Seven named to Board of Trustees

Princeton University has named seven new members of its Board of Trustees. They are:

Katherine Bradley of Washington, D.C., founder and president of CityBridge Foundation, a philanthropic organization dedicated to solving domestic and international problems in health and education. She earned an A.B. from Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1986. She has served in many roles at the University, including: Woodrow Wilson School 75th anniversary member, regional Alumni Schools Committee member, class section chair, special gifts solicitor and phonathon worker.

Christopher Cole of Hopewell, N.J., managing director at Goldman, Sachs & Co. He earned an A.B. in history from Princeton in 1981. He is a director of the Princeton University Investment Co. and serves on the University's advisory council for the Bendheim Center for Finance.

John Diekman of Atherton, Calif., managing partner of 5AM Ventures, an early-stage life science venture capital firm. He earned an A.B. in chemistry from Princeton in 1965. He has been an annual giving volunteer, served as chair of the University's Chemistry Advisory Council from 1995 to 2003 and is currently a member of the University's Genomics Advisory Council. He is also the West Coast super-region chair for the "Aspire" fundraising campaign.

Meaghan Petersack of Mercerville, N.J., who graduated this year with an A.B. from the Woodrow Wilson School. She served as her class secretary for four years, was involved in the  Student Volunteers Council and was a member of the Pace Council for Civic Values. She will join Teach for America this fall as an elementary school teacher in Washington, D.C.

Michael Porter of Brookline, Mass., the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School. He earned a BSE in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton in 1969. He has done groundbreaking work on the competitiveness of companies, regions and nations and has shaped corporate strategy and government policies worldwide. At Princeton, he helped foster the Policy Research Institute for the Region at the Woodrow Wilson School.

Kavita Ramdas of Palo Alto, Calif., president and chief executive officer of the San Francisco-based Global Fund for Women. The fund is the largest foundation in the world dedicated exclusively to helping women and girls. Ramdas earned an MPA in 1988 from the Woodrow Wilson School. She serves on the school's Council of Advisers on Gender Equity.

Gordon Wu of Hong Kong, chairman and managing director of Hopewell Holdings Limited. He earned a BSE in civil engineering from Princeton in 1958. He served as a member of the University's advisory council for the School of Engineering and Applied Science and is the past president of the Princeton Club of Hong Kong. He has been an annual giving volunteer and is currently a Princeton in Asia governing board member.

The Board of Trustees elected Diekman to a 10-year term as a charter trustee, while it elected Cole, Ramdas and Wu for four years as term trustees. Princeton alumni elected Bradley and Porter to four-year terms as alumni trustees, and the junior, senior and two youngest alumni classes elected Petersack to a four-year term as young alumni trustee. All trustees have the same power, authority and responsibilities.

Completing their terms as trustees this year were Janet Clarke, Kim Goodwin, Rishi Jaitly, Nancy Newman, Eric Schmidt, Terdema Ussery and John Wynne.

The 40-member Board of Trustees is responsible for the overall direction of the University. It approves the operating and capital budgets, supervises the investment of the University's endowment and oversees campus real estate and long-range physical planning. The trustees also exercise review and approval concerning changes in major policies, such as those involving admission, as well as tuition and fees and the hiring of faculty members.