Charles Ellis named Chair of Whitehead Board of Directors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Charles D. Ellis has been elected Chair of the Board of Directors for Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Ellis, founder of Greenwich Associates, succeeds Alex V. d’Arbeloff, who stepped down as Chair after two years and continues on the Board.

“I’m very excited by the challenges at Whitehead,” says Ellis, who originally became involved with the Institute through his friendship with founder Edwin C. “Jack” Whitehead. “The scientists here are enormously gifted individuals who can and do change the basic paradigms in biological research.”

“Anyone who has the opportunity to appreciate what great work Whitehead scientists are doing, and especially those who have the chance to become acquainted with individual scientists, will feel the thrill of their research,” he adds. “We all feel the responsibility to make it as easy as possible for them to do their remarkable work.”

Ellis started Greenwich Associates, an international strategy consulting firm for companies in professional financial markets, in 1972. Among other services to the investment community, he has been governor of the CFA Institute, and is one of nine individuals honored for lifetime contributions.

His current activities include serving as managing partner of The Partners of ’63, a pro bono partnership of Harvard Business School classmates and friends, which commits time and treasure in support of entrepreneurial, change-oriented ventures in education.

Ellis has held appointments to the faculties of the Harvard Business School and Yale School of Management. He is a successor trustee of Yale University, a trustee of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and an overseer of the Stern School of Business at New York University. Additionally, he is the author of 12 books, most recently Joe Wilson and the Creation of Xerox, which shows how an innovative leader transformed a family firm into a global powerhouse. Ellis also has written almost 100 articles for business and professional journals.

The Whitehead Board also welcomed as new members Landon T. Clay, managing member of East Hill Management; Barbara Imperiali, Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Ellen S. Polaner, president of the Whitehead Board of Associates.