Scott Bok, investment banker and Penn grad, to serve as next chair of Board of Trustees

Penn graduate and investment banker Scott L. Bok will become chair of the University’s Board of Trustees on July 1, 2021.

In an email to the Penn community on Thursday, the University announced Bok, who is chairman and CEO of independent investment bank Greenhill & Co., Inc., will succeed David L. Cohen, who has served as chair since November 2009. 

“Scott has an extensive understanding of the issues impacting the University, our faculty, staff, students and alumni,” Penn President Amy Gutmann wrote in the email. “He brings decades of expertise in the business and financial world to bear, the firsthand experience of being a triple Penn degree holder and a double Penn parent, and I know he will provide wise counsel to the trustees and University leadership. We are very grateful that he is willing to make this important commitment to his alma mater.”

Bok received a bachelor's of science degree in economics from the Wharton School and bachelor's of arts degree in political science from the College of Arts & Sciences in 1981. During his undergraduate career, Bok worked as a news reporter for The Daily Pennsylvanian from 1978 to 1980 and a student liaison to the Board of Trustees. He also earned a JD degree from Penn Law School in 1984. 

Gutmann also praised Cohen's tenure and accomplishments, noting his feat as the longest serving chair in recent Penn history. 

"I cannot overstate what an extraordinary job David has done," she wrote. "We are most fortunate that he will continue to serve as a valued and respected member of our board.”

Bok serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Greenhill and Board of Trustees of the American Museum of Natural History. Bok also is the chair of the board of Prep for Prep, an organization based in New York that supports college preparation for students of color.

Prior to working at Greenhill, Bok practiced mergers and acquisitions at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz from 1984 to 1986 and later became a managing director in the mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring department at Morgan Stanley from 1986 to 1997. 

Bok has been on Penn's Board of Trustees since 2005, serving as a term trustee for 10 years before being elected a charter trustee in 2016. He has served on various committees including Executive, Audit & Compliance, Academic Policy, Compensation, Development, and Nominating committees. 

Bok and his wife Roxanne Conisha Bok, a 1981 College graduate, created the Bok Endowed Visiting Writers Series Fund, which enables the Kelly Writers House to pay honoraria to visiting writers including novelists, poets, and journalists. Along with the Bok Family Foundation, they also established the Bok Family Professorship in the Humanities in the School of Arts & Sciences in 2007. 

Bok’s son is a 2017 Wharton graduate and his daughter is a current College junior.