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President Elaine Tuttle Hansen has announced four appointments to the Bates College Board of Trustees: Jamie P. Merisotis<\/strong> of Washington, D.C.;\u00a0 Karl-Olof Mills<\/strong> of San Francisco, Calif.; Mary Henderson Pressman<\/strong> of Kansas City, Mo.; and Valerie A. Smith<\/strong> of Princeton, N.J.<\/p>\n Merisotis<\/strong>, a 1986 Bates graduate who majored in political science, is the founding president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy in Washington. A champion of the idea that society and individuals reap rich rewards from higher education, Merisotis has focused much of his work on improving access to higher education for low-income, minority and other underrepresented populations.<\/p>\n Prior to founding the Institute, Mr. Merisotis served as executive director of the National Commission on Responsibilities for Financing Postsecondary Education, a bipartisan commission appointed by the president and congressional leadership.<\/p>\n He authored the commission’s heralded final report, “Making College Affordable Again,” many of whose recommendations became national policy during the 1990s.\u00a0 He also assisted in the creation of the Corporation for National and Community Service (AmeriCorps).<\/p>\n Merisotis is past president of the Bates Alumni Association and has volunteered often in admissions and alumni programs. He has received numerous awards and honors in the higher education field, and was named one of the top young leaders (under the age of 45)\u00a0 in American higher education by Change<\/em> magazine.<\/p>\n Mills<\/strong>, a 1982 Bates graduate who majored in English, is co-founder of JKM Investment Partners, a private investment partnership in Oakland, Calif.<\/p>\n Mills has an extensive background in business and investing, as well as community service. In 2003 he co-founded JKM with William Jurika, with whom he has worked since 1987. Previously Mills served as vice chairman and portfolio manager at Jurika & Voyles, Inc., an investment management firm also based in Oakland.<\/p>\n With a longstanding passion for the arts, and opera in particular, Mills joined the board of the San Francisco Opera Association in 1998. He was elected its vice president in 2001 and president in 2002.<\/p>\n After graduating from Bates, Mills earned a master’s degree in management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1984, with majors in marketing and finance. Mills was awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst charter by the Association for Investment Management and Research in 1992.<\/p>\n Pressman<\/strong>, a 1978 Bates graduate who majored in psychology, has lived throughout the United States and overseas, and has interviewed prospective students for Bates everywhere she has lived. Her commitment to community service has remained constant while she has raised her three children. During her years in England, she served on the board of the Junior League of London, and as a resident of New Canaan, Conn., she served on “New Canaan Cares,” an organization dedicated to promoting alcohol awareness, drug awareness and healthy choices for teens.<\/p>\n
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