William W. Helman IV ’80

HIS STORY
Notable: Trustee 2009-17 (chair, 2014-17); serves on other boards, including Ford Motor Co.
Career: Partner, Greylock Partners, which he joined during business school
Education: A.B., history and economics; M.B.A., Harvard, 1984
Personal: Single; lives in New York City; father of Beatrice and Wilson ’15

“As a student I knew very little about college governance, but I started my career at Greylock on the very same day as Bob Henderson ’53, Tu’54, then a trustee. He got me turned on to how places such as Dartmouth are run. I got more involved with the College as I got settled in my career. Then Jim Wright, who taught me and just about everyone, reached out to me when he was president.”

“A healthy board has very vocal and active discussions—even respectful arguments. That’s the way a board gets to great decisions.”

“I agree with people who say a college should be run more like a business if they mean operations should be managed efficiently, the endowment should be sensitive to intergenerational equity and outstanding people should be hired to fill faculty, dean and administrative leadership roles.”

“I don’t think it’s critical that a higher ed board be filled with alumni of the institution. I do think it’s critical to have those who understand the academy.”

“It’s very easy to say, ‘When I was here this was done in a certain way,’ but it’s important to understand that the College now is different than when any trustee was here as a student.”

“Moving Dartmouth Forward has been an amazing accomplishment. Phil Hanlon ’77 came in and said, ‘Whoa, we’ve had high-risk behavior for decades: sexual assault, high-risk drinking, lack of inclusion. I’m going to take it on.’ ”

“The net-net of a Dartmouth education with financial aid is pretty approachable, but the gross number of $60,000-plus is “Dartmouth’s location is a feature, not a bug. We’re not trying to recruit everyone, j ust the people who are attracted to what we’re trying to do in a very special place.”

“All the data indicate that our reputation internationally sucks. We need to take that on. We need to recruit students from different parts of the world who will make our campus more robust. We need our faculty to think more globally also.”

“I hear that we’ve devalued teaching, especially from alumni from the 1990s or early 2000s, people who are really busy with their careers and families. Nothing could be further from the truth. I say to myself, ‘Wow. We’ve missed an opportunity to communicate.’ ”

“When I was named to head the search committee for a new president I thought, ‘I better figure out what one looks like.’ So I met with a lot of them. I thought pattern recognition would be critical.”

“One thing we did when talking to people about our presidential search was to ask their impressions of Dartmouth. The negative impact of our social reputation, as a party school, was so many times more powerful than I realized. I was stunned.”

“Some at the College are resistant to change. They recoil at criticism and get defensive, but I think that’s human nature. I’ve been perhaps more willing than many, to their distress, to say, ‘Hey, we didn’t get this right. We could have done better.’ ”

“What changes do I want to see on campus when I come back for my 50th? I just want to be able to see.”

To read additional quotes from Helman that were not published in the magazine, click here.