Princeton names eight new trustees, increasing total trustee count by three

The University announced eight new appointments to its Board of Trustees on June 25, effective Wednesday, July 1. With only five trustees completing their terms — Yolandra Gomez ’88, Naomi Hess ’22, Yan Huo GS ’94, Carol Quillen GS ’91, and Jackie Ying GS ’91 — the additions represent a net expansion of three seats.

The Board of Trustees is Princeton’s top governing body, holding authority over the University’s budget, endowment, real estate, admissions policy, and major institutional decisions. The board now has 40 trustees, which is the maximum allowed by its bylaws.

The board consists of charter trustees, elected by the board itself for six-year terms; term trustees, who are also board-elected but serve for four year terms; 13 alumni trustees, nine elected by the broader alumni body and four — the Young Alumni Trustees — elected annually by the junior and senior classes and the two most recently graduated classes; and two ex officio members, the University president and the governor of New Jersey.

Enzo Kho ’26 was announced as a Young Alumni Trustee in May after defeating Aishwarya Swamidurai ’26 and Jamil Fayad ’26 in the general election. The former USG president grew up in Dumaguete, Philippines, and co-founded a nonprofit connecting rural youth to opportunities across the country before coming to Princeton. 

“I’m super excited — looking forward to it,” Kho told The Daily Princetonian in an interview following the announcement in May.

Two of the three new term trustees have deep ties to Princeton’s campus. James Yeh ’87, who retired as president and co-chief investment officer of Citadel, donated the funds naming Yeh College in 2022 and co-chaired the Venture Forward campaign, which aimed to expand alumni engagement and raise funds. 

Yeh previously served as a term trustee from 2010 to 2014 and a charter trustee from 2015 to 2023 — the second longest total board tenure of any current trustee. His return to the board coincides with the departure of Huo, another residential college namesake, for whom New College West was named in early June.

Thomas Frist III ’91, who joins as the second new term trustee, is chairman of HCA Healthcare and founder of the investment firm Frist Capital. His parents, Thomas Frist Jr. and Patricia Champion Frist, funded the construction of Frist Campus Center in 2001 and provided the gift naming the Frist Health Center. His uncle, Bill Frist ’74, was a young alumni and charter trustee and previously served as Republican majority leader in the Senate.

The third new term trustee, physicist Thomas Rosenbaum GS ’82, is stepping down June 30 as president of the California Institute of Technology after 12 years. Rosenbaum and incoming alumni trustee John Dabiri ’01 give the board two prominent Caltech figures. 

Dabiri is the Centennial Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering at Caltech and received a National Medal of Science in 2025 for work on biological fluid dynamics that has informed wind turbine design. A MacArthur Fellowship recipient, he served as vice president of his Princeton class and sits on the board of Nvidia.

The other new alumni trustee, Katharine Strunk ’99, is dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education and was elected to the National Academy of Education this year. 

Rounding out the incoming group are two charter trustees. Katherine Bradley ’86 is the founder of the D.C. education nonprofit CityBridge, chairs the KIPP Foundation, and previously served on the board for 12 years as an alumni and charter trustee. Kevin Callaghan ’83, a senior adviser at Berkshire Partners, already sits on the PRINCO board of directors.

Frist, Strunk, Bradley, and Dabiri declined to comment. Yeh, Rosenbaum, and Callaghan did not respond to requests for comment. 

Nico David-Fox is a head News editor for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Washington, D.C. and often covers breaking news. He can be reached at ndf[at]dailyprincetonian.com.

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.