City College Alumnus Richard J. Henley Endows $2.5m Colin Powell School Deanship

The City College of New York is pleased to announce a $2.5 million gift to establish the Richard J. Henley and Susan L. Davis Deanship at the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership. This named deanship is the first of its kind since the Colin L. Powell Center for Leadership and Service was consolidated into the Division of Social Sciences to form the Colin Powell School in 2013. 

Richard J. Henley, an émigré from Poland whose family fled from communism and anti-Semitism when he was a toddler, received his primary education in New York City public schools. After graduating from Franklin School, he simultaneously earned a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Arts, Summa Cum Laude, from City College in 1978. He was also inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. 

Henley currently serves as President and CEO at Healthcare Strategic Solutions, LLC, an advisory firm focused on optimizing enterprise value for health systems, private equity firms, portfolio companies, and other business entities through strategy, leadership and business development. Susan L. Davis, R.N., Ed.D., an experienced healthcare executive, is managing partner at Healthcare Strategic Solutions, LLC.

“Richard and Susan’s gift to the school is inspiring and visionary, and this endowment will allow the Colin Powell School dean the flexibility to select and invest in programs that advance his vision,” said Vincent G. Boudreau, Ph.D., President of City College. “For donors to give this kind of support demonstrates a profound understanding of how best to cultivate innovation, and generations of CCNY students will benefit from their generosity. This gift will reshape the work of the school, and I am profoundly grateful for it.”    

The Colin Powell School’s current dean is Andrew Rich, Ph.D., a political scientist who has held the position since February 2019.

“It is always so inspiring to work with alumni who wish to make an impact on the College, and this gift to the Colin Powell School reaffirms the vision of the school as a leader across diverse educational departments,” said Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Communications Dee Dee Mozeleski, who is also the executive director of The Foundation for City College Inc. “The School will benefit from this in so many ways, and Richard and Susan’s continuing involvement in the leadership of the School will transform the CCNY experience for thousands of students every year.” 

During his studies at City College, Henley became interested in healthcare and economics, and he credits the College’s placement office for helping him to land his first job after graduation, at Mount Sinai Medical Center, where he held increasingly responsible positions. Over the course of the next few decades, he worked at a series of healthcare organizations in senior leadership positions as a CEO, COO, CAO and CFO, culminating in his founding of Healthcare Strategic Solutions in 2008.

"For us, this gift is about paying it forward by helping to create academic opportunities for students at the Colin Powell School so they can help make our world a better place,” said Henley.

About the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership 
Established in April 2013, the Colin Powell School is home to the social science departments at CCNY as well as the core leadership development and public service programs of the College. With almost 4,000 students, and graduating the most CCNY students annually, the Colin Powell School mission is to transform the nation’s most diverse student body into tomorrow’s global leaders. Half of our students are immigrants; most come from lower income backgrounds. More than seventy percent are first-generation college students, and eighty percent are people of color. The Colin Powell School and City College remain among the most effective engines of economic and social mobility in the United States. The School is led by a faculty dedicated to the highest standards of research and to the university’s democratic and public obligations. Read more about the Colin Powell School.

About the City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Emsi puts at $1.9 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 16,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.