Ruth Simmons Appointed to Princeton University Board of Trustees

Simmons

Brown University President Ruth Simmons has been named to the Princeton University Board of Trustees along with six other new members.

Simmons, the former president of Smith College, will retire as the president of Brown at the end of June, after an 11-year tenure there. She previously served as the provost of Spelman College. She is no stranger to Princeton, where she held various administrative positions, including serving three years as vice provost.

The other six new trustees are: Robert Hugin, Peter Wendell, John Wynne, alumni trustees Jaime Ayala and Laurence Morse, and young alumni trustee Angela Groves.

Hugin, a Summit resident, is chairman, chief executive officer and president of Celgene Corp., a global biopharmaceutical company. Prior to joining Celgene, Hugin was a managing director at J.P. Morgan & Co. Inc. He is a director of the Medicines Co., a pharmaceutical firm; Atlantic Health System Inc., a nonprofit health care system; and Family Promise, a national nonprofit network assisting homeless families.

Wendell is the founder and a managing director of Sierra Ventures, a venture capital fund. He has been a member of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business faculty since 1991. A 1972 Princeton graduate with a degree in sociology, Wendell was a director of the Princeton University Investment Co. (PRINCO) from 1998 to 2008, serving as chair from 2002 to 2008.

Wynne is the past president and CEO of Landmark Communications Inc., which owns the Weather Channel, and he is currently a member of the company’s board of directors. A 1967 graduate with a degree in history, he helped spearhead efforts to raise funds for the Class of 1967 Butler dorm.

Ayala is the founder of Hybrid Social Solutions and SunTransfer, which provide rural communities with solar products for access to electricity, water and other services. He is a network partner of Hystra, a global consulting firm that connects companies with social entrepreneurs, and is a trustee of the World Wildlife Fund and the Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Fund. He graduated from Princeton in 1984 with a degree in economics.

Morse is the founder and CEO of the private equity investment management firm Fairview Capital Partners, a pioneer in investing in venture capital partnerships that provide capital primarily to minority-controlled companies. Forbes magazine named Morse one of the “Top 10 Minds in Small Business.” He earned his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton in 1980. Morse has served as a director of PRINCO.

Groves graduated this year with a degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She served as a student member of the University’s eating club task force. She will teach high school math in Atlanta this fall through Teach for America, and hopes to become a civil rights lawyer.

The new trustees will join the board July 1. The trustees completing their terms June 30 are: Katherine Brittain Bradley, Christopher Cole, Stephen Oxman, Meaghan Petersack, Michael Porter, Kavita Ramdas and Gordon Wu.

The 40-member board of trustees is responsible for the overall direction of the University. The board approves the operating and capital budgets, supervises the investment of the University’s endowment, and oversees campus real estate and long-range physical planning. The trustees also review and oversee changes in major University policies.