Rejji P. Hayes ’97 was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 2021. He has served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of CMS Energy Corp. (NYSE: CMS) since 2017.
Prior to joining CMS, he served as the executive vice president and chief financial officer of ITC Holdings Corp., a publicly traded electric infrastructure company. Before joining ITC, he held strategy and financial leadership roles with Exelon Corp., Lazard and Banc of America Securities.
Hayes is a board member of Fortive Corp. (NYSE: FTV), where he serves as chair of the audit committee. He also serves on the boards of the Business Leaders for Michigan, and the Detroit Regional Chamber. Hayes previously served on the boards of Phillips Academy Andover, the Cranbrook Education Community, and the University of Illinois Chicago’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Hayes was a Russian major at Amherst and co-captained the soccer team. He went on to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School. Hayes lives in Michigan with his wife, Celeste Watkins-Hayes, and their two children.