Debra Black and Ajit Jain elected to Board of Trustees

by JOSEPH BONNER

Debra Black, co-founder of the Melanoma Research Alliance, and Ajit Jain, president of the Reinsurance and Specialty Risk Division at Berkshire Hathaway Group, are the newest members of Rockefeller University’s Board of Trustees. They were elected to the board on March 10.

Ms. Black, a melanoma survivor, and her husband, Leon Black, founded the Melanoma Research Alliance in 2007 to accelerate progress toward a cure for this disease, which is the sixth most common cancer in the United States. Ms. Black serves as chair of the Alliance’s Board of Trustees.

Ms. Black is also a Broadway producer. Her productions include two Tony Award winners: The History Boys and August: Osage County. She currently serves on the boards of Lincoln Center Theater, The Living Room for Artists and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Ms. Black holds a B.A. in English from Barnard College and resides in Manhattan with her husband. They have four children.

“Russ Carson’s leadership of the board is compelling, and I have a deep respect for the important work done at Rockefeller,” says Ms. Black. “Since we launched the Melanoma Research Alliance, I have come to appreciate and respect the biology underneath melanoma and other cancers.”

Mr. Jain was born and raised in India, and he received an engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology. He then worked for IBM in Bombay, India, before attending Harvard Business School for an M.B.A. Upon graduation, he joined McKinsey & Co. in New York. Since 1986, Mr. Jain has led the reinsurance division of Berkshire’s National Indemnity Co., Berkshire’s most profitable business.

Warren Buffett, chairman and C.E.O. of Berkshire Hathaway, has described Mr. Jain as a “superstar.” Shortly after Mr. Jain’s arrival at Berkshire Hathaway, Mr. Buffett put him in charge of National Indemnity’s small and struggling reinsurance operation, which provides insurance for insurance companies. Today, with a staff of just 30 people, the reinsurance division has become a giant, setting records for transaction size in several areas of insurance.

“It was a great honor to be asked to join Rockefeller University’s Board of Trustees, and I look forward to the privilege of working with such an illustrious group,” says Mr. Jain. “While it is clear that I can learn much more from my fellow trustees than they can from me, I will make every effort possible to help facilitate the groundbreaking work of the institution and its staff.”