Portola Valley: Former Harvard professor named to school board Portola Valley: Former Harvard professor named to school board (November 09, 2005)

By Marjorie Mader

Almanac Staff Writer

Trustees of the Portola Valley School District unanimously appointed Donald S. Collat, a former Harvard finance professor, to fill the vacancy on the school board next month.

He will join the board December 7 when Trustee Deborah Rapport completes her four-year term.

Mr. Collat, 52, was one of three people who submitted applications for the appointment. The others, also parents of children in the school district, were Joe Androlowicz and Brad Turner.

The board made the appointment because no one filed to run for election to the seat in the November 8 election.

Mr. Collat graduated in 1975 from Princeton, where he majored in economics. He went on to Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar and then to Yale Law School, where he received a law degree in 1981.

For five years, he was a professor of finance at Harvard Business School. He understands "the joys and the agonies of teaching," he said.

As chief strategist in Ernst & Young's Transaction Advisory Services practice in San Jose, which advises businesses on financial transactions, he has experience in formulating strategic plans that can be useful to the board as it develops its strategic plan.

Mr. Collat also brings experience from the nonprofit sector. He served on the board and was chairman of the finance committee for the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, an environmental preservation organization.

The Collats said they chose to live in Portola Valley so that their daughter, a kindergartner, could attend the excellent schools, and they could participate in a community that has values similar to theirs. They purchased their home in Alpine Hills last March after a long search.

The three applicants for the board vacancy responded to questions from the five trustees November 2 during a friendly, thoughtful and far-ranging interview session that brought out specific skills, experience, and interests that each would bring to the board.

Trustees agreed that Mr. Collat's being a newcomer to the valley would bring a fresh perspective to the board. He said he has read the school board minutes for the past year, attended board meetings and talked with administrators.

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