Alumni committee names candidates for Harvard board elections

Harvard file photo

January 15, 2026 6 min read

Voting for Overseers and HAA elected directors begins April 1

The Harvard Alumni Association nominating committee has announced its candidates for the spring 2026 elections of the Harvard Board of Overseers and elected directors of the Harvard Alumni Association.

The nominating committee brings together 13 alumni with varied backgrounds and includes three current or former Overseers who have direct experience with the workings and needs of the board. The committee invites and receives suggestions about possible candidates from across the alumni community and reviews information on hundreds of prospective candidates as part of extensive deliberations throughout the fall term.

“The process of identifying candidates for Overseer and HAA elected director once again underscored the extraordinary breadth of experience and commitment found across the Harvard alumni community,” said Robert N. Shapiro ’72, J.D. ’78, chair of the nominating committee, former Overseer, and past president of both the Harvard Alumni Association and the Harvard Law School Association. “These candidates bring a wide range of professional accomplishments, life experiences, and points of view. They share a deep interest in Harvard’s academic excellence and broad institutional mission, and a strong sense of responsibility to the University and its future.”

The committee seeks to develop a set of Overseer candidates that takes account of the board’s present composition and the University’s future needs. The committee considers experience and accomplishment in an academic or professional domain important to the University; interest in and concern for higher education and for Harvard University as a whole; commitment to the overall quality and continual improvement of Harvard’s programs of education and research; readiness to invest significant time in the visitation process, standing committees, advisory functions, and plenary deliberations of the board; understanding of complex organizations, and leadership and consensus-building skills.

“I’m grateful to my fellow committee members for the care and judgment they brought to this work,” Shapiro said. “And we are thankful to the candidates themselves for their willingness to devote the time and energy required for thoughtful and effective service to Harvard and the broader community it serves.”

Overseer candidates

Salvo Arena, L.L.M. ’00
J.D. ’93, Ph.D. ’99, University of Catania; Partner, Chiomenti
New York

Nisha Kumar Behringer ’91, magna cum laude, M.B.A. ’95
Independent Director and Audit Committee Chair, Birkenstock Holding PLC
Greenwich, Connecticut

Clive Chang, M.B.A. ’11
B.Mus. ’07 with honors, B.Com. ’07, McGill University; M.F.A. ’09, New York University; President and CEO, YoungArts: The National Foundation for the Advancement of Artists
Miami

Teresa Hillary Clarke ’84, cum laude, J.D. ’89, M.B.A. ’89
Chair and Executive Editor, Africa.com; Former Managing Director, Goldman Sachs & Co.
Miami

Arti Garg, Ph.D. ’08
A.B./B.S. ’99, M.S. ’01, Stanford University; M.S. ’02, University of Washington; EVP and Chief Technologist, AVEVA
Hayward, California

Trey Grayson ’94, cum laude
J.D. ’98, M.B.A. ’98, University of Kentucky; Partner, FBT Gibbons; Former Secretary of State, Commonwealth of Kentucky
Walton, Kentucky

Alfredo Gutiérrez Ortiz Mena,L.L.M. ’98
J.D. ’95, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; Former Justice, Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (Mexico)
Mexico City, Mexico

Nadine Burke Harris, M.P.H. ’02
B.A. ’96, University of California, Berkeley; M.D. ’01, University of California, Davis; Pediatrician and Former Surgeon General of California
Sebastopol, California

Philip L. Harrison ’86, magna cum laude, M.A.R. ’93 with distinction
Chief Executive Officer, Perkins&Will
Atlanta

HAA elected director candidates

Mia Esther Alpert ’99 cum laude
Founder and President Emerita, Harvardwood
Los Angeles

Jimmy Biblarz ’14, magna cum laude, J.D. ’21, cum laude, Ph.D. ’23
Attorney, Hueston Hennigan; Lecturer in Law, UCLA School of Law
Los Angeles

Allison Charney Epstein ’89, magna cum laude with highest honors
M.M. ’91, A.D. ’94, Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University; Opera Singer, Producer
New York

Medha Gargeya ’14, magna cum laude, J.D. ’19
Senior Associate, WilmerHale; Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School; Captain, U.S. Air Force Reserves
Washington, D.C.

Jakob Haesler, M.P.A. ’99
M.Sc. ’97, University of St. Gallen; Global Head of Consulting, Forvis Mazars Group
Paris, France

David G. Lefer ’93, cum laude
M.Sc. ’95, Columbia University; Director of the Innovation and Technology Forum and Industry Associate Professor, New York University
New York

Margarita Montoto-Escalera ’78, M.B.A. ’85
Consultant, Reichard & Escalera LLC
San Juan, Puerto Rico

Yoshiko “June” Nagao ’96 cum, laude
Private Investor
Tokyo, Japan

Jeffrey H. Tignor ’96 cum laude
J.D. ’99, Duke University; Attorney-Adviser, Federal Communications Commission; Senior Lecturing Fellow, Duke University School of Law
Washington, D.C.

Candidates for Overseer may also be nominated by petition, by obtaining a required number of signatures from eligible voters. The deadline to submit petitions for the 2026 Overseers election is Jan. 29. Find more information on the nomination and election process here.

The election begins April 1. Completed ballots will be accepted until 5 p.m. on May 19. Harvard degree holders can vote online or by paper ballot for six anticipated vacancies on the Board of Overseers and for six openings among the HAA elected directors. This year the committee has nominated nine candidates for Overseer, rather than the usual eight, in light of an additional vacancy on the board due to the resignation of Vikas Sukhatme, M.D. ’79, Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Medicine at Emory University. The sixth-place finisher will complete the remaining two years of Sukhatme’s term.

All Harvard degree holders as of Jan. 1, except for officers of instruction and government at Harvard and members of the Harvard Corporation, are eligible to vote for Overseer candidates. All Harvard degree holders as of Jan. 1 may vote for HAA elected directors.

The Board of Overseers is one of Harvard’s two governing boards, along with the President and Fellows, also known as the Corporation. Formally established in 1642, the board plays an integral role in the governance of the University, complementing the Corporation’s work as Harvard’s principal fiduciary board. As a central part of its work, the Board of Overseers directs the visitation process, the primary means for periodic external assessment of Harvard’s Schools and departments. Through its array of standing committees, and the roughly 50 visiting committees that report to them, the board probes the quality of Harvard’s programs and assures that the University remains true to its charter as a place of learning, bringing broad, informed perspective to issues of academic excellence, long-term planning, and institutional priorities. More generally, drawing on its members’ diverse experience and expertise, the board provides counsel to the University’s leadership on priorities, plans, and strategic initiatives, helping to inform decision-making across the University. The board also has the power of consent to certain actions, such as the election of Corporation members. The current membership of the board is listed here.

The HAA board, including its elected directors, is an advisory board that aims to foster a sense of community, engagement, and University citizenship among Harvard alumni around the world. The work focuses on developing volunteer leadership and increasing and deepening alumni engagement through an array of programs that support alumni communities worldwide. In recent years, the board’s priorities have included strengthening outreach to recent graduates and graduate school alumni and continuing to build and promote inclusive communities.