Louis Gerstner Elected Chairman of Broad Institute Board of Directors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Broad Institute today announced that renowned business leader Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. will become the next chairman of the Broad Institute’s Board of Directors. Mr. Gerstner served as CEO and chairman of the board of IBM Corporation from 1993 to 2002. He is widely recognized as the chief architect of the company’s transformation, reinventing both its organization and its culture.

“Lou is an extraordinary leader and I am thrilled that he will be leading our board”

Mr. Gerstner succeeds outgoing Broad Institute chair Diana Chapman Walsh, who will continue to serve on the board, assuming the role of vice chair.

“Lou is an extraordinary leader and I am thrilled that he will be leading our board,” said Broad Institute Director and President Eric Lander. “I am also deeply grateful to Diana for her exceptional service as our inaugural board chair. Her extraordinary leadership has been crucial to the success of the Broad Institute.”

Following his leadership of IBM, Mr. Gerstner served as chairman of The Carlyle Group. Prior to joining IBM, he was chairman and CEO of RJR Nabisco, Inc.

The Broad Institute’s Board of Directors brings together world-class leaders from science, law, education and business. These distinguished individuals serve as wise and effective stewards of the institute, helping to drive the transformation of medicine that lies at the heart of the institute’s mission. Mr. Gerstner was elected to the Broad Institute board in 2010.

“The Broad is at the forefront of truly remarkable advances in the world of biomedical research, technology and innovation,” said Mr. Gerstner. “It is an amazing organization and I look forward to serving in this new role.”

In addition to his significant business achievements, Mr. Gerstner has also been a tireless advocate of improving K-12 education in the U.S., launching initiatives aimed at setting high academic standards and improving teacher and student performance.

“This is a time of breathtaking possibility for genomic medicine and it is a joy to support the Broad Institute’s brilliant investigators as they create a new future,” said outgoing Broad Institute chair Diana Chapman Walsh. “I look forward with pleasure to Lou’s leadership and to working with him to continue enabling an exceptional board to bring its very best to a truly unique institution.”

About the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard was founded in 2003 to empower this generation of creative scientists to transform medicine with new genome-based knowledge. The Broad Institute seeks to describe all the molecular components of life and their connections; discover the molecular basis of major human diseases; develop effective new approaches to diagnostics and therapeutics; and disseminate discoveries, tools, methods and data openly to the entire scientific community.

Founded by MIT, Harvard and its affiliated hospitals, and the visionary Los Angeles philanthropists Eli and Edythe L. Broad, the Broad Institute includes faculty, professional staff and students from throughout the MIT and Harvard biomedical research communities and beyond, with collaborations spanning over a hundred private and public institutions in more than 40 countries worldwide. For further information about the Broad Institute, go to www.broadinstitute.org.