June 7, 2006
Director of Media Relations
413/542-8417
AMHERST, Mass.—The alumni of Amherst College have elected Laura J. Yerkovich, a geologist, investment banker, homemaker and member of the Class of 1980, to a six-year term on the college’s Board of Trustees effective July 1. Yerkovich is a resident of New York City.
Born in Buffalo in 1958, Yerkovich graduated from Nichols School and entered Amherst College in 1976 as a member of the first co-ed first-year class, and received a B.A. in geology in 1980. She worked as a petroleum geologist in Texas, Colorado and Montana after graduation. After receiving her M.B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin in 1987, Yerkovich joined the Global Energy Group of The Chase Manhattan Bank, where she provided financing and mergers and acquisitions advice to corporate clients in the energy sector worldwide. Later, as a managing director in investment banking at Chase, she led a team responsible for arranging financing for projects including power plants, pipelines, refineries and major league ballparks.
Yerkovich retired from Chase in 1998 after the birth of her first child and moved to Berkeley, Calif. with her family. In Berkeley, she was a full-time homemaker and active volunteer at her church and her children’s schools. She and her family returned to New York City last year.
An active volunteer for Amherst College for more than 20 years, Yerkovich currently serves as co-chair of the Annual Fund and received the college’s Distinguished Service Award as an individual (1995) and a member of the Class of 1980 (2005). She has served on numerous alumni committees, including the Trustee Nominating Committee and the Executive Committee of the Alumni Council.
The Board of Trustees of Amherst College consists of the president of the college, ex officio, and 20 other members: 14 term trustees, elected by the board, and six alumni trustees elected by alumni of the college. Founded in 1821, Amherst is one of the nation’s leading liberal arts colleges, with 1,650 undergraduates.
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