Villanova University Alumni Association Announces Four New Board Members

VILLANOVA, Pa. – The Villanova University Alumni Association (VUAA) recently announced the election of Sherry Boston ’96, William Powers ’82, Kim Shaughnessy-Granger ’97 and Emily Smith ’12 as new members of its Board of Directors. The VUAA Board consists of 24 members across class years and colleges who represent the association within the University community and provide an alumni perspective to support its overall direction and goals.

“I am thrilled to welcome four such distinguished alumni leaders and changemakers to our VUAA Board of Directors,” said Stephanie Lim Capello ’97, who began her two-year term as president of the Board in May. “Their election represents our ongoing commitment to diversifying the Board to better represent the evolving interests and experiences of our alumni community. I look forward to working with Sherry, Will, Kim and Emily in support of our beloved alma mater.”

The VUAA was established in 1875 with a mission to create a mutually beneficial, lifelong culture of belonging and returning to Villanova University—for education, for relationships and for philanthropy—through the development of meaningful and transformative engagement opportunities. Today, the VUAA services the Villanova alumni community of more than 135,000.

New VUAA Board Members:

Sherry Boston served as the Dekalb County District Attorney since 2017. Boston stands among the elite in the world of prosecution, as black women currently make up just one percent of district attorneys nationwide. In this role, Boston oversees the prosecution of felony offenses filed in the Superior Court of DeKalb County. Since taking the helm as DA, Boston has restructured and redefined prosecution processes and increased the Offices capacity with an expanded victim services unit. Through her work with the Institute for Innovation and Prosecution and the Fair and Just Prosecution Initiative, she has become an integral part of the national dialogue on criminal justice reform. As an active member of the State Bar of Georgia, Boston serves on the Disciplinary Board and the Board of Governors. She graduated from Villanova in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and earned her Juris Doctor from the Emory University School of Law. Boston is an active member of the Villanova alumni community, including the Villanova University Black Alumni affinity group.

William T. (Will) Powers is a global business leader with experience as a board member, CEO, and senior financial executive. Powers was a member of the Board of Directors at LORD Corporation, a technology and manufacturing company, serving on the Audit and Compensation Committees. He also served as president and chief executive officer of the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing. Powers previously held senior financial and business leadership roles with Rolls-Royce, including chief financial officer of Rolls-Royce North America. He has served on multiple non-profit boards in higher education and social services, as well as the boards of Exostar, Inc., Pembroke Group, Inc., Rolls-Royce Partners Finance and the Virginia Chamber of Commerce. He graduated from the Villanova School of Business in 1982 with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and went on to earn his MBA in Banking and Finance from the Lubin School at Pace University. He has served on the VSB Dean’s Advisory Council, and he and his wife, Jeanette, have endowed a scholarship to expand access to academically talented female and underrepresented students. They are proud Villanova parents of Katie, who graduated in 2018 from Villanova University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Kim P. Shaughnessy-Granger was commissioned as an ensign in 1997 through the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps scholarship program. Throughout her 25-year Naval career, Shaughnessy-Granger’s assignments have ranged from Camp Lejeune, N.C., to San Diego, Calif., to Yokosuka and Okinawa, Japan. A trailblazer within Navy Medicine and the Military Health System (MHS), she was the first nurse to hold key leadership positions in various locations, including director of Surgical Services in a U.S. Naval Hospital in Japan, and chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology in a large Washington D.C. area military hospital. Most recently, she served as the Navy Medicine director of Healthcare Operations, and as senior advisor to the Navy Surgeon General for MHS governance and reform. Now a Captain, Shaughnessy-Granger is currently assigned as the executive officer of Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command and Naval Health Clinic Quantico, Va. Her military decorations include the Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal (two), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (four), Humanitarian Service Medal, and the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal. She earned her earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Villanova and her Master of Science in Nurse Midwifery at Georgetown University. She returned to Villanova for her DNP, where she was named a 2017 Pat Tillman Foundation Scholar. At Villanova, Shaughnessy-Granger is a volunteer leader with the Villanova Veterans alumni affinity group. She received the 2019 MHS Award for Nursing Leadership Excellence, and in 2021 was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.

Emily Smith is a senior project manager at the Metropolitan Mechanical Contractors (MMC), a fully integrated mechanical services contractor, serving facilities in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and North and South Dakota. She started at MMC in 2015 as an assistant project manager and was promoted in 2018 to project manager. Prior to MMC, Smith took part in a three-year Career Development Program at Air Products, which took her from Allentown, Pa., to Granite City, Ill., and Houston, Texas. Upon completion of the program, she worked as a project engineer with Air Products in Chicago, designing and managing installations of customer stations from the proposal phase through implementation. In 2010, she interned for RedGroup in Minneapolis, assisting in the research and testing of various products, specifically in the biomedical engineering field. She is a licensed professional engineer in Minnesota, a member of the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers, and a Certified Healthcare Constructor. Smith graduated cum laude from Villanova University in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. As a student, she was selected as the student chairperson for Villanova’s New Student Orientation Program in her junior year. She also served as president of the College of Engineering’s Student Council. Smith remains actively involved with her alma mater, most recently serving six years as president of the Villanova University Club of the Twin Cities.

About Villanova University: Since 1842, Villanova University’s Augustinian Catholic intellectual tradition has been the cornerstone of an academic community in which students learn to think critically, act compassionately and succeed while serving others. There are more than 10,000 undergraduate, graduate and law students in the University's six colleges—the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Villanova School of Business, the College of Engineering, the M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing, the College of Professional Studies and the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. Ranked among the nation’s top universities, Villanova supports its students’ intellectual growth and prepares them to become ethical leaders who create positive change everywhere life takes them. For more, visit www.villanova.edu.