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Last modified: Friday, August 9, 2013

Thomas E. Reilly Jr. elected as IU Board of Trustees chair

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aug. 9, 2013

INDIANAPOLIS -- Thomas E. Reilly Jr. has been elected to a two-year term as chair of the Indiana University Board of Trustees.

Thomas Reilly

Thomas E. Reilly Jr.

Print-Quality Photo

Reilly, former president and chairman of the board of Reilly Industries and the former president and CEO of the American Chemistry Council, succeeds Dr. William R. Cast, who just finished serving two consecutive two-year terms as chair.

The board elected officers for 2013-15 during its business meeting today at the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Campus Center. It elected Trustee MaryEllen Kiley Bishop vice chair, Robin Roy Gress secretary, Jacqueline Simmons assistant secretary, MaryFrances McCourt treasurer and Stewart T. Cobine assistant treasurer.

The slate of officers was selected last month by the board's nominating committee.

"To my mind, the university under the leadership of President Michael A. McRobbie and the board chairmen, Steve Ferguson and Bill Cast, has made significant progress since I joined the board in 2005," Reilly said. "University leadership and faculty and staff have been strengthened; its finances have been sound through difficult times; a major building program has been launched; it has launched new schools and programs; and most importantly, the quality of its offerings, its faculty, its research and its students have been strengthened.

"With this foundation in hand, I think the board in coming years will need to confront the challenges that are enveloping all of higher education," Reilly added. "These include the relevancy of the degree, the cost and time of education, the changing needs of society for different skills of graduates, the shrinking finances for research universities, the search for efficiency, the new business model being driven by digitalization, the growing competition among schools of higher learning, the changing environment in sports, and most importantly the need for quality to continue to markedly improve. I think our board is capable of accepting these challenges and others as its agenda for the coming year."

Reilly has a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. While retired from his company and the American Chemistry Council, he is active on a number of corporate boards, including OneAmerica Corp., Herff-Jones Inc. and REI Real Estate Services Inc. He chaired the Indiana Efficiency Commission's subcommittee on higher education and has been a trustee at Butler University.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels appointed Reilly to the Board of Trustees in July 2005 and reappointed him to a third term in July 2011.

Bishop, an attorney with the Indianapolis firm of Cohen, Garelick and Glazier, has served on the Board of Trustees since 2010, when she was elected to three-year terms by IU alumni. She was re-elected to a second term this summer. She has undergraduate and law degrees from IU.

Cast, CEO of NoMoreClipboard and a medical doctor practicing with ENT Specialists in Fort Wayne, has served as a member of the board since 2005 and as its chair since 2009. Bylaws limit members to serving two consecutive two-year terms as president.

The Board of Trustees is the governing board, legal owner and final authority of Indiana University, holding the university's financial, physical and human assets and operations in trust for future generations. Its membership, terms of office, responsibilities, powers and electoral procedures are governed by state law.