Mark F. Dalton, Class of 1975, was elected chairman-elect and Jackson W. Moore, Class of 1973, was elected vice-chair-elect of the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust Friday, April 23.
Dalton will succeed current board chair Martha R. Ingram, who will step down in June 2011. Moore and fellow trustee Nancy Mulford will succeed current vice-chairs Dennis Bottorff and Darryl Berger, also in 2011. The board also elected Joanne F. Hayes as secretary-elect.
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.”
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. He also has been a member of the board of trustees of Denison University, where he received his bachelor of arts, since 1990. He served as chairman of the Denison board from 2003 to 2009.
Moore also joined Vanderbilt’s Board of Trust in 2002. Before earning his J.D. at Vanderbilt Law School in 1973, he earned a B.S. from the University of Alabama. He was the managing partner in one of Memphis’ largest law firms prior to joining Union Planters Corporation in 1989. He was the chairman, president, and CEO of Union Planters when it merged with Regions Financial in mid-2004, and became chairman and CEO of Regions Financial in 2005. Following a merger of Regions Financial and AmSouth Bancorporation, both headquartered in Birmingham, he became Executive Chairman of the consolidated company, one of the 10 largest bank holding companies headquartered in the U.S. He retired at the end of 2007. In addition to serving on Vanderbilt’s Board of Trust, Moore also chairs the President’s Cabinet at the University of Alabama.
"I am delighted that Mark and Jack are assuming leadership roles on the Board of Trust," Vanderbilt Law Dean Chris Guthrie said. "They have both contributed significantly to the Law School and the University, and their election as Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board of Trust is emblematic of the leadership roles that Vanderbilt Law graduates frequently play."
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.
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.