Administrative News: Chief of Staff
June 3, 2022
Dear Members of the Brandeis Community,
I am pleased to announce that Meredith Ainbinder will join the University as the chief of staff and senior advisor to the president starting June 27, succeeding Bill O’Reilly, who has held the role since 2018. For nearly four years, Bill has provided invaluable strategic and analytic support to me in service of the University’s mission, and he will be missed. His last day with Brandeis is June 30.
Meredith brings with her a deep familiarity with the effective operation of highly complex organizations, and the University will be fortunate to benefit from her expertise. As current vice president and general counsel at Emerson College, she is the chief legal officer for the institution, providing legal guidance and direction on governance, risk management, and institutional priorities, among other areas directly relevant to higher education. She also advises the Board and collaborates with senior leadership to provide support for a number of critical operations including Title IX compliance, labor and employment practices, institutional advancement, and matters related to the faculty.
Before her time at Emerson, she held a number of roles and leadership positions in the legal field, including as senior in-house litigation counsel at Osram Sylvania, where she advised senior management. She has also been a member of the Board of Directors of the Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts for more than a decade and has served a term as president in recent years.
We look forward to welcoming Meredith in the coming weeks. In the meantime, please join me in thanking Bill for all he has done for Brandeis and wishing him the best for his next chapter in retirement.
Sincerely,
Ron