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The search committee rank and file

Conrad K. Harper, a lawyer and partner at Simpson Thacher and Bartlett is one of two newest members of the Corporation.

A group that is historically white and male, the 350-year-old governing body made history this February when they appointed Harper as the first African-American member of the Corporation.

Earlier this year, Harper said that being first was merely a matter of being in the right place at the right time.

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"There are many persons of color who might have had that distinction," Harper said when he was appointed.

Harper is a former legal advisor to the U.S. State Department and has served as the President of the Bar of the City of New York.

A known advocate for diversity, Harper may encourage the committee to seriously consider minority and women candidates.

Overseer Richard E. Oldenburg '54 rounds out the committee. Grounded in the humanities, Oldenburg is the honorary chair of Sotheby's North and South America and is the director emeritus of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

"He's got very well-honed executive skills," Armstrong says. "He is a thoroughly cultivated person and very sensible."

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