Board of Trustees Names Four New Members
Six elected to the Board of Overseers
The Boston University Board of Trustees elected four new members — two attorneys, a social worker, and an investment fund director — at its meeting on April 13.
Alan Leventhal, chairman of the Board of Trustees, says the election of Richard Godfrey, J. Kenneth Menges, Jr., Carla Meyer, and Bippy Siegal to the 39-member Board of Trustees “will further strengthen the governance and leadership of the University during this remarkable time in its history.”
The trustees also elected six new members to the Board of Overseers: Jay Cashman, Edwin Fuller, Kathleen Healy, Robert Hildreth, Linda Kay, and Raymond Killian.
Richard Godfrey (LAW’79) is a senior partner in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, an international law firm with 1,300 lawyers. Godfrey, who serves on the firm’s management committee, has been a trial and appellate counsel for various Fortune 100 companies in federal, state, and administrative proceedings throughout the country and has been named one of Chambers USA’s Leading Lawyers for Business in general commercial litigation since 2003. In 1995, he was appointed to the School of Law’s board of visitors, and he received the Silver Shingle Award for Distinguished Service to the School of Law in 1998.
J. Kenneth Menges, Jr. (SMG’79), a former trustee, is the partner in charge of the Dallas office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, one of the largest and highest grossing law firms in the country. He also is head of the firm’s corporate finance, mergers, and acquisitions practice and was directly involved in the $26.7 billion acquisition of Clear Channel Communications, Inc., by a group of private equity companies.
Since 1987, Menges has been a member of the SMG Alumni Association board of directors and has been its Dallas regional director. He was a BU trustee from 1995 to 2002, when he served as a vice chairman of the board and as a member of several committees, including the Executive Committee.
Carla Meyer (SSW’78) is a social worker and a former lecturer in the School of Social Work. She and her husband, Vincent Ryan (CAS’63), are trustees of the Schooner Foundation, which supports organizations that focus on civil rights, peace, and security.
Bippy Siegal is founder and CEO of Raycliff Capital, a network of private equity and hedge funds that invests in multistage opportunities across diverse sectors. He is also founder and chairman of Modern Bank, a private company that serves high-net-worth clients, and he is a principal of Palace Exploration, an oil and gas exploration company with worldwide investments. Through a private foundation, Siegal supports programs and research that demonstrate leadership, innovation, and effectiveness in the areas of health and education. He attended BU from 1985 to 1988.
The Board of Trustees provides oversight of, and is responsible for, the University’s academic, financial, and business affairs and assists in 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 12 committees, including executive, academic affairs, athletics, and development and alumni relations, are elected to terms of one to three years and are limited to 14 consecutive years of service.
Six new members of the Board of Overseers also were elected by the trustees at their April 13 meeting.
Jay Cashman (SMG’75) is chairman of Jay Cashman, Inc., one of the largest contracting firms in the Northeast, with more than 800 employees and offices in three states, as well as in India. Specializing in marine and civil contracting, Jay Cashman, Inc., has been involved in many large projects, including Boston’s Central Artery, the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, and the Greenbush MBTA commuter rail line extension along the South Shore.
Cashman is active with several nonprofit organizations, among them Thayer Academy, the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society, and charities for women and children.
Edwin Fuller (SMG’68), a former trustee, is president and managing director of international lodging for Marriott International, which operates and franchises several hotel brands, including JW Marriott, Renaissance, Marriott, Courtyard, and Ritz-Carlton. He is currently overseeing the company’s $1.2 billion worldwide renovation effort as well as its expansion in China, India, and the Middle East. He is also a trustee of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Foundation, which seeks to grow the region’s travel and tourism industries through environmental protection, culture conservation, and support for education.
Fuller received an SMG Alumni Award for Service to Alma Mater in 1992 and was president of BU’s General Alumni Association from 1993 to 1995, serving during that time as an ex officio member of the Board of Trustees. He continued on the Board as a regular voting member until the end of his term in 1997. In 1998, he received a Boston University Alumni Award, the University’s highest honor.
Kathleen Healy is chair of the advisory board of the Boston University Academy. In 2006, she was part of the search committee that recommended the appointment of James S. Berkman as head of school. She is a former board member and chair of the Director’s Cabinet of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California and a recipient of its Amici cum Laude Award for service. Currently she serves on the board of trustees of Thompson Island Outward Bound and the board of overseers of the New England Aquarium. She is also the upper school chair of the Parents Independent School Network.
Healy was previously a consultant with McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm that advises leading companies on issues of strategy, organization, technology, and operations.
Robert Hildreth is the founder and president of International Bank Services, Inc., a Boston-based company that trades and services bank loans from Latin America, Asia, Europe, and North America. Prior to founding IBS, Hildreth was vice president of Citibank in New York and senior vice president of Drexel Burnham Lambert in Los Angeles. From 1975 to 1981, he was an economist for the International Monetary Fund in the western hemisphere department and resident representative in Bolivia. He has had a long involvement in supporting BU’s initiative in the Chelsea Public Schools, with a particular interest in early childhood education. He also has supported immigrant education and services throughout the commonwealth.
Hildreth received a B.A. magna cum laude from Harvard University and master’s degrees from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and George Washington University.
Linda Sloane Kay (CGS’81, COM’83) is vice president for business development and a director of Century Bancorp, Inc., the parent company of Century Bank and Trust Company. In 2006, Boston Business Journal ranked Century Bank the ninth largest bank in Massachusetts. Century Bank is one of 16 remaining family-controlled banks in the nation with assets over $1 billion.
Kay is active in University and community affairs, serving on the board of visitors of the Goldman School of Dental Medicine and on the board of governors of the Boston University Club. She is a former vice president and board and committee member of the Friends of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center.
Raymond Killian (SED’59) is chairman emeritus of Investment Technology Group (ITG). Established in 1986, ITG provides technology for equity trading and transaction research to investors and brokers. He has been a member of the company’s board of directors since March 1994 and chairman since January 1997. He also was president and CEO from 1994 to 2002 and from 2004 until his retirement this year.
Killian is a director of the National Association of Investment Professionals, a partner of the real estate investment firm High Street Equity Investors, and a member of the Boston Securities Traders Association, Inc. He is chairman emeritus of the board of trustees of the Cotting School in Lexington, Mass., a member of the board of trustees of the Archdiocese of Boston’s Cathedral High School, and a former governor of the Boston Stock Exchange.
The 38 members of the Board of Overseers meet biannually and consult with University administration and deans on specific projects, sit on school and college advisory boards, assist in fundraising and community relations, and promote the interests of the University. Overseers are elected by the Board of Trustees to serve terms of one to three years. Terms may be renewable, but are limited to 10 consecutive years of service.
The new trustees and overseers “bring to their boards a wealth of knowledge earned from great professional success and a strong dedication to the pursuit of excellence upon which the University was founded,” Leventhal says. “My fellow trustees, overseers, and I look forward to working with them.”
Catherine Santore can be reached at csantore@bu.edu.