By TYLER ALICEA
A number of Cornellians — including two University trustees and one trustee emeritus — are among the ranks of Wall Street’s “elite” secret society, according to an analysis conducted by The Sun of a membership list released by New York Magazine Tuesday.
University trustees Jessica Bibliowicz ’81 and Howard Milstein ’73 and trustee emeritus Sanford Weill ’55 are members of the Kappa Beta Phi society, a group of high-ranking Wall Street executives.
The membership roll of the Kappa Beta Phi society was obtained by Kevin Roose after he attended an induction ceremony in January 2012 and was published Tuesday to coincide with the release of his book Young Money, according to New York Magazine.
The organization, which was created at the start of the Great Depression, had approximately 400 members at the time of the 2012 induction ceremony, according to membership list.
Bibliowicz — who joined investment firm Bridge Growth Partners as a senior advisor in September, The Wall Street Journal reported in September — was inducted into the society in 1999, according to the membership list. Milstein, on the other hand, joined the organization in 2006.
Milstein is among one of more than a dozen billionaires to graduate from Cornell, joining Chuck Feeney ’56, Irwin Jacobs ’54 and others as individuals who have made significant contributions to Cornell, The Sun previously reported. In addition, Milstein Hall receives its namesake from Howard Milstein’s father, Paul Milstein, The Sun previously reported.
Peter Atkins MBA ’91 and Sara Ayres, a member of the New York Weill Cornell Council — an advisory board which strives to “strengthen the ties” between Weill Cornell Medical College and Weill Cornell Medical Center, according to a WCMC’s website — are also members of the society.
In addition to being a member of the society, Ayres was also a member of the “Exalted High Council” within Kappa Beta Phi in 2012, according to the program published by New York Magazine.
The organization’s members also include former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Richard S. Fuld, Jr., who was the final chairman and chief executive officer of Lehman Brothers before the company filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and Mary Schapiro, former chairperson of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to the list.