Benaree Pratt Wiley
In recognition of her work to advance leadership diversity in Boston, Benaree Pratt Wiley received an honorary Doctor of Public Administration degree at Boston College’s 133rd Commencement ceremony last month.
Boston College President William P. Leahy and Board of Trustees Chairman William J. Geary presented Wiley with the degree, accompanied by a citation that deemed her a “champion of change where it is needed most.”
Wiley is the principal of The Wiley Group, a firm specializing in talent management and leadership development. For 15 years, she was president and CEO of The Partnership Inc., an organization devoted to strengthening Boston’s capacity to attract, retain and develop talented professionals of color. Under her leadership, The Partnership helped more than 1,300 African Americans integrate themselves into the city’s corporate community.
Her experience in the business sector also includes consulting with major corporations such as Abt Associates and Urban Systems Research and Engineering, as well as with nonprofit organizations. She has served as a director on the boards of Dreyfus Mutual Funds, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, CBIZ and the Boston Foundation, and as chair of the PepsiCo African American Advisory Board.
She also served as a director of the Crispus Attucks Children’s Center. She and her husband, Fletcher “Flash” Wiley, were honored for 20 years of commitment to the center with the dedication of a playground in their name.
Wiley served for 12 years as a trustee at Boston College. She is now a trustee associate and founding member of the Council for Women of Boston College.
She has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Pinnacle Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and membership in its Academy of Distinguished Bostonians, as well as the Harvard Business School Distinguished Alumni Award from the African American Student Union. She was also named among Boston’s most powerful women by Boston magazine.
A graduate of Howard University and the Harvard Business School, Wiley and her husband live in Boston and have two children, Pratt and B.J.
