Denis McDonough Appointed to WGU Board of Trustees
By Mia Sanoja, Senior Associate, Executive Communications
Today, Western Governors University (WGU) is pleased to announce that Denis McDonough, Principal of Clarion Strategies, Scholar-in-Residence at St. John's University (MN), and former U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs, has joined the WGU Board as its newest Trustee.
Widely recognized as a results-driven leader with a deep understanding of government, McDonough was nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed in a strong bipartisan vote of the Senate to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs where he worked with Congress to expand access to employment and education opportunities for veterans. Prior to his time with the VA, McDonough held leadership roles across government, academia and the nonprofit sector. He served as White House Chief of Staff for the entire second term of the Obama Presidency and as Principal Deputy National Security Adviser in the first term, where he oversaw crisis management and national security policymaking, to include the successful pursuit of Osama bin Laden. McDonough was also Professor of the Practice of Public Policy at the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame and served on a number of boards, including the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
In each of the four years of his tenure at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, VA expanded access to benefits, including education benefits, for Veterans and deepened education partnerships. Included in those partnerships were the VRRAP program to retrain veterans for high-demand jobs, and targeted housing initiatives, including in Los Angeles, that reduced veteran homelessness by 23%. Prior to his time with the VA, McDonough served as a senior adviser to the Markle Foundation, where he worked to create a skills-based labor market accessible to all Americans. This work underscores McDonough’s commitment to expanding access to education, career pathways and overall wellbeing for veterans.
“Denis has displayed incredible leadership in advancing access to opportunity, especially for those who have so honorably served our country,” said WGU President Scott Pulsipher. “I’m confident that his passion and experience will strengthen WGU’s efforts to ensure higher education lives up to its promise as a driver of economic mobility and wellbeing for our students.”
McDonough added, “I am honored to join the WGU Board of Trustees and continue serving veteran and military families in this new capacity. I look forward to advancing WGU’s mission and supporting students’ pathways to meaningful careers.”
Joe Fuller, chair of WGU’s Board of Trustees, a distinguished management professor at Harvard Business School, and co-director of the school’s Managing the Future of Work project, said, “We are delighted to welcome Denis to our Board. His unbridled passion for expanding access to opportunity through education and skills-based programs, as well as his leadership in policymaking will be instrumental in advancing WGU’s mission.”
We look forward to the positive impact Denis will bring to the WGU community as a trustee.
