Kylie McGovern, Editor

Header Image: La Salle University

On March 14, La Salle University’s Board of Trustees announced that Ellen E. Reilly, ’83 has been elected as its new Chair. On July 1, Reilly will become the first woman to serve as the Board’s Chair in the University’s 159-year history. Reilly has served as President of La Salle’s Alumni Association and earned ex-officio Board membership in 2021. She explains that when she began at La Salle as a computer science student the institution was newly co-educational and now she is “humbled to have been elected as Chair of the University’s Board of Trustees …it’s a role I never dreamed of holding when I first got involved with our Alumni Association. I am honored and proud to work on behalf of the Board and our University.”

Reilly will replace William W. Matthews, III, Esq., ’90 as Chair of the Board of Trustees. Matthews announced the leadership changes in an email on March 14 to the University community. He has served as the Board’s Chair since July 2020, but he was elected to the Board in 2007 and his term concludes June 30. Matthews explains that Reilly “is prepared for this moment — and it’s an important one for the Board and La Salle University alike.” “Ellen’s pride in La Salle is unmatched,” said La Salle University Interim President Tim O’Shaughnessy, ’85. “She possesses a deep commitment to our University and wants what is best for our students and our community. For her, La Salle isn’t just her alma mater. It’s a family. It’s home. I am confident in the future direction of our Board under Ellen’s leadership.”

Reilly currently works as the head of healthcare and life sciences at a company called WHOOP, which is a company that debuted a novel wrist-worn device that continually tracks key biomarkers. Reilly’s career experience includes partnering with businesses to transform and simplify business processes and delivering bottom-line measurable benefits. Before her work at WHOOP, Reilly was vice president of global technology partnerships at I(IMS Health), Q (Quintiles), and VIA (by way of) IQVIA and vice president of the life sciences and healthcare industry at DocuSign.

At La Salle University, Reilly is a member of an advisory board for the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, in which she has recently worked on an initiative to create a scholarship recognizing Brother Gerald Fitzgerald, FSC. Especially relevant this week, Reilly and over a dozen other La Salle alumni created a dollar-for-dollar match of up to $200,000 as part of La Salle’s 2022 Day of Giving.

In addition to Reilly’s election, John K. Dugan, CPA, ’85, will serve as the board’s newest Vice-Chair. Dugan is an accounting alumnus who worked for 29 years at the PcW Accounting Network. He has served on the Board since 2019 while working on several committees. The Board has also approved three-year term renewals for Vice-Chair AmyLynn Flood, CPA, ’95; Brother Jack Curran, FSC, Ph.D.; and Joann M. Magnatta, ’77. Along with Dugan’s election as Vice Chair, these changes are effective July 1.