Headshot of IFES board member Peter McPherson.

Hon. M. Peter McPherson, Board Member

Board Co-Chair
General Inquiries
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+1 (202) 350-6700

Peter McPherson is the president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), the nation’s oldest higher education association comprised of public research universities, land-grant institutions, and state university systems.

McPherson served as deputy secretary of the United States (U.S.) Treasury from 1987-89. He also was administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development from 1981-87 and in that role was responsible for the U.S. effort for famine relief in Africa in 1984-85. During that time, he was also the chairman of the Board of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation.

He also is the founding co-chair of the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa; chair of the Board of International Fertilizer Development Center, an international center dealing with soil fertility and agricultural development; and chair of the Board of Harvest Plus, an organization working on breeding crops for better nutrition.

He is the former chair of the Board of Dow Jones and Company.

Prior to joining APLU, McPherson was the president of Michigan State University from 1993-2004. Before Michigan State, McPherson held senior executive positions with Bank of America. Earlier he was a partner and head of the Washington office of the Ohio law firm, Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease. Prior to that, he was a special assistant to President Gerald Ford in the White House.