Margaret A McKenna

Margaret McKenna is president of Suffolk University; the first woman to lead the university since its founding in 1906. President McKenna, an attorney, comes to Suffolk University from the Sillerman Center for the Advancement of Philanthropy at Brandeis University, where she is a visiting professor and acting director. President McKenna’s spent 22 years as president of Lesley College, during which time the college grew from 2,000 to more than 10,000 students, from a college to a university, and from a small regional college to a nationally recognized leader in teacher education. She has also served as vice-president of Radcliffe College and as a fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University. As president of the Walmart Foundation from 2007 to 2011, President McKenna created a strategy that emphasized hunger relief, education, and the economic empowerment of women. McKenna began her career as a civil rights attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. She has served as deputy counsel in the White House and as undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Education, and she led the education transition team for President Clinton. She is the vice-chair of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Board and sits on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. President McKenna earned a BA from Emmanuel College and a JD from Southern Methodist University. Ms. McKenna was a civil rights attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice and held a variety of positions with the U.S. government from 1976 to 1981, including deputy counsel in the White House and deputy under secretary of education.