John E. Klein ( enlarge )

In 2006, the College undertook an extensive search for a new President.  From a field of over 100 candidates, the Board of Trustees chose John E. Klein.  His selection was announced in June 2007 , and he took office on August 15, 2007. 

President Klein is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of Michigan Law School.  He has been a teacher, lawyer, business executive and academic administrator. 

He was the President and CEO of Bunge North America for over 18 years and, with Bunge, he and Susan lived in Belgium, Holland, London, Brazil, New York, and St. Louis. When he retired from Bunge, he became the Executive Vice Chancellor for Administration at Washington University in St. Louis. He served there for three years before coming to Randolph College. 

As Lucy Hooper, President of the Board of Trustees, has said, “He is a non-traditional candidate with an extremely strong financial background, and his selection was a direct result of the Board’s commitment to addressing the financial situation of the College.”

The Klein Family

John and Susan have been married for 38 years and are the parents of two grown children, Jennie and Tom.

Susan Klein grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She graduated from the University of Michigan, where she majored in English.

Susan worked for five years as a banker in New York City with Citibank and Irving Trust Company. When she and John moved to Brussels, she worked for three years as the Executive Director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Belgium. Susan is interested and involved in American fine and decorative arts, and in the performing arts.  She is the past Chairman of the Fine Arts Committee of the U.S. Department of States’s Diplomatic Reception Rooms; a former trustee of the St. Louis Art Museum; past Chairman of the St. Louis Antiques Show, a former board member of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and a past board member of Opera Theatre of St. Louis. She and John are members of the Bryant Fellows of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and members of the American Art Forum of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Jennie graduated from Princeton University and is currently a  PhD candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Virginia. 

Tom graduated from Princeton University and is an investment banker in San Francisco.