Selected to serve four-year terms as trustees on the board are Patricia Chadwick P’16, Kelli Palmer ‘98, Lee Williams and John Replogle P’18, P’25.
The Elon University Board of Trustees has elected four new members to serve four-year terms — Patricia Chadwick P’16, Kelli Palmer ’98, John Replogle P’18, P’25 and Lee Williams.
Patricia Chadwick P’16
From Greenwich, Connecticut, Chadwick is the founder and president of Ravengate Partners LLC, a consulting firm that provides education and advice on financial markets and the global economy. Before founding the firm in 1999, Chadwick spent more than 25 years in the investment management industry, ultimately retiring as a global partner at Invesco. Chadwick is also the CEO and co-founder of Anchor Health Initiative, which provides medical services to the communities of Stamford and New Haven in Connecticut, with a particular focus on the care of LGBT adolescents and adults.
An alumna of Boston University, Chadwick has served on the board of directors of the AMICA Mutual Insurance Co. since 1992. She is also a director of Voya Mutual Funds, Voya Financial, and The Royce Funds. Chadwick was previously a director of Wisconsin Energy Corporation, Wisconsin Electric Power Company, and Wisconsin Gas LLC, SoundView Technology Group and Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited.
Patricia and her husband, John, are the parents of Jim Chadwick ’16, who earned his undergraduate degree in economics from Elon and is now pursuing his MBA at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business, with an expected 2023 graduation date. Patricia Chadwick joined the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business Advisory Board in 2014 and provided strategic leadership as the board’s chair.
Kelli Palmer ’98
From Charlottesville, Virginia, Palmer is the chief diversity officer for WillowTree, a market-leading digital product consultancy serving the world’s most admired brands. In her role, Palmer works to support and expand WillowTree’s existing diversity, equity and inclusion and social impact commitments. Her work supports WillowTree’s environmental, social and corporate governance, and she is involved in ongoing efforts to drive diversity and equity in its workforce demographics.
Palmer graduated from Elon in 1998 with a degree in elementary education. As a student, she was a recipient of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Scholarship and was an Honors Fellow. She was an active participant in the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and held several leadership roles with Residence Life and the Student Government Association. After leaving Elon Palmer went on to receive her master’s degree in counselor education from Wake Forest University and her doctorate in higher education administration from the University of Virginia and later studied at Harvard Business School and Boston College.
An outstanding and engaged Elon alumna, Palmer was named Young Alumna of the Year in 2007 and Distinguished Alumna of the Year in 2016 and as Alumni Board president in 2010, she delivered the commencement address to that year’s graduating class at Elon. She has served on Elon’s Black Life Advisory Council since 2017, is an Alumni 360 volunteer and has been a member of the Elon Mentor Network since 2010.
John Replogle P’18, P’25
Replogle is the founder and member of One Better Ventures, a purpose-driven venture fund based in Raleigh, N.C., launched in 2007 to invest in health and wellness companies. He formerly served as CEO of leading consumer brands Seventh Generation and Burt’s Bees, as well as president of Unilever’s Skin Care business and president of the Guinness Bass Import Co.
A graduate of Dartmouth College who earned his MBA from Harvard University, Replogle serves on the boards of multiple public and private companies, including Wolfspeed (NYSE: WOLF), Grove Collaborative (NYSE: GROV), NC based Gaia Herbs and toy maker Melissa & Doug. He also serves as chair of the boards of Sakara Life and Leesa Sleep. Among his newest endeavors is to serve as founding partner of Take Your Seat, a company created to provide a professional networking community to build diverse boardrooms across the country.
John and his wife, Kristin, are the parents of Elon alumna Tate Replogle ’18, who was a Periclean Scholar at Elon, graduated with a degree in religious studies and went on to serve in the Peace Corps in Albania. John and Kristin served on Elon’s Parents Council from 2015-18, including service as Co-Presidents during the 2017-18 academic year. John currently serves as a member and former chair of the Engineering Advisory Board. They have four nieces and nephews who are attending Elon as well as an “adopted” daughter from Albania who is an engineering scholar.
Lee Williams
Williams is the co-founder and vice-chairman of Live Oak Bank, a cloud-based financial institution that serves small business with deposit and loan services in all 50 states. Prior to launching Live Oak Bank, Williams spent nearly 20 years in corporate banking at Wachovia and worked for 14 years at Vine Street Financial. A resident of Wilmington, N.C., he serves on the boards of the New Hanover Airport Authority, Voyage of Wilmington. He previously served on the boards of St. James Parish and Davis Health Care Center. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in business administration.
Williams is the son of two proud Elon alumni— the late William “Bill” Williams ’50 and Jo Watts Williams ’55, who passed away in 2021. Jo Watts Williams served as a public school teacher before returning to her alma mater in 1969 to join the faculty of the Department of Education and Psychology. She would serve the university in a wide range of leadership roles in the following decades including as associate dean of academic affairs, director of the learning resource center, vice president of development and special assistant to the president. A legendary educator and administrator, she was named Distinguished Alumna of the Year in 1995 and received the Elon Medallion, the university’s highest honor, in 1998. A residence hall in The Oaks neighborhood was named in her honor in 2013 and in 2021, the university announced the newly renamed Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education in recognition of her contributions to the institution and school.