New University of Memphis board selects Alan Graf as first chairman
Alan B. Graf Jr., chief financial officer with FedEx Corp., was selected as the chairman of an independent University of Memphis board at the body’s firstever formal meeting on March 17.
“To my fellow trustees, I just want you to know how humbled and extremely honored I am that you’ve got confidence in me to take on this role,” Graf said. “And I promise you I will give it 100 percent for the two-year term.”
Former interim university president Brad Martin was named vice-chairman and university counsel Melanie Murry was named acting secretary.
The board members went on to approve a list of staffers for tenure and promotion and to create new doctorallevel programs in nursing. They also approved bylaws and set up three standing committees: academic research and student success, governance and finance and audit.
The meeting represents greater autonomy for the University of Memphis, which was formerly governed under the Tennessee Board of Regents. The gathering at the University Center ballroom was attended by notables including Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, who backed the Focus Act, the law that gave the University of Memphis and several other state universities their own boards.
After the meeting, the governor said the creation of a local board gives the university greater control of its own destiny. “You’re going to have a board of directors who’s focused on the University of Memphis, rather than under the old system, where the Tennessee Board of Regents had six four-year schools, and all the community colleges, and all the colleges of applied technology.
“This board is going to focus just on the University of Memphis.” Each day they’ll wake up thinking “How do we make this a great university?” the governor said.
The board would still have to coordinate with state authorities on financing issues.
Like Haslam, University President M. David Rudd called the independent board a historic step. “It allows not only for us to do innovative things, move at a quicker pace, be far more flexible, but it really allows us to do exactly what you saw, even in this brief meeting: Focus specifically on the University of Memphis, and the unique, independent needs of the University of Memphis that serve the greater community and the state of Tennessee,” he said. “We’re still a part of Tennessee higher education, but this allows us to focus more specifically on our needs here.”
In addition to Graf and Martin, the retired CEO of Saks Inc., the board members are:
» Douglas Edwards, senior advisor at BBH Capital Partners and former CEO of Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc.
» Marvin Ellison, CEO and board chairman of J.C. Penney Co.
» Cato Johnson, senior vice president of public policy and regulatory affairs for Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare.
» David North, president and CEO for Sedgwick Claims Management Services.
» Carol Roberts, retired chief financial officer for International Paper Co.
» Susan Springfield, executive vice president and chief credit officer for First Horizon National Corporation.
» Katharine Schaffzin, a University of Memphis law professor.
» Jared Moses will serve as a non-voting student representative.
Reporter Tom Schad contributed to this story.
Reach reporter Daniel Connolly at 529-5296, daniel.connolly@commercialappeal.com or Twitter @danielconnolly.