The University of North Carolina Board of Governors has tentatively approved appointments of three new members of the University’s Board of Trustees and the reappointment of a current member.

At its March 16 meeting, the Board of Governors tapped  Phillip L. Clay of Boston, Alston Gardner of Atlanta and Chapel Hill, and Sallie Shuping Russell of Chapel Hill as new trustees. Reappointed was Roger L. Perry Sr. of Chapel Hill.

Their appointments to four-year terms are effective July 1, conditional upon the completion of required orientation activities and compliance with all requirements of new state ethics laws. The Board of Governors appoints eight of the 13 members of the trustee board; four others are named by the N.C. governor. The student body president serves ex officio.

The new appointees will fill the terms expiring for Jean Almand Kitchin, vice chair, of Scotland Neck, Tim Burnett of Greensboro and Richard “Stick” Williams of Charlotte. Burnett and Williams are former board chairs.

Clay is the chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and professor of city planning. As chancellor, he has oversight responsibility for graduate and undergraduate education, student life and student services. He graduated from the University with an A.B. degree with honors in 1968 and earned his Ph.D. in 1975 from MIT.

Clay received the University’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2002 and serves on the Academic Leadership Program National Advisory Board for the Institute for the Arts and Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Widely known for his work in U.S. housing policy, Clay is president of the Board of Directors of the Community Builders, the nation’s largest nonprofit developer of affordable housing. He serves on several boards and councils that address public policy and education in the United States and abroad.

Gardner is a partner in Fulcrum Ventures, an Atlanta-based private equity firm focused on information technology, biotechnology and health-care services companies. He is a founding board member of Chatham Capital, a finance firm.

Gardner graduated from the University with a B.A. in 1977. He is an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Kenan-Flagler Business School, where he teaches. He is a member of Kenan-Flagler’s Board of Visitors and the steering committee for the Carolina First Campaign. He chaired the International Studies Advisory Board and helped lead efforts to build the FedEx Global Education Center.

He was the founder and chief executive officer of OnTarget, Inc., a sales training and consulting firm, and helped organize and served as director of the North Atlanta National Bank.

Russell is managing director of Quellos Private Capital Markets, LLC. She graduated from the University with an A.B. in English in 1977 and earned an M.B.A. from Columbia University in 1983.

Her service on Carolina  boards has included the Board of Visitors and the Board of Directors of the Foundation Investment Fund Inc. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the UNC Health Care System.

Russell was a general partner with Intersouth Partners, a founding member of the Duke Management Co. and vice president and director of investments at Duke University. Her service on boards of directors has included the Council for Entrepreneurial Development and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.