Former Clinton official, HRC co-chair to lead graduate management, urban policy school
Fred P. Hochberg, former co-chair of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian and gay civil rights group, and also former head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), 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 January 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 and former U.S. senator from Nebraska.
“I am delighted to have a person of Fred’s stature and vision as my successor,” said Blakely, who 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.
“I look forward to joining the great tradition of scholarship and public service at New School University and the Milano Graduate School,” said Hochberg. “Under Bob Kerrey’s leadership, there is a new atmosphere of engagement with critical issues of the day. We plan to continue to build on Milano’s strengths as one of the premiere institutions for urban policy research, education, and debate in the country. We have an opportunity to provide a unique learning experience to students by opening the doors between scholars and practitioners at every level of management, government, and public service.”
Hochberg was deputy and then acting administrator of the SBA, which has more than 4,000 employees, from May 1998 to January 2001 and served on President Bill Clinton’s Management Council. The Clinton administration was the nation’s first to hire a significant number of out gay and lesbian staffers, numbering more than 100, but even in that context, Hochberg was among the most senior gay officials. During his time at SBA, the department did aggressive outreach to minority, women, and gay and lesbian-owned businesses across the nation.
Hochberg has also served on the Democratic National Committee and on the boards of Playwrights Horizon, the Wolfsonian Art Museum, and the Young Presidents Organization. He is a trustee of FINCA, an international micro-lending institution, International House at New York University, and Seedco, an organization that provides financial, technical, and management assistance to nonprofit organizations and small businesses in disadvantaged U.S. communities. He has been a contributor to the op-ed pages of The New York Times and this year has been one of the most prominent gay supporters of the presidential campaign of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).
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.
Hochberg earned his bachelor’s degree from NYU, an MBA from Columbia University, and attended the executive leadership program of the Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He lives in Manhattan with his partner, Tom Healy, a director of arts programs at Columbia University.
