Betsy Bernard, CEO to Chair Drew University Advisory Board

Drew University is proud to announce that Betsy Bernard, an accomplished CEO, experienced public company board director, and popular speaker, has been selected chair of the advisory board of the Center on Religion, Culture & Conflict.

As president of AT&T, Bernard led more than 50,000 employees in a $27 billion business that served the needs of four million global business customers. For three consecutive years, Bernard appeared on Fortune magazine’s list of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Business.”

Bernard’s significant board experience spans more than a decade and includes United Technologies, Serco Group plc, and URS. As chair of the public company Telular, she helped deliver a five-year total shareholder return of 350 percent by accelerating the recurring revenue before completing the sale of the firm to Avista Capital in June 2013.

Bernard currently chairs the nominating and governance committees at Principal Financial Group (PFG) and is a member of their compensation committee. She chairs the nominating committee of Zimmer Holdings and serves on their compensation committee. She is the lead director of Single Touch. She also serves on the advisory boards of GroTech Ventures, Innovate Partners, and the Silverfern Group.

Bernard received a BA from St. Lawrence University, an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University, an MS degree in management from Stanford University’s Sloan Fellowship Program, and a doctor of laws (honorary) from Pepperdine University.

“Betsy Bernard’s work embodies all critical components of great leadership. This has been evident throughout her remarkable career,” said Jonathan Golden, associate director of Drew’s CRCC. “The CRCC could not be more thrilled that she is bringing this experience, talent, and skill set to Drew CRCC.”

As platinum sponsors for the inaugural CRCC gala, Betsy and her partner Laurie were key advocates of CRCC’s mission to build peace through scholarly understanding of conflict and through building global partnerships with organizations like the Afghan Girls Financial Assistance Fund.

“I believe in the CRCC’s mission of building global peace through interfaith dialogue. It is an honor to serve as the chair of the center’s advisory board,” Bernard said.

About Drew University’s Center on Religion, Culture & Conflict
Drew’s Center on Religion, Culture & Conflict (CRCC) focuses critical attention on the complex ways in which cultures and religions interact, especially in moments of crisis and conflict, and facilitates scholarly understanding of and conversation about pressing global issues.

Each year, CRCC welcomes scholars and public figures to campus, such as leading Egyptian human rights and democracy activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim; Iranian-American scholar and author of the bestselling book Zealot, Reza Aslan; and Pulitzer Prize–winning New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. For more information, click here.

About Drew University
Drew University is a private, liberal arts university located in Madison, N.J., just 29 miles west of New York City. Ranked among the top liberal arts institutions nationwide by U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, and Washington Monthly, Drew is also listed in Princeton Review’s Best 379 Colleges.

The Drew promise—We Deliver Full-Impact Learning to the World—emphasizes the university’s commitment to borderless education that enables a student’s greatest success in a globally connected world.

Drew has a total student enrollment of more than 2,300 in three schools: the College of Liberal Arts, the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies, and the Drew Theological School. The undergraduate program offers degrees in 30 different disciplines, while Caspersen and the Theological School offer degrees at the master’s and doctoral levels.

Information courtesy of Elizabeth Moore. Photo courtesy of Drew University.