Yale Corporation welcoming two new members

Maureen C. Chiquet ’85 B.A. has been appointed as a new successor trustee to the Yale Corporation, and Kevin P. Ryan ’85 B.A. has been elected as an alumni fellow.

President Richard C. Levin has announced the appointment of Maureen C. Chiquet ’85 B.A. as a new successor trustee to the Yale Corporation and confirmed the election of Kevin P. Ryan ’85 B.A. as an alumni fellow. Their terms begin July 1, 2012.

Chiquet will succeed trustee G. Leonard Baker, managing director of Sutter Hill Ventures, who will retire from the Corporation on June 30. Ryan will succeed Margaret G. Warner ’71 B.A., senior correspondent on the PBS NewsHour, who was elected to Yale’s governing board in 2006.

Maureen C. Chiquet

Maureen C. Chiquet
Maureen C. Chiquet

Chiquet has been a member of the President’s Council on International Activities at Yale and is also serving on the University Council committee that is focusing on Yale’s public communications.

For the last 18 years, she has held positions of increasing responsibility in national and, now, global companies, culminating in her current role as global CEO of Chanel.

Levin said, “Maureen is a proven leader of complex organizations and an innovator at all of the companies of which she has been a part. We will benefit from her strategic thinking and from her experiences in advancing enterprises both here and abroad. The perspective she will bring to the Corporation’s deliberations will be invaluable, particularly as we pursue our internationalization efforts.”

A 1985 graduate of Yale College, Chiquet began her career at L’Oreal Paris as a product manager. In1988, she moved to San Francisco to join the Gap as an assistant merchandiser in the Accessories Division. In 1994, she moved to Old Navy as a divisional merchandise manager. In the following eight years, she advanced to executive vice president of merchandising, planning and production, growing the company from 35 to 850 stores. In 2002, she was named president of Banana Republic, where she was responsible for overseeing the entire organization, including all stores and operations in the United States and Canada.

Chiquet joined Chanel in 2003. In October of 2004, she was named president of Chanel, Inc. in the United States. She was promoted to global CEO in January 2007 and divides her time between New York and Paris.

The alumna was awarded the “Outstanding Mother Award” by the National Mother’s Day Committee. She was also listed on Fortune Magazine’s “International Power 50” list for 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010, as well as on Forbes Magazine’s “100 Most Powerful Women” list and The Wall Street Journal’s “50 Women to Watch.” She sits on the supervisory board & human resources committee of Vivendi, the board of directors of Peek, Aren’t You Curious?, and the board of directors of the New York Academy of Art.

Kevin P. Ryan

Kevin P. Ryan
Kevin P. Ryan

Ryan has been a member of the President’s Advisory Committee on Digital Yale since 2009. He is a member of the governing board of the Yale University Press and chairs its Digital Committee. From 2007 to 2009, he served on the University Council Committee on Digital Yale and currently serves on the council’s committee that is focusing on Yale’s public communications. He is a member of the President’s Council on International Activities and has served as a member of both the Reunion Gift and the Yale Tomorrow Campaign Committees. A member of the Yale Club of New York City, he previously served as a career mentor through the Yale Club of Paris.

Ryan is a technology entrepreneur who has launched and run several of the country’s most successful Internet companies. He was the CEO of DoubleClick, and founder of both 10gen and Business Insider. In 2007, he founded the e-commerce company Gilt Groupe in New York and serves as CEO of the company, which is an online retailer with business lines in home decor, women’s apparel, travel, food, and accessories for men and children.

Levin said, “Kevin has served Yale in many capacities, and his creativity and entrepreneurial spirit have already benefitted the University greatly. Given all the possibilities for advancing Yale’s use of technology, we are fortunate to have someone with his experience and expertise joining the Corporation.”

An economics major at Yale, Ryan started his career in investment banking with Prudential Investment Corporation in both New York and London. He then pursued an M.B.A., earning his degree from INSEAD in 1990. After working at Euro Disney, Ryan returned to the United States to begin a job at United Media, an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service. As senior vice president of business and finance, he led the company’s successful restructuring effort and launched the popular website Dilbert.com, based on the comic strip.

From 1996 to 2005, Ryan served as the first president and subsequently CEO of DoubleClick the small Internet advertising company that was sold to Google in 2007. From 2005 to the present, together with DoubleClick’s chief technology officer and co-founder, Dwight Merriman, Ryan founded Gilt Groupe’s online publication Business Insider and 10gen, an open source database.

Ryan serves on the boards of Human Rights Watch, the New York City Investment Fund, and INSEAD, and he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the SAGE Commission. Previously he served on the advisory board of Doctors Without Borders and on the boards of the Ad Council, the Direct Marketing Association, and HotJobs.

He has been named one of the “50 Most Influential Business People” by Crain’s New York Business. In 2009 he was named “Entrepreneur of the Year” by Ernst & Young, LLP.

The Yale Corporation

Yale Corporation members
The 2011-2012 Yale Corporation members are (first row, left to right) Mimi Gardner Gates, Byron Auguste, G. Leonard Baker, Richard Levin, Edward Bass, Neal Keny-Guyer, (second row) Charles (Chip) Goodyear, Fareed Zakaria, Paul Joskow, Jeff Bewkes, Donna Dubinsky, John Rice, (third row) Indra Nooyi, Douglas Warner, Margaret Warner, Francisco Cigarroa, and Peter Dervan.

The Yale Corporation is the governing board and policy-making body for Yale University. The 19 members are: the president of the University; 10 successor trustees, who elect their own successors for up to two six-year terms; six alumni fellows, who are elected by the alumni for staggered six-year terms; and the governor and lieutenant governor of the State of Connecticut, who are ex officio members.

The current roster of Corporation members includes the CEO of Mercy Corps, one of the five largest humanitarian organizations; the chancellor of the University of Texas System; the president of the Alfred P. Sloane Foundation; a leading scientist; the former director of the Seattle Art Museum; business leaders; journalists; and other NGO leaders. Brief biographical sketches of the other members of the Corporation are available online.

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