Campaign Co-Chairs
G. Leonard Baker, Jr.
G. Leonard Baker, Jr. '64 Named Successor Fellow in 2000, G. Leonard Baker, Jr., is managing director of Sutter Hill Ventures of Palo Alto, California, a venture capital firm that invests primarily in start-ups and early-stage companies, most often in information technology and health care. After earning an M.B.A. from Stanford University in 1966, he worked for Cummins Engine Company until joining Sutter Hill Ventures in 1973. Mr. Baker is a director of a number of public and private companies. His service to Yale has included memberships on the advisory board of the School of Management, the Development Board, the Yale Investment Committee, and the AYA Board of Governors.
Edward P. Bass
Edward P. Bass '67, ('68 B.S.) is active in business, conservation, and ranching. A committed environmentalist, he is chairman of the Executive Committee of the World Wildlife Fund and founding trustee of the Philecology Trust. He serves on the executive committees of the New York Botanical Garden and the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. He is president of the parent company of Biosphere 2 in Tucson, Arizona, which he co-founded in 1984. He has been a leader in the redevelopment of downtown Fort Worth in what has been recognized as one of the most successful urban revitalization efforts in America. In addition to graduating from Yale College, Mr. Bass studied at Yale's School of Architecture from 1968 to 1970. His service to Yale includes co-chair of the Leadership Council of the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, member and former founding chair of the External Advisory Board of the Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies, and former member of the University Council and former chair of the Council Committee on the Peabody Museum. He was named Successor Fellow in 2001.
Joshua Bekenstein
Joshua Bekenstein '80 is a managing director of Bain Capital, Inc., a leading global private investment firm based in Boston. Mr. Bekenstein helped start Bain Capital, Inc. in 1984 with a number of colleagues from Bain & Company, the management consulting firm. Since then, Bain Capital, Inc. has grown to over 300 people and has made private equity investments and add-ons in over 225 companies across a variety of industries. In addition, the firm has expanded into several other asset classes and currently manages several pools of capital including private equity, high-yield assets, mezzanine capital and public equity. The firm now has over $25 billion in assets under management. Mr. Bekenstein serves as a board member of several corporations, including Bombardier Recreational Products, Waters Corporation, Dollarama, and Bright Horizons Family Solutions, as well as many community and educational organizations, such as the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Horizons for Homeless Children, the Yale University President’s Council and the Yale Corporation Investment Committee. Mr. Bekenstein holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Roland W. Betts
Roland W. Betts '68 Elected Alumni Fellow in 1999 and appointed Senior Fellow in 2003 and Successor Fellow in 2005, Roland W. Betts is chairman of Chelsea Piers, L.P., which developed and operates the Chelsea Piers Sports Complex in New York City. He is founder and president of Silver Screen Management, Inc., which produced over ninety motion pictures with the Walt Disney Company. After graduating from Yale, Mr. Betts taught public school in Harlem. He graduated from Columbia Law School in 1978 and practiced law for several years in the entertainment department at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. From 1989 to 1998 Mr. Betts was the lead owner of the Texas Rangers. He is a trustee of the American Museum of Natural History, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the National Park Foundation, Columbia Law School, and the Kennedy Center.
Susan M. Crown
Susan M. Crown '80 is a principal of Henry Crown & Company, a firm which manages investments in real estate, banking, transportation, oil and gas, cellular phones, and home furnishings. She also serves as chairman of the AICM, a philanthropic fund that focuses its efforts on urban education, health care, cultural arts and the Middle East. After graduating from Yale, Ms. Crown earned her M.A. at New York University in 1982. She is a director of Illinois Tool Works and the Northern Trust Corporation. She serves as a member of the Executive Committee of Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center, chairman of the Shoah Visual History Foundation, a Life Trustee of the Juvenile Protective Association, a director of the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee Executive Board. She is also a trustee of the Aspen Valley Community Foundation and a National Council member of the Rocky Mountain Institute. She served on the Yale Corporation from 1994 to 2006.
