What Happened?

About the Company

St. Francis College is a private, independent, co-educational, urban college whose Franciscan and Catholic traditions underpin its commitment to academic excellence, spiritual and moral values, physical fitness, social responsibility, and life-long learning. We educate the whole person for a full, relational life, developing the students’ talents and abilities to form confident alumni well prepared for graduate study, for meaningful, fulfilling careers, as well as for collaborative, service-oriented leadership. The College strives to offer ample opportunities for students to immerse themselves in the intellectual, cultural and professional opportunities afforded by New York City, and to serve the needs of the local community in which they live and study.   The College provides a quality, accessibly-priced education to students from the five boroughs of New York City and well beyond. Specifically, our students experience a strong liberal arts core curriculum integrated with pre-professional programs in a wide range of disciplines, designed to prepare them for the rigors of an increasingly technological and globalized marketplace and society. Excellence of instruction, small classes and professors’ individual attention to each student create a hospitable community atmosphere, based on trust and mutual respect. These foster the development of critical thinking, moral choices, responsible citizenship and personal commitment to social justice and the environment. Our location in Brooklyn Heights provides a confluence of cultures and religious beliefs, mirroring our commitment to maintain and celebrate our diverse student body.

About the Person

A Business Management major, Madalyn Hanley went to work for Brooklyn Union Gas the very next week after graduating from St. Francis. She joined the management training program and requested a job in the computer programming division. She says her strong background in math and logic were a perfect match for a field that was still very new. Over the next 34 years with Brooklyn Union, then KeySpan and ultimately National Grid, she held a variety of senior management positions, moving from programmer to systems analysis, to team and project lead, and on to managing major corporate application systems, data warehouses, and project management offices. She was also instrumental in leading the Company`s IT area through a number of mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. Hanley also spent three years working in the Company`s Corporate Strategy group where she developed a new strategic implementation process that managed key strategic projects. Then it was off to England for nearly three years where she served as National Grid`s Vice President of the United Kingdom based IT organization. In this role, she oversaw approximately 300 employees and contractors. During this time, she established a business partner working relationship that ultimately became a global working model for IT in the UK and the US. Over the past few years she also began teaching Leadership and Management courses at St. Joseph`s College in Brooklyn. When the CIO position opened at St. Francis College she didn`t hesitate to return to Brooklyn Heights. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Hanley says that communication and managing expectations will be a crucial part of her job.