Newly elected trustees and life trustees ‘pave the way for the next generation of leaders.’
At an in-person May meeting, the University of Rochester Board of Trustees elected five individuals as board members, and recognized six individuals on becoming life trustees.
“Our University is forever and our invaluable trustees dedicate their time, energy, passion, and love for our school,” said Board Chair Rich Handler ’83. “They pave the way for the next generation of leaders as we strive to keep our University fresh with perspective, vision, and relevance. We are fortunate to have six amazing trustees who will continue to serve the University through their transition to life trustee status, and we welcome five new remarkable voting trustees who will carry on the legacy of helping make our University ever better.”
University President Sarah Mangelsdorf said, “I want to thank in advance our newest board members for their enthusiastic commitment to this role. As I welcome these individuals to the board, I also want to recognize the service and leadership of our trustees who are moving to life trustee status and let them know how much I look forward to their continued engagement with the University.”
New trustees
Quincy L. Allen ’93S (MBA), P’17
Quincy Allen is former chief marketing officer at IBM Corp. and has more than 35 years of leadership experience in the technology services industry and in the community.
Allen was CMO and go-to-market leader of Cognitive Process Services, as well as IBM Cloud chief marketing officer from 2015 to 2018. As CMO, he developed marketing and brand strategies and produced campaigns that won the ITSMA (IT Services Marketing Association) Marketing Excellence for Building Brand Differentiation award, and Frost and Sullivan’s Cloud Company of the Year award. Before IBM, he served as chief marketing and strategy officer at Unisys Corp., CEO of Vertis Communications, and president of Production Systems Group at Xerox Corp.
He is currently on the board of directors of Office Depot Corp., Lumen Technologies, ABM Technologies, and Launch NY, a 501(c)(3) venture development organization.
Allen earned an MBA in marketing and entrepreneurship at Simon Business School and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Northeastern University. He is a member of the advisory council of the University’s Ain Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. He also was part of the foundational economic development planning efforts that led to the creation of the Greater Rochester Enterprise in 2002.
His wife, Sonya, is a member of the Memorial Art Gallery Board of Directors. Their son, Myles Allen ’17, is pursuing an MBA at Simon Business School.
David Roy Greenbaum ’73
David Greenbaum is vice chairman at Vornado Realty Trust in New York City. A former tax attorney at Weil Gotshal & Manges, he has worked in commercial real estate since 1982. During his more than two decades at Vornado, he has been instrumental in developing and managing what is now one of New York City’s largest and most sustainable portfolios of Class A properties.
Greenbaum earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Rochester and a JD from the University of Chicago. He was a long-standing trustee and member of the executive committee of the Citizens Budget Commission, and a member of the Board of Governors of the Real Estate Board of New York and the Realty Advisory Board. He also served on the board of directors for the Lighthouse Guild, as well as the 34th Street Partnership, the Grand Central Partnership, and the Times Square Alliance.
He is a first-generation American whose parents escaped Germany in the late 1930s, and much of his philanthropic activity has been shaped by his family’s heritage. He currently serves on the board of the Jewish National Fund as a presidential advisor. He and his wife, Laureine, have generously supported Hillel at the University of Rochester and made the lead gift to establish the new Greenbaum Center for Jewish Life on River Campus.
Pramit Shashikant Jhaveri ’87S (MBA)
Pramit Jhaveri currently acts as advisor and mentor to start-ups, corporate, and family offices. He is senior advisor to Premji Invest and PJT Partners, and an independent director on the boards of Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, and Larsen & Toubro. Prior to his current activities, Jhaveri was vice chairman of banking, Asia Pacific Citi. He served as CEO of Citibank India from 2010 to 2019, retiring in November 2019 after a distinguished 32 year-career in banking, having joined the firm as a 23-year-old in 1987.
He serves as a trustee on the board of several philanthropic, non-profit entities in India, including Tata Trusts, which is among India’s oldest and most pre-eminent philanthropic institutions; Pratham Education Foundation, an NGO dedicated to the quality education of underprivileged children; India Foundation for the Arts, a grants-making organization supporting practice, research, and education in the arts; the World Monuments Fund India, an organization involved in conserving and preserving India’s architectural heritage; and CSMVS, one of the premier art and history museums in India.
Jhaveri holds a bachelor of commerce degree from Sydenham College, Mumbai University, and an MBA from the Simon School of Business. A recipient of the Simon Business School’s Distinguished Alumni Award, he has been closely engaged with the school for several years, supporting scholarships and providing advice on important matters. He is an avid tennis player, a keen follower of cricket and soccer, and a long-standing collector of Indian contemporary art.
Juan C. Jones ’88S (MBA)
Juan Jones is executive vice president of global support renewal sales at Oracle. He leads a worldwide team responsible for $20 billion in annual Oracle Premier Support sales. His team manages the complex, critical relationships with Oracle’s largest, most strategic customers globally, helping them protect their Oracle investments with comprehensive, trusted, and secure support. Prior to joining Oracle, he worked in enterprise sales at Microsoft and IBM.
In addition to serving on both its national council and advisory council, Jones has been engaged with Simon Business School through programs such as Simon Connects. He also established the Juan C. Jones Endowed Scholarship Fund, Simon’s first endowed scholarship supporting students recruited to the school through the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management.
He serves on the board of trustees at the Catholic University of America, and has also served on the executive board of the Technology Services Industry Association and on the OuterBay Technologies Advisory Board.
Jones earned an MBA from the Simon Business School and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame.
Elizabeth Leight ’89
Elizabeth Leight is a clinical psychologist and educator who, in addition to maintaining her private practice, actively volunteers in schools, hospitals, and mental health agencies. Her nonprofit work focuses on educating community stakeholders on how to build bridges among communities, schools, and families, and to help address the multifaceted and complex issues facing these groups. Leight serves on the board of Breakthrough Miami, the advisory council of United Way of Miami–Dade, and on the board of her graduate school, the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University in New York City.
She is a longtime member of the University’s Arts, Sciences & Engineering National Council, has served on multiple reunion committees for her class, and is a member of the advisory council of Warner School’s Center for Urban Education Success. Leight is also actively involved with the University’s Mt. Hope Family Center.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Rochester, master’s degrees from Teachers College at Columbia University in counseling psychology and in education, a doctor of psychology degree from Yeshiva University, and completed psychoanalytic training at IPTAR, Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. She and her husband, Nathan, established the Leight Foundation Endowed Scholarship Fund at the University of Rochester and have also made commitments to fund a professorship in the University’s Department of Psychology and to support the executive director of the Mt. Hope Family Center.
Life trustees
At the May meeting, six board members moved to life trustee status. Together, these individuals have provided years of distinguished service to the board, and their leadership, counsel, strategic partnership, and philanthropy have supported the creation of new facilities, scholarships, professorships, and other initiatives throughout the University.
Mark S. Ain ’67S (MBA)
Mark Ain has been a board member since 2007, at different times serving on the advancement, audit and risk assessment, executive, external affairs, investment, research and innovation, and student affairs committees.
He has served as a member of the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Advisory Council, Simon Business School National Council, Simon Advisory Council, Boston Regional Cabinet, and the Venture Capital Fund Board of Directors. He was also a member of The Meliora Challenge Campaign Cabinet.
He has supported programs and initiatives—particularly in the area of entrepreneurship—such as the Mark Ain Business Model Competition and the Mark Ain Workshop Series. In 2015, the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation — which reaches across schools and units to provide exceptional entrepreneurial education and opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and alumni — was named in recognition of him and his wife Carolyn, for their vision and generous support of entrepreneurship education. A supporter of the University’s Student Incubator at High Tech Rochester, he helped advance student-run enterprises, enabling many students to go on to create successful startups. He has also provided significant internship and scholarship support and personally counseled and guided students toward success on campus and after graduation.
He was recognized with the Simon Business School Dean’s Medal for exceptional service, philanthropy, and leadership to the school.
Launcelot F. Drummond ’85S (MBA)
Lance Drummond has been a board member since 1997, at different times serving on the compensation and compliance, executive, external affairs, financial planning, human resources (serving as chair since 2012), and nominations and board practices committees.
He has served as inaugural co-chair of the diversity advisory committee; member of the Black Alumni Network philanthropy committee; co-chair of the Diversity Initiative Campaign committee in support of The Meliora Challenge campaign; Simon School trustee visiting committee; and multicultural alumni advisory executive committee.
Together with his wife, Hope, he has supported an undergraduate scholarship at the University and graduate fellowship at the Simon Business School, with an emphasis on supporting African American recipients. His passion and commitment brought the University from its early equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives such as the Multicultural Alumni Advisory Council, to the creation of a University-wide Office of Equity and Inclusion. He promoted the establishment of affinity networks that connect alumni and students with shared identities and experiences, and brought about a commitment by both the board and University leadership to challenge and improve all aspects of the University experience to foster a community that is diverse, welcoming, and inclusive for all.
He was recognized with the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the Simon Business School for his many exceptional achievements, as well as the Empowering Equitable Change Award presented at the 2022 Presidential Stronger as One Diversity Awards ceremony.
Ani Gabrellian ’84
Ani Gabrellian has been a board member since 2012, at different times serving on the academic affairs, advancement, executive, human resources, investment, nominations, and board practices (having served as chair from 2015 to 2018), and student affairs committees.
She has served as a member of the Arts, Sciences & Engineering National Council since 2010 and as the group’s chair from 2015 to 2017.
With her husband Mark Gabrellian ’79, she established several endowed funds in multidisciplinary and humanities areas, including two established in 2010 — the Ani and Mark Gabrellian Professorship, supporting a cross-disciplinary approach to studying the political, economic, global, and historic problems of our time; and the Mesrob Mashtots Innovation Grant for outstanding incoming undergraduate students, established in 2010. The grant is named in honor of the Armenian scholar who is credited with inventing the Armenian alphabet, among many other accomplishments. In 2015, she and Mark established an endowed directorship position for the Humanities Center, providing important support for scholarly research, student engagement, and the creation of new knowledge in the humanities on campus. Through these funds and the Hagop and Artemis Nazerian Humanities Lectures, named in honor of her parents and their belief in the benefits of a humanistic education, she has made an indelible mark on the humanities education experience at the University.
Nancy A. Lieberman ’77
Nancy Lieberman has been a board member since 2007, at different times serving on the audit and risk assessment, external affairs, financial planning, joint health affairs, nominations and board practices, research and innovation, and student affairs committees.
She was a longtime volunteer in the organization of Class of 1977 reunion celebrations, including the 25th through the 40th, as well as for some of the University’s earlier engagement initiatives, including class and regionally based activities and initial iterations of trustee visiting committees and the Campaign for the ’90’s.
An advocate for scholarship support, Lieberman served as co-chair of the scholarships initiative for The Meliora Challenge campaign, an effort that resulted in the creation of more than 400 endowed scholarships and fellowships and 52 George Eastman Circle Scholarships. She personally established an endowed scholarship in the School of Arts & Sciences in 2002, and more recently established an endowed scholarships challenge to help inspire other friends of the University to meet the critical need for support within Arts, Sciences & Engineering. She has also provided significant support to the University’s initiative to build a new Center for Jewish Life and for spinal cord research at the School of Medicine and Dentistry. She has been recognized with the Distinguished Alumna Award by the School of Arts & Sciences for her many exceptional achievements.
Gail A. Lione ’71
Gail Lione has been a board member since 1997, at different times serving on the audit and risk assessment, executive, facilities, human resources, and student affairs committees. She also serves on the Trustees Strategic Planning Advisory Committee (ad-hoc).
She has served as vice chair of the Central U.S. Regional Campaign effort as part of The Meliora Challenge; as a member of the Chicago Regional Cabinet and the Washington, D.C. Network Leadership Council; and has been a longtime participant and leader of the Class of 1971 reunion celebrations. She was also involved with some of the University’s earlier engagement initiatives, including class and regionally based activities and the Campaign for the 90’s.
She was instrumental in the launch of the University’s first Women’s Network, serving as the group’s inaugural co-chair and championing its mission to connect, support, and engage alumnae and other members of the University community. She also helped spearhead opportunities to showcase women leaders at the University and led a fundraising charge to support both the Susan B. Anthony Center and the Women’s Network Scholarship. She has advanced the University’s goal of a diverse student body through scholarships, establishing the Gail Ann Lione Scholarship at Arts, Sciences & Engineering and the Gail A. Lione Eastman School of Music Scholarship. She was recognized with the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the School of Arts & Sciences for her many exceptional achievements.
Ronald M. Rettner
Ron Rettner has been a board member since 2012, at different times serving on the advancement, facilities and campus planning, and financial planning committees.
His support and efforts have restored and refreshed the footprint of the University’s campuses in a way that benefits today’s students and faculty and promises to continue to attract future generations of both. In 2012, he provided the lead gift for the construction of Ronald Rettner Hall for Media Arts and Innovation on River Campus. A hub for the arts, humanities, sciences, and engineering, this innovative building houses programs in digital media studies and audio and music engineering. Shortly thereafter, he established a campus improvement fund that made possible the renovation of Morey Hall’s main lobby and corridor, as well as restoration and upgrades to Bausch & Lomb and Harkness halls. In 2016, he and his wife, Karen, made the lead gift for the Eastman Community Music School’s renovation of Messinger Hall, where his deep expertise in commercial construction and property development also guided the project. Through his efforts, the University has more modern, functional spaces while preserving the historical foundation of the campus.
He was recognized with the Arts, Sciences & Engineering Dean’s Medal for exceptional service, philanthropy, and leadership, and dedication and commitment that inspire others to take leadership roles at the University.
