Photo by Elyse Cosgrove
Colgate University’s Board of Trustees has selected Thomas “Toby” S. Bozzuto Jr. ’96, president and chief executive officer of the Bozzuto Group, as its next chair. He will take up the role on July 1, 2024, succeeding Michael J. Herling ’79, P’08,’09,’12 at the end of his term. Herling has served as chair since 2019.
“The partnership that this administration has enjoyed with Mike Herling has been profoundly beneficial for Colgate,” says President Brian W. Casey. “Following Mike’s final year as Board Chair, I look forward to working with Toby and the board to extend our accomplishments further.”
Bozzuto will take up leadership at a dynamic time for the University, which is pursuing a $1 billion campaign to fund initial priorities within the Third-Century Plan. He joined the board in 2016 and has served on the Academic and Faculty Affairs; Capital Assets; Nominating, Governance, and Trustee Development; and Executive committees. He has also served on the University Resources Committee since 2017, first as its vice chair and, since 2019, as chair.
In his work with the Bozzuto Group, Bozzuto provides strategic and day-to-day leadership for more than 3,000 employees across the country and guides future growth of its homebuilding, multifamily development, construction, and management divisions. He joined the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion pledge as well as Catalyst CEO Champions for Change, committing himself to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout all levels of the workplace. In recognition of these efforts, he received the Champion of Immigration Award from the Washington English Center.
In addition to his volunteerism on behalf of Colgate, Bozzuto is a member of M&T Bank’s Directors Advisory Council, a member of the Board of Visitors for the Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center, and an executive committee member of the Policy Advisory Board for the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. He previously served as a gubernatorial appointee to the Maryland Health and Higher Education Facilities Authority.
Bozzuto is a regular guest lecturer at Harvard Business School, Harvard Business School Executive Education program, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Georgetown University, Cornell University, the University of Maryland, and Johns Hopkins University. He connects with Colgate students through frequent engagement with Career Services.
“I am profoundly grateful to my fellow board members for their trust in selecting me as their next chair,” Bozzuto says. “It is an honor to have been chosen, and to have the opportunity to give back to this extraordinary institution that has made such a difference in my life and that of so many others. It is a particular privilege to work alongside President Casey and the board to effectuate his transformative vision for Colgate. I also thank Mike Herling for his continued remarkable leadership — and the example he has set for future chairs.”
Herling has served as board chair during one of the most dynamic periods in University history. His tenure included a review of board governance and restructuring of board committees to facilitate the advancement of the Third-Century Plan and the Plan for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Herling, a winner of the Maroon Citation and the Wm. Brian Little ’64 Award for Distinguished Service to Colgate, joined the Board of Trustees in 2007 and became vice chair in 2015. He has chaired the Athletic Affairs Committee and the Presidential Search Committee that brought President Casey to Colgate. Herling served as a member of the University’s Task Force on Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression. Outside his work with the board, he chaired the Presidents’ Club Membership Committee and served for 10 years on the Alumni Council.
“It has been a privilege to serve as board chair,” says Herling. “I am proud of all we have accomplished together as a university, and I look forward not only to my final year as chair of the Board of Trustees next year, but also to seeing Colgate continue to grow and progress in the years ahead.”
The process to select Herling’s successor, which took more than a year to complete, was led by trustees Nora Gleason Leary ’82 and Becky B. Hurley ’81, P’12,’12.
“Mike’s shoes are certainly hard to fill,” says Leary. “But through a careful, deliberate, and inclusive process, we have found in Toby a confident and capable leader for Colgate’s Board of Trustees. On behalf of the board, I thank them both for their service to Colgate.”