At its May meeting, the University of Rochester Board of Trustees elected two new board members and recognized five individuals who were elected as life trustees.
“I am thrilled that Naveen and Kathy have been elected to the Board,” said Board Chair Rich Handler ’83. “All of us will benefit from their expertise and commitment to the University. I also want to thank our new life trustees for their distinguished service over many years. We look forward to their continued engagement with the University.”
University President Richard Feldman said, “Kathy and Naveen are outstanding additions to the Board. My colleagues and I are also very grateful to all of those who have been elected as life trustees, all of whom have made invaluable contributions to the University.”
New trustees
Naveen Nataraj ’97 is a senior managing director of the corporate advisory business at Evercore, a leading global independent investment advisory firm. He founded the technology practice at Evercore and has advised technology and telecommunications clients in transactions exceeding $500 billion in value, including five of the seven largest announced technology transactions to have ever occurred. Before joining Evercore in New York City, Nataraj was a founding partner at Saturn Venture Partners, a Telecom Italia-sponsored venture capital fund, and a vice president at Sandler Capital, a $2.5 billion communications-focused investment management firm. Earlier, he was a financial analyst at Bear, Stearns and Co. Inc.
In 2011, Nataraj was named one of Investment Dealers’ Digest’s 40 Under 40 Deal Makers, and Fortune magazine’s 40 Under 40 Rising Stars of Business.
Nataraj and his wife, Courtney Nataraj, established the Courtney and Naveen Nataraj Endowed Scholarship Fund at the University in 2014; they have also supported the College’s greatest needs through its annual fund. Nataraj received his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University, graduating magna cum laude. He has actively participated in University reunion committees, the New York New Leaders Regional Cabinet, and the Trustees’ Council of the College.
Kathy Waller ’80, ’83S (MBA) recently retired as executive vice president and chief financial officer of The Coca-Cola Company. She was responsible for the company’s global commerce organization and representing the company to investors, lenders, and rating agencies. She joined the company in 1987 as a senior accountant and was instrumental in transforming the company’s finance function. She was founding chair of Coca-Cola’s Women’s Leadership Council and supported the creation and work of the company’s Women in Leadership Global Program.
Waller previously served on the University Board from 2006 to 2016 and has been a Life Trustee since 2016. She has been actively involved with the Simon Business School and the College, and has served for many years on the Simon Advisory Council. She chaired the Diversity Initiative Campaign Committee for The Meliora Challenge, as well as the Alumni National Council. She also served on the Trustees’ Council of the College, Atlanta Alumni Council and many reunion committees. She has supported undergraduate scholarships, including the Byrd and Eva Waller Scholarship that she established at the College in honor of her parents, as well as annual funding priorities in the College and Simon Business School.
She was named one of the Most Powerful Women in Business by Black Enterprise in 2017, and was recognized on Ebony’s Power 100 List in 2015; she also received the Changing the World Award from the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta in 2015.
Waller received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Simon Business School in 2008, and the Meliora Citation for Career Achievement from the College in 2005. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University, and a master’s degree in accounting and finance from the Simon Business School.
Life Trustees
At the May meeting, the Board expressed its appreciation to five individuals who were elected as life trustees. Together they have provided nearly 100 years of service to the Board, and their philanthropy has supported the creation of new facilities, scholarships, professorships, and other initiatives throughout the University.
Roger B. Friedlander ’56 joined the Board in 1997 and has served as a member, chair, or vice chair of many Board committees.
He served as vice president of the Eastman Institute for Oral Health Foundation Board as well as a member of the Medical Center Board, Golisano Children’s Hospital Board, Friends of Rochester Athletics Board, Thompson Health Board of Directors, Strong Partners Health Systems Board, and chair of the School of Nursing National Council and of the Meliora Challenge Campaign Cabinet for Nursing. He has also served as a member of the Simon Executive Advisory Committee and in numerous other volunteer leadership activities in alumni relations and fundraising. He had a profound influence on the University’s multi-dimensional Campus Master Plan.
He and his wife, Carolyn Friedlander ’68N (PNP), have promoted excellence in medicine through philanthropic support to the McAnarney Professorship in Pediatrics Funded by Roger and Carolyn Friedlander, and many other areas of Golisano Children’s Hospital, the Medical Center, the School of Nursing and Health Sciences. He has exemplified remarkable generosity through the Carolyn and Roger ’56 Friedlander Scholarship Fund, the Rush Rhees Renaissance Fund and the Eastman Theatre Renovation and Addition Fund.
Edmund A. Hajim ’58, a highly successful investment manager, has been a Board member since 1988 and served as chair during a transformative period from 2008 to 2016. During this time, he galvanized the Board and others to support The Meliora Challenge campaign, which exceeded its goal by raising $1.37 billion.
Hajim additionally served as a member of the Medical Center Board and of the Edmund A. Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Dean’s Advisory Committee. He was also a member of the Friends of Rochester Athletics Board, Memorial Art Gallery Board of Managers, Simon Trustee Visiting Committee, and was The Meliora Challenge Campaign Cabinet chair. He promoted excellence through his extraordinary and historic philanthropic support of the University by establishing the Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Endowment, Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Scholarship Endowment, Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Annual Fund, and the Edmund A. Hajim Scholarship.
Michael S. Rosen ’82,’83S (MBA), co-founder, co-chairman and CEO of Context Capital Management, joined the Board in 2005. In addition to serving on Board committees, he was the San Diego Regional Cabinet founding chair, a Meliora Challenge Campaign Cabinet chair, and chair for his 20th reunion.
He and his wife, Marilyn Rosen, have provided philanthropic support to the Simon Business School through the Marilyn and Michael Rosen Endowed Professorship, and the Simon Business School Annual Fund, and especially the Class of 1982 Scholarship Fund.
Joel Seligman provided transformative leadership from 2005 to 2018 as the University’s president and CEO, G. Robert Witmer, Jr. University Professor, and professor of business and political science.
He launched the historic Meliora Challenge campaign that by 2016 had nearly doubled the endowment, created the George Eastman Circle, and supported more than two dozen new facilities and infrastructure projects totaling nearly $1 billion. He led comprehensive strategic planning efforts and championed initiatives in data science, neuroscience, humanities and performing arts, and health care. He oversaw a 40 percent increase in student enrollment, expansive faculty growth—which more than doubled the number of endowed professorships—and growth of the clinical enterprise to a 15-county network anchored by six hospitals.
Seligman solidified the University’s connections to the community, fostering substantial regional economic development. He collaborated with government and neighborhood leaders to complete two major initiatives that helped revitalize adjacent areas: Brooks Landing, joined to the University by a footbridge over the Genesee River, and College Town, the $100 million commercial and residential district in the Mt. Hope neighborhood.
Nathaniel “Nat” Wisch’55, a renowned specialist in hematology and medical oncology, has been a Board member since 2002. He has supported key areas of the University, including, service on the Metro New York Network Leadership Cabinet, as co-chair of the New York New Leaders Regional Cabinet, and as a national campaign volunteer and leader for the College. He served as chair of his 50th and 55th reunions, honorary chair for his 45th reunion, and president of the Trustees’ Council.
Wisch and his wife, Helen, have promoted excellence in Arts, Sciences and Engineering and music through establishment and philanthropic support of the Nathaniel and Helen Wisch Professorship in Biology and the Dr. Nathaniel and Helen Wisch Endowed Scholarship.
