BU ALUMNI CONNECTION

Jacob J. Kahn earned his MBA at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business and serves on the BU Questrom MBA Alumni Council Board of Advisors. He uses this blog to share governance perspectives with fellow Terriers and to connect with BU alumni who serve on — or are preparing to join — corporate, nonprofit and advisory boards.

BU alumni interested in board service, nominating and governance work, audit and risk oversight, or the Questrom alumni community are welcome to get in touch. New essays appear on The Boardroom Brief.

DIRECTOR PROFILE

Board director with an MS in Accounting and an MBA who brings nominating-and-governance, audit, risk and investment oversight to technology, defense and financial-services organizations: nomination and governance responsibilities at the Harvard Aerospace and Defense Alumni Organization; Finance & Audit Committee, Easterseals Massachusetts; fiduciary for $2B+ in foundation and endowment assets at Cambridge Associates; General Partner, HBS Phoenix Fund, fiduciary to its limited partners.

DIRECTOR BIO

Jacob J. Kahn is a board director who brings governance, audit, risk and investment oversight to the boards he serves, grounded in a Master of Science in Accounting and an MBA. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Harvard Aerospace and Defense Alumni Organization with nomination and governance responsibilities — director recruitment and candidate evaluation, board and officer succession, bylaws, charters and governance policies, and board evaluation and onboarding — and on the BU Questrom MBA Alumni Council Board of Advisors. On the Board and Finance & Audit Committee of Easterseals Massachusetts, a statewide disability-services nonprofit, he reviewed financial statements, budgets and the Form 990 across three budget cycles. He has been a board observer for technology and financial-services portfolio companies since 2020 and, as General Partner of HBS Phoenix Fund, is a fiduciary to limited partners across 25-plus portfolio companies.

In Cambridge Associates’ Endowments & Foundations practice he was fiduciary for more than $2 billion across foundations and endowments — most governed by committees on which he sat in an advisory capacity, some managed at his sole discretion under the Investment Policy Statement — advising boards on drawdown policy, endowment strategy, manager selection, enterprise risk, committee charters and trustee education. He also works in digital and business transformation at Lockheed Martin, on risk management and financial controls for the 1LMX program. He holds an MBA from Boston University, an MS in Accounting & Data Analytics from the University of Illinois, and dual bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Harvard University.

COMMITTEE READINESS

BOARD AND ADVISORY SERVICE

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• Digital & Business Transformation · Lockheed Martin · 2023–present
  Risk management and financial controls on 1LMX, the company-wide ERP and process transformation; 25+ SOX and financial controls maintained with zero audit findings.
• Consultant, Endowments & Foundations Practice · Cambridge Associates · 2022–2023
  Fiduciary for more than $2 billion across six-plus foundations and endowments ($50M–$1B each; confidential under NDA): most governed by committees on which he sat in an advisory capacity, some managed at his sole discretion under the Investment Policy Statement. Co-wrote committee agendas with chairs and advised quarterly on drawdown and spending policy, endowment strategy, liquidity and sustainability. Advised boards on asset allocation, manager and OCIO selection, fees and performance, enterprise risk, committee charters, conflict-of-interest and delegation policies, trustee education and committee succession; supported audit committees on auditor selection, audit findings, budgets, financial statements and Form 990s.
• AVP / Senior Specialist, International Markets, Investor Relations · Brown Brothers Harriman · 2021–2022
  Directed $100M+ programs for 11 global asset managers (’33/’34/’40 Act fund complexes and Luxembourg and Irish UCITS funds) across BBH’s Luxembourg, Kraków and Tokyo offices; raised profitability 8%. During the then-pending $3.5B sale of BBH Investor Services to State Street, worked on the preliminary integration plan and with regulators on change-of-control approvals and consents; reported risk and control matters to fund boards and risk committees under SEC/FINRA, CSSF, Central Bank of Ireland and FCA regimes.
• External Consultant through Boston Harbor Consulting · Agilent Technologies (NYSE: A) · 2021
  Led delivery workstreams on Agilent’s global SAP S/4HANA and CPQ (quote-to-cash) implementation.
• Early career: Co-Founder, Jamber Inc., Harvard i-lab Venture Incubation Program; advised many i-lab startups.

EDUCATION

• Harvard University — Dual Bachelor’s–Master’s Degrees, General Management, cum laude
• Boston University Questrom School of Business — MBA
• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Gies College of Business — MS, Accounting & Data Analytics
• Yale School of Management — Executive Education, Investment Management (2023)

AFFILIATIONS AND LEADERSHIP

NACD · Private Directors Association, New England · DCRO Institute · Digital Directors Network · Nasdaq Center for Board Excellence Insights Council · Harvard Business Review Advisory Council · InfraGard (Rhode Island) · Harvard Alumni on Public Boards (group manager) · HBS Forums (moderator) · Harvard University Alumni Marshal (2024–present) · Harvard College alumni interviewer

Participates in governance research networks including the Deloitte Center for Board Effectiveness, EY Center for Board Matters, KPMG Board Leadership Center, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, and the Stanford Rock Center for Corporate Governance.

REFERENCES AND CONTACT

References from board chairs and fund partners available on request.

Contactor jacob_kahn [at] alumni.harvard.edu · jacobjameskahn.com