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Theresa M. Stone to step down as Executive VP, Treasurer

‘A great friend of MIT’ will conclude nearly five years of administrative service.
Theresa M. Stone, MIT’s Executive Vice President and Treasurer
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Theresa M. Stone, MIT’s Executive Vice President and Treasurer
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Photo: Donna Coveney

Theresa M. Stone, MIT’s Executive Vice President and Treasurer, announced today (May 17) that she will step down this fall. She will continue to be involved with MIT as a committed volunteer.

Stone, who has been the Institute’s Executive Vice President and Treasurer since February 2007, will conclude her service in this administrative role in the fall semester.

In an e-mail to the MIT community announcing Stone’s decision, President Susan Hockfield thanked Stone for her service, calling her “a great friend of MIT.”

“In her role as EVP and Treasurer, she guided MIT’s finances and operations with solid judgment and a steady hand during the most challenging economic climate in our lifetimes,” Hockfield wrote. “We were able to address our financial challenges decisively, successfully and humanely, and the Institute now stands on firm financial footing.”

Hockfield noted that Stone was also key to the development of MIT 2030, the framework for understanding and planning for the needs of MIT’s physical plant in the years to come. Last week, MIT sold $750 million of century bonds at a historically low rate of interest: the proceeds from the bonds will finance campus renovation and development as part of MIT 2030.

“The extraordinary team Terry led has made great strides in securing MIT’s future, well beyond our financial foundation,” Hockfield wrote, adding that Stone’s contributions will allow MIT “to move forward from our 150th anniversary year with great strength and purpose.”

Hockfield encouraged community members to send suggestions of possible candidates as well as thoughts about the position to her by e-mail at evpsearch@mit.edu, or to the Office of the President, Room 3-208. All correspondence received will be treated as confidential. Stone’s successor will ultimately be elected by the MIT Corporation.

As Executive Vice President and Treasurer, Stone is responsible for MIT’s finances, capital programs, facilities, human resources and information technology, as well as units including MIT Medical, the MIT Police and MIT’s Environment, Health and Safety Office. She serves ex officio on the board of the MIT Investment Management Company (MITIMCo), which manages the Institute’s endowment, pension funds and real-estate holdings, and on the MIT Executive Committee.

In concert with other senior officers, she led MIT’s response to the global financial crisis, implementing a budget-reduction process designed to balance the general Institute budget while preserving MIT’s core strengths during a time of significant pressure on the endowment. Stone was instrumental in the 2008 creation of the Institute-wide Planning Task Force, which identified more than 150 opportunities to reduce costs at the Institute.

“As I look back on my time in Building 3, it gives me great pleasure to know that I helped steer the Institute through a time of peril — and that members of the community rose so well to the challenges we all faced,” Stone said. “As we embark together on the next 150 years of MIT’s journey, I plan to remain an active member of the MIT community.”

Stone, a member of the MIT Corporation since 1996, has served as an ex officio member since 2007. Among many other roles, she chaired the MITIMCo board before being named Executive Vice President and Treasurer. Her MIT service has also included: membership on the executive and development committees of the Corporation; chair of the Visiting Committee for the Humanities; and membership on the MIT Sloan Dean’s Advisory Council and on the Visiting Committee for Music and Theater Arts.

In naming Stone Executive Vice President and Treasurer in November 2006, Hockfield called her “deeply knowledgeable about our academic enterprise,” saying she brought to the role a “unique combination of qualifications as both an executive and as a member of the Institute community.”

Before joining MIT, Stone enjoyed professional success in investment banking and corporate management in the insurance and media sectors. She joined Morgan Stanley after receiving her master’s degree in management from MIT Sloan in 1976. In 1990, she moved to the insurance industry as vice president for strategy at the Chubb Corporation, assuming positions in 1994 as executive vice president of Chubb and president and CEO of Chubb Life Insurance Company.

Following the acquisition of Chubb Life by financial services firm Jefferson-Pilot Corporation in 1997, Stone became president of Jefferson-Pilot Communications Company, a radio, television and sports broadcasting business. In 2001, she was named executive vice president and chief financial officer of Jefferson-Pilot, helping lead the firm’s 2006 merger with Lincoln Financial Group.

Prior to joining MIT in 2007, Stone also served as vice chair of the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. She chaired the Committee on Federal Reserve Information Technology, supporting the IT needs of the entire Federal Reserve system.

Born and raised in Boston, Stone attended Girls’ Latin School and received her B.A. in French literature from Wellesley College in 1966. She studied Romance languages at Cornell University before entering MIT Sloan. She and her husband, fellow MIT Sloan graduate Charles Frederic “Rick” Stone, III, live in Boston. They have one son, Charlie.


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