Princeton University has named nine members to its Board of Trustees, effective July 1.
The trustees are:
• Laura Forese, Louise Sams and C. James Yeh, who were elected by the board to serve for eight years as charter trustees;
• Arminio Fraga, Paul Maeder and Doris Sohmen-Pao, who were elected by the board to serve for four years as term trustees;
• Lori Dickerson Fouché and Anne Sherrerd, who were elected by alumni to serve four years as alumni trustees;
• and Fiyinfoluwa "Tumi" Akinlawon, who was elected by the junior, senior and two youngest alumni classes to serve four years as young alumni trustee.
Biographical information about them follows:
Akinlawon, of Lagos, Nigeria, graduated this year with a degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering and certificates in materials science and engineering, robotics and intelligent systems, and sustainable energy. Akinlawon spent summer 2012 researching microbial fuel cells with Howard Stone, the Donald R. Dixon '69 and Elizabeth W. Dixon Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and last summer continued his energy-based research as an analyst for Black & Veatch, a global engineering firm. After graduation, he will work in the energy practice of the Dallas office of Boston Consulting Group. Akinlawon was a residential college adviser at Wilson College, an Orange Key Tour guide, Annual Giving co-chair, International Orientation leader and volunteer with Engineers Without Borders. He joined the track team as a walk-on and won the 2015 Ivy League championship in the long jump.
Forese, of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, is president of New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System. She is also group senior vice president and chief operating officer for New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell. Forese earned a BSE in civil engineering from Princeton in 1983 and holds an M.D. and a master of public health degree from Columbia University. She served as a term trustee from 2010-14 and chaired the Committee on Public Affairs. She served on the New York metropolitan region steering committee for the Aspire campaign, the steering committee of Princeton's Women in Leadership Initiative and is a past chair of a regional Alumni Schools Committee. She is a member of the leadership council of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Fouché, of Montclair, New Jersey, is the chief executive officer of Prudential Group Insurance and has spent more than 20 years in the insurance industry. After earning her bachelor's degree in history from Princeton in 1991, she started her career at Chubb & Son, before earning her MBA from Harvard Business School and becoming a management consultant at the Parthenon Group. In 2011, she was appointed president and chief executive officer of Fireman's Fund Insurance Co., before joining Prudential Group Insurance as president and chief operating officer in 2013. At Princeton, she was captain of the softball team and served on President Harold T. Shapiro's Council on Alcohol and Drugs. She is a member of the Alumni Schools Committee and the Association of Black Princeton Alumni and participated as a panelist in the "Coming Back" conference in 2014.
Fraga, of Rio de Janeiro, is a co-founder of Gávea Investimentos, an asset management firm in Brazil, which was sold to J.P. Morgan. Fraga chairs the board of directors of Brazil's securities, commodities and futures exchange. He was president of the central bank of Brazil from March 1999 to December 2002. He earned his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton in 1985; his bachelor's and master's degrees are from Pontificia Universidade Catolica. Fraga has taught at a number of universities. He is a member of Princeton's Global Leadership Committee, the Bendheim Center for Finance Advisory Council and the advisory board of the Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies; he is also a board member of the Princeton Club of Brazil. In 2012, he was awarded the Madison Medal, which is an honor conferred annually on an alumnus or alumna of Princeton's Graduate School.
Maeder, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is founding partner of Highland Capital Partners, concentrating on building companies in online education, robotics and software. He has nearly 30 years of experience in venture capital and has served as a director of several companies. He serves on the Securities and Exchange Commission's Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies and was chair of the National Venture Capital Association from 2011-12. He graduated from Princeton in 1975 with a degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering and earned a master's in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. At Princeton, he established the Paul A. Maeder '75 Fund for Innovation in Energy and the Environment and serves on the Office of Development's Capital Leadership Committee as well as on the advisory council of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
Sams, of Atlanta, is the executive vice president and general counsel of Turner Broadcasting System Inc. She graduated from Princeton in 1979 with a degree in English and earned her J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. In June last year, Sams completed a 10-year term as a charter trustee. During her tenure, she chaired the Audit and Compliance Committee and served on the Committee on University Resources, among others. She is chair of the Annual Giving Committee, previously having served as vice chair, and also was leader of her class's Annual Giving efforts. She has chaired the Alumni Council's Committee to Nominate Alumni Trustees and was a regional chair of Princeton's Aspire campaign.
Sherrerd, of Riverside, Connecticut, graduated from Yale University and started her career in municipal finance before earning a master's degree from Princeton's School of Architecture in 1987 and co-founding Abeles & Sherrerd Architects Inc., specializing in residential design. After retiring from practice in 2001, she focused on volunteer work, much of it on Princeton's behalf. She was a founding member and chair of the Alumni Council's Committee on Graduate Alumni Relations, served on the Committee on Awards for Service to Princeton, the Princeton Prize in Race Relations Connecticut committee, the 2010 Commission on Graduate Alumni Relations, the Princeton Alumni Weekly board and the Aspire Campaign executive committee. In 2009, she became president of the Alumni Association and chair of the Alumni Council. She serves on the Governing Board of the Association of Princeton Graduate Alumni. She is also a member of the Office of Development's Capital Leadership Committee and chairs the stewardship subcommittee. In July, she will join the advisory council of the Princeton University Art Museum.
Sohmen-Pao, of Singapore, is executive vice president at Yale-NUS College in Singapore. Previously, she was director of human capital at Bain & Company South East Asia. Sohmen-Pao has extensive experience in higher education administration. She spearheaded the MBA program at Singapore Management University with a focus on leadership in Asia. She also directed the MBA program at INSEAD, the international business school with campuses in Singapore and France. She also has worked in media and publishing, including with an Internet startup and as international director for new media for Time Inc. She received her degree in politics from Princeton in 1993 and has an MBA from Harvard Business School. Sohmen-Pao has served on a number of advisory boards, including the INSEAD South East Asia Council, YK Pao School in Shanghai, United World College of South East Asia and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory. She served as a Princeton young alumni trustee from 1993-97. Her contributions to Princeton include participation in the Maclean Society and the Aspire regional steering committee, and she is a former president of the Princeton Club of Singapore.
Yeh, of Hinsdale, Illinois, is senior managing director of Citadel Investment Group, a leading global financial institution. He earned his degree in physics from Princeton in 1987 and holds a master's degree and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California-Berkeley. Yeh served as a term trustee from 2010-14. He is a member of the Asian American Alumni Association of Princeton and served on the Aspire campaign steering committee for the Chicago region.
Completing their terms as trustees on June 30 are Aku Ammah-Tagoe, Thomas Barron, Pyper Davis, Carl Ferenbach, Charles Gibson, Randall Kennedy, Philip Hammarskjold, Nancy Peretsman and Min Zhu.
