Despite recent criticism from Dartmouth community members about the lack of professional diversity on the Board of Trustees, the Board elected Trevor Rees-Jones '73 and Peggy Epstein Tanner '79 as charter trustees at their June meeting, increasing the total number of trustees with backgrounds in investment and business to 13 of the 22 Board members. The two will add unique perspectives to the Board, however, as Texas-native Rees-Jones represents a new geographic region and Tanner has a close connection to the student body since her son, Eric Tanner '11, is the current Student Body president.
"I think that the Board has many members who have excelled in their particular field and there are many different fields represented," Rees-Jones said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "I don't know that the fact I'm from the energy or the oil and gas business is as important as the exposure to a number of different businesses that the Board would benefit from."
In the past few years, the Board has faced criticism particularly by former Board petition candidate Joe Asch '79 and former Board member and petition candidate Todd Zywicki '88 for a lack of occupational diversity, as many of its members have come out of finance or other business-related fields.
Nine trustees do not have business or investment backgrounds, two of which are College President Jim Yong Kim and New Hampshire Governor John Lynch.
Rees-Jones, who founded Texas-based Chief Oil & Gas, graduated from Southern Methodist University's Dedman School of Law in 1978 and served as a partner at Thompson & Knight, The Dartmouth previously reported.
Both Kim and outgoing Board Chairman Ed Haldeman '70 have said that Rees-Jones will add "geographic diversity" to the Board.
Rees-Jones said that his experience in founding his business which started with "a single employee" himself sets him apart from other Board members who have investment management backgrounds.
He added that he is "pleased" that his appointment will add geographic diversity to a Board primarily composed of trustees from the East Coast.
Since there are few Board members with legal backgrounds, Rees-Jones' former experience as a lawyer will also add a new perspective to the Board, Kim said in an interview with The Dartmouth last week.
Tanner's primary occupational experience also lies in the investment and financial fields. After spending over 10 years working at Morgan Stanley and Chemical Bank, Tanner became involved with several nonprofit and charitable organizations in the New York City area.
As the Board continues to grow, both Kim and other trustees will search for candidates from academic and other diverse professional backgrounds, Kim said.
"I think we do need more people from academic backgrounds," he said. "We need to go out and find them, and there are some there that we're looking at right now."
Although one of the charter appointments was made to fill the seat vacated by trustee Pamela Joyner '79, whose term ended this year, the other will be seated as a charter trustee approved under the controversial 2007 expansion of the Board, which added eight additional charter trustees.
Rees-Jones said he supports the structure implemented by the Board in recent years. Tanner said she "has not had an issue" with the Board expansion.
Kim noted that future additions of charter trustees will allow the Board to seek out candidates from academia and non-profit sectors.
Following its June meeting, the Board also asked the Alumni Council to begin its search for nominees for two recently vacated alumni-elected trustee seats. The alumni elections will occur next year.
"I hope with Kim being at Dartmouth, in light of the last couple of elections, I hope we can all join together and end any divisiveness that's out there," Tanner said.
Staff writers Tatiana Cooke and Christina Wray contributed to the reporting of this article.
