University of San Diego Board Names Donald R. Knauss Next Chairman
Donald R. Knauss has been named the incoming Chairman of the University of San Diego Board of Trustees. Knauss will assume the role on July 1 when current Chairman Ron L. Fowler steps down. The university’s board also appointed new members Mark Bosco and Tom Mulvaney, JD ’77 to terms beginning July 1.
Knauss joined the USD board of trustees in 2008 while he served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Clorox Corporation. As CEO, Knauss had overall responsibility for directing the company’s worldwide business that generated revenues of $5.6 billion in fiscal year 2014. Prior to joining Clorox, Knauss spent 12 years with The Coca-Cola Company.
A native of Highland, IN, Knauss serves on the Kellogg Company and URS Corporation board of directors; Indiana University dean’s advisory board, College of Arts and Sciences; Morehouse College Board of Trustees; and the Marine Corps University Foundation Board of Trustees. Knauss and his wife, Ellie have four children including a child who is a graduate of USD.
Knauss will succeed Ron Fowler who has served on the USD board since 1996. Since becoming board chair in 2006, Fowler, the Executive Chairman of the San Diego Padres, and Chairman and CEO of Liquid Investments, Inc., has provided financial oversight to the university, and vision on everything from Torero athletics to academic affairs and student life. He is currently steering the university through a $300 million capital campaign.
In 2012, Fowler and his wife, Alexis, generous donation to the university allowed USD to build beautiful Fowler Park, the 1,700 seat, state-of-the-art home of Torero Baseball.
An active member of the USD community, new board member Mark Bosco is an Arizona attorney and current USD parent. Bosco is a member of the American Foreclosure Network, the Mortgage Bankers Association of America and America’s Mortgage Banking Attorneys Board of Directors. He is also the past director of Silver State Bancorp. Currently a shareholder in Tiffany & Bosco, P.A., a Phoenix-based law firm. Bosco is also co-founder, chairman, and co-owner of the National Default Servicing Corporation, and he serves as counsel for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, providing services related to foreclosures, bankruptcies, and evictions in Arizona.
Longtime USD supporter Tom Mulvaney ’77 is a graduate of USD’s School of Law. In 2012, Mulvaney and his wife, Karen, launched the Mulvaney Challenge, a campaign which funded the first endowment for the Center for Community Service Learning. In 2014, the Mulvaneys renewed their commitment to the Center and increased the endowment to nearly $4 million. In honor of their generous support, the Center was renamed the Karen and Tom Mulvaney Center for Community, Awareness, and Social Action (CASA). Chairman Fowler noted, “The Mulvaneys have left an indelible, positive impact on USD. Through their generosity, USD has expanded its outreach and changed the lives of our students and our community partners.” The Mulvaneys are also the parents of a USD alumnus.
About the University of San Diego
Strengthened by the Catholic intellectual tradition, we confront humanity’s challenges by fostering peace, working for justice and leading with love. With more than 8,000 students from 75 countries and 44 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. USD’s eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Knauss School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. In 2021, USD was named a “Laudato Si’ University” by the Vatican with a seven-year commitment to address humanity’s urgent challenges by working together to take care of our common home.