Penn names Ramanan Raghavendran as new chair of the board of trustees

The University of Pennsylvania announced Thursday night that Ramanan Raghavendran will become the next chair of the board of trustees effective immediately.

He replaces Scott L. Bok, who stepped down last month along with university president Liz Magill amid a firestorm at Penn over Magill’s testimony before a congressional hearing regarding the university’s actions to address antisemitism.

Raghavendran, 55, who lives in the San Francisco area with his family, is the managing partner and cofounder of Amasia, a global venture capital firm.

He holds three Penn degrees: in economics, computer science and engineering, and liberal arts. He is currently enrolled in Stanford University’s master of liberal arts program.

Raghavendran became a member of the Penn board of trustees in 2014.

“Ramanan has a history of bridging distance to make a lasting difference, whether between places and people or fields of knowledge,” J. Larry Jameson, Penn’s interim president, said in a statement.

Julie Beren Platt, who has been serving as interim board chair, will return to her role as vice chair, the university said.

“Having worked closely with Ramanan as a member of the executive committee, I have seen first-hand his passion for and commitment to Penn. He is someone who listens with intention and invests deeply in relationships,” Platt said.

Raghavendran said in a statement: “I believe great American universities, like the University of Pennsylvania, are the most important repositories of all that defines, and is good and laudable about, our modern civilization. I am honored to take on the role of chair of Penn’s Board of Trustees. I am humbled by the trust reposed in me by my fellow trustees. We are united in supporting the mission of this incredible institution.”

The resignations of Magill and Bok followed Magill’s much-criticized answers at the congressional hearing Dec. 5 when she was questioned regarding whether calling for genocide of Jewish people violates Penn’s rules or code of conduct.

Magill, 57, a legal scholar and former University of Virginia provost, said to Republican Rep. Elise M. Stefanik of New York: “It is a context-dependent decision.”

Though she walked that back in a subsequent video, saying she does view it as harassment or intimidation and vowed to review Penn’s policies, it wasn’t enough to quiet the growing criticism that included harsh comments from the White House, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, more than 70 members of Congress, and others inside and outside Penn.

Magill had been in her job less than 18 months, and her resignation made her tenure the shortest in Penn’s more than 260-year history. She remains a tenured faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.

This week, Harvard University president Claudine Gay also resigned amid plagiarism accusations and criticism over testimony at the same congressional hearing where she was unable to say unequivocally that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school’s conduct policy.

On his personal website, Raghavendran described himself as “a recovering New Yorker who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.”

He added: “I invest in companies that help fight the climate crisis and enhance sustainability, through behavior change.”

He also posted a “bonus photo of my neurotic pooch, Rio.”