The announcement on September 23 that Jessica Tuchman Mathews ’67 and Theodore V. Wells Jr., J.D.-M.B.A. ’76, have been elected members of the University’s senior governing board, effective January 1, is an important milestone in effecting the changes in Harvard governance unveiled in late 2010 (see “The Corporation’s 360-Year Tune-Up,” January-February 2011). Their election completes the Corporation’s planned expansion from seven fellows to 13—intended to broaden the senior board’s expertise; enable it to establish permanent committees focused on its most important fiduciary duties (including governance, finances, capital planning and budgeting, and alumni affairs and development); and make it possible for the fellows to focus on matters of greatest strategic importance to Harvard.
Tuchman, who earned a Ph.D. in molecular biology at California Institute of Technology, was a Radcliffe College trustee from 1992 to 1996. Since 1997, she has served as president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; earlier, she worked at the National Security Council, the U.S. Department of State, and the Council on Foreign Relations. She said, “I’m thrilled to be coming home to Harvard. The world of education is globalizing, with consequences as profound as those for government and business. Having spent more than a decade building a global think tank, I look forward to helping think through this great University’s international role and contributing all I can to the full range of the Corporation’s work.”
Wells, a graduate and former trustee of the College of the Holy Cross, is partner and co-chair of the litigation department at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. He is widely known for high-stakes white-collar criminal-defense cases and corporate practice. He served as national treasurer for Senator Bill Bradley’s 2000 presidential campaign and is co-chairman emeritus of the board of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Wells said, “Education opens minds and expands opportunities, and nothing matters more to me. I greatly look forward to serving a university that has helped shape my own outlook and aspiration s, and to supporting the work of people across Harvard whose ideas and efforts do so much to better the world.”
Welcoming these new colleagues, Senior Fellow Robert D. Reischauer ’63 and President Drew Faust said in a statement: “Jessica Mathews is a widely admired figure in the international-affairs domain, with a career that has combined excellence in nonprofit leadership with experience in government, policy, science, environmental affairs, and journalism. Ted Wells is an extraordinarily accomplished lawyer renowned for his wise counsel, his powers of analysis and persuasion, and his devotion to education and the public interest. Harvard will be fortunate to have the benefit of their service.”
For a full report, see https://harvardmag.com/board-12.
