Who's On the Board of Trustees

Gaining a bachelor’s degree from years of attending college is a significant milestone but ultimately one chapter to start a career full of chapters. The Board of Trustees at RIT is aware of that, selling the co-op program as a focal point in convincing prospective students to attend the university.     

Out of 42 members on the Board of Trustees, 30 members are RIT alumni.  In our interviews with three members who are also alumni, they explained that they all have built careers that lasted decades and maintained a connection with RIT over the years.  

Jim Swift: Running Start-Ups

Jim Swift, a board member and an alumni, is the CEO of Buxton, located in Fort Worth, Texas. It is a data company that helps create consumer brands, aiming to draw customers and earn customer loyalty.  Swift graduated from RIT in 1988 with a degree in mechanical engineering.  

“I turned [the degree in mechanical engineering] into a career in software and analytics and have been involved in several different startup businesses that have been acquired by larger businesses,” Swift said.  

In his years of working in analytic companies, Swift “built solutions for a variety of things for banks or insurance companies, for law enforcement.  All kinds of ways that you can take data and figure out how to help people out,” he said. 

This career shaped Swift’s approach as a member of the board of trustees to consider factors to strengthen RIT’s appeal as a school: “What we try to do is listen to the market, you know with the employers.  What kinds of skills do they need?  And where is the overall trend going?  How do we give our students the best chance to be relevant and to succeed in the future?”  This career shaped Swift’s approach as a member of the board of trustees to consider factors to strengthen RIT’s appeal as a school: “What we try to do is listen to the market, you know with the employers.  What kinds of skills do they need?  And where is the overall trend going?  How do we give our students the best chance to be relevant and to succeed in the future?”  

Sharon Napier: Marketing RIT As a Top University

Sharon Napier, founder and executive chair of Partners+Napier and a member of the board of trustees, graduated from RIT with a master's inleadership and innovation. The company works with national brands like Delta and BMW to provide services such as “strategy data and insights, brand positioning, advertising, social, video production and content.  So we’re pretty in-depth relationship with our clients.” Napier said.

As a graduate student at RIT, Napier got her master's at 43. “I was a late bloomer, but I loved my experience,” said Napier. The master's would give her skills that proved vital when Napier brought out the agency she worked for at that time and renamed it Partners+Napier.  “I was, you know, an adult already. I had been a CEO… and really kind of took my thinking to the next level. I think it really gave me the courage to fly out the agency and start my own.”  

Napier’s road to the board started when President Destler asked her to join the President’s Council in 2013.  “I served on that for about three to four years,” Napier recounted.  “I must have done a good job because they asked me to be on the board of trustees.”  

Jeffery Harris: Emphasizing Student Success

Jeffery Harris, the chair of the board, graduated from RIT in 1975 with a degree in photographic science and instrumentation, now known as imaging science.  Harris joined the CIA after graduation, his first job processing images from a film that was inside a satellite known as Cage Nine.  Harris reviewed the film and confirmed that the camera inside the satellite was exposed to get high-quality resolution.  

“Then the film was immediately sent to Washington D.C.,” Harris described the process.  “Where the analysts look at it in a prioritized order to tell the president and the seniors in the government what they need to know about what's happening on the world stage.” 

After his work with the government, Harris worked for Lockheed Martin, running a satellite manufacturing operation in California. Harris was in charge of making sure all parts for the satellites were accounted for and that the timelines were met.  

Harris maintained his RIT connections by making sure to hire graduates from that university.  He also visited the campus every time he visited Rochester.  In 2007, Harris was asked to join the board due to his knowledge of how the government in D.C. operated.  Harris’s experience with the government was essential due to the university receiving research financial support from the National Science Foundation.  RIT needs to maintain a wide network of resources that would equip students in order to be able to recruit more students.  The ability to recruit more students that would go on to thrive boosted RIT’s standings with potential resources.  

Alumni Power on the Board

A thread became apparent in the interviews with the alumni who are on the board: not only did they graduate with a degree from RIT, they maintained contact with the school.  Alumnus on theboard wanted to ensure students would be supported and have the resources that weren't previously available.  

The allure of a degree from RIT is the potential of working for a corporation that will pay well after graduation.  RIT is connected to sources that may offer job opportunities not only because of its reputation, but because alumni help maintain RIT’s connections to the companies that may consider students.  The board of trustees is always looking for ways to elevate student success.  The value of graduating from RIT with a degree does not only rely on student success, it also is dependent on alumni that know how the world works.