TULANE TALK
December 21, 2007
Good Morning:
I hadn’t planned to write you again before the holiday break but I had some good news I wanted to share with you.
David Barksdale, an executive with the Barksdale Management Company, a private equity and philanthropic investment firm based out of New York and Jackson, Miss., and Lawrence M.v.D Schloss, chairman and chief executive officer of Diamond Castle Holdings, LLC, a private equity firm also based out of New York, have joined the Board of Tulane.
Both of these gentlemen are proud and accomplished Tulane graduates with interesting backgrounds, experiences and expertise that will help guide us through these challenging but exciting years of renewal.
David graduated magna cum laude from Tulane College in 2000 with a BA in Latin American Studies. He also earned his law degree from New York University and practiced law at the firm of Clear, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in New York before joining the Barksdale Management Company. Prior to entering law school, David was a legislative correspondent for former Sen. Bill Frist.
David is a member of the Tulane School of Liberal Arts Dean’s Advisory Council and Tulane’s President’s Council. He is also an accomplished musician who recorded the album “Big Boot Shimmy” with the band Jonas Risin’ at Tipitina’s in New Orleans in 2001. David performed lead vocals and guitar on the album, which included guest artists Cyril Neville and Theresa Andersson.
David’s family has a long connection to Tulane. His maternal grandfather, Thomas F. McDonnell, was a 1939 Tulane Medical School graduate and his grandmother, Mary Bryan (Saunders) Barksdale, attended Newcomb College. In December 2006, the Sally Barksdale Student Organizations Center was dedicated at Tulane’s Lavin-Bernick Center in honor of Barksdale’s late mother. David is also a newlywed, having wed Stephanie Bosse, a graduate student at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service, in August.
Larry is chairman and chief executive officer of Diamond Castle Holdings, LLC, a private equity firm, which he co-founded. He is the former global head of private equity at Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), a division of Credit Suisse Group. Schloss was previously chairman of the merchant banking group of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Inc.
Larry serves on the board of directors for MF Global Ltd., the world’s leading broker of exchange-listed futures and options. He is also a board member of the New York Police and Fire Widows and Children’s Benefit Fund and Performance Equity Management, LLC, the private equity affiliate of General Motors Investment Management Company.
Larry graduated cum laude with a BA in economics from Tulane in 1976 and received a master of business administration degree in finance from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business in 1978.
A Tulane Scholar, he was a member of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity and chair of the Student Welfare Committee at Tulane. Larry currently serves as chair of the President’s Council at Tulane. He is a current member of the Tulane School of Liberal Arts Dean’s Advisory Council and a past member of the former Tulane College Dean’s Advisory Council and the Associates Committee. Larry’s wife, the former Laurie S. Klayman, graduated from Newcomb College in 1977.
The announcement of Larry and David joining the board comes on the heels of the donation of the 15-story Murphy Exploration Building to Tulane. We are overwhelmed by the generosity of this gift. We will primarily use the building to continue the expansion of our School of Medicine, including administrative and educational offices. The building will also house a planned $5 million medical training simulation center, which will be one of the few such medical resources in the country. In addition, the building will be the home of a few central administrative functions.
These new board appointments and this donation are a great way to end the year and to herald the arrival of an exciting new year and new chapter in the life of Tulane University.
Have a great holiday break,
