Duke officials named four new Board of Trustees members on Friday.
The trustees include Karen M. King, managing director of Silver Lake, a technology private equity firm; James Zelter, co-president of Apollo, an asset management firm; Kacia Anderson, Trinity ‘22; and Edgar Virgüez, Nicholas School '18 and ‘22.
The Board of Trustees is the University’s fiduciary and governing body. It oversees Duke’s long-term health, strategic direction, educational policy, finances and operations. It also oversees the Duke University Health System and DUMAC, Inc., the University’s investment company.
King and Zelter will serve six-year terms. Anderson, as an Undergraduate Young Trustee, will serve a two-year term and Virgüez, as a Graduate Young Trustee, will serve a three-year term. Both Anderson and Virgüez will spend their first years as nonvoting observers and then are voting members for the rest of their terms.
King, Trinity ‘94, is a managing director and chief legal officer of Silver Lake, one of the largest technology investment firms in the world. At Duke, King majored in public policy and completed a certificate in German. She previously served on the Boards of Visitors for Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and the Sanford School of Public Policy.
Zelter, Trinity ‘84, is co-president of Apollo, an asset management firm. At Duke, Zelter majored in economics. He also serves as the vice chair of the board of directors of DUMAC.
Virgüez is an energy systems engineer who is passionate about improving inclusivity in higher education. A Colombia native, he realized growing up that “one of the most important tools to heal [his] community was education.”
At Duke, Virgüez received many awards including the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Forever Duke Student Leadership Award. He was a member of the Board of Trustees Activating the Global Network Task Force and the Resources Committee. He also served on Duke’s Racial Equity Advisory Council.
Anderson is a Fort Lauderdale, Fla. native whose involvements at Duke have centered on building community around identities that are “close to home” for her. She previously told The Chronicle that if elected to the Young Trustee position, she would be committed to learning more about others and fostering partnerships and “[reaching] certain demographics in the student body that we aren’t really reaching.”
At Duke, Anderson was executive vice president of Duke University Union. She also served on the Board of Trustees Undergraduate Education Committee and participated in the board’s strategic education sessions.
Anderson and Virgüez were nominated as Undergraduate and Graduate Young Trustee finalists, respectively, by the Young Trustee Nominating Committee and President Vincent Price in April. The YTNC is selected by the secretary to the Board of Trustees and chief of staff to the Duke president, currently Margaret Epps. This new process started in 2021.
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Katie Tan is a Trinity senior and digital strategy director of The Chronicle's 119th volume. She was previously managing editor for Volume 118.