Four New Trustees Also Join the School’s Governing Body

John C. Staley, senior partner of Ernst & Young LLP’s Lake Michigan Area, was elected chairman of DePaul University’s Board of Trustees and presided over his first board meeting May 10 in Chicago.

Four new DePaul trustees also have been elected to the university’s board: Sheila A. Smith, president and chief operating officer of ARC Global Technologies; Robert E. Ross, president of Northern Trust Corporation, Chicago North Region; Sister Carol J. Campbell, R.C.S.J., head of school and chief executive officer at Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart, Lake Forest; and William E. Hay, president of Hay & Company, a national consulting firm.

Three of the four newest trustees—Campbell, Ross and Smith—have past or present ties to boards at Barat College in Lake Forest, which became affiliated with DePaul through an academic alliance finalized in February of 2001. “DePaul is extremely pleased to have John Staley strengthen his commitment to the university as its new board chairman,” said the Rev. John P. Minogue, C.M., DePaul president. “We are confident that his professional experience and leadership will guide us as we continue to expand our capacity for education, our dedication to serving students and our commitment to community involvement.”

“We also are honored to welcome Sheila Smith, Robert Ross and Sister Carol Campbell to the board—additions that not only bolster our alliance with Barat College but also strengthen the similar educational and spiritual missions of both institutions,” he said. “William Hay’s rock-solid commitment to furthering the principles of St. Vincent de Paul through university leadership programs will ensure that those values are passed along to future generations and incorporated into all aspects of professional enterprise.”

Staley, a member of DePaul’s Board of Trustees since 1993, is both and attorney and a certified public accountant. He earned his law degree from DePaul’s College of Law in 1970. He received his bachelor of science degree from the College of the Holy Cross and has completed the Advanced Management Program of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business Administration.

Staley joined Ernst & Young’s New York office in 1965 and transferred to the Chicago office the following year. He served as European Tax Practice Coordinator at the firm’s continental European headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, from 1975 until returning to the United States in 1977. He served as an area managing partner for the firm from 1985 to September of 2000.

Active in numerous professional and civic organizations, Staley is a member of the board of directors of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Commercial Club of Chicago, serving on the latter’s civic committee. Past board memberships include the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and Mercy Hospital. Beneficiaries of his fund raising activities include DePaul, the American Heart Association and the United Way-Crusade of Mercy.

Staley takes over the Board of Trustees chairmanship from Edward Brennan, former chairman and CEO of Sears, who was elected to DePaul’s board in 1981. Brennan will remain affiliated with DePaul’s board as a Life Trustee.

Smith, former chair of Barat’s Board of Trustees and college CEO, has run a high-tech product parts manufacturing venture since 1983. A 1970 Barat College graduate, she is a longtime civic, community and charity leader and has been a candidate for the United States Congress and for Illinois lieutenant governor.

Campbell, a Sister of the Sacred Heart for 36 years, is responsible for promoting and fostering the Sacred Heart mission at Woodlands Academy and developing its educational programs, in addition to numerous other management responsibilities. She previously served as assistant to the president for Mission at Barat College and as director of Sacred Heart schools in the Chicago area.

Ross, president of the Northern Trust Bank in Lake Forest, is a former trustee of Barat College and a trustee of the new Barat Education Foundation. His other board memberships include the Lake Forest Symphony, the Camarita Singers of Lake Forest and the United Way. Ross earned his bachelor’s degree in business at Kent State University and his MBA from the University of Chicago.

Hay is president of a national consulting company for organization designs, strategy, structure and senior executive selection to the manufacturing, service and non-profit sectors. The 1966 DePaul MBA graduate and his wife, Mary Pat Gannon Hay, recently gave the university a $1 million grant to fund the Vincent de Paul Leadership Project. Its goal is to study and document the principles of “Vincentian management science” and then share them with today’s leaders and managers.

DePaul is the largest private university in Chicago and the largest Catholic university in the United States. The university enrolls a richly diverse population of approximately 20,500 students who take classes on two city and six suburban campuses. DePaul was founded in 1898 by the Congregation of the Mission (or Vincentian fathers) religious community, which follows the teachings of 17th century French priest. St.Vincent de Paul. The university’s mission emphasizes academic excellence, service to the community, access to education and respect for the individual.