Nathan Gantcher, the chairman of Tufts' Board of Trustees, will not step down until May, 2003 after serving eight years in the post. The chairman decided to extend his tenure to preserve continuity in one Tufts governing body while the other is transformed.
University President Larry Bacow announced plans to restructure the administration earlier this month.
Gantcher, who jointly heads the Tufts Tomorrow campaign, was scheduled to remain chairman of the 36-member board until the $600 million fundraising effort ends next May, though board chairs do not serve fixed terms. "This year, I decided not to [step down]," he said.
Since Bacow assumed his post in August, Tufts' 36 trustees have spent most of their time listening to his vision for Tufts, according to Linda Dixon, secretary to the trustees. "He has shared with them some of his visions, ideas, and strategies," she said. "It will be their job to approve some of the plans and initiatives."
The Board of Trustees hires Tufts president and oversees the school's major financial decisions. Historically, board members have been the University's most generous donors. Pierre Omidyar (LA '89) was named to the board shortly after donating $10 million to fund the University College for Citizenship and Public Service.
Bacow presented his restructuring plan last month at the trustees' fall meeting, but the board was not formally asked to approve the plan.
Gantcher, who graduated from Tufts in 1962, served as vice-chairman of CIBC Oppenheimer Corp. in New York. A trustee since 1983 and chairman since 1995, he is the longest serving trustee on the board. He serves on the Committee on Trusteeship, the investment committee, and the compensation committee.
The board's previous chairman, Nelson Gifford, held the position for nine years.
In recent years, Gantcher has given large financial gifts to Tufts, including $10 million to construct the two-year-old Gantcher Center.
Dixon said there are a number of trustees who could assume the chair, although she would not give the names of particular candidates. She said that potential successors will be nominated by an internal committee.
Contacted in his home in New York, Jim Stern, an active trustee and one of the board's two vice chairmen, would not say whether he would be willing to take on the leadership position. In 1999, Stern donated several thousand dollars to endow a chair in the history department.
