HAA announces 2010 Board of Overseers election results

The president of the Harvard Alumni Association today (May 27) 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 359th Commencement. The five newly elected Overseers follow:

Cheryl Dorsey (New York City) is the president of Echoing Green, a global venture fund that supports emerging innovators seeking to bring about positive social change. She is a graduate of Harvard College (A.B.’85), Harvard Medical School (M.D. ’92), and the Kennedy School of Government (M.P.P. ’92).

Walter Isaacson (Washington, D.C.), former editor of Time magazine and past chairman of CNN, is the CEO of the Aspen Institute and the author of several books, including biographies of Albert Einstein and Benjamin Franklin. After graduating from Harvard College in 1974, he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford (M.A ’76).

Nicholas D. Kristof (New York City), a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, is a columnist and former international correspondent for The New York Times. He graduated from Harvard College in 1981 and studied law at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar (M.A. ’88).

Karen Nelson Moore (Cleveland) is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She previously served on the faculty of Case Western Reserve Law School. She received two degrees from Harvard, an A.B. in 1970 and J.D. in 1973, and is a past vice president of the Harvard Alumni Association.

Diana Nelson (San Francisco), an advocate for education reform and a trustee of the World Childhood Foundation, is director of the Carlson Companies, which operates hotel, travel, and restaurant enterprises. She is a former chair of the Harvard College Fund. She holds degrees from Harvard (A.B. ’84) and Northwestern (M.B.A. ’89).

The five new Overseers were each elected for six-year terms. They were chosen from a slate of eight candidates, who were nominated by a Harvard Alumni Association committee according to the election rules. Harvard degree holders cast 31,945 ballots in the election.

The primary function of the Board of Overseers is to encourage the University to maintain the highest attainable standards as a place of learning. Drawing on the diverse experience and expertise of its members, the board exerts broad influence over the University’s strategic directions, provides essential counsel to the University’s leadership on priorities and plans, has the power of consent to certain actions such as the election of Corporation members, and directs the visitation process by which a broad array of Harvard Schools and departments are periodically reviewed.