Marquette University’s Board of Trustees elected two new members at its December 2024 meeting. The new trustees are Vincent Lyles, executive director of Milwaukee Succeeds, and Perry Vieth, founder and chief executive officer of Ceres Partners.
Marquette trustees serve for three-year terms and may be re-elected to serve for a maximum of 12 years; they are volunteers and are not compensated for their service.
Vincent Lyles
Vincent Lyles is the executive director of Milwaukee Succeeds, an organization launched by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation in 2011 to unite the community around a common goal – bringing about lasting change to the way education works for children in Milwaukee.
Lyles previously worked at Advocate Aurora Health as system vice president of community relations. He has also held leadership positions with Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, Robert W. Baird & Co. and M&I Bank / BMO Financial Group.
He earned a bachelor’s degree and juris doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and received a certificate in nonprofit management and leadership from Harvard Business School. His board service includes Marquette, BMO Funds, Badger Mutual Insurance, Near West Side Partners, MyPath and more.
Lyles was recognized in 2018 with the Badger of the Year Award from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and in 2016 by the Milwaukee Business Journal as a “40 Under 40” Hall of Fame honoree. In 2015 he was honored with the Children’s Service Award from St. Francis Children’s Center. Also in 2015, Madison365 named him as one of the most influential African Americans in the state of Wisconsin.
Perry Vieth
Perry Vieth, a 1979 graduate of the College of Business Administration, is the founder and chief executive officer of Ceres Partners, a specialist investment manager focused on agriculture, food, water and renewable energy investments. Ceres manages over $1.7 billion in assets.
He formerly served for 10 years as chief information officer of fixed income and currency at PanAgora Asset Management in Boston, where he was responsible for research, investment strategy and oversight of assets exceeding $7 billion. Vieth also served as a portfolio manager at Fleet Investment advisors, Fuji Securities and Chicago Research & Trading Group, where he began his trading career at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 1986. From 1982 to 1986, Perry practiced law in Chicago specializing in securities and corporate law.
He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and member of the Boston Securities Analyst Society. Vieth serves on the University of Notre Dame Law School’s Advisory Council and several charitable organizations’ Board of Directors.
A native of northeastern Wisconsin, Vieth graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School with a J.D. and received a B.S. in accounting from Marquette. In 2022, he received Marquette’s Alumni National Entrepreneurial Award.
