The MIT Corporation -- the Institute's board of trustees -- elected two Corporation life members and 11 term members at its quarterly meeting on June 2, just before MIT's 134th Commencement exercises. Alexander d'Arbeloff, chairman of the Corporation, announced the election results.
The following were elected to Corporation life membership, effective July 1:
Judy C. Lewent (SM 1972), senior vice president and chief financial officer, Merck & Co., Inc.
After receiving the SB in economics in 1970 from Goucher College and the SM from MIT's Sloan School of Management in 1972, Ms. Lewent worked for E.F. Hutton, Bankers Trust and Pfizer before joining Merck as director of acquisitions and capital analysis in 1980. She held several other positions before assuming her current post in 1992, where she is responsible for worldwide financial, corporate development and human health business development matters, as well as Merck's joint venture relationships.
Ms. Lewent is a Life Sustaining Fellow at MIT and has served on the Corporation since 1994. She joined the Campaign Steering Committee in 1999, and has served on the Corporation's Executive Committee since 1995 and Auditing Committee. She has been a member of the Visiting Committee for the Sloan School since 1989 and as its chair since 1997.
A. Neil Pappalardo (SB 1964), chairman and CEO, Medical Information Technology (Meditech).
Mr. Pappalardo earned his MIT degree in electrical engineering in 1964 and in 1968 founded the Cambridge-based Meditech, a leading supplier of information systems for hospitals and one of the earliest software companies. He is now developing a clinical management system to guide clinicians through a high-quality, low-cost treatment process, incorporating medical knowledge and procedures while enabling active patient participation.
Mr. Pappalardo, a Life Sustaining Fellow, has been a Corporation member since 1994. He chairs the Corporation's Auditing Committee, and currently serves on the Development and Executive Committees, as well as on the Visiting Committees for physics, the Libraries and mechanical engineering, which he has chaired since 1997. He is a trustee of the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology at MIT, among other organizations.
The following were nominated by the Association of Alumni and Alumnae of MIT and elected to five-year term membership, effective July 1:
Brian G.R. Hughes (SB 1977), early-stage investor.
Mr. Hughes, who is the outgoing president of the Association of Alumni and Alumnae of MIT, received the SB in mechanical engineering from MIT in 1977 and the MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1979. In 1989, Mr. Hughes joined American Rocket Co. (AMROC), which developed hybrid rocket propulsion, and in 1992 was named CEO. After AMROC closed in 1995, Mr. Hughes began his current work in helping entrepreneurs start businesses. Earlier, he was co-founder and executive vice president of PTAT System Inc., which developed a privately funded transatlantic fiber optic telecommunications cable system.
Mr. Hughes was a Corporation member from 1978-83 and 1993-98. His current and past Visiting Committee memberships include aeronautics and astronautics, the Division of Bioengineering and Environmental Health, mechanical engineering and the Office of the Dean of Students and Undergraduate Education (ODSUE). He has also been on the Corporation's Auditing Committee, Development Committee and Joint Advisory Committee on Institute-Wide Affairs, as well as the Campaign Steering Committee and the Alumni Association's Fund Board.
James A. Lash (SB 1966), chair of Manchester Principal LLC.
Mr. Lash received the SB in aeronautical and astronautical engineering in 1966 and the MBA from Tulane University in 1969. During the 1960s he worked on the Apollo Program for the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory and Boeing Co. He then served as assistant dean of the Graduate School of Business Administration at Tulane.
In the 1970s and 1980s he was a management consultant, including a period as director of management consulting operations with the New York office of Touche Ross & Co. From 1982-96 he served as chairman and CEO of Reading Tube Corp.
He has been on numerous committees at MIT since 1970, including the Corporation Development Committee and the CDC Advisory Group, the Alumni Network Services Advisory Board and the Alumni Fund Board. He was Class of 1966 Fund Agent from 1991-96 and joined the Campaign Steering Committee in 1999.
Linda C. Sharpe (SB 1969), senior associate, Cambridge Systematics, Inc.
Ms. Sharpe earned the SB in political science from MIT in 1969. From her graduation until 1980, she did research in welfare policy, community economic development and regional economics for organizations such as the Boston Model Cities Administration and the Joint Center for Urban Studies of MIT and Harvard University.
She was a senior analyst for Abt Associates Inc. from 1980-85. Since 1997, she has been senior associate with Cambridge Systematics, Inc., managing information systems contract work at the US Department of Transportation's Volpe National Transportation Systems Center.
Ms. Sharpe is a life member of the Black Alumni of MIT and a former member of the Alumni/ae Association Board of Directors and the Educational Council. She has also served on the Visiting Committee for ODSUE since 1998. She won MIT's Harold E. Lobdell Distinguished Service Award in 1996.
The following were nominated by the Corporation Membership Committee and were re-elected to five-year term membership, effective July 1:
John Krob Castle (SB 1963), chairman and CEO, Castle Harlan, Inc.
Mr. Castle has been a Corporation member since 1995 and also from 1987-92. He is also on the Corporation Development Committee (CDC), the Campaign Steering Committee, and the Visiting Committees for economics (which he chaired from 1988-92) and physics. He was on the linguistics and philosophy Visiting Committee in 1991-92.
Mr. Castle previously served as president, CEO and director of Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette, Inc. He is also a trustee of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. He holds the SB in economics (1963) from MIT and the MBA from Harvard (1965).
Arthur Gelb (ScD 1961), co-founder, chair and CEO (retired) of TASC; president, Four Sigma Corp.
In 1966, Dr. Gelb co-founded TASC (The Analytic Sciences Corp.) and was president, CEO and chair from 1966-91. The company's activities included advanced navigation, guidance and communication systems, civilian weather data distribution and power utility software. He is now president of Four Sigma Corp., involved since 1993 in the development and use of mathematical, computer-based trading methods for financial markets.
At MIT, Dr. Gelb has served on the Corporation since 1995 and is a Life Sustaining Fellow. He was on the Corporation Executive Committee from 1997-99 and is on the Visiting Committees for aeronautics and astronautics (and its chair since 1998), brain and cognitive sciences, electrical engineering and computer science (EECS), the Engineering Systems Division, and media arts and sciences.
Dr. Gelb is co-author of Multiple-Input Describing Functions and Nonlinear Systems Design (McGraw-Hill, 1968) and editor and co-author of Applied Optimal Estimation (MIT Press, 1974; 14th printing, 1996). He earned the BEE from City College of New York in 1958, the SM from Harvard in 1959 and the ScD in instrumentation (systems engineering) from MIT in 1961.
Barbara A. Gilchrest (SB 1967), professor and chair, Department of Dermatology, Boston University School of Medicine.
Dr. Gilchrest earned the SB in mathematics from MIT in 1967 (winning the William L. Stewart Jr. Leadership Award in 1964) and the MD from Harvard Medical School in 1971. She returned to MIT for research fellowship training, then joined the Harvard Medical School Department of Dermatology faculty.
In 1983, Dr. Gilchrest moved to Tufts University, where she became professor of dermatology and senior scientist at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging. In her current post since 1995, she directs a large research laboratory, heads a residency training program and maintains a small private practice. She has authored more than 300 original reports, reviews, books or book chapters. In 1998 she was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Gilchrest has been a Corporation member since 1995 and is or has been on the Visiting Committees for biology, ODSUE, the Medical Department, Whitaker College and Sponsored Research.
Kenan E. Sahin (SB 1963), president and founder, Kenan Systems; vice president for software technology, Bell Laboratories; president, Software Products Group of Lucent Technologies.
Dr. Sahin earned the SB in management from MIT in 1963 and the PhD in 1969. He has taught and done research at MIT, Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Sahin's research has resulted in numerous publications on the technology and practice of management. He also holds worldwide patents in computer communication networks and massively parallel computation.
In 1982 he founded Kenan Systems, which provided software products to communications companies worldwide. Since Lucent's acquisition of the company in 1999, Dr. Sahin became vice president of Bell Laboratories' software technology group, the research and development arm of Lucent, and in April this year, was promoted to group president of the software products group.
Dr. Sahin, who last year pledged the largest single gift ever ($100 million) to MIT, is a Life Sustaining Fellow and has been a Corporation member since 1999. He currently serves on several committees including the Visiting Committees for brain and cognitive sciences, the Engineering Systems Division and Humanities.
The following person was nominated by the Corporation Membership Committee and elected to five-year term membership, effective July 1:
John A. Thain (SB 1977), president and chief operating officer, Goldman Sachs & Co.
Mr. Thain has spent the majority of his working career at Goldman Sachs. From 1985-90, he served as co-head of the mortgage securities department, during which time he was named a partner with the firm. He was appointed co-chief operating officer in January 1999 and president of Goldman Sachs Group, LP, two months later. Mr. Thain serves on the firm's management committee and board of directors.
Mr. Thain received the SB in electrical engineering from MIT in 1977 and the MBA from Harvard Business School in 1979. He was named to the Dean's Advisory Council at the Sloan School of Management in 1999.
The following were nominated by the Corporation Membership Committee and elected to four-year term membership, effective July 1:
Gordon Binder, chairman of the board, Amgen Inc.
Mr. Binder joined Amgen in 1982 as chief financial officer and became CEO in 1998. He retired in May as CEO, but will remain as chairman of the board until December. Before joining Amgen, he was vice president for finance and treasurer for System Development Corp. for 10 years. He held various financial management positions at Ford Motor Co. from 1964-69. He holds a bachelor's degree from Purdue University (1957) and an MBA from Harvard (1962). Mr. Binder has served on the Visiting Committee for the Sloan School since 1995.
Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande, founder and chairman, Sycamore Networks, Inc.
Mr. Deshpande co-founded Sycamore Networks in 1998 with MIT alumni Richard Barry (SB 1989) and Eric Swanson (SB 1984) to create next-generation optical networking technology. Previously, he was founder and chair of Cascade Communications, which was acquired in 1997 by Ascend Communications, and co-founder of Coral Network Corp. He also served in various management positions for Codex Corp., a subsidiary of Motorola, and taught at Queens University in Kingston, Canada, where he earned his PhD. He holds the BS from the Indian Institute of Technology and the ME from the University of New Brunswick in Canada.
The following alumnus was nominated through a ballot process managed by the Association of Alumni and Alumnae of MIT, and elected as a Corporation representative from recent classes, effective July 1:
Dedric A. Carter (SB 1998, MEng), director of technology strategy, eCustomer Consulting and Solutions Group, American Management Systems, Inc.
Mr. Carter received the SB and MEng in EECS from MIT in 1999. As an undergraduate, he served on numerous Institute committees, such as the Reengineering Student Advisory Committee, the Faculty Policy Committee and the Corporation Joint Advisory Committee. He also served on the Committee on the Undergraduate Program and the Committee on the Formation of a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences Degree. An active participant in student government, he was president of the Undergraduate Association in 1997-98. He joined American Management Systems upon graduation from MIT.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on June 7, 2000.
