J. Lawrence Wilson

J. Lawrence Wilson, a trustee since 1987, graduated magna cum laude with a B.E. degree in mechanical engineering from Vanderbilt University and earned an M.B.A. with high distinction from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar. As a student at Vanderbilt, he was a member of Tau Beta Pi. As an alumnus, he has served as a director of the Vanderbilt Alumni Association and the Engineering Alumni Association. From 1985 to 1986, he was president of the Engineering Alumni Association. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1958 until 1961.

He is the retired chairman and chief executive officer of Rohm and Haas Company, a manufacturer of specialty chemicals. Mr. Wilson held those positions from 1988 to 1999. He joined Rohm and Haas in 1965 as an operations research analyst. He then became financial and operations vice president of a pharmaceutical subsidiary and president of another medical products subsidiary. In 1971, he returned to the parent company as executive assistant to the president. In 1972, he was named treasurer of the company and from 1974 to 1977 was in charge of the company’s European business. He was then elected group vice president for finance and administration, chief financial officer, and director in 1977. Until his election to the position of vice chairman in 1986, he was in charge of the company’s financial and administrative functions as well as several of its businesses. As vice chairman, he continued to lead the financial function and shaped the strategic direction of all of Rohm and Haas’s businesses.
Mr. Wilson is a member of the boards of directors of the Vanguard Group, Cummins Inc., AmerisourceBergen Corporation and is a trustee of the Culver Educational Foundation.

In 1988, he was elected Distinguished Alumnus of the Vanderbilt School of Engineering, and, in 1994, he received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Drexel University. Mr. Wilson was awarded the 1999 Chemical Industry Medal by the Society of Chemical Industry. He is past chairman of the Chemical Manufacturers Association and of the Philadelphia High School Academies, and he is a past member of the Business Roundtable, the President’s Export Council, and the Harvard Business School Board of Associates.

He and his wife, Barbara, are the parents of Larry and Alex, both of whom graduated from Vanderbilt.