Vincent on Leadership: The Hay Project at DePaul University mourns the loss of Bill Hay (MBA ’66, DHL ’06), a great leader and benefactor who died on July 15, 2018, at the age of 75. Hay was a DePaul business school alumnus, instructor and friend of the university for more than 30 years. He made a good life for himself and many others, guided by the Vincentian values of service and community he learned at DePaul.
Hay taught at DePaul not only in the business school, but also
in the School of Public Service. Bill founded William E. Hay & Company, his
consulting and executive search firm, in 1982.
Hay generously funded Vincent on Leadership: The Hay Project in
2002, inspired by a desire to spread the leadership concepts and practices of
St. Vincent de Paul. At the time, he said, “I don’t ever want anyone to come to
this university—as student, staff, instructor or trustee—without knowing about
the legacy of our patron.”
His friends and colleagues remember him as “a trusted advisor,
an aficionado of organization design, an incredible communicator, a frustrated
golfer, a man of detail, having an infectious laugh, and for his great insight
and generosity with board work and charitable endeavors.”
Hay fervently believed in a tenet of St. Vincent: “It is not
enough to do good. It must be done well.” Through his many good works and enormous
generosity of spirit, Bill Hay exemplified the Vincentian mission in action.