New leadership for board of directors

Industry leader and long-time MESA supporter David Morse has assumed the chair of the MESA board of directors.

Morse succeeds Mike Beasley, who resigned from the board in March shortly after launching his own company, Legenta, Inc.

“Mike did a great job in representing the board by championing the desires and direction of the board as a whole,” said Morse, chief operating officer of ESPNetworks, Inc., and former SBCvice president. “I plan to continue in this direction.” (See Viewpoint, page 2.)

Noted Beasley, “I am proud to have been able to serve an organization that has made such an historically positive impact on the academic and professional lives of California’s educationally disadvantaged students.

“I am confident MESAwill continue to prove its value, not only in improving student achievement, but in meeting the needs of California industry for science, engineering, and technology professionals.”

The board is made up of some 20 industry executives and high-ranking representatives of all segments of California’s education system (see list). The board supports the governance and operation of the MESA program, providing strategic direction for the organization.

“The board is comprised of significant strategic thinkers,” said Morse. “It’s a tremendous brain trust that can provide crucial support to MESA in these challenging times.”

Morse became a member of the MESA board in 1998. Both he and Beasley had been active on the MESA Industry Advisory Board before that body was incorporated into the board of directors in 1990.

Beasley had provided a decade of leadership, having joined the board in 1994 while he was chief operating officer of Icing Software, a division of IBM. He became MESA board chair the following year.

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