Six new members have been elected to the Northwestern University Board of Trustees.
They are:
- Edward C. Hutcheson, Jr., managing director, Platte River Ventures
- Mark A. Ledogar, senior vice president and principal, One Smooth Stone
- Michael A. Reinsdorf, president and chief operating officer, Chicago Bulls
- E. Scott Santi, president and chief executive officer, Illinois Tool Works Inc.
- Mark R. Walter, chief executive officer, member of the board and co-founder, Guggenheim Capital, LLC
- Michael R. Wilbon, co-host of ESPN’s award-winning “Pardon the Interruption”
Edward C. Hutcheson Jr. is a managing director of Platte River Ventures, a Denver-based private equity firm. For the last two decades, he has served in senior management positions with publicly owned corporations in the telecommunications, financial services and oilfield services industries.
He was the founding chairman and chief executive officer of Crown Castle International, where he continues to serve as a director. Previous assignments included serving as chief operating officer of Pinnacle Global Group Inc., president and chief operating officer of Baroid Corp. and senior vice president, marketing of Bernard Johnson Inc. He has served as a director of Baroid Corp., Titanium Metals Corp., Trico Marine Services, Inc. and Special Metals Corp.
Hutcheson is currently a director of Bamberger Ranch Preserve and previously served as a board member of the Alley Theater and National Multiple Sclerosis Society of Houston. In 1968, he graduated from Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.
Mark A. Ledogar is senior vice president and principal of One Smooth Stone, an event and communications agency based in Downers Grove. Ledogar serves as executive producer for a variety of the agency’s clients, providing strategic and creative message development, pre-event and on-site event production, presenter management and coaching, and team leadership.
Prior to joining One Smooth Stone in 2000, Ledogar served as director of the Convention and Trade Show Division of SmithBucklin & Associates, an association management firm. He serves as advisor or board member to a number of nonprofit organizations, including Seven Generations Ahead, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and the Northwestern Alumni Association.
Ledogar, a recipient of the Northwestern Alumni Association’s Service Award, has also chaired committees for the University’s Alumni Association and served as director at large, secretary, vice president and, now, president-elect of the Alumni Association’s board. Ledogar is a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Communication.
Michael A. Reinsdorf was named president and chief operating officer of the Chicago Bulls in 2010. Reinsdorf has been involved in National Basketball Association (NBA) league matters on behalf of the Bulls since 2001. He is an NBA governor and serves on the NBA Media Committee and the NBA Planning Committee.
Reinsdorf is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and serves on the boards of the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago Foundation, the Executives’ Club of Chicago, NorthShore University HealthSystem, After-School All-Stars and After School Matters.
He is a founding partner of International Facilities Group, a consulting company specializing in the development of sports and entertainment facilities across the country. He is a graduate of the University of Arizona.
E. Scott Santi is the president and chief executive officer of Illinois Tool Works, Inc., a Fortune 200 global diversified industrial manufacturer of value added consumables and specialty equipment with related service businesses. Santi is a member of the board of directors of W.W. Grainger Inc.
He is a member of the board of trustees of the Ravinia Festival Association, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association and Rush University Medical Center, and he is a member of the Global Advisory Board of the Kellogg School of Management. Santi is also a member of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago and of the Economic Club of Chicago.
In 1983, he graduated from the University of Illinois and in 1992 received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern.
Mark R. Walter is a business executive, investor and philanthropist. He is chief executive officer, member of the board and co-founder of Guggenheim Capital, LLC, a global investment and advisory firm. He is chairman and controlling owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Walter serves on the boards of several corporations and organizations, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, The Field Museum and Northwestern University. Walter received a B.S. from Creighton University and a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law.
Michael R. Wilbon is co-host of ESPN’s “Pardon the Interruption” and an NBA studio analyst for ABC and ESPN. After 31 years with the Washington Post, Wilbon left to assume an expanded role as a columnist for ESPN.com and ESPNChicago.com. He then joined Tony Kornheiser in 2001 to host PTI. Wilbon contributes to both the “NBA Sunday Countdown” on ABC and ESPN’s “NBA Shootaround.”
He appears weekly on ESPN Radio 1000 in Chicago, with Scott Van Pelt on ESPN Radio and with Kornheiser on ESPN980 in Washington, D.C. Wilbon has received many honors including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Journalists and the Washington Post’s Eugene Meyer Award. He was inducted into the Washington, D.C. Sports Hall of Fame for his coverage and commentary on sports in and around the nation’s capital.
Wilbon graduated in 1980 from Northwestern’s Medill School and was inducted into the inaugural class of the Medill’s Hall of Achievement in 1997. In June 2010, Wilbon delivered the commencement address at his alma mater.
How surprising and diverse —
How surprising and diverse — they are all men!
And all of them men
What gives NU, all of them men, no women?
Typical Evanston knee jerk reaction
Take a look at the Northwestern University Board of Trustees:
http://www.adminplan.northwestern.edu/board-of-trustees/trustee/index.html
Please do a little research and be more thoughtful before you post uninformed and baseless comments.
NU is a world class institution and your comments reflect poorly upon the Evanston community.
P.S. I did not attend Northwestern University
I did look and what I see isn’t good
Thanks for the link as the information there establishes that there is a problem. Out of a Board of 69 members, there are 16 women members.
Do you think that Northwestern’s student population is less than 25 percent women? If so, please check these stats: http://www.registrar.northwestern.edu/academic_records/enrollment_and_graduation_statistics.html
Having such a low percentage of women on Northwestern’s Board should attract everyone’s attention. It’s not typical Evanston to note that such shoddy representation of women exists — it’s typical corporate America to create such shoddy representation of women. I suppose that women should be saying “thank you” for getting these crumbs from Northwestern’s table.
P.S. I am not a raging feminist. Rather, I am someone who is getting tired of seeing big fat cat organizations pack their boards primarily with men.
Well, I DID attend Northwestern University
So we could call this a typical Northwestern Alumna Evanston kneejerk reaction, because it shows very poor optics and planning to present a group of all new Board members with not one woman. You would think Northwestern would know better than that, wouldn't you?
And, my comments only reflect on myself! I do not pretend to speak for the Evanston community, nor should the comments of one person ever reflect the feelings, beliefs or opinions of any city or village.
This is, however, a comment section for this private blog, where I am welcomed and encouraged to speak my piece without some man attempting to hush me up. Sorry, wrong century.
Candace Hill
Ethnic groups are also not represented on the NU Board
What gives? Only two African-Americans and four Asian-Americans on the Board?
Those groups are not equally represented on the NU Board. About 7 percent of the incoming freshmen are AA and 19 percent are Asians.
Where's the outrage on that?
It Never Ends
I guess the phony hack "war on women" campaign is back.
6 men elected. There are women already on the Board!
Were there women not elected based in their qualifications? Probably.
Gender most likely has nothing to do with it.
So stop creating a phony issue here.
thank you.
Spoken like a true man
Sorry to challenge your premise that there are enough women on the Board already and more women don't have the qualifications to "make it."
It's not a phony war. It's a real problem — women are seen as underqualified and having a paltry number of women in leadership is viewed as acceptable. And your comments illustrate that the problem is deeply ingrained in our society.
I guess that women should just shut up and stop noting inequities. Yeah, that's a great idea if you like the crappy status quo.
This isn’t the 50’s TheOriginalAnon
I agree that our society should continue its forward progress and improve opportunities for everyone.
However, I think your views about the "crappy status quo" and "organizations pack their boards primarily with men" is a little outdated. Yes, more progress can and should be made, but let's look at some examples.
You call out corporate America – but did you notice that the CEO of IBM is a woman, Virginia Rometty, a Northwestern grad and she's on the Board of Trustees at NU. CEO is numero uno, she's the top dog at IBM, an amazing accomplishment and a credit to her talents. IBM is one of the more conservative companies in corporate America. P.S. look at their website and notice all their diversity efforts – and while you are at it, look at the diversity efforts at many other large corporations. Over the last 20 years, there has been a sea change in attitude and approach, long over due, but it's having an impact, and hopefully this trend will continue.
Now let's look a little closer to home and examine the most important power structure in Evanston, City Government. Evanston City Government is dominated by women; we have a female Mayor, and 6 out of 9 City Council members are women.
Your views are a little outdated, while the world isn't a perfect place, significant progress has been made.
P.S. I will be voting for Hillary in 2016 🙂
Agreed on some but wow, one CEO to cite?
We agree — progress has been made and more can be done. But my views on “crappy status quo” etc. are very much relevant today. We are still far behind on being a truly inclusive society. Diversity “efforts” have not translated into strong results.
Citing one female CEO kind of highlights the problem, doesn’t it? And I am fully aware that a CEO is the chief executive officer who runs the company. Or as you call it, numero uno.
I do not find citing the City of Evanston as an example of how far women have come as persuasive. Staff makes most of the real decisions about running the City. The Council spends (wastes?) its time on ridiculous issues that usually go nowhere or the members make rather short sighted decisions.
Many CEO examples
I cited Virginia Romety because she is an NU grad, serves on NU board of trustees and is CEO of one of the most prominent companies in the WORLD. But since you ask, also serving on the NU board of trustees is Phebe Novakovic,a Smith alumna, who is CEO of a $40 Billion defense company, General Dynamics. Other prominent female CEO’s including Ellen Kullman, at DuPont and Meg Whitman, CEO at Hewlett Packard. There are plenty more examples, but the point is that your perceptions differ significantly from reality. You and others should know that the “glass ceiling” has cracked and there are huge opportunities for women, minorities, people from different religions, sexual orientation etc.
You can choose to limit yourself or you can realize the opportunities and seize them.
Enough with the excuses.
We live in the 21st century – challenges remain, but opportunities abound.
It’s YOUR choice.
Excuses and limits — not for me
I think that you misunderstand. I am not limited or underqualified. It is the failure of NU to reflect a level of diversity in their Board in 2014. Less than 25 percent women.
And what about the huge problems that NU has faced with treatment of women on campus? Don't you think that the Board makeup reflects the same attitude of "meh, we as NU have done enough"?
Enough of giving NU and other big corporate entities a pass on how they treat women just because that treatment has improved slightly. My point: NU and others have a long ways to go.
2 problems
The problem is not just that this class was all men (which is a problem — the board needs should be 50/50 as grads are about 50/50 and each class should include female representation) but it is just seems so tone deaf given the recent sexual assault allegations and the pending Title IX lawsuit about the University's reponse to those incidents.
Surprised?
No room for women! Are we surprised?