William Fitzgerald appointed Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Worcester Polytechnic Institute | News
William “Bill” Fitzgerald, honored alumnus (Class of 1983) and distinguished engineer and business leader, has been named Chairman of the Board. A WPI director since 2013, he began his service as chairman earlier this month. He succeeds Jack Mollen, who will leave the Board of Directors this summer after 15 years of good and loyal service.
Fitzgerald recently retired from GE Aviation where he served as vice president and general manager of commercial engine operations and was responsible for all commercial jet engine products and global support, including GEnx product line, the best-selling jet engine in GE’s history. Throughout his career, he has worked to increase the manufacturing efficiency and performance of GE engines. After earning his BSc in Mechanical Engineering from WPI, he began his career at GE Aviation in the Manufacturing Development Program and progressed to technical and operational leadership positions in supply chain companies and engine services in the United States and Europe. He also earned a master’s degree in manufacturing engineering from Boston University and is a graduate of GE’s Advanced Manufacturing course. In 2013, he received WPI’s Robert H. Goddard Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement from the WPI Alumni Association. In his last service on the WPI Board of Directors, he chaired the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Task Force, which focused on assessing practices and goals. of the Board of Directors in recruiting and developing members capable of authentically representing the present and the future. WPI community. These efforts inform the work of the board’s Nominating and Governance Committee, which he began chairing this year. Fitzgerald is also Vice Chairman of the National Board of Directors of March of Dimes.
“Bill is an exceptional leader who is deeply committed to helping WPI continue its commitment to transforming lives – on campus and around the world – through this pioneering project-based approach to STEM education. university,” said WPI President Laurie A. Leshin. “He deeply values the distinctiveness of WPI’s educational approach which provides opportunities for our students, faculty, researchers, alumni and staff to use their knowledge, skills and passions to help solve the world’s great problems. , wherever they are and in any context.”
Leshin will leave WPI at the end of this academic year to become the director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. From then on, Provost and Senior Vice President Winston Oluwole “Wole” Soboyejo will serve as Acting President.
