Board of Overseers elects senior officers

The Board of Overseers of Harvard College, created in 1642 by the General Court of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, has elected Merrick B. Garland ’74, J.D. ’77, to be president of Harvard’s Board of Overseers for 2009-10 and Ann M. Fudge M.B.A. ’77, to be vice chair of the board’s executive committee for the same period.

Members of Harvard’s Board of Overseers, the larger of the University’s two governing boards, the other being the President and Fellows of Harvard College (also known as the Harvard Corporation), are elected members annually by Harvard graduates. Typically, five Overseers are elected each year to six-year terms of service.

Garland, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, will succeed Roger W. Ferguson Jr. ’73, A.M. ’78, J.D. ’79, Ph.D. ’81. Fudge, the former chair and CEO of Young & Rubicam Brands, will succeed Pauline Yu ’71. Garland and Fudge will assume their new roles following Commencement and complete the final year of their Overseer terms in 2009-10.

“Our Overseers bring to Harvard an extraordinary mix of accomplishment, diverse experience, critical perspective, and deep concern for the University’s well-being and constant improvement,” said President Drew Faust. “Merrick Garland and Ann Fudge embody all those qualities and more, and I very much look forward to working even more closely with them as they prepare to take up responsibility for leading the Overseers next academic year.”

Garland has served since 1997 on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, often considered the nation’s most influential appeals court other than the U.S. Supreme Court. From 1994 to 1997, he was principal associate deputy attorney general of the United States. In that role, his duties included supervision of such high-profile prosecutions as the Oklahoma City bombing case and the Unabomber case. In 1997, he received the U.S. Department of Justice’s Edmund J. Randolph Award for Outstanding Service.

“The financial world has changed dramatically and unexpectedly this past year, but Harvard’s fundamental commitment to the best possible education and scholarship has not,” Garland said. “All of us on the board are determined to help Harvard navigate through these uncertain times and emerge stronger and even better able to serve our students and the larger society.”

Born and raised in the Chicago area, Garland graduated from Harvard College, summa cum laude, with a social studies concentration in 1974. In 1977 he graduated from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude. He then served as law clerk to Judge Henry J. Friendly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit and to U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. After serving as special assistant to the attorney general of the United States from 1979 to 1981, he joined the law firm of Arnold & Porter, where he was a partner from 1985 to 1989 and from 1992 to 1993. He served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia from 1989 to 1992, and as deputy assistant attorney general in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 1993 to 1994.

A member of Harvard’s Board of Overseers since 2003, Garland has served on the board’s executive committee since 2007. An active member of the Committee to Visit the College since 2006, he has maintained a keen interest in undergraduate education since serving as a freshman proctor and as a resident tutor in Quincy House.

Ann Fudge served from 2003 to 2007 as chairman and CEO of Young and Rubicam Brands, where she was also chair and CEO of its largest division, Y&R Advertising. She previously served as president of the Beverages, Desserts & Post Division of Kraft Foods, where she led the $5 billion division’s best-known brands and also served on the Kraft Foods management committee. Earlier, she spent nine years with General Mills Inc.

As a Harvard Overseer, Fudge is a member of the board’s executive committee, chair of the standing committee on Schools, the College and Continuing Education, and a member of the standing committee on humanities and arts. For many years she was on the visiting committee to Harvard Business School, and she is now a member on the Committee to Visit the Harvard Kennedy School.

A member of the Committee of 200, she serves on the boards of the Brookings Institution, Morehouse College, the Council of Foreign Relations, and the Rockefeller Foundation, in addition to several corporate boards. For nearly 30 years she has been a member of the board of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. She also has served on the boards of the New York Philharmonic, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Big Brothers Big Sisters. She chairs the U.S. Programs Advisory Panel for the Gates Foundation. Her many honors include five honorary doctorates and recognition by Fortune magazine as one of the 50 most influential women in American business.

Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Fudge graduated from Simmons College with honors in 1973 and received her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1977. She lives in Chestnut Hill, Mass. with her husband, Rich Fudge, Ed.M. ’73. They have two sons and four grandchildren.