Boston’s Berklee College of Music today (Feb. 6) named Roger H. Brown as its president, effective June 1. Brown succeeds Lee Berk, who held the post for 25 years. Brown becomes the college’s first president who is not a member of the founding Berk family.
Berk is retiring at the end of the academic year. His father Lawrence founded Berklee — the world’s largest independent music college — in 1945.
Brown, a musician and entrepreneur, is the founder and executive chairman of employer-sponsored child care organization Bright Horizons Family Solutions as well as two other non-profit foundations for disadvantaged children.
Berk comments in a statement: “As the namesake of the College and son of its founder, I know that serving as Berklee’s president is a profoundly personal charge. Roger radiates a sense of deep commitment to the college and its mission, and I am confident that he will lead Berklee to greater heights.”