Six business, educational and religious leaders joined DePaul University’s Board of Trustees recently—three of them DePaul graduates—bringing the number of executives and influencers working locally and nationally on the university’s behalf to 43.  

“We are privileged to have such a distinguished group dedicated to helping DePaul make an extraordinary education accessible to a diverse student population,” said the Rev. Dennis Holtschneider, C.M., DePaul’s president.

John L. Brennan, 47, heads Private Wealth Management at William Blair & Co., following his previous role as president of Bank of America’s Illinois operation and central region president of its Private Bank. His role at William Blair focuses on ultra-affluent private investors, families, entrepreneurs and smaller foundations and endowments. A Vanderbilt University graduate, Brennan’s 24-year career in financial services includes leadership positions in corporate and commercial banking, strategic planning, corporate marketing and wealth management.  He is vice chairman of the Chicago Public Library Foundation, treasurer of WTTW, a trustee of Rush University Medical Center and a member of the Commercial Club and the Economic Club.

Sebastian Cualoping, 54, is the CEO and president of Ampac International and co-founder, director, treasurer and vice president of Original Baker’s Delight and Uni-Mart One-Stop Shopping. Ampac International is an importer, exporter and wholesaler of polyethylene bags for consumer, institutional and industrial use. Original Baker’s Delight is an ethnic bakery and carry-out chain with several locations in the Chicago area. Uni-Mart One-Stop Shopping is an ethnic grocery chain for which Cualoping developed the concept of one-stop shopping. Each location includes a bakery, video rental, remittance bank and carry-out. Cualoping earned a bachelor’s degree from DePaul in management in 1977 and an MBA in finance in 1981.

Jonathan F. Fanton, 66, is past president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, one of the country’s largest grant-giving organizations, where he served with distinction from 1999 to 2009. Prior to his work at MacArthur, he was president of the New School for Social Research in New York City from 1982 to 1999, overseeing several major mergers and the addition of new programs to enhance the school’s music, drama, teacher education, creative writing, architecture and world policy curricula. He holds a doctorate from Yale University, where he taught American history and was special assistant to President Kingman Brewster from 1970 to 1973 and associate provost from 1976 to 1978. He moved to Chicago in 1978 to serve as vice president for planning at the University of Chicago, where he also taught American history. He chaired Human Rights Watch and is currently chair of its Africa Advisory Committee.

Arnold Grisham, 63, is the president and chief executive officer of Alta Alliance Bank. His extensive banking background includes 18 years at Wells Fargo & Co., where he rose to executive vice president and positions as president, chief operating officer and chief lending officer of Civic Bank of Commerce, where he was a board member of the bank and the holding company. In 2002, Grisham and his daughter Kristine launched the Last Mile Foundation to help college students in need pay the last 10 to 20 percent of their tuition. A graduate of DePaul, where he earned an undergraduate degree from the College of Commerce in 1970 and an MBA in finance in 1973, Grisham is a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s Board of Directors, the vice chairman of the board of directors of the Children’s Hospital and Research Center in Oakland, Calif., and a board member of the Fromm Institute at the University of San Francisco, among other leadership roles.

Rev. James Maher, C.M., 48, is a member of the Eastern Province of the Congregation of the Mission and the vice president for Student Affairs at St. John’s University in New York.  In that role he leads internal assessment and strategic planning and ensures that programs and services promote students’ holistic development.  He also oversees Residence Life, Student Life, Judicial Affairs, Health and Wellness and Career Services.  Fr. Maher sits on the University Executive Planning Committee and the President’s Cabinet. In February 2009 he was named the Executive Director of the Vincentian Institute for Social Action (VISA), a newly developed interdisciplinary academic institute designed to impact impoverished communities through service, teaching and research.