Aglialoro and Silk Join TOC Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees plays a vital role in the management of the center. As representatives of our contributors, trustees have the ultimate responsibility and authority for seeing that donated money is well spent on programs that serve our mission. In addition to approving the annual budget and program plan, the trustees are active in raising funds for the center. As outstanding producers in their respective fields, they also advise the staff on particular issues.

The center is pleased and honored to announce two new appointments to our distinguished board.

John Aglialoro is Chairman and CEO of UM Holdings, Ltd., a private New Jersey corporation that invests in various private and public companies, including CYBEX International, a maker of fitness equipment; PetroChem of Houston, Texas, a service inspector of pipe and refinery facilities; and Executive Health Group, a Manhattan-based medical provider of physical examinations primarily to corporate executives. A graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, Aglialoro has been CEO of UM Holdings since 1974.

He was a speaker on the business panel at the “Atlas & the World” conference in 1997, which the Center cosponsored with the Cato Institute to honor the 40th anniversary of the publication of Atlas Shrugged. He also holds the movie option on Atlas Shrugged and is currently negotiating with Ted Turner’s TNT to produce a TV miniseries.

Roger Silk is a principal in Silk Lintott, Inc., a financial and tax planning firm, and has had a wide range of experience and success in financial management and consulting. He earned a Ph.D. in applied economics from Stanford university. As an investment officer at the World Bank, he managed billions of dollars in portfolios; as a private consultant, he advises individuals and major corporations on financial and tax strategies. He has also been actively engaged in the world of ideas, primarily through the Institute for Humane Studies, a classical liberal organization, where he now serves as Chairman of the Executive Committee. IHS specializes in academic programs, specifically in getting young scholars into academic positions, and has been very successful in attracting, mentoring, and placing students—an area in which the center is especially eager to profit from his experience.

“Like many of the other distinguished members of our board,” says David Kelley, “John and Roger are good examples of the kind of businessman Ayn Rand envisioned in “For the New Intellectual”: great achievers in their own fields, they also have a deep and principled understanding of the role of philosophical ideas as the foundation of capitalism. They understand the need for businessmen and intellectuals to be allies in fighting for freedom. We are very grateful to have the benefit of their experience and judgment in shaping the future course of the center.”