Board of Trustees

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Six new members elected to Lawrence University’s Board of Trustees

Six new members were elected to Lawrence University’s Board of Trustees at its recent May meeting.

Sidney Ayabe, Honolulu, Hawaii; Dean DuMonthier, Riverwoods, Ill.; Dennis Klaeser, Glenview, Ill.; Barbara Lawton, Madison; and Ambassador Christopher Murray, Brussells, Belgium, have all been elected as term trustees for three-year renewable terms.

Bao Ha, Silver Spring, Md., was elected a Recent Graduate Trustee, a position established in 2014 exclusively for Lawrence alumni within 2-10 years of graduation. He will serve one non-renewable, three-year term. Each joins the board effective July 1.

“On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I am pleased to welcome these six new members to our board,” said Susan Stillman Kane, current board chair, whose term as chair ends July 1. “This new trustee class brings an impressive range of professional experience from the legal, financial, corporate, and investment worlds as well as long-standing service in state government and foreign service. Their collective diverse perspectives will help to strengthen all aspects of our work.”

David Blowers, president of national services at the Northern Trust Company in Chicago and a 1982 Lawrence graduate, will replace Kane as chair of the board July 1. Cory Nettles, founder and managing director of Generation Growth Capital, Inc., in Milwaukee, and a 1992 Lawrence graduate, will become vice chair of the board.

Sidney Ayabe

A 1967 Lawrence graduate, Ayabe is a retired attorney having spent 25 years as the managing partner of the law firm Ayabe, Chong, Nishimoto, Sia & Nakamura. Previously, he served as Hawaii’s deputy attorney general from 1970-72. He was elected president of the Hawaii State Bar Association in 1995. He has served on four Federal Merit Selection Panels, served on the Hawaii State Judicial Selection Commission for six years, including two as its chairperson and serves on the boards of the Mediation Center of the Pacific and Volunteer Legal Services of Hawaii.

Ayabe is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Board of Trial Advocates and has been recognized in “Best Lawyers in America,” “Chambers & Partners” and “Super Lawyers.”

After earning his bachelor’s degree in government from Lawrence, Ayabe earned his law degree at the University of Iowa in 1970.

Dean DuMonthier, CFA

Originally from Sheboygan, DuMonthier has extensive experience in the investment field, currently serving as managing director and portfolio manager for international equities with Minneapolis-based Winslow Capital Management. Prior experience includes a senior vice president position in global quantitative equities at Neuberger Berman, LLC, a New York-based, employee-owned investment firm with more than $270 billion in client assets.

He also spent six years as a partner and portfolio manager with Copia Capital, a Chicago-based market-neutral hedge fund. Earlier in his career he served as an equity research analyst and portfolio manager with Strong Capital Management and started his career out of Lawrence with Hewitt Associates as an institutional investment consultant.

A 1988 Lawrence graduate with a degree in economics, DuMonthier also earned an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. He also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Dennis Klaeser

Klaeser brings decades of executive banking expertise to the board, especially in strategic planning, investor relations, acquisition transactions, restructuring and divestures. He currently is executive vice president and chief financial officer of Chemical Financial Corporation and Chemical Bank. Chemical Financial is the largest banking company headquartered in Michigan with assets of more than $19 billion and more than 200 banking offices in Michigan, northeast Ohio and northern Indiana.

Prior to Chemical Financial, Klaeser served as chief financial officer and an executive managing director of Talmer Bancorp, Inc. for six years. He also has held positions as a senior bank analyst with Raymond James Financial; chief financial officer of PrivateBancorp, Inc.; managing director and head of the Financial Institutions Group for Andersen Corporate Finance, a division of Arthur Andersen; and investment banker at EVEREN Securities.

Klaeser, who graduated from Lawrence in 1980 with a degree in sociology, participated in the 3-2 program with the University of Chicago, earning a master’s in social service from the University of Chicago in addition to his bachelor’s degree from Lawrence. He also earned a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago and his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Barbara Lawton

A long-time public servant, Lawton was the first woman elected lieutenant governor in Wisconsin, serving from 2003-2011. As lieutenant governor, she promoted economic development, the creation of a “Green Economy Agenda” and the “Wisconsin Women = Prosperity,” a plan to increase leadership, economic, and educational opportunities for Wisconsin women.

She chaired the Wisconsin Arts Board (2003-13), chaired the National Lieutenant Governors Association, and served on the National Leadership Council of the American Association of Colleges and Universities and the Advisory Board of Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government Public Diplomacy Collaborative. Since leaving public office, Lawton focused on campaign finance reform, serving as president and CEO of Americans for Campaign Reform and co-founding Issue One, launching their bipartisan ReFormers Caucus.

Lawton serves on the Advisory Board for the national Millennial Action Project and for the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service. A native of Green Bay, Lawton was a founder of the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation and the Green Bay Area Multicultural Center.

Lawton was a non-traditional student when she attended Lawrence, graduating in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish. She then earned a master’s degree in Spanish at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Lawrence recognized her in 2009 with an honorary doctorate of laws degree. She also earned an honorary doctorate of fine arts from the Milwaukee Institute of Arts and Design.

Ambassador Christopher Murray

Ambassador (ret.) Murray enjoyed a distinguished 40-year career in the U.S. Foreign Service. His most recent assignment was as the Political Advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander for NATO Forces in Europe, from which he retired in 2016. He spent the preceding three years, from 2010 to 2013, as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of the Congo.

During his career Murray held a variety of leadership appointments, among them deputy chief of mission and chargé d’affaires at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels; deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon and the U.S. embassy in Algiers, Algeria; and chief of the political section of the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Syria.

In addition to his work abroad, Murray held several positions with the Department of State in Washington, D.C., among them director of the Office of Nonproliferation Policy, deputy director of European Regional Affairs and political officer in the European Bureau’s Office of NATO Affairs.

Fluent in Arabic, Dutch and French, Murray earned a bachelor’s degree in government from Lawrence in 1975 as a member of Phi Beta Kappa and a J.D. degree from Cornell Law School in 1980. He was recognized in 2015 with Lawrence’s Lucia Russell Briggs Distinguished Achievement Award and spent the spring of 2017 on campus as the university’s Distinguished Scarff Visiting Professor.

Bao Ha

Ha is finishing up his last year in Northrop Grumman’s Future Technical Leaders (FTL) Program, a three-year professional development program which selects top M.S./Ph.D. candidates in targeted science and engineering disciplines. He has worked across the United States solving challenging technical problems on both large and small programs. His diverse roles — data scientist, systems engineer, agile product owner — across year-long rotations provided experience and training in software, systems and algorithms.

A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Ha graduated magna cum laude from Lawrence in 2007 with degrees in mathematics and physics. He earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in applied physics at the California Institute of Technology, where he reproduced solar eruptions in the laboratory to extract insights into the driving forces behind space weather.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Lawrence welcomes five new members to its board of trustees

Five new members have been elected to Lawrence University’s Board of Trustees, including two with previous board service. Each joins the board for a three-year term effective July 1.

Derrell Acon, an award-winning vocalist, Lydia Howarth, a retired publishing editor, David Knapp, senior managing director with Chicago’s Northern Trust, Robert Perille, a former private equity investment firm partner, and Sara Quandt, public health professor at Wake Forest University, were elected to the board at its most recent meeting.

Susan Stillman Kane — Susie Stillman Kane

They replace four members of the board who are retiring: Bob Anker, a 1964 Lawrence graduate who joined the board in 2004; Bob Buchanan, a 1962 Lawrence graduate who has served on the board since 1978; Garth Neustadter, a member of the class of 2010, Lawrence’s first Recent Graduate Trustee, and O. B. Parrish, a 1955 Lawrence graduate who served initially from 1983-86 and again from 1998-2017.

“On behalf of the Board of Trustees, it is my distinct pleasure to welcome three new and two returning trustees to the Board who represent a wealth of professional experience,” said Susie Stillman Kane ’72, board chair.

“In addition to her previous work in the publishing field, Lydia brings perspectives on higher education through her work as spouse of the chancellor of Vanderbilt University,” said Kane. “Sara, a veteran member of the academy as an applied medical anthropologist, has served as a director of Lawrence Alumni Association and has given generously of her time to Lawrence, faculty members and students. Derrell, a lecturer and opera performer, has performed globally and will provide important insights to board deliberations as a graduate of the conservatory. During his earlier service as a trustee, Bob’s strong interest in improving career services led to the birth of the Lawrence Scholars in Business Program. David’s extensive professional experience as well as that on the Lawrence Board will help to ensure the needed balance between the long-term institutional perspectives and good governance practices.”

Derrell Acon ’11, Chicago, Ill.
Acon is the board’s fourth Recent Graduate Trustee, a position established in 2014 exclusively for Lawrence alumni within 2-10 years of their graduation. He will serve one three-year term.

An award-winning bass-baritone, Acon has nearly two dozen operatic roles to his credit, among them Sarastro in “The Magic Flute” at the Glimmerglass Festival, Leporello in “Don Giovanni” for the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival and the title character in “Don Bucefalo” for the La Musica Lirica International Music Festival.

Acon is a two-time Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions regional finalist and earned first place and Grand Prize awards in Chicago’s Bel Canto Foundation Opera contest in 2010 and first prize honors in the 2015 Nicholas Loren Competition.

He has delivered lecture/recitals internationally, including the American Academy in Rome, Italy and the University of Gondar in Ethiopia.

A summa cum laude double-degree graduate of Lawrence with a B.A. in government and a B.M. in voice performance, Acon earned a master’s degree and a doctoral degree in 19th-century opera history and performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Lydia Howarth ’75, Nashville, Tenn.
Howarth, a former Lawrence admissions volunteer, is a retired editor for various publishing entities, including the University of Wisconsin Press, the University of Chicago Press, the National Geographic Society and the Brookings Institution. She is the wife of the chancellor of Vanderbilt University, Nicholas Zeppos.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Lawrence with a bachelor’s degree in English and philosophy, Howarth earned a master’s degree in English from the University of Chicago and a master of fine arts degree in writing and literature from Bennington College.

David Knapp ’89, Chicago, Ill.
A senior managing director in wealth management with the Northern Trust in Chicago, Knapp returns to the board, where he previously served from 2003-2016, including two years as board secretary (2014-16). During his previous tenure on the board, Knapp was chair of the investment committee and the Lawrence Corporation of Wisconsin.

Prior to joining Northern Trust, Knapp worked as a consultant with Stern Stewart & Co. in Chicago and was vice president and director of the SCI Financial Group in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Beyond his service as a trustee, Knapp has been active in Lawrence’s Scholars in Business program, has served as a volunteer for both the admissions office and career services.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in philosophy at Lawrence, Knapp earned an MBA from the University of Iowa.

Bob Perille ’80, Santa Monica, Calif.
Perille begins his second stint on the board after previously serving from 2006-2011. He joins the board after also serving on the President’s Advisory Council. He played a leadership role in the creation of Lawrence’s Scholars in Business program.

A veteran of the investment industry, Perille retired in 2015 from Shamrock Capital Advisors, a private equity investment firm in Los Angeles focused on the communication, entertainment and media industry. He currently invests in private companies through Calvello Investments, LLC, a family holding company, and serves as a venture partner for Draper Frontier, a seed stage venture fund based in LA. Prior to Shamrock, Perille spent 23 years with Bank of America, including as a managing director in leveraged finance and then managing partner of a captive private equity fund, Bank of America Capital Investors. He currently serves on the boards of five private companies and the board of the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in biology from Lawrence, Perille earned a master of business administration degree from Babson College.

Sara Quandt ’73, Winston Salem, N.C.
As an applied medical anthropologist at Wake Forest University, Quandt conducts research using a community-based participatory framework with rural, minority and low income populations, including work in occupational safety and health with immigrant farmworkers, poultry processing workers and other manual workers. Her research also has focused on older adults and nutrition, including self-management of diabetes and oral health deficits.

Her efforts have been recognized with awards from the National Rural Health Association, the National Occupational Research Agenda and the Washington Association of Professional Anthropologists. She also was honored by Lawrence in 2013 with the university’s Briggs Distinguished Achievement Award.

Quandt joined Wake Forest University’s School of Medicine’s department of public health in 1994 after spending 11 years on the faculty of the University of Kentucky.

In addition to her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Lawrence, Quandt earned a Ph.D. in anthropology from Michigan State University.

Former U.S. Associate Attorney General rejoining Lawrence Board of Trustees

A familiar face is returning to the Lawrence University Board of Trustees.

A Head shot of Former U.S. Associate Attorney General Bill Baer. — Bill Baer ’72

Bill Baer, who previously served on the board from 2001-2012, has been re-elected to a three-year term, effective Feb. 1.

On Jan. 20, Baer stepped down from his position as Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General, the third-ranking position in the U.S. Department of Justice, in conjunction with the completion of the Obama administration. Baer joined the DOJ’s Antitrust Division as Assistant Attorney General in December 2012, leaving the Lawrence’s Board of Trustees, where he had been vice chair for two years.

“Now that Bill has completed his assignments with the Justice Department, we are delighted to welcome him back to the Lawrence Board of Trustees where his legal experience, sound judgment and analytical skills will once again be a tremendous asset to our ongoing work and strategic planning,” said Susie Stillman Kane ’72. “Given his past leadership roles on the board, he also brings significant institutional knowledge and perspective to our work.”

A 1972 Lawrence graduate, Baer has established himself as one of the nation’s leading antitrust attorneys. He began his career at the Federal Trade Commission and beginning in 1980, spent 15 years as head of the antitrust division of the law firm of Arnold & Porter. In 2010, the National Law Journal named him as one of “the decade’s most influential lawyers” and the International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers named Baer the “leading competition lawyer in the world” in 2006 and 2007.

In his previous tenure on the board, Baer served on the search committee for Lawrence’s 16th president, Mark Burstein. He has been active on behalf of Lawrence, serving as an admissions volunteer, a campaign working group member for the university’s $160 million “More Light” campaign (2005-2011) and as a panelist with the Lawrence Scholars in Law program.

Baer, along with other family members, established the Joseph L. and Mary R. Baer Family Scholarship in recognition of his parents’ lifelong commitment to education.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in government from Lawrence, Baer earned his J.D. degree from Stanford Law School.

Lawrence adds expertise in the legal, investment, academic and development fields to its Board of Trustees

Four new members have been elected to Lawrence University’s Board of Trustees, including two with previous board service. Each joins the board effective July 1.

Attorney William Hochkammer, University of California, San Diego alumni director Tamika Franklin, Columbia University political scientist John Huber and equity fund founder Cory Nettles were named to the board at its recently concluded May meeting.

They will replace two retiring members of the board: John Ellerman, a 1958 Lawrence graduate who has served on the board since 1983; and David Knapp, a 1989 Lawrence graduate who joined the board in 2002.

“On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I am pleased to welcome back former trustees Bill Hochkammer and Cory Nettles,” said board chair Susie Stillman Kane ’72. “Bill provided outstanding leadership during his tenure as chair of the board and co-chair of the “More Light” campaign a decade ago. Cory’s more recent contributions as a member of the President’s Advisory Council have been invaluable. We look forward to the insights he will bring to the board.

“With John’s expertise in academia and the liberal arts and Tamika’s in development and alumni relations, their additions will enhance even further the multi-generational makeup and perspective of our board,” Kane added.

Bill-Hochkammer_newsblog2016 — Willilam Hochkammer

William Hochkammer ’66, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
A partner at the Detroit law firm of Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn, L.L.P., Hochkammer rejoins the board having previously served as a member from 1993-2015, including as chair of the board from 2005-07. He is the first trustee in Lawrence history to complete his term limit and be invited to rejoin the board.

As co-chair of the Capital Campaign Steering Committee, Hochkammer was instrumental in the success of the $160 million “More Light!” campaign, the most ambitious fundraising effort in Lawrence’s history, that ended in 2011.

He served on the Presidential Search Committee that appointed Jill Beck as the university’s 15th president and currently serves as a member of the leadership team for Lawrence’s $75 million “Full Speed to Full Need” endowed scholarship campaign.

A 1966 Lawrence graduate, Hochkammer joined Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn in 1972 and was the founding chair of the firm’s health care and insurance departments. He served as the firm’s chair from 1991-98 and as its CEO from 1993-98.

Hochkammer has been included on the annual “Best Lawyers in America” list every year since 1991 in the areas of health care law and insurance law. He was recognized as the Detroit Insurance Lawyer of the Year in 2011 and the Detroit Health Care Law Lawyer of the Year in 2014 by “Best Lawyers.”

In addition to a bachelor’s degree in economics from Lawrence, Hochkammer earned a law degree from Northwestern University School of Law, where he was a writer and editor for the Journal of Criminal Law.

Tamika-Franklin_newsblog — Tamika Franklin

Tamika Franklin ’05, San Diego, Calif.
Franklin is the board’s third Recent Graduate Trustee, a position established in 2014 exclusively for Lawrence alumni within 2-10 years of their graduation. She will serve one three-year term.

An advancement professional, Franklin has served as UC-San Diego’s director of alumni affairs within the development and alumni relations office for the division of physical sciences since May 2013. She played a leading role in developing UCSD’s Black Alumni Council and an Asian Pacific Islander Alumni Council and serves as a staff liaison for both. UCSD honored Franklin with its Diversity Award in 2014.

Prior to joining UCSD, Franklin spent four years at San Diego State University working with the vice president of university relations and development.

A native of Jamaica, Franklin earned a bachelor’s degree in government and philosophy from Lawrence in 2005.

John Huber ’84, New York, N.Y.
An accomplished and nationally recognized scholar, Huber joined the political science department at Columbia University in 1998 after faculty appointments at Ohio State and the University of Michigan. He was promoted to full professor in 2002 and has served as chair of the department six of the past 10 years.

At Columbia, he has been engaged in institutional issues related to admissions, financial aid and global education.

A specialist in the comparative study of democratic processes, Huber’s current research interests focus on ethnic politics, inequality and the politics of redistribution.

He is the author of the books “Rationalizing Parliament” and “Deliberate Discretion? Institutional Foundations of Bureaucratic Autonomy,” which received numerous awards, including the William Riker Prize. It was named 2002’s best book in comparative politics by the American Political Science Association.

Huber was elected to the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2013 and spent 10 years as the editor of the Quarterly Journal of Political Science. He also has served on the editorial boards of several publications, including the Journal of Politics, French Politics, Legislative Studies Quarterly and the American Journal of Political Science.

A 1984 cum laude graduate of Lawrence with a degree in government, Huber earned a master’s degree and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Rochester.

Cory Nettles ’92, Bayside, Wis.
An attorney, Nettles begins his second as a board member, having previously served from 2005-10. He is the former co-chair of the President’s Advisory Council.

Nettles is the founder and managing director of Generation Growth Capital, Inc., a Milwaukee-based private equity fund that provides growth capital to lower middle-market companies in the Midwest. The company is committed to working in low to moderate income communities, investing and creating jobs in distressed communities and supporting ethnic minority entrepreneurs.

He serves of counsel with Quarles and Brady LLP in the law firm’s corporate services and government relations groups. His experience ranges from mergers and acquisitions to tax incremental financing and diversity-related matters.

Nettles served as the secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Commerce from 2003-05 under Governor Jim Doyle before joining the corporate world. As secretary, he managed one of the state’s largest agencies, with 450 employees and an annual budget in excess of $225M. He was a principal architect of Governor Doyle’s “Grow Wisconsin” plan, a comprehensive strategy for investing more than $1 billion in Wisconsin’s economy.

In 2015, he was one of five African-American executives who formed Partners for Community Impact LLC to become minority investors in the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team.

Besides Lawrence, Nettles serves as a board member numerous businesses and organizations, among them Associated Bank, the United Way of Greater Milwaukee. Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, Teach For America, the Medical College of Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin Foundation.

He was inducted into the Milwaukee Business Journal’s “40 Under 40 Hall of Fame” in 2015 and was named one of the “Most Influential African Americans in Wisconsin” by Madison 365 that same year.

After graduating magna cum laude from Lawrence in 1992 with a degree in government, Nettles earned a law degree from the University of Wisconsin.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College” and Fiske’s Guide to Colleges 2016. Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Healthcare expert, award-winning litigator elected to Lawrence Board of Trustees

Two new members have been elected to Lawrence University’s of Board of Trustees.

Healthcare consultant Omer Sayeed and nationally recognized attorney Anton Valukas join Shelley Davis ’92, Chicago, Ill., Dr. Richard Fessler ’74, Winnetka, Ill., and Andrew Wong ‘06, Chicago, Ill., who were elected to the board earlier this year, as members of the 2015 class of new trustees.

“On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I am delighted to welcome Omer and Tony to the Board,” said board chair Susie Stillman Kane ’72. “Omer brings extensive background in the health care industry and Tony is known in legal circles as the best trial lawyer in the country.

“In joining Andrew Wong, our second Recent Graduate Trustee, Shelley Davis and Rick Fessler, these five individuals comprise one of the largest new trustee classes in recent memory. It is a tribute to the loyalty and commitment Lawrence instills in its alumni and friends that each is willing to give so generously of his or her time and talent by taking on this important role for the university.”

The board will hold its annual fall meeting at Bjorklunden, Lawrence’s northern campus in Door County, Oct. 28-30.

Omer Sayeed, Altadena, Calif.
A management consultant with extensive expertise in the health care industry, including both payer and provider operations, Sayeed is senior vice president of the UnitedHealth Group, Optum.

Prior to Optum, Sayeed spent three years as senior vice president with AccretiveHealth, where he was responsible for revenue enhancement and administrative cost reduction solutions.

Sayeed also spent 11 years as a partner in Accenture’s Health and Public Services practice, where he worked with payer CEOs and CFOs and led efforts to identify and deliver cost reduction in claims, finance and procurement.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in physics from Lawrence in 1987, Sayeed earned a master’s degree in philosophy and a Ph.D. in biology from Indiana University. He also received an appointment as a postdoctoral fellow in neurogenetics and behavior at the California Institute of Technology.

Sayeed spent a year on Lawrence’s President’s Advisory Council before his election to the Board of Trustees.

Anton Valukas, Evanston, Ill.
Valukas serves as chair of the law firm Jenner & Block, where he focuses on civil and criminal litigation.

Tony Valukas_newsblog_new trustee — Anton Valukas ’65

His history of litigation success earned him a 2009 federal appointment as the examiner for the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Valukas issued a nine-volume, 2,200-page report that was widely praised for its clarity and usefulness in determining what brought about Lehman’s demise, an event many commentators point to as the precipitating event triggering the economic crisis of 2008.

Valukas has been named one of the country’s leading litigation lawyers for eight consecutive years by Chambers USA, while Chicago Lawyer honored him as its “Person of the Year” in 2009. Other honors include being named as one of “The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America” by The National Law Journal in 2013, and “Litigator of the Year” and “Newsmaker of the Year” in 2012 and 2011, respectively by The American Lawyer magazine.

Prior to joining Jenner & Block, Valukas held several positions with the U.S. Department of Justice, including Assistant United States Attorney (1970-74), Chief of the Special Prosecutions Division (1974), and First Assistant United States Attorney (1975-76). In 1985, he left the firm to serve as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, returning to Jenner & Block in 1989.

He previously served on the Lawrence Board of Trustees from 1991 to 1994 and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Lawrence in 2012, when he also served as the college’s commencement speaker.

Valukas earned a degree in government from Lawrence in 1965 and his J.D. from the Northwestern University School of Law in 1968.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College” and Fiske’s Guide to Colleges 2016. Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Three new members join Lawrence’s Board of Trustees

Three new members have been elected to the Lawrence University Board of Trustees.

Shelley Davis, Dr. Richard Fessler and Andrew Wong will each serve a three-year term beginning July 1.

“I look forward to welcoming our new trustees to the Lawrence University Board,” said Susie Stillman Kane, recently elected board chair and board member since 2002. “Collectively they represent depth, breadth and diversity of expertise from the non-profit and philanthropic sectors, global management consulting, and the field of neurosurgery. As we navigate these challenging times in higher education, we are more keenly aware than ever before just how crucial it is to recruit new members with diverse perspectives and experience to enhance our board work and strategic planning.”

Shelley-Davis_newsblog — Shelley Davis, ’92

Shelley Davis ’92, Chicago, Ill.
A leader in Chicago’s philanthropic and nonprofit sectors who is devoted to promoting equal opportunities and a higher quality of life for low-income communities, Davis has been responsible for evaluating and recommending more than $25 million in grants to nonprofit groups involved in everything from policy advocacy and community organizing to human services and the arts.

She was named the first executive director of the Forest Preserve Foundation, which supports the protection and restoration of native habitats within the forest preserve district of Cook County in 2013, a position she still holds today.

Davis also serves as vice chair of the board of directors of Chicago’s Albert Pick Fund, a nonprofit corporation organized in 1947 as a general-purpose private foundation, and has spent the past three years as the commissioner of the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission.

She previously has served as vice president of programs and advocacy for the Chicago Foundation for Women, where she directed $6 million dollars in grants to organizations focused on violence against women, access to health care and economic security. As an advisor to the Women’s Initiative for Self-Employment, she raised more than $750,000 and launched a program to help low-income women in Chicago and New York become entrepreneurs. She also has held leadership positions with the Joyce Foundation, the Ford Foundation and with Chicago Women in Trades.

Since 2010, Davis has served as a lecturer with the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, specializing in non-profit advocacy, philanthropy and social policies impacting low income families.

A 1992 graduate of Lawrence, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology, Davis also a earned her master’s degree in urban planning and policy, and urban, community and economic development from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1998.

Dr.-Richard-Fessler_newsblog — Dr. Richard Fessler ’74

Dr. Richard Fessler ’74, Winnetka, Ill.
An internationally acclaimed researcher, surgeon and professor of neurosurgery at Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center, Fessler is widely considered the father of minimally invasive spine surgery. He is credited with developing many of the surgical techniques being used today.

Fessler was the first surgeon in the United States to perform human embryonic spinal cord transplantation and among the first to perform minimally invasive scoliosis surgery. He twice performed microdiscectomy surgery on NFL quarterback Peyton Manning.

Prior to joining Rush Medical Center, Fessler spent six years (2007-2013) as vice chair of neurosurgery at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and was the medical director of the Neuro Spine Intensive Care Unit at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He also has served as chief of neurosurgery at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics.

Routinely listed in “Best Doctors of America,” Fessler founded and directed the Institute for Spine Care at the Chicago Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuroresearch.

After graduating from Lawrence in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, Fessler earned a master’s degree in experimental psychology from North Dakota State University and doctorate degrees in pharmacology, physiology and medicine from the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine.

Fessler was recognized with Lawrence’s Lucia Russell Briggs Distinguished Achievement Award in 2014.

Andrew Wong, ’06, Chicago, Ill.
Wong is an associate in the Chicago office of McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm that serves leading businesses, governments, non-governmental organizations and not-for-profits. He is Lawrence’s second Recent Graduate Trustee, a position established in 2014 exclusively for Lawrence alumni within 2-10 years of graduation. He will serve one non-renewable term.

Wong earned a bachelor’s degree in history summa cum laude from Lawrence in 2006 and an MBA in 2014 from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

After earning Academic All-American, all-conference and team most valuable player honors as a shortstop at Lawrence, Wong played professional minor league baseball for five years throughout the United States. He also served as a player and coach in Australia, South Africa and Europe. While in South Africa, he used his passion for baseball as a tool for social change by helping to build an intramural youth baseball program in a low-income township in Cape Town.

Prior to earning his MBA, he spent two years as an intellectual property paralegal with Foley and Lardner LLP.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2015 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Outgoing Lawrence University board chair receives surprise honor: $1M scholarship fund named in his honor

Terry Franke_newsblog — Terry Franke ’68

As parting gifts go, Terry Franke could not have asked for a more meaningful one.

Franke, the outgoing chair of Lawrence University’s Board of Trustees, received a surprise going away present at the board’s recent Spring meeting: The establishment of the Terry and Mary Franke Scholarship Fund, courtesy of a $1 million gift from an anonymous donor given “in recognition of the amazing job he has done in the past four and a half years as the chairman of the Lawrence board.”

The $1 million gift will go toward Lawrence’s focused student scholarship campaign — “Full Speed to Full Need” — launched last September with a gift of $25 million, the largest in school history. Lawrence alumni and friends since have contributed an additional $21.5 million in matching gifts for a total of $46.5 million toward a goal of $50 million. The funds will be used exclusively for endowed scholarships to help meet students’ demonstrated financial need.

“Terry Franke has led the Lawrence Board of Trustees during a time of immense growth and significant change for the university. I cannot think of a better way to acknowledge his service to his alma mater than this wonderful gift to establish the Terry and Mary Franke Scholarship fund,” said Mark Burstein, university president.

Susan-Stillman-Kane_newsblog — Susan Stillman Kane ’72

Franke, a 1968 Lawrence graduate, has served on Lawrence’s Board of Trustees for 16 years, including as chair since January, 2011. He spent most of his career at Hewitt Associates, where he was a senior partner. More recently he has served as a senior consultant for Productive Strategies, Inc., a management and marketing consulting firm based in Northfield, Ill.

The end of Franke’s term as chair brings new leadership to the board. Susan Stillman Kane, an Oshkosh native who graduated from Lawrence in 1972, succeeds Franke as chair of the board. She has been a member of the board since 2002. During her tenure she has served in numerous leadership positions. Kane’s mother, Elizabeth Stillman, was a 1933 graduate of Milwaukee-Downer College, which merged with Lawrence College in 1964.

“It is a testament to the strength of the Lawrence community that after Terry’s incredibly successful tenure that the Board is fortunate to have someone as talented as Susie Stillman Kane to assume its leadership as the incoming chair,” said Burstein.

Kane, who resides in Swampscott, Mass., is a long-time dedicated community volunteer. She spent 23 years on the board, including several years as board president, of the Citizens’ Scholarship Foundation of Marblehead, Inc., which provides scholarships for high school seniors and college students from the community. She also has served as an elected town meeting member in Swampscott.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2015 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Four New Members Join Lawrence’s Board of Trustees

Leaders in corporate management, architecture, broadcasting and the arts have been elected to the Lawrence University Board of Trustees.

Laura Kohler, Ron McCoy, Terry Moran and Garth Neustadter begin three-year terms and will participate in their first board meeting Oct. 29-31.

Neustadter is the university’s first Recent Graduate Trustee, a newly established position exclusively for Lawrence alumni within 2-10 years of graduation. He will serve one non-renewable term.

“The momentum at Lawrence right now is great and this also applies to our Board of Trustees,” said Board Chair Terry Franke, a 1968 Lawrence graduate. “We are excited to welcome four new board members who have a wide range of experiences. We are extremely pleased that each agreed to give their time and talent to Lawrence. They bring perspectives that will expand the breadth and depth of our board. Two are Lawrence alumni and two have degrees from other institutions. With the unprecedented and non-traditional challenges facing higher education today, it is critical to have a board with diversity of ideas and experience.”

Laura Kohler

Kohler is senior vice president-human resources for Kohler Co. and a member of the company’s board of directors. She becomes a third generation member of the Kohler family to serve as a Lawrence trustee. Her father, Herbert V. Kohler Jr., served from 1974-2002, at which time he was elected an emeriti trustee. Her grandmother, Ruth Miriam DeYoung Kohler, served from 1945-53.

Kohler oversees global talent management, compensation and benefit programs, learning, organizational development and diversity with additional responsibilities for labor relations and security for the company.

She also leads Kohler Stewardship, the company’s global corporate social responsibility program, which drives ethics, respectful workplace, engagement, sustainability, community partnerships and associate giving.

Kohler began her career with the company in 1995 as director-public affairs and was appointed vice president of communications in 1998. The following year she was named vice president of human resources and elected to the Kohler Co.’s board of directors. She was promoted to senior vice president of human resources in 2002. Prior to joining Kohler Co., she spent two years as executive director of the Kohler Foundation, Inc., for which she is still a board member.

She is engaged in numerous leadership roles outside the company. She is a member of the advisory board of the Center for Global Business Studies for the Graduate School of Business at Pennsylvania State University; serves as the board secretary, HR committee chair and an executive committee member of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center; and is chair of the Kohler Trust for Arts and Education and the Kohler Trust for Preservation.

She is a director of Friendship House, a group home for at-risk boys, serves on the Kohler School District Board of Education and is a member of the Kohler Village Strategic Plan Committee. In 2005, Kohler was named co-recipient of the Wisconsin State Superintendent’s “Friends of Education” Award.

A graduate of Duke University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science, Kohler also earned a master’s degree in fine arts from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

Ron McCoy

McCoy, university architect at Princeton University since 2008, has more than three decades of experience as an architect and educator. His Princeton appointment coincided with a 10-year university plan that included approximately two million square feet of new construction and renovation.

As one of the country’s leading university architects, McCoy plays a central role in implementing Princeton’s campus plan and capital program, working on issues of aesthetics and the preservation of the university’s architectural heritage. He also represents the university in dealings with the Princeton Regional Planning Board and other public regulatory authorities.

McCoy started his own architectural practice in 1985 and later taught at Drexel and Temple universities. He was a faculty member at the Southern California Institute of Architecture for 10 years (1985-95) before joining Arizona State University as a professor and director of the university’s School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.

Under his leadership, ASU was recognized as one of the top 10 public schools of architecture in the country. McCoy served on ASU’s President’s Leadership Council on Sustainability and during his tenure, 10 new campus buildings earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification under U.S. Green Building Council’s rating system.

He was awarded the 2006 Arizona Architects Medal, presented by the state chapter of the American Institute of Architects and the following year was named to the AIA College of Fellows, an honor accorded less than two percent of registered architects in the United States.

McCoy, who lives in Princeton, N.J., earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and a master’s degree in architecture from Princeton.

Terry Moran ’82

One of America’s most recognizable broadcast journalists, Moran has served as ABC News’ chief foreign correspondent since the fall of 2013. Based in London, he reports frequently from Syria and Iraq.

He joined ABC News in 1997 as a reporter for “Good Morning, America” and “World News,” for which he was the network’s chief White House correspondent. He spent several years as the anchor of ABC’s “World News Sunday” before joining the network’s “Nightline” program, where he spent eight years (2005-13) as co-anchor.

While on “Nightline,” Moran reported on everything from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Supreme Court decisions to the 2008 presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and John McCain and the American detention facility in Guantanamo Bay.

He began his journalism career as a reporter and assistant managing editor for the Legal Times and later joined CourtTV, where he covered the O.J. Simpson murder trial.

He has been recognized with the White House Correspondents Association’s Merriman Smith Award for excellence in presidential reporting on deadline (2006) and a Peabody Award for his reporting and anchoring work on the ABC News documentary “Out of Control: AIDS in Black America” (2007).

Moran, who earned a degree in English at Lawrence, was presented his alma mater’s Lucia R. Briggs Distinguished Achievement Award in 2003.

Garth Neustadter ’10

A native of Manitowoc now living in Pasadena, Calif., Neustadter is a rising star in the field of film scoring. An Emmy Award-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist, he has written feature length scores for Warner Bros., PBS, Turner Classic Movies and China’s CCTV. His compositions have been performed in venues ranging from Lincoln Center to Los Angeles’ Nokia Theater. Most recently, his work has been selected to be performed in upcoming seasons by Grammy Award-winning violinist, Hilary Hahn, as part of the Encores Contest.

Garth-Neustadter-newsblog-trustees — Garth Neustadter ’10

Neustadter was recognized in 2011 with a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award for a score he wrote while still a Lawrence student for the PBS American Masters documentary “John Muir and the New World” about the life of the 19^th-century Scottish-American naturalist and environmental advocate.

His most recent film projects include compositions for the 2013 documentary “The Thingmaker,” the short film “Ballad of Poisionberry Pete” and the 2012 feature-length film “Tar.” He also wrote original music for Duracell’s national “Powering Smiles” ad campaign, which was ranked in the top three holiday ads of 2013.

A five-time “DB” winner in Downbeat magazine’s annual student music competition, Neustadter also earned first-prize honors in the 2007 Young Film Composers Competition sponsored by Turner Classic Movies. The following year, he was commissioned by TCM to write an original score for a restored version of the 1923 silent film “The White Sister.” In 2010, he was named one of the 37 national winners of the ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composers Award for his 15-minute composition written for full orchestra and choir based on the Spanish text “Oh llama de amor viva.”

In June, Lawrence recognized Neustadter with the college’s Nathan Pusey Young Alumni Achievement Award.

After earning a bachelor of music degree summa cum laude in music performance (voice and violin) from Lawrence, Neustadter earned a master’s degree in music at Yale University in 2012.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2015 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Engaged learning, the development of multiple interests and community outreach are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries.

Martha Olson, Warnaco Executive, ’77 Grad Named to Lawrence University Board of Trustees

Martha Olson, group president Calvin Klein Underwear Global & Heritage Brands at New York City-based Warnaco, has been elected to the Lawrence University Board of Trustees. She will serve on three board committees: academic affairs, finance, and recruitment and retention.

Olson joined Warnaco in 2004 as president of Core Intimates and assumed responsibility for Calvin Klein Underwear U.S. in 2008. She was appointed a Warnaco Corporate Officer in September 2010.

Warnaco’s products are sold under several highly recognized brand names, including Calvin Klein Underwear, Calvin Klein Jeans, Speedo, Chaps, Warner’s and Olga. PVH Corp., which owns the brands Tommy Hilfiger, Van Heusen and Izod, acquired Warnaco earlier this year.

Prior to Warnaco, Olson served as the president of the district partnerships division of Edison Schools, Inc. — now known as Edison Learning — a for-profit education management organization for public schools in the United States and the United Kingdom.

During her career Olson also has held several leadership positions with Sara Lee, including president of Ralph Lauren Intimates, president of Sara Lee Hosiery of Canada, vice president of marketing of Playtex Apparel and president of the Isotoner Canada Division of Sara Lee. She began her career in brand management, leading several iconic brands at General Mills and Nestle.

A resident of Darien, Conn., Olson graduated as a member of Phi Beta Kappa from Lawrence in 1977 with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology. She also earned a master’s degree in business administration from Northwestern University.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013 and the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.

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