Seven named to Princeton Board of Trustees

Princeton University has named seven new members to its Board of Trustees, effective July 1.

The new trustees are: Robert Hugin and Peter Wendell, who were elected by the board to serve for eight years as charter trustees; Ruth Simmons and John Wynne, who were elected by the board to serve for four years as term trustees; Jaime Ayala and Laurence Morse, who were elected by alumni to serve four years as alumni trustees; and Angela Groves, who was elected by the junior, senior and two youngest alumni classes to serve four years as young alumni trustee.

Biographical information about the new trustees follows:

Ayala, of Makati City, Philippines, is the founder of Hybrid Social Solutions and SunTransfer, which provide rural communities with solar products for access to electricity, water and other essential services. He also is a network partner of Hystra, a global consulting firm that connects companies with social entrepreneurs, and is a trustee of the World Wildlife Fund and the Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Fund. Ayala graduated from Princeton in 1984 with a degree in economics and holds an MBA from Harvard University. A Princeton volunteer since graduation, he is the regional Alumni Schools Committee chair for the Philippines.

Groves, of Cleveland, graduated this year with a degree in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She was the Class of 2012 secretary; a residential college adviser in Mathey College; a group leader for Community Action; a mentor for the Leadership and Mentoring Program; a student member of the University's Eating Club Task Force and the Working Group on Campus Social and Residential Life; and a member of the Princeton Association of Black Women and the Black Student Union. Groves will teach high school math in Atlanta next year through Teach for America, and hopes to become a civil rights lawyer.

Hugin, of Summit, N.J., is chairman, chief executive officer and president of Celgene Corp., a global biopharmaceutical company. Prior to joining Celgene, Hugin was a managing director at J.P. Morgan & Co. Inc. He is a director of the Medicines Co., a pharmaceutical firm; Atlantic Health System Inc., a nonprofit health care system; and Family Promise, a national nonprofit network assisting homeless families. Hugin, who graduated in 1976 with a degree in politics, is vice chair of the Annual Giving committee and a member of the Aspire fundraising campaign's executive committee.

Morse, of Stamford, Conn., is the founder and CEO of the private equity investment management firm Fairview Capital Partners, a pioneer in investing in venture capital partnerships that provide capital primarily to minority-controlled companies. Forbes magazine named Morse one of the "Top 10 Minds in Small Business." He chairs the selection committee for the Luard Scholarship for high-performing students at black colleges and universities, and is a board member of the Institute of International Education. A graduate of Howard University, he earned his Ph.D. in economics from Princeton in 1980. Morse is a member of the steering committee of the Connect black alumni leadership initiative and the executive committee of the Aspire campaign. He also has served as a director of the Princeton University Investment Co. (PRINCO) and on the leadership council for Princeton's Graduate School.

Simmons, of Providence, R.I., will retire as president of Brown University on June 30 after 11 years in that position. She previously served as president of Smith College and as provost of Spelman College, and held various administrative positions at Princeton, including three years as vice provost. A graduate of Dillard University, Simmons holds a Ph.D. from Harvard and received an honorary degree from Princeton in 1996. She is an officer and a past president of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, an honorary fellow at Selwyn College at the University of Cambridge and a member of the Howard University board of trustees.

Wendell, of San Francisco, is the founder and a managing director of Sierra Ventures, a venture capital fund. He has been a member of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business faculty since 1991. A 1972 Princeton graduate with a degree in sociology, Wendell was a charter trustee from 2001 to 2011, serving as clerk of the board from 2005 to 2011. He also was a director of PRINCO from 1998 to 2008, serving as chair from 2002 to 2008. Wendell is a member of the Aspire executive committee and a donor of a dormitory in Whitman College, the University's sixth residential college.

Wynne, of Virginia Beach, Va., is the past president and CEO of Landmark Communications Inc., which owns the Weather Channel, and he remains a member of the company's board of directors. A 1967 graduate with a degree in history, he also holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia, where he recently retired as head of the board. Wynne was a charter trustee at Princeton from 1998 to 2008. He is a member of the Aspire executive committee and helped spearhead efforts to raise funds for the Class of 1967 Butler dorm. He will begin a two-year term as chair of the national Annual Giving committee on July 1.

Completing their terms as trustees on June 30 are Katherine Brittain Bradley, Christopher Cole, Stephen Oxman, Meaghan Petersack, Michael Porter, Kavita Ramdas and Gordon Wu.

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 oversight of changes in major policies, such as those involving admission and financial aid.