BU Board of Trustees Elects, Welcomes New Members
New trustees bring backgrounds in finance, technology, media and entertainment, healthcare, religion, and science
BU Board of Trustees Elects, Welcomes New Members
New trustees bring backgrounds in finance, technology, media and entertainment, healthcare, religion, and science
Boston University’s Board of Trustees and the University Advisory Board have both added new members to their ranks, changes that bring to the University a wealth of new experience from the fields of finance, technology, media and entertainment, healthcare, religion, and science.
“As Boston University moves to its next stage of transformation and excellence, the Board is also moving forward and evolving in tandem, reinforcing and adding new capabilities and insights in support of our strategic course and new leadership,” says Ahmass Fakahany (Questrom’79), chair of BU’s Board of Trustees.
Here is a roundup of the changes to the Board of Trustees and the University Advisory Board:
- Antonio “Tony” Gomes (LAW’96), who joined the Board of Trustees in April, is a former member of the University Advisory Board. He is the chief legal and administrative officer for Cloud Software Group (previously Citrix, before merging). He is also a former partner in the corporate practice of Goodwin Procter LLP and a former associate at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, LLP, in Boston. He earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Northeastern University (1991) and a law degree from the BU School of Law. Gomes is currently cochair of Boston University’s LatinX and Hispanic Alumni Leadership Council, as well as a member of the LAW Dean’s Advisory Board.
- Nina Tassler (CFA’79, Hon.’16), producer, author, and media and entertainment executive, is the former chairman of CBS Entertainment, responsible for hit series including The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Criminal Minds, and The Good Wife. She served as a trustee from 2009 to 2023 and rejoined the board this fall. She is a vital bridge for the University to the West Coast and specifically, to the entertainment industry. She works especially closely with BU’s College of Fine Arts.
- John Couris (CAS’90), elected to the Board in September, is president and chief executive officer of the Florida Health Sciences Center, which includes Tampa General Hospital, one of the nation’s leading not-for-profit academic health systems. He is widely recognized as a national expert in healthcare as well as organizational leadership and in workplace culture transformation and management.
- Eric Muller (Questrom’94), of Oak Hill Advisors, who previously served as a non-trustee member of the Board’s Investment Committee, was elected to the Board in September. He was also a long-standing Goldman Sachs partner and managing director, leading North American loan investing activities. He is a member of the Questrom Dean’s Advisory Board and established the Muller Family Scholarship Fund, supporting low-income Questrom undergraduate students.
- Thomas Bickerton, a native of West Virginia, is the newly appointed bishop of the New York and Boston Conferences of the United Methodist Church (UMC). He was elected to the BU Board of Trustees in September. Among his many leadership roles within the UMC, Bickerton served for 12 years as chairperson of the United Methodist Church’s Global Health Initiative, which dealt with the church’s response to HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The effort raised over $75 million within the denomination to eliminate malaria-related death across the world.
- Kevin Smith, a College of Arts & Sciences professor of physics and of chemistry, is current chair of the University’s Faculty Council, and concurrent with that role, serves as an ex-officio member of the Board. (His term began this past June.) He is a past recipient of BU’s top teaching award, the Metcalf Cup and Prize for Excellence in Teaching (1999), and was named the Massachusetts Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching in 2001.
At its September meeting, the Board of Trustees also elected Rajen Kilachand (Questrom’74, Hon.’14) and Steve Zide (LAW’86) as Trustees Emeriti, in recognition of their “outstanding service and contributions” to the University after concluding their terms on the board, Fakahany says.
In addition to changes on the Board of Trustees, there are new members on BU’s University Advisory Board (UAB). Reaching the 10-year maximum term limit for service on that board are Shadi Daher (SDM’90,’94), Sid Feltenstein (COM’62), Bill Kamer (LAW’78), Steve Karbank (CAS’79), and Stewart Lane (CFA’73), while former trustee and current Trustee Emeritus and advisor Peter Paul (Questrom’71) will also conclude his term.
A new chair and two new University Advisory Board members were elected in September:
- Current UAB member Lisa Wendt (Questrom’92) was elected as chair of the University Advisory Board and will serve as an ex officio member. She is a former managing director in capital markets (retired) at WR Hambrecht + Co., a financial services company that provides underwriting, corporate advisory, equity research, sales and trading, electronic brokerage, and private equity services to technology and emerging growth companies. Before joining WR Hambrecht, Wendt was an equity research analyst at Fidelity Investments, covering technology and retail stocks.
- New UAB member Kathryn Barton (Questrom’84, LAW’90) is a member of the Questrom Global Dean’s Advisory Board. She retired from Ernst & Young (EY) in June 2023 after having served as managing partner and global vice chair of tax, law, and people advisory services since 2018. She is also actively involved in Women Fast Forward, EY’s initiative focused on gender parity in the workplace.
- Also elected to the UAB was Mikhail Gurevich (ENG’07, Questrom’12), managing partner at Dominion Capital, a leading strategy investment firm that he founded in 2011. He is a current member of the College of Engineering Dean’s Leadership Advisory Board, as well as the New York Leadership Council. He received the Distinguished Young Alumni Award from the College of Engineering in 2011 and the Young Alumni Award from BU in 2014. Prior to launching Dominion, Gurevich served as president and CTO of ZepInvest, a fintech research company he started in June 2007, and as CIO of ClickFacts, a security and analytics company focused on providing large-scale online advertising solutions that he cofounded.
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