Harvard Alumni Association Announces Nominees for Board of Overseers

The Harvard Alumni Association announced eight candidates for election to the Board of Overseers — the University’s second-highest governing body — on Wednesday.

The candidates will vie to fill the five annual vacancies on the 30-member board charged with giving input on the direction of the University and advising top Harvard administrators. The HAA also announced nine candidates for six elected directorship positions in the body.

The eight Overseer candidates selected by the HAA’s nominating committee include Hoover Institution Fellow Lanhee J. Chen ’99; Upstream USA Chief Executive Officer Mark A. Edwards ’82; Center for Climate and Energy Solutions president Nathaniel O. Keohane; Morehouse School of Medicine President Valerie Montgomery Rice; former Tufts Medical School dean and pharmaceutical executive Michael Rosenblatt; Tubi CEO Anjali Sud; actor and SAG-AFTRA Foundation president Courtney B. Vance ’82; and NPR All Things Considered podcast co-host Mary Louise Kelly ’93, a former Crimson Editorial editor.

The announcement comes just days after The Crimson reported that six of the seven write-in candidates from last year’s election will not renew their candidacy. While write-in hopefuls can still submit bids until Jan. 30, it is unlikely that new outsider candidates will run without a public campaign.

The Board of Overseers has long played a quiet role in Harvard’s administration, but was pushed into the limelight last year amid intensive scrutiny over the University’s response to Hamas’ October 7 attack and former Harvard President Claudine Gay’s resignation.

While members of the Board of Overseers do not directly determine University policy — a lack of authority some of last year’s write-in candidates criticized — members of the board meet five times a year to advise the Harvard Corporation, the University’s highest governing body. Members of the board also vote to confirm presidential appointments.

The HAA selects alumni for its slate of candidates through a nomination process and without a formal application or interview — a system that five of last year’s eight HAA-nominated candidates said could be reevaluated in interviews with The Crimson’s Editorial Board.

Elections for the Board of Overseers and the HAA begin April 1 and will end on May 14. All Harvard degree holders as of Jan. 1 will be eligible to vote with the exception of alumni currently holding posts in Harvard’s governing bodies. Less than 15 percent of eligible voters have cast ballots for Overseer candidates since 2020.

The HAA also announced nine nominees for elected director positions in the group.

The nine candidates running to fill six vacancies include private investment firm managing partner Daniel H. Ahn ’90; author Allison L. Pillinger Choi ’06; software engineer Colin K. Kegler ’97; consulting firm managing director and Harvard Club of the United Kingdom president Victoria “Vicky” Wai Ka Leung ’91; Los Angeles Unified School District board member Nicholas J. Melvoin ’08; beverage distribution company CEO Pavlos P. Photiades ’88; Sports Innovation Lab Chair Angela M. Ruggiero ’02; former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency New Englad Chief of Staff Sanjay Seth; and U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board Administrative Judge Theresa J. Chung ’98, a former Crimson Editorial editor.

The elected directors serve as alumni representatives for the University, focused on bolstering alumni engagement and overseeing the alumni network and outreach to recent graduates.

—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.

—Staff writer Grace E. Yoon can be reached at grace.yoon@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @graceunkyoon.