MIT Corporation elects 11 term members, three life members

The MIT Corporation — the Institute’s board of trustees — elected nine full-term members, who will each serve for five years, two partial-term members, who will each serve for one year, and three life members, during its quarterly meeting held today. Corporation Chair Robert B. Millard ’73 announced the election results; all positions are effective July 1.

The nine full-term members are: Patricia R. Callahan ’75, SM ’77; Hala Fadel MBA ’01; Alan M. Leventhal; Laird M. Malamed ’89; Paul R. Marcus ’81; Sarah Melvin ’18; Neil E. Rasmussen ’76, SM ’80; David M. Siegel SM ’86, PhD ’91; and Charles “C.J.” Whelan III ’92, ’93.

The two partial-term members are: Wesley G. Bush ’83, SM ’83 and Orit Gadiesh.

The three life members are: Roger C. Altman; John W. Jarve ’78, SM ’79; and Martin Y. Tang SM ’72.

The Corporation also announced R. Erich Caulfield SM ’01, PhD ’06 as the 2019-2020 president of the Association of Alumni and Alumnae of MIT, effective July 1. He succeeds Whelan, who will return to the Corporation for a five-year term.

As of July 1, the Corporation will consist of 75 distinguished leaders in education, science, engineering, and industry; of those, 24 are life members and eight are ex officio. An additional 35 individuals are life members emeritus.

Life members serve without a specific term until they turn 75 years old, while term members serve for five years. Both types of members have voting rights in the Corporation. Alumni nominees and representatives of recent graduating classes also serve five-year terms. At age 75, life members become life members emeritus/a; while they no longer have a vote, they continue to play an active role in Institute affairs.

This year’s elected term members:

Patricia R. Callahan, retired senior executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Wells Fargo and Company

Callahan received her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and her master’s degree in management and finance from MIT in 1975 and 1977, respectively. She began her career at Wells Fargo, formerly Crocker National Bank, in 1977, serving in various roles in operations, finance, and product management. After the merger with Wells Fargo, she held various positions in senior management, including head of systems, operations, and finance for the Commercial Real Estate Group and Wholesale Banking; head of corporate human resources; and head of compliance and enterprise risk management. From 2008 to 2011, Callahan provided oversight and strategic direction for the merger of Wells Fargo and Wachovia Corporation. In 2011, she was promoted to chief administrative officer and became responsible for managing corporate communications, corporate social responsibility, enterprise marketing, government relations, and corporate human resources. She retired in 2015 and currently serves on the visiting committee for MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning.

Hala Fadel, co-founder and managing partner at Leap Ventures

Fadel earned an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 2001. She is a co-founder and managing partner at Leap Ventures, a venture capital firm that focuses on global technology companies with operations in the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe. She has 20 years of experience in finance and entrepreneurship, working as a portfolio manager for 12 years in European equities at Comgest, a $22 billion growth equity fund. Fadel founded and chairs the MIT Enterprise Forum of the Pan-Arab Region, an organization that promotes entrepreneurship and organizes, among other things, the MIT Arab startup competition and the Innovate for Refugees Initiative. She recently co-founded the MIT ReACT Hub, delivering computer and data science certificates from MIT to displaced populations. Fadel sits on the executive board of the MIT Sloan School of Management. She founded and chairs Ruwwad Lebanon, a nonprofit focused on community building in disenfranchised areas through education and volunteerism.

Alan M. Leventhal, chairperson and chief executive officer of Beacon Capital Partners

Leventhal received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Northwestern University in 1974 and an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College in 1976. He has been a Corporation member since 2013 and currently serves on the visiting committees for MIT’s departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Urban Studies and Planning, and the Music and Theater Arts Section. In addition to his membership in the Corporation, he has served as the chair of the Boston University Board of Trustees and the chair of the Damon Runyon Cancer Foundation, and is a life trustee at Northwestern University, among other activities.

Laird M. Malamed, director of operations and general manager at Facebook (Oculus)

Malamed has enjoyed over 25 years in various entertainment and technology fields. He was founding COO of Oculus VR, which was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $2 billion. Malamed has continued at Facebook in various operational roles, and he holds an adjunct faculty position in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, where he teaches every spring. Malamed created his own major at MIT and graduated in 1989 with a joint bachelor’s degree in film and media studies and aeronautical and astronautical engineering. In subsequent years, he worked on “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles” for Lucasfilm and various TV shows for Sony Pictures. He joined Activision in 1995, where he helped create the game series “Call of Duty,” drive software and hardware operations on “Guitar Hero,” and launch the children’s game “Skylanders.” In 2011, Malamed joined the faculty at USC’s Interactive Media and Games Division of the School of Cinematic Arts, where he currently teaches a graduate thesis preproduction course each spring.

Paul R. Marcus, CEO, Marcus Partners

Marcus graduated from MIT in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. He is the CEO of Marcus Partners, a real estate investment firm with offices in Boston, New York, and Washington. He currently serves on the board of Business Executives for National Security (BENS) and co-chairs the BENS-Boston Chapter. He was a founding member of the 484 Phi Alpha Foundation, an MIT-affiliated educational foundation, and is a founder of the Boston-based Autism Consortium. He is currently a member of the Boston Children’s Hospital Chairman’s Council and has served a 10-year term as a member of the Trust Board of Children’s Hospital Boston, where he was a founder of the Children’s Hospital Developmental Medicine Center Philanthropic Leadership Council. Marcus served as chair of the board and is a past president of the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP). He currently serves on the MIT Corporation visiting committees for the departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Political Science, and Urban Studies and Planning.

Sarah Melvin, strategy analyst at Accenture

Melvin double majored in physics and political science as an MIT undergraduate. During the 2017-2018 academic year, she served as the president of the MIT Undergraduate Association, working to improve the MIT experience for all undergraduates. In this role, she partnered with the Division of Student Life and the Graduate Student Council to launch SwipeShare, a program that enables students to donate unused dining hall meals to other students facing food insecurity. Melvin also collaborated with the vice chancellor on the redesign of the first-year academic experience. During her time at MIT, Melvin held a UROP at the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and took her research project abroad to the University of Amsterdam with a grant from the MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI). She also participated in the MIT Washington Summer Internship Program, during which she worked at an international development organization. Currently, Melvin works as a strategy analyst at Accenture, focusing on pricing and commercial treatment strategy.

Neil E. Rasmussen, retired senior vice president of innovation at Schneider Electric

Rasmussen earned his bachelor’s degree from MIT in 1976 and his master’s in 1980, both in electrical engineering and computer science. He worked at MIT Lincoln Laboratory from 1979 to 1981, where he and two other staff members spun off the company American Power Conversion (APC). Over the next 26 years, as CTO and director, Rasmussen helped APC grow from zero to $3 billion in revenue, and the company became listed in the S&P 500. During that time, he operated an R&D organization with a staff reaching 1,500, and held key roles in strategy, acquisitions, and marketing. Rasmussen holds 30 patents and has published over 60 papers related to power and cooling systems. After APC was acquired for $6.1 billion in 2007, Rasmussen took on the role of senior vice president of innovation within the new parent company, Schneider Electric. In 2015 he stepped down from Schneider to focus on nonprofit work, including managing the Neil and Anna Rasmussen Foundation.

David M. Siegel, co-chairperson at Two Sigma

After graduating from Princeton University, Siegel earned a PhD in computer science from MIT. In 2001, he co-founded the financial sciences company Two Sigma, which is transforming activities across financial services from investment management to insurance. He founded Siegel Family Endowment in 2011 to support organizations and leaders that understand and shape the impact of technology on society. He is the chair of the Board of Overseers at Cornell Tech and a board member of Carnegie Hall and of the Robin Hood Learning and Tech Fund. After co-founding the board of New York City FIRST, he joined the national FIRST board. His service also includes roles on the Global Advisory Board of Khan Academy, the Advisory Board for Stanford University’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, and the Advisory Council for Princeton’s Center on Information Technology Policy. In 2014, he co-founded the Scratch Foundation to support Scratch, an MIT-originated, block-based programming language and online community for kids.

Charles “C.J.” Whelan III, founder of Front Range Technology Group, LLC

Whelan earned bachelor’s degrees from MIT in electrical engineering in 1992 and management science in 1993. His professional career has been concentrated in the telephony and teleconferencing industry, including founding or co-founding a number of companies. He recently sold his teleconferencing services company, Conserto, where he was CTO and co-founder with another MIT graduate. Currently, Whelan is consulting for the telecommunications and software industries. He has also been active in municipal politics in his hometown of Centennial, Colorado, including recently completing a four-year term on City Council and conducting a bid for mayor in 2017. He has also served as president of the Cunningham Fire Protection District, and has served on or chaired numerous community and civic organizations.

The two partial-term members are:

Wesley G. Bush, chairperson of the Northrop Grumman Corporation

Bush received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from MIT in electrical engineering and computer science in 1983. He has worked in the aerospace and defense industry since starting at COMSAT Labs under MIT’s co-op program. After MIT, Bush worked at The Aerospace Corporation, then became a systems engineer at TRW’s Space Park facility in 1987. Prior to Northrop Grumman’s acquisition of TRW in 2002, Bush led numerous space program activities, served as vice president of TRW Ventures, and was the president and chief executive officer of TRW’s UK-based Aeronautical Systems business. At Northrop Grumman, he served as the president of the company’s space technology sector, then as its chief financial officer. He became president of the company in 2006. He served as chief executive officer from 2010 through 2018 and became chairperson in 2011. Bush serves on the boards of Northrop Grumman, General Motors, Dow, Conservation International, Inova Health System, and the Greater Washington Partnership. He is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Orit Gadiesh, chairperson of Bain and Company Inc.

Gadiesh earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1977 and graduated in the top 5 percent of her class. She was a Baker Scholar and received the Brown Prize for the most outstanding marketing student. She joined Bain and Company in 1977 and has been the chairperson since 1993. Gadiesh is a world-renowned expert on management and corporate strategy. She has advised multiple CEOs and senior executives of major international companies on strategy development and the implementation of change. She has counseled top-level management on structuring and managing portfolios, developing and implementing global strategy, executing turnarounds, improving organizational effectiveness, and designing both cost reduction and growth programs.

The three life members are:

Roger C. Altman, founder and senior chairperson at Evercore

Altman is founder and senior chairperson of Evercore, which, for many years, has been the most active independent investment bank in the United States. He began his investment banking career at Lehman Brothers and became a general partner of that firm in 1974. Beginning in 1977, he served as assistant secretary of the U.S. Treasury for four years. He then returned to Lehman Brothers, later becoming co-head of overall investment banking and a member of the firm’s management committee and its board. He remained in those positions until the firm was sold. In 1987, Altman joined The Blackstone Group as vice chairperson, head of the firm’s advisory business, and a member of its Investment Committee. In 1993, he returned to Washington to serve as deputy secretary of the U.S. Treasury for two years. He formed Evercore in 1995.

John W. Jarve, partner emeritus at Menlo Ventures

Jarve received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT in 1978, and his master’s degree in business administration from Stanford University in 1983. He is a partner emeritus at Menlo Ventures, a venture capital firm, which he joined in 1985. Menlo Ventures provides capital for multistage consumer, enterprise, and life sciences technology companies. He has served as a Corporation member in various capacities since 1998, and has served on the development committee of the Corporation since 1996. He currently serves on MIT’s visiting committees for the departments of Materials Science and Engineering, Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation. He served as the president of the Association of Alumni and Alumnae of MIT from 2013-2014 and the vice president of that organization in 1996.

Martin Y. Tang, private investor

Tang received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1970 from Cornell University before attending MIT’s Sloan School of Management, where he earned a master’s degree in management in 1972. In 2018, he was conferred the title of doctor of letters (honores causa) by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Currently a private investor, Tang spent 16 years with Spencer Stuart, a leading management consulting firm specializing in senior-level executive search and board director appointments. Prior to joining Spencer Stuart, Tang ran Norman Broadbent HK Ltd. in Hong Kong. He was an executive director of Techno-Ventures (Hong Kong) Ltd., a venture capital firm, from 1986 to 1988. Early in his career, he was with Bank of America in San Francisco and Taiwan. He then worked as an executive director of the publicly listed South Sea Textile Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in Hong Kong and Indonesia.

President of the Association of Alumni and Alumnae of MIT:

R. Erich Caulfield, founder and president of The Caulfield Consulting Group

Caulfield obtained his master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT in 2001 and 2006, respectively. After two years as an associate at McKinsey and Company, he served as the chief policy advisor to Cory Booker, then mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and to the city’s business administrator in 2008. While there, he was responsible for directing the city’s federal economic stimulus-related efforts, which involved reviewing, implementing, and tracking projects totaling $360 million. In 2010, Caulfield was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as a White House Fellow, working at the White House Domestic Policy Council. In 2011, Caulfield assumed the role of New Orleans Community Solutions team lead for the Obama White House’s Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) Initiative. In 2013, Caulfield founded The Caulfield Consulting Group, a New Orleans-based management consulting firm that specializes in helping clients to improve their organization’s performance and grow through planning, coordination, and operational support. Recently, in this role, Caulfield served as the director of policy development for New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s Transition Team.