New Members Join Board of Trustees

Four Middlebury graduates were elected to the Board of Trustees in July, including two women of color, as term trustees and an alumni trustee. The new trustees include Joseph W. Brown ’90, Leilani McClellan Brown ’93, Janine Feng ’92 and Henry J. Simonds ’97. These appointees will serve on the Board for a five-year term. The Board of Trustee’s legal and fiduciary responsibility is to govern the College and all of its affiliated schools and programs.

According to the Chair of the Board of Trustees Marna C. Whittington, the Governance Committee, headed by Trustee Kim Parizeau in conjunction with Secretary Dave Donahue, is the body responsible for recommending candidates to the board.

“The [Governance] Committee has a very systematic process which reviews the skill sets and demographic characteristics of the current board against a profile of the skill sets and demographics we believe would be most appropriate and effective providing governance for Middlebury at this time,” Whittington said.
The new appointees this year diversify the primarily white 33-member board.

“The Trustees and Governance Committee has been very successful recruiting a diverse, highly competent board which brings a wide set of professional skills to the boardroom,” she said.

“The committee looks at lots of different criteria; professional experience, geographic representation, diversity with regard to gender, age, race, leadership ability and experience, level of engagement with the College and the list goes on. There is no one criteria that takes precedent,” added Donahue. He noted that a vast majority of trustees are alumni, but this is the first group of trustees that are comprised only of those who graduated in the 1990’s.

The four new trustees hail from a variety of backgrounds and experiences.

Leilani M. Brown is the Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Starr Companies, a global insurance and financial services firm located in New York. With a strong background in insurance, marketing and distribution, she is responsible for driving company growth by leading marketing strategy, brand management, advertising, corporate communications and digital efforts. Before landing at Starr Companies, Leilani M. Brown held a variety of positions at places like MetLife and AIG. In 2012 she was named on both the Top 100 Blacks in Corporate America and Top Women in Corporate America lists in Savoy Magazine. After graduating from Middlebury in 1993, she went on to earn a Masters in Public Administration and Management from New York University. “It is an incredible honor to be asked to serve as a Trustee for Middlebury. I am a proud Alumna of the school, remain very connected to my classmates and many of my professors. As a kid who grew up in Queens, New York, Middlebury changed the course of my life, exposing me to different people, cultures, and thinking. Middlebury, quite literally, changed my life,” Brown said.

“I am looking forward to spending more time on campus, getting to know the Middlebury of 2015 and understanding the unique opportunities and challenges. I look forward to working closely with Laurie Patton, Marna Whittington and the other distinguished board members in service to Middlebury.”

The second woman, Feng, is living in Hong Kong as the managing director of The Carlyle Group, a global alternative asset management firm. She joined the firm in 1998 and is responsible for several investments in China as well as advising on Asian buyout and growth capital investment in consumer, financial, healthcare and other sectors. The Carlyle Group in recent years has made concerted efforts to close the gender gap in the finance industry by hiring and promoting top individuals regardless of gender. After graduating from the College in 1992, Feng pursued a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

“I expect Janine will be very helpful as Middlebury develops its presence overseas and looks to do more to support our alumni and our alumni network in Asia,” Donahue said.

Joseph W. Brown is the final newly appointed term trustee. President of Hartzell Propeller Inc. and Chief Operating Officer of Tailwind Technologies Inc., Joseph W. Brown is heavily involved in manufacturing, quality, and information technology in the aviation industry. He has served on the board of numerous industry organizations such as General Aviation Manufacturers Association, where he chairs the board of directors and policy and legal issues committee. He graduated from the College in 1990.

Elected to the board by the alumni body, Simonds will serve as an alumni trustee. Simonds is an artist, curator and filmmaker living in New York City, serving as the president of the company Headwater Films/Media that he founded in 2001. He develops and finances independent documentaries and narrative films. His film credits include “Rachel Is,” “Romance & Cigarettes,” and “Andy Warhol: A Documentary.” Middlebury College acquired his work “Global Impact” – a photographic portfolio documenting his artistic exploration of the iconic toy the Super Ball. He graduated from Middlebury in 1997.