I have been endorsed by lots of folks including Steve Pinker who has been excellent identifying a path forward for the university ("a forum not a protagonist!")... and my campaign has been covered since December in the Crimson , CNN , the Boston Herald -- For more of who I am you can see my Perspectives on Harvard Conversations
If you are a Harvard Alum and want to see change, please nominate me here for the Board of Overseers Ballot
Public Endorsements. If you are willing to add a note please add it here
"Sam is exactly what Harvard needs right now. As a Harvard alum (Harvard College '07) who wants to be proud of our great institution again, I strongly urge you to put Sam on the Board of Overseers."
Jared Friedman, Managing Director at Y Combinator
"Sam is exceptionally intelligent and experienced building businesses in rapidly changing environments. I believe this applies to the kind of grounded rethinking that would suit Harvard."
Mario Schlosser, HBS MBA 2007, Co-founder & President Oscar Health
"Sam Lessin will bring in new ideas and pespectives as a member of the Board of Overseers. With experience as a hi-tech entrepreneur and a critical eye, Lessin will facilitate the formulation of better and sounder university policies."
Dr. Laura Wharton '83 Jerusalem City Councilor
“The Harvard I know and love is one of intellectual bravery and integrity. Having gone to college with him, I can attest that Sam knows that Harvard too, and I’m confident he can restore the University’s leadership role in this time of disinformation, distrust and division.”
California State Senator Henry Stern
"Sam Lessin is an experienced entrepreneur, investor, and product manager who loves Harvard and is passionate about restoring Harvard from its recent lack of leadership. He wants to work from within to make the changes necessary."
Alfred Lin, '94 Quincy House / Sequoia Capital
"Sam Lessin brings a unique blend of intelligence, passion, and a strong commitment to Harvard's future. His fresh perspective and unwavering dedication make him an ideal choice for the Board of Overseers."
Josh Kushner, College '08, HBS '11
"The problems at Harvard are obvious and require nothing more than common sense and a bit of courage to tackle. Sam has both in abundance and will be a valuable and necessary voice to help save the institution from itself."
Adam Enbar, ‘10 Founder, Flatiron School
"Sam is an out of the box thinker who is always up for sharing a fresh perspective."
Faryl Ury, Dunster ‘06
"We need someone with the experience and perspective Sam represents so well."
Esther Dyson '71/72, Harvard Crimson 1967-72
"Sam is invested in the future of the college, has a vision, and wants to ensure that the firestorm that embroiled the campus in the fall of 2023 does not happen again."
Adam Butensky, '13
"Good governance requires diverse perspectives, creative problem solving and respectful interactions. As an investor, Facebook colleague and commentator, Sam has demonstrated that he can advance new ideas, create consensus and deliver results. He would be an excellent addition to the Board of Overseers and ensure that its membership is truly drawn from across Harvard's alumni community."
Elliot Schrage, '81 (College), '86 (HLS), '86 (HKS), HLS Visiting Committee, Information Technology Visiting Committee and Visiting Committee
"Sam truly is a visionary thinker, as anyone who knows him could say even without seeing the many successes of his career. At the same time, he is always well-informed, thoughtful, and willing to consider the many sides of any issues. I think he would be a fantastic addition to the Board of Overseers and a much needed voice."
Michael George '05, Kirkland House
"Sam's dedication impresses me, and he makes sense suggesting support for Harvard in helping it correct its course. I signed on to his nomination right away and hope you do too."
Wendy P. White MA '72 Fine Arts
"I have faith that Sam will provide an impulse for change--with a strong degree of moral clarity--that Harvard so acutely needs."
Jason Bergsman, '08 HBS
"Sam feels like the best possible option. He's not political, and is trying to focus on Harvard's academics."
Tali Rapaport '05
"Sam represents a fresh perspective that is much needed on the board of overseers. His views very much align with my own, and given his strong track record, and love of the school, he will be able to institute some lasting change."
Ryan Goodman, ‘09 HBS
"We need a trailblazing outsider like Sam who can bring fresh perspectives to Harvard and a total lack of fear about upsetting 'sacred cows' in the process. The current governance of Harvard is too insular and as a result too afraid to upset the status quo. We need a renegade. We need Sam!"
Ethan Kurzweil, HBS '08, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners
"Sam is a very clear, insightful thinker. He both gets to the bottom of a topic he's analyzing while often offering a perspective that may not be obvious"
Alec Ellison, HBS '88
"I fully support the nomination of Sam Lessin to provide leadership and vision to enrich the university’s future"
Alissa Brotman O’Neill ‘97 Chair of Surgery Rowan-Virtua SOM
"Any organization would be lucky to have Sam on its governance board. He brings unconventional perspective and uncommon insight to virtually everything he pursues; he's the rare difference-maker Harvard absolutely needs at a critical moment like this."
David Hammer, '06 Winthrop House
"I support Sam Lessin for the Board of Overseers and specifically seek the following reforms for Harvard: Harvard must reduce or eliminate the power of its DEI bureaucracy to regulate speech, to influence course content in any way, and to punish dissenting ideas on the dubious grounds of the "harm" they supposedly do to one or another arbitrarily designated "marginalized" groups. It must also work to reverse the perverse grade inflation that renders a Harvard degree meaningless in an intellectual sense. It must embrace a strict merit-only standard for admissions and hiring and accept with gusto the Supreme Court's affirmative action rulings. It must impose strict protections for freedom of expression conducted in a civil manner. Yet it must also impose zero tolerance and draconian punishments for any and all disruptive actions by protesting students, such as shouting down speakers, occupying buildings, interrupting classes, or targeting specific students or groups of students with harassment via social media or in other more direct ways."
Jonathan Burack, '64 Adams House
"Excited to support Sam Lessin for Harvard’s Board of Overseers. In the last 20 years, I've had the chance to collaborate with him on everything from class projects as undergrads to company-building as entrepreneurs & investors. Sam brings fresh thinking; an open mind; and a high bar for excellence to everything he does. He's never been afraid to have hard conversations -just what Harvard needs."
Spencer Lazar, ‘07 Kirkland House
"Thank you for standing up and putting yourself forward to effect greatly needed change. The moral clarity that Harvard should possess has been lacking, and candidates like these offer hope that the institution can be the beacon that it must be."
Aaron Grand, '18
"Sam. Thanks for working to bring common sense back to Harvard. I genuinely do not recognize Harvard as the place I studied! The University needs to return its focus to academic-excellence rather than the foment of culture wars and anti-establishmentarianism."
Jon Sandler ‘86/‘91
"Concerned about absence of moral compass and ethical framework around academic goals"
Julian Henley MD FACS '69 Founder Biotech Company
"Sam is a truly independent thinker with a deep desire to help Harvard march forward. I trust him to not let himself get influenced by external forces and focus on what Harvard really needs to remain an academic example in the years to come."
Philippe Noël, '20 Leverett House, Co-founder & CEO @ ParadeDB
"Harvard would be incredibly fortunate to have the benefit of Sam's thoughtfulness, integrity, passion and aptitude on its Board of Overseers."
Roy Ben-Dor, '11 JD/MBA
"Sam is deeply thoughtful about many things — especially where Harvard is concerned. He pulls no punches and calls things like he sees them, which is unusual and refreshing in a world where so many are afraid to speak their minds. I believe his take on how to make the university a better place for all its stakeholders — including alumni — is exactly what we need to move the university in the right direction during a divisive and complicated time."
Steve Lavine, '91 Cabot House
"We need new voices on the Board of Overseers and Sam Lessin’s should be one of them. I respect his integrity, experience, knowledge and ability to lead by considering and incorporating the expertise and views of many. Please see what Sam has to offer, his important platform, and support him."
Lynn E. Taylor, A.B. ‘88
"I fully support Sam's candidacy."
Kristin Meyer, '03 Adams House
"Sam Lessin represents my generation's sensibilities about refocusing the mission of Harvard to pursue excellence."
James Currier, HBS '99, NFX Capital
"I've worked with Sam from the year he left Harvard. He's always gone to first principles to create a balanced atmosphere for debate that consistently leads to progress that refers back to higher objectives. Harvard needs just exactly this at this time."
Anil Shrivastava, AB'90, MBA'96
"Harvard is going through a difficult period right now. I have every confidence Sam will make the right calls to help the school."
Richard Lichtenstein, '04 Adams House
"The last few weeks show that the way Harvard has been operating is costing it its reputation and trust in the wider world. While it has taken decades to get here, voting for change now will be a necessary in first step in attempting to recover that reputation. It's a long recovery, but beginning now is of paramount importance."
Russell Rivera '99-'00 Mather House
"Sam’s goals are as timeless as they are thoughtful. Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel."
Griffin Schroeder, ‘05 Kirkland House
"Harvard has become a place where freedom of speech and inquiry is discouraged. Sam sees this as a problem and wants to fix it."
David Kurlander, ‘85 Lowell House
"It's been shocking to observe so many shining institutions I valued growing up as a first-generation American lose their way. It speaks to horrendous leadership, a lack of moral clarity, and putting tribal progressive politics above the pursuit of the truth. Sam's understanding of what Harvard's board should be and courage to fight for this important societal symbol is what we need."
Peter Vu, '13 HBS
"Harvard needs someone like Sam who will fight to regain our position as an institution of academic excellence and protect free speech. We cannot take democracy and intellectual freedom for granted; it must be protected vociferously."
Margaret M. Yellott, '07 Leverett house
"A vote for Sam is a vote for sanity and competence."
John Durant, '05 Wild Ventures
"I think Sam Lessin would be a most welcome addition to the Board of Overseers."
Bracha Goetz (Vicki Druss '77), Author of 42 children's books
"I am confident that Sam will drive the positive change that Harvard desperately needs right now. He's smart, broad-thinking, and passionate about Harvard."
Rick Marini, HBS '99, Entrepreneur & Investor
"Harvard, like many other revered institutions, needs an infusion of fresh new blood to challenge the status quo and reach a new peak on the foundation that was built over generations, and Sam is the ideal person to take that mantle. He's self-made, and cannot be bought, and his experience shows his ability to build things from fresh, and then apply them into larger and established institutions. He's stepped into the latest in tech and science, but is a humanitarian first and foremost, and acts for the greater good. He is the right person to help steer Harvard to a new summit of academic excellence."
Moran Bar-Kochva, Founder & Managing Partner Unison Capital [HBS Alum]
"Sam is an accomplished entrepreneur, investor, and thinker. He would bring a pragmatic perspective to the Board and a dedication to helping Harvard thrive in a rapidly changing world."
Brian Feinstein '07
Campaign for Overseer Nomination
How To Nominate Formally
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