Across four and a half decades, Jeanne Whitman Bobbitt has been immersed in the lore of Wake Forest, first by virtue of working there and then by way of service on the Board of Visitors and then the Board of Trustees. More significantly, she treasures lifelong friendships with some of Wake Forest’s greatest leaders and professors, to whose wisdom she has turned many times over the years, as well as to challenge her thinking and to celebrate the power of friendship. Since joining the campus community in her undergraduate years, Jeanne has worked with many Wake Forest legends and been part of the University’s journey through frequent visits back to campus, which prepared her well to join as a University Trustee in 2007 and to chair the board today.
Before launching a consulting practice in Dallas, Jeanne served as vice president for development and external affairs at Southern Methodist University and as head of the Hockaday School in Dallas. Her management consulting focused on strategy, leadership transition and resource identification with nonprofits, businesses and schools. Today, Jeanne’s reduced consulting load is limited largely to a health care system and hospital and to a major museum.
Over the years, Jeanne has served on a number of boards in the Dallas community and formerly served as the chair of the board for The Dallas Foundation. She is currently on the board of the Hoblitzelle Foundation and of a network of public girls’ schools in Texas. She is a founding volunteer of Dallas’ Child Poverty Action Lab. In addition to her work as a Wake Forest Trustee, Jeanne is also a member of the Health Science Board of Directors.