Businessman William J. Doyle (CAS ’72) was elected as Georgetown’s next chair of the board of directors, effective July 1.
Doyle, the current vice chair, succeeds former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue (CAS ’62), who has served as chair since 2009. Tagliabue will remain on the board as its vice chair to provide counsel to Doyle as he adjusts to his new position.
Doyle, a senior advisor and former president and CEO of Potash Corporation, a fertilizer company, was officially elected as chair at the board’s June 4 meeting. He previously served on the board for seven years as its vice chair.
“We are pleased to welcome Bill as our incoming chair of Georgetown’s board of directors,” University President John J. DeGioia said in a press release. “Bill brings a wealth of experience and a gift for strategic thinking to the role of chair — he is an energetic and persuasive advocate for our university, and I look forward to continuing to work with him to advance our university’s priorities in the years to come.”
Doyle, who studied government at Georgetown as an undergraduate, has remained well-connected to the school since his graduation. In 2009, Doyle and his wife, Kathy, donated $10 million to the university to create the Doyle Engaging Difference Initiative, a program that aims to engage students in global learning pursuits. The program offers curriculum enrichment grants to allow professors to provide their students with activities outside of the classroom, like field trips, cultural dinners and performances. It also provides diversity grants to professors to help them better engage their students in issues of diversity and plurality.
In the past six years, almost 2,200 undergraduate students have taken 90 courses from Doyle Faculty Fellows in 28 different departments, according to the university press release.
Doyle also chairs Georgetown’s current capital campaign, which has raised $1.41 billion of its $1.5 billion goal since October 2011.
“As chair of the capital campaign, one thing for sure I’ve learned is … we have to really engage our alumni, our parents and our friends to support us like never before,” Doyle said in the press release. “We need them to really understand that great philanthropy and a global university go hand in hand.”
