Joseph Neubauer Elected Chairman of the Barnes Foundation Board of Trustees
Philadelphia —The Board of Trustees of the Barnes Foundation announces that Joseph Neubauer has been elected Chairman. Mr. Neubauer has served on the Barnes Foundation board since 2005, and as Vice Chairman since 2008. Dr. Bernard C. Watson has been elected Chairman Emeritus and will continue as an active trustee and board member. Aileen Kennedy Roberts, who has served on the board since 2005 was elected Vice Chair. Ms. Roberts has led the Foundation’s Buildings, Grounds, and Planning Committee from the beginning of the Parkway campus project. Daniel M. DiLella, President and CEO of Equus Capital Partners, Limited has been elected to the Board of Trustees, upon nomination by Lincoln University.
Dr. Bernard C. Watson said, “It has been an honor and a privilege to serve on the Barnes Board and I am proud of what we have been able to accomplish during the last 15 years. On behalf of all the Board I want to thank Joe Neubauer who has agreed to serve as Chairman and Aileen Roberts who will serve as Vice Chair of the Barnes Foundation’s Board of Trustees. These outstanding individuals have a proven commitment and deep knowledge of the Barnes. Both were intimately involved in enabling the Barnes to have a solid financial foundation, building the new building, and making it the successful institution that it is today. I look forward to continuing our work together to strengthen the positive impact of the Barnes Foundation and build on our growth and success.”
“Dr. Watson has led the Barnes Foundation through some of its greatest challenges and many achievements during his tenure as chairman, including the completion of the building campaign and our new campus in Philadelphia,” said Joe Neubauer. “The board and staff join me in thanking him for his service and for his leadership in transforming the Barnes into the viable and financially-stable organization it is today. As we continue the work to make the Barnes the world-class educational institution the founder intended, Dr. Watson has agreed to remain on the board and I am grateful for his wise counsel and continued support. I would also like to welcome our new board member Daniel M. DiLella. Mr. DiLella has extensive board and business experience as well as a strong commitment to our community. I look forward to his help in shaping the future of the Barnes.”
Joseph Neubauer is Chairman of the Board of ARAMARK, a provider of professional services including food, hospitality, facility and uniform services. The company has 250,000 employees serving 22 countries around the world. In addition to his position as Chairman of the Barnes he is Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Chicago. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Macy’s Inc. and Verizon Communications. He previously served on the Board of Tufts University and The Philadelphia Orchestra Association. Mr. Neubauer has been recognized throughout his career for civic and professional achievement. He received the 2012 Philadelphia Award in recognition of his civic involvement in the region and will receive the William Penn Foundation award this year. In 2007, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society. In 2005, he received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship. Mr. Neubauer was inducted into the prestigious Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans in 1994, has served as its President, Chairman, and currently serves that organization as Chairman Emeritus. Mr. Neubauer received his undergraduate degree from Tufts University and his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago.
Aileen Kennedy Roberts is Vice Chair of the Barnes Foundation Board of Trustees and the head of the Barnes’s Buildings, Grounds and Planning Committee. A philanthropic leader in the Philadelphia area, she has committed her time, energy, and vision to education, design, and the arts in the region for more than twenty years.
Mrs. Roberts was a leading force in creating Project Home's Honickman Learning Center and Comcast Technology Labs, a comprehensive education and literacy center in North Philadelphia. She was an overseer at the William Penn Charter School, and has served on the boards of The Franklin Institute, Avenue of the Arts, International House Philadelphia, and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She is currently an advisor to Year Up, an organization that provides young adults with professional skills and work experience while they pursue a college degree.
For her leadership in bringing the Barnes Foundation to Center City and her service to the community, Mrs. Roberts was a recipient in 2012 of the Philadelphia Award, an honor given each year to a citizen of greater Philadelphia in recognition of major contributions to civic life. In 2013 she was honored with the inaugural Paul Philippe Cret Award from AIA Philadelphia, recognizing her contributions to design excellence in the city.
A graduate of the Design School of North Carolina State University with a degree in Landscape Architecture, Mrs. Roberts was a banker in the investment management and trust divisions of CoreStates, now Wells Fargo, prior to starting her family. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband, Brian, and has three children.
Bernard C. Watson is Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of the Barnes Foundation. Until 2004, he was a Presidential Scholar at Temple University, an appointment made following his retirement at the end of 1993 as President and Chief Executive Officer of the William Penn Foundation. He assumed that position in 1981 after a distinguished career as an educator, in which he served as a teacher and administrator in the public schools in Indiana, Deputy Superintendent of the Philadelphia public schools, Professor of Urban Studies and Urban Education, and Academic Vice President of Temple University.
A veteran of the Korean War, he enlisted in the Air Force as a Basic Airman in 1951 and was discharged as a First Lieutenant in 1954. In 1967, he was appointed by President Lyndon Baines Johnson to the National Council on Education Professions Development. In 1980, he was appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the National Council on Educational Research. In 1994, he was appointed by President Clinton to the President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He served as Senior Vice Chairman of the Board of the National Urban League for 13 years.
He has served on numerous other boards and commissions, including the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, the Public Interest Law Center, and the National Urban Coalition. He was Vice Chairman of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Secretary of the New Jersey State Aquarium, and Chairman of the Board of Philadelphia's Avenue of the Arts, Inc, and from 1994 until 1997, he served as Chairman of the Board of the Healthcare Management Alternatives (HMA) Foundation.
Dr. Watson served on the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority Board for 16 years, 14 years as Vice Chairman and two years as Chairman. He served on six corporate boards including First Fidelity Bancorp, the Philadelphia Contributionship Companies and Comcast Corporation. He was a member of the United Negro College Fund's Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute Advisory Committee and served on the board of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund USA, Inc.
Dr. Watson is the author of three books, 11 monographs, chapters in 31 books, and 33 articles in professional journals. He is the recipient of more than 100 major awards including the prestigious Philadelphia Award in 2001. He is also the recipient of 23 honorary degrees, and is a member of the American Philosophical Society. In his honor, Temple University arranged an annual cash prize for the best social science dissertation and furnished a graduate seminar room named for him. The University established the endowed Bernard C. Watson Chair in Urban Education. In 2005, a school was named in his honor by the Gary, Indiana Board of Education. Dr. Watson earned his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago.
Daniel M. DiLella is a principal of Equus Capital Partners serving as the firm's President and Chief Executive Officer. Under Mr. DiLella's leadership, Equus has grown to become a multi-faceted national real estate investment company with expertise in development, investment, property management and asset management. Mr. DiLella's career as a real estate specialist spans nearly four decades and includes experience in all types of real estate investment and developments throughout the United States. Prior to joining Equus, Mr. DiLella was Vice President of Girard Bank in Philadelphia, where he had a 10-year career in the Commercial Real Estate Department as a lender and a member of the asset recovery team. Mr. DiLella recently funded the establishment of the Daniel M. DiLella Center for Real Estate at the Villanova University School of Business. He is a member of the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Real Estate Advisory Council of Villanova University.
Mr. DiLella is a Trustee of the Cahill Trust and Chair of the Advisory Board of Roman Catholic High School. He also serves on the Boards of the Drexel University Real Estate Advisory Council, the Committee of Seventy, National Italian American Foundation, The Central Philadelphia Development Corporation, the Barnes Foundation, NHS Human Services, and the Philly Pops. Mr. DiLella previously served as the President of The Union League of Philadelphia, and is currently the Chairman of the Scholarship Foundation at the League. Previous board appointments include the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Battleship New Jersey, and the Philadelphia Police Foundation. Mr. DiLella is the recipient of the St. Thomas of Villanova Alumni Medal and the Villanova Bartley Alumni Medallion.
Mr. DiLella holds an M.B.A from St. Joseph's University and a B.S. in Finance from Villanova University.
The Board of Trustees of the Barnes Foundation
Mr. Joseph Neubauer, Chairman
Ms. Aileen Kennedy Roberts, Vice Chair
Dr. Bernard C. Watson, Chairman Emeritus
The Honorable Jacqueline F. Allen, Secretary
Stephen J. Harmelin, Esq, Treasurer
Sheldon M. Bonovitz, Esq.
Ms. Tory Burch
Mr. Daniel M. DiLella
Mr. André V. Duggin
Dr. Ernest C. Levister, Jr.
Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad
Mr. Neil L. Rudenstine
Dr. Brenda T. Thompson
Mr. Thomas K. Whitford
About the Barnes Foundation
The Barnes Foundation was established by Albert C. Barnes in 1922 to "promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts and horticulture." The Barnes has one of the finest collections of post-impressionist and early modern paintings, with extensive holdings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Henri Rousseau, Amedeo Modigliani, Chaim Soutine, and Giorgio de Chirico; American masters Charles Demuth, William Glackens, Horace Pippin, and Maurice Prendergast; old master paintings; African sculpture; Native American ceramics, jewelry, and textiles; American paintings and decorative arts; and antiquities from the Mediterranean and Asia.
The Barnes Foundation's Art and Aesthetics programs engage diverse audiences. These programs, on-site, online, and in Philadelphia communities, advance the mission through progressive interdisciplinary teaching and learning.
In May 2012, the Barnes Foundation opened a new facility on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. The Philadelphia campus is home to the Foundation’s world-famous art collection and changing exhibitions in its 5,000-square-foot Roberts Gallery. Currently on view through April 21, 2014 is Yinka Shonibare MBE: Magic Ladders.
The Barnes Arboretum in Merion contains more than 2,000 varieties of trees and woody plants, including 31 state champion trees. Founded in the 1880s by Joseph Lapsley Wilson and expanded under the direction of Laura Barnes, the collection includes a fern-leaf beech (Fagus sylvatica 'Laciniata'), a dove tree (Davidia involucrata), a monkey-puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana), and a redwood (Sequoia sempervirens). Other important living collections include lilacs, peonies, Stewartias, and magnolias. Inaugurated in 1940 by Mrs. Barnes, the Arboretum School offers a comprehensive three-year certificate course in botanical science, horticultural practice, garden aesthetics, and design. The Foundation’s archives are also located at the Merion campus.
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For more information
Jan Rothschild, Senior Vice President for Communications
Andrew Stewart, Director of Public Relations
215.278.7160, press@barnesfoundation.org
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