The Dartmouth Board of Trustees announced a new board member during its spring meeting on June 6. The board also honored a retiring trustee, paid tribute to its board chair, and approved appointments and promotions to faculty positions.
The board announced the election of Gregory B. Maffei ’82 as a charter trustee; he will join the board following Commencement on June 8. Maffei is president and CEO of Liberty Media/Liberty Interactive.
The trustees also announced that Trevor Rees-Jones ’73 is retiring from the board. The board held a luncheon on Friday to honor Rees-Jones and thank him for his service to Dartmouth.
“We thank Trevor for his devotion to Dartmouth. His passion for the College and service as a board member made an important difference to this school,” said Steve Mandel ’78, chair of the Board of Trustees.
In announcing the addition of a new trustee, Mandel said, “We are delighted to welcome Greg Maffei to the board. His deep business and communications expertise and his dedication to Dartmouth will make him an excellent trustee.”
Mandel’s term as chair will end following Commencement, but he remains on the board to complete his second term. As announced in March, Bill Helman ’80 was elected to succeed Mandel.
“We are fortunate to have benefited from Steve Mandel’s outstanding leadership on the board for the past seven years and to have had him at the helm for the last four,” said President Phil Hanlon ’77. “His focus on accessibility, communications, and outreach—not to mention his willingness to extend his term as chair for an extra year to support my transition—exemplified his selfless approach to leadership, for which I am truly grateful.”
Faculty Appointments and Establishment of Endowed Chairs
The board reviewed and approved recommended appointments and promotions to faculty positions in the Faculty of Arts & Sciences, the Geisel School of Medicine, the Tuck School of Business, and Thayer School of Engineering. The board also approved the establishment of an endowed professorship within the Faculty of Arts & Sciences.
2014 Commencement
The trustees remained in Hanover throughout the weekend to participate in a number of activities related to the 2014 graduates, culminating in Commencement ceremonies on June 8. These included Class Day exercises for undergraduates and for the Geisel School of Medicine; Investiture for the Tuck School of Business and Thayer School of Engineering; the Phi Beta Kappa induction ceremony; the annual Baccalaureate service for all graduates; the William Jewett Tucker Foundation Senior Leaders Celebration; a reception for Arts and Sciences graduate students and their guests; and a reception and dinner for honorary degree recipients.
The trustees also attended a luncheon with members of the Class of 1964 who were on campus to celebrate their 50th reunion.
Commencement drew about 13,500 guests to the Green. The College awarded 1,116 bachelor’s degrees in the Arts and Sciences, 97 bachelor’s degrees in engineering, and 720 master’s and doctoral degrees in the Arts and Sciences and from the Geisel School, Thayer, and Tuck.
Honorary degrees were awarded to television writer and producer Shonda Rhimes ’91; Pulitzer Prize winner and Columbia University’s DeWitt Clinton Professor of History Eric Foner; astrophysicist, Smithsonian researcher, and MacArthur “genius grant” winner Margaret Geller; design thinker, entrepreneur, and the Donald W. Whittier Professor in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University David Kelley; and South African writer and Ohio University creative writing professor Zakes Mda.
Shonda Rhimes delivered the Commencement address.
Background on Gregory B. Maffei
Greg Maffei leads the team transforming Liberty Media Corporation and Liberty Interactive Corporation to compete in the digital/mobile era. Liberty Media owns media, communications and entertainment businesses, including subsidiaries Sirius XM and the Atlanta Braves and interests in Charter Communications and Live Nation Entertainment. Liberty Interactive owns digital commerce businesses, including subsidiaries TripAdvisor, QVC, Provide Commerce, Backcountry.com, Bodybuilding.com, CommerceHub, and Evite, and interests in Expedia and HSN. Maffei also serves as chairman of the board of the Liberty-related companies Live Nation Entertainment, Sirius XM, Starz and TripAdvisor, and as a director of Charter Communications and Zillow.
Prior to joining Liberty in 2005, Maffei served as president and CFO of Oracle, chairman, president and CEO of 360networks, CFO of Microsoft, and chairman of the board of Expedia. Additionally, he has been a director of Barnes & Noble, Citrix, DIRECTV, Dorling Kindersley, Electronic Arts, and Starbucks Coffee. He also served as chairman of TBD Colorado, the Colorado governor’s statewide public engagement campaign, and president of the board of trustees of the Seattle Public Library.
He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar, and an AB from Dartmouth. Greg, his wife, Sharon, and their four children live in Cherry Hills Village, Colo.
