Henry Bienen

Henry Bienen served as Northwestern University’s president from 1995 through 2009 and is President Emeritus. Prior to his appointment at Northwestern, he was the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor and Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He previously served as President of the Poetry Foundation. Bienen is Chairman of the Board for Rasmussen, Inc., and is a member of the Boards of Directors of Ryan Specialty Group, Grosvenor Registered Funds, and Lucas Museum for Narrative Art. He chairs the Advisory Committee of The Vistria Group’s Education Investments, is on the Advisory Council of Academic Partnerships, and previously served on the Advisory Board for the Qatar Foundation; he also acts as a consultant to Walmart on their Anti-Opioid Commission. Previously, he served as Chairman of the Board for the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University, on the Boards of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Council on Foreign Relations, Argonne National Laboratory Board of Governors, MetroSquash, Steppenwolf Theatre, and the Board of the Chicago Public Schools.

Roberta Buffett Elliott

Northwestern Buffett Board of Advisors Honorary Chair

Roberta (Bertie) Buffett Elliott grew up in Omaha Nebraska and Washington D.C. where her father served as a Nebraska Representative to the U.S. Congress.  Bertie graduated from Northwestern in 1954 with a BA in History and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

While raising her family of four daughters in California, Bertie became very involved in many community organizations over her 57 years of living on the Monterey Peninsula.  Bertie has served on a wide range of Boards such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Carmel Bach Festival, and the Community Hospital, and served as President of the Junior League of Monterey County and President of the Community Foundation of Monterey County to name a few of the groups that have benefited from Bertie’s leadership. Bertie has also served on the Board of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, funded productions at the San Francisco Opera, and supported many other local and national philanthropic groups dedicated to arts, education, or health.

While serving as a Co-Chair of her 50th reunion committee, Bertie met with President Henry Bienen to discuss where to direct her special 50th Reunion gift.  They agreed to create a Visiting Professor program to bring internationally recognized professors from around the world to teach and study at Northwestern in the fields of international and comparative studies.  In 2005, that program was expanded into the Roberta Buffett Center for International and Comparative Studies to support undergraduate and graduate research, faculty research, speakers, seminars, and travel awards.  After discussions with Northwestern University President Morton O. Schapiro in 2015, Bertie gave an additional gift of $100,905,620.17 to endow the Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs. Bertie has also continued her involvement in her local community and in 2017 Bertie gave a gift of $106,000,000 to the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula to create a free-standing mental health facility supporting a full spectrum of mental health services specifically for children, teenagers, and their families.  This new facility is called "Ohana," a Hawaiian term that embraces family, friends who feel like family, and close members of the community. All of Bertie's projects and personal involvement in philanthropic endeavors have a common thread of bringing people together and helping to expand our understanding of each other and the world in which we live.

Bonnie S. Daniels

Bonnie S. Daniels was a Director at Management Systems International (MSI), an international management consulting firm located in Washington, DC, for more than twenty-five years. She worked primarily in developing countries on activities sponsored by the World Bank, United Nations and the U.S. Agency for International Development. She provided corporate oversight of large field projects in Zambia, Uganda, Trinidad and Tobago, Sierra Leone, the Philippines and Afghanistan. She has worked in more than 30 countries worldwide. Ms. Daniels holds a B.A. from Northwestern University and an M.S. in Organization Development from American University.  Ms. Daniels is a member of the Weinberg College Board of Visitors, of which she was previously the Chair for eight years.  She has been a member of the Northwestern University Board of Trustees since 2007 and currently serves on the Academic Affairs and Student Life Committees.

Suneel Kamlani

Northwestern Buffett Board of Advisors Chair

Suneel Kamlani is a senior banking executive with over 30 years of experience running global markets and investment banking businesses. He is Chairman of the Board of MUFG Securities Americas and an Independent Director of MUFG Americas Holdings Corporation, the U.S. subsidiaries of the fifth largest global banking group (Mitsubishi UFJ). Mr. Kamlani was previously Co-Chief Executive Officer of Markets and President of Global Banking & Markets at the Royal Bank of Scotland. He was appointed to the RBS Group Executive Committee with responsibility for 118,000 staff in 39 countries. Prior to joining RBS in 2010, Mr. Kamlani spent 22 years in senior management roles at UBS Investment Bank, rising to the position of Chief Operating Officer and member of the UBS Group Managing Board. Over three decades, he led Debt Capital Markets, Fixed Income and Investment Banking businesses in the U.S., Europe and Asia. He advised major corporations, financial institutions and governments in more than 30 countries. He has served on the boards of UBS Limited and SIFMA Europe, as well as on advisory committees at the Bank of England, the IMF and IIF. Mr. Kamlani has a B.A. in Economics from Northwestern University and was a Senior Advanced Leadership Fellow (2016–2017) at Harvard University, where he serves on the Director’s Advisory Council of Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative.

Cynthia Snorf Livermore

Cynthia Snorf Livermore has strong ties to Northwestern University beginning with her grandfather, continuing through her parents, and more recently with 2 of her 4 children attending Northwestern with her youngest graduating with a degree in Slavic Studies.

Cynthia holds a BA in Economics from Stanford University and a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.  Until recently Cynthia worked as a garden designer.  She has also served on various non-profit Boards over the years and is currently serving on the Marin Garden Club Board, the San Francisco Opera Board, and the Berkshire Foundation.