CHICAGO — A Vincentian priest and a veteran corporate finance executive have joined DePaul University’s Board of Trustees. The board recently elected the Rev. Derek Swanson, C.M., pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Chicago, and Paula A. Price, a DePaul alumna and former chief financial officer of Macy’s. The board elects new trustees following a comprehensive selection and approval process that includes Vincentian leadership.
“Fr. Swanson and Paula bring two distinct and equally vital perspectives to our board,” said Michael Scudder, chair of DePaul’s Board of Trustees. “Fr. Swanson’s ministry reflects the Vincentian values at the heart of everything we do, while Paula’s decades of financial leadership offer a depth of insight as we chart DePaul’s path forward. Together, they strengthen our ability to serve our students and stay true to our mission.”
More about DePaul’s newest trustees:
The Rev. Derek Swanson, C.M., is a Vincentian priest and member of the Congregation of the Mission, the Vincentian religious community founded by St. Vincent de Paul in 1625. A native of Sharon Springs, Kansas, he earned his undergraduate degree in music therapy from the University of Kansas before joining the Vincentians following an internship at the VA hospital in Topeka, Kansas. He went on to earn a Master of Divinity and a Master of Arts in theology from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis and was ordained a priest in 2003 at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Chicago.
Fr. Swanson later studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, earning a licentiate in missiology with a focus on interreligious dialogue between Christians and Muslims. His ministry has taken him across the country with parish assignments in Illinois, Indiana, California, Missouri and Texas. He returned to Chicago in 2024 to lead St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, the same parish where he was ordained.
Paula A. Price served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Macy’s Inc. until 2020, helping lead the company's transformation and guiding a $4.5 billion recapitalization during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has held senior finance roles at Ahold USA, CVS Health and JPMorgan Chase and joined Harvard Business School in 2014, where she began as a senior lecturer. A certified public accountant, Price earned her bachelor’s degree in accountancy from DePaul and her MBA from the University of Chicago.
Price is an independent board director and strategic adviser with a career spanning finance, general management and strategy across industries and continents. She currently serves on the boards of Accenture, Bristol Myers Squibb, Mondelez International and Warner Bros. Discovery. Price previously served on several other public company boards, including DaVita, Western Digital and Reddit, where she chaired its IPO readiness committee. She serves on the board of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and was formerly chair of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts.
About DePaul University
DePaul University provides exceptional academics and real-world experiences to prepare students for a changing world. With more than 20,500 students across more than 300 academic programs, DePaul has two campus locations in Chicago. Students richly benefit from the city’s many opportunities. In turn, DePaul is one of the forces that shape Chicago’s future. The university was founded in 1898 by the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians), a Roman Catholic religious community dedicated to following the ideals of St. Vincent de Paul. DePaul is among the nation’s top universities for diversity because of its long tradition of providing a high-quality education to students from a broad range of backgrounds. DePaul is one of the largest private, nonprofit universities in the Midwest and one of the largest Catholic universities in the nation. Visit depaul.edu to learn more.
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