William “Bill” Kearney
By Karin Grennan
Bill Kearney can’t put a value on the time he spent earning a bachelor’s degree from UCLA.
“The whole experience of those four years was phenomenal for me. And I’d love to replicate that for as many students as we can here.” said Kearney, a longtime CSU Channel Islands donor and member of its Foundation Board of Directors.
“There’s a great deal more to an academic experience than just a higher paying job or economic benefits. You emerge from the experience knowing how to think and how to analyze situations. Thus, you become a better voter and communicator — a better person, parent and citizen.”
He feels strongly about helping the more than half of CSUCI students who will be the first generation of their families to graduate from college. Kearney, who was able to pay for his cost of attending UCLA by driving a truck for and working in a factory on weekends and vacations, loves CSUCI’s Peer Mentor Ambassador Program, which provides $3,500-per-semester stipends to students for helping others navigate college life. He sees it as a win-win.
“Thankfully, I received my mentorship from friends and classmates,” Kearney said.
In 1996, two decades after the economics major moved to Ventura to work for Merrill Lynch in Oxnard, he was asked to serve on the governor’s task force charged with recommending how Camarillo State Hospital should be re-used after closure. The group endorsed a Ventura County campus of the CSU system.
In 1999, three years before the University opened, Kearney and his wife became founding members of the President’s Circle of donors who annually give $1,000 or more. He joined the Foundation Board, which brings in private donations, a year before classes started and served as chair from 2007 to 2009. He has secured hundreds of thousands of dollars, but he notes that everything has been a group effort.
“It’s basically being a cheerleader and part of a team,” said Kearney, who has received an honorary doctorate and the Lagomarsino Award from the University. “We’ve all done some little thing that when you put it all together, it’s just exploded.”
Kearney retired in 2018 as senior vice president of Private Wealth Management at Merrill Lynch, but his support of CSUCI continues.
“I think that this is really the footing for our community and our county, and we’re only getting started.”