| Trustees
Gerald L. Holm began his career with the Boeing Company in Huntsville, Alabama as a Research Engineer on the Saturn V Space Program in 1962. His assignment was trajectory computation and analysis. He left Huntsville in 1969 to go to Boeing’s Seattle Aerospace operations.
Mr. Holm joined Beneficial Corporation in 1970 as part of a team overseeing the development and installation of a data processing network that would link Beneficial’s 1800 loan offices to a centralized computer center. He became President of Beneficial Data Processing Corporation in 1974. He assumed the responsibility for mergers and acquisitions in 1978 and became a director and member of the executive committee of the Beneficial Board of Directors in 1980. He retired as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors in 1987 and remained a director until 1998.
Mr. Holm was born and raised in Houston, Texas and graduated in 1962 from Texas
Tech University with a master of science degree in mathematics.
Charles W. Bower joined Beneficial in 1941
and served in various capacities before retiring
in 1981 as an officer of Beneficial Corporation. He also served
as a director of Beneficial Corporation, and a member of the
Audit Committee and Committee on Corporate Policy.
Mr. Bower received his Bachelor of Science
and Master degrees from Rutgers,
The State University of New Jersey.
 Finn
M. W. Caspersen, Jr., a third-generation member of the Caspersen
family to serve on the board of trustees of the Hodson Trust,
follows in the tradition of his grandfather, Olaus W. Caspersen,
who served as trustee and chairman during the period 1928
to 1971, and his father, Finn M.W. Caspersen, who served as trustee and chairman during the period 1973 to 2009.
Mr. Caspersen graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Government
from Harvard College in 1992, and was awarded his Juris Doctor
from Harvard Law School in 1995, where his focus was on tax
and corporate law. He is the Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Peapack Gladstone Bank (PGC, NASDAQ).
 Robert C. Clark was the Dean and Royall Professor of Law at Harvard Law School from 1989 through July 2003. He now serves as the Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor. An authority on corporate law and corporate governance, he’s written numerous law review articles and book chapters, as well as a one-volume treatise, Corporate Law, which was hailed as "the paradigm for future student texts." Professor Clark has taught Corporate Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions, Theory of the Corporation, Taxation of Corporations and Shareholders, Regulation of Financial Institutions, Government and Health Care, and a seminar entitled Laws, Markets, and Morals.
Clark is a member of the board of directors of Time Warner, Inc., a media company, and Omnicom Group, Inc., a public entity, and advertising agency holding company. In addition, he is a trustee of the Teachers Insurance Annuity Association (“TIAA”), the largest private pension plan in the U.S. serving the higher education community.
A graduate of Maryknoll College, Professor Clark received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Columbia University and earned his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1972. Clark is a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. Among his hobbies is composing neoclassical music using synthesizers. He has been known to lighten an otherwise weighty subject in class with songs he has written.
Daniel R. O’Brien joined Beneficial Corporation in 1984 as assistant vice president of internal audit of the Beneficial Insurance Group, and ascended to the position of chief executive officer. In 1998, Beneficial merged with Household International Inc. At that time, he was named managing director and chief executive officer of Household’s insurance group and assumed responsibility for the combined insurance operations of the merged companies. He served in that capacity until his retirement from Household in 2002.
During his career, Mr. O’Brien served as a board member of several insurance industry associations. He currently serves as a member of the board of directors of First Central National Life Insurance Company of New York, a wholly-owned subsidiary of HSBC Bank, and is chairman of the board’s audit committee and a member of the board’s investment committee.
Mr. O’Brien received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and business from Long Island University, and his master’s degree in business administration from Boston University.
Keith L. Pladsen joined Beneficial Corporation in 1973 as assistant manager and ascended to the position of president of Beneficial’s northeast group. In 1998, when Beneficial merged with Household International Inc., he was named general manager of the eastern region of the corporation and, later transferred to the United Kingdom, responsible for the personal banking operation. After several years, Mr. Pladsen was re-assigned to Household’s corporate offices in Illinois where he was group director of strategic initiatives. In 2003, following the merger of Household and HSBC Holdings plc, he was responsible for various projects relating to the conversion of Household’s legal document systems to HSBC platforms. He remained at HSBC until his retirement in 2008.
Mr. Pladsen currently volunteers and served on the board of directors of Junior Achievement of New Jersey, and as a volunteer of the McCarter Theater of Princeton, New Jersey. He attended Merrimack College and Rider University.
Robert A. Tucker joined Beneficial
in 1954 as assistant to the president of Beneficial Finance
Co.
He retired as a member of the
office of the president, first vice president and chief
financial officer at the end of 1985 after 32 years of service.
He served on the board of directors of Beneficial Corporation
from March 1953 to June 1998. He also served on Beneficial
Corporation’s Executive and Finance Committees. He
is a graduate of The
Peddie School, Wesleyan
University, B.A. and Brown
University, A.M.
Mr. Tucker is the founder
and owner of Stonegate Standardbred Farms, a major breeding
farm of harness horses in New Jersey. He is a Trustee of Harness Racing Museum and Hall of Fame, and past chairman of the New Jersey Sire Stakes, past vice president of the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture, and former trustee of The Seeing Eye.
©
Hodson Trust
|
