Richard C. Notebaert, chair of the University of Notre Dame Board of Trustees, was elected to a new three-year term at the Trustees’ spring meeting May 1.
In addition, Douglas Ford, a Board member since 2001, was elected a Fellow of the University and four Notre Dame alumni were newly elected to the Board.
A member of the Notre Dame Board of Trustees since 1997, Notebaert became chair in 2007. He is a Fellow of the University and previously served as chair of the board’s University Relations and Public Affairs and Communications Committee.
Notebaert is the retired chairman and chief executive officer of Qwest Communications International Inc. He previously served as chief executive officer of Tellabs Inc. and as chairman and chief executive officer of Ameritech Communications.
A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, Notebaert and his wife, Peggy, recently made a leadership gift to Notre Dame to establish the Richard and Peggy Notebaert Premier Fellowships in support of doctoral students in the University’s Graduate School.
Ford succeeds the retiring Terrence J. McGlinn as a Fellow of the University. The 12 Fellows – six lay men and women and six priests of the Congregation of Holy Cross, Notre Dame’s founding religious community – are the University’s ultimate governing body. They elect the Trustees, adopt and amend the bylaws and are specifically charged with maintaining Notre Dame’s Catholic character.
A Notre Dame graduate with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, Ford earned master’s and doctoral degrees from Northwestern University. He is the retired chief executive of refining and marketing for BP and previously served as executive vice president of the Amoco Corp. and president of the Amoco Oil Co.
McGlinn has served on the Board since 1994 and was elected an Emeritus Trustee at the spring meeting. Other Board members who reached retirement age and were elected Emeritus Trustees are Robert Biolchini, F. Michael Geddes and Thomas E. Larkin.
The four new Trustees are:
James J. Dunne III – The senior managing partner of Sandler O’Neill + Partners, Dunne heads the Executive Committee of what is one of the largest full-service investment banking firms exclusively serving the financial services sector. A Notre Dame graduate with a bachelor’s degree in economics, he co-founded the firm in 1988 after previously working with L.F. Rothschild’s Bank Services Group, Lehman Brothers, Prudential Bache and Bear Stearns’ Financial Services Group.
Rev. Thomas J. O’Hara, C.S.C. – The eighth president of King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Father O’Hara has led the Congregation of Holy Cross institution since 1999. He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from King’s, his master’s degree in theology from Notre Dame, and his doctorate in political science from American University. A professor of political science, he has conducted research on the role of religious lobby groups in the American public policy system.
James E. Rohr – The chairman and chief executive officer of the PNC Financial Services Group, Rohr earned a bachelor’s degree from Notre Dame and a master’s of business administration degree from Ohio State University. He joined PNC in 1972 and held various marketing and management positions in several corporate banking areas. He was elected a vice chairman in 1989, a director in 1990, president in 1992, and chief operating officer in 1998. He was named CEO in 2000 and chairman a year later.
Anne Thompson – The chief environmental affairs correspondent for NBC News, Thompson reports on such issues as alternative fuels, global warming, land usage and new technologies. She has received the prestigious Gerald Loeb Award, and she was part of the NBC team that won the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Journalism Award and an Emmy for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. She began her career at WNDU-TV in South Bend after earning a bachelor’s degree in American studies from Notre Dame.
The Notre Dame Board of Trustees now is composed of 49 active members.
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In previous Board action this academic year, Thomas G. Burish and John Affleck-Graves were elected to new five-year terms as provost and executive vice president, respectively.
First elected provost of the University in 2005, Burish is the fourth person to hold the office since it was established in 1970. At the direction of the president, the provost, the University’s second ranking officer, exercises overall responsibility for the academic enterprise.
A Notre Dame alumnus and distinguished scholar in the field of clinical psychology, Burish served as president of Washington and Lee University for three years before assuming his present position and was Vanderbilt University’s longest-serving provost from 1993 to 2002.
First elected executive vice president in 2004, Affleck-Graves joined the University’s faculty in 1986 and holds the Notre Dame Chair in Finance. He began his career in academe in 1975 at his alma mater, the University of Cape Town, where he earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.
As executive vice president, his responsibilities include administration of an annual operating budget of more than $1 billion and an endowment of more than $6 billion. He also oversees human resource activities for a work force of more than 4,000 employees and directs the University’s construction program.