Yale Daily News

The Yale Corporation — the University’s highest governing body — is dominated by finance titans and business moguls, causing some concerns among students and alumni that the Trustees’ priorities are not representative of those of the average Yale alumni. 

Of the 16 members of the Yale Corporation, eight have a background in finance, wealth management or corporate advisory — all fields with generally high income levels. The most notable wealth among the trustees lies with senior trustee Joshua Bekenstein ’80, who founded the investment firm Bain Capital and has $120 billion under management. The vast majority of Corporation members have earned exceedingly high salaries in their various roles, with some taking in over $1 million in a single year. Craig Birckhead-Morton ’24, a member of Yale Young Democratic Socialists of America, said that this wealth skews Corporation members’ priorities and puts them out of touch with the reality of many Yale students. 

“This is why we see a mismatch between what Yale is doing on their endowment, and then, what we have as our [Yale’s] purported values,” Birckhead-Morton said. “It really gets to this sort of battle where you can’t have Yale as a charitable academic institution, and also a corporation … it has to be one or the other.”

In addition to Bekenstein, many other members of the Corporation have spent a considerable amount of time working in the financial services industry. 

Trustee Michael Cavanagh ’88, who is currently the chief financial officer of Comcast, previously served as the co-CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s corporate and investment bank. Cavanagh was the highest paid CFO in the nation in 2016, earning a reported $40 million compensation package from Comcast that year.

Trustee Joshua Steiner ’87 currently serves as a senior advisor at Bloomberg and was previously the co-president of Quadrangle Group LLC, a private equity firm with approximately $3 billion in assets under management.

“I think [the Corporation members’] priorities are most likely a function of their class,” Andy Lipka ’78 said. 

Lipka said that the predominance of wealthy individuals on the Yale Corporation can make alumni who are less wealthy feel “alienated” from the University. Victor Ashe ’67 similarly told the News that the trustees’ wealth “divorces them from the real world.”

Ashe unsuccessfully ran for a position on the Yale Corporation last year, while Lipka declared his intent to run for a seat before the Corporation changed its election process.

Lipka added that legacy admissions — a contentious issue that would generate significant alumni engagement — might not be a major consideration for wealthy trustees, who have “no worries” about their children being admitted to Yale College given their generous donations to the University. 

Birkhead-Morton said that he felt the Corporation would be in a better position if it had greater diversity in race, income, gender and “especially class and occupation.”

By contrast, Bekenstein claimed that the Trustees’ income level was not relevant to their work or to their appointment to the Corporation.

“What ties these people together is valuable experience, demonstrated good judgment, and a deep love for Yale,” Bekenstein wrote to the News on behalf of himself and the other trustees. “You are right that many trustees have had high incomes, but income isn’t something anyone cares about or talks about when the Corporation considers Successor Trustees, and the nominations and elections of Alumni Fellows similarly signal that income isn’t what alumni are thinking about.”

Other Yale Corporation members with significant financial experience include David Sze ’88, who is a partner at the venture capital firm Greylock Partners and who led the firm’s successful investments in Facebook and Linkedin; and Ann Miura Ko ’98, who co-founded the venture capital firm Floodgate Fund and who is responsible for the firm’s successful investment in Lyft. Charles Waterhouse Goodyear IV ’80, who currently serves as the president of Goodyear Capital Corporation and Goodyear Investment Company, is also an active investor.

Birkhead-Morton said that, by having so many wealthy individuals with backgrounds in finance in the Yale Corporation, the trustees are more focused on prioritizing profits than on resolving other issues that the University is facing, such as addressing climate change.

“I’m worried that because of the makeup of this board, the only ends it’s seeking is profit, whereas, if you were to have a board that’s made up of educators, the outcomes you’re going to see from the things the school invested in would be a lot different,” Birkhead-Morton said. 

Bekenstein wrote that the board’s finance bent is sometimes helpful “given the scope and complexity of Yale’s financial stewardship.”

Other Corporation members have amassed wealth outside of the financial services industry. Trustee Kathleen Walsh ’77 SPH ’79, who is the president and CEO of the Boston Medical Center, reportedly earned a salary of nearly $2 million in 2020. 

Trustee Annette Thomas GRD ’93 most recently served as the chief executive of the Guardian Media Group, the parent company of two major British newspapers, The Guardian and The Observer. According to the group’s financial statements, she reportedly earned a salary of more than $500,000 in 2020. 

Former University Vice President Linda Lorimer LAW ’77 agreed with Bekenstein and affirmed to the News that wealth is not a determining factor in membership in the Yale Corporation. 

Ashe, however, told the News that because seats on the Board of Trustees are appointed by current members, a majority of the seats are “self-perpetuating,” meaning it is unlikely that they will be a mechanism for increased diversity of backgrounds.

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont and Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz ’83 serve as ex officio trustees in the Yale Corporation.

Correction, Oct. 28: This article previously stated an unconfirmed figure for Joshua Bekenstein’s net worth. The number has been removed.