Brandeis Magazine

Jeffrey Flier, P’00, P’11, of Newton, Mass.; Leonard C. Goodman, of Chicago; Ron Kaiserman ’63, P’07, of Philadelphia; Olaf Olafsson ’85 of New York City; and Cynthia Shapira of Pittsburgh were welcomed to the university’s Board of Trustees this spring, elected to four-year terms.

Also joining the board as ex officio members are incoming Board of Fellows Chair Joyce Krasnow, P’83, of Edwards, Colo., and new Brandeis National Committee President Barbara Sander, of Lakewood Ranch, Fla., the former president of the organization’s Sarasota and St. Louis chapters.

“I am thrilled to welcome this distinguished group to the Board of Trustees,” President Frederick Lawrence says. “They will each bring a valuable set of expertise and experiences to our board and enhance Brandeis’ position as an elite liberal-arts research university.”

Before becoming dean of Harvard Medical School in 2007, Flier held a variety of positions at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, including serving as chief academic officer. An endocrinologist, he is regarded as an authority on the molecular causes of obesity and diabetes.

Goodman has practiced law for more than 20 years, winning major criminal cases at every level of the Illinois state and federal court systems. After beginning his career at Jenner & Block, he left to establish his own practice as well as undertake pro bono defense work.

Kaiserman is a partner at the Kaiserman Co., the real estate acquisition, development and management firm his father founded in the 1920s, which manages office, commercial and residential properties in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. Kaiserman also founded and serves as president of an affiliated real estate firm, Shiramax. Along with his late brother Ken ’60, he established the Kevy and Hortense Kaiserman Chair in the Humanities in honor of his parents, who were among the visionaries who helped found Brandeis.

Olafsson serves as executive vice president of international and corporate strategy at Time Warner, where he is a strategic adviser on digital and international matters, and oversees an investment fund for new ventures. He has also authored four critically acclaimed novels and a collection of short stories (see the Q&A with him on page 24).

Shapira serves as secretary on the board of trustees of the Jewish Federations of North America. She is also development chair for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh and sits on the board of several organizations, including the Jewish Agency for Israel and the United Way of Allegheny County.