On March 30, the University announced that it has added three more members to its Board of Trustees, including Columbia alumni who are trailblazers in the non-profit sector.

Yesterday, Columbia University announced that Jeh Johnson, Adam Pritzker, and Sheena Wright have been elected to the University’s Board of Trustees in an announcement on the Columbia News website. All three individuals of the Board’s new members are alumni of either Columbia College or Columbia Law School, described by the Trustee co-chairs as “alumni who care deeply about the University and the broader Columbia community.” University President Lee Bollinger also said that the trustee-elects had demonstrated a “profound commitment to the most important issues facing society, including economic and racial inequality, education and sustainability.”

Jeh Johnson received his Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School in 1982 and served as the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security under President Obama He is currently a partner in the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, becoming the firm’s first African American partner. Throughout 2020, he delivered a 100-page public report on racial bias in the state court system upon the request of the Chief Judge of New York, including a number of recommendations that the Chief Judge has committed to adopting. He has also worked as a lecturer at the Law school, served as a Member of its Board of Visitors, and received its 2012 Medal of Excellence. Johnson was also awarded the Columbia Black Alumni Council’s Heritage Award in 2019. 

Adam Pritzker graduated from Columbia College in 2007. He is the Co-Founder and Chairman of Future Now, a non-profit, non-partisan fund that works towards winning state legislative majorities in order to pass policies that are centered around improving American lives. He also founded and currently leads Assembled Universe, an investment group that is committed to cultivating newer forms of consumer, software and financial service-based companies. Pritzker also started the leading education company, General Assembly, which has trained over one million students in teaching technologies. He is also currently a Member of the President’s Council for Columbia World Projects. 

Sheena Wright graduated Columbia College in 1990, and received her J. D from Columbia Law School in 1994. She is currently the President & CEO of United Way of New York City, a non-profit committed to providing the resources for low-income and marginalised New Yorkers to achieve self-sufficiency. She is the first woman to lead the organization in the 80 years since its inception. Wright is also a Board Member for New Visions for Public Schools, NYC Kids Rise, and the New York City Regional Economic Development Council. She also led the Abyssinian Development Corporation. Wright was named one of the 25 most influential alumnae at the Silver Anniversary Celebration of the Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium and received the John Jay Award in 2016. 

Click here to read the announcement from Columbia News regarding these new trustees.

Columbia’s Campus via Bwog Archives