Trustees

Ronald D. Abramson

WSC '71
Shareholder, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, PC

Ronald D. Abramson is shareholder at the law firm Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, PC and specializes in mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance matters, real estate finance, real estate lending, tax planning, business and succession planning, and estate planning. In addition to the NYU Board of Trustees, Abramson is a member of the NYU Faculty of Arts and Science Board. He is chairman of the Board of Directors for the National Symphony Orchestra and chair emeritus of the Board of Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. He also serves on the boards of the Washington Airports Task Force, Spoleto Festival USA, the Historic Sixth & I Synagogue, and the DC Jazz Festival.

Phyllis Putter Barasch

Stern '81

Phyllis Putter Barasch served as vice president in the Multi-National Lending and Commodities Lending Groups of the International Division of the Bank of New York before joining BNY-Mellon’s Personal Trust and Investment Division. Prior to her career in banking and finance, she was a speech pathologist at NYU Langone Health’s Rusk Institute and at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. In addition to the NYU Board of Trustees, Barasch is a member of NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center Advisory Committee, the NYU Silver School of Social Work Dean’s Council, and the NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research Advisory Committee. She is a former president and a current member of the NYU Alumni Association Board of Directors. Barasch is the secretary of the board of Town Hall of New York.

Maria Bartiromo

WSC '89
Anchor and Global Markets Editor, FOX Business Network – FOX News Channel

Maria Bartiromo is a two-time Emmy Award-winning journalist who has covered business and the economy for more than 30 years. She began her career at CNN business news as a writer and producer during the first Gulf War. She went on air in 1993 for CNBC, where she became the first journalist to report live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. After 20 years of being the face of CNBC, Bartiromo moved to FOX in 2014. She is the anchor of Mornings with Maria on the FOX Business Network (FBN) and Sunday Morning Futures, the highest rated Sunday morning program on cable, on FOX News Channel. She is also the anchor for FBN’s weekly primetime investing program Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street.

Marc H. Bell

SPS '89
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Terran Orbital

Marc H. Bell is co-founder of Terran Orbital. Terran Orbital is the most advanced manufacturer of small satellites in the world. He is also the co-founder of Armour Residential REIT and a two-time Tony Award-winning Broadway producer for Jersey Boys (Best Musical) and August Osage County (Best Play). He has served as a member of the NYU Board of Trustees since 2000; he is a member of the NYU Langone Health Board of Overseers, the NYU Stern Center for Real Estate Finance Research Advisory Board, the NYU School of Professional Studies Schack Institute of Real Estate Advisory Board, and the NYU College of Arts and Science Dean’s Advisory Council. Bell is also chairman of the Boca Raton Police Foundation and serves on the board of SOS Children’s Villages Florida.

William R. Berkley

Stern '66
Executive Chairman, W. R. Berkley Corporation

William R. Berkley founded W. R. Berkley Corporation, a Fortune 500 property-casualty insurance holding company, in 1967. During his career, he has also founded a number of other public and private companies. He has been a member of the NYU Board of Trustees since 1995 and was elected chair in October 2015. He also serves as a member of the NYU Langone Health Board of Trustees, NYU Stern School of Business Executive Board (former chairman), and NYU President’s Global Council. He has served as vice chairman of the Board of Directors of Georgetown University, where he helped create the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, which is devoted to fostering interreligious dialogue with a goal of improving global cultural understanding. Berkley served as chairman of Achievement First, a group of charter schools operating in the New York metropolitan area, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, until November 2015 and continues to serve as a director. He is also a former vice chair of the Board of Trustees of the University of Connecticut.

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Andrea C. Bonomi

Stern '86
Founder and Chairman, Investindustrial

Andrea C. Bonomi is founder and chairman of Investindustrial, a leading group of independently managed investment, holding and advisory companies. With ESG principles deeply embedded into the Firm’s core approach, Investindustrial has more than 30-year history of providing mid-market companies capital, industrial expertise, operational focus and global platforms to accelerate sustainable value creation and international expansion. Its mission is to actively contribute to the development of the companies in which it invests, by creating growth opportunities and offering global support through offices in London, New York, Madrid, Lugano, Luxembourg, Paris, and Shanghai. In addition to serving on the NYU Board of Trustees, Bonomi is a member of the NYU President’s Global Council.

Casey Box

Gallatin '08, Wagner '11
Director of Global Strategy, The Christensen Fund

Casey Box is director of global strategy at The Christensen Fund. Previously, Box served as the executive director of Land is Life, a global network that has directly supported grassroots indigenous communities, organizations and leaders since 1992. In addition to the NYU Board of Trustees, he is a member of the NYU Langone Health Board of Trustees, the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study Dean’s Council, the NYU Tisch School of the Arts Dean’s Council, and co-chair of the NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service Dean’s Council. Box serves on the board of the Inova Health Foundation, The Philanthropy Workshop, and the Heritage Management Organization. He was previously named a senior fellow on the Americas Business Council and is the managing member of Kellar Investments LLC and treasurer of the Kellar Family Foundation.

Terri Burns

CAS '16

Terri Burns is a speaker, investor, and builder. Most recently, she was a partner at Google Ventures (GV), the youngest partner in GV’s history, focused on investing in digital consumer companies. She led deals in Locker Room (acquired by Spotify), HAGS (acquired by Snapchat), and stealth investments, while also participating in board work with companies like Bloom Tech, Kitchen United, and others. Burns is recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 2021 awardee for Venture Capital. She is a practiced host and speaker, having served as two-time co-chair of Fortune Magazine’s annual Brainstorm Tech Conference. She has given talks and keynote speeches at the likes of All Raise, Stanford GSB, the Teen Vogue Summit, and many more. She has been featured in Vogue, Fortune Magazine, TechCrunch, Business Insider, CNBC, the Power Law book on venture capital, and a plethora of additional publications. Burns was previously an associate product manager at Twitter, building features for the core product: the home timeline. She also served as a board member at Brave Initiatives, a non-profit dedicated to educating young girls with computer science skills.

Q&A with Terri Burns

Sharon Chang

Steinhardt '95, TSOA '98
Founder, Guild of Future Architects
Managing Trustee, TTSL Charitable Foundation
Founder, Yoxi
Founder, 19340

Sharon Chang is the Founder of the Guild of Future Architects. She is a globally recognized creative and thought leader with deeply rooted experience across design, architecture, film, media, technology, entrepreneurship, and impact investment. After a successful career in emerging media and serving as the Chief Creative Officer at 19 Entertainment–the company behind mega-hits American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance–she turned her attention and resources to focus on how co-creation and systems thinking might solve complex problems through cross-sector collaborations. She develops interdisciplinary projects within an ecosystem of operations that includes Yoxi, her impact investment practice dedicated to funding inquiry; 19340, her film financing and production company behind notable films such as BAFTA-nominated The Eagle Huntress; and her experimental family office that examines how wealth intersects with culture and society. These projects sit at the intersection of the old and the new, working to explore the best ways for humanity to build itself a more just, equitable, and beautiful future. In addition to the NYU Board of Trustees, she is a member of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts Dean’s Council and co-chair of the NYU School of Global Public Health Dean's Council.

Evan R. Chesler

Arts '70, Law '75
Senior Partner, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP

Evan Chesler is a senior partner of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, LLP. He was the Firm’s presiding partner from 2001 to 2012 and the Firm’s chairman from 2013 to 2021, the first person ever to have been given that title. He handles a wide variety of litigation, including antitrust, intellectual property, and securities, for clients in virtually every industry. In addition to serving on the NYU Board of Trustees, Chesler is chair of the NYU Faculty of Arts and Science Board and a member of the NYU School of Law Foundation Board of Trustees. He is an adjunct professor at NYU School of Law, founder and chair of the NYU Lawyer Alumni Mentoring Program (LAMP), and a member of the Board of Advisors for the Center on Civil Justice at NYU School of Law. He is also chair of the Board of Trustees of the New York Public Library and president of the Institute of Judicial Administration.

Steven M. Cohen

WSC '85

Steven M. Cohen was previously chair at Empire State Development. Prior to that, he was chief administrative officer and general counsel of MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated, which owns and operates businesses spanning in a wide range of industries, from global leaders in cosmetics and gaming to biotechnology and military equipment. He served as secretary to New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, in addition to serving as counselor and chief of staff in the Office of the New York Attorney General. He previously was a lawyer in private practice and earlier in his career an Assistant U.S. Attorney. Cohen serves on the Board of Directors of Bank Leumi USA and the Perelman Center for the Performing Arts. He is a member of the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, previously serving as vice chair. In addition to the NYU Board of Trustees, Cohen is a member of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering Board and the Board of Overseers of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Stuyvie Comfort

Law '95, '96
Founder, Conversion Venture Capital

Stuyvie Comfort is the founder of New York-based Conversion Venture Capital, which he started in 2014. Conversion invests in both mid-market private equity as well as expansion capital. Prior to Conversion, he co-founded Stirling Square Capital Partners, a pan-European mid-market private equity group. He began his career in the mergers and acquisitions group of Microsoft. In addition to the NYU Board of Trustees, Comfort is a trustee of the NYU School of Law Foundation.

Jinsong Ding

Chairman, Shanghai HiTime Real Estate Group

Jinsong Ding is the chairman of Shanghai HiTime Real Estate (aka Haitai Real Estate) Group, a real estate development and management company which he founded in 2001 on the shoulders of the Shanghai Haitai Steel Tube Group, a company that he built in the 1990s. An active volunteer in civic activities, Ding serves as vice chairman both of the Shanghai Federation of Industry Commerce and of an anti-poverty NGO known as the Shanghai Guangcai Program. In addition to the NYU Board of Trustees, he is a member of the NYU President’s Global Council.

Fiona Druckenmiller

Stern '89
Small Business Owner, FD Gallery

Fiona Druckenmiller is founder and president of FD Gallery, which offers a carefully curated collection of jewelry, books, and art. In addition to the NYU Board of Trustees, Druckenmiller is co-chair of the NYU Langone Health Board of Trustees. She is also vice chair of the American Museum of Natural History Board.

Gale Drukier

Steinhardt '72

After receiving her doctorate degree in audiology, Gale Drukier served as a tenured professor in the field of audiology at Trenton State College (now the College of New Jersey) for 17 years. When she retired from teaching, she joined her family's business, BD Hotels, where she managed properties on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for more than 12 years. In addition to the NYU Board of Trustees, Drukier is a member of the Dean’s Council for the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. Much of Drukier’s philanthropy centers on university programs, medicine, and the arts.

Joel S. Ehrenkranz

Law '61, '63
Senior Partner, Ehrenkranz Partners L.P.

Joel S. Ehrenkranz co-founded the law firm of Ehrenkranz & Ehrenkranz LLP in 1966 and currently serves as a senior partner of Ehrenkranz & Ehrenkranz LLP and Ehrenkranz Partners L.P., a wealth advisory firm. He is vice chair of the Board of Trustees of Mount Sinai Medical Center and a trustee of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and of the Museum of Modern Art. He is a life trustee of the NYU School of Law Foundation and an honorary trustee of the Whitney Museum of American Art. He was previously the president of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Archives of American Art, and the Jewish Communal Fund of New York. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Lun Feng

Chairman, Yufeng (F&E) Capital

Lun Feng is chairman of Yufeng (F&E) Capital, independent director of both Haitong Securities Company Limited and China Everbright Bank Company Limited, vice chairman of the China Real Estate Association, and vice chairman of the China Real Estate Chamber of Commerce. In June 2004, Feng, together with nearly 100 renowned Chinese entrepreneurs, established the Society of Entrepreneurs & Ecology (SEE), an organization committed to desertification control and environmental protection.

Laurence D. Fink

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BlackRock, Inc.

Laurence D. Fink is chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock. He and seven partners founded BlackRock in 1988, and under his leadership, the firm has grown into a global leader in investment and technology solutions. BlackRock’s mission is to help investors build better financial futures and the firm is trusted to manage more money than any other investment company in the world. Fink has been named one of the "World's Greatest Leaders" by Fortune, and Barron's has named him one of the "World's Best CEOs" for 15 consecutive years. Prior to founding BlackRock in 1988, Fink was a member of the Management Committee and a managing director of The First Boston Corporation. In addition to the NYU Board of Trustees, Fink serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum and is co-chair of the NYU Langone Health Board of Trustees. He also serves on the boards of the Museum of Modern Art, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the International Rescue Committee. In addition, he serves on the Advisory Board of the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management in Beijing and on the Executive Committee of the Partnership for New York City.

Luiz H. Fraga

Co-Founder and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Private Equity, Gávea Investimentos

Luiz H. Fraga co-founded Gávea Investimentos in 2003. He is the co-chief investment officer of the Private Equity Group. In addition to the NYU Board of Trustees, Fraga is a member of the NYU Langone Health Board and the NYU President’s Global Council.