Corp. Chief Set To Leave Corning Post

James R. Houghton ’58, senior fellow of the Harvard Corporation, has announced that he will relinquish his position on a major corporate board.

Houghton revealed last week that he will resign in late April as non-executive chairman of Corning Incorporated’s Board of Directors.

Houghton, who is also the chairman of the search committee charged with choosing Harvard’s 28th president, has worked at the research and technology company for almost four decades. He joined the Harvard Corporation seven months before retiring as chair and CEO of Corning in 1996. However, financial difficulties at the company prompted his return as non-excecutive chairman of the board in 2001 and CEO and chairman of the board in 2002.

Corning spokesman Daniel F. Collins said the decision was “just a natural progression.”

“Jamie returned as CEO several years ago and said that this was going to be a temporary situation...and he felt that the time was right. It’s as simple as that,” Collis said.

Houghton’s return to an active post at Corning occurred shortly before the retirement of the Corporation’s then-senior fellow, Robert G. Stone Jr. ’45. Stone’s resignation made Houghton the de facto chairman of the University’s chief governing board as well.

Houghton stepped down for the second time as Corning’s CEO in 2005 and as an employee of the company last year, retaining only the position of non-executive chairman.

Collins said that there is nothing “unique or specific” to the timing of Houghton’s announcement to step down from his current post.

“Normally as part of our succession plan, [Corning has] longer periods of transition and that’s exactly what [Houghton] did by announcing now that, at the shareholder meeting in April, he would step down,” Collins said.

Houghton could not be reached for comment.

—Staff writer Clifford M. Marks can be reached at cmarks@fas.harvard.edu.