Russell L. Carson

Russell L. Carson, Chair Emeritus of the University’s Board of Trustees, has been a dedicated and highly esteemed leader of the Rockefeller University community for nearly 30 years. He first visited Rockefeller when his daughter, Cecily, was a patient at The Rockefeller University Hospital in 1991. His interest in the University’s mission led him to join The Rockefeller University Council in 1993 and the Board of Trustees in 1994. During Mr. Carson’s exceptional tenure as Board Chair from 2005 to 2018, he led Rockefeller through one of the most transformational periods in its history. He spearheaded three successful fundraising campaigns that have raised nearly $2 billion, oversaw a significant expansion of the University’s research programs, participated in the recruitment of 25 faculty members and three presidents, and was instrumental in the creation of the Collaborative Research Center and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation—David Rockefeller River Campus.

Mr. Carson is Chairman of The Carson Family Charitable Trust, a private foundation he and his immediate family established in 1991. The foundation is focused on New York City and supports nonprofit organizations in the fields of education, poverty relief, healthcare, medical science, and culture. Mr. Carson is currently Chairman of the Partnership for Inner-City Education, Co-Chairman of the New York Genome Center, Trustee Emeritus of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a Trustee of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and a Director of the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum. He is also Chairman Emeritus of Columbia Business School and a Trustee Emeritus of Dartmouth College.

Mr. Carson is a Founding Partner of Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS), one of the country’s largest private equity firms. Since 1979 WCAS has raised 17 limited partnerships with total capital in excess of $25 billion. Mr. Carson led the firm’s healthcare investment practice for many years.

After attending public high school in Toledo, Ohio, Mr. Carson went on to receive a B.A. degree in Economics from Dartmouth College in 1965 and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School in 1967. He received an honorary degree from Dartmouth College in 2015.