John S. Reed, retired chairman and CEO of Citigroup and former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, has been nominated to serve as the next chair of the MIT Corporation, the Institute's governing body. Reed '61, SM '65, has been nominated by the Executive Committee and has agreed to serve, pending his election by the Corporation at its June 4 meeting.
Reed would succeed Dana G. Mead PhD '67, who announced last fall that he would step down as Corporation chair at the end of June.
"I am honored and delighted by the prospect of serving in this important role and working with President Susan Hockfield and the Institute's senior leadership," said Reed. "I have been close to MIT for many years, which has afforded me the opportunity to appreciate the vital role it plays in the nation and the world."
"John Reed would bring tremendous strengths to the role of MIT Corporation chair," said President Susan Hockfield. "He understands and appreciates deeply the values of the Institute, and through his career he has demonstrated a degree of breadth, creativity, foresight and global scope that will be enormously useful to MIT in the years ahead. The Institute has long benefited from John's guidance, and I know it would benefit even more from his leadership of the Corporation."
Hockfield praised Mead for providing exceptional leadership, saying, "He has served the Institute with extraordinary dedication and a profound concern for our mission and ideals. He has made immeasurable contributions to MIT's governance, and has been instrumental in developing the resources the Institute needs to bring together the world's very best minds to solve its most intractable problems."
Much of the MIT Corporation's work is conducted through its various committees. The MIT Corporation chair is, by virtue of the position, a member of the Executive Committee and the Investment Management Company board. The MIT Corporation chair also presides over all Corporation meetings and chairs the Corporation Development Committee and Membership Committee.
Reed, a life member of the Corporation, serves or has served on the visiting committees for the Engineering Systems Division, the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Office of Sponsored Research. He currently chairs the Mathematics Visiting Committee.
Born in Chicago in 1939, Reed was raised in Argentina and Brazil, where his father was an executive with Armour and Co. He received joint SB and BA degrees from MIT and Washington & Jefferson College before serving for two years as an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Reed earned his master's degree in management from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1965 and joined Citibank shortly thereafter.
Over the next 35 years, Reed became known for ushering in many banking innovations in the United States and for raising Citibank's profile in emerging Asian and Latin American markets. He became the bank's chairman and CEO in 1984.
After the bank merged with the Travelers Co. in 1998, Reed served as chairman and co-CEO of the new company, Citigroup. He retired from Citigroup in 2000, and then served as chairman of the New York Stock Exchange from September 2003 until April 2005. During this time, he helped establish new governance rules as the NYSE became a public corporation. More recently, Reed has voiced support for reforms intended to safeguard America's financial system.
Reed has broad experience in the governance of corporate and academic institutions. He held long tenures on the boards of Philip Morris, United Technologies and Monsanto. Reed is currently a director of MDRC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan social policy research organization. He was chairman and a trustee of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and was a board member at the Russell Sage Foundation, which supports research in the social sciences, and at the Spencer Foundation, which funds research aimed at improving education. He is a fellow of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Philosophical Society, and is an overseer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to his work with the MIT Corporation, Reed serves on the MIT Energy Initiative's external advisory board and the Center for International Studies advisory board.
Reed and his wife, Cynthia, live in Duxbury, Mass., and have a townhome in Boston.
Reed would succeed Dana G. Mead PhD '67, who announced last fall that he would step down as Corporation chair at the end of June.
"I am honored and delighted by the prospect of serving in this important role and working with President Susan Hockfield and the Institute's senior leadership," said Reed. "I have been close to MIT for many years, which has afforded me the opportunity to appreciate the vital role it plays in the nation and the world."
"John Reed would bring tremendous strengths to the role of MIT Corporation chair," said President Susan Hockfield. "He understands and appreciates deeply the values of the Institute, and through his career he has demonstrated a degree of breadth, creativity, foresight and global scope that will be enormously useful to MIT in the years ahead. The Institute has long benefited from John's guidance, and I know it would benefit even more from his leadership of the Corporation."
Hockfield praised Mead for providing exceptional leadership, saying, "He has served the Institute with extraordinary dedication and a profound concern for our mission and ideals. He has made immeasurable contributions to MIT's governance, and has been instrumental in developing the resources the Institute needs to bring together the world's very best minds to solve its most intractable problems."
Much of the MIT Corporation's work is conducted through its various committees. The MIT Corporation chair is, by virtue of the position, a member of the Executive Committee and the Investment Management Company board. The MIT Corporation chair also presides over all Corporation meetings and chairs the Corporation Development Committee and Membership Committee.
Reed, a life member of the Corporation, serves or has served on the visiting committees for the Engineering Systems Division, the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Office of Sponsored Research. He currently chairs the Mathematics Visiting Committee.
Born in Chicago in 1939, Reed was raised in Argentina and Brazil, where his father was an executive with Armour and Co. He received joint SB and BA degrees from MIT and Washington & Jefferson College before serving for two years as an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Reed earned his master's degree in management from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1965 and joined Citibank shortly thereafter.
Over the next 35 years, Reed became known for ushering in many banking innovations in the United States and for raising Citibank's profile in emerging Asian and Latin American markets. He became the bank's chairman and CEO in 1984.
After the bank merged with the Travelers Co. in 1998, Reed served as chairman and co-CEO of the new company, Citigroup. He retired from Citigroup in 2000, and then served as chairman of the New York Stock Exchange from September 2003 until April 2005. During this time, he helped establish new governance rules as the NYSE became a public corporation. More recently, Reed has voiced support for reforms intended to safeguard America's financial system.
Reed has broad experience in the governance of corporate and academic institutions. He held long tenures on the boards of Philip Morris, United Technologies and Monsanto. Reed is currently a director of MDRC, a nonprofit, nonpartisan social policy research organization. He was chairman and a trustee of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and was a board member at the Russell Sage Foundation, which supports research in the social sciences, and at the Spencer Foundation, which funds research aimed at improving education. He is a fellow of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Philosophical Society, and is an overseer of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
In addition to his work with the MIT Corporation, Reed serves on the MIT Energy Initiative's external advisory board and the Center for International Studies advisory board.
Reed and his wife, Cynthia, live in Duxbury, Mass., and have a townhome in Boston.
