Vice Chair and Academic Affairs Committee Chair
Elected to the Board: 2016
Voting Trustee
Richard Alexander is of Counsel and Chair Emeritus at Arnold & Porter in Washington, D.C. His practice involves some of the most significant enforcement, supervisory, and governance matters affecting the financial services industry. He has led the firm’s representation of clients in high-profile matters initiated by, among others, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Alexander was the Managing Partner of the firm from 2005 through 2015 and the Chair of the firm from 2016 through 2024. He serves on the Board of Directors of Justice in Aging and the Pro Bono Institute.
Alexander serves as vice chair of the Board through early May 2027. He serves as the chair of the Academic Affairs Committee through early May 2029. He also serves on the Board Executive, Board Organization and Nominating, Audit and Risk, Finance, and Student Experience Committees.
He previously served on the Advisory Committee on University Climate, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility and the Academic Affairs Working Group. He also served as co-leader of the Special Committee on University Climate, Diversity and Inclusion, as a member of the Advisory Special Committee, and as a member of the Academic Planning and Steam Station Ad Hoc Workgroups.
His Syracuse University service also includes serving as Chair of the College of Law Board of Advisors, of which he has been a member since 2013. He currently is a Distinguished Lecturer at the Syracuse University College of Law. He served on the search committee for the Chancellor in 2025-26. Alexander received the 2020 Dritz Trustee of the Year Award.
He and his wife, Emily Alexander, established the Albert M. Alexander Scholarship Fund and the Rhoda S. and Albert M. Alexander Memorial Scholarship at Syracuse University, both in memory of his parents. They have also helped establish the Honorable Judge Theodore A. McKee Endowed Law Scholarship and have supported other initiatives in the College of Law and student financial aid.