The Board of Trustees announced last Thursday that alumnus Larry Kanarek ’76 has been elected as the next chair of the Board. According to a press release provided to the Justice on Thursday, Kanarek will begin the position on May 22, the same day as commencement.

He will succeed the current chair, Perry Traquina ’78, who has served in the position since 2013. According to the statement, Traquina will still remain on as a member of the Board.

Kanarek joined the Board of Trustees since 2010 and also served as head of the presidential search committee that elected Ronald Liebowitz as the next University president last semester.

“As Brandeis has done for so many other young people, its exceptional faculty, students and values changed the arc of my life,” Kanarek is quoted as saying in the press release. “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.”

Traquina mentioned both Kanarek’s experience and deep commitment to Brandeis as deciding factors in the selection. “Larry embodies the best of what a Brandeis education instills: a thirst for lifelong learning, a search for the truth, and a drive to help others,” Traquina said.

Interim President Lisa Lynch is also quoted in the press release as saying, “Larry is passionate about Brandeis. He is an inspired and strategic thinker whose leadership skills will strengthen our ability to seize opportunities as well as weather challenges in this increasingly complex world.”

Lynch also thanked Perry for his service as chair, writing, “We are fortunate to have had his steady leadership over these past three years, and I am particularly grateful for his support over this past year while I have served as Interim President.”

According to his Board of Trustees profile on the Brandeis website, Kanarek is a retired senior director at McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm for businesses, governments and non-governmental organizations, where he worked for 34 years before retiring in 2014. He is currently a private consultant and has spent decades working with the University in various fields and positions. In the 1990s, Kanarek worked with the International Business School, both as a member of the Board of Overseers and in leading the development of the strategic plan for IBS. He also served as the chair of the fundraising campaign to create the Barney Schwalberg Endowed Scholarship in honor of his former Economics professor at Brandeis.

Kanarek graduated summa cum laude from Brandeis with a degree in economics and later attended Harvard Business School.