The head of a charitable foundation, three businessmen and a graduating Ingram Scholar are the newest members of the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust .
During its April 23 meeting, the board elected John D. Arnold, Courtney Clark Pastrick and H. Ross Perot Jr. to five-year terms. Wyatt Smith, the 2010 Young Alumni Trustee, and Billy Ray Caldwell, the new Alumni Trustee, will serve four-year terms. In addition, the board approved longtime member W. Ridley Wills II as an emeritus trustee.
Arnold, of Houston, Texas, is the president and manager of Centaurus Energy, L.P., an energy hedge fund that he founded. He earned his bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics from Vanderbilt in 1995. Arnold, who has served as a community member of the Board of Trust Investment Committee, is on the College of Arts and Science Board of Visitors. He and his wife, Laura, established the Arnold Family Scholarship and Arnold Scholars Program to provide need-based scholarship support to undergraduate students enrolled in the College of Arts and Science.
Pastrick, who lives in Bethesda, Md., is the executive director of the Clark Charitable Foundation. Started by Pastrick’s father, the foundation places particular emphasis on organizations or programs that benefit the disadvantaged. Pastrick earned her J.D. from the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America after receiving a bachelor’s degree from Duke University in 1977. Pastrick and her husband, R. Scott Pastrick, have been active members of the Vanderbilt Parents Leadership Committee. Pastrick’s other philanthropic and civic commitments include the National Children’s Research Center and the Children’s National Medical Center Campaign.
Perot, of Dallas, Texas, is the founder and chairman of the Plano-based Hillwood Development Corporation. He received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Vanderbilt in 1981. Perot and his wife, Sarah, have provided strong support to the university through initiatives such as Vanderbilt’s Parents Leadership Committee. Perot’s other civic and philanthropic commitments include serving as chairman of the Air Force Memorial Foundation and as a director of the East West Institute (Dallas Committee on Foreign Relations).
Caldwell, a financial adviser and founder of the Caldwell Group, LLC, lives in Nashville. He has been a Vanderbilt Alumni Association board member since 2004 and served as president the past two years. Caldwell graduated from Vanderbilt with a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1985. He also has a law degree from Duke University. Caldwell is involved in several charitable organizations including Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee and the Faith Family Medical Clinic.
Smith, who is from Reform, Ala., will graduate in May with majors in human and organizational development and political science. He served as president of Vanderbilt Student Government the past year and helped bring about significant improvements to student life, such as the creation of a $250,000 Global Summer Fellows scholarship fund for student study abroad.
As an Ingram Scholar, Smith completed a wide range of community service projects, including tutoring through the Synergy, Vanderbuddies and ArtReach organizations. Smith is this year’s recipient of the Michael B. Keegan Traveling Fellowship. Following graduation, he plans to travel to democracies spanning six continents while studying such issues as post-apartheid social structures in South Africa, tenuous balances of security and equity in Israel and the question of equal access to economic markets in India. Smith was nominated by the Vanderbilt Alumni Association to be the 2010 Young Alumni Trustee after winning an online vote by students in the classes of 2009 through 2011.
W. Ridley Wills II, who has served on the Board of Trust since 1988, will become a trustee emeritus on July 1. The Nashville resident, who earned his bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt in 1956, is a retired senior vice president of the National Life and Accident Insurance Company. He has written several books on Tennessee history and is an adjunct history teacher at Montgomery Bell Academy.
Media contact: Ann Marie Deer Owens, (615) 322-NEWS
annmarie.owens@vanderbilt.edu