Ex-MacArthur Chief to Lead Academy of Arts and Sciences

Jonathan F. Fanton, a former president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, was named Thursday as the new president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, The Boston Globe reports.

Mr. Fanton left MacArthur in 2009 after serving the maximum two five-year terms as president and is currently interim director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York. He will take office at the Cambridge, Mass.-based academy on July 1, replacing longtime leader Leslie Berlowitz, who resigned under pressure last summer amid questions about her resume and pay, which reached nearly $600,000 in 2011.

The nonprofit honorary society issued a highly critical report last month stating that Ms. Berlowitz exaggerated her credentials on her resume and in grant applications. The academy also accused her of manipulating the compensation process to boost her pay, which Ms. Berlowitz denied.