Trustees name new Board Chairman

On Thursday, June 12, the University of Chicago Board of Trustees voted to name James Crown to succeed Edgar Jannotta as Board Chairman. Jannotta, who is chairman of William Blair and Company, L.L.C., has been serving as University Board Chairman since 1999.

“Jim Crown joins the great tradition of leading citizens of the city of Chicago who have served on the University’s Board of Trustees and as its chairman. I look forward very much to working with and for him in enhancing the strength of this institution,” said University President Don Michael Randel.

Crown is president of Henry Crown and Company, a privately owned investment company, which invests in public and private securities, real estate and operating companies. He is a director of Bank One Corporation, General Dynamics Corporation and Sara Lee Corporation, and a trustee of the Museum of Science and Industry and the Orchestral Association.

Crown earned a B.A. in political science in 1976 from Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass. and received his law degree in 1980 from Stanford University Law School, where he was projects editor of the Stanford Law Review and a member of the Stanford Public Interest Law Foundation.

“I’ve known Jim Crown a long time and have had the pleasure of working with him on the Board of Trustees, of which he has been a terrific member. He brings to the Chairmanship real talent and commitment, and I’m absolutely certain that the University will benefit from his service as Chairman,” Jannotta said.

Crown has been serving as Vice Chair of the University’s Board of Trustees for the last two years.

Jannotta, who served as Chairman of the search committee that was instrumental in bringing President Randel to the University, will continue to serve as Chair of the Chicago Initiative, the University’s $2 billion, five-year capital campaign, and as a Life Trustee of the University.