MIAMI — Robert W. Briggs, the chairman emeritus and former CEO of the law firm Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs in Akron, Ohio, has been named vice chair of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Briggs succeeds Jill Ker Conway, former president of Smith College, who retired from Knight Foundation’s board this month after serving as a trustee for 14 years.

Briggs became a Knight Foundation trustee in June 2002.

“Rob Briggs has demonstrated great wisdom and common sense as well as an outstanding commitment to the goals of Knight Foundation,” said W. Gerald Austen, M.D., chairman of the foundation’s board of trustees. “He will be counted on as a leader in all of the foundation’s future efforts.”

Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs is the 12th largest law firm in Ohio. Briggs serves as a trustee of the Cleveland Orchestra, the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland Foundation and the Northeast Ohio Technology Coalition. He is trustee and board chair of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and co-trustee and executive director of the GAR Foundation.

Briggs also serves as chair of the newly formed Fund for Our Economic Future, a collaborative of more than 60 funders, including Knight Foundation, focusing on regional economic development in northeast Ohio. In addition, he serves on numerous boards of for-profit corporations.

Among the honors Briggs has received for his work are the Distinguished Service Award from the Akron Community Foundation, the Hope Award from the Northeastern Ohio Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Honorary Alumni Award from the University of Akron, and the Community Service Award from the Great Trail Council of the Boy Scouts and the Northwest Summit County Rotary.

Briggs received his bachelor’s degree from Duke University and his law degree from The Ohio State University’s College of Law. He lives near Akron with his wife, Joanne, who is a practicing ophthalmologist. They have a blended family of five children and two grandchildren.

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation promotes excellence in journalism worldwide and invests in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities.