Banker, Deputy Mayors, Physician Join Trustees

Over the summer, four new members of the Board of Trustees were appointed by Governor George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg and confirmed by the State Senate. The Board consists of 17 members: 10 gubernatorial appointees, 5 mayoral appointees, a voting ex officio member, the Chair of the CUNY Student Senate, and a non-voting ex officio member, the Chair of the CUNY Faculty Senate.

Valerie Lancaster Beal

The Governor has chosen investment banker Valerie Lancaster Beal to replace Trustee John Morning. Since 1988 Beal has worked in a company founded by her husband, M.R. Beal & Company, which provides financial services to corporations, municipalities, and state governments. Notably, she has been involved in restructuring the capital budget of the District of Columbia.

The holder of a Bachelor’s in economics from Georgetown University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Beal is now serving with the Board of Regents at Georgetown and the Board of the Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn. She has been a supporter and donor to Bronx Community College, where she has also worked to promote the COPE program. Beal’s term will run until 2009.

Hugo M. Morales

Also appointed by the Governor was Dr. Hugo M. Morales, who in 1965 established and became the founding director of the Bronx Mental Health Center, which provides comprehensive ambulatory mental health care services to low-income and minority patients from the Bronx and the other boroughs. A specialist in psychiatry and neurology and a member of the American College of Forensic Examiners, Morales earned his medical degree at the University of Santo Domingo.

Morales’ public service has included advisory work for the New York State Department of Health and for Hostos Community College. He served for eight years on the Dominican Board of the Governor’s Hispanic Affairs Office, founded the Dominican-American Foundation, and in 1996 received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. Morales is the first CUNY trustee of Dominican descent. He takes the seat vacated by Herman Badillo, and his term will run until 2007.

Carol A. Robles-Román

New trustee Carol A. Robles-Román was appointed by the Mayor, who on January 1 chose her as his Deputy Mayor for Legal Affairs. In this position she oversees several city agencies, including the Commission on Human Rights, and offices concerned with immigrant affairs, the coordination of criminal justice, administrative trials and hearings, human rights, disabilities, and the combating of domestic violence.

Robles-Román, who received her J.D. from NYU Law School and B.A. from Fordham University, also has extensive work experience in court administration and in civil rights enforcement. Her public service has included membership on several boards, on the N.Y. Judicial Committee on Women and the Courts, and work as the Mayor’s representative on the Boards of Directors of Wave Hill and the Twin Towers Fund. Robles-Román replaces George Rios, and her term runs until 2008.

Marc V. Shaw

Mayor Bloomberg looked again within City Hall in appointing his Deputy Mayor for Operations Marc V. Shaw. Prior to assuming these duties, Shaw was, from 1996, executive director and CEO of the Metropolitan Transit Authority. His first service in the Giuliani administration was as Commissioner of the Department of Finance, where he was responsible for the administration of all City taxes and fees. He also served as the head of the City Council’s Finance Division for former Speaker Peter Vallone.

The holder of a magna cum laude B.A. and an M.A. from SUNY Buffalo, Shaw worked for several years for the New York State Senate Finance Committee. He has also served as an adjunct professor at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Services. He succeeds Trustee Satish Babbar, and his term runs until 2007.