2005 Harvard Board of Overseers brings five on board

The president of the Harvard Alumni Association has announced the results of the annual election of new members of the Harvard Board of Overseers. The results were released at the annual meeting of the association following the University’s 354th Commencement (June 9).

The five newly elected Overseers are:

Mitchell L. Adams (Dedham, Mass.). He is executive director of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, and his responsibilities include managing the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust. Earlier he served as commissioner of revenue of the commonwealth of Massachusetts. He is a graduate of Harvard College (1966) and Harvard Business School (1969).

Gerald R. Jordan (Boston). He is chairman of Hellman, Jordan Management Co., an investment management firm he founded in 1978. A 1961 graduate of Harvard College, he received the M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1967.

Lisbet Rausing (London). She is senior research fellow at Imperial College, London. A historian of science, she is the author of a critically acclaimed biography of Linnaeus. A 1984 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, she received an A.M. in 1986, and a Ph.D. in 1993, both from Harvard.

Susan S. Wallach (New York). She is special counsel at Schulte Roth & Zabel, focusing on estate planning and family law. A former Radcliffe College trustee, she graduated from Radcliffe in 1968 and from Harvard Law School in 1971.

Seth P. Waxman (Washington, D.C.). A trial and appellate lawyer, he is a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr. He previously served as solicitor general of the United States. A 1973 graduate of Harvard College, he received the J.D. from Yale Law School in 1977.

The five new overseers were elected for six-year terms. In 2005, there were eight candidates nominated by a committee of the Harvard Alumni Association, as prescribed by the election rules. In the election, 31,341 alumni and alumnae cast ballots representing 14.4 percent of the eligible voters.

The primary function of the Board of Overseers is to encourage the University to maintain the highest attainable standards as a place of learning. Overseers carry out this mission by visiting faculties, departments, and other important programs throughout the University so that they can inform themselves about the quality of teaching, research, and administration and then identify problems and offer advice to faculties and University officials.