(Note: Download high resolution photos of Martha Ingram and Mark Dalton )
The Vanderbilt University Board of Trust Friday, April 23, unanimously elected New York businessman Mark F. Dalton as its chairman-elect, to succeed Martha R. Ingram, who will step down in June 2011.
Ingram, who has partnered with three chancellors for more than a decade to spearhead and support some of Vanderbilt’s most ambitious initiatives, will become an emerita member of the board beginning in the summer of 2011.
Ingram explained she decided to give a year’s notice in order to allow an orderly transition to new leadership. “Mark and I will work together in the next year to ensure that Vanderbilt loses none of its momentum going forward.”
“Under Martha’s leadership as board chairman, Vanderbilt has made extraordinary strides in nearly every area,” Dalton said. “I will spend this next year working with and learning from her as we move toward this leadership transition.”
“Martha’s footprint on Vanderbilt is wide, deep and lasting,” said Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos . “Over the next year, we will celebrate appropriately her leadership, but Martha, the board and I have much to accomplish with her at the helm until next summer.
“Vanderbilt is fortunate to have such an accomplished leader in Mark Dalton as chairman-elect,” Zeppos said. “Mark’s business and strategic expertise have served the university well, and I look forward to working with him during the transition and as board chairman.”
Also during its annual spring meeting, the Board of Trust elected Nancy P. Mulford of Dallas, Texas, and Jackson W. Moore of Germantown, Tenn., as vice chairmen-elect and Joanne F. Hayes of Nashville as secretary-elect.
Dalton, a 1975 graduate of the Vanderbilt Law School, is co-chairman and CEO of Tudor Investment Corporation and its affiliates. Before joining Tudor in 1988, Dalton spent nine years with Kidder, Peabody & Company as a senior executive and four years with the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell as an attorney in New York City.
Dalton has been a member of Vanderbilt’s Board of Trust since 2002. Dalton also has been a member of the board of trustees of Denison University since 1990, where he received his bachelor of arts in 1972. He served as chairman of the Denison board from 2003 to 2009.
Ingram was first elected to the Board of Trust in June 1995 following the death of her husband, E. Bronson 
Ingram, who served on the board from 1967 to 1995, including the last four years as chairman. In joining the board, she continued the Ingram family’s service to Vanderbilt that began when Bronson Ingram’s father, Orrin Henry, joined the board in 1952. Remaining as trustees after their mother’s move to emerita status will be two of Ingram’s sons, Orrin and John.
“Vanderbilt has been an important part of the Ingram family for generations,” Martha Ingram said. “We care deeply about this university’s stability and success, and even as we begin a transition to the next board chairman over the coming year, I couldn’t be more pleased that my sons Orrin and John are carrying on the ’family tradition’ as members of the Board of Trust.”
Elected board chairman in 1997 during the administration of Chancellor Joe B. Wyatt, Ingram was instrumental in the selection of former Chancellor Gordon Gee in 2000 and of Zeppos in 2008.
In the ensuing years under Ingram’s leadership, the board has provided support for many of the university’s ambitious undertakings, including the $1.75 billion Shape the Future campaign; The Commons and the move toward College Halls; increases in financial aid to help eliminate student debt; and the Medical Center’s expansive outreach and services, including the establishment of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Health Alliance, the opening of the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital , the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and Vanderbilt Health One Hundred Oaks .
The Ingram family is Vanderbilt’s most generous benefactor. Their contributions include funding of cancer research, support for the arts, and endowment of faculty chairs and scholarships, including the Ingram Scholars program.
Media contact: Elizabeth Latt (615) 322-NEWS
Elizabeth.p.latt@vanderbilt.edu