Michael I. Sovern
MICHAEL I. SOVERN has served as a Director of Atlantic since 1995, and chairs the Human Resources Committee.
Mr. Sovern is President Emeritus of Columbia University, where he currently is the Chancellor Kent Professor of Law. He served as President of Columbia from 1980 to 1993 where he quadrupled the endowment, balanced the budget by installing tough restraints, and presided over the opening of the University's main undergraduate division, Columbia College, to women students. He was Dean of the Faculty of Law from 1970 to 1979.
An expert in employment discrimination and labour law, Mr. Sovern mediated for New York City in transit worker contract negotiations, and fire and police departments’ labour disputes. In the 1960s, he was the Research Director concerning Legal Restraints on Racial Discrimination in Employment for the Twentieth Century Fund. He was a law consultant for Time Magazine, and served as Special Counsel to Governor Brendan Thomas Byrne of New Jersey in the 1970s. Mr. Sovern chaired the New York City Charter Revision Commission and the State-City Commission on Integrity in Government in the 1980s. He has authored three books.
Mr. Sovern is Chairman of Sotheby’s Holdings, Inc., President of the Shubert Foundation, and a Director of the Shubert Organization and Comcast Corporation. He has served as Chairman of the American Academy in Rome, the Japan Society and the National Advisory Council for the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center. Mr. Sovern was a member of the boards of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Pulitzer Prizes, AT&T, Pfizer, Inc. and Warner-Lambert Co., among others. Mr. Sovern was also a founding member of the boards of directors of Mobilization for Youth's Legal Services Unit, the Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, Helsinki Watch and AMFAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research. He also served as a Trustee of President Clinton's Legal Defense Fund.
His numerous awards and distinctions include the Commendatore Order of Merit from the Government of Italy and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star from the Government of Japan. He was a recipient of the Alexander Hamilton Medal from Columbia and the Citizens Union Civic Leadership Award. Columbia Law School has an endowed chair in his name and the American Academy in Rome has established a fellowship in his honour. He has received honorary doctorates from Tel Aviv University, the University of Southern California and Columbia.
Mr. Sovern graduated summa cum laude from Columbia College in New York City, and with the highest academic honour from Columbia Law School.
