PAUR Brown Home Brown Home Brown University Office of Relations Home

June 3, 1993
Contact: Mark Nickel
(401) 863-2476

Meeting of the Corporation
Six New Trustees Sworn in by the Governing Body of Brown University

The Corporation of Brown University welcomed six new trustees at its meeting May 29, 1993: Nora Liburdy Burgess, a cardiovascular surgeon in San Francisco; E. S. Purandara Das, a New York investment banker; Kathryn Scott Fuller, president of the World Wildlife Fund, of Washington, D.C.; Steven R. Jordan, a professional football player for the Minnesota Vikings, of Eden Prairie, Minn.; Robert P. Sanchez (alumni trustee), a New York securities executive; and Thelma Chun-Hoon Zen, a business executive from Hawaii.


Brown University Home
Media Relations Home
1987-95 Release Index
e-Subscribe

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Minnesota Vikings tight end Steve Jordan and World Wildlife Fund President Kathryn Fuller were among six new trustees sworn in as members of the Board of Trustees of the Brown Corporation during the Corporation’s Commencement weekend meeting May 29, 1993.

The new trustees are Nora Liburdy Burgess, a cardiovascular surgeon in San Francisco; E. S. Purandara Das, a New York investment banker; Kathryn Scott Fuller, president of the World Wildlife Fund, of Washington, D.C.; Steven R. Jordan, a professional football player for the Minnesota Vikings, of Eden Prairie, Minn.; Robert P. Sanchez (alumni trustee), a New York securities executive; and Thelma Chun-Hoon Zen, a business executive from Hawaii.

The Corporation, governing body of Brown University, is composed of a 12-member Board of Fellows and a 42-member Board of Trustees, all elected by the Corporation itself. Fourteen members of the Board of Trustees are alumni trustees, nominated by the Associated Alumni of Brown University and elected to office by the Corporation.

The Corporation is responsible for establishing broad policies for the operation of the University, for selecting a president to carry out those policies, for appointing administrative officers and faculty members, for managing the funds and for holding the real estate of the University. In addition to attending the three regular meetings of the Brown Corporation (October, February and May), trustees are normally asked to serve on one or more standing committees of the Corporation and may be asked to serve on ad hoc boards or committees established from time to time.

Nora Liburdy Burgess, a 1974 graduate of Brown, received her M.D. degree from Brown’s School of Medicine in 1977, as a member of the medical school’s third graduating class. She is assistant chief and staff surgeon in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Permanente Medical Group in San Francisco. Her professional writing has received many honors, including the Lange Medical Publications Award. She is a founding member and treasurer of Women in Cardiothoracic Surgery and a member of several other medical societies and associations.

E. S. Purandara Das received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from schools in Bangalore and Kanpur, India. He came to Brown for his Ph.D, which he received in 1970. Das has been a research engineer at Argonne National Laboratory (1970-76) and a management consultant for American Management Systems, of Falls Church, Va. (1976-79). He entered the financial field by joining Morgan Stanley in 1979, then moved to Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lunch. He is currently senior investment banker and managing director with Merrill Lynch Capital Markets.

Kathryn Scott Fuller, a 1968 graduate of Brown, earned degrees in law (J.D., University of Texas School of Law, 1976) and estuarine and environmental science (M.S., University of Maryland, 1980) on her way to becoming the head of one of the largest environmental advocacy groups in the world. Her work as an attorney led her into the U.S. Department of Justice, where she rose to chief of the Wildlife and Marine Resources Section, the position she left in 1982 to join the World Wildlife Fund and The Conservation Foundation. She has been president of both groups since 1989. Brown has honored her and her work with the William Rogers Award (1990) and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree (1992).

Steven R. Jordan received his Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Brown in 1982 and began his career as a star tight end for the Minnesota Vikings the following fall. In addition to his football career, Jordan has worked as a civil engineer for M.A. Mortenson of Minneapolis and Gilbane Building Company of Providence. Jordan has been active in community service, producing a television program, “Get the Scoop on Education with the Minnesota Vikings,” which is designed to encourage young people to embrace education and stay in school.

Robert P. Sanchez received his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Brown in 1958. After graduate study at Columbia and New York University, he began a business career, becoming president of Saga Communications and Visualscope Productions. He is currently vice president of Aquila Management Co., of New York, and is registered securities general principal and senior vice president of several mutual funds. Sanchez has been an active volunteer and leader in alumni affairs, serving as AABU president from 1985 to 1987, national co-chair of the Brown Annual Fund (1979-1981), and vice chair of the 35th reunion gift committee.

Thelma Chun-Hoon Zen is a 1948 graduate of Brown. After graduation, she began work at her family’s grocery business, Chun-Hoon Ltd. She also served as treasurer and director of Chun-Hoon Properties Ltd., a subsidiary of the parent company, and as president of Zen, Lau & Chun-Hoon Inc., a property-management company. In 1982 she was co-founder, with her brother Harry Chun-Hoon ’52 and her son Erik Zen ’73, of the Chun-Hoon Memorial Scholarship, created in memory of her father and awarded to students from the Pacific Islands. In 1992, Zen was awarded the first J. Saunders Redding Visiting Fellowship. She has been active in supporting several non-profit organizations, including the Honolulu Academy of the Arts and the Queen’s Medical Center.

The new trustees will be sworn in at the next regular meeting of the Corporation in October.

Editors: Brown University has a fiber link television studio available for domestic and international live and taped interviews and maintains an ISDN line for radio interviews. For more information, call the Office of Media Relations at (401) 863-2476.

######