Trustees Select Larry Kanarek ’76 as New Board Chair

Courtesy Larry Kanarek

Brandeis’ Board of Trustees has elected Larry Kanarek ’76 as its new chair. Kanarek took the helm in May, when Perry M. Traquina ’78 concluded his three-year term as board chair.

A trustee since 2010, Kanarek has been closely involved in the life of the university for decades. Most recently, he chaired the presidential-search committee that led to the selection of former Middlebury president Ronald D. Liebowitz as Brandeis’ next president, beginning July 1.

In the 1990s, Kanarek led the development of the strategic plan for Brandeis International Business School (IBS) and sat on the school’s board of overseers. He led the fundraising campaign to establish an endowed scholarship in honor of economics professor emeritus Barney Schwalberg and supported the Joel Friedland ’76 Endowed Study Abroad Scholarship, among other initiatives. Currently, he teaches an IBS class on business strategy with Ben Gomes-Casseres ’76.

“It’s a privilege to have one more way to give back to this institution and community that mean more to me than any other,” said Kanarek after the board vote. 

Currently a private consultant, Kanarek spent 34 years with McKinsey & Company, the global management-consulting firm, before retiring in 2014.

He describes his student experience at Brandeis as nothing short of transformative. “As Brandeis has done for so many other young people, its exceptional faculty, students and values changed the arc of my life,” he says.