University board elects new Trustees

Three distinguished members of the University alumni community—Erroll Davis Jr. (M.B.A.,’67), Kenneth Jacobs (A.B.,’80, Economics) and Paul Yovovich (A.B.,’74, M.B.A.,’75)—were elected University Trustees Saturday, June 11.

Davis is chairman and chief executive officer of Alliant Energy Corp., having served as that company’s board chairman since 2000 and its CEO since 1990. He also served as its president from 1990 through 2003.

Davis received his B.S. degree from Carnegie Mellon University before enrolling in the University’s Graduate School of Business and completing his M.B.A. in 1967. He then worked on the financial staffs of Ford Motor Co. and Xerox Corp., as well as spending a number of years in the U.S. Army before joining Wisconsin Power and Light Co. in 1978 as vice president of finance.

In April 1998, as president and CEO of WPL Holdings, he guided Wisconsin Power and Light Co. through its merger with two major Iowa utilities, IES Industries and Interstate Power Company. He then served as president and CEO of the newly formed company, Alliant Energy Corp.

Davis has served as chairman of the board of trustees of Carnegie Mellon University, and is a former member of the board of regents of the University of Wisconsin system. He serves on the boards of British Petroleum, PPG Industries, Electric Power Research Institute and the Edison Electric Institute.

A 1993 recipient of the GSB’s Distinguished Alumnus Award, Davis also has served as chairman of the early childhood program Start Smart of Dane County and was campaign chair for the United Way of Dane County.

He won the Bronze Medal in Financial World’s 1993 CEO of the Year competition, and he is a member of the Electricity Advisory Board to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Jacobs is deputy chairman of Lazard LLC, a private investment bank with approximately 140 partners and directors worldwide, and he is chief executive of Lazard LLC North America. After receiving his Chicago degree in Economics in 1980, he went on to earn an M.B.A. from Stanford University in 1984.

After four years at Goldman Sachs, Jacobs joined Lazard LLC in 1988 as a vice president and then partner, focusing his work on health care, consumer products and media. In 1999, he took the position of co-head of banking and mergers & acquisitions, and joined the firm’s executive committee. He was named deputy chairman of Lazard LLC and chief executive of Lazard LLC North America in 2001.

Jacobs is a member of the Visiting Committee on the College and Student Activities and is a former member of the Alumni Schools Committee. He also has arranged Jeff Metcalf Fellowships at Lazard LLC for College students. In 1999, Davis established the Anna Feldman Scholarship Fund in the College to aid first-generation college students.

Yovovich is president and principal of Lake Capital, a venture capital firm with investments across a variety of growth-oriented business services companies.

Prior to joining Lake Capital, Yovovich was president of Advance Ross Corp., which had the world’s leading value-added tax refund service. He served in that capacity from 1993 through the company’s 1996 sale. From 1982 to 1992, he served in a variety of executive positions with Centel Corp., a national telecommunications services company. Before joining Centel, Yovovich was a vice president in the investment-banking unit of Dean Witter.

Yovovich is a member of the Visiting Committee on the College and Student Activities, and currently he serves as Chairman of the Chicago Cabinet and as Vice Chairman of the College Fund.

In addition to his work for the College, Yovovich serves on the GSB’s entrepreneurship advisory board and is a member of the school’s Distinguished Alumnus Awards Selection Committee. He recently served as a member of the University Board of Trustees’ Ad Hoc Committee to Review the Visiting Committees.

In addition to his involvement with the University, Yovovich serves as a director of various public and private companies, including 3Com Corp., Archstone Consulting, Dutko, DVC Worldwide and Huron Consulting Group. He also was a founder and director of Lighthouse Global Network.