New Trustees Elected to Aspen Institute Board

April 16, 2008  • Institute Contributor

New Trustees Elected to Aspen Institute Board

Washington, DC, April 16, 2008—The Aspen Institute is pleased to announce the election of six new members to its Board of Trustees. They are: Melva Bucksbaum, Ann B. Friedman, Marc B. Nathanson, Jacqueline Novogratz, Anna Deavere Smith and Shashi Tharoor. Each member will serve a two-year term that begins immediately.

The Institute’s board also elected to designate longtime trustees Robert H. Malott, Albert H. Small, and William Joy as Lifetime Trustees. Lifetime Trustees consist of former board members and other prominent individuals who have been elected by a majority of the membership of the Board. Their mission is to create a more involved and informed way to stay in touch with fellow Trustees and with the work of the Aspen Institute. Lifetime Trustees are responsible for providing advice on strategic issues facing the organization.

“We are delighted to welcome such a diverse group of accomplished leaders to serve on the Aspen Institute board,” said William E. Mayer, chairman of the Institute’s Board of Trustees. He added: “The Institute and its board are certain to benefit from their collective vision and impressive breadth of experience.”

Newly Elected Aspen Institute Trustees

Melva Bucksbaum, a devoted art patron, philanthropist, and collector of contemporary art, serves on the Board of American Friends of the Israel Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Drawing Center, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She is also a member of the Visiting Committee to the Museums and the Committee of Collections of Harvard University; Christie’s American Advisory Board; the International Council of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA); and the International Committee of the Tate Gallery in the United Kingdom. Since 1995, Bucksbaum has been actively managing the Martin Bucksbaum Family Foundation, and is currently a director of the Robert I. Goldman Foundation. In 1996, Bucksbaum and her family endowed the Martin Bucksbaum Professorship in Urban Planning and Design, a chaired position in the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. Bucksbaum also endowed the Martin Bucksbaum Distinguished Lecture Series at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. In 2000, she and her children inaugurated the Bucksbaum Award, which is given to an artist of distinction and promise selected from those artists represented in the Whitney Biennial. She is co-chair of the Aspen Institute Art Advisory Committee and chair of the Paepcke Community Advisory Committee.

Ann B. Friedman graduated from Stanford University in three years with majors in economics and history, was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and earned a Master’s degree at the London School of Economics in International Relations. She served as a copy editor for Institutional Investor magazine in New York, and worked in investment banking in Chicago, New York, London, and Beirut. While living in Beirut during the Lebanese civil war with her husband, Thomas L. Friedman, an American journalist, Friedman also worked as a translator from French to English for subscribers of Middle Eastern business information. Additionally, she has tutored reading for illiterate adults and English as a second language.

Marc B. Nathanson has been a director of Charter Communications since January 2000 and serves as Vice Chairman of Charter’s board of directors, a non-executive position. Nathanson is also the Chairman of Mapleton Investments LLC, an investment vehicle formed in 1999, and he founded and served as Chairman and CEO of Falcon Holding Group, Inc., a cable operator, and its predecessors, from 1975 until 1999. He served as Chairman and CEO of Enstar Communications Corporation, a cable operator, from 1988 until 1999. Prior to 1975, Mr. Nathanson held executive positions with Teleprompter Corporation, Warner Cable, and Cypress Communications Corporation. In 1995, he was appointed by the President of the United States to the Broadcasting Board of Governors, and from 1998 through September 2002, served as its Chairman. Mr. Nathanson holds a BA in Mass Communications from the University of Denver and an MA in Political Science from the University of California/Santa Barbara.

Jacqueline Novogratz is founder and CEO of Acumen Fund, a nonprofit global venture fund that works to solve the problems of global poverty by delivering affordable, critical goods and services to the poor. Novogratz began her career in international banking with Chase Manhattan Bank after attending the University of Virginia. Prior to Acumen Fund, Novogratz founded and directed The Philanthropy Workshop and The Next Generation Leadership program at the Rockefeller Foundation. She also founded Duterimbere, a microfinance institution in Rwanda. She is currently on the advisory boards of Stanford Graduate School of Business and of Innovations Journal published by MIT Press. Novogratz is an Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow and a Synergos Institute Senior Fellow. She is a frequent speaker at the World Economic Forum, the Clinton Global Initiative, and the TED Conference.

Anna Deavere Smith is an American actress, playwright and professor. Currently, she teaches in the Department of Performance Studies at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, and formerly taught in the Drama Department at Stanford University. Smith is best known for her “documentary theatre” style in plays such as Fires in the Mirror and Twilight: Los Angeles 1992, both of which featured Smith as the sole performer of multiple and diverse characters. Smith is an alumna of Beaver College (now Arcadia University), from which she graduated in 1971, and has received honorary degrees from Arcadia University, Bates College, Bryn Mawr College, Smith College, Skidmore College, Macalester College, Occidental College, Pratt Institute, Holy Cross College, Wesleyan University, School of Visual Arts, Northwestern University, Colgate University, California State University Sacramento, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wheelock College, and the Cooper Union. Smith was the Aspen Institute Artist-in-Residence in Aspen, Colorado in 2006.

Shashi Tharoor is Chairman of the Dubai-based Afras Ventures and a former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. He was also the official candidate of India for the succession to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2006. His career began in 1978, when he joined the staff of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva, and included key responsibilities in peace-keeping after the Cold War and as a senior adviser to the Secretary-General, as served as the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. Dr. Tharoor is also an award-winning author of nine books, as well as hundreds of articles, op-eds, and book reviews in a wide range of publications. He served for two years as a contributing editor and occasional columnist for Newsweek International. In January 1998, Dr. Tharoor was named a “Global Leader of Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He is the recipient of several awards, including a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and was named to India’s highest honor for Overseas Indians, the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, in 2004. He serves on the Board of Overseers of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, the board of trustees of Aspen Institute India, and the Advisory Boards of the World Policy Journal, the Virtue Foundation and the human rights organization, Breakthrough. He is also a Fellow of the New York Institute of the Humanities.

Aspen Institute Board of Trustees

William E. Mayer
Chairman of the Board

Henry E. Catto
Vice Chairman

Walter Isaacson
President and CEO

Lester Crown
Vice Chairman

Active Trustees

Madeleine K. Albright
Principal, The Albright Group LLC

Paul F. Anderson
Senior Advisor, Booz Allen Hamilton

Mercedes Bass
Sid R. Bass Inc.

*Berl Bernhard
Partner, DLA Piper US LLP
Chairman Emeritus, The Aspen Institute

William D. Budinger
Founder, Former Chairman and CEO, Rodel, Inc.

Stephen L. Carter
Professor of Law
Yale University Law School

*Henry E. Catto
Former U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain
Chairman Emeritus, Atlantic Council of the United States
Vice Chairman, The Aspen Institute

*Lester Crown
Chairman, Material Service Corporation
Vice Chairman, The Aspen Institute

F. Peter Cundill
Founder, Cundill Investments Research

Andrea Cunningham
Chief Executive Officer, CXO Communication

Tarun Das
Chief Mentor, Confederation of Indian Industry

**William L. Davis
Chairman and COO, WLD Davis Holdings, LLC

John Doerr
Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Sylvia A. Earle
Chairman, Deep Ocean Exploration & Research

Michael D. Eisner
Tornante Company

Leonhard Fischer
Chairman, Aspen Institute Berlin

Alan Fletcher
President and CEO, Aspen Music Festival and School

Stephen Friedman
Senior Advisor, Stone Point Capital

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University

Mircea Geoana
President, Aspen Institute Romania

David Gergen
Professor of Public Service, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

*Alma L. Gildenhorn
Honorary Trustee, Kennedy Center

Jamshyd Godrej
Chairman, Aspen Institute India

*Gerald Greenwald
Managing Partner, Greenbriar Equity Group

Patrick W. Gross
Chairman, The Lovell Group

*Arjun Gupta
Founder and Managing Partner, Telesoft Partners

*Sidney Harman
Executive Chairman, Harman International Industries, Inc.

Hayne Hipp
Chairman and CEO, The Liberty Corporation

Gerald D. Hosier
Law Offices of Gerald D. Hosier Ltd.

Ann Frasher Hudson
Partner, Javelina Partners

Jérôme P. Huret
Former President, Institut Aspen France

Robert J. Hurst
Managing Director, Crestview Advisors, LLC

*Walter Isaacson
President & CEO, The Aspen Institute

Yotaro Kobayashi
Chief Corporate Advisor, Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.

David H. Koch
Executive Vice President Chemical Technology, Koch Industries, Inc.

Ann McLaughlin Korologos
Chairman Emeritus, The Aspen Institute
Senior Advisor, Benedetto Gartland & Company

Timothy K. Krauskopf
Principal, Round Lake Designs, LLC

Leonard A. Lauder
Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors, The Estee Lauder Companies, Inc.
Chairman Emeritus, The Aspen Institute

Elisabeth Lulin
President, Institut Aspen France

*Frederic V. Malek
Chairman, Thayer Capital Partners

James M. Manyika
Partner, McKinsey & Company

*William E. Mayer
Chairman of the Board, The Aspen Institute
Partner, Park Avenue Equity Partners

Bonnie Palmer McCloskey
President, Cornerstone Holdings, LLC

Anne Welsh McNulty
Senior Director, JBK Partners

Eleanor Merrill
Publisher Emeritus, Washingtonian Magazine

Karlheinz Muhr
Managing Director, Credit Suisse First Boston

Clare Muñana
President, Ancora Associates, Inc.

Elinor Bunin Munroe
President, Elinor Bunin Productions, Inc.

Jerry Murdock
Managing Director and Co-Founder, Insight Venture Partners

Roberto H. Murray
Chairman, Fundemas
President, Agricola Industrial, Salvadorena, SA

William A. Nitze
Chairman, GridPoint, Inc.

Her Majesty Queen Noor
Humanitarian Activist; UN Expert Advisor

Olara A. Otunnu
President, LBL Foundation for Children

Elaine Pagels
Professor of Religion, Princeton University

Michel Pebereau
President, BNP Paribas
Chairman, Institut Aspen France

Lord Powell
Chairman, Sagitta Asset Management Limited

Michael K. Powell
Chairman, The MK Powell Group

*Margot L. Pritzker
Chairperson, Zohar Education Project Incorporative

Peter Reiling
Executive Vice President for Leadership and Seminar Programs, The Aspen Institute

*Lynda Resnick
Co-Owner and Vice Chairman, Roll International Corporation

Isaac O. Shongwe
Chief Executive Officer, DNA Supply Chain of South Africa
Chairman, Letsema Consulting Company

*Robert K. Steel
Under Secretary of Domestic Finance, US Department of Treasury

Andrew L. Stern
International President, Service Employees International Union

Giulio Tremonti
Chairman, Aspen Institute Italia

Roderick von Lipsey
Senior Vice President, Investments, UBS Financial Services

Vin Weber
Managing Partner, Clark & Weinstock

Frederick B. Whittemore
Advisory Director, Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc.

* Executive Committee
** Trustees on Leave of Absence

Lifetime Trustees

James C. Calaway
Chairman of Lifetime Trustees 

Prince Bandar bin Sultan
Former Saudi Ambassador to the United States

Keith Berwick
Keith Berwick Chair, The Aspen Institute

John Brademas
President Emeritus, New York University

James C. Calaway
Chairman, Lifetime Trustees, The Aspen Institute

Lisle C. Carter, Jr.
Attorney

William T. Coleman, Jr.
Senior Partner and The Senior Counselor, O’Melveny & Myers

Al Dietsch
Chairman, Best Year Yet LLC

William H. Donaldson
Chairman, Donaldson Enterprises

James L. Ferguson
Retired Chairman and CEO, General Foods Corporation

Jacqueline Grapin
President, The European Institute

Irvine O. Hockaday, Jr.
Retired President and CEO, Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Nina Rodale Houghton
President, Wye Institute

Shirley Hufstedler
Senior Counsel, Morrison & Foerster

Jerome Huret
Former President, Aspen Institute France

Robert S. Ingersoll
Former US Ambassador to Japan

William N. Joy
Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Henry A. Kissinger
Chairman, Kissinger Associates, Inc.

Gerald M. Levin
Retired Chairman and CEO, Time Warner, Inc.

Robert H. Malott
Retired Chairman and CEO, FMC Corporation

John P. Mascotte
Former President and CEO, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City

Robert S. McNamara
Former President, The World Bank

Olivier Mellerio
Institut Aspen France
Interfinexa

Hisashi Owada
International Court of Justice

John J. Phelan, Jr.
Chairman Emeritus, The Aspen Institute
Retired Chairman and CEO, New York Stock Exchange

Thomas R. Pickering
Vice Chairman, Hills and Company

Warren B. Rudman
Partner, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison

Jay Sandrich
TV and Film Director

Lloyd G. Schermer
Retired Chairman & CEO, Lee Enterprises

Carlo Scognamiglio
Honorary Chairman, Aspen Institute Italia

Albert H. Small
President, Southern Engineering Corp.

Kathy D. Smith
Former Board Member, Daubert Industries

Phillips Talbot
President Emeritus, The Asia Society

Solomon D. Trujillo
Chairman, CEO and President, Graviton, Inc.

Paul A. Volcker
Former Chairman of the Board of Governors, Federal Reserve System

Leslie H. Wexner
President and Chairman of the Board, The Limited, Inc.

Clifton R. Wharton, Jr.
Former Chairman and CEO, TIAA/CREF

Dolores Wharton
Founder and Chair, Fund for Corporate Initiatives

The Aspen Institute, founded in 1950, is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue. Through seminars, policy programs, conferences and leadership development initiatives, the Institute and its international partners seek to promote nonpartisan inquiry and an appreciation for timeless values. The Institute is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River near the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Its international network includes partner Aspen Institutes in Berlin, Rome, Lyon, Tokyo, New Delhi, and Bucharest, and leadership initiatives in Africa, Central America, and India.

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