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Eliot Circular

New Trustees Join Board

The board of trustees elected four new members to its ranks in April. The new members bring a wealth of diverse knowledge and experience to the board. 

Dr. Suzanne B. Cassidy ’65 of Sausalito, California, is a medical geneticist and pediatrician. Suzanne’s practice is focused on the causes of developmental delay, particularly Prader-Willi syndrome, an area in which she is considered to be one of the world’s top experts. She is a consultant with Genetic Medicine Central California and is president of the International Prader-Willi Syndrome Organisation. Previously, Suzanne was the chief of the human genetics division and director of the residency training program in medical genetics at the University of California, Irvine. She has served on the boards of the American Board of Medical Genetics and the American Society of Human Genetics. In 1996 and 1998, Suzanne was featured in American Health magazine as one of the “Best Doctors in America.”

Richard Danzig ’65 of Washington, D.C., is a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board; a bioterrorism consultant; a director of Human Genome Sciences Corporation; and a director of the European venture capital fund Saffron Hill Ventures. He served as Secretary of the Navy from 1998 to 2001 and as Under Secretary of the Navy from 1993 to 1997; he was the vice chairman and interim president of the International Human Rights Law Group; he has taught law at Harvard and Stanford; and he was a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron White. He is also the author of National Service: What Would It Mean?, which informed the development of the current U.S. civilian national service system.

Kurt DelBene of Medina, Washington, was a business strategy consultant and software developer for AT&T Bell Laboratories before joining Microsoft in 1992. Kurt worked on the development of several high-profile Microsoft applications, including Outlook, Exchange, Schedule+ and messaging and personal information-management applications, and was responsible for the development of Microsoft client and server software. Since taking over as president of Microsoft Office Division, his responsibilities have expanded to include the company’s global strategy for a wide range of products including Office, Exchange, Sharepoint, Lync, and Visio. Kurt is married to Suzan DelBene ’83, who was recently elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives, serving Washington’s First Congressional District.

Georges St. Laurent Jr. of Vancouver, Washington, manages a portfolio of investments across the financial services, real estate, and agricultural sectors. Georges’ impressive career includes being president and CEO of Western Bank, where he grew assets from $300 million to roughly $1 billion before Washington Mutual acquired it in 1996. He was a founding board member of Celera Genomics, the company that deciphered the human genome in 2001. He is the owner of St. Laurent Land and Cattle Company in Eagle Point, Oregon, and is the founder of St. Laurent Realty, Florida. He served as CEO of Consolidated Forest Products and CEO of GS Containers, which manufactures Sterno Canned Heat. Georges is a member of the President’s Circle of the National Academy of Sciences and has served as a trustee for Rockefeller University, the Sabin Foundation, and Oregon Health & Science University.