William Best, a senior vice president at PNC Bank, has been elected as the new chair of the Rutgers University board of governors, the board announced Tuesday.
Best will assume the position July 1, and will succeed Mark Angelson, who will serve as vice chair after serving three terms as the chair.
Best previously served two terms as vice chair of the board of governors and two terms as chair of the board of trustees. He has been involved in numerous governing and trustee board committees at Rutgers, such as the board of governors/board of trustees’ financial due diligence subcommittee, the board of governors’ committee on audit and the board of trustees’ executive and emeriti committees, and was elected trustee emeritus.
Best also served as co-vice chair, along with Board of Governors Professor of History Deborah Gray White, of the presidential search committee that recommended Jonathan Holloway as the 21st president of Rutgers.
Best served three New Jersey gubernatorial administrations, appointed as the first executive director of the New Jersey Redevelopment Authority, a state financing agency that provides the state’s urban centers with public-private partnership opportunities to leverage funds for entrepreneurial growth, job creation and to enhance community empowerment. Before leading the NJRA, Best pioneered commercial banking initiatives as vice president of community development for PNC and community reinvestment officer at BNY Mellon.
Best has also chaired the International Economic Development Council, where he developed and instituted an ethics education and enforcement policy for global economic development professionals and recession recovery. He currently presides on boards for New Jersey Future, New Jersey Regional Plan Association, Newark Alliance and Newark Regional Business Partnership.
Best has been honored with many awards and recognitions, including from ROI-NJ.
A graduate of North Carolina Central University, he lives in Belle Mead.
Angelson, an international leader in higher education, business and law, is a member of the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni and chairman of the Institute of International Education, the world leader in international education and training that administers the Fulbright Scholarships and hundreds of other educational programs from offices around the globe.
