The Board of Governors is a self-perpetuating body entrusted with the task of supervising, controlling, and managing the affairs of Thomas Aquinas College in such a way as to achieve its end as outlined in the College’s founding document, A Proposal for the Fulfillment of Catholic Liberal Education. All authority and responsibility within the College originates with the Board of Governors, which is its legal board of trustees under the laws of the State of California. The Board consists of no more than 30 men and women, seven of whom must be either the founding members or members of the Faculty of Thomas Aquinas College. The other members, drawn from various parts of the United States, are chosen for their knowledge, experience, and general ability to assist the College in achieving its purpose.
Current Governors | Governors Emeriti | Deceased Governors
CURRENT GOVERNORS
(* indicates College faculty member)
Chairman: R. Scott Turicchi
Chief Executive Officer of Consensus
Vice Chairman: Dieter Huckestein
Chairman and CEO of Hotel and Procurement Services, LLC
President: Paul J. O’Reilly*
President of Thomas Aquinas College, 2022-present; Vice President for Development, 2011-20; Vice President for Advancement, 2020-22; senior tutor
Secretary: John J. Goyette*
Senior Tutor and Vice President for Advancement, Thomas Aquinas College
Rev. Mr. Robert W. Andrews
Permanent Deacon, Archdiocese of San Francisco; former Managing Director, Cambridge Associates LLC
Robert J. Barbera
President of Barbera Management, a real estate investment company in Monrovia, California; Chairman of the Board, Americanism Educational League
Steven Cain*
Dean of Thomas Aquinas College, New England, and senior tutor
Angela Y. Connelly
Board Member, Archdiocese of Seattle Fulcrum Foundation for Catholic Schools and Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital; a member of the Thomas Aquinas College Class of 1987
R. Glen Coughlin*
Senior tutor and former Dean, Thomas Aquinas College
Peter L. DeLuca*
Founder, former Interim President, senior tutor, Thomas Aquinas College
Mariano Diaz-Bonilla
Lumen8 Advisors, LLC
Michael K. Grace
Intellectual property and trial attorney; member of the Sovereign Council of the Sovereign Order of Malta
Anthony Grumbine
Senior Principal, Harrison Design
John J. Guinee
Managing partner and founder of Constitution Capital Partners, a full-service alternative asset manager focusing on the North American middle market sector
Thomas J. Kaiser*
Former dean of Thomas Aquinas College, New England (2019 to 2022) and senior tutor
Brian T. Kelly*
Senior tutor, Thomas Aquinas College
Thomas R. Krause
Founding Partner, Krause Bell Group; Chairman of the Board, Geo-Links; Chairman of the Board, Ojai Chautauqua; President, Agora Foundation
Michael Letteney
Dean of Thomas Aquinas College, California, and senior tutor
Michael F. McLean*
President of Thomas Aquinas College, 2009-2022; Dean, 2003-09; Vice President for Development, 1987-92; senior tutor
Mark E. Montgomery
Member of the Board of Directors and officer of Montgomery Management Company, a real estate management and development business in Los Angeles, California
Bernarda Neal
Board member: Catholic Leadership Institute, EWTN, Legatus, and the Magnificat Foundation
Lloyd Noble, II
Investor, oil and gas ventures and marketable securities; Director and Officer for various privately held companies; Director for the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs; Knight of the Holy Sepulchre; Knight in the American Association of the Order of Malta
Martha Reichert
Former president of Endow (Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women)
Richard F. Spencer
President and Chairman of the Board of Spencer Enterprises, Inc.
Andrew W. Zepeda
Founder and shareholder of Los Angeles-based law firm Lurie, Zepeda, Schmalz, Hogan & Martin; founder and director of Life Legal Defense Foundation; past president of Pasadena Legatus Chapter; past chairman of the Board of Directors of St. Monica Academy; inaugural president of the Thomas Aquinas College Alumni Association; Andy and his wife, Anita, are members of the Thomas Aquinas College class of 1979, parents of nine alumni and two students.
GOVERNORS EMERITI
(* indicates College faculty member)
Judy Barrett
Owner, Chateau Montelena Winery in Calistoga, California; board member, St. Helena Montessori School (St. Helena, California) and NPH-USA, an organization that supports homes for orphaned and abandoned children in nine Latin American and Caribbean countries
James P. Conn
Retired chief investment officer at Transamerica Corp.
Milton F. (“Bud”) Daily
Managing General Partner, M.F. Daily Investment Company
Maria O. Grant
An Overseer of the Huntington Library, Art Gallery and Gardens in Pasadena, California; Board Member of the Dan Murphy Foundation and the Don Bosco Technical Institute; former President, Treasurer, and Board Member of the Pasadena Mental Health Association
Donald E. Swartz
Semi-retired entrepreneur and real-estate investor
DECEASED GOVERNORS
(* indicates former College faculty member)
William Bentley Ball
Senior partner in the Harrisburg, Penn., law firm of Ball, Skelly, Murren & Connell; prominent constitutional lawyer noted for his defense of religious liberty and litigation before the U.S. Supreme Court
James L. Barrett
Owner/operator, Chateau Montelena Winery in Calistoga, Calif.; served as senior partner in the Los Angeles law firm of Barrett, Sterns, Collins, Gleason & Kinney from 1957 to 1979; onetime director and president of the Napa Valley Vintners Association and director of Family Winemakers of California
Marcus R. Berquist*
Founder and senior tutor; formerly taught at St. Mary’s College of California and the University of San Diego
John W. Blewett*
Retired in 1997 after 18 years as Vice-President of the College; previously held senior management positions in employee, industrial, and labor relations with the Kaiser companies from 1963-80
Harry G. Browne, M.D.
Vice President of Therapeutic Antibodies, Inc., New York, New York; Clinical Assistant professor of pathology at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine; specialist in tropical medicine
Margaret Browne
Dame of Malta; long active in Catholic social services and orphanage work
Walter J. Conn
Chairman, Charles Dunn Co., a property management company in Los Angeles; Trustee Emeritus of Gonzaga University; board member of the International Theological Institute, the Los Angeles Opera, the California Hospital Medical Center Foundation, and the Society Devoted to the Sacred Heart
Thomas E. Dillon*
President of Thomas Aquinas College, 1991-2009; Dean, 1981-91; tutor since 1972; member of the U.S. Department of Education’s National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, which advises the Secretary of Education on matters of accreditation
Rosemary E. Donohue
A Trustee of the Dan Murphy Foundation in Los Angeles, California, previously worked as a clothing designer and marketer.
John Duff
Attorney in San Francisco, California, and legal counsel for the Most Rev. Joseph T. McGucken, Archbishop of San Francisco.
J. Peter Grace
Chairman and president of W.R. Grace & Co.
Frances O’Connor Hardart
Member of the Board of Directors of Mohawk Paper Mills, Inc. and of St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medical Center Auxiliary in New York City; Hospitaller of the American Association of the Order of Malta
William R. Hayden
Founder, Shopping Bag Food Stores; Vice-President, Vons Stores; President, William R. Hayden & Associates, San Gabriel, Calif.; Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory; Knight of Malta; member of the Board of Governors of Thomas Aquinas College 1972-1974
William J. Isaacson
Senior partner in the Chicago law firm of Henehan, Donovan & Isaacson; co-founder of the Institute on Religious Life; Knight of Holy Sepulchre; board member of the Catholic League for Religious & Civil Rights and many other Catholic organizations
Carl N. Karcher
Founder of Carl’s Junior restaurant chain; Chairman Emeritus of Carl Karcher Enterprises; Horatio Alger Award Winner; Knight of Malta
John R. Kiely
Executive consultant to Bechtel, Inc. in San Francisco; Knight of Malta
William S. Lawton, Jr.
Founding Board member of the College; served in the Korean and Vietnam wars and later as a liaison officer in France and Japan; graduate of the State Department’s School of Foreign Service
Sr. Eileen MacDonald, I.H.M.
Superior General of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Wichita, Kansas
J. Edward Martin
Partner at Albert C. Martin and Assoc. in Los Angeles, one of the oldest and largest architectural, engineering and planning firms in the West; instrumental in soliciting the funds necessary to open the College in 1971
Ronald P. McArthur*
Founding president and tutor of the College; previously taught at San Francisco College for Women, St. Mary’s College of California, University of San Francisco, and Santa Clara University
Herbert H. McDade, Jr.
Chairman of Access Pharmaceutical Corp. in Dallas, Tex.; CEO of Thomas Corp.; former chairman and president of Armour Pharmaceutical Corp. and several other pharmaceutical companies
Felix S. McGinnis
President of the Leonardt Foundation of Los Angeles; Knight of Malta; Knight of the Holy Sepulchre; Knight of St. Gregory
Ralph M. McInerny
Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies and Director of the Jacques Maritain Center at the University of Notre Dame; prolific author and co-founder and publisher of Crisis and Catholic Dossier magazines
Edward N. Mills
Founder of Milsolv Companies, a group of chemical and energy concerns in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa; Knight Commander of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem
Francis J. Milligan, Jr.
Senior partner in the Chicago law firm of Hoogendoorn, Talbot, Davids, Godfrey & Milligan; co-founder of the Institute on Religious Life; Knight of Holy Sepulchre; director of National Conference on Christians and Jews and many Catholic organizations
Francis J. Montgomery
CEO of Montgomery Management Co., a real estate management and development business in Los Angeles; Knight of Malta; Knight of the Holy Sepulchre; member of Board of Governors of Thomas Aquinas College, 1971-2003
John W. Neumayr
Founder and senior tutor; formerly taught at Santa Clara University and at St. Mary’s College of California; served as Dean of the College from 1971-81
Richard L. Noble
A partner in the Los Angeles-based law firm of Noble and Campbell; lecturer at the USC Tax Institute and contributor to legal publications; Member of the board of Thomas Aquinas College, 1977-2002
Frederick J. Ruopp
Chairman and CEO of Chelsea Management Co.; Member of the board of Thomas Aquinas College, 1982-2019
John E. Schaeffer
Senior partner in the law firm of Cooper, White and Cooper in San Francisco; member of the Board of Governors, Thomas Aquinas College, 1971-1995
William Weber Smith
Specialist in internal medicine with practice group in Beverly Hills, Calif., associated with Saint John’s Hospital, Santa Monica, as former Chief of Staff and member of its Board of Trustees; associated with Santa Monica Hospital; examiner for the Federal Aviation Administration
Chauncey Stillman
Founder of the Homeland Foundation and the Wethersfield Institute
Thomas P. Sullivan
President of Jefferson Realty Corp. and Jefferson Development Corp. in Los Angeles, California; Board Member, Right to Life League; Vice President of the Salvation Army Board
Esther Wachtell
Founder/Chair of the Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy at the University of Southern California Price School of Public Policy; member of the Board of Governors, Ojai Music Festival; director, Museum of Ventura County; committee member, Campaign for Ojai Hospital/Community Memorial; director, Ojai Community Bank
William A. Wilson
The first United States Ambassador to the Holy See, 1984-86; Personal Envoy to the Vatican (1981-84); Chairman of San Vincente Investments Co., an independent business and financial consulting company in Los Angeles
Joseph A. Wynne
President, Joseph A. Wynne Insurance Agency, San Francisco, Calif.; Knight of Malta; member of the Board of Governors of Thomas Aquinas College 1975-1987; d. 1988
Henry J. Zeiter
Founder and Director of the Zeiter Eye Clinic in Stockton, California; fellow of the American College of Surgeons; member of the American Board of Ophthalmology