Jon Achenbaum '77 named chair of Board of Trustees

The Skidmore College Board of Trustees has elected Jon Achenbaum '77 as its next chair. Achenbaum will succeed Nancy Wells Hamilton '77, who will step down at the end of her four-year term in May.

An accomplished senior executive, advisor, and board member, Achenbaum has led companies across the branded consumer products and medical device industries for the past 20 years, serving in CEO roles at Master Cutlery, Freeman Beauty, Newhall Laboratories, and Lever Ponds Canada. He is currently an operating partner with the private equity firm Champlain Capital.

A longtime volunteer and engaged advocate for Skidmore, Achenbaum joined its Strategic Communication Advisory Board in 2004, where his contributions powered the transformational Creative Thought Matters branding campaign. Since 2013, he has served on the Board of Trustees. He was first named an alumnus trustee, a position with roles in both the College’s Board of Trustees and Skidmore’s Alumni Association Board of Directors. He was appointed a trustee in 2017.

The Board unanimously approved the appointment of Achenbaum as chair at its meeting in February. 

Achenbaum currently serves as vice chair of the Board and chair of its Budget, Finance, and Infrastructure Committee, a critical Board committee. As committee chair, he played an active role in advancing approval, funding, and construction of the Billie Tisch Center for Integrated Sciences; helped guide the Board’s approval of the new McCaffery-Wagman Tennis and Wellness Center project; and has worked closely with the finance team to achieve a balanced budget every year. He previously served as chair of the Audit and Strategic Planning committees and has contributed important perspective to the Advancement, Communications, and Academic Affairs committees. Among his various roles on the Board, Achenbaum co-chaired the 2019 Presidential Search Committee with Maxine Isaacs ’69 that concluded with the appointment of Marc C. Conner as College president. In 2022, the College awarded Achenbaum an Outstanding Service Award for his many years of service.  

“I feel very fortunate to have had many opportunities to contribute to the College as a member of the Board of Trustees for the last 10 years and am honored to take on new leadership responsibilities as chair,” Achenbaum said. “Nancy is an outstanding leader and has been a model chair, effectively leading the Board during the extremely challenging COVID-19 pandemic while ensuring a smooth and successful presidential transition for President Conner when he joined the Skidmore community.”

Nancy Hamilton assumed the chair of the Board role at the outset of President Philip Glotzbach’s 17th and final year as College president. She had previously served on the 2019 Presidential Search Committee with Achenbaum. In addition, she has served as a member of the President’s Advisory Council, a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors, an alumna trustee, and a trustee. She co-chaired Creating Our Future: The Campaign for Skidmore, which raised a record-setting $229.4 million for Skidmore’s future.

In addition to helping the College navigate the extraordinary challenges of the pandemic, Hamilton helped to guide Skidmore’s recent Campus Master Planning process and partnered with College leadership on multiple strategic priorities, including the Racial Justice Initiative, the Speech and Expression project, and the celebration this year of Skidmore’s Centennial as a four-year fully accredited liberal arts college.

“My service as chair of the Board has been one of the most gratifying and enriching experiences of my life. It has been a true labor of love. The twin challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and onboarding of a new president brought out the best in the Board, deepening our commitment to Skidmore and President Conner, for whom I will be forever grateful,” Hamilton said. “As an alum of the Skidmore Class of 1977, I am also extraordinarily proud and pleased that my fellow alum, trustee, and classmate Jon Achenbaum will now take the reins as chair. We are in good hands indeed!”

President Conner thanked both Hamilton and Achenbaum for their continuing dedication to Skidmore.

“I will always be personally grateful to Nancy for her support and partnership in these early years of my presidency, when she was unfailingly supportive and generous in all our work together,” President Conner said.  “On behalf of Skidmore College, I want to express my deep gratitude to Nancy for her selfless service. And I want to express my enthusiasm for partnering with Jon and to express my thanks to him for taking on this leadership role as we embark on Skidmore’s second century as an exceptional liberal arts institution.”