Mai Elected Board Chair

Mai elected board chair

Juilliard marked an important milestone July 1 when trustee Vincent Mai became the new chairman of the board following his unanimous election by fellow board members. At the same time, Bruce Kovner, who had served as board chair for 21 years and six more as a board member, was elected as chairman emeritus.

In making the announcement, President Damian Woetzel noted that Mai has played a key role on the Juilliard board since joining it in 2000. Over the years, he has served on the finance, trusteeship, development, building, Second-Century Fund, and budget committees as well as playing a vital role in the launching of Juilliard’s new Global Council this past year. Mai and his wife, Anne, are devoted aficionados and supporters of music, dance, and theater, Woetzel said, and “their commitment to education and to the arts will be empowering and guiding as we move forward.” As he welcomed Mai, Woetzel thanked Kovner for his devoted service on the board, which he joined in 1995, becoming chairman in 2001.

Mai is the former chair of Sesame Workshop and founding chairman of the International Center for Transitional Justice, and he has also had distinguished service on a range of other boards including the Council on Foreign Relations, the Carnegie Corporation, and the American Academy in Berlin. He has been honored by Fountain House, the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, the Merage Foundation, the Africa-America Institute, the National Child Labor Committee, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organization, and the New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute.

Mai is the chairman and CEO of the Cranemere Group, Ltd., a privately owned holding company he founded in 2012. Prior to that, he was at AEA Investors from 1989 to 2011, becoming chairman in 1998 as well as serving on the boards of many of AEA’s portfolio companies, including Burt’s Bees and Daltile. He’s also engaged in many philanthropic activities in the U.S. and South Africa, where he grew up during the height of apartheid. He was the founding chairman of the International Center for Transitional Justice, which is today the leading institution in the world in the field of transitional justice. He was national fundraising chairman of the South Africa Free Election Fund and also worked with a range of organizations in South Africa promoting educational opportunities for disadvantaged children.

For 20 years, Mai and his wife have co-hosted MusicFest, a chamber music festival in Telluride, Colorado, and the Mai Family Foundation has sponsored the Four Seasons in Music chamber concert series and the intimate salon-style chamber music series Music@MoMA. The foundation has also enriched the chamber music literature through commissions of major works from composers including John Harbison, Kenji Bunch (BM ’95, viola, MM ’97 viola and composition), Andrew Waggoner, and Anna Weesner. Mai was also a board member of the Lark Quartet for 15 years before it disbanded; the quartet included Deborah Buck (BM ’93, violin) and former faculty member Caroline Stinson (MM ’08, Artist Diploma ’10, cello).

Calling Juilliard “a powerhouse of talent and creative energy,” Mai said of his appointment, “it is a privilege to be elected to serve as chairman of the board of trustees of this great institution.”