Marillyn Zacharis

A graduate of DePauw University, Marillyn Zacharis earned her master's degree at Indiana University and taught high school English for five years in California, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. In 1972, she moved to Massachusetts with her late husband, John Zacharis, who had joined the Emerson College faculty and later became its president. She was elected to the Emerson Board of Trustees in 1996 and currently serves as its secretary. As chair of the board's development committee, she led a campaign to raise funds to build an 11-story performance and development center, and provided the leadership gift for the campaign. The center, named in memory of Zacharis's parents, Norman I. and Mary Tufte, opened in 2003.