Kathleen H. Aikenhead has been unanimously elected chair of the Board of Trustees of Loyola Marymount University. She will be the first woman to hold that position.
Aikenhead takes over May 11 from R. Chad Dreier, who has chaired the Board of Trustees since 1998. Her selection took place today at the Board’s spring meeting, one day before the inauguration of David W. Burcham as the 15th president of LMU.
Aikenhead has been a Trustee since 2001. She is vice chair of the Board of Trustees and served last year as chair of the presidential search committee, which recommended Burcham for the LMU presidency.
Burcham called the selection of Aikenhead a wise and excellent decision by the Board of Trustees. “Kathleen Aikenhead is savvy, smart and extraordinarily capable,” Burcham said. “LMU will benefit greatly from her drive, wisdom and dedication. Her family has been a bedrock for LMU for decades.”
The new board chair continues a family tradition of service and support to LMU. She is the daughter of the late Andrew L. Hannon, an alumnus, former LMU regent, and trustee, and former regent the late May Hannon. Aikenhead is president of the William H. Hannon Foundation, which was founded by her uncle, the late William Hannon, who was also an alumnus, a former regent and a major benefactor of LMU.
“It is a great honor to be asked to head the Board of Trustees at LMU,” said Aikenhead. “I accept it with humility. It is even more meaningful because it occurs during the centennial celebration, and it is really an acknowledgement of the long tradition in my family of support for this exceptional place.”
LMU will celebrate its centennial this spring and Aikenhead chairs the Centennial Steering Committee. She also serves on the Board of Trustees Executive Committee and the Finance Committee, as well as the School of Education Board of Visitors and the Campaign Steering Committee.
A graduate of Bucknell University, she was named a dame commander in the Order of St. Gregory, which is the highest honor a layperson can receive in the Catholic Church.
Aikenhead is a trustee of the Catholic Education Foundation, president of the Los Angeles Travel and Tourism Education Foundation and is the former chair of the Marymount College Capital Campaign. She was honored by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony with the 2009 Cardinal’s Award and was selected as Marymount High School’s Alumna of the Year for academic year 1993-94.
Her husband, David S. Aikenhead, is a partner and founder of the law firm Aikenhead, Cipes & Supanich. They live in Pacific Palisades. The Aikenheads have three grown children: Emily Polage, Brian S. Aikenhead and Angela Kuhn.
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March 7, 2011
News Contact: Peter M. Warren | 310.338.2389 | peter.warren@lmu.edu
