Knox College Elects New Trustees, Board Leadership

The Knox College Board of Trustees elected new members and and a new board chair, effective July 1.

Richard Riddell '72 was elected board chair. Riddell is vice president and special assistant to the president at Duke University. He joined the Knox board in 2007. Riddell succeeds Dushan "Duke" Petrovich, a 1974 Knox graduate and retired president of William Wrigley, Jr. Company, who was elected trustee emeritus.

"Richard Riddell's professional experience and deep knowledge of Knox have well prepared him to take on this leadership position," Petrovich said. "I am confident that he will provide strong leadership as Knox continues to meet the goals set forth in the Knox 2018 strategic plan."

Riddell earned his bachelor's degree in theatre at Knox in 1972 and a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1978. At Duke, he serves as chief of staff to the president and liaison between the university and the board of trustees. A member of the Duke faculty since 1992, he is the Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans Professor of the Practice in Theater Studies. Before coming to Duke, he was an administrator and faculty member in theatre at Harvard University and the University of California, San Diego. Riddell won both a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for lighting design for the 1985 Broadway production of "Big River," and a Knox College Alumni Achievement Award in 1986.

The board elected four new trustees. Carol Bovard Craig '89, Susan Haerr Zucker '78, and Jan Koran '71 will join the Board as general trustees, while Helen Haiching Lin '93 was elected as an alumni trustee. In addition, John Sauter '63 was appointed to a seat on the board as past president of the Alumni Council.

A native of Galesburg, Illinois, Carol Bovard Craig is founder and president of Craig Technologies Aerospace and Defense Manufacturing Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Craig graduated from Knox College in 1989 through a dual degree program, receiving a BA in computer science from Knox and a BS in computer science engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She earned an MS from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Florida Institute of Technology.

After graduating from Knox, Craig served as a U.S. Naval Flight Officer, and in 1999 she founded Craig Technologies, a custom engineering, prototype development and technical support company that employs approximately 400 associates in 20 locations. Craig received a Knox College Alumni Achievement Award in 2009, was one of four finalists for 2015 National Small Business Person of the Year Award, and is the founder of the Danny Craig Foundation, which supports research in childhood diseases.

Susan Haerr Zucker is Vice President and General Counsel of City Real Estate Incorporated, of Chicago. Zucker received her BA from Knox in economics and business administration in 1978 and a law degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1981. Concentrating in the areas of land use and zoning law, she worked for a private law firm in Chicago, then for the City of Chicago Law Department. In 1999 she joined City Real Estate Incorporated, operated with her husband Paul A. Zucker, company president and a 1978 Knox graduate.

At Knox, Zucker and her husband established the Hirsch-Zucker Endowed Fund for Non-Profit Internships, which supports Knox students participating in internships with non-profit organizations. She has served on the Knox College Alumni Council and Annual Fund Steering Committee, as Chair of the Alumni Achievement Award Selection Committee and as an Alumni Trustee from 2005-2009.

Jan Koran graduated from Knox College in 1971 with a degree in political science and earned a law degree from Northwestern University School of Law in 1978. Koran was a partner in the Chicago office of McDermott, Will and Emery, and then later served as General Counsel to the YMCA of America.

Koran served as an Admission, Advancement and Career Development volunteer for Knox, and she received a Knox Service Award in 1993. She joined the Board of Trustees as a general trustee in 1995 and served as board chair from 2006 to 2012. Generous gifts from Koran and her husband Steven Handler have made possible the Koran-Handler Fitness Studio in the E. & L. Andrew Fitness Center and the Evelyn Handler Forum in Alumni Hall.

Born in Shanghai and raised in Illinois, Helen Haiching Lin is director of product management with Markit, a global financial information services firm. After immigrating to the United States with her parents in middle school, she attended the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. She earned a bachelor's degree in economics at Knox in 1994, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Starting her career with the Boston Consulting Group, Lin worked as a consultant in the technology, financial services, consumer products, and retail industries, prior to joining Markit. For the past few years, she has worked with the Bastian Family Career Center at Knox to establish an internship at Markit for Knox students, and she was actively involved with the College's Campaign Advisory Committee.

John Sauter '63, replaces Joyce Hertko '82, who served on the board for the past two years in a seat designated for the past president of the Alumni Council.

In addition to Petrovich, two other board members, Tom Reilly '68, and George "Iggy" Matkov '64, were elected emeritus trustees. Reilly, a retired financial services consultant, and Matkov, a retired attorney in Chicago, both joined the board in 1997.