Fred P. Hochberg, former head of the U.S. Small Business Administration and co-chairperson of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian and gay civil rights group, last week was named dean of New School University’s Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy.
Hochberg, with a distinguished career in private enterprise and leadership in philanthropy, civil rights, education and the arts, will succeed Edward J. Blakely as dean of the Milano School on Jan. 1.
“Fred Hochberg’s experience and vision make him the right leader for the Milano Graduate School at this important time in the school’s history,” said Bob Kerrey, New School University president.
“I am delighted to have a person of Fred’s stature and vision as my successor,” said Blakely. Blakely will be on the Milano Graduate School faculty for the spring 2004 semester and then take up residence in Australia, but remain an emeritus faculty member.
Hochberg was deputy and then acting administrator of the Small Business Administration from May 1998 to January 2001 and served on President Clinton’s Management Council. He also served on the Democratic National Committee and on the board of Playwrights Horizon and the Wolfsonian Art Museum as well as the Human Rights Campaign.
During more than 20 years with the Lillian Vernon Company, he guided the development of the small mail-order business founded by his mother into a publicly traded direct-marketing corporation. He is also currently a trustee of the Lillian Vernon International House at New York University, The Citizen’s Budget Commission, FINCA (an international lending institution) and Seedco, which provides financial, technical and management assistance to nonprofits and small businesses in disadvantaged communities.
Hochberg earned a B.A. from N.Y.U., an M.B.A. from Columbia University and attended the executive leadership program of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He lives in Manhattan with his partner, Tom Healy, a director of arts programs at Columbia University.
