional background includes system-level higher education administration, campus-level higher education administration, strategic planning, crisis management and strategic partnership engagement.

Committed to ensuring students realize their full potential, Fedrick believes every student deserves access to an excellent and affordable education. A two-time graduate of the University of Georgia, Fedrick holds a bachelor’s degree in adult education, with a concentration in organizational development, and a master’s degree in public administration.

A hallmark of Fedrick’s presidency is her focus on providing the ideal student experience. One which focuses on preparing students for professional careers while ensuring the entirety of the student’s wellbeing is cared for. Since 2018 President Fedrick has used her commitment towards achieving excellence to drive new initiatives including a redesign of the institution’s academic colleges, approval of the University System of Georgia’s first nexus degrees, and the design and implementation of the university’s integrated student success model.  As a result of her laser focus on this ideal, the University has achieved a sixteen percent increase in retention, and a six percent increase in student enrollment. As a champion for student wellness, Fedrick has expanded access and opportunities for ASU students by entering into partnerships that increase the available campus-wide student resources.

Due to her widely known commitment to addressing student wellness, Fedrick is highly sought after to contribute to statewide initiatives including the University System of Georgia’s (USG) Mental Health Task Force, and Georgia’s COVID-19 Health Equity Council.  Her leadership on the Health Equity Council has helped to increase the effectiveness of the Georgia Department of Public Health’s statewide outreach to communities most affected by COVID-19, and to ensure the equitable distribution and administration of the COVID-19 vaccination.

In demonstration of her commitment to student success, racial and social equity, and the power of community, Fedrick has been a spokesperson for access, equity, and fairness. The intersection of her vision, passion, and broad leadership capabilities have placed Fedrick in key leadership roles throughout her career. Serving as the USG vice chancellor of human resources, Fedrick has led strategic initiatives relating to effective university administration, leadership development and all human resources planning efforts. She has also served at Clark Atlanta University, Emory University Hospitals, State of Georgia’s Office of State Personnel Administration, AT&T, and the former BellSouth Corporation.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in Georgia, she and her husband, Horace, who is a 34-year law enforcement veteran, have one daughter, Sarah.

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Dr. Frederick has advanced Howard University’s commitment to student opportunity, academic innovation, public service, and fiscal stability. He has overseen a series of reform efforts, including the expansion of academic offerings, establishing innovative programs to support student success and the modernization of university facilities.

Dr. Frederick received his B.S and M.D. from Howard University.  Following his post-doctoral research and surgical oncology fellowships at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Frederick began his academic career as associate director of the cancer center at the University of Connecticut. Upon his return to Howard University, his academic positions included associate dean in the College of Medicine, division chief in the Department of Surgery, director of the Cancer Center and deputy provost for Health Sciences. He also earned a Master of Business Administration from Howard University’s School of Business in 2011.

Dr. Frederick is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, abstracts, and editorials and is a widely recognized expert on disparities in healthcare and medical education. His medical research focuses on narrowing racial, ethnic and gender disparities in cancer-care outcomes, especially pertaining to gastrointestinal cancers.

Dr. Frederick was honored with the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Humana Inc. He is a member of surgical and medical associations including the American Surgical Association and the American College of Surgeons.

In 2017, he was named “Washingtonian of the Year” by Washingtonian magazine and in 2015 was named “Male President of the Year” by HBCU Digest. Most recently, Dr. Frederick was named “Nonprofit Leader of the Year” by the Washington Business Journal.

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Prior to joining the University of Miami, he served for almost seven years as Dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the T & G Angelopoulos Professor of Public Health and International Development, a joint appointment with the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. In September 2016, the Julio Frenk Professorship of Public Health Leadership was established at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health with an anonymous endowment gift.

Dr. Frenk served as the Minister of Health of Mexico from 2000 to 2006. There he pursued an ambitious agenda to reform the nation’s health system and introduced a program of comprehensive universal coverage called Seguro Popular, which expanded access to health care for more than 55 million previously uninsured persons.

He was the founding director-general of the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico, one of the leading institutions of its kind in the developing world. He also served as executive director in charge of Evidence and Information for Policy at the World Health Organization and as senior fellow in the global health program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, among other leadership positions.

Dr. Frenk holds a medical degree from the National University of Mexico, as well as a Master of Public Health and a joint Ph.D. in Medical Care Organization and in Sociology from the University of Michigan.

He has published 187 papers in academic journals and 166 articles in cultural magazines and newspapers, as well as many books and book chapters. His scholarly production has been cited more than 29,000 times. In addition, he has written four best-selling novels for youngsters explaining the functions of the human body.

He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Medicine of Mexico, and El Colegio Nacional (the most prestigious learned society of scientists, intellectuals, and artists in Mexico). He serves on the boards of the United Nations Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and chairs the board of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

Julio Frenk has received numerous recognitions, including the Clinton Global Citizen Award, the Bouchet Leadership Medal presented by Yale University for promoting diversity in graduate education, and the Welch-Rose Award from the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health, as well as honorary degrees from 11 universities in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Europe.

In summary, Dr. Frenk’s career has included leadership positions in all relevant aspects of public health and higher education: research, teaching, analysis of public policies, institution-building, international cooperation, and national public service. He has also been involved in various initiatives to reform higher education.

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After leaving Hobart and William Smith in 2017, Gearan served as President in Residence at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and in 2018 was appointed Director of the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Gearan is known nationally for his work in higher education and national service, and recently served as Vice Chair of the National Commission on Military, National and Public Service created by the U.S. Congress. He is a past chair of the Board of Directors of both National Campus Compact and the Corporation for National and Community Service. He currently serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the Clinton School of Public Service at the University of Arkansas and the National Advisory Board for Public Service at Harvard College.

Gearan has served in a variety of roles in American politics and government including White House Communications Director, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, Vice Presidential Campaign Manager for Clinton/Gore ’92 and Executive Director of the Democratic Governor’s Association. In September 1995, President Bill Clinton appointed Gearan as the 14th Director of the Peace Corps where he oversaw the expansion of the Peace Corps program into South Africa, Jordan and Haiti as well as the establishment of the Crisis Corps, which sent former Peace Corps volunteers into crisis areas for six months or less to help during emergencies.

A cum laude graduate of Harvard College and Georgetown University Law Center, he holds 13 honorary degrees.

Gearan returns to Geneva with his wife, Mary Herlihy Gearan L.H.D. ’17, who was active in the Geneva community during their previous service and has continued to serve on the Board of Happiness House, Finger Lakes Cerebral Palsy Association. At Harvard, she received the John R. Marquand Award recognizing excellence and dedication in the mentoring and guidance of Harvard undergraduates. The Gearans served as Interim Faculty Deans at Winthrop House, one of 12 undergraduate houses at Harvard. They have two daughters, Madeleine and Kathleen ’21.

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President Johnson has dedicated her scientific and medical career to furthering our knowledge of the biological differences between women and men. She has led the way in ensuring that research findings are effectively translated in order to improve health care for women and has used her voice to effect important changes in policy so that sex differences are included in research. By uncovering gender biases in these arenas and advancing science, she has helped transform how medicine is practiced and how research is conducted, touching the lives of countless women.

Before coming to Wellesley, President Johnson founded and served as the inaugural executive director of the Connors Center for Women’s Health and Gender Biology and was chief of the Division of Women’s Health, both at Brigham and Women’s Hospital—a Harvard teaching hospital and one of the world’s leading academic medical centers. Central to the Connors Center’s approach is its work to further our understanding of the intersection of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, and other social determinants of health. President Johnson developed the center’s efforts to both undertake cutting-edge research and translate it into outstanding clinical care for women, and she oversaw the center’s work to utilize its research and care models to better educate the next generation of physicians and scientists. Her vision for achieving sustainable improvement in women’s health is reflected in the Connors Center’s unique approach to all aspects of health throughout the lifespan.

A cardiologist, President Johnson was also the Grayce A. Young Family Professor of Medicine in Women’s Health at Harvard Medical School, a professorship named in honor of her mother, and a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Her research and the research, health care models, and training programs of the Connors Center have had an impact on women across the country by helping to shape health care and health policy reforms. Her work has also influenced and educated emerging leaders beyond the borders of the United States who seek to improve the health of women globally. In 2018, President Johnson co-chaired the landmark report of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, titled Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.

In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools and college campuses across the country, President Johnson joined Massachusetts Governor Baker’s 14-member Higher Education Working Group (HEWG) to develop a framework to safely reopen campuses. She also chairs the Massachusetts Higher Education Testing Group. Her 2021 essay, “Learning the lessons of Covid, in order to teach them,” was published by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership.

President Johnson is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine, the nation’s leading advisory organization providing expertise on issues relating to biomedical science, medicine, and health. She has been recognized as a national leader in medicine by the National Library of Medicine and has received several honorary degrees and numerous awards for her contributions to science, medicine, and public health. Most recently, she received the Stephen Smith Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Public Health by the New York Academy of Medicine.

She earned international acclaim for her 2013 TED Talk, “His and hers…healthcare,” which continues to raise awareness of the crucial need to understand sex differences in treating disease.

Her vision, research, and ability to lead at the intersection of education, health care, and public health have earned President Johnson key leadership roles in organizations around the world. She chaired the board of the Boston Public Health Commission and was a member of the National Institutes of Health Advisory Committee on Research on Women’s Health. She has served on numerous national and international boards, and currently serves on the Abiomed Board of Directors.

Since becoming president of Wellesley in July 2016, she has advanced women’s higher education, championing cross-campus efforts to integrate the ideals of inclusive excellence into every aspect of academic and residential life. She has matched that with a belief that health and wellness are crucial to academic and personal success, reimagining how a college promotes resilience, resolve, and balance in its students at a time when this is needed most. Under her leadership, the College is also developing new opportunities in STEM fields by drawing on the synergies found at the intersection of science, the humanities, and social sciences.

President Johnson attended Harvard and Radcliffe colleges, received her A.B., M.D., and M.P.H. degrees from Harvard, and trained in internal medicine and cardiovascular medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.

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He is guiding Pace through its New York City Master Plan to overhaul our downtown campus, and he’s working to bolster Pace’s status as the nation’s leading four-year private college for driving economic mobility. Prior to Krislov’s appointment at Pace, he served for 10 years as the president of Oberlin College, where he led collaborative, consensus-driven efforts to make the college more rigorous, diverse, inclusive, and accessible to students from every socioeconomic background. Prior to Oberlin, he was vice president and general counsel at the University of Michigan, where he led the legal defense of the University’s admission policies that resulted in the 2003 Supreme Court decision recognizing the importance of student body diversity. Krislov earned a bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, at Yale University in 1982, and was named a Rhodes Scholar. He earned master’s degrees at Oxford University and Yale, and a juris doctor degree at Yale Law School in 1988. Prior to entering academic life, Krislov served as acting solicitor and then deputy solicitor of national operations in the US Department of Labor. He previously served as associate counsel in the Office of Counsel to the President under President Bill Clinton.

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At his presidential inauguration on November 12, 2015, he pledged to fight for UMass, which he called “the most important institution in Massachusetts in the critical areas of social mobility and economic growth.”

Under President Meehan’s leadership, UMass has achieved milestones in enrollment growth, research expansion, financial aid funding and statewide economic impact. In addition, the UMass School of Law earned full ABA accreditation and has seen the academic credentials of its incoming students and bar pass rates rise.

During his 14 years in Congress, he served on the House Armed Services and Judiciary committees and established a national reputation for his legislative leadership. He won praise for his efforts to protect the public from the health risks of tobacco, and he was a central figure in campaign finance reform. In addition to his degree from UMass Lowell, Meehan earned a master’s degree in public administration from Suffolk University in 1981 and a juris doctor from Suffolk University Law School in 1986.

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He is a well-respected thought and innovation leader, recognized by Boston Magazine as 11th on 100 Most Influential Bostonians, Robert Coard Distinguished Leadership Medal 2021, Boston Chamber of Commerce as Distinguished Bostonian 2020, June 2020, Boston Racial Equity Fund (chair), Racial Justice Grant in Honor of Lee Pelton, $100,000 grant to be distributed to selected non-profits, EOS Foundation, 2020, The Governor’s Awards in the Humanities, 2020, in Boston Business Journal, 50 Most Powerful Leaders in Boston, October, 2020 and 2018; Boston Magazine Power Issue, One of The 100 Most Influential People in Boston, April 2018, Boston Magazine’s May 2017 Power Issue: The 21 Most Powerful People in Boston Business and in its May 2014 Power Issue: The Power of Ideas: 75 Bold Thinkers Who Are Shaping Our City and the World. Other awards include Boston’s 100 Most Influential People of Color (Get Konnected!, 2016), the Rosoff Award 20/20 (The Ad Club, April 2016), the Diversity Leadership Award (The National Diversity Council, October 2015), the Sabra Award (Israeli Stage, November 2014), Boston 50 on Fire, recognizing 50 leading innovators in Boston(BostInno, November 2014), Speak the Truth Award (Student Immigrant Movement, December 2014), and the Champion of Freedom Award (Freedom House, March 2012). 

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Under Clayton’s leadership, Bates has launched new initiatives in a number of areas,  including: creating a new program in Digital and Computational Studies, strengthening  programming in equity, diversity and inclusion, and launching the largest fundraising campaign in the college’s history. Clayton led the creation of the Purposeful Work program,  which has received national recognition as a transformational approach to preparing  students for work and career. 

Before joining Bates, Spencer served for fifteen years on the Senior Staff at Harvard, the last  seven as Vice President for Policy. She also spent a year concurrently as Acting Executive  Dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Spencer was a lecturer at Harvard’s  Graduate School of Education, where she taught courses on federal higher education policy. 

From 1993 to 1997, Spencer worked for the late U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy as Chief  Education Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources. She  directed education legislation and policy in the Senate, including federal student aid,  science and research policy, the education budget, and technology in education. Earlier in  her career, Spencer clerked in the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, practiced law at the  Boston firm of Ropes & Gray, and served as an assistant U.S. Attorney in Boston. 

Spencer currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Annapolis Group of Liberal Arts  College. She has served as a member of the Board of Directors for the American Council on  Education, where she chaired the Public Policy Committee and served on the Executive  Committee. She previously served as a trustee of Williams College and Phillips Exeter  Academy and on the board of the Maine Public Broadcasting Network and the Fund for the  Improvement of Postsecondary Education of the U.S. Department of Education. 

Spencer is a graduate of Williams College (B.A), Oxford University (B.A.), Harvard  University (M.A.), and Yale Law School (J.D.).

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Ms. Walker is a visionary, mission-oriented and strategic leader who spearheaded the transformation of NYPR  from two city-owned local stations to the nation’s largest independent non-profit public radio station group and a groundbreaking producer that serves more than 26 million people each month. Ms. Walker’s vision of fearless journalism that represents the breadth of American experiences helped establish the station’s role as one of the world’s preeminent podcast producers. During her tenure, NYPR was awarded ten George Foster Peabody awards and many other honors. Ms. Walker built a pioneering staff of innovative journalists and producers at NYPR, including the MacArthur genius Jad Abumrad and his colleagues at Radiolab, the investigative team that uncovered stop-and-frisk abuses under the Bloomberg administration, the great minds behind Freakonomics, and the artists-in-residence at WQXR. Behind NYPR’s superlative journalism was a sound and strategic long-term financial model. With regular reexaminations of the media landscape, NYPR was able to consistently adapt to shifting trends and stay ahead of challenges on the horizon. Ms. Walker led three separate five-year plan processes at NYPR, translating goals into executable tactics for program production, fundraising, and partnership-building. One measure of that success is the organization’s extraordinary growth from two city-owned radio stations with an $8 million budget and 1 million monthly listeners to an independent nonprofit with a $100 million annual budget, 26 million monthly listeners on 8 radio stations, 20 nationally distributed programs, and a staff of 500.

Ms. Walker began her professional career as a print journalist. She later moved to National Public Radio where she worked as a producer. She has also served as Vice President of Development at Sesame Workshop; and at Carnegie Hall, where she launched the award-winning series, AT&T Presents Carnegie Hall Tonight. Following her time at NYPR, she was an Executive Fellow in Residence at the Yale School of Management and an advisor to media startups and nonprofits.

Ms. Walker sits on the boards of The Commonwealth Fund, the Eagle Picher Trust, Yale University’s  Honorary Degree Committee and the President’s Advisory Council of Wesleyan University.

In 2009 and again in 2017, Ms. Walker was named by Crain’s as one of New York City’s 50 Most Powerful Women. She has been honored with an Edward R. Murrow Award from the Corporate for Public Broadcasting and a Distinguished Alumna Award by Wesleyan University. She was recognized in May 2020 with the honorable Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Award by the Municipal Arts Society for her notable contribution to the public media landscape.

Ms. Walker holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BA in History, magna cum laude, from Wesleyan University, where she was an Olin Scholar.

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The university recognized Zeppos’ leadership and legacy by naming one of its newest residential colleges, the Nicholas S. Zeppos College, in his honor. He rejoined the faculty in 2020.

An esteemed legal scholar, teacher, and university leader, Zeppos teaches Civil Procedure and seminars on American politics and history.  He currently serves as a member of the board to Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital and was recently elected as a Corporation Member of Mass General Brigham Incorporated. He is on the Board of Advisors for the Center for Effective Lawmaking and a Faculty Affiliate for the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions.

Under Zeppos’ leadership, Vanderbilt University has become one of America’s foremost research institutions. With a strong commitment to access, community, and inclusion, in 2008 Zeppos led the launch of Opportunity Vanderbilt, the university’s pioneering financial aid program, which replaced all undergraduate student loans with scholarships. Zeppos was also instrumental in planning and executing Vanderbilt’s residential college system, and its pioneering Martha R. Ingram Freshmen Commons.

Zeppos also placed a constant focus on ensuring Vanderbilt is a welcoming and inclusive environment. He created the role of vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion and chief diversity officer and has been an outspoken advocate for the university’s imperative to foster opportunities, respect, and safety for all. In 2016 he ended a decades-long controversy by removing the name “Confederate Memorial Hall” from one of the university’s residence halls. He also led efforts to honor and tell the stories of university trailblazers, including Perry Wallace, who broke the color barrier in SEC basketball.

Mental health and care and treatment for those with mental illness was a top priority during Zeppos’ time.  He helped lead a university-wide campaign to foster a culture of openness, honest reflection, and brave dialogue about mental health.  Zeppos’ “GO THERE” campaign to address mental wellness and early diagnosis and care for mental illness remains a pathbreaking initiative.  Substantial investments in basic and translational science to spark and develop new treatments for those who suffer from mental illness were part of the “bench to bedside” strategy Zeppos developed and implemented in this area long neglected stigmatized on and off university campuses.

In 2016 Zeppos led the complex transition of the university and Vanderbilt University Medical Center into two separate legal and financial entities, a prescient restructuring that positioned both institutions for long-term success. In Zeppos’ time, the endowment increased from a low of $2.9 billion after the financial crisis of 2008, to $6.4 billion.  Almost half of the money in the endowment was added during Zeppos’ eleven-year tenure.

Throughout his career, Zeppos has been an effective advocate for universities and the essential value and impact of academic research at the state and federal level and a vigorous and successful defender of critical funding for research and education. In 2015 he co-chaired the bipartisan U.S. Senate Task Force on Government Regulation of Higher Education and conducted the foremost national study on the high cost of regulatory burdens on America’s research universities.  He served as the chair of the Association of American Universities Board of Directors and served as a board member for the Consortium on Financing Higher Education, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, and as president of the Southeastern Conference.

Strong support for free speech and civil dialogue with a diversity of opinions and perspectives also marked Zeppos’ tenure and his overall vision for campus culture. To promote inquiry and dialogue, he has hosted a range of globally renowned speakers from all sides of the political spectrum and a variety of disciplines, including President George W. Bush, President Joe Biden, former Georgia House minority leader Stacey Abrams, authors Charles Krauthammer and Peggy Noonan, former U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, actor David Diggs, and leading cancer researcher and author Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, among many others.

He has been recognized with multiple awards, including INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine’s Giving Back Award in 2016, the Tennessee Tribune’s “Person of the Year” in 2016, and the Jack C. Massey Leadership Award from Mental Health America of Middle Tennessee in 2011.

Prior to serving as Chancellor and Provost, Zeppos had won numerous teaching awards.  Upon his return to the faculty in 2020 he won his sixth law school teaching award.

He is the incoming CEO & President of The Boston Foundation (I June, 2021), one of the nation’s leading philanthropic organizations with $1.6 billion dollar in assets. In 2020, The Boston Foundation awarded $215 million dollars in grants.

He is a well-respected thought and innovation leader, recognized by Boston Magazine as 11^th on 100 Most Influential Bostonians, Robert Coard Distinguished Leadership Medal 2021, Boston Chamber of Commerce as Distinguished Bostonian 2020, June 2020, Boston Racial Equity Fund (chair), Racial Justice Grant in Honor of Lee Pelton, $100,000 grant to be distributed to selected non-profits, EOS Foundation, 2020, The Governor’s Awards in the Humanities, 2020,  in Boston Business Journal, 50 Most Powerful Leaders in Boston, October, 2020 and 2018; Boston Magazine Power Issue, One of The 100 Most Influential People in Boston, April 2018, Boston Magazine’s May 2017 Power Issue: The 21 Most Powerful People in Boston Business and in its May 2014 Power Issue: The Power of Ideas: 75 Bold Thinkers Who Are Shaping Our City and the World. Other awards include Boston’s 100 Most Influential People of Color (Get Konnected!, 2016), the Rosoff Award 20/20 (The Ad Club, April 2016), the Diversity Leadership Award (The National Diversity Council, October 2015), the Sabra Award (Israeli Stage, November 2014), Boston 50 on Fire, recognizing 50 leading innovators in Boston (BostInno, November 2014), Speak the Truth Award (Student Immigrant Movement, December 2014), and the Champion of Freedom Award (Freedom House, March 2012).

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