The Rutgers University Board of Governors has announced the re-election of Amy Towers to a third one-year term as chair. Her new term officially begins on July 1. During the board’s June 23 meeting, members also elected José Piazza to serve as vice chair.
Towers, who has been a member of the Board of Governors since 2020, brings an extensive background in global humanitarian efforts and finance to the role. In 2007, she established The Nduna Foundation, an organization focused on public health, nutrition, and human rights. Her distinguished career includes serving on the boards of UNICEF and the CDC Foundation, among others.
A recipient of UNICEF’s Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award, Towers has been widely recognized for her international work. Before transitioning to the nonprofit sector, she held significant roles in corporate banking and on Wall Street as a hedge fund founder and chief operating officer. She previously served as the chair of the Rutgers University Foundation Board of Directors.
Joining Towers in leadership is José Piazza, a seasoned finance executive with a long history of service to Rutgers’ governing boards dating back to 2011. Piazza recently concluded his sixth year on the Board of Governors and has served as a member of the Camden Board of Directors for the past two years.
Piazza’s tenure at the university includes significant contributions to the Committee on Academic and Student Affairs, audit risk and compliance, and finance and facilities committees. During his previous ten years on the Board of Trustees, he served as chair and vice chair, and chaired the Executive Committee and the Ad Hoc Committee on Diversity.
Outside of his university governance roles, Piazza has held leadership positions at Verizon, including serving as vice president of finance for the consumer and mass business group. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Management Accountant, holding an MBA from the University of Rochester and a BSBA from Washington University in St. Louis. He has also been a dedicated leader for various nonprofits, including the Association of Latino Professionals for America (ALPFA) and HISPA.
