Duke Trustees Select Peter Nicholas as Board Chair

Durham, N.C. -- Duke University alumnus Peter M. Nicholas has been elected chair of the Duke University Board of Trustees, school officials announced Saturday.

Nicholas has served as co-vice chair of the Board since 2000. He and his wife Virginia Nicholas, both of whom graduated from Duke in 1964, also are the co-chairs for the steering committee of the Campaign for Duke, which has raised more than $2 billion for the university.

Nicholas succeeds Harold "Spike" Yoh, who has served as board chair since July 2000. First elected as a trustee in 1991, Yoh will retire from the board on June 30.

"Pete has shown tremendous energy and unwavering service to Duke through his work on the board and leadership of the Campaign for Duke, which has been so successful in raising the financial resources Duke needs to pursue its strategic goals," said Yoh, former chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Day & Zimmerman Inc. "He is an outstanding choice to lead the Board of Trustees during this pivotal time for the university."

Nicholas said he is looking forward to the opportunity.

"During Spike's years as chair, Duke has enjoyed unprecedented expansion in fields ranging from ethics to genomics to engineering. We've added new facilities, adopted a new academic strategic plan and revamped our residential life plan," Nicholas said. "I look forward to working with the Trustees, President Keohane and her team, the leaders of the Academic Council and the rest of the Duke community to continuing that momentum and enhancing Duke's leadership in higher education."

Nicholas, who earned an M.B.A. from the Wharton School after graduating from Duke, is the co-founder and chairman of Boston Scientific Corp., a producer of scientific and medical equipment. Under his leadership, Boston Scientific has grown from a company of 38 employees to an international concern with approximately 14,000 employees and more than $3 billion in sales.

Before starting the company in 1979, Nicholas served as general manager of the medical products division at Millipore Corp. From 1968 through 1978, he held a variety of positions in the United States and abroad with pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co.

A former chair of the Trinity Board of Visitors at Duke, he also was an Annual Fund class agent and reunion chair. Nicholas has served on the university's board of trustees since 1993.

The Nicholases' three children -- Katherine, Peter and J.K. -- and J.K.'s wife, Virginia Shannon, all earned degrees from Duke.

With their volunteer service to Duke, the Nicholas family has provided significant financial support, including a naming gift for the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences and a $25 million gift to create the Nicholas Faculty Leadership Initiative, which matches gifts to the university for support of its faculty.

In its election Saturday, Duke's Board of Trustees also selected Robert K. Steel, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs and chairman of the Duke University Management Company (DUMAC), to serve as vice chair. Steel, a member of Duke's class of 1973 and a trustee since 1996, has served as co-vice chair of the Board of Trustees with Nicholas since July 2000. He also chairs the university committee that is searching for Duke's next president, following the announcement by Nannerl O. Keohane that she will step down as Duke's eighth president in June 2004. In addition, he is a member of the Campaign for Duke Steering Committee.

Steel, a Durham native, is a member of both the New York Stock Exchange and the board of the Securities Industry Association. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, Gillian Steel, and their three daughters. His mother, Elizabeth Steel, and father, Charles Steel III, also attended Duke.

The Board also elected N. Allison Haltom, a vice president and officer of the university, to continue her service as University Secretary.