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New Trustees and Overseer Named

Business Leaders Will Lend Talents to Respective University Boards

By Brian Fitzgerald

With the charge of helping to chart a course for BU's future, business leaders Richard Cohen, Cleve Killingsworth, and Allen Questrom were recently named to the Board of Trustees, the governing body of the University. In addition, James Apteker was appointed to the Board of Overseers, an advisory group dedicated to supporting and advancing BU's mission.

Cohen (SMG'69), Killingsworth, Questrom (SMG'64), and Apteker (SHA'88) "have demonstrated the extraordinary leadership and commitment to excellence for which the University is known globally and nationally," says Trustee Chairman Alan Leventhal. "Each is an outstanding addition to the Board of Trustees and I look forward to working with them. I also look forward to collaborating with James Apteker, whose exceptional record of public service and dedication to his alma mater will provide great strength to the Board of Overseers."

Also joining the Board of Trustees at the start of the fall semester was Julie H. Sandell, chairman and associate professor in MED's department of anatomy and neurobiology. As the new chairman of the BU Faculty Council, Sandell is an ex officio voting member of the Board.

Cohen is president of Capital Properties, a large real estate management and development company with offices in Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. He delivered the convocation address to SMG's graduates last May.

Killingsworth was appointed president and CEO of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts in July 2005. He earned a B.S. from MIT and a master's in public health from Yale University. Prior to his work at Blue Cross, he was president and CEO of Health Alliance Plan in Detroit, one of Michigan's largest managed-care companies.

Questrom is the former chairman and CEO of J.C. Penney Company, Inc. A trustee from 1992 to 2002, he began his retail career in 1964 and has been CEO at Federated Department Stores, Neiman Marcus, and Barney's New York.

Apteker is the owner of Longwood Events, a Boston-based event planning and management company that operates special event venues in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He received a BU Young Alumni Council Award in 2003 and is a member of SHA's Advisory Board.

Sandell maintains a research lab in which she studies anatomical remodeling in human retinas from patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) as part of a large Boston-based group that is developing a retinal implant to restore visual function in patients with RP. She received a Ph.D. in neuroscience from MIT and completed postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital before joining the MED faculty in 1991.

The thirty-five-member Board of Trustees provides oversight of and is responsible for the University's academic, financial, and business affairs, and assists in BU's long-range planning and development. The full board meets at least three times a year, elects the president of BU, and reviews the strategies and performance of the University's administrative team. Its members, who staff twelve committees, including executive, academic affairs, athletics, and development and alumni relations, are elected to terms of one to three years and are limited to fourteen consecutive years of service.

Established in 2004, the thirty-two member Board of Overseers meets twice a year and serves as an advisory body. Its members consult on special projects, assist with fundraising and community relations, provide advice and counsel, and recommend candidates for membership on the Board of Trustees. Members are selected on the basis of their individual interests, special expertise, and ability to assist in fundraising, vision, dedication to the advancement of BU, and willingness to participate in the life of the University. Overseers serve terms of one to three years, which are renewable at the discretion of the trustees and subject to a limit of ten consecutive years of service.

Columbia University Provost Jonathan R. Cole was elected to the BU Board of Trustees last spring. Cole is also dean emeritus and John Mitchell Mason Professor at Columbia. Joining the Board of Overseers last spring were Noubar B. Afeyan, managing partner and CEO of Flagship Ventures in Cambridge, Fred A. Bronstein (CFA'78), president and CEO of the Dallas Symphony Association, Thomas E. Fiedler (COM'71), vice president and executive editor of the Miami Herald newspaper, and Richard D. Reidy (SMG'82) president of Data Direct Technologies, Inc., in Bedford, Massachusetts.