November 04, 2019
Five questions with Kate (Hennedy) Kennedy ’92, National Alumni Association Council president
By Ealish Brawley ’14
The new president of the National Alumni Association Council, Kate (Hennedy) Kennedy ’92, has Providence College in her blood. The College, considered a home by many members of her family, is where she has chosen to invest much of her time and talent.
Kennedy joined her parents, John F. and Marie C. Hennedy, who both taught in the Department of English, and her siblings, Patrick ’88 and Jane ’89, when she became a member of the Friar family as an undergraduate in 1988. She also met her husband, Jeffrey J. Kennedy ’92, while a student. The couple has two sons.
A resident of Warwick, R.I., Kennedy is the vice president of employee benefits for USI Insurance Services, a position she has held since 2018.
Kennedy, who is serving a one-year term as NAA Council president through June 30, 2020, has been involved in alumni volunteer leadership for 10 years. She served as council vice president for one year prior to moving up to the presidency. From 2009-2018, she was a board member of the Greater Providence Chapter of the NAA, the Mal Brown Club, and was club president from 2012-2015.
She also has assisted the Center for Career Education and Professional Development as a shadowing day mentor and etiquette dinner volunteer, given the keynote address at a Student-to-Alumni Networking Night, and been a panelist at a Leadership Fellows Retreat. She has served the Department of Health Policy and Management as a mock interviewer and hired a handful of its graduates.
“I’ve loved staying connected with the ever-more-impressive student community as an executive mentor, speaker, and sponsor for interns and recent grad hires,” said Kennedy. She credits the College as being a source of grace in her life and is thrilled to give back as the NAA Council president.
She also hopes that more alumni will seek opportunities to get involved with alumni clubs and activities and with the College itself.
“I would encourage people who may be interested to do a little bit of research, get in contact with the College, with the alumni relations office, or with the alumni volunteers who are listed on the website. It’s really simple to get involved, and it’s been enjoyable and enriching for me to do so,” she said.
Learn more about Kennedy and her thoughts about PC:
If you were a student at PC today, what class would you want to take?
Since I am an English major who became an employee benefits consultant, I would take classes offered in the Department of Health Policy and Management and the new Business and Innovation minor.
Who influenced you the most when you were a student here?
This is an interesting question because both of my parents taught at PC while I was there, but I would actually say Dr. Rodney Delasanta ’53 influenced me most. He taught me Civ in the Liberal Arts Honors Program, and the passion in his teaching was absolutely contagious. I was his student worker, supporting the LAHP for three years. The office was in the basement of Stephen Hall, which is now the Feinstein Academic Center, and there is a tree planted in his memory outside of that building. [Editor’s note: The late Dr. Delasanta taught English at PC for more than 40 years and served as honors program director from 1987-2004.]
What extracurricular activity did you enjoy most?
I played the trombone in the PC Pep Band and directed the group as an upperclassman. I met my husband, Jeff, an excellent trumpet player, at a pep band party our freshman year. We travelled to New York each year for the BIG EAST Tournament and to Hawaii as seniors for the Maui Invitational.
Where was the best place you lived on campus?
My junior year I lived in DiTraglia Hall, then called Apartment A, and that gave me a chance to live with a larger group of friends that I am still in touch with today. Jeff lived with his friends nearby in Cunningham Hall, then called Apartment C.
In which two ways have you most applied your English major in your client services career?
Foremost, the critical-thinking skills developed through PC’s liberal arts curriculum have served me well throughout my career. PC prepares students to be active listeners who are able to synthesize a lot of information in a clear and succinct way. In addition, I was able to leverage my writing skills while changing careers from executive recruiting to human resources consulting. My first position with a global HR consulting firm was as a proposal strategist, so writing was crucial.
2019-20 National Alumni Association Council
Executive Board
Kate (Hennedy) Kennedy ’92, president
Stephenie Thompson O’Brien ’84, ’16P, & ’18P, vice president
Kristen Martineau Meuse ’98, secretary
James A. O’Leary, Esq. ’63 & ’97P, treasurer
Mark McGwin ’81, immediate past president
Members
Jenna M. Borkoski ’12
Lex Bramwell ’06
Erin O’Leary Casey ’97 & ’01G
Maria F. Cimina ’04
Jane Dillon-Cerosky ’83
Michael Joseph Donohue, Jr. ’73 & ’05P
Maria Duarte ’16
Dr. Thomas F. Flaherty ’61, ’92P, ’93P, ’94P, & ’99P
Joseph Giovengo ’98
Lisa DelPriore Hannan ’85
Alana Hess ’14
Leo F. Kennedy ’04
Karen FitzGerald Kipfer ’87
David G. Lussier, Esq. ’62
George D. Mason ’84
Zlatomir Popov ’11G
Meg Heston Shideler ’80 & ’21P
Earnest (Earl) Smith, Jr. ’92
Tracy Lynch Sullivan ’85, ’18P, & ’21P
Stephen Sypek ’84 & ’14P
Paula Tobin-Parks ’86 & ’19P
Robert J. Van Amburgh ’69, ’96P, & ’03P
Paul F. Whalen ’72
Campus Representatives
Robert Ferreira ’83, assistant vice president for alumni relations
Veronica Bohl ’20, president, Student Alumni Association
