Recipient of the 2016-17 Dartmouth Alumni Award
As a young man growing up in the Philadelphia area, you had the pleasure of meeting Russell Dilks ’51, a dedicated Dartmouth alumnus who visited your high school every year to encourage students to apply to the College. Mr. Dilks kindly arranged for you and your parents to visit Hanover, and continued to watch over you through college and beyond. Later, when you became the chair of the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees, we can only imagine how proud he was when you called him to share the news, knowing that he had launched you on that path.
Once in Hanover, you took several courses to fulfill premed requirements but decided to pivot and ultimately majored in economics. A member of Sig Ep, you’re still close to several of your fraternity brothers. You wrote your senior thesis under the direction of the late great economist Colin Campbell, with whom you maintained a marvelous connection and often shared dinner when you visited Hanover over the years. After graduation, you headed south and earned your JD and MBA from Harvard.
Your extraordinary career began with Cooke & Bieler, an affiliate of United Asset Management Corporation, where you were a partner and portfolio manager. After 25 years, you moved on, broadening your experience, and later led Putnam Investments as CEO, building the business and the investment team. You then were tapped as the CEO of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, stabilizing the company and setting priorities to lead Freddie Mac out of the financial crisis of 2008. You are widely recognized in the industry for your high ethical standards.
Even in the midst of this demanding career you found time for your beloved alma mater. As a young alumnus, you joined the Dartmouth Club of Philadelphia and served as scholarship chairman for many years. Then-Dean James Wright invited you to join the Dean’s Council, an advisory body which connected the dean to alumni. This group developed into the President’s Leadership Council under President Wright. Appointed a charter trustee in 2004, you were named chair of the Board of Trustees in 2007. As chair, you oversaw the expansion of the board from 16 trustees to 24, and boldly led the College through a major reorganization of board governance. You note that Dartmouth brings together amazing people from all over the world and from across age groups and careers, but that only comes with great leadership - something you have shared with the Dartmouth family for decades.
The gift of the Haldeman Center, made in honor of your parents, Charles E. and Betty Jane Haldeman, greatly enhanced Dartmouth’s commitment to the liberal arts and the creation of leaders. Home to the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, the Fannie and Alan Leslie Center for the Humanities, and the Institute for the Study of Applied and Professional Ethics, the center provides meaningful opportunities for interdisciplinary initiatives. Your endowment of the Haldeman Family Athletic Directorship strengthens our commitment to student athletes, coaches and the development of leaders.
Your myriad volunteer roles for Dartmouth have also included service as a Tuck School overseer, Alumni Fund volunteer, member of Reunion giving committees for the Class of 1970, and alumni interviewer. Now retired, you remain active on the boards of S&P Global, Inc., KCG Holdings, Inc., and DST Systems, and a fierce competitor on the golf course and tennis courts.
Of course, your constant companion and partner on this journey has been your remarkable wife, Barbara. You two are the proud parents of Charlotte ’03, Matthew, and Catherine ’08; and devoted grandparents to seven wonderful grandchildren.
Ed, we greatly admire and are grateful for your warm generosity with your time and talent, ability to connect alumni from all backgrounds, and visionary leadership. You’ve successfully and gracefully carried on Mr. Dilk’s legacy of Dartmouth alumni helping the next generation. We are incredibly proud to call you a son of Dartmouth, and to honor you with the Dartmouth Alumni Award.