Distinguished honorary chairs leading the way
Clayborne Carson, PhD
In 1985, Coretta Scott King invited Dr. Clayborne Carson to direct the King Papers Project to edit and publish an authoritative edition of her husband’s speeches, sermons, correspondence, publications, and unpublished writings. At Stanford, he is the Martin Luther King, Jr., Centennial Professor of History Emeritus, Ronnie Lott Founding Director Emeritus of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute and a Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. A Palo Altan, his work includes several books, a memoir, a musical play, advising on the award-winning public television series Eyes on the Prize and teaching at universities here and abroad.
Dean Clark, MD
Los Altos resident Dr. Dean Clark was a general surgeon from 1956 to 2013. His father was celebrated Palo Alto architect Birge Clark, who designed the Roth Building, and who was himself the son of a pioneer Stanford professor. His aunt, Dr. Esther Clark, was the first pediatrician on the mid-Peninsula and one of the founding doctors of the Palo Alto Medical Clinic, which occupied the Roth Building as its professional offices. Dean entered the US Navy at age 17 during World War II, attended UCLA, then served on a destroyer in the Pacific. He later received his medical degrees from Stanford.
Gloria Hom, EdD
A fourth-generation Californian, Dr. Gloria Hom’s grandfather established Bayside Cannery, which had a facility in the Ventura district of Palo Alto. A long-time Palo Altan, she taught economics and political science for 35 years at Foothill College, De Anza College and Mission Community College. She is a former trustee of California State University, former member of the California State Board of Education, was named to the Advisory Council of the White House Conference on Library and Information Services and was appointed to the Sallie Mae board of directors.
David M. Kennedy, PhD
Stanford resident Dr. David M. Kennedy is the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History Emeritus, the former Director of the Bill Lane Center for the American West, and a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution. Reflecting his training in American Studies, combining work in history, literature, and economics, his scholarship is notable for its integration of economic and cultural analysis with social and political history and has been awarded with the Bancroft Prize and the Pulitzer Prize for History. At Stanford, he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses as well as innumerable alumni programs in the political, diplomatic, intellectual, and social history of the US and in American literature.
Susan Packard Orr, MBA
Palo Alto resident Susan Packard Orr founded Telosa Software to provide computer consulting services and software to nonprofit organizations. It merged with DonorCommunity, Inc., to become Arreva Software, which she chairs. She is a trustee and former chair of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, a former trustee of Stanford University and served on the board of HP prior to its merger with Compaq. A trustee of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and a director of the National Audubon Society, she was named the first Distinguished Fellow in Family Philanthropy by the National Center for Family Philanthropy.