Carnegie Institution of Washington

For Immediate Release

Contact Susanne Garvey, Director of External Affairs, 202 939-1128, e-mail sgarvey@ciw.edu, or Tina McDowell in the Carnegie Publications Office 202-939-1120, e-mail tmcdowell@ciw.edu

Michael Gellert Elected Chairman of the Carnegie Institution Board

Washington, D.C., May 5, 2003. Michael Erwin Gellert, a partner in the private investment company Windcrest Partners in New York City, was elected chairman of the board of the Carnegie Institution of Washington Friday, May 2. “I’m honored to succeed Tom Urban as chairman and I’m particularly looking forward to working with Carnegie’s new president Richard Meserve,” remarked Gellert. “Carnegie scientists thrived under the leadership of Urban and retired president Maxine Singer with consistently novel and highly productive research,” he continued. “Dick Meserve and I are committed to continuing our 100-year-old tradition of scientific excellence and innovation.” Tom Urban, formerly chairman and CEO of Pioneer Hi-Bred, will remain an active board member after finishing his eleven-year term as board chair.

Gellert, who has been a Carnegie trustee since December 1995, was born in Czechoslovakia in 1931. He received his B.A. from Harvard University and his M.B.A from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He started his financial career in 1958 following a two-year service in the U.S. Army. In 1967, he created Windcrest Partners. He and his wife, Mary, have two grown children and live in Greenwich, Connecticut.

“ Mike Gellert and I have worked together as Carnegie board members,” said Carnegie president Richard Meserve. “I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with him to continue Carnegie's tradition of first-rank scientific research.”

Gellert serves on the boards of numerous companies, including Devon Energy Corp., Humana Inc., Seacor Smit, Inc., Six Flags, and Smith Barney World Funds. Among his many affiliations, he is also chairman of the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, New York, vice chairman of the Board of the New School for Social Research in New York City, a trustee of Human Rights Watch, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The Carnegie Institution is headquartered in Washington, D.C. Andrew Carnegie founded it in 1902 as his “institution for discovery.” It is an endowed, independent, nonprofit organization engaged in basic scientific research and advanced education at six departments, which investigate plant biology, developmental biology, earth and planetary sciences, astronomy, and global ecology. The Carnegie board of trustees is a self-elected group of leaders in business, science, education, and public service, and oversees Carnegie’s operations.

Carnegie’s six departments are located around the county. The Department of Terrestrial Magnetism and Geophysical Laboratory are located in Washington, D.C. The Department of Embryology is in Baltimore, Maryland, on the Johns Hopkins University campus. The Departments of Plant Biology and Global Ecology are located on the Stanford University campus in California; and The Observatories is based in Pasadena, California, with an observatory in Las Campanas, Chile.