The Carnegie Mellon University Board of Trustees elected one new member, Ansys Inc. President and CEO Ajei Gopal, and added three ex-officio members during its May 2022 meeting. Ed Gainey, mayor of Pittsburgh; alumna Brit McCandless Farmer, president-elect of the Carnegie Mellon Alumni Association Board; and alumnus John Watts, incoming president of CMU's Andrew Carnegie Society, will serve in ex-officio roles.

"It's a tremendous joy to welcome this new group of Trustees to Carnegie Mellon," said David Coulter, chair of CMU's Board of Trustees. "They bring volumes of experience and dedication to our mission. I look forward to working together in support of the CMU community."

"I am thrilled by the addition of these new trustees to our Board of Trustees," said Carnegie Mellon President Farnam Jahanian. "I have had the opportunity to get to know them in recent years, and I look forward to relying on their counsel to help the university advance our mission in education, research and societal impact."

Ajei Gopal has served as president and CEO of Ansys, Inc. since January 2017. A leader in engineering simulation software, Ansys has partnered with CMU to prepare the next generation of engineers and accelerate breakthroughs. In 2019, the organizations celebrated the grand opening of Ansys Hall, a 36,000-foot maker facility on the university's campus.

Gopal joined Ansys as an independent member of its Board of Directors in 2011 and was appointed president and chief operating officer in 2016. Founded in 1970, Ansys is headquartered in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, with a global network of over 4,900 employees.

Before joining Ansys as an executive, Gopal was an operating partner at Silver Lake Partners, a private equity firm that focuses on leveraged buyouts and growth capital investments. During this period, he also served as interim president and COO at Symantec Corporation, a provider of cybersecurity software and services.

A holder of 23 U.S. patents, Gopal earned a Ph.D. in computer science from Cornell University, as well as a Bachelor of Technology degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay.