Harley Lank P’21 Elected Rivers’ Board President
At its annual meeting this week, Rivers’ Board of Trustees elected current trustee Harley Lank P’21 as its new president, to succeed outgoing president Bob Davis P’06,’08,’13. Lank brings considerable expertise to his new role as Board president, having served on both the Finance and Facilities committees of the Board. He is a portfolio manager for Fidelity Investments, responsible for managing equity and high-yield bond funds, including the Fidelity Advisor Leveraged Company Stock Fund and the Fidelity Advisor High Income Advantage Fund. In addition, he manages various funds marketed to investors outside of the United States. Lank received a bachelor of science degree in business from Syracuse University and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. He and his wife Audra have a son, Tanner ’21, at Rivers.
During his four year tenure, Bob Davis guided the school through a period of transition as Rivers welcomed Ned Parsons as new Head of School in 2014, formulated a new Strategic Plan in 2015, and began to implement many of the Plan’s goals to provide students with a skills-based education that is global, multicultural, experiential, and technologically enriched, while maintaining the relationships and sense of community that is quintessentially Rivers. As the father of three Rivers graduates, now out of college and in the working world, Davis often credited the strong relationships his children formed while at Rivers as key to their current success and happiness.
Under Davis’ leadership, the Board of Trustees also approved the school’s first comprehensive campaign in order to address longer term goals to build campus spaces that reflect and support the excellence of the school’s programs and allow for development of new curricular and extracurricular programs. The campaign is also focused on growing the endowment to support program, faculty, and financial aid in a sustainable culture of philanthropy and connection. When announcing the Strategic Plan, Davis called upon the Rivers community to join him in shaping Rivers’ second century, and throughout his tenure, he focused on developing a plan of action that would move the school closer to its goals in an aggressive, yet prudent manner.
Under Davis’ leadership, the Board of Trustees also approved the school’s first comprehensive campaign in order to address longer term goals to build campus spaces that reflect and support the excellence of the school’s programs and allow for development of new curricular and extracurricular programs. The campaign is also focused on growing the endowment to support program, faculty, and financial aid in a sustainable culture of philanthropy and connection. When announcing the Strategic Plan, Davis called upon the Rivers community to join him in shaping Rivers’ second century, and throughout his tenure, he focused on developing a plan of action that would move the school closer to its goals in an aggressive, yet prudent manner.
As Rivers moves forward with the construction of the new Center for Science and Visual Arts, Lank will be working closely with the Board committees and the administration to continue to implement other programmatic and financial goals. Slated to open in the fall is the new Center for Community and Civic Engagement, under the direction of faculty member Amy Enright, as well as a boardwalk to connect the main campus with the new Nonesuch turf field.
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