The University of Rochester Board of Trustees elected Rochester business and civic leader Danny Wegman as board chair-elect at its May meeting, to begin a five-year term following the May 2016 Board meeting. The Board also elected four new trustees.
Wegman, CEO of Rochester-based Wegmans Food Markets, Inc., has served as a University trustee for more than 15 years. He and his company have been honored many times as a model employer and retailer as well as for excellence in community service. In 2010, Wegman received the University’s George Eastman Medal, which honors outstanding professional achievement and dedicated service.
“Danny is one of the country’s most admired business leaders, a champion of our region, and a highly respected and dedicated Board member,” said President Joel Seligman. “I have worked closely with Danny for the past four years in our roles as co-chairs of our region’s Economic Development Council. I look forward to Danny’s Board leadership, as well as the contributions of our outstanding new trustees, as we take the University to the next level while strengthening and serving the Rochester community.”
“Joel and I have had the opportunity to work together on the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council for the last four years. I think we’re a good team,” Wegman said. “What I couldn’t help but see was that the University of Rochester was the number one driver of jobs in the area. So to me, helping the University is helping our entire region. Second, I’m extremely impressed with the quality and dedication of the University’s Board members, and I look forward to working in conjunction with them to make the University and region even better.”
Wegman will succeed chairman Edmund A. Hajim at the conclusion of the May 2016 Board meeting. Hajim, a 1958 alumnus, was elected chairman in 2008 and will transition to chairman emeritus. He has served as a University trustee since 1988.
“Ed’s Board leadership is truly inspirational,” said Seligman. “His love for the University and his dedication to making it a leading educational and research institution cannot be overstated. I am especially grateful for his leadership throughout our Meliora Challenge campaign, which has anchored a remarkable performance that will have transformative impact. Ed is a great asset to our University, and our current success is due in large part to his outstanding leadership and unwavering commitment to excellence.”
“It is one of the great privileges of my life to serve the University as Board chairman,” said Hajim. “Under Joel’s leadership the University has grown and built academic, research, and clinical programs that are recognized nationally and beyond. We have great momentum, and I know that we’ll achieve even greater success in the coming years. I am delighted to welcome four exceptional new people to the Board, and I am very pleased to pass the torch to Danny Wegman next year. He is exactly the right person to lead the Board during this next important period for the University and the community.”
Wegman joined Wegmans Food Markets after high school and was named a store manager in 1969, the same year he graduated with honors from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He became president of Wegmans in 1976, and was named CEO in 2005. Today, Wegmans operates 85 stores in six states and is consistently recognized in Fortune Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work for in America,” earning the No. 7 spot in 2015.
Since 2011, Wegman has served with Seligman as a co-chair of the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council, part of New York State’s community-based and performance-driven economic development program. Wegman and Seligman guide the FLREDC in developing strategic plans tailored to the Finger Lakes region’s unique strengths and resources in order to create jobs, improve quality of life and grow the economy.
In April 2014, Wegman, president and chairman of the board of The Wegman Family Charitable Foundation (WFCF), announced two major contributions to the University—a $10 million lead gift to the Goergen Institute for Data Science and a $7 million gift to support the Golisano Children’s Hospital. Together with previous gifts to several programs across the University campuses, the WFCF has provided $20 million to The Meliora Challenge: The Campaign for the University of Rochester.
Wegman has also worked very closely with the University on the Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection program, founded by Wegmans in 1987 to reduce the dropout rate within the Rochester City School District. This model program, now based at the Hillside Family of Agencies, provides participating students with a part-time job, a youth advocate, and a workplace mentor at Wegmans or another participating organization, including the University of Rochester.
Wegman is honorary chair of the University of Rochester Medical Center’s campaign in support of The Meliora Challenge. A former member of the Medical Center Board, Wegman and his wife, Konstanze (Stency), host the Toast to Your Health Wine Auction, which supports initiatives at the Medical Center. They are members of the George Eastman Circle, the University’s leadership annual giving society.
Newly elected trustees
Barbara J. Burger ’83 is president of Chevron Technology Ventures, the Houston-based innovation, commercialization, and emerging technologies division within Chevron Corporation.
Burger graduated from the University in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. She went on to receive a doctorate in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1987, and an MBA in finance from the University of California, Berkeley in 1994.
She joined Chevron in 1987 as a research chemist and subsequently held positions in commercial management lines of international marketing, chemicals, technology marketing, and lubricants. She also served as vice president of base oils; vice president of Europe, Africa, Middle East; vice president of global supply chain; and vice president of supply chain and base oils.
Burger mentors several employees within Chevron, is a member of the Chevron Executive Women’s Network, and works with several foundations.
An active University alumna, Burger is a member of the San Francisco Bay Regional Cabinet, the Texas Regional Cabinet, and the River Campus Libraries’ Advisory and National Councils. She is a charter member of the George Eastman Circle, and in 2012 she established the Barbara J. Burger Endowed Scholarship in the Sciences to support students pursuing degrees in biology, chemistry, earth and environmental sciences, or physics. She also has generously supported the Richard S. Eisenberg Professorship in Chemistry.
In 2013, she received the University’s John N. Wilder Award, which honors philanthropy that inspires others to support the pursuit of an “ever better” University.
Edward D. Miller ’68M (MD) is CEO emeritus of Johns Hopkins Medicine and dean and vice president emeritus of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
He joined The Johns Hopkins University in 1994 as professor and director of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, and was named interim dean of the School of Medicine in 1996. He became the first CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, dean of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and vice president for medicine of The Johns Hopkins University in January 1997, serving until his retirement in 2012.
Under Miller’s leadership, Johns Hopkins Medicine broadened its relationships with hospitals and other health care-related entities nationally and abroad. He oversaw the massive rebuilding that transformed the East Baltimore medical campus, including two new state-of-the-art hospitals for adult and pediatric patients. Miller’s research focused on the cardiovascular effects of anesthetic drugs and vascular smooth muscle relaxation.
He received his bachelor’s degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. In 2013, he delivered the commencement address to the School of Medicine and Dentistry and received the University’s highest alumni honor, the Charles Force Hutchison and Marjorie Smith Hutchison Medal, which recognizes alumni for outstanding achievement and notable service.
He and his wife, Lynne Miller ’64, are members of the George Eastman Circle and supporters of the School of Medicine and Dentistry. Lynne, a generous donor in her own right, has strengthened our ability to provide student scholarships, including establishing a fund to support study abroad activities.
Brian F. Prince ’86, ’89S is the founder and senior partner of the private-equity firm Hegemon Capital LLC.
He recently served as president and chief executive officer of ORIX USA Corporation, a diversified financial services company. Before that, Prince served as chairman and CEO of Aozora Bank, Ltd., a Tokyo-based commercial bank. Under Prince’s leadership, Aozora produced strong financial results following significant market turmoil, and finalized a comprehensive recapitalization plan designed to repay all public funding.
Born and raised in the Rochester area, Prince was recruited to the University’s men’s soccer program in 1982, where he became team captain. He was able to attend the University with the assistance of an alumni scholarship. In 2003, he established the Prince Family Endowment for Men’s Soccer in appreciation of his experiences and leadership opportunities as a student-athlete at the University. Ten years later, he made the lead gift to support a multi-million dollar renovation of the University’s outdoor athletic facilities, which have been named the Brian F. Prince Athletic Complex.
Prince also made a generous commitment to create the Prince Family Open Society Fund, which promotes democratic principles and open markets. Other areas he has supported include the Mary M. Parkes Asthma Center, the Eastman School of Music, the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, the Jeremy L. Glick Scholarship Fund, and fellowships and research at the Simon Business School.
He currently serves as a board member of the Friends of Rochester Athletics. Prince received the Simon Business School’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2004.
Philip Saunders is an entrepreneur known for his business acumen and philanthropic spirit. He was instrumental in reshaping the travel center industry and has had business interests in fields as diverse as auto rental, recreation and tourism, packaged foods, property management, and banking.
Saunders has founded many companies, including Genesee Regional Bank, Griffith Energy, Truck Stops of America, Travel Centers of America, and Sugar Creek Corporation. An owner of Essex Property Management, he also has significant ownership interests in Valley Fuels, Bristol Harbour Resort, Sugar Creek Farms, Western New York Energy, and American Rock Salt.
In 2011, Saunders contributed $10 million to the University of Rochester Medical Center to support neuromuscular disease and translational research. The Saunders Research Building, home to the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, clinical research programs, and academic departments, was named in his honor. His gift also supports the Saunders Family Distinguished Professorship in Neuromuscular Research and the E. Philip and Carole Saunders Professorship in Neuromuscular Research. He serves as a co-chair of the Medical Center’s campaign in support of The Meliora Challenge and honorary chair of the George Eastman Circle Rochester Leadership Council.
A Rochester Business Hall of Fame inductee, Saunders serves as board chair of Genesee Regional Bank, Valley Fuels, and Paul Smith’s College. His history of board service includes current positions on the boards of American Rock Salt, Buckingham Properties, Young Entrepreneurs Academy, Lewis Tree, NYS Trooper Foundation, Torvec, Western New York Energy and Rochester Institute of Technology, where the business school is named in his honor.
