Stanford Elects RoAnn Costin to Five-year Term

RoAnn Costin, a Stanford alumna and founder and president of Wilderness Point Investments, has been elected to a five-year term by the Stanford University Board of Trustees. Costin will begin her term Oct. 1.

Costin, who earned her MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) in 1981, brings to the board an extensive background in business, government, academia and community engagement. Wilderness Point Investments, founded in 2005, is a private Boston-based equity company that focuses on investing in early and expansion-stage consumer product and retailing companies. Costin sits on the boards of Paola Quadretti, Lululemon Athletica, City Sports, Olly Shoes, Alvin Valley, Knights Bridge Vineyard and USA Water Polo.

"I have had the opportunity to work with RoAnn when we were both on the GSB Advisory Council and as a result have observed firsthand her breadth of experiences and diverse set of perspectives," saidSteven A. Denning, chair of the Stanford Board of Trustees. "I know they will enhance our deliberations and discourse at the board. She will be supportive of our ongoing visionary agenda, but will also gently encourage us to raise our aspirations even higher and to reach for new horizons. We are delighted to welcome RoAnn to the Board of Trustees."

Costin began her business career in 1981, working for State Street Research and Management Co., then one of the nation's largest and oldest investment management companies. She was the first female investment analyst, portfolio manager and partner at the firm. In 1989, Costin joined the Putnam Companies, where she was a member of the Quality Growth group and co-managed the U.S. equity portion of the Putnam International Fund. In 1992, she founded and was president of Reservoir Capital Management.

Prior to her career in business, Costin worked in government at the federal level in the office of Rep. Michael J. Harrington (D-Mass.) and at the local level for the city of Boston. She also took part in the formative years of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, working as the executive associate to the dean of the school.

Costin received her BA in government, cum laude, from Harvard University in 1974. An All-American in swimming and crew, she previously served on the Harvard Board of Overseers' Visiting Committee on Athletics and was elected a member of the Harvard Varsity Club Hall of Fame in 1995.

Involved in the community, Costin currently is a director of the foundation board of the Codman Academy, a charter school in Boston; a trustee of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum; and a member of the Northern California chapter of ARCS. She previously served on the boards of Toys "R" Us, the Paul Taylor Dance Company in New York, the Radcliffe Institute and the Boston Conservatory.

At Stanford, Costin served as chair of the Boston Major Gifts Regional Committee and as co-chair for Leading Matters Boston during The Stanford Challenge. She currently serves on the Parents Advisory Board and as a member of the GSB Advisory Council. She has previously volunteered with the Business School's reunion, admissions and Women's Initiative programs.

Costin and her husband, Jim Bailey, have four sons and recently established both the Rosemary and Thomas P. Costin, Jr. Fellowship Fund and the Ethel and Essel Bailey Sr. Scholarship Fund at Stanford in honor of their parents, providing financial support to both graduate and undergraduate students.

--Stanford News Service

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