Mariko Silver '99 has been elected to serve as an alumni fellow of Yale's Board of Trustees, known formally as the Yale Corporation, in a worldwide balloting of university graduates. She begins a six-year term on July 1.
Silver is president and chief executive officer of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA), America's largest performing arts campus, in New York City, a role she has held since 2024. The center is home to 11 performing arts organizations, including The Juilliard School, the New York City Ballet, the New York Philharmonic, and the Metropolitan Opera.
In her first year leading the center, she raised the largest single programming gift in the organization's history, and she is currently directing a $335 million project to redesign Lincoln Center's western face to create a new public park, amphitheater, and community spaces.
"Mariko has been a transformative leader in multiple areas of public life, seeking new ways to deepen institutional connections to their home communities," said Yale President Maurie McInnis. "Her dedication to the pursuit of knowledge and her belief in the power of education and research are clear from her contributions to Yale and other institutions of higher education, and I look forward to welcoming her to the board."
Marta L. Tellado, the senior trustee for the Yale Corporation, added, "The members of the board and I look forward to working together with Mariko as we steward the university through the coming years."
Eligible Yale alumni vote each year to elect one new alumni fellow to the Yale Corporation, the university's governing board and policymaking body.
Members of the board of trustees, the university's principal governing body, act as fiduciaries for the university - ensuring that Yale is guided by sound policies and practices and equipped with adequate resources to further its mission. In doing so, the board balances the needs of today's faculty, students, alumni, and staff with those of generations to come.
Candidates for alumni fellow are selected from nominations submitted by alumni from around the world to the Alumni Fellow Nominating Committee, a standing committee of the Yale Alumni Association. (The committee is composed of alumni from across the university's schools and departments who serve on the Yale Alumni Association Board of Governors, the secretary of the university, the vice president for alumni affairs and development, the president of the University Council, and a member of the Yale Corporation.) All alumni are encouraged to submit nominations of qualified candidates through the online alumni fellow nomination form.
Joining Silver on the ballot this year was Michael Singer '95, '00 Ph.D., '02 M.D., director and former chief scientific officer of Cartesian Therapeutics, which he co-founded in 2016. "Michael has shown incredible dedication and service to Yale over the years, including his continuing service on the Yale School of Medicine Scientific Advisory Board, the Yale for Humanity Campaign Committee, and his work with Yale Ventures [the university's hub for innovation and entrepreneurship]," McInnis said. "I thank him for his willingness to be considered for this role."
Silver's extensive career includes leadership roles at Columbia University and Arizona State University, where she helped transform the funding model for public institutions of higher education and fostered state-wide economic development, and service as acting assistant secretary and deputy assistant secretary of the Office of International Affairs in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In 2013, she became president of Bennington College and, in 2019, took on the role of president and chief executive of the Henry Luce Foundation.
In 2025, Silver was honored with the Yale Alumni Non-Profit Alliance Generation to Generation Award. In addition, she has served on several boards, including those of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. She received an honorary doctorate from Hofstra University in 2017.
Outgoing trustees
On June 30, four trustees will conclude their service, including the outgoing alumni fellow Carlos R. Moreno, '70, a distinguished jurist and former U.S. ambassador to Belize. The three departing successor trustees are Michael J. Cavanagh '88, co-chief executive officer of Comcast Corporation; William E. Kennard '81 J.D., a co-founding partner of Astra Capital Management, a private equity firm, and former U.S. ambassador to the European Union; and Joshua L. Steiner '87, a partner at SSW, a private investment firm, and member of the board of directors at Bloomberg, L.P.
"Carlos, Mike, Bill, and Josh have devoted years of service to Yale," McInnis said. "Their steady and wise counsel has helped the university advance its priorities across many strategic areas while navigating uncertainty and momentous change.
"Their unwavering commitment to strengthening Yale today and for the future has left a profound mark on this institution, and I am grateful for the service and leadership they have provided."
