KSG Fellow Heads To Duke

Duke University announced on Saturday that Robert K. Steel, a Senior Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government (KSG), will serve as the new chair of its Board of Trustees.

Steel, who has been the vice chair of Duke’s highest governing body since July 2000, will assume the post on July 1.

Steel previously chaired the 19-member presidential search committee that ultimately elected Richard H. Brodhead as Duke University’s ninth president, in addition to heading the Duke Management Company, Duke’s equivalent of the Harvard Management Company.

Steel has been a Senior Fellow at KSG’s Center for Business and Government (CBG) since February 2004 after retiring as vice chairman of Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. in 2002. Steel worked at Goldman Sachs for over 30 years, predominantly in the equities division.

Trustees on Duke’s Board, which is similar to the Harvard Corporation, serve six-year terms, and according to Steel, serve as advisors to Duke’s administrators.

“I think that the trustees really are there to help the administration think about strategy, be stewards for the very longest-term perspective, and be helpful to the administration with regards to things that they want to do,” Steel said.

He taught a course this past spring at the KSG titled “Financial Institutions and Markets: Regulation and Public Policy,” and he said that he hopes to continue teaching at KSG even after his new responsibilities at Duke begin.

“I have been pretty busy,” Steel said, “But I think that in some ways the activities are complementary. What you learn at one institution may be applicable to another.”

Steel will succeed Peter M. Nicholas who has served as chair since July 2003. Trustees serve a maximum of two six-year terms, and Nicholas’ term is set to expire in July. Nicholas is also the founder and chairman of Boston Scientific Corp.

Nicholas said in a Duke University press release that Steel should be able to capitalize on his many relationships and established leadership ability to lead the board.

“He is well-versed on all the critical issues at Duke, has been a key contributor to all major decisions taken at the executive committee over the past few years and has outstanding relationships with trustees, faculty and administrators,” Nicholas said.

Steel graduated from Duke in 1973 and will be the first Durham native to chair the board in the school’s 81-year history.

Though Steel will have to be reelected as chair annually, he will be eligible for reelection through the end of his term as a trustee in 2009. Steel is currently in his second six-year term as a trustee.

—Staff writer Evan M. Vittor can be reached at evittor@fas.harvard.edu.