Five new members elected to Centre College Board of Trustees

The fall meeting of the Centre College Board of Trustees took place October 15 and included the election of five new board members. “We are pleased to welcome this talented group of alumni,” said President Milton Moreland. “Their commitment to the College and their leadership experiences will ensure that Centre continues to thrive.” The new members are Wijdan Jreisat ’91, Jane Hopkins ’94, John R. Farris ’95, Leonard Napolitano ’97, and Stephen Hodges ’99.

John R. Farris has seen Centre through almost every possible lens. As a student, he participated in Centre-in-London, played on the tennis team, and helped with research for economics professor Harry Landreth’s textbook before graduating Phi Beta Kappa with majors in economics and philosophy. After earning a master’s in public administration at Princeton, he taught part time for six years at the College and was interim CFO and an advisor on the endowment. Farris also worked as an analyst at the World Bank and as secretary of the Kentucky finance and administration cabinet and he recently started AgriCapture, an agriculture tech company that captures carbon off farms in the Mississippi River Valley.

He also founded two other companies, LandFund Partners, which manages more than 40,000 acres of farmland in the Mississippi River Valley for pooled fund and direct investors, and Commonwealth Economics, which works with both public and private sectors to fund infrastructure projects. He is especially pleased that the three companies have hired a number of Centre graduates and about 25 interns over the years.

“I had great internships and professional mentors while at Centre so I have always tried to “pay it forward.” It is so nice to see so many of my former students grow into leaders in business and their communities.”

While at Centre, Jane Hopkins participated in as many things as she could, including swim team, piano, Centre-in-London and the sorority Kappa Alpha Theta.

“One of the special things about Centre is that it nurtures the whole person, the academic life but also the social, the physical, and mental wellness,” Hopkins said.

She is especially excited by the new Initiative for Wellness and Athletic Excellence, which she thinks will enhance the College’s long-standing emphasis on all aspects of its students’ lives.

After graduating from Centre as a government major, Hopkins, originally from Lexington, Kentucky, obtained a master’s in public administration at New York University.

She is now is president of the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation, an initiative the company  began in 1986 to celebrate its 100th anniversary. Each year the foundation receives about 100,000 applications for its 150 scholarships that support high school seniors with strong academics, demonstrated service and leadership experience.

It’s a position that particularly suits Hopkins. She graduated from Centre convinced she was looking for “a calling with a purpose,” and the Coca-Cola scholarships are more than just financial support.

“The hope is we are creating this whole network of service-minded leaders who remain connected to each other to amplify each other’s voices, to connect, inspire and engage with each other,” said Hopkins. “We want this to be an ongoing investment in their leadership skills and to continue to help them show up as the best version of themselves in all situations.”

Wijdan Jreisat is a litigator with Katz, Teller in Cincinnati, focusing primarily on family and employment law.

She graduated from Centre summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with degrees in English and history, before earning a law degree at the University of Virginia.

Jreisat has many happy memories of her Centre experience, though she is proudest of being part of a group that planned and launched the College’s first residential study-abroad program, Centre-in-London, in 1990.

“The current menu of travel abroad options brings me joy and great satisfaction at having played a small role in setting the plan in process,” she said.

“Centre has always been one of my ‘happy places,’ a place with which I have a visceral positive connection,” she said. “But as I grow older, I appreciate all the ways in which it shaped the person I am. I hope to give back some of what this special place has given to me and to challenge us to greater success.”

Leonard “Nappi” Napolitano came to Centre after service in the Army where he rose to the rank of Specialist. He majored in history, played football, participated in Greek life as a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon and was a member of the Army’s Reserve Officer Training Corps.

Napolitano attended Centre thanks to the G.I. Bill, Pell Grants, the Green to Gold scholarship and other financial aid. He has been such an enthusiastic volunteer that in 2007 the College named him Centre’s first Young Associate of the Year.

As an Army reservist, Napolitano was mobilized in connection with the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Furthermore he served as a Red Cross Disaster Action Team volunteer, a role that took him to the Gulf Coast for several months immediately following Hurricane Katrina.

The New York native has enjoyed a remarkably successful career as an entrepreneur in educational software for higher education. A founding employee of Blackboard Inc., then a start-up internet software company, he helped build it into one of the world’s premier providers of software to higher education. Most recently, he joined Capture Higher Ed, a leading enrollment management and marketing firm based in Louisville, in 2019 and is now its C.E.O.

“Providing access and support, and enabling all students to achieve their exceptional potential has always been central to a Centre education,” Napolitano said. “I’m looking forward to being able to help ensure that for future generations of students.”

Stephen Hodges has made his career in banking and investing, most recently with ZimCal Asset Management, a company he founded in 2015 which invests in niche, illiquid and complex credit-related opportunities.  Prior to ZimCal, Hodges worked for 2 successful credit-focused investment firms.

An economics major—and standout basketball player—at Centre, he was also a leader in the Diversity Student Union, organized an annual basketball camp for underprivileged teens in Danville, volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Kentucky and tutored middle schoolers in mathematics.  He later earned an M.B.A. at the University of Chicago where he focused on analytical finance and graduated with honors.

In addition to starting his own investment firm, Hodges also co-founded a nonprofit called One for Many; it was inspired, in part, by his mother’s generosity. She made him realize that “we should do as much as we can to help our neighbors and communities now rather than later,” he said.

Born and raised in southern Africa, Hodges’ parents were from Zimbabwe and England, which imbued him with a multicultural viewpoint.  Hodges came to the United States to attend Centre.

“I’ve always felt incredibly grateful for the people and organizations that have helped me get to where I am today—and Centre is a big part of that,” he said.