Meet Our New Board Members
RWU Law's BOD welcomes 11 new “leaders of the bench, bar and non-profit and business sectors; diverse in every sense; and, like those who preceded them, excellent role models and advocates for our students.”
Roger Willliams University School of Law is proud to announce an impressive roster of 11 new members to its Board of Directors, representing a broad cross section of the bench and bar. Their tenures will begin on July 1, when nine longtime directors will cycle off the board.
“Even as we say goodbye to that stalwart group, we are fortunate and proud to welcome an assemblage of equally outstanding new members,” said board chair Judge William E. Smith, of the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island. “They are once again leaders of the bench, bar and non-profit and business sectors; diverse in every sense; and, like those who preceded them, excellent role models and advocates for our students.”
Demonstrating the growing maturity of Rhode Island’s only law school, the full board of 30 members – which includes incoming Dean Gregory W. Bowman in an ex officio capacity – will boast no fewer than 12 RWU Law alumni, six of them from among the new group of members.
Outgoing Dean Michael J. Yelnosky, whose term ends on June 30, said he is confident that the School of Law is in good hands.
“I am thrilled for the law school and for Dean Bowman that so many talented and committed individuals have agreed to join our Board of Directors,” Yelnosky said. “They are a remarkable group, and I am especially pleased at the increase in the number of RWU Law alumni who are now members of the board. It is a sign of our maturity as an institution, and those alumni are proof positive of the impact our graduates are having in their chosen fields.”
Dean Bowman said he looks forward to working with the full board membership.
“The new members of the board are a truly impressive group of leaders from the bench and bar,” Bowman said. “It will be a pleasure collaborating with the common goal of serving the law school and the state of Rhode Island.”
The new members of the RWU Law Board of Directors are:
Collin Bailey ’08- Vice President, Technology Business Office, Hudson's Bay Company
Alyssa Boss ’97- Partner, Cameron & Mittleman
Marek P. Bute ’05- Strategic Engagements Business Development Manager, Amazon Web Services
J. Scott Kilpatrick- Partner, Chisholm, Chisholm & Kilpatrick
Zachary Mandell ’11- Partner, Mandell, Boisclair & Mandell
Michael Robinson ’00- Partner, Shechtman, Halperin, Savage
Ondine Galvez Sniffin- Law Offices of Ondine Galvez Sniffin
The Honorable Brian Stern- Rhode Island Superior Court
Katherine Sulentic ’09- Associate Director of Enforcement, NCAA Academic Integrity Unit
The Honorable O. Rogeriee Thompson- United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
Stephen Zubiago- Partner, Nixon Peabody
Judge Smith will continue as chair of the Board. Nicole J. Benjamin, Esq. ’06 of Adler Pollock & Sheehan P.C. will serve as vice-chair, the Honorable Patricia Sullivan as treasurer, and Howard Merten, Esq. of Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP as secretary. A full list of the RWU Law Board of Directors for the 2020-21 academic year can be found here.