At its May meeting, RISD’s Board of Trustees voted in six new members and approved new bylaws that extend the terms of Board officers from one to three years, which leaves the current slate of officers intact through 2012.

Board Chair Merrill W. Sherman, president and CEO of Bancorp Rhode Island, Inc., was originally elected to the Board in 2000, served as Board secretary from 2002–04, vice chair from 2004–06 and was elected to the top post in 2007. That year she also led the Presidential Search Committee that selected John Maeda as president. In addition to her commitment to RISD, she is a director of the Providence Journal Company and serves on the boards of the Providence Foundation, the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, Johnson & Wales University and Crossroads Rhode Island.

Vice Chairs Stuart Murphy ’64 IL and Philip E. Tobey BArch ’66 have each been active members of the Board for a number of years, and in addition to adding alumni voices to discussions at the highest level, they contribute their own disparate professional perspectives. Stu, an accomplished author and nationally recognized visual learning expert, has served as a trustee since 1993, was elected vice chair in 2004 and chaired the Academic Affairs Committee from 2001–04 and the Institutional Advancement Committee from 1996–2000.

Phil, a senior vice president of the Washington, DC-based architecture, planning and interior design firm SmithGroup, Inc., is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a member of the AIA’s National Academy on Architecture for Health and a founder and fellow of the American College of Hospital Architects. He has served as a trustee since 1992, was vice chair from 2000–04, secretary from 2004–06 and is now a vice chair again. Together with Board secretary Kate Rittmann, vice president for marketing and client services at Rittmann Capital Management Company in Orinda, CA, the officers look forward to working with fellow trustees to shepherd RISD through significant transformations in the years ahead.

To help ensure the best possible leadership during this transformational period, the Board voted unanimously to endorse the following new members, who share a strong interest in RISD and in the issues confronting higher education in America.

• Michael Allen BArch ’82 joins the Board as an architect and executive vice president in the Washington, DC office of Hines Interests LP, a commercial real estate development company based in Houston. He grew up in Jamestown, RI and is an avid sailor who helped found the Museum of Yachting in Newport, RI.

• Erica DiBona, a film and television producer living in Los Angeles, has numerous credits to her name, including work on My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the highest-grossing independent feature film ever. Having gotten involved with RISD when her daughter Jamie Goldstein ’11 PT started her Foundation year here, Erica is now co-chair of the Parents’ Council.

• Stephen E. Lane BID ’85, who founded the Providence-based firm ITEM New Product Development with fellow RISD graduate Aidan Petrie MID ’85, is now helping to lead Ximedica, an offshoot of ITEM Group that develops innovative medical devices. Stephen has also taught in the Industrial Design Department and has been a frequent guest critic on campus.

• Susan Barbieri Montgomery ’71 AE/MAE ’78, a lawyer and intellectual property expert, is affiliated with the Boston firm Foley Hoag and is an Executive Professor of Business and Law at Northeastern University School of Law and School of Business Administration. In recognition of her consistent work on RISD’s behalf, the Alumni Association presented her with its Alumni Service Award in 2000.

• Michael Spalter co-founded and recently retired as general partner of Preservation of Capital Management, LLC. He cofounded the Brown University Entrepreneurship Forum with fellow Brown graduate Michael Joukowsky. He is also an active member of the Museum Board of Governors and he and his wife, Anne Morgan Spalter MFA ‘92 PT, are avid collectors of computer art.

• Toots Zynsky ’73 GL, a contemporary glass artist, is internationally recognized for a fused glass technique she developed herself called filet-de-verre. With her distinctive vessels included in the collections of major museums worldwide, Toots is an active member of the RISD Museum Board of Governors and her son, Diau Hall ’10 ID, has chosen to follow her lead by studying here as well.

Each of these enthused new trustees has been elected to serve a three-year term, effective immediately and running through May 2012.