ABOUT THE INSTITUTE
WELCOME
The Anne Welsh McNulty Institute for Women’s Leadership fosters women’s advancement through education, advocacy, community‐building and the collaborative creation of new knowledge. We believe gender equity is central to the common good and are committed to developing leaders in the Augustinian tradition of self‐understanding in the pursuit of a just and peaceful world.
Since our founding in 2017, we’ve built a vibrant interdisciplinary research environment that engages faculty and students in scholarship related to women’s leadership and the broader field of Gender and Women’s Studies, which has led to transformative thinking and informed policy change.
We cultivate an environment in which Villanovans speak out to challenge gender-based assumptions and advocate for policy changes, leading to a better and more equal society. The McNulty Institute is open to all and engages individuals across the gender spectrum.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF LEADERSHIP
The Institute uses the following guiding principles to aid in the understanding of leadership through a gender lens. This allows us to move from a focus on positional leadership, where women have been historically underrepresented, to a broader experience.
IMPACT
A strong effect on someone or something. Effects on others can be measured in many ways, whether in changes in a system, an organization, or individuals' outcomes.
INFLUENCE
The capacity to shape the character, development, or behavior of someone or something. a sphere of influence can be as small as a family unit or group of friends, to as large as a culture or global organizations.
CHANGE AGENCY
Promoting and enabling change to happen within any group or organization. Some leaders recognize that change may not happen directly from their own actions, but rather from those they have empowered to make decisions, lead, and be the change they wish to see in the world.
EQUITY
The quality of being fair or impartial, free from bias or favoritism. It is justice according to fairness–especially as distinguished from the mechanical application of rules.
A SPACE FOR COMMUNITY
The Anne Welsh McNulty Institute for Women's Leadership is located in Tolentine 203.
Keeping with our mission to foster women’s advancement through connections, community-building, dialogue and the collaborative creation of new knowledge, all are welcome to utilize this space to do work, to study, to hold informal gatherings and more! The space features work stations, flexible furnishings, a conference room and stocked kitchen. Additional features include a Care Closet of feminine and personal hygiene products and a Little Free Library with books on gender equity and leadership (both fiction and non-fiction).
ANNE WELSH
McNULTY '75
Anne Welsh McNulty '75 CLAS is an active philanthropist and advocate for leadership development and social change. As a woman who has broken barriers herself in becoming a leader in her field, Anne is an enthusiastic advocate for women’s leadership. She actively supports initiatives that increase the representation of women in leadership positions and build conscious and inclusive environments that enable women to flourish—key aims of the McNulty Institute for Women’s Leadership at Villanova.
Anne is the co-founder and managing partner of JBK Partners, with businesses including investment management and a private philanthropic foundation. Before starting JBK Partners, she was a Managing Director of Goldman Sachs and a senior executive of the Goldman Sachs Hedge Fund Strategies Group.
She has a sustained passion for lifelong learning, and over the past decade has greatly expanded the mission she began with her late husband John to enable young people to grow as high-impact leaders. Under her leadership, the McNulty Foundation has established several initiatives that support individuals who strive to make a difference in the world, including the prestigious McNulty Prize, which recognizes the extraordinary success of young global leaders solving some of the world’s most intractable societal and environmental challenges.
Anne graduated from Villanova as valedictorian in 1975 and served on the University’s Board of Trustees for 10 years. She currently serves on the Board of Overseers at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned her MBA. In addition, Anne serves as a trustee of the Aspen Institute and the Naples Children & Education Foundation, and on the Board of Directors for the Metropolitan Opera of New York, the Child Mind Institute in New York and the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia.