Stephen Berger ’59 has been re-elected to the Board of Trustees, according to a BrandeisNOW article. Berger served on the Board of Trustees from 1994 to 2003, according to the article.
Berger will be rejoining under the investment committee, according to the Board of Trustees page. The board is made of nine standing committees. In his previous time on the Board of Trustees, Berger was a chairman of the financing committee, according to the article.
Berger has experience in many different roles, having served as a Chief Executive Officer (CEO), professor and chairman to various platforms, according to the article. He has also received numerous awards for his work in public service and business. He received New York’s Special Tribute Award, for having improved the state’s healthcare delivery system and was also nominated for Crain’s New York Business’ Top 5 Hall of Fame. Berger is also a philanthropist. According to the article, he is a supporter of the arts, education, healthcare and conservation.
Berger has experience working in both the public and private sector, according to the article. He has leadership experience on Wall Street and has served as CEO for various private and public organizations. Berger has worked at the federal, state and local levels in the public sector, according to the article.
In his professional career, Berger served as Chairman and co-founder of Odyssey Investment partners LLC, according to the article, and also served as a board member, corporate director and private equity investor, for other organizations.
Berger worked on a $6 billion capital plan to modernize various New York City landmarks. This project included sites such as John F. Kennedy Airport, LaGuardia Airport and the World Trade Center. Berger also worked as an executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, according to the article.
During his career, Berger worked under President Jimmy Carter’s administration as the chairman of the board of directors of the U.S Railway Association, a group which “controlled the flow of government investments and loans to Conrail and monitored the carrier’s performance,” according to the National Archives website. Berger worked during this time on Conrail’s bankruptcy situation and helped revitalize the railway service in the Northeast and Midwest regions, according to the article.
Later in his career, Berger was nominated by former New York Governor George Pataki to chair the New York State Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century, according to the article. Berger led an investigative study which has been dubbed the ‘Berger Commission’ which consequently created the first major restructuring of New York State’s healthcare delivery system. From 2010 to 2011, Berger served as a member of former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Medicaid Redesign team, which was responsible for proposing changes to Brooklyn’s hospitals and primary care facilities, according to the article.
Berger also worked as a professor in Public Administration at New York University (NYU) in the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, according to the article. He worked at NYU from 1977 to 1983.
Berger graduated in the class of ’59 with a degree in history, he received a magna cum laude honors, according to the article.
