Like A Boss is a live Q&A business event where you can hear insightful, first-hand accounts of the realities of running a business. Our CEO and Publisher Lisa DeSisto interviews local CEOs and business leaders for a behind the scenes look at their career paths, the ups and downs of running their businesses and the trends shaping them.
Garry Jenkins, President of Bates College will sit down with Portland Press Herald CEO Lisa DeSisto for a conversation at the Roux Institute at Northeastern University on Wednesday, September 17, 2025 at 8 a.m. Doors open at 7:30 a.m., coffee and light breakfast will be available.
About Gary
Garry W. Jenkins is president and professor of politics at Bates College. He became the College’s ninth president in July 2023.
As president, he is charged with setting a vision and strategy for Bates, enhancing academic excellence, managing all institutional affairs, developing and maintaining relationships with a wide array of constituents in the college community and beyond, and representing Bates externally as its chief ambassador.
A nationally respected authority on nonprofit organizations, corporate governance, lawyers and leadership development, and higher education, Jenkins has published articles, essays, chapters, and op-eds in a variety of venues, including the Southern California Law Review, North Carolina Law Review, Tulane Law Review, and Stanford Social Innovation Review, among others. He has received honors and awards for his academic scholarship (including recognition in three different subfields of nonprofit law, global justice, and corporate law) and for his academic administrative leadership. He is a member of the American Law Institute and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.
Originally from New Jersey, he received his bachelor’s degree with honors from Haverford College, where he was a Charles A. Dana Scholar. He earned a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a juris doctorate, cum laude, from Harvard Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Harvard Civil Rights–Civil Liberties Law Review. He clerked for the Honorable Timothy K. Lewis on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 1998–99.
Jenkins has served on several national and local nonprofit boards in education, the arts, and social justice, including Haverford College, where he was vice chair for eight years and accepted the AGB Nason Award for innovation and exemplary leadership on the board’s behalf. He presently sits on the board of the National Women’s Law Center in Washington, DC.
This page will be updated with more information as the event approaches.
