Patricia “Trish” Fitzgibbons Anderson ’80
Anderson holds a B.A. in English from Grinnell and an M.A. in Adlerian counseling and psychotherapy from the Adler Graduate School. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist in solo private practice, where she also offers family business consulting, mediation services, and postgraduate clinical supervision and mentoring. Anderson holds a faculty appointment at Concordia University St. Paul and was faculty at the Adler Graduate School for nearly 20 years. She worked in public relations for several years and as a freelance writer. Anderson currently serves as chair of the board of The Graywolf Press in Minneapolis. She is a past board member of the Minnesota Association of Marriage and Family Therapy and the Minnesota Women’s Golf Association. Anderson was a member of the Grinnell Alumni Council from 1986–91, serving as president in 1990–91. She has served as vice chair of the Board of Trustees and currently serves as chair of the Governance Committee.
Robert F. Austin, Jr. ’54 and D.H.L. ’96
After three years of service in the U.S. Air Force, Dr. Austin pursued a graduate degree in biology from Boston College and a doctor of medicine from Meharry Medical College. He completed his medical training with a pediatric residency at Upstate Medical Center, State University of New York, as well as with a fellowship in hematology from Tufts University, affiliated with Boston City Hospital. Following pediatric residency and fellowship in hematology, he established the pediatric hematology section at Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse, N.Y. Austin is president of R.J. Austin Consultant, Development, and Training in Houston, and has more than 46 years of experience as a pediatrician. He is founder of Project Medical Home through Texas Children’s Pediatric Associates and served for five years as director of the first center. He is also assistant clinical professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. He serves as the chairman of the advisory committee for the Michael E. DeBakey High School for Health Professions. He is on the board of directors for the Collaborative for Children. Austin joined Grinnell’s Board of Trustees in 2003 and became a Life Member in 2018. He received an honorary degree from Grinnell in 1996.
Elizabeth Ballantine
Elizabeth Ballantine was elected to the Board of Trustees in 1980 and served as Board Chair from 1994-98. She became a Life Trustee in 2003. Ballantine earned a B.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University and a J.D. from American University.
Since 1999, Ballantine has been president of EBA Associates, a consulting firm. From 1993 to 1999, she was an attorney in the Washington, D.C., law firm of Dickstein, Shapiro, Morin and Oshinsky LLP. From 1990 until 1993, she worked as a private consultant advising clients on international business investments. She was a staff reporter for the Des Moines Register from 1976-1982.
She has served as independent director of the Principal Financial Group of Des Moines, Iowa, since 2004 and as a director of the McClatchy Newspaper Company of Sacramento, CA since 1998. From 2006 to 2012 she served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Governing Boards of Colleges and Universities and presently serves on the Board of Directors of the Durango Herald, Inc., of Durango, CO, and as vice chair of the board of the American University of Paris, France.
J. Robert “Bob” Barr ’57
Barr graduated from Grinnell in 1957 with a B.A. in history and political science and received an LL.B. degree in 1960 from Harvard Law School. He is a retired partner with the law firm of Sidley Austin LLP in Chicago. President Gerald Ford appointed him to the Commission on Presidential Scholars in 1975, and he served as chair of the Illinois Board of Regents (governing board of Illinois State University, Northern Illinois University, and the Springfield campus of the University of Illinois) from 1969 to 1977. Barr served as chair of the Illinois Student Assistance Commission from 1985 to 2005 and was a member of the Illinois Board of Higher Education from 1971 to 1977 and again from 1985 to 2005. He served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives in 1981–83 and was head of the Republican Party in Cook County from 1978–85. He has been a Republican delegate to national conventions and legal adviser to the Republican National Committee; he also served on the Illinois Republican State Central Committee. Barr was elected to Grinnell’s Board of Trustees in 1996 and became a Life Member in 2008. He is actively involved in cultural and civic affairs, including service on the boards of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the TimeLine Theatre Company, the Taxpayers’ Federation of Illinois, and the Evanston (Ill.) History Center.
Richard W. Booth ’54
A 1954 graduate of Grinnell with a B.A. in economics, Booth has been associated with Lennox International Inc., a leading furnace and air conditioning manufacturer, for many years. He held the position of executive vice president and secretary of the corporation until his retirement in 1992. He continues his affiliation with Lennox as a member of the board of directors and of the board of trustees of the Lennox Foundation. Booth is also a member of the board of directors of Employers Mutual Casualty Co., a Des Moines, Iowa, insurance company. He is a past member of the Grinnell Alumni Association board of directors. Booth joined the Grinnell College Board of Trustees in 1982 and became a Life Trustee in 2002.
Ann Bowers
Ann Bowers is a pioneering human resources expert and prominent philanthropist. A graduate of Cornell University, she was the first director of personnel for Intel Corporation and the first vice president of human resources at Apple Computer. She developed human resources policies and practices that continue to foster team excellence in high-growth companies. She was a founding trustee of the Noyce Foundation in 1990 and directed its strategic process through its final drawdown in 2015. She has been a member of the governing boards of Cornell University, University of Santa Clara, Exploratorium, Tech Museum of Innovation, Experience Corps, and American Conservatory Theater. She served on the Grinnell College Board of Trustees from 1991 to 1992.
David B. Braman ’75
Braman graduated from Grinnell College in 1975 with a B.A. in biology. He holds an M.B.A. from the University of Denver and is also a chartered financial analyst. He lives in San Francisco, where he is a retired founding senior partner at Pantheon Ventures Inc., a well-known global investment management company specializing in private equity fund investment. Before joining Pantheon, he was a manager at U.S. West Inc., where he developed and managed its private equity investment program. Braman is married to Charlotte Read ’75.
Nordahl L. Brue ’67
Brue received a J.D. from Washington University in 1970. He is chair of Franklin Foods (dairy manufacturing), vice chair of Green Mountain Power (integrated electric utility), and a board member of Northern New England Energy Corp. (holding company for gas and electric utilities). In 1983, he founded Bruegger’s Bagels, which he grew to a chain of 300 bagel-themed, fast-casual restaurants. His civic involvement includes serving as chair of Vermont Public Radio, Vermont Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors and Council of Environmental Advisors, and the Board of Trustees at Grinnell College. He also served as a member of the National Council of Washington University School of Law. Brue joined the Grinnell College Board of Trustees in 1996 and became a Life Trustee in 2008.
Carolyn Swartz Bucksbaum ’51 and D.L. ’12
Bucksbaum was a founding member of Friends of Educational Broadcasting in Iowa and chair of the Iowa Center for the Book. She has served as chair of the Grinnell College Board of Trustees, the Des Moines Symphony, Scott County (Iowa) League of Women Voters, and Aspen Music Festival and vice-chair of the League of Women Voters of Iowa, United Jewish Appeal in Des Moines, and National Public Radio Foundation. She has been a board member of several organizations, including the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, Des Moines Art Center, and The Des Moines Register. She currently serves on the board of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Museum of Arts and Design and is a fellow of the Aspen Institute. In 2011 she co-founded the Bucksbaum Institute for Clinical Excellence at the University of Chicago Medical School, a program for selected students carrying increased emphasis on physician-patient relationships. She joined the Board of Trustees at Grinnell in 1970 and became a Life Member in 1998; she received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Grinnell College in 2012. She pursues strong interests in the outdoors in Aspen, Colo., where she and her late husband Matthew have had a vacation home for more than 50 years.
Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett is an internationally recognized business leader and investment strategist and one of the ten wealthiest individuals in the world. He graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with a bachelor’s degree in business and earned his master’s in economics from Columbia University. He is chair, CEO, and controlling stockholder of Berkshire Hathaway, a diversified holding company headquartered in Omaha. Over the course of his career, he has been a principal investor in media, securities firms, and other major businesses and industries. A notable philanthropist, he and Bill Gates founded The Giving Pledge in 2009, a campaign to encourage extremely wealthy people to give away at least half of their fortunes to charitable causes. He is a trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He served as a Grinnell College Trustee from 1968 to 2011.
Janet Carrig ’79
Carrig was active on the Board of Trustees at Grinnell from 1996–2001. Carrig’s biography is in development and will be added when it is ready.
Thomas R. Cech ’70 and D.Sc. ’87
Cech graduated from Grinnell in 1970 with a degree in chemistry and in 1975 from the University of California-Berkeley with a Ph.D. in chemistry. He is a distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder. He served as president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 2000–09 and returned to Boulder in 2009 where he is now director of the University of Colorado BioFrontiers Institute. Cech is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was the co-recipient of the 1989 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his research finding that RNA can act as a catalyst for biologically important chemical reactions. In 1995, President Clinton awarded him the National Medal of Science. In 1987, he received an honorary degree from Grinnell. He joined the Board of Trustees in Grinnell in 1998 and was active through 2014.
Mary Sue Coleman ’65 and D.Sc. ’04
Coleman received a B.A. in chemistry with honors from Grinnell in 1965. She received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of North Carolina. Coleman was president of the University of Iowa, after serving as the provost and vice president of academic affairs at the University of New Mexico. She has also been vice chancellor for graduate studies and research and dean of research at the University of North Carolina. Coleman was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (1998) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2001). She was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2000. She has an honorary degree from Luther College and serves on a number of higher education and corporate boards. Coleman was active on the Board of Trustees at Grinnell from 1996–2006.
Henry Cornell ’76
Henry Cornell’s biography is in development and will be added when it is ready.
David Crosby
David Crosby is a managing director in the merchant banking group at Piper Sandler in Minneapolis. He directed the activities of Piper Sandler’s investment banking group for 19 years, and previously served on the management committee and board of directors for Piper Sandler Companies. He earned his B.A. degree at Yale University and his M.B.A. at Stanford University. Before joining the Corporate Finance Department of Piper, Jaffray and Hopwood in 1971, he was general manager of the Farmstead Division of Farmhand, Inc., in Grinnell. He has served on the governing boards of The McKnight Foundation, The Bush Foundation, Carolyn Foundation, Dunwoody College of Technology, Lakewood Cemetery, Steven Square Foundation, The Minneapolis Foundation, and The Blake School. He has also served as a member of the University of Minnesota Investment Advisory Committee. He was a Grinnell College Trustee from 1971 to 1982.
George Drake ’56
George Drake, professor emeritus of history, served as the tenth president of Grinnell College (1979 to 1991). After graduating from Grinnell, he studied French Reformation history at the University of Paris and as a Rhodes Scholar he earned a B.A. and M.A. in British history at Oxford University. He went on to earn a bachelor of divinity degree as well as master’s and doctoral degrees in church history at the University of Chicago. He was on the faculty of Colorado College from 1964 to 1979, serving as dean of the college for four years before returning to Grinnell as president. From 1991–93, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Lesotho, teaching English in a Catholic mission school. Since his return from Africa, he has taught and mentored students and pursued his interests in British and southern African history as a member of the Grinnell College history faculty. The Grinnell classes of 1991 and 2004 named him an honorary class member, and he received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2006. He served on the Board of Trustees from 1970 until his appointment as president in 1979.
John F. Egan ’57
Egan holds a B.A. in physics from Grinnell College and an M.S. and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Northwestern University. Retiring in 1998, he was a senior corporate officer and vice president for corporate development of the Lockheed Martin Corp. and held executive positions with Lockheed and Sanders Associates. He has served on the intelligence desk in the office of the Secretary of Defense and has been a chief scientist in the office of the chief of naval operations, was technical director for the Air Force Electronic Systems Division computer and display activity, and was a U.S. Air Force officer. Egan chaired the Naval Studies Board of the National Academies and has served more than 30 years on the executive panel for the chief of naval operations. His recognitions include the Air Force Commendation Medal, two Superior Civilian Service Medals, and election as a national associate of the National Academies and as a trustee and board chair of Daniel Webster College. Currently, he is a trustee of Huntington of Nashua, a senior living community in Nashua, N.H., and a member of the Nashua Arts Commission. He joined the Board of Trustees at Grinnell in 2002 and became a Life Trustee in 2014. He is married to Anne Patterson Egan ’57.
Florence Fearrington
Fearrington founded an investment management company in 1979. Florence Fearrington Inc. was sold to the United States Trust Company of New York in 1997. She shifted the company’s management to its new owners while continuing as a member of the Council of the Bibliographical Society of America and the Council of the Grolier Club in New York City. She is a founding member of the WISH List and is on its board of directors. She also serves as a library fellow at the American Museum of Natural History and on the finance committee of the New York Women’s Foundation. She and her husband have collected antiquarian natural history books for 25 years. Fearrington graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1958 and received a certificate in 1961 from the Harvard-Radcliffe Program in Business Administration. Fearrington joined the Board of Trustees at Grinnell in 2000 and was active through 2008.
Laura M. Ferguson ’90
A Grinnell native, Dr. Ferguson graduated from Grinnell College with a degree in studio art in 1990. In 1995, she received her M.D. from the University of Iowa College of Medicine. Ferguson joined her father, Dr. David Ferguson, in practice in Grinnell. She was president of the medical staff from 2001 to 2003 and sits on the State of Iowa Prenatal Advisory Panel.
Patricia Jipp Finkelman ’80
Finkelman graduated from Grinnell in 1980 with a B.A. in economics and received an M.B.A. from Yale School of Management in 1987. She was a member of the Grinnell College Alumni Council from 1991–1998, serving as president in 1997–98. A former health care policy and reimbursement consultant, Finkelman is an active community volunteer in central Ohio. She serves on the boards of the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio, the Granville Foundation, and Temple Israel in Columbus, Ohio. Finkelman served as a Board member from 1998-2019 and as Board Chair from 2015-2019.
Patty Lou Floyd
Patty Floyd’s biography is in development and will be added when it is ready.
Harold “Hal” W. Fuson, Jr. ’67
Fuson earned an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University and a J.D. from Cleveland State University. He retired as executive vice president and chief operating officer of a California newspaper group after more than four decades as a journalist, teacher, and news executive. Fuson taught journalism at four colleges and provided legal advice to newspapers ranging from the Los Angeles Times to the Galesburg Register-Mail. Fuson is the recipient of a Grinnell Alumni Award and has served the College in a variety of volunteer capacities. His work in expanding and protecting First Amendment rights has been recognized nationally by the Media Law Resource Center and by state associations in California and Illinois. Fuson is immediate past chair of San Diego’s Tony-winning Old Globe Theatre and serves as a director of Copley Press Inc., CNPA Services (a state newspaper association), the First Amendment Coalition, and the Center for the Image. He is married to Pam Crist Fuson ’68.
Ronald T. Gault ’62
Gault has a master’s degree in political science administration from the University of Michigan. He retired from J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. in South Africa, where he was a managing director. A former member of the Board of Higher Education of New York, he has been involved in minority advancement programs and has contributed advice and counsel to the College in this regard. He supports efforts in South Africa to further post-apartheid economic development. Gault joined the Grinnell College Board of Trustees in 1987 and became a Life Trustee in 2002.
Charles Gottdiener ’86
Charlie Gottdiener is President and Chief Executive Officer at Neustar, Inc., in Sterling, Virginia. Previously, he was a chief operating officer and a managing director at Providence Equity Partners LLC based in the New York office. Prior to joining Providence in 2010, Charlie spent seven years at Dun & Bradstreet, where he served in strategy and operating roles, including president of the global risk, analytics, and internet solutions business unit. He earlier held several leadership positions in consulting with the Boston Consulting Group, CSC Index, and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. Charlie received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Grinnell and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has served the College by hosting breakfast roundtable discussions with donor prospects at his office and speaking at New York alumni events. Charlie is married to Dr. Alexa Hoffman Gottdiener ’87.
Atul Gupta ’88
Gupta graduated from Grinnell College with a double major in physics and economics and a concentration in computer science. He started his career as a technology research analyst at Principal Financial Group (PFG), a $590 billion global financial services firm. He later served as director of international systems and was responsible for all overseas information technology operations of PFG, consisting of multiple companies located in nine countries. In 1991, Gupta founded Advanced Technologies Group to continue his interest in helping organizations flourish through innovative use of new technology. For three consecutive years, ATG was ranked by Inc500 Magazine to be among the 500 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. He was a founding member of the Technology Association of Iowa and has served as a board member of Iowa State University’s Iowa Value Fund, which provides funding to projects that create innovative technology and generate high-tech jobs in Iowa. In 2009, he received the Iowa Governor’s Volunteer of the Year Award and in 2015 won Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Upper Midwest Award.
I. Craig Henderson ’63 and D.Sc. ’94
Dr. Henderson received a history degree from Grinnell and an M.D. from Columbia University in 1970. He is a nationally known expert on cancer, particularly breast cancer. While on the faculty of Harvard University, he built one of the country’s first multidisciplinary breast clinics. In 1992, he established the Bay Area Breast Cancer Translational Research Program, funded by a National Cancer Institute Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grant. For the World Health Organization, he chaired the Committee on Essential Drugs and was a member of the Expert Advisory Panel on Cancer. Other past roles include: CEO and chair, SEQUUS Pharmaceuticals; board member, ALZA Corp.; co-founder, Access Oncology Inc.; president, Keryx Biopharmaceuticals. Currently at the University of California-San Francisco, Henderson is an adjunct professor of medicine, sees patients, and participates in leading the SPORE program. A volunteer for several Grinnell alumni and career development programs, he received an alumni award in 1993 and an honorary Doctor of Science degree in 1994.
Steve Holtze ’68
Holtze graduated from Grinnell in 1968 with a degree in physics and has a B.S. and M.S. in civil engineering, both from Columbia University. He is chairman and majority owner of Magnolia Hotel Co., a hotel development and management company with properties in historic buildings in downtown Denver, Dallas, Houston, and Omaha, Neb. He is a member of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honorary fraternity. He is married to Elizabeth Alexander Holtze ’68.
Kihwan Kim ’57 and D.H.L. ’00
Kim earned an M.A. in history from Yale University and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Berkeley. He chairs the Seoul Financial Forum and is a distinguished visiting scholar at Korea Development Institute. After returning to the Republic of Korea in 1976, Kim was vice minister of trade and industry, chief economic policy coordinator and trade negotiator, and chief delegate to the North-South Inter-Korea Economic Talks. He has consulted at the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and served as visiting faculty at the University of Tokyo and UC-Berkeley. Kim was a senior adviser at the law and management consulting firm Kim and Chang. During Korea’s 1997–98 financial crisis, he was Korea’s ambassador-at-large for economic affairs. He has been chair and CEO of Media Valley Inc., a Korean information-technology initiative; an adviser to Goldman Sachs, Asia; and international chair of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council. In 2000, Kim received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Grinnell College. He joined the Board at Grinnell in 2003 and later became a Life Trustee in 2018.
John H. Kispert ’85
John H. Kispert, a 1985 Grinnell graduate, is Managing Partner of Kispert Associates. John also serves as lead independent director for several technology companies, both public and private. Most recently, John was president and CEO of Spansion, a developer and manufacturer of embedded semiconductors. Prior to joining Spansion, he was president of KLA Tencor, a leader in the semiconductor equipment industry. He consults, speaks, and instructs on how to operationalize innovation with an international perspective. He currently lives in Atherton, California, and holds an M.B.A. from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.
Clinton D. “Clint” Korver ’89
Korver graduated from Grinnell with a B.A. with honors in mathematics. He also holds an M.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford University in management sciences and engineering. He is a partner and co-founder at Ulu Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm investing in early-stage information technology companies. He is also a Kauffman fellow, co-founder and co-president of Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs, and a venture partner at Crescendo Ventures. Prior to venture investing, Korver founded and led Outcome Software, Decision Street, The Decision Company, and Decision Quality International, all of which helped individuals or organizations make better decisions through software, consulting, or training. He regularly guest lectures at Stanford on entrepreneurship, decision-making, and ethics. He has taught ethical decision-making at both Stanford and Grinnell College and co-authored Ethics for the Real World (Harvard Business Press 2008).
Sylvia Kwan
Kwan earned a B.S. in applied mathematics and computer science from Brown University and a Ph.D. in engineering-economic systems from Stanford University. She is a chartered financial analyst and is chief investment officer of Ellevest, a technology-enabled investment advisory firm focused on women. She is also co-founder of SimplySmart Asset Management, a firm that provides individual investors with personalized global investment solutions. Prior to founding SimplySmart, she served as principal and chief investment officer for Structural Wealth and vice president of portfolio management at Financial Engines, where she oversaw the management of $14 billion in assets spanning more than 200,000 individual accounts. Her financial services experience also includes portfolio management positions at Charles Schwab Investment Management, where she was director of equity quantitative research, and at Boston Co., where she managed over $500 million in institutional fixed-income assets.
Ron Lavender ’50
Ron Lavender graduated from Grinnell College with a B.A. in political science and economics. Having studied Spanish at Grinnell, he was interested in pursuing opportunities in Latin America. In 1954, he and a partner opened the first American short-order restaurant in Acapulco, Hungry Herman’s. They established a chicken farm to supply the restaurant’s chickens, and Lavender eventually took over the farm and focused on expanding the poultry operation. In 1964, he was a founder of what would become Ron Lavender and Associates, a path-breaking real estate investment firm in Acapulco. Lavender served as president of the Acapulco realtors’ association and as president of Amigos de Acapulco, the largest charity fund in the Mexican state of Guerrero. He served as a Grinnell College Trustee from 1996 to 1999.
Todd C. Linden
Linden received a B.A. in 1985 and an M.A. in health administration in 1987, both from the University of Iowa. He served as president and CEO of Grinnell Regional Medical Center and a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives. He frequently speaks at national conferences and state hospital associations and has testified in the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and a special teleconference with President Bill Clinton. He also participated in a White House Rural Economic Development Forum with President Barack Obama. Linden is adjunct faculty at the University of Iowa, as well as regular faculty for the American College of Healthcare Executives. He serves or has served on the boards of the American Hospital Association, Health Forum, University of Iowa College of Public Health, National Rural Advisory Committee for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Grinnell Chamber of Commerce, Poweshiek Iowa Development, Waterford Group, Imagine Grinnell, Grinnell Renaissance, and the greater Poweshiek Community Foundation. He was elected to Grinnell’s Board of Trustees in 2000 and became a Life Trustee in 2012.
Caroline H. Little ’81
Little graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wesleyan University with a degree in English after attending Grinnell for two years, where she was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa in her second year. She received a J.D. with honors from New York University School of Law in 1986 and clerked with Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis; Teitelbaum, Hiller; Crowell & Moring; and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York. She was elected to Grinnell College’s Board of Trustees in 1996 and became a Life Trustee in 2012. She previously held positions as president and chief executive officer of the Newspaper Association of America; chief executive officer, Guardian News and Media, North America; chief executive officer, chief operating officer, and general counsel of Washingtonpost.com, Newsweek Interactive; and deputy general counsel for U.S. News & World Report. Little served as a member of the board of governors of the District of Columbia Bar. She served on the D.C. advisory board of the Posse Foundation.
James H. Lowry ’61 and LL.D. ’08
Lowry graduated from Grinnell with a B.A. in political science; he also earned a master’s in public international affairs from the University of Pittsburgh. He attended the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School. Current roles: senior adviser, Boston Consulting Group; academic adviser, Kellogg Advanced Management Education Program; adjunct professor, J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management; chair, Durban, South Africa/Chicago Sister Cities Committee, Howard University Entrepreneurship Center, and RLJ Equity Fund; board member, Kellogg advisory board, the Toyota diversity advisory board, and Howard University School of Business board of directors. Past roles: senior vice president and Global Diversity Director, BCG; senior associate, McKinsey & Co.; founder, James H. Lowry & Associates. Awards and honors: Minority Business Enterprise Hall of Fame (2005); National Minority Supplier Development Council Lifetime Achievement Award (2009); Grinnell College honorary Doctor of Laws (2009). Lowry joined the Grinnell College Board of Trustees in 1969 and became a Life Trustee in 1995.
Paul McCulley ’79
McCulley earned his M.B.A. from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He is chief economist at PIMCO, where he is a member of the investment committee, founding author of the research publication Global Central Bank Focus, as well as Macro Perspectives. A devout Keynesian and interpreter of the work of Hyman Minsky, McCulley coined the terms “Minsky moment” and “shadow banking system.” At PIMCO, he appears regularly in the business media. He was also a member of the U.S. Treasury’s Borrowing Advisory Committee (TBAC). McCulley spends a lot of time fishing and nurturing his family as a father. He also is an entrepreneur in angel investing opportunities and president of the Morgan le Fey Dreams Foundation, which he founded and endowed in 2006. He joined the Board of Trustees at Grinnell in 2009 and was active through 2014.
Susan Holden McCurry ’71
Holden McCurry graduated from Grinnell with a B.A. in psychology. From 1971 to 1975, she held several positions as director of preschools and daycare centers while she continued her education in early childhood development and administration in San Diego. In 1978, she joined the family business, Holden’s Foundation Seeds Inc., headquartered in Williamsburg, Iowa. Holden McCurry also served as a chief financial officer for Hawaiian Research Ltd. in Molokai, Hawaii. Both companies specialized in seed research and development. She remained involved in the company until 1997, when Holden’s Foundation Seeds was sold to Monsanto. Hawaiian Research Ltd. was also sold to Monsanto in 2000. Until 2002, she served as a consultant to Monsanto. Her current activities include serving as a board member for the Holden Family Foundation, Highland Ridge Retirement Community, and the University of Iowa Cancer Advocacy Board.
Frederick L. “Fritz” Maytag III
Fritz Maytag is chairman of the board of Maytag Dairy Farms in Newton, Iowa, and the owner of York Creek Vineyards in St. Helena, California. He is the former owner of Anchor Brewing Company in San Francisco, and his successful revival of the Anchor Steam brand is often considered the inspiration for the modern microbrewery industry in the U.S. He won the James Beard Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement award in 2008. He is a trustee of the Fred Maytag Family Foundation and a former president of the American Brewers Association. He served on the Grinnell College Board of Trustees from 1973 to 1995.
Randall C. Morgan, Jr. ’65 and D.Sc. ’92
Dr. Morgan received a B.A. degree in chemistry from Grinnell in 1965 and an M.D. degree from Howard University Medical School. In 2001, he received an M.B.A. from the University of South Florida. An orthopedic surgeon, he is in private practice in Sarasota, Florida. He also holds teaching appointments at the Indiana Northwest Center for Medical Education and at the Northwestern University Medical School. A former Chief of Surgery and of Rehabilitation Medicine at Methodist Hospital in Gary, Indiana, Morgan is a member of the Committee on Resolutions of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and is a diplomat of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgeons, among several other professional and civic affiliations. He also served as Speaker of the House of Delegates and as President of the National Medical Association. He joined Grinnell’s Board of Trustees in 1993 and became a Life Member of the Board in 2005. Holder of an honorary doctorate from Grinnell, he has been a member of the President’s Committee for a Stronger Minority Presence, the Alumni Board, and other College bodies.
Stephen G. Moyer ’79
Moyer, a Los Angeles resident, is president of Distressed Debt Alpha and serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, where he teaches undergraduate, graduate, executive MBA, and online courses. After initially practicing law, he worked in the investment banking and asset management industries for more than 30 years. His prior positions included portfolio manager at Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO) and director at Tennenbaum Capital Partners.
He is the author of Distressed Debt Analysis: Strategies for Speculative Investors, which is considered a leading text in the field. Moyer is a chartered financial analyst and has passed the Uniform Certified Public Accounting Examination. He earned his B.A. in economics from Grinnell in 1979 and received an Alumni Award in 1995 for his professional achievements and community service. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago School of Business and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.
Robert C. Musser ’62
Musser grew up in Boone, Iowa, and received a B.A. in physics from Grinnell in 1962. He played basketball and tennis at Grinnell and was co-captain of the basketball team his senior year. He then earned an M.S. from the M.I.T. Sloan School of Management in 1964. He spent two years in Kaduna, Nigeria on the MIT Fellows in Africa program where he worked on financial issues. He joined Mobil Corporation where he held a number of financial jobs including the Treasurer of Mobil Europe and Treasurer of the U. S. Division. He then had a number of Corporate jobs including the Chief Information Officer for Mobil from 1980-1985. He retired in 1996 after serving 9 years as controller of Mobil Corp. He now serves on the board of governors for the Church Schools of Virginia in Richmond, VA, and is involved with environmental groups. He was elected to the Board of Trustees at Grinnell in 1995 and became a Life Trustee in 2007.
Patricia Meyer Papper ’50
A 1950 Grinnell graduate with a B.A. in economics and business, Papper is an ardent supporter of cultural, humanistic, and educational activities. She is a Trustee and past President of the Miami Art Museum. She is a board member of the Aspen Music Festival and School and a board member of the National Public Radio Foundation. Papper is a Trustee of the internationally acclaimed New World Symphony, a board member of the Rape Treatment Center at the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, and the founding board member of women known as 50 over 50, which is dedicated to replacing lost government funding for the arts in the private sector. Papper and her late husband, Dr. Emanuel Papper, endowed the College’s Sidney Meyer Professorship in International Economics, a chair established in memory of Papper’s father. She joined the Grinnell College Board of Trustees in 1983 and became a Life Trustee in 2003.
Saumil Parikh ’99
Parikh, who came to Grinnell College from Mumbai, India, currently holds dual residency in Newport Beach, California, and Vancouver, Canada. He is a retired managing director and portfolio manager of PIMCO, where he oversaw a host of different funds covering bonds, mixed assets, and commodities during his tenure. Prior to joining the company in 2000, Parikh was an economist for UBS Investment Bank.
He established the Parikh McCulley Scholarship at Grinnell College in honor of his father, Harish Parikh, and his mentor, Paul McCulley ’79. The scholarship assists international students who demonstrate significant financial need. Parikh graduated Phi Beta Kappa and received a B.A. in general science biology and economics from Grinnell in 1999.
John Roy Price, Jr. ’60
Price is a Grinnell graduate with a B.A. in history. After graduating from Grinnell, he studied at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and later received a law degree from Harvard Law School. He was the president and CEO of Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh from 2006 to 2010 and earlier, a managing director of J.P. Morgan and its predecessor banks. There he managed the mortgage banking and consumer finance subsidiaries, did investment banking, and later was in charge of government relations worldwide. Among other major posts, Price was a special assistant to President Nixon from 1969–1971. A founder and later board chair of the Ripon Society, he chaired the advisory committee of the U.S. Conference of Mayors on Downtown Development. He served as the founding chair and president of Americans for Oxford, as president of the Bankers Association for Foreign Trade, and as a trustee of the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Shadyside Presbyterian Church. He is the author of The Last Liberal Republican: An Insider’s Perspective on Nixon’s Surprising Social Policy.
Marian “Cindy” Friend Pritzker ’45
Cindy Pritzker is a prominent civic leader and philanthropist who served for many years as the founder and president of the Chicago Public Library Foundation. With her late husband, Jay Pritzker, she founded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, among the world’s most prestigious awards for architecture. She served on the University of Chicago Women’s Board and the governing boards of Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, Harold Washington Library, Michael Reese Hospital, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She served as a Grinnell College Trustee from 1971 to 1978.
Ronald B.H. Sandler ’62
A Grinnell graduate with a double major in chemistry and zoology, Dr. Sandler participated in football and basketball as an undergraduate. He recently retired as an orthopedic surgeon from Mezona Orthopedic Professional Association. Former president of the medical staff of Mesa Lutheran Hospital and past chair of the department of surgery, Sandler has made more than 15 trips to countries such as Brazil, Peru, Nicaragua, Cuba, and Pakistan as part of a volunteer medical team operating primarily on congenital deformities in children. Sandler serves as a trustee for Sunshine Acres Children’s Home in Mesa, Ariz., and is a member of the advisory board for Banner Health of Arizona. In 1996, he was named Mesa’s Man of the Year for his humanitarian efforts at home and abroad. Sandler joined the Grinnell College Board of Trustees in 1983 and became a Life Trustee in 2003.
Penny Bender Sebring ’64 and LL.D. ’15
Sebring is senior research associate at the University of Chicago and founding co-director of the Chicago Consortium on School Research (CCSR) at the Urban Education Institute. She is a co-author of Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago (University of Chicago Press, 2010); The Essential Supports for School Improvement, published by CCSR; and Charting Chicago School Reform: Democratic Localism as a Lever for Change (Westview Press, 1998). Sebring was a Peace Corps volunteer and high school teacher. She graduated from Grinnell in sociology. She received a Ph.D. in education and social policy from Northwestern University, where she is a member of the policy advisory board for the School of Education and Social Policy. She serves on the board of directors for the Chicago Public Education Fund. Sebring received an Alumni Merit Award from Northwestern University in 2009, and, with her husband Charles Lewis, the John J. Dugan Award from Urban Students Empowered and The Golden Apple Foundation Stanley C. Golder Community Service Award, both in 2010. Sebring joined the Grinnell College Board of Trustees in 1993; she was elected to Life Trustee status in 2005. In 2015, she and her husband, Charles Ashby Lewis, jointly were awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Grinnell.
Karen E. Shaff
Shaff is executive vice president, general counsel, and secretary for Principal Financial Group, where she is responsible for the law and government relations departments. Before joining Principal in 1982, Shaff was an associate with the law firm of Austin and Gaudineer in Des Moines, Iowa. She holds a law degree from Drake University Law School after obtaining her B.A. from Northwestern University in political science. She is a former board member and past president of the Association of Life Insurance Counsel; a member of the American, Iowa state, and Polk County Bar associations and the Association of Corporate Counsel; and a past member of the Iowa State Bar Association Committee on Professional Ethics and Conduct (1984–1989) and the Iowa State Bar Association board of governors (1989–1995). Shaff is a director of GuideOne Mutual Insurance Co. and Sargasso Mutual Insurance Co. She is also chair of the Animal Rescue League of Iowa’s advisory council.
M. Anne Campbell Spence ’66 and D.Sc. ’99
Spence earned a B.A. in biology from Grinnell in 1966. After earning a Ph.D. in human genetics from the University of Hawaii in 1969, she received the National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina. She is professor emerita in the Department of Pediatrics, University of California-Irvine. Among her positions, she served as associate dean in the graduate division at University of California-Los Angeles and vice chancellor of academic programs at the UC-Irvine. An active teacher, her research in human genetics has focused on neurological and physical birth defects. She has been a member of the American Society of Human Genetics, the Genetics Society of America, and the Behavioral Genetics Association. In 1979, Spence received the Woman of Science Award at UCLA, and Grinnell awarded her an honorary degree in 1999. In 2001, she received the annual leadership award from the International Genetic Epidemiology Society.
Joel R. Spiegel ’78
Spiegel received a B.A. in biology from Grinnell. Before retiring, he was a vice president of Amazon.com, responsible for all of the company’s website technology development. He launched Amazon.com’s marketplace businesses. Prior to joining Amazon.com, he held a variety of management and software development positions at Microsoft, Apple Computer, Hewlett Packard, and VisiCorp. Joel spent a year as a VISTA volunteer working with the Northern Cheyenne Tribe in Lame Deer, Mont. He is a named inventor on over two dozen U.S. patents.
Barrett W. Thomas ’97
Thomas received a B.A. in mathematics/economics with honors from Grinnell and holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in industrial and operations engineering from the University of Michigan. He is an associate professor with tenure in the Department of Management Sciences at the University of Iowa and holds as well as an appointment in the applied mathematics and computational sciences program. Until recently, Thomas was also faculty director of the Strategic Innovation Career Academy in the full-time M.B.A. program at the Tippie School of Management. His areas of expertise are process improvement, logistics, vehicle routing, dynamic programming, and heuristic search. Thomas was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 1997. He is active in his field as a speaker, researcher, and as editor and referee for peer-reviewed journals.
Kenneth Thompson
Kenneth Thompson’s biography is in development and will be added when it is ready.
Lawrence Towner
Lawrence Towner’s biography is in development and will be added when it is ready.
David White ’90
David White is the National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator of Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artist (SAG-AFTRA). Prior to rejoining SAG-AFTRA, where he previously served as General Counsel from 2002 to 2006, White was Managing Principal of Los Angeles-based Entertainment Strategies Group LLC, providing consulting services to the entertainment industry. Before joining the executive ranks of SAG-AFTRA, White was a labor and employment attorney at O’Melveny & Myers LLP.
A Rhodes Scholar, White is a graduate of Grinnell College and Stanford Law School. He is Chair of the Board of the SAG-Producers Pension and Health Plans, a member and former Chair of the Board of Trustees of Grinnell College (1999-2018, when he became a Life Trustee at Grinnell), and a member and former vice chair of the Industry Advancement and Cooperative Fund. He is a trustee of the AFTRA Health and Retirement Funds, and a board member of the Motion Picture and Television Fund, the SAG Foundation, The Actors Fund and Volunteers of America–Greater Los Angeles. Previously, he served as a Los Angeles Area Commissioner for urban planning and development. He has been a contributing writer for the Los Angeles Lawyer, has been featured in various publications including the Los Angeles Magazine, and has served as a commentator on national and industry publications and radio shows. He has received numerous awards throughout his career, including the John M. Langston Bar Association’s “Attorney of the Year” Award (2014) and the National Bar Association’s “Entertainment, Sports & Art Law Section Attorney of the Year” (2010).
Henry T. Wingate ’69 and LL.D. ’86
Wingate graduated from Grinnell in 1969 with a B.A. in philosophy and received a law degree from Yale University in 1972. After serving with the offices of the U.S. attorney and district attorney in Mississippi, he became in 1985 the first African American appointed to Mississippi’s federal bench. He continues to serve as a federal judge for the Southern District of Mississippi. Earlier, he served in the U.S. Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps and taught at Golden Gate University, Mississippi College School of Law, Mississippi Judicial College, and the University of Houston Law Center. He has won several national and local service awards and has been active in community affairs in Jackson, Miss. He received an honorary degree from Grinnell in 1986. Judge Wingate joined the College’s Board of Trustees in 2000 and became a Life Member in 2018.