Board Member Biographies
John W. Ballard II D'55 TTh'56
President/CEO, RPSI, Los Altos, CA
Board Member: Elected 1989
Chair of the Board: 1998-2007
A.B. - Dartmouth College
M.S. - Thayer School of Engineering
M.B.A. - Tuck School of Business Administration
John Ballard is a co-founder and CEO of Radio Propagation Services, Inc., a firm which supplies real-time propagation information to specialized users of the radio spectrum on a world-wide basis. Ballard was also a co-founder of TCI International, which specializes in the design and supply of specialized radio systems; he served as CEO of TCI from 1968 to 1998.
Ballard has authored numerous technical papers and publications, and holds several patents concerning radio communications. He has served as a director of many Silicon Valley firms and as a director of the Association of Old Crows, the Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association and the American Business Conference.
John and his wife, Sue, live in Los Altos, CA. The couple has six children: John III, Ann, Katherine, Mary, Christine, and Cynthia. His grandson John is Dartmouth class of 2007 and grandaughter Monica is Dartmouth class of 2008. In addition to "Having Fun in Engineering," John enjoys flying, skiing, tennis, swimming, hiking and the study of history. John was named a Sylvanus Thayer Fellow in 1988, and was awarded the Robert Fletcher Award in 1998.
Brent R. Bilger '80 Th'81
Vice President of Solutions Architecture, Vidder, San Jose, CA
Board Member: Elected 2010
A.B. - Dartmouth College
B.E. - Thayer School of Engineering
M.E. - Cornell University
Brent Bilger is currently Vice President of Solutions Architecture for Vidder in San Jose. Vidder designs and aids in the deployment of custom security solutions for enterprises, large industrial organizations, and government agencies. Their approach is based on the techniques developed by intelligence agencies and the military to address Advanced Persistent Threats, DDoS attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, and other cyber threats.
Before joining Vidder, Brent was VP of Marketing at CloudPassage which provides security for customers of cloud computing. Previous to that he was an Executive in Residence with U.S. Venture Partners in Menlo Park, California where he assisted companies with their positioning and go-to-market strategies. Previous to joining U.S. Venture Partners, Brent was the Vice President of Marketing for Altor Networks and was responsible for product management and out bound marketing for the company. Previous to that, he was the Chief Marketing Officer at Home Director, Inc. where he had responsibility for the overall marketing strategy of the company. Before that, he was Vice President of Marketing and a co-founder of Destiny Networks, which was subsequently sold to Home Director. Previous to that, Brent was Vice President of Marketing at MMC Networks where he was responsible for setting the company's go-to-market strategy and was instrumental in creating the Network Processor industry. Before MMC, Mr. Bilger spent more than seven years at Cisco Systems where he was responsible for Cisco's product direction for telcos, cable companies, and Internet service providers. While at Cisco, Mr. Bilger was responsible for defining Cisco's core router product family.
Brent was awarded an A.B. in Mathematics from Dartmouth in 1980, a B.E. from Thayer School in 1981, and an M.E. from Cornell University in 1982. At Dartmouth, he and his wife, Cami '80, serve on the President's Leadership Council. He is the parent to two Dartmouth children. His interests include volleyball, sailing, skiing, flying, and scuba diving. He is a licensed single-engine aircraft pilot.
Marian Miner Cook W'29
Founder and Chair, John Brown Cook Foundation, Indian Wells, CA
Board Member: Elected 1984-1996, Emeritus 1997-current
B.A. - Northwestern University
Marian Miner Cook is founder of the John Brown Cook Foundation, named for her late husband, a 1929 Dartmouth graduate who was President and Chairman of the Board of Reliable Electric Company of Chicago, Illinois. The Cook Engineering Design Center at Thayer School was endowed by her in 1979 in memory of her husband. She has two children, Cia Kersan Devan and Gregory Cook D'69, Th'70, and two Dartmouth granddaughters, Wallis D'95 and Kirby D'98.
Mrs. Cook is a founding member of the Music Center and the Museum for Art in Los Angeles and has provided endowments for the construction of the La Brea Story Theater in the George C. Page Museum Complex in Los Angeles. She is a former director of the California State University Foundation, a former director of the Institute of Nautical Archeology, and an Honorary Lifetime Trustee of Claremont McKenna College, which presented her with a Doctor of Humane Letters.
Mrs. Cook was named a Sylvanus Thayer Fellow in 1980 and received the Robert Fletcher Award in 1982.
Richard W. Couch Jr. D'64 Th'65
Chief Executive Officer, Hypertherm Inc., Hanover, NH
Board Member: Elected 1992
A.B. - Dartmouth College
B.E. - Thayer School of Engineering
Dick Couch is Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Hypertherm, Inc., a manufacturer of plasma arc and laser cutting systems. After graduating from Dartmouth, Mr. Couch was employed by Creare, Inc. as a project engineer. In 1968, he and Robert Dean (a professor at Dartmouth and President of Creare) co-founded Hypertherm to apply ultra-high temperature technology to industrial problems. In 1971, Mr. Couch purchased the majority interest in Hypertherm and became Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board. Mr. Couch has numerous patents in the fields of plasma cutting and pollution control. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and one of the founders of Ledyard National Bank in Hanover. Since its inception, Hypertherm has grown to over 1,200 associates worldwide.
Mr. Couch and his wife, Barbara, live in Hanover and have three children: Chloe, Alexa, and Brooke.
Ralph E. Crump D'66a
President (Retired), Crump Industries, Trumbull, CT
Board Member: Elected 1986, Emeritus 2010
B.S. – University of CA at Los Angeles
B.S. - U.S.M.M.A. (Kings Point, NY)
Ralph Crump is the retired Co-founder of Frigitronics, Inc., a manufacturer of cryosurgical equipment, vision testing products, hematology equipment and other medical and diagnostic devices. He was a Co-founder of Osmonics, Inc., a manufacturer of reverse osmosis equipment whose basic membrane technology was developed at Dartmouth under Dean Tribus by former student Dean Spatz. Osmonics was recently acquired by G.E.
Mr. Crump continues to serve as a director on six corporate boards. He and his wife Marjorie have served UCLA in a variety of roles, where they have also endowed the Crump chair in Medical Engineering, funded the Crump Institute for Medical Engineering (a research unit devoted primarily to scanning), and funded the Marjorie L. Crump Chair in Social Welfare. Crump was Alumnus of the Year in 1984.
At Dartmouth he and Marjorie funded John Collier's Ph.D. research—a seminal application of Engineering to Orthopaedics, and endowed the Myron Tribus chair, now occupied by Professor Collier. In addition, they support Professor Trembly's research on reshaping the myopic cornea with microwaves.
Mr. Crump's wife, Marjorie (B.A. UCLA), is Vice President Asset Manager of Crump Industries. The Crumps have three children: Connye, Scott, and Craig.
Mr. Crump was awarded Thayer School's highest honor, the Robert Fletcher Award, in 1979.
Michael V. DeFelice D'83
Self-Employed, Greenwich, CT
Board Member: Elected 2008
A.B. - Dartmouth College
J.D. - University of Chicago
Michael V. DeFelice is a Founder of Stonegate Skyview Energy, LLC. Stonegate Skyview develops, owns and operates turn-key commercial scale renewable energy facilities in North America. Working in partnership with property owners, Stonegate Skyview helps its customers lower their energy costs and reduce their environmental footprint byproviding clean, renewable, on-site sources of energy.
Prior to founding Stonegate Skyview, Mr. DeFelice spent over 15 years as a strategic and financial advisor with such firms as Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank. As an investment banker, Michael originated, developed, managed and executed nearly 100 merger, acquisition and divestiture transactions with values ranging from US$5 million to over US$35 billion, on behalf of public companies, private companies, private equity firms and individual investors. Prior to his experience as an investment banker, Michael spent 4 years as an engineer in the power and electronics industry.
Michael has an engineering degree from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College and a JD from the University of Chicago. He is a Trustee of the Madison Square Boys and Girls Club in New York City and a Member of the Alumni Visiting Committee at the University of Chicago, School of Law.
Peter M. Fahey D'68 Th'69
Partner (Retired), Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Port Washington, NY
Board Member: Elected 1990
A.B. - Dartmouth College
B.E./M.E. - Thayer School of Engineering
M.B.A. - Harvard University
Peter Fahey spent his active business career with the Goldman Sachs Corporate Finance Department after receiving his MBA from Harvard in 1975. He was named a Vice President in 1978 and a General Partner in 1982. Over the years he headed or co-headed the Investment Banking Division's Strategic Planning and Recruiting Committees, the firm's Commitments Committee, High Technology Group, Product Development and Innovation Group, and the Limited Partners Advisory Committee. He retired from active service in 1993, served as a Senior Director until 2000, and is now a private investor. Prior to pursuing his M.B.A., Mr. Fahey worked in the field of membrane separation, first as a scientist and later in manufacturing.
Fahey served on the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees from 1994-2004, and received Thayer School's Robert Fletcher Award in 2003 and the Dartmouth College Alumni Award in 2007. He is the father of four Dartmouth alumni: Kimberly '92, Peter, Jr. '94, Michael '97, and Katie '06. He and his wife, Helen, live in New York.
Carol L. Folt
Provost, Dean of the Faculty for Arts and Sciences, Professor of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Board Member: Ex officio
B.A. - University of California at Santa Barbara
M.A. - University of California at Santa Barbara
Ph.D. - University of California at Davis
A professor of Biological Sciences, Carol Folt '78A is an internationally-recognized environmental scientist and an award-winning teacher. She has served as one of Dartmouth's senior academic leaders since 2001, first as Dean of Graduate Studies and Associate Dean of Faculty (2001-2004), and then as Dean of Faculty (2004-2010). She was appointed Provost in May 2010.
Holder of an endowed professorship, "The Dartmouth Professor of Biological Sciences," Carol is known for ground-breaking work on salmon restoration and conservation, and on metal toxicity in aquatic ecosystems and implications for human health. Author of numerous scientific works and research grants, she has worked throughout her career to develop a culture of collaboration to address complex scientific questions. Awarded the John M. Manley Huntington Award for Teaching in 1991, she has advised more than one hundred undergraduate and graduate students and is one of the original faculty members involved in Dartmouth's first-of-its-kind Women In Science Program. She received a B.A. in aquatic biology and an M.A. in biology from the University of California, Santa Barbara; a Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis; and was a postdoctoral fellow at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station. She came to Dartmouth in 1983.
C. Christopher "Cris" Gaut D'78
Managing Director, SCF Partners, Houston, TX
Board Member: Elected 2010
A.B. - Dartmouth College
M.B.A. - University of Pennsylvania
Cris Gaut is a managing director of SCF Partners, a leading private equity firm focused on the energy and energy service industries. Gaut is a director of several SCF portfolio companies and is also a director of Ensco International, a major international oil and gas drilling company based in London.
Prior to joining SCF Partners in 2009, Gaut was an executive with The Halliburton Company, one of the largest energy service companies with operations in over 70 countries. Most recently he was President, Drilling and Evaluation, overseeing six of Halliburton's nine business lines. Prior to assuming that position, he was Halliburton's Chief Financial Officer for four years.
Prior to joining Halliburton in 2003, Gaut was the Chief Financial Officer and Co-President of Ensco International, an international drilling company. Gaut began his career with the Amoco Corporation, a major oil and gas company.
Gaut serves on the board of the Houston Museum of Natural History and the Sam Houston Council of the Boy Scouts of America, as well as a number of energy industry associations.
Cris and his wife, Donna, live in Houston, Texas. They have three children: Richard '06, Wake Forest University; Christopher '10, Southern Methodist University; and Carolyn, Dartmouth '13.
Cris earned his A.B. in Engineering Sciences at Dartmouth College, and his M.B.A. at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Clinton P. Harris D'69 Th'70
Founder & Managing Partner, Grove Street Advisors, LLC, Wellesley, MA
Board Member: Elected 2005
B.A. - Dartmouth College
B.E. - Thayer School of Engineering
M.B.A. - Harvard
Clint Harris is the Founder and Managing Partner of Grove Street Advisors (GSA), which is a private equity advisory firm built by professionals with extensive operational experience in the asset class. The firm invests in funds that cover the full range of private equity (from venture capital to buyouts) and plays a leading role in helping to launch promising new fund management teams. GSA currently has 6 partners, 35 total employees, and is managing more than $6 billion for its institutional clients. Clint serves on the advisory boards of a number of the industry's most successful private equity firms.
Prior to founding Grove Street in l998, Clint was a Founder and Managing Director of Advent International Corporation. During his 14 years with the firm, Advent grew to become one of the world's largest and most successful private equity firms operating internationally. Clint served on Advent's Investment Committee which was responsible for more than 250 transactions during his tenure. Prior to Advent, Clint spent seven years as a Consultant and Partner with Bain & Company, where he helped establish Bain's Japanese practice and opened Bain's first office in Germany. Clint also spent five years as a U.S. naval officer serving on two nuclear submarines.
Clint earned his BA and BE degrees at Dartmouth College in engineering sciences while on a full NROTC scholarship and received his MBA from Harvard University in 1977 (as a Baker Scholar). As an undergraduate, he was a 3-year letter man on the varsity swim team, and is currently "a friend of Dartmouth swimming." He serves on his class reunion giving committee and also served on Thayer School's Corporate Advisory Board (1992-2002) and Thayer School's Campaign Executive Committee (1991-1996). In March 1988, he established the Clinton P. Harris '69 Th'70 endowment fund in support of the general purposes of Thayer School.
Clint is a Trustee and the Treasurer of The Rivers School in Weston, MA, and he and his wife, Margaret, live in Wellesley. They have three children; their daughter, Jessica, graduated with Dartmouth's Class of 2004 and recently married Andy Fishman, Dartmouth's Class of 2002.
William F. Holekamp D'70 P'12
President, Holekamp Capital, St. Louis, MO
Board Member: Elected 2010
A.B. - Dartmouth College
M.B.A. - Wharton
Bill Holekamp is currently President of Holekamp Capital, a venture capital and investment consulting company based in St. Louis, Missouri. Venture investments have included medical technology, mechanical innovation, software development, family office, and real estate development.
In 2001, Bill retired as Executive Vice President for Enterprise Rent-A-Car where he had been an executive and entrepreneur for 25 years. By 2001 Enterprise had grown to be the largest car rental company in the United States with revenue of $6.3 billion and 50,000 employees.
Prior to joining Enterprise, Bill was a product manager with Boise-Cascade and executive with the Penske Corporation.
In addition to the Thayer School, he serves on the Dartmouth Leadership Council, the Executive Board of the Wharton School, past commissioner of the St. Louis Science Center, trustee of the XPrize Foundation, trustee of the St. Louis Zoo, Barnes Jewish Hospital, and MICDS and Community schools.
Bill earned his A.B. degree in Economics at Dartmouth, and his MBA at Wharton. His son, Brian, is a member of the Dartmouth class of 2012.
Joseph J. Helble
Dean, Thayer School of Engineering, Hanover, NH
Board Member: Ex officio
B.S. - Lehigh University
Ph.D. - MIT
Joseph J. Helble is the 12th Dean of Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth. During his tenure, the School has identified three areas—Engineering in Medicine; Energy Technologies; and Complex Systems—as the focus of future growth and investment. With support from the school's entrepreneurial faculty, he has also overseen establishment of the nation's first doctoral-level engineering Innovation Program to address the growing need for people with both technical and entrepreneurial expertise.
Since Dr. Helble joined Dartmouth in 2005, enrollments have increased and the School has several new offerings including two foreign exchange programs in Asia and Europe; a modified major with public policy; a joint M.S./M.D. degree program to provide clinicians with advanced training in biomechanics or soft tissue imaging; and a new biomedical engineering sciences major for students interested in attending medical school.
Also during Dean Helble's leadership was the 2006 founding of Dartmouth's annual Formula Hybrid™ International Competition—a student formula racing competition that emphasizes hybrid technology and fuel efficiency.
Prior to his tenure at Dartmouth, Helble was the Roger Revelle Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), enabling him to spend a year addressing technology and environmental policy issues in the office of U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman.
Previous to that, Helble was a member and chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Connecticut, with research in the areas of air pollution, CO2 capture, aerosols, and nanoscale materials production. From 1987 to 1995, he was a research scientist and manager at Physical Sciences Inc. in Andover Mass., specializing in environmental and energy technology development. In 1993, he also worked at U.S. EPA headquarters in Washington, D.C. as a science and policy fellow of AAAS.
Helble has served on several EPA Science Advisory Board panels, and is presently on the editorial boards of two scientific journals and a member of the Board of Advisors of the University of Vermont College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences. Helble is the author of over 100 publications in the areas of air pollution, aerosols, nanoscale ceramics, and air quality, and 3 U.S. patents related to nanoscale powder production.
Helble is a 1982 summa cum laude graduate of Lehigh University and a 1987 chemical engineering Ph.D. graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
William W. Helman IV D'80
Partner, Greylock Partners, Waltham, MA
Board Member: Ex officio
A.B. - Dartmouth College
M.B.A. - Harvard University
Bill Helman is a Partner with Greylock, a venture capital firm focused on early stage investments in technology, consumer internet and healthcare. He joined Greylock in 1984 and has been a Managing Partner since 1997. Bill led Greylock's investments in Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Hyperion, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and UPromise, among others, and today sits on the boards of ZipCar, Reveal Imaging and MusicNation.
In addition, Bill serves on the Boards of Harvard Management Company, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the Steppingstone Foundation. He is also a member of the Board of Overseers at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
He graduated from Dartmouth in 1980 and from Harvard Business School in 1984.
Christopher K. Hu D'69 Th'70
Partner, Dickstein Shapiro LLP, New York, NY
Board Member: Elected 2005
A.B. - Dartmouth College
B.E. - Dartmouth College
J.D. - Columbia University
Christopher Hu joined Dickstein Shapiro's New York office in 2008 as a partner in the Intellectual Property Practice. Hu is a skilled intellectual property litigator and has tried cases on behalf of major Fortune 100 companies including DuPont. He has served as first chair in a number of patent cases; his experience includes disputes involving computers, medical products, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, consumer products, mechanical devices, and trade secrets.
Prior to joining Dickstein Shapiro, Hu was an intellectual property litigator in Morgan & Finnegan LLP's New York office from 1981 to 2008.
Hu received his A.B. (1969) and B.E. (1970) from Dartmouth College and Thayer School of Engineering. He received his J.D. (1974) from Columbia University School of Law.
Hu is also active on the board of directors of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.
Jim Yong Kim
President, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Board Member: Ex officio
A.B. - Brown University
M.D. - Harvard Medical School
Ph.D. - Harvard University
Jim Yong Kim is the 17th president of Dartmouth College. The first physician to serve as Dartmouth's president, he also is an anthropologist. President Kim is a co-founder of Partners in Health (PIH) and a former director of the Department of HIV/AIDS at the World Health Organization. Before assuming the Dartmouth presidency, President Kim held professorships at Harvard Medical School and at the Harvard School of Public Health. He also served as chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and director of the François Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health. President Kim was awarded a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship (2003); was named one of America's "25 Best Leaders" by US News & World Report (2005); and was selected as one of TIME magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World" (2006). He has authored or co-authored articles for the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, and Science, among others. He also has edited and contributed to books on topics such as the inequality of medical access for the world's poor, and co-authored with PIH co-founder Dr. Paul Farmer, "Global Considerations in Medicine," for Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 17th edition (McGraw Hill, 2008). Born in 1959 in Seoul, South Korea, President Kim moved with his family to the United States at the age of five and grew up in Muscatine, Iowa. He is married to Dr. Younsook Lim, a pediatrician. The couple has two young sons.
John H. Krehbiel Jr.
Co-chairman, Molex Inc., Lisle, IL
Board Member: Elected 1984-1999, Emeritus 2000-current
B.A. - Lake Forest College
"Jake" Krehbiel is co-chairman of Molex Incorporated, a leading international manufacturer of electronic interconnection systems, ribbon cable, switches, and application tools.
In addition to serving on Thayer School's Board of Overseers, and as Chair for twelve years, Mr. Krehbiel is also a Trustee of the Illinois Institute of Technology.
He and his wife Kennetha "Posy" live in Lake Forest, Illinois. He is the father of three Dartmouth graduates, including Fred "Pete" Krehbiel D'87 Th'89, John "Yaz" Krehbiel III D'91 Th'92, and Margaret "Meg" Krehbiel D'94.
Elizabeth ‘Liz’ C. Lempres D’83 Th’84
Director, McKinsey & Company, Boston, MA
Board Member: Elected 2012
A.B. - Dartmouth College
B.E. - Thayer School of Engineering
M.B.A. - Harvard Business School
Liz Lempres is a Director in McKinsey’s Boston office and the Global Leader of McKinsey’s Consumer Sector, responsible for CPG and retail clients. She is a member of the firm's Shareholder Council (McKinsey's senior governance body and Board of Directors), she chairs McKinsey’s Principal Review Committee, she is responsible for partner performance evaluation, and she is a former Managing Partner of McKinsey’s Boston office.
Liz joined McKinsey in Chicago in 1989 and re-located to Boston in 1997. Her primary consulting focus is on serving leading consumer companies on a broad range of strategic and operational issues as well as working with private investors across industries.
Beyond McKinsey, Liz is actively involved in non-profit and educational causes. She is a trustee of Catholic Charities of New England, the Boston Cristo Rey School, and the Winsor School. She is also a member of the Visiting Committee of the Board of Overseers at Harvard Business School and of the Board of Overseers of Thayer School.
Liz graduated from Dartmouth College, cum laude, with a bachelors degree in engineering and from the Harvard Business School where she received an MBA with Highest Distinction and was designated a Baker Scholar. Liz is married to Marty Lempres with whom she has three children, Grace '11, Danny, and Katherine.
Randall Lunn '73 TTh '75
Founding Partner, Palomar Ventures, Irvine, CA
Board Member: Elected 2003
A.B. - Dartmouth College
B.E. - Thayer School of Engineering
M.B.A. - Tuck School of Business
Randy is a founding partner of Palomar Ventures, a venture capital company focused on early stage investment in information technology companies that demonstrate the potential for exceptional growth and market leadership. Prior to starting Palomar Ventures in 1999, he was managing partner of US operations at Techno Venture Management, an international venture capital firm, where he built a highly successful portfolio of investments both in Europe and the United States with a focus on both life science and information technology companies. Randy was also a founder and general partner of Fairfield Venture Partners an early-stage venture fund. He began his venture career in 1979 as a founder of Harrison Capital, the venture arm of Texaco.
Currently Randy sits on the boards of Continuous Computing and AutoGenomics. Palomar exits have included Akonix (Quest Software), DATAllegro (Microsoft), Inovys (Verigy) and Incuity (Rockwell), Randy graduated summa cum laude in engineering sciences and has BA, BE, and MBA degrees from Dartmouth College.
Barry L. MacLean D'60 Th'61
President/CEO, MacLean-Fogg Co., Mundelein, IL
Board Member: Elected 1974
Chair of the Board 1982-1984
A.B. - Dartmouth College
M.S. - Thayer School of Engineering
Barry MacLean joined MacLean-Fogg Company in Mundelein, Illinois, in 1961 and became President and CEO in 1972. MacLean-Fogg is a leading manufacturer of products for the automotive fasteners, commercial truck and trailer, and wheel and axle mounting industries and of products for electric utility, telecommunications and civil markets, with 30 North American manufacturing facilities, 10 international facilities, annual sales of nearly $800 million and a worldwide workforce of 4,500 people.
MacLean is a member, director, and former chairman of numerous businesses and professional organizations. Civic interests include Trusteeships at Newberry Library, Museum of Science and Industry, University of Chicago Hospitals, and U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. He is former Chairman of the Board of The School of The Art Institute and Vice Chairman of the Art Institute. He served for 35 years as elected trustee of the Village of Mettawa and 14 years as mayor.
MacLean graduated from Dartmouth in 1960, and earned a master's degree from Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering in 1961. He is a former chair and current member of the Thayer School Board of Overseers, originally elected in 1974. He was also a Trustee of Dartmouth College from 1991 to 2001. Additionally, he was chairman of the Thayer portion of Dartmouth's Will to Excel Campaign in the 1990s and co-chair of Thayer's Partners in Innovation Campaign, which was part of the recent Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience. MacLean was named a Sylvanus Thayer Fellow in 1979, received the Robert Fletcher Award in 1989, the Dartmouth College Alumni Award in 2007, and an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Dartmouth in 2010.
Christopher F. "Chris" McConnell '75
President, Adondo Corporation, Wayne, PA
Board Member: Elected 2010
A.B. - Dartmouth College
M.S. - Purdue University
M.B.A. - Harvard Business School
Chris McConnell is president of Adondo Corporation in Wayne, Pennsylvania. Adondo is an investment firm specializing in applying computational linguistics to quantitative long-short equity management. Founded in 2003, Adondo had initially operated as a technology company focused on Internet telephony and speech recognition. Adondo's developments in this field evolved into the technology that drives the investment models that the firm employs today.
Chris has extensive experience with artificial intelligence, computational linguistics, surface science, process control, and public and private finance. After starting his career at Dow Chemical, Chris co-founded CFM Technologies in 1984. He served as CEO, and then as chairman, while this global semiconductor capital equipment manufacturer grew to $80 million in sales with over 400 employees. The company went public in 1996 (NASDAQ: CFMT), completed a secondary offering in 1998, and was purchased by Mattson Technologies (NASDAQ: MTSN) in 2000.
Actively involved with entrepreneurship, Chris formed The Founders Group, a Philadelphia organization to assist technology-based new ventures. He has spoken frequently on the challenges and opportunities of launching start-ups. Chris has served on or chaired numerous boards, including Guardian Capital Partners, Mi8 Corporation (Apptix), Wireless Xcessories Group (NASDAQ: XWG), Point Five Technologies (MotoLogic), Kenna Technologies, and V-SPAN.
As a long-time trustee, Chris is closely associated with The Episcopal Academy in Newtown Square. He enjoys skiing and golf, and is especially fond of coaching youth ice hockey.
Chris was awarded an A.B. degree in engineering sciences from Dartmouth in 1975, an M.S. degree in chemical engineering from Purdue University in 1976, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1984. He holds eighteen US patents. His wife, Stacey, and he are parents of five, including two — soon to be three — Dartmouth children.
Terrance G. McGuire Th'82
Co-founder and Managing General Partner, Polaris Venture Partners, Waltham, MA
Board Chair: Elected 2000
Chair of the Board 2008-present
M.B.A. - Harvard Business School
M.S. - Thayer School of Engineering
B.S. - Hobart College
Terry McGuire is a co-founder and general partner of Polaris Venture Partners based in the Boston office. Terry focuses on life sciences investments.
Prior to starting Polaris, Terry spent seven years at Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co. investing in early stage medical and information technology companies. Terry began his career in venture capital at Golder, Thoma and Cressey in Chicago.
Terry has co-founded three companies: Inspire Pharmaceuticals, AIR (Advanced Inhalation Research, Inc.), and MicroCHIPS.
Terry represents Polaris on the boards of directors of Acceleron Pharma, Adimab, Arsenal Medical, Inc., deCODE Genetics, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Life Line Screening, MicroCHIPS, Inc., Pulmatrix Inc., SustainX Energy Storage Solutions, and Trevena Inc. He has also served on the boards of Akamai, Aspect Medical Systems, Cubist Pharmaceuticals, GlycoFi, Transform Pharmaceuticals, and Remon Medical Technologies.
Terry is Chairman Emeritus of the National Venture Capital Association, which represents ninety percent of the venture capitalists in the United States. He served as Chairman from 2009-2010.
In addition to chairing Thayer School's board, Terry also serves on the boards of MIT’s David Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, and the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, Harvard Business School.
Terry is a recipient of the 2009 Massachusetts Society for Medical Research Award, and the 2005 Albert Einstein Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Life Sciences, awarded by Forbes/Gottlieb Medical Technology Investor, Harvard MIT Biomedical Engineering Center, the New Jerusalem Foundation, the Jerusalem Development Authority, and Rodman and Renshaw.
Charles E. Nearburg D'72 Th'73, '74
President/Owner, Nearburg Producing Co., Dallas, TX
Board Member: Elected 1990
A.B. - Dartmouth College '72
B.E./M.E. - Thayer School of Engineering '73, '74
Charles Nearburg founded his independent oil and gas exploration company in 1979. His company has received two environmental awards from the Bureau of Land Management. Nearburg has also preserved and restored significant trout fisheries habitat in New Mexico and at Broadacres Ranch in Creede, Colorado, his Orvis endorsed fly-fishing lodge which employs numerous Dartmouth students as guides and ranch hands each year.
Nearburg is a dedicated, hands on supporter of pediatric cancer research. He was instrumental in establishing the Rett Nearburg International Ewing's Sarcoma Research Symposium, which has convened four times in the last nine years.
A graduate of St. Mark's School of Texas, he is in his 18th year as a Trustee and has received its Alumni Service Award. He is also a Trustee of The Hockaday School, the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Foundation, and the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).
Working his way up the professional car racing ladder, Nearburg's career culminated in driving the late Walter Payton's Indy car in the CART FedEx Championship. He has also driven at the LeMans and Daytona 24-Hour Races and the Sebring 12 Hours with 4th and 10th place overall finishes. Nearburg has set 4 new land-speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats with a fastest speed to date of 377 MPH and a fastest two-way average of 368 MPH. These speeds made Charlie the eighth fastest all-time at Bonneville, and makes the "Spirit of Rett" the fastest gasoline powered car in history. He has mentored the student-run Dartmouth Formula Racing Team since its inception in 1995.
An engineering/studio art major, Nearburg is currently on the Executive Committee of the Campaign for the Dartmouth Experience. A three-year varsity crew letter and Robinson Award winner, he also serves as a 'Friends of Dartmouth Rowing' steward. Nearburg was recognized with the Dartmouth Alumni Award in 2006-2007.
Nearburg has a daughter, Anna D'10. His beloved son, Rett (21), lost an 11-year battle with Ewing's Sarcoma on January 14, 2005 (www.rett.org).
Michael J. Ross D'71
General Partner, SV Life Sciences, Foster City, CA
Board Member: Elected 1992
A.B. - Dartmouth College
Ph.D. - California Institute of Technology
Mike Ross is a general partner at SV Life Sciences, an international venture capital fund focused exclusively in the life sciences. Mike is the US partner leading the therapeutics team. Prior to joining SV Life Sciences, Michael was the tenth employee at Genentech where he worked for 13 years. He served as Genentech team leader for Humulin® (human insulin-Lilly), Roferon® (Interferon alpha -Roche), Protropin® (hGH), and as Vice President of Development during the development of Activase®, Nutropin® and Pulmozyme®. Michael then started Genentech's protein engineering and small molecule discovery effort as Vice President of Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry. Michael was the Founding CEO of Arris Pharmaceutical (now part of Celera), MetaXen (now part of Exelixis), ExSAR and CyThera (now part of Novocell). Michael was most recently Managing Partner in Didyma, LLC, a biotechnology management consulting firm.
Michael received his AB from Dartmouth '71, his PhD in Chemistry at Caltech, and completed a Post Doctorate in Molecular Biology at Harvard.
Scott D. Sandell D'86
General Partner, New Enterprise Associates, Menlo Park, CA
Board Member: Elected 2009
A.B. - Dartmouth College
M.B.A. - Stanford University
Scott joined NEA in 1996 as an Associate and became a General Partner in 2000. He focuses on investments in information technology and alternative energy, and is responsible for NEA's activities in China. Present board memberships include Bloom Energy, DreamFactory, Fusion-io, HelioVolt, Lianlian Pay, SolFocus, Spreadtrum Communications (NASDAQ: SPRD), SugarCRM, Tableau Software, Telegent and Teneros. He has sponsored investments in 3ware (acquired by Applied Micro Circuits Corporation), Amplitude Software (acquired by Critical Path), Data Domain (acquired by EMC), Fineground Networks (acquired by Cisco), Neoteris (acquired by Juniper Networks, (NASDAQ: JNPR), NetIQ (NASDAQ: NTIQ), Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) and WebEx (NASDAQ: WEBX). Scott started his career at the Boston Consulting Group and later joined C-ATS Software as the company's first salesman. He founded and ran the European Subsidiary before attending Stanford Business School. During and after business school, Scott was a Product Manager at Microsoft, where he worked on Windows 95. In addition to an MBA from Stanford, Scott holds an AB in Engineering Sciences from Dartmouth College.
Edward P. Stritter D'68
President, Stritter Consulting, Menlo Park, CA
Board Member: Elected 1999
A.B. - Dartmouth College
M.S. - Stanford University
Ph.D. - Stanford University
Edward "Skip" Stritter graduated from Dartmouth with an A.B. in mathematics in 1968. Following graduation, Mr. Stritter worked at Bell Laboratories for two years. He then went to Stanford University where he received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in computer science.
From 1976-1979, Mr. Stritter worked at Motorola as chief architect of the Motorola 68000, the first 16-bit microprocessor. This is the chip that powered the Apple Macintosh from its launch until the last few years, and on which the workstation industry was built. Sun, Hewlett Packard, Apollo, and Silicon Graphics all started on this microprocessor.
From 1980-1983 he consulted in Silicon Valley. In 1984 he became one of the founders of MIPS, and again redefined the microprocessor business by delivering the first commercial RISC ('reduced instruction set chip') microprocessor. MIPS led the RISC microprocessor market, alongside HP, Sun, and IBM, until the company was bought by Silicon Graphics in 1992.
In 1993, he founded NeTpower, making workstations and servers for the Microsoft Windows NT market. In 1996 he founded Clarity Wireless based on new high data rate digital radio technology. Clarity was acquired by Cisco in November 1998. Mr. Stritter is now serving on the Technical Committee established as a result of the settlement of US v. Microsoft to monitor Microsoft's compliance with the anti-trust settlement.
Another of Mr. Stritter's interests is technology and innovations to benefit people in developing countries. He serves as Chairman of VillageTech Solutions to develop such technologies.
Mr. Stritter is a seed round "angel" investor in Silicon Valley, helping new start-ups get off the ground. He was an active member of the Thayer School's Corporate Advisory Board from 1992-1999 and currently serves on the Information Technology Advisory Board for Dartmouth's Computing Services. He and his wife, Leilani, reside in Menlo Park, CA. The couple has two children.
Brian J. Thompson
Provost Emeritus, Prof. of Optics Emeritus & Distinguished University Prof., University of Rochester, Pittsford, NY
Board Member: Elected 1982-2008, Emeritus 2008-current
B.Sc. - University of Manchester, England
Ph.D. - University of Manchester, England
Distinguished University Professor, Provost Emeritus, and Professor of Optics Emeritus, Dr. Thompson is an internationally renowned optical scientist and engineer. Dr. Thompson is one of a very limited number of professors to hold the title Distinguished University Professor currently; this title is conferred only on those individuals who have made substantial and varied contributions to both their own scholarly field and to the University over the course of many years.
Brian J. Thompson was Provost of the University of Rochester from 1984 to 1994. He joined the University in 1968 as director of the Institute of Optics and professor of optics. He then served as Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences from 1975-1984, and was named the University's first William F. May Professor of Engineering. In 1980 he received the University's Alumni Citation to faculty for outstanding scholarship and service to students.
Thompson is a leading researcher in the fields of coherent optics, holography, phase microscopy, and image processing. He has authored more than 180 scientific and technical papers. His book on physical optics, co-authored by George Parrent, has been translated into Russian, Polish and Chinese. Thompson was editor of the world's most widely circulated optics scientific journal, Optical Engineering, from 1990-1997, and has served on the editorial boards of many prestigious international journals. Professor Thompson is a fellow and former director of the Optical Society of America, a fellow and past president of SPIE, and a fellow of the Institute of Physics and the Physical Society of Great Britain.
S. David Wu
Dean and Iacocca Professor, P. C. Rossin College of Engineering, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA
Board Member: Elected 2009
M.S. - Pennsylvania State University
Ph.D. - Pennsylvania State University
S. David Wu is dean of the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science and holder of the Lee A. Iacocca endowed chair at Lehigh University.
Dr. Wu was appointed Dean of the Engineering College in 2004. A well-known scholar in operations research and supply chain management, he specializes in optimization, game theory, and statistical analysis. He has received significant support for his research from National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Defense (DOD), and Sandia National Laboratories. Professor Wu's work in the high-tech industry has been widely recognized and cited, including patents, Best Paper Awards, nomination for the 2009 Daniel H. Wagner Prize, and numerous media coverage. His work has been tested and implemented at firms such as Intel, Infineon, Freescale, Lucent, HP, and IBM. A fellow of IIE, Wu has published more than 80 archival technical articles and served as editor or editorial board member on more than a handful of journals in his field. He also served on various national and international panels such as the NSF, the Science Foundation of Ireland, and the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong.
Dean Wu has devoted significant effort toward the creation of multidisciplinary programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He led the efforts to create Lehigh's undergraduate program in integrated business and engineering (IBE), integrated degree in engineering, arts, and science (IDEAS), and he played a key role in the creation of the university-wide Global Citizenship program. At the graduate level, he led the partnership between engineering, finance, and mathematics that lead to the development of the master's degree program in Analytical Finance. With a major NSF grant and partnership with the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, he created the IGERT Doctoral Fellows program in Global Manufacturing Logistics. He was co-founder of the Center for Value Chain Research, an Engineering-Business joint center at Lehigh.
A native of Taiwan, Wu holds an M.S. and Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University. He was a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Michel Zaleski D'68 Th'69
Chairman and President, The Dream Project, New York, NY
Board Member: Elected 1997
A.B. - Dartmouth College
B.E. - Thayer School of Engineering
M.S. - MA Institute of Technology
Michel Zaleski is an active investor in private companies and real estate. He is the retired Chairman of the Board of the investment firm, Zaleski, Sherwood & Co., Inc. which during his leadership acquired over thirty mid-sized American companies, reorganized them, helped them grow and ultimately sold them. He was previously Senior Vice President of AEA Investors, Inc., a national buyout firm. Mr. Zaleski has served on the boards of numerous public and private companies.
He is a founding trustee and President of the Dominican Republic Education and Mentoring Project ("The DREAM Project"), a US foundation that is engaged in building and supporting public schools and running private schools in the Dominican Republic. Over the last ten years, more than 70 Dartmouth students have taken a term off or longer to teach in the schools supported by the Dream Project under the auspices of the Tucker Foundation and Mr. Zaleski.
Mr. Zaleski is associated with a number of other organizations including the contemporary art museum PS1, an affiliate of the Museum of Modern Art, where he serves as a trustee, and the Council on Foreign Relations, where he is active as a member helping formulate foreign policy positions and as a Director of the Soros Economic Development Fund, which invest in job creating enterprises in distressed countries in three continents.
He and his wife, Caroline, an architectural preservationist, live in New York City and have two daughters, Katharine '03 and Olivia '06.










