Dr. Richard M. Krasno is currently the Lead Director of Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services, Incorporated. From 1999 to 2014, he served as Executive Director of the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust and as President (1999-2010) and director (1999-2014) of the four affiliated William R. Kenan, Jr. Funds. The five Kenan philanthropies provide grants to institutions throughout the United States in the fields of education, private enterprise, science and technology, arts and ethics. Prior to joining the Kenan Trust in 1999, Dr. Krasno was President of the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California. From 1981-1998, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of International Education in New York. He also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education in Washington, D.C. and as an officer of the Ford Foundation in Brazil and New York. Dr. Krasno holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and honorary doctorates in law and humane letters from Sacred Heart University and the College of St. Rose. He has held academic appointments at the University of Chicago, Stanford University, the University of Massachusetts, the University of London, the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain, where he was a Senior Fulbright Professor.
From 2004-2012, Dr. Krasno served as a director of the UNC Health Care System, the governing body for the University of North Carolina Hospitals and the School of Medicine. He served as Chairman of the Board from 2009-2012. In addition to
Ladenburg he currently serves as a corporate director of OPKO Health, BioCardia, and Castle Brands and as a trustee of the Miami Heart Research Institute. Dr. Krasno also serves as a member of the Leadership Council of the Center for Public Leadership of the Kennedy School at Harvard University and on the Board of Visitors of the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at the City College of New York. Dr. Krasno served as chair of the regional Rhodes scholarship selection committee in North Carolina and as a trustee of the Eisenhower Fellowship Program. He has served as a director of the Ivax Corporation and the Whitman Education Group. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World. In 2009, Dr. Krasno received the William Richardson Davie Award from the Trustees of the University of North Carolina for extraordinary service to the University and society. In 2013, Dr. Krasno received the Distinguished Service Award from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine for the leadership of the UNC Health Care System board and his influential advocacy for access to high-quality health care. He is married to the former Carin Britt Blucher from Tidaholm, Sweden and has two sons and three granddaughters.
