Claudine Gay’s resignation Tuesday as the president of Harvard turns the spotlight now to the Harvard Corporation’s senior fellow who led the search committee that chose Gay, the first Black person to lead the nation’s most prestigious university.
Penny Pritzker, 64, is a former US commerce secretary and philanthropist from Chicago and an heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune. Her brother, J.B. Pritzker, is the governor of Illinois.
Pritzker graduated from Harvard in 1981 with a bachelor of arts degree in economics and has worked in real estate, hospitality, and financial services. She was an early and prominent financial backer of Barack Obama’s candidacy for president and later served as US commerce secretary in his administration from 2013 to 2017.
Pritzker was chair of the presidential search committee that selected Gay, who succeeded Lawrence Bacow, who stepped down in June.
In a letter announcing Gay’s appointment, Pritzker described the new president as having a “rare blend of incisiveness and inclusiveness, intellectual range and strategic savvy, institutional ambition and personal humility, a respect for enduring ideals and a talent for catalyzing change.”
Gay’s brief tenure was shaped by crises over her response to the Israel-Hamas war, testimony at a congressional hearing over campus antisemitism, and a plagiarism scandal over some of her academic research.
The Harvard Corporation, the university’s highest governing board, and Pritzker’s role in Gay’s selection, have since come under scrutiny.
Harvard University did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday evening.
Pritzker has been a member of the Harvard Corporation since 2018. (The board functions much like a board of trustees at other universities.) She is the first female senior fellow in the corporation’s 372-year history. She was elected to the position in February 2022. In the role, she leads the 13-member corporation board, whose members are not paid.
She was appointed months after she donated $100 million to the university for a new building for the economics department. Her tenure began July 1, 2022.
When Pritzker’s appointment as senior fellow was announced, Bacow praised her “extraordinary mix of qualities” and “distinguished service across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, far-reaching experience as a board member and civic leader, and a decades-long devotion to Harvard and our highest aspirations.
“She cares deeply about inclusion and opportunity, and about the power of education to change lives for the better,” Bacow said. “We will be fortunate to have someone of Penny’s experience, judgment, dedication, and breadth of interests as our new senior fellow.”
Pritzker was previously elected to the university’s Board of Overseers in 2002 and served until 2008. She has a net worth of more than $3 billion and Forbes named her one of the 100 most powerful women in the world in 2009.
Pritzker also earned a law degree and MBA from Stanford University in 1985. She has founded or co-founded PSP Partners, a global private investment firm, Pritzker Realty Group, Artemis Real Estate Partners, and Inspired Capital.
On X, formerly known as Twitter, Pritzker identifies as a “Business builder. Entrepreneur. Optimist. Proud mom and wife. Triathlete.” She has not posted on the account since May.
In September, Pritzker was appointed by President Joe Biden to serve as the US special representative for Ukraine’s economic recovery.
She is married to Bryan Traubert, an ophthalmologist. They have two adult children.
Pritzker and her husband established the Pritzker Traubert Foundation, which focuses on physical activity for young people and increasing economic opportunity in Chicago.
Tonya Alanez can be reached at tonya.alanez@globe.com. Follow her @talanez.