MIAMI—John Palfrey has been elected chair of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation board of trustees.  Palfrey is the head of school at Phillips Academy Andover (Mass.) and a former vice dean of the Harvard Law School.

An authority on technology and civic engagement, Palfrey is also president of the board of the Digital Public Library of America. He serves as a director of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, where he was executive director from 2002-2008. He is the former Henry N. Ess III Professor of Law and vice dean for library and information resources at Harvard Law School.

Palfrey has been a trustee of Knight Foundation since 2011.  He is the author or co-author of “Access Denied: The Practice and Politics of Global Internet Filtering; “Born Digital: Understanding the First Generation of Digital Natives”; “Interop: The Promise and Perils of Highly Interconnected Systems”; Intellectual Property Strategy,” and “Enhancing Child Safety and Online Technologies,” a report for a multi-state group of attorneys general.

During the past six months, Palfrey served as chair-elect of the foundation.  He succeeds Akron, Ohio, attorney Robert Briggs, who served the maximum term of 12 years.  

During their annual meeting this week, Knight Foundation trustees also elected Christopher M. Austen, co-managing director of Brooke Private Equity Associates in Boston, as a new member of the board.

Austen is an experienced entrepreneur and private-equity investor who serves on the advisory boards or investment committees of numerous funds. He is the son of Dr. W. Gerald Austen, a previous chair of Knight Foundation’s board of trustees who was a friend and physician to founders John S. and James L. Knight.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. The foundation believes that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.

Knight Foundation Media Contact:

Andrew Sherry, vice president of communications, [email protected], 305-908-2646