Vassar Welcomes Talented Quartet of New Trustees to the Board
Vassar’s four new trustees bring a wealth of talent and diverse backgrounds to the Board. Anne Green ’93 was voted onto the board as a representative of the Alumnae/i Association of Vassar College (AAVC) during Reunion in June. Susanne Lyons ’79, James Beaty ’05, and Eve De Rosa ’91 were officially welcomed to the board on July 1.
Green, who was recently named Principal and CEO of G&S Integrated Marketing Communications Group, has been representing clients in various fields for more than 30 years. She also serves as executive sponsor of the G&S DE&I Task Force and Generative AI Team. Green has previously served on the board of the PR Council and as board chair for the New York-based, anti-trafficking nonprofit LifeWay Network. In addition to her BA degree from Vassar, she holds an MA degree in American literature from New York University.
Green has been a longtime mentor at Vassar’s annual Sophomore Career Connections event, helping current students and recent grads launch their careers. “I’ve always felt committed to Vassar because I truly believe in the liberal arts,” she said. “The world is changing fast, so adaptability is especially important.”
Green described her alma mater as a truly special place: “No matter who you meet at Vassar, everyone is passionate about something,” she said. “Vassar celebrates diversity, and that kind of pluralism can be challenging, but it pushes people to confront other ways of looking at the world.”
Lyons, who recently stepped down as Board Chair of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, earned an MBA degree from Boston University. Prior to her service with the Olympic Committee, she worked for Fidelity Investments, Russell Reynolds Associates, Charles Schwab Corp. and Visa Inc., where she was chief marketing officer.
Lyons said she connected with Vassar President Elizabeth H. Bradley while leading the Olympic Committee through the COVID-19 pandemic. “While I was guiding the organization through COVID in Tokyo in 2020 and Beijing in 2022, Betsy was doing the same thing at Vassar,” Lyons said.
She said the values she had acquired at Vassar had helped her though those turbulent times. “Vassar was key to learning to value cultural differences—enabling my global work with the Olympics, where sport brings together people from all over the world in peace,” Lyons said.
Beaty runs a business development and market research consulting firm, advising clients on risk analysis in emerging markets. Since 2012, he has served on the President’s Advisory Council at Vassar and has been co-chair since 2016. He also serves as co-chair of the Leadership Council of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center.
Beaty said he has maintained close ties with Vassar ever since he graduated. “Some of my closest friends come from Vassar, and I have always stayed connected to the school,” he said.
Beaty said he was prepared to fill any role on the board that is asked of him but added that he would be particularly committed to engaging in fundraising activities. “Joining the Board adds another level of my commitment to give back to the school,” Beaty said. “I want to foster a broader understanding of what a liberal arts degree provides in the world today.”
De Rosa, who currently serves as Dean of Faculty at Cornell University, holds a PhD in Experimental Psychology from Harvard University and received further training in neuroscience as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University.
De Rosa said she was looking forward to using her background in higher education as she assumes her new role at Vassar. “In addition to academic affairs, I am also looking forward to addressing the College’s financial policies and think strategically about our future,” she said.
De Rosa said she had a personal interest in ensuring Vassar’s future success. “I have a daughter who started at Vassar this year,” she said, “so I’m super excited about that.”