Trusteeship - March/April 2021 - 43

of Emory University's Winship Cancer Institute and a research dean
at its School of Medicine to answer the call. " It's hard to say no to
AUB. I, like many people, owe the university a debt that is difficult
to repay, " said Khuri, who was born in Boston but grew up in Beirut.
Khoury shares that sentiment. As an undergraduate at Trinity
College in Connecticut, he spent a junior year abroad at AUB
that was " the most miraculous year of my life and it changed me.
I became a specialist in the Arab world. " (Khoury also chaired the
Trinity College board for nearly two decades.)
The financial collapse precipitated by years of overspending and
corruption by inept governments-played havoc with the university's finances. Massive devaluation of the lira drove more than half
the population into poverty and fed unrest.
Even before the collapse, the board was working with Khuri and
his team and faculty to redefine AUB's strategic priorities on what
would be called The VITAL 2030 plan. The board simultaneously
was undergoing its own restructuring.
The financial crisis and the pandemic sped up the timetable
for action. Meeting across time zones as much as 10 hours apart,
the board mobilized to help the university through its perils. Each
trustee was matched to one of six small advisory groups at work on
designing and implementing the new strategic plan.
" We made an unpopular tuition adjustment with full support
of the board so we can leverage more financial aid for those whose
parents' income has collapsed, " said Khuri. Going into the financial
crisis, the university had 8,000 undergraduates and 1,700 graduate
students, most Lebanese but a quarter from other countries.
The board stood behind Khuri as the university laid off a quarter of its staff-almost 600 but down from 1,800 initially feared-
and did not renew contracts for others. No faculty were laid off,
but some left Lebanon. The board, including physicians and scientists from top U.S. academic medical centers, helped AUB redesign the business model for its hard-pressed hospital and clinics,
including a new one for COVID-19 patients.
" We wanted to make sure that the board and the leadership of
the university were as tightly aligned and in as perfect sync as possible, " said Khoury. Even while anchoring the ongoing capital campaign-already closing in on its $650-million goal-the board took
the lead on establishing Solidarity Funds to raise millions to help
needy students and employees struggling to pay their bills.
The board brought in a former university president as a consultant " to figure out how to make us less interventionist and more
strategic, " said Khoury. " We felt that some members were slipping
into trying to manage our university, and that is usually the kiss of
death when a board thinks it can manage a university. "
The restructuring also afforded the board an opportunity to
bring in fresh blood. " What we want is a board that listens and
acts, but listens first before it acts and comes into an understanding of where we want the place to go, " said Khoury.

AGB.ORG

The president calls it " incredible " that the board was able to
restructure itself while the bottom fell out in Lebanon. " It's resulted
in a more nimble, effective, and reflective board. They work hard,
ask tough questions-I never feel that I'm going to a board meeting
where I'm going to get a sleigh ride-but it's a very collegial, smart,
strategic board. "
Beyond generosity, the trustees are " truly invested " in AUB's
mission of imparting " the best of American values: the right to
self-determination, free speech, and the hope for health and happiness in a fair society, " said the president.
AUB and Lebanon are both still " going through hell, just the
worst we've ever seen-and we've seen a lot in that part of the
world-but we are determined to not just survive, but come out of
this thriving, " said Chairman Khoury.

Colorado State University Foundation
Board of Directors
IT ALL HAPPENED VERY QUICKLY.

The Colorado State University Foundation Board of Directors,
which for almost three decades had had only five members of long
standing with no term limits, in 2019 overnight expanded to 11, created a committee structure, and greatly diversified itself. The board,
which manages the Fort Collins, Colorado, land grant university's
endowment, also changed the way it handles those investments and
increased its payout. The original board had discharged its duties
well, was held in high esteem, and was under no external pressure to
change. But the longtime chair, Jim Martell, and his colleagues-all
older white males-recognized a need to bring new talents to the
table and simultaneously become more representative of the institution they served by adding female and minority members. As Colorado State University President Joyce McConnell and Foundation
President Cherí O'Neill wrote in their Nason Award application,
" They did the rare thing: They ceded some of their own power. "
Moreover, the board " set out to achieve that diversity not via the
slow-motion evolution that depends on attrition among existing
board positions but rather with a fast-track process that requires
changing bylaws ... and actively seeking out and meeting with
potential candidates, " not just selecting them from their own circles.
" It was absolutely smooth as silk, " said Martell, an alumnus and
Fort Collins attorney. " There was not some break point where we
said, 'We have to make all these changes.' We just did it. "
Four decades ago, early in his career, the Colorado State University Alumni Foundation engaged Martell as its attorney. When
it merged with the other foundation in 1987, he was elected to the
board, became chairman in 1991, " and has been the chairman ever
since, " he said. The university president back then decided to slenderize the foundation board and do all the fundraising internally.
MAR. APR. 2021 TRUSTEESHIP 43

http://www.AGB.ORG

Trusteeship - March/April 2021

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