Amy L. Towers Re-Elected Chair of Board of Governors

José Piazza to serve as vice chair

Amy L. Towers was elected to a third one-year term as chair of the Rutgers University Board of Governors. The board also elected José Piazza as vice chair at its June 23, 2026, meeting.

The terms begin July 1, 2026.

Towers, who joined the board in 2020, established The Nduna Foundation in 2007 to advance interventions in nutrition and public health, community redevelopment, and human rights. Previously, she worked in corporate banking in Chicago, Hong Kong, and New York, and on Wall Street as a hedge fund founder and chief operating officer. During the past 20 years, she has served on several nonprofit boards ranging from community-based organizations to large national and multinational boards - including UNICEF and the CDC Foundation - providing leadership on international issues and public health.

Towers previously served as the chair of the Rutgers University Foundation Board of Directors and currently serves as the board chair of MANA Nutritive Aid, and as a board member of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, International Peace Institute and Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC). She was also a founding member of the board of advisors to The Elders, created by Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Richard Branson, and Peter Gabriel to work for peace, justice, human rights, and a sustainable planet.

A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Towers has been recognized for her humanitarian efforts around the globe. She is a recipient of UNICEF's Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award and has also been recognized by the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, the Elizabeth Glazer Pediatric AIDS Foundation, the International Center for Research on Women and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

José Piazza has served on Rutgers governing boards since 2011 and has recently completed his sixth year as a member of the Board of Governors and second year on the Camden Board of Directors. Piazza has shared his expertise on numerous committees, including two years as chair of the Committee on Academic and Student Affairs. He has also shared his financial acumen as a member of the committees on audit risk and compliance, finance and facilities, and the Joint Committee on Investments.

During his time on the Board of Trustees, from 2011 to 2021, Piazza served one term as chair and two terms as vice chair. He also chaired the Executive Committee and the Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity, and he worked to support students as chair of task forces on philanthropy and student aid.

A finance executive with experience in strategic planning and forecasting, reporting and analysis, Piazza has served as Verizon's vice president of finance for the consumer and mass business group and vice president for finance transformation. He is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Management Accountant and holds an MBA in finance/accounting from the University of Rochester and a BSBA in accounting from Washington University in St. Louis. He has served in leadership positions for several nonprofit organizations, including HISPA, CASA of New Jersey, the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA), Puerto Ricans in Management and Executive Roles, and as a founding board member and advisor of the NSHMBA New Jersey chapter.

The board also honored outgoing board member James F. Dougherty, who has served on the board for six years and is currently vice chair through the end of June. He previously served on the Board of Trustees from 2012-2020, where he served as chair and vice chair and was instrumental in establishing the Scarlet Promise Initiative, a foundational scholarship program at Rutgers that has raised millions and supported thousands of students.

Dougherty, a veterinarian and philanthropist, earned his bachelor's degree in biological sciences in 1974 and his master's in animal science in 1975 from Rutgers University in New Brunswick. This year, he was inducted into the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni.