Roger Williams University class of 1980 alum Tim Yeaton was named Chairman of the Board of Trustees on Nov. 3. Yeaton is the second alumni to be chair of the board and one of many alumni sitting on the board as all of the Vice Chairs are alumni of the university. 

The Board of Trustees is composed of 30 senior volunteers who are organized into committees by the chair to improve and oversee dealings in RWU. 

Yeaton’s term as chair will last for two years before he is succeeded by a new chair. 

According to Yeaton, the board’s job is to oversee and provide support to the long term plans of the university, not the day to day dealings, which is overseen by the administration including the President and Provost. 

“It is truly an honor for me, but I think for all of [the trustees] – they’re all as strongly committed to university as am I so I could not be more humble or honored,” said Yeaton. 

Yeaton believes that the university is “quite simply in the strongest position with the greatest potential that [he has] ever seen in…46 years.” He praised President Ioannis Miaoulis and his leadership team who have helped to lead the university’s strategic plan. 

In his term as chair, Yeaton said he wants to set the board up to grow in a direction that is “sustainable” even after he is required to step down. 

As a student, Yeaton attended RWU between 1976 and 1980, earning a bachelor’s degree in Marketing. 

Yeaton was very involved at the school. He said, “I did everything that I could have done that seemed interesting to me.” 

These activities included being a player on the men’s varsity soccer team for all four years of his college career, as well as being a Resident Assistant (RA). 

In his time on the soccer team and being a captain his senior year, Yeaton said that he was able to meet peers from all over the globe which helped shape his experience at RWU. 

Additionally, Yeaton said he was an RA in a small north campus dorm on the Nike Missle Silo property which was donated to the university by the government. 

In regard to his time as an RA, Yeaton said, “It was how do you engage, how do you build relationships, how do you collaborate and 95% of the time it was fun, and it was a really good learning experience for leadership skills and negotiation skills.”

Yeaton said he developed close relationships with his professors, highlighting the mentorship he received from them as well as the personal relationships with his former professors that he maintained after graduation. 

Going forward as chair, Yeaton said he is focused on giving back.

“The thing about [being elected chair] that means the most to me is it is probably the best way I can give back,” said Yeaton. “I’ve been blessed in my life and my career and so much of my life since then was shaped by my experience with Roger Williams [University]. It was academic, it was leadership, it was my experiential learning and sports.”