Seth Klarman selected Chair of the Broad Institute Board of Directors

The Broad Institute announced today that Seth Klarman, prominent business leader, investor, philanthropist, and author, will become the next Chair of the Board of Directors, succeeding Eric Schmidt, who has served as Chair of the Board since 2021. Schmidt, who joined the Board of Directors in 2012, will remain on the Board. The Board of Directors also appointed Gerun Riley, President of the Broad Foundation and Mark Nunnelly, Chair of Toolbox to serve as Vice Chairs, and is welcoming Aviv Regev as a new member.

Regev is currently Executive Vice President at Genentech, a member of the Roche Group. She was previously a member of the Broad scientific community, beginning in 2006 as a core faculty member and later, Broad’s chair of the faculty from 2015 to 2020. She is also co-founder of the Human Cell Atlas.

Klarman joined the Broad Institute Board of Directors when it was formed in 2009 and has worked closely with Schmidt and other fellow members to steward the institution in its mission of improving human health by advancing the understanding and treatment of disease. 

“From the moment I became involved with this extraordinary institution, I’ve been inspired by its mission to transform human health through accelerating scientific progress,” Klarman said. “I’m convinced that the cutting-edge work of Broad scientists will have a profoundly positive impact on understanding and treating disease over the coming decades, and I’m excited to play a role in helping to steer the Broad. It’s an incredible honor to chair this extraordinary institution.”  

“It’s been a privilege to serve as board chair over the past few years and to support the extraordinary minds at the Broad Institute who are advancing our understanding of health and disease and developing new treatments,” said Eric Schmidt, CEO of Relativity Space, former CEO of Google, and cofounder of Schmidt Sciences, Schmidt Ocean Institute, and the Schmidt Family Foundation. “This is a remarkable moment for the life sciences, and I’m honored that Seth will be stepping into this leadership role at the Broad Institute, an organization that is accelerating discovery and advancing the entire field of life sciences.”

“I’m grateful for the amazing leadership that Eric Schmidt has shown over the last four years,” said Todd Golub, director of the Broad Institute. “I’m thrilled that Seth will be succeeding him. Seth has been deeply committed to the Broad for many years—sharing his time, his wisdom, and showing extraordinary leadership in philanthropy. I’ve benefited personally from his mentorship, and I’m delighted to welcome him as Chair.”

“While Seth’s investing acumen has earned him respect and success in his business life, the philanthropic work he and his wife Beth advance is a model for using one’s time, insights and resources to make a positive difference in the world,” said Riley. “Seth embodies Eli and Edye Broad’s generous spirit and dogged belief in the potential of medical research to improve lives, and I know he will build on Eric Schmidt’s strong stewardship by leading the Broad into its next chapter of scientific discovery.”

Klarman is the CEO and portfolio manager of The Baupost Group, L.L.C., which thoughtfully stewards capital on behalf of families, foundations, endowments, and other like-minded institutions. He has had primary responsibility for managing the investments of Baupost since the company was formed in 1982. 

Author of Margin of Safety, a book that outlines his value investment philosophy, Klarman was the editor of and contributor to the Benjamin Graham and David Dodd classic Security Analysis: Seventh Edition, published in 2023. He is a 1982 graduate of Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar, and received his Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, in economics from Cornell University in 1979.

In 2012, the Klarman Family Foundation supported the creation of the Klarman Cell Observatory at the Broad Institute, which aims to create a comprehensive picture of all the mammalian cellular components and all the cellular circuits in which they function. This has led to a far deeper and more profound understanding of health and disease. 

Klarman assumes Board leadership following Schmidt’s successful four-year tenure as chair. Since joining the Board in 2012, Schmidt has established the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center, empowered early-career scientists to work at the intersection of biomedical and quantitative science through the Schmidt Fellows, and helped expand Broad’s Summer Research Program for exceptional undergraduate students.  

In addition, David Baltimore and Peggy Hamburg will be departing the Board. Hamburg, former commissioner of the FDA, is now co-chair of a new initiative, the Vaccine Integrity Project, which is organized by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. Baltimore, who has served on the Board for 16 years and is a Nobel laureate and the founding director of the Whitehead Institute, played an instrumental role in the founding of the Broad. 

“When Eli wanted the best scientific advice on whether this idea for a new institute was a good one, he turned to David,” Golub said. “And when Eric Lander needed advice on how to start and run that new institute, he also turned to David. The Broad simply would not exist without David Baltimore, and we are deeply grateful for his insights, advice, and vision over many years.”

In his honor, Broad has established and endowed the David Baltimore Fellowship, in partnership with The Broad Foundation. The fellowship will be awarded to postdoctoral fellows focused on immunology, where Baltimore had an indelible impact and where there is so much more to uncover and understand.