Dan Blue will likely be named chair of the Board of Trustees at the body's May meeting, according to an official with knowledge of the situation who wished to remain anonymous. Blue, Law '73, would be the Board's first black chair.
The Board will formally elect its chair at its May meeting. Current Chair Robert Steel, Trinity '73, will retire in June.
A lawyer and member of the N.C. House of Representatives, Blue currently serves as the co-vice chair of the Board of Trustees along with Richard Wagoner, former General Motors chief executive officer. Blue was elected to the Board of Trustees in 1995, and his term expires in 2011. Wagoner's term expires in 2013.
Ascension by a vice-chair has been common in recent years.
Steel served as vice-chair from 2000 to 2005. Peter Nicholas, Trinity '64, was Steel's co-vice chair from 2000 until 2003, when he was named chair of the Board. Harold "Spike" Yoh, Engineering '58, served as chair from 2000 to 2003, having previously served as vice chair.
President Richard Brodhead has not disclosed whom he anticipates would become the next chair. He has emphasized, however, that he has shared numerous conversations with all the Trustees, and indicated that all would be worthy of the position.
"Duke is extraordinarily fortunate in the quality of its Board of Trustees and in their unqualified devotion to this place," he said during a January interview.
Blue would be the second North Carolina native in a row to be named chair; Steel grew up in Durham just off East Campus. Blue went to college a few miles away, graduating from North Carolina Central University in 1970 and from the Duke University School of Law in 1973. The men's politics also might be similar: Federal Election Commission records show that Steel donated to Blue's Senate campaign in 2002. Steel also donated to Blue's opponent, Erskine Bowles, to whom he lost in the primary.
Despite their common Carolina roots, Steel and Blue's backgrounds diverge from there. Steel comes from the corporate world, residing in Connecticut and having served as Treasury undersecretary and as CEO of Wachovia while chair of the Board. Blue is based in Raleigh, and he is a Democratic member of the North Carolina state House of Representatives and a partner at Blue, Stephens & Fellers law firm.
For three years after his law school graduation, Blue worked in the law offices of former Duke president and Gov. Terry Sanford. In his three decades in politics, he has worked for financial solvency and put safeguards in the state budget as speaker of the N.C. House.
He became the first black speaker of a Southern state House in 1991, before Republicans took control in 1994. Five years later, Blue lost the Democratic nomination for speaker. In an attempt to regain the position, he was nominated by Republicans and a group of black Democrats, but he lost by one vote.
Financial interests are likely to be at the forefront of discussions among Trustees, who are the keepers of the pursestrings in directing Duke University Management Co. Immediately, the Trustees will have to respond to the economy, as the University faces a $125 million University budget shortfall and sizable losses to the endowment. The Trustees therefore will need to reconcile leaner budgets with the reality that more students will likely need financial aid and more patients will need community-sponsored care.
Steel brought a wealth of professional knowledge on this matter. Blue also has experience in this arena, serving as chair of the Business and Finance Committee and as a member of the Audit Committee.
Steel's successor will be the third chair with whom Brodhead will have worked. Steel succeeded Nicholas in 2005, and also helped pick Brodhead to become Duke's ninth president in 2003, although he noted that he was "one among equals" on the 19-member presidential search committee.
"[Nicholas and Steel] have different temperaments; I have had very close relationships with both of them.... And I'm sure I will with Bob's successor," Brodhead said during a January interview.
Blue led the regular review of Brodhead's first three years as president in 2007. The committee recommended reappointment at the Trustees' December 2007 meeting.
Steel was not immediately available for comment Sunday, and Blue did not respond to an interview request last week. In a previous interview, Steel said he considered the focus on student experience and programming-counting the Financial Aid Initiative and DukeEngage among them-to be the greatest achievements of his tenure. He also pointed to strategically refreshing leadership as a highlight and an indication of a renewed commitment to education.
Steel said he had enjoyed being chair, but referred to the regular change in leadership as "a good thing."
"There will be some things that are consistent, and some things that are being interpreted by fresh eyes," Steel said in an interview in February. He added that he hopes to find other ways to be involved apart from the Board. "It's like the Ecclesiastical proverb, time for every season."
In addition to Steel, Trustees Christine Durham, Law '71, James Vincent, Engineering '61, Cookie Kohn, Woman's College '60, and Rusty Williams, Grad '77 and Med '78, will retire this year.
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