As voting for the Board of Trustee election cycle opens today, tens of thousands of alumni will open their mailboxes to find ballots with only two candidates, Gail Koziara Boudreaux '82 and R. William Burgess '81, who are running unopposed for the two available Board positions. Boudreaux and Burgess were selected by the Alumni Council's Nominating and Alumni Trustee Search Committee which operates independently of the College in December following a several-month selection process.
After alumni were notified of the nominations, members of the alumni body could submit paperwork to run as petition candidates against Boudreaux or Burgess during a two-month period that ended on Feb. 3, Alumni Council President and Nominating Committee member Thomas Peisch '70 said in an interview with The Dartmouth. Because no one filed a petition to appear on the ballot, Boudreaux and Burgess are both uncontested. Despite the lack of opposition, alumni will still submit votes in compliance with the guidelines of the Association of Alumni, which is responsible for conducting trustee elections.
The absence of petition candidates in this election cycle marks a break from previous elections. Prior to 2010, petition candidates T.J. Rodgers '70 in 2004, Peter Robinson '79 and Todd Zywicki '88 in 2005 and Stephen Smith '88 in 2007 won Board seats in three consecutive elections, The Dartmouth previously reported.
In 2010, petition candidate Joseph Asch '79 lost the trustee election to Council-nominated John Replogle '88. Asch said the election was marred by negative campaigning and the withholding of resources by the College, The Dartmouth previously reported.
While Asch said the lack of petition candidates in the current election cycle reflects a general unwillingness among alumni to undertake a campaign that is likely to fail, many alumni said the lack of petition candidates resulted from alumni satisfaction and the strength of the Alumni Council's candidates, The Dartmouth previously reported.
Given the strength of the Council-selected candidates, other alumni likely recognize that competing against them would be difficult, according to Peisch.
"My hope is that the folks we pick are so strong and their qualification is so compelling that petitioners have not chosen to run against them," he said. "We try to make it an open and transparent process and at the same time ensure that their privacy is being considered."
Boudreaux's experience as a health care executive, including her current position as the president of UnitedHealthcare, will contribute to College President Jim Yong Kim's vision for the future, Nominating Committee Chair Tom Daniels '82 said in an interview with The Dartmouth. Boudreaux, who holds 12 Dartmouth records in women's basketball, offers a perspective on Dartmouth athletic programs uncommon among Board members, he said.
Familiarity with technological ventures and extensive nonprofit work figured prominently in Burgess' nomination, Daniels said. Burgess serves as a managing partner at venture capital firm ABS Ventures and was the head of technology investment banking at Alex. Brown & Sons, according to Daniels.
Burgess also has experience working on various boards, including the New England Aquarium's board of trustees, and "has a good sense of what's going on in the Dartmouth world," Daniels said.
The selection process for this cycle's candidates began during summer 2010, when the Board notified the Alumni Council of vacancies that needed to be filled during the upcoming spring, according to Daniels.
Although the Council seeks potential candidates on an ongoing basis, it solicits nominations from the alumni body via e-mails and postcards to all alumni when vacancies are announced, according to announcements on the Council's website and the Office of Alumni Relations's Twitter feed. The Council also sends e-mails to class clubs and affiliated groups, Daniels said.
Nominations for candidacy may be submitted online and via mail, according to Daniels.
The nominating committee has reviewed over 500 profiles since 2007, according to a Nominating Committee report that Daniels presented to the Council in December 2010. The committee also "actively tracks" a list of potential candidates over several years, Daniels said.
"We may have 50 or 60 we're actively tracking, dozens we're tracking for three or five years," he said. "They may be too young, they could be in politics we track people for various reasons."
The committee accepted nominations until early November, when members began informing nominees and "checking references," Daniels said.
In addition to the new pool of nominations from the alumni body, the committee considered nominees from previous years, whose records are kept on file, according to Daniels.
"Lifestyles change, kids get older, they move," Daniels said. "That's why this is a multi-year process you can't just throw away the file every year."
The committee narrows the list of potential candidates to 10 to 15 of the "highest-priority names," Daniels said.
In the fall, committee members met with seven potential candidates in New York. Prior to the interviews which are conducted by several members of the Nominating Committee finalists were sent "detailed questions" regarding their qualifications, Daniels said.
Evaluation of nominees' financial contributions to the College did not play a role in the deliberation process, according to Daniels.
"This is not about just people who give a lot of money," he said. "If you want to represent Dartmouth, you've got to be involved at Dartmouth."
Following individual interviews, the Nominating Committee can select up to two candidates for each Board vacancy, according to the Dartmouth College Alumni Trustee Nomination and Balloting Guidelines. Candidates are introduced and voted upon at the Council's fall meeting. Daniels presented Boudreaux and Burgess to the members of the Council during his Dec. 3, 2010 presentation.
Members of the 124-person Alumni Council are elected by various classes, affiliated groups and clubs, Peisch said. The Nominating Committee members Daniels, Peisch, Robert Charles '87, Danielle Dyer '81 Tu'89, Peter Frederick '65, Thad King '73, Jon Murchinson '91 and Tracey Salmon-Smith '87 are elected from among the individuals on the Council.
The Board's needs change from year to year, depending on its composition and the College's ever-evolving situation, Daniels said. The Nominating Committee works with the Board to identify candidates who possess specific skill sets and perspectives lacking among current members, according to Daniels.
"There's been a desire to get people with a scientific background, or more international background," Daniels said. "There's always a need to get more gender and racial diversity, and there's been a desire to get someone who really understands the academic world."
In recent years, the Board has faced criticism regarding its lack of racial, regional, professional and academic diversity.
The election of charter trustee Annette Gordon-Reed '81, who is a professor at Harvard Law School and a Pulitzer Prize winning author, last year demonstrated the Board's attempts to diversify its members to include individuals in professional fields outside of business, current Association presidential candidate J.B. Daukas '84 said in a previous interview with The Dartmouth.
Charter trustee seats filled directly by the Board rather than through alumni elections enable the Board to seek trustees with certain specifications. These seats can be used to incorporate members from fields such as academia, Kim said after Trevor Rees-Jones '73 and Peggy Epstein Tanner '79 were elected as charter trustees last June.
While a candidate campaigning for an alumni-elected seat must have "broad appeal and credibility," individuals tapped for charter trustee seats may be less well-known to the alumni body and offer unconventional perspectives, Daniels said.
When evaluating the quality of nominees, Peisch said he considers "devotion to Dartmouth," professional achievements and involvement in a nonprofit organization.
"My guess is my colleagues on the [Nominating Committee] look for the same thing," Peisch said. "They may state it differently, but those I think are the main criteria."
Each trustee is charged with acting as "a responsible fiduciary," promoting the College's "mission" and maintaining "the integrity of the Board," according to the Office of Alumni Relations's website. Responsibilities include preparing for and attending the Board's meetings held each term, prioritizing service to the College and "contribut[ing] financially to the annual fund and to capital campaigns," according to the website.
The Association distributes ballots to alumni at the outset of a four-week election period. After the voting period ends on April 6, election results are announced to the Board, according to the nomination guidelines.
