Robert J. Finocchio Jr. Elected Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Santa Clara University

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Santa Clara University Board of Trustees elected Robert Finocchio’73, to a three-year term as chairman of the board.

“I look forward to working with Fr. Engh and my fellow trustees to continue to progress to higher levels of academic excellence, building leaders of conscience, competence and compassion.”

Finocchio, a corporate director, venture capitalist and private investor, was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2000 and has served as vice-chair since 2003. He previously served on Santa Clara’s Board of Regents from 1995 to 1999. Finocchio takes the post previously held by A.C. (Mike) Markkula, who is stepping down after two terms as board chair.

“Bob is a man of strong intellect, unquestioned integrity, and great wit. I am pleased with his election as the new board chair and look forward to working closely with him. We have in him a capable leader as we continue striving for ever-greater academic quality as a distinctive Catholic, Jesuit university,” said SCU President Michael Engh, S.J.

A former chairman, president, and CEO of database company Informix, Finocchio is currently a venture partner at Advanced Technology Ventures, as well as a director of three publicly traded and two private technology companies. He serves on the boards of Sun Microsystems, Altera Corporation, and Echelon Corporation and on the board of private companies CaseCentral and Silver-Peak. Since September 2000, he has been a dean’s executive professor at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business.

In addition to serving as chairman, president, and CEO of Informix Corp, Finocchio spent nine years at 3Com Corp. and 10 years at Rolm Corporation.

“As an alum of Santa Clara I am specially honored and humbled to be elected to serve as chair of the board of trustees,” said Finocchio “I look forward to working with Fr. Engh and my fellow trustees to continue to progress to higher levels of academic excellence, building leaders of conscience, competence and compassion.”

Finocchio holds a B.S. (magna cum laude) in economics from Santa Clara University and an MBA (Baker Scholar, with high distinction) from Harvard Business School.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its 8,758 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master’s and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.