News and Events

Walter Donovan '81 and Jim Tsai '81 Join Amherst College's Board of Trustees

Monday, August 1, 2011

Walter Donovan '85, Julie Segre'87 and Jim Tsai '85 are the newest members of the Amherst College Board of Trustees.

Donovan, a history and political science major at Amherst, is the chief investment officer and senior managing director of Putnam Investments in Boston.

Appointed by the trustees, Donovan describes himself as "an ardent champion of the Amherst community because of the support it gave me to pursue a better life." After working his way through high school at Phillips Exeter Academy (which Tsai also attended) and Amherst, Donovan grew committed "to helping others share in the dream Amherst afforded," he wrote in a biographical statement.

In addition to serving on the Amherst board, Donovan is a trustee of Cathedral High School, a private inner-city school in Boston, and of Phillips Exeter. He has also founded and supported numerous financial assistance funds for students' educations...

Tsai is the chair/chief of ophthalmology at the Yale University Medical Center in New Haven, Conn. After graduating magna cum laude from Amherst, he received an M.D. from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University.

"[A]n Amherst liberal arts education is best able to prepare tomorrow's leaders for utilizing scientific and technological advances in an effective, efficient and ethical manner," Tsai, a neuroscience major, wrote in a personal statement. "Amherst's opportunities have never been greater to become a world leader in reshaping the future of liberal arts education here and abroad."

Read the full article: Amherst Magazine