Cornell Board of Trustees Chair Kraig Kayser MBA ’84 holds a seat on the Board of Directors of Moog and has millions personally invested in the weapons manufacturing company.
Kayser’s role has raised concerns among campus activists about a potential conflict of interest as the University rejects student-led calls for divestment from weapons manufacturers involved in the Israel-Hamas war.
Here is what to know about Moog and Kayser.
Moog is an aerospace and defense company based in Elma, New York, with production and sales offices in 25 countries, including Israel. The company manufacturers essential flight control systems for F-35 fighter jets — the same warplanes that have been used in Israeli assaults on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon this year.
Since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel, Moog’s revenue has skyrocketed, and the price of its shares has nearly doubled. In a Nov. 1 earnings call, Moog Chief Executive Officer Pat Roche said, “We delivered record sales. We have a record 12-month backlog,” citing later in the call “ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East” when describing an uptick in the company’s defense sector sales.
Kayser — who owns more than 30,000 shares in the company, valued at $6.9 million as of market close on Tuesday — has seen his investment in Moog grow by millions over the last year. “And potentially more,” said Derek Seidman, a contributing writer for corporate watchdog LittleSis, pointing to Kayser’s stock appreciation rights, which pay in stock or cash when Moog’s stock climbs over a preset period of time.
Kayser has served as a director of Moog since 1998, more than twice as long as he has held a seat on Cornell’s Board of Trustees. As one of 10 Moog directors, he is responsible for helping oversee the company and make important decisions about the strategy and future of Moog.
Seidman described Kayser’s 26-year term with Moog as bordering on unusually long, adding that it speaks to his “close relationship with the company” in an interview with The Sun.
Kayser also receives a six-figure salary from Moog for his work as a director. Last fiscal year, Kayser chaired every executive session and was paid more than $200,000 in cash and Moog stocks.
“[Kayser] is someone who has a clear vested interest in a weapons company. He’s got that role right at the same time Cornell is questioning this — an issue that should be of concern to Cornell students,” Seidman said.
“The University Board of Trustees is responsible for strategic management of all investable funds,” according to Cornell University’s LinkedIn page.
The Board of Trustees has sweeping power over University divestment decisions. As leader of the board, Kayser, some student activists claim, has a conflict of interest when it comes to divestment from weapons manufacturers.
Last spring, undergraduates at Cornell passed a referendum by a two-to-one ratio calling for the University to divest from weapons manufacturers and call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. The referendum was ultimately rejected by former President Martha Pollack. The Coalition for Mutual Liberation also staked an encampment on the Arts Quad, demanding, among other items, that the University divest from weapons manufacturers involved in the Israel-Hamas war.
An Instagram post last month from Cornell Young Democratic Socialists of America and CML stated that Kayser has “a clear conflict of interest that betrays the values of the Cornell community.”
“It’s a major conflict of interest that one of the most powerful people at this University has their fingers deeply entrenched in war profiteering,” said graduate student Sriram Parasurama.
Parasurama is a pro-Palestinian activist who was recently de-enrolled from the University and arrested following a Sept. 18 protest that shut down a campus career fair featuring defense contractors Boeing and L3Harris.
“The people that are in charge of running this University actively contradict what we have voted in favor of,” Parasurama continued, emphasizing that nearly 70 percent of undergraduates who voted supported divestment from weapons manufacturers in the referendum.
“A University should [prioritize] education and the wants of their students over profits, especially profits that are founded upon death and warmongering,” Parasurama said, adding that Kayser’s role at Moog should be a “major point of concern” for Cornellians.
Director of Media Relations Rebecca Valli told The Sun that Kayser would not be available for an interview or to answer any questions via email.
“The University has a policy on conflicts of interest and commitment,” Valli wrote in an email statement to The Sun. “The Board of Trustees’ Audit Risk and Compliance Committee is responsible for ensuring that senior leaders and governing board members comply with this policy and perform their duties without inappropriate influence by external commitments or financial interests.”
Kayser also serves as non-executive Chairman of the Board of Seneca Foods Corporation, after having previously served as its president and CEO for nearly 30 years, according to Kayser’s LinkedIn profile.
Kate Turk ’27 is a Sun contributor and can be reached at [email protected].