John Sheehan, ’82, has been named chair of St. Bonaventure University’s Board of Trustees.

Sheehan takes over for Bob Daugherty, ’77, who will pass the gavel to Sheehan at the outset of September’s Board of Trustees meeting after a four-year term as chair.

Deb Henretta, ’83, was elected vice chair, and Michael Hill, ’96, was elected secretary.The election was held at the board's meeting on campus May 31-June 1.

“All of these outstanding individuals are committed to the work ahead and we are blessed by their willingness to serve,” said Dr. Dennis R. DePerro, university president. “I look forward to working with the new board leadership team as we continue our efforts to create A Bolder Bonaventure.

“I’ve been so fortunate since coming to Bonaventure two years ago to work with such passionate and dedicated partners on our Board of Trustees, none more so than Bob Daugherty,” he said.

John (“Duffy”) Sheehan is the senior vice president and chief financial officer at Terex Corporation in Westport, Connecticut. Terex Corporation is a global manufacturer of lifting and material processing products and services.

Sheehan previously served as the executive vice president and CFO at Mylan NV, where he led the global pharmaceutical firm’s global finance functions. He has more than 30 years’ professional experience in global corporate finance, accounting, auditing and management.

Previously, he has held leadership positions with Delphi Automotive LLP and KPMG, where he was named a partner in 1995. He also served as president of the Board of Directors for the International School of Stuttgart, Germany, from 1999 to 2001.

John and his wife, Sharon, are residents of New London, New Hampshire, and maintain a home in Southport, Connecticut; they have three grown children.

Last summer, the Sheehans donated $1 million for the university’s School of Health Professions. The gift was the first in an initiative to fund the expansion of St. Bonaventure’s undergraduate and graduate programming and facilities in the healthcare arena.

Sheehan was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2015. He has served the last two years as the chair of the Finance Committee.

He has supported the De La Roche Hall renovation, the Swan Center building campaign, and has been a Devereux-level donor to The Bonaventure Fund since 2006. He has also volunteered his time with admissions and has been a guest lecturer to students in the MBA program.

Deb Henretta is a partner at G100 Companies, a C-Suite Leadership Development company while also serving as vice chair of SSA & Company (a G100 company), where she leads their digital transformation practice.

She serves as an Independent Board Director at publicly held Corning Inc., Meritage Homes and American Eagle Outfitters and privately held SCJohnson. She previously served on the Board of Directors at Staples and Sprint.

Prior to this, Henretta spent 30 years at Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest consumer goods company. While at P&G, she served as president and senior executive officer in charge of several of P&G’s multibillion dollar businesses including Global e-business, Global Beauty, Global BabyCare and she led P&G Asia, acting as the region’s CEO.

While in her role as president of e-business, Henretta led development of P&G’s Global e-business vision and strategy, and she led the creation of new business models for winning in an increasingly digital world.

Henretta spent seven consecutive years on Fortune’s U.S. and international rankings of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business. 

Henretta had a U.S. State Department appointment to the Business Council of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). She was the first woman to serve as chair of the 23-country Business Council and advised top government officials, including then-President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Henretta’s work has appeared in top publications such as Fortune, Bloomberg and Huffington Post. She worked on groundbreaking research on women on corporate boards, which was published in Harvard Business Review and MIT’s Sloan Management Review.

Henretta received a master’s degree from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. She has an honorary doctorate of humane letters from St. Bonaventure University (2010).

Henretta served on the St. Bonaventure Board of Trustees from 2003 until 2008 until she moved to Singapore to run P&G Asia. In 2006, she established the Henretta Family Scholarship at SBU.

In 2010, Henretta was selected to be Commencement speaker at St. Bonaventure. Henretta rejoined the SBU board in 2016 and is the chair of the Branding, Marketing and Communications Committee.

Henretta and her husband, Sean Murray, who worked at St. Bonaventure from 1980-1982, divide their time between homes in Cincinnati, Ohio; Rochester, New York; and Nokomis, Florida. They have three children. 

Her father, Elmer Henretta (’59), and brothers Michael (’85) and Mark (’90) also graduated from St. Bonaventure.

Michael Hill was appointed president of Chautauqua Institution in 2017.

Since beginning his duties, Hill has overseen the completion of a $41.5 million renovation project at the Chautauqua Amphitheater; began expanding the organization’s traditional summer-season programming to take place year-round; and expanded the institution’s involvement with traditional and national partners — all while keeping intact the identity and tradition of the Chautauqua community.  

Hill led the Institution through the adoption of a new strategic plan that will take the organization beyond its 150th birthday in 2024.

Prior to serving as Chautauqua president, Hill served as president and CEO of Youth for Understanding USA and as senior vice president of external affairs for United Cerebral Palsy. He also led national development, communications and volunteer efforts for Washington National Cathedral as executive director for external relations and held a similar role at The Washington Ballet.

Hill received his master’s degree from St. Mary’s University in 1997 and is pursuing his doctoral degree in Leadership and Learning in Organizations at Vanderbilt University.

Hill was appointed assistant director of SBU’s Regina A. Quick Center of the Arts in 1997, was promoted to associate director in 1998 and was named director in 1999, serving in that role until 2002. He is a former member of the National Alumni Association Board.

Hill maintains residences at the Institution and in Washington, D.C. He and Peter Korns are engaged and plan to marry next spring.

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