Our Leadership
In managing the organization's financial health, public reputation, and operations, Mulchaey is supported by an executive team. He also works with the institution's scientific leaders to shape our scientific direction. Together, Carnegie Science's leadership suite ensures that we are able to maintain our independence, pursue advantageous partnerships, and advance scientific breakthroughs.
Executive Leadership Team
Anat Shahar was named Carnegie's first Vice President for Research in January 2026. She serves the president's chief scientific adviser, helping to shape and execute the institution's priorities and scientific programs, building and strengthening our external relationships, and advancing Carnegie’s impact and visibility within the communities in which we are located. She also shapes our efforts related to federal funding, scientific development, community and culture building, and postdoc development.
View Full BioRandy Stringer is Carnegie's Interim Chief Financial Officer. He works with the President to balance the needs of today’s scientists with those of future Carnegie researchers.
Jeanine Forsythe joined Carnegie as Chief Development Officer in February 2023. She oversees the institution's fundraising, communications, public events, and other external-facing branding efforts.
Ben Barbin is the Chief of Staff to Carnegie Interim President John Mulchaey and the Liaison to the Carnegie Board of Trustees.
Bill Fahey was named Carnegie's first Head of Administration in January 2026. In this role, he provides strategic oversight and operational management for several administrative functions, and advises the president on ensuring operational alignment in support of the institution’s mission and scientific research.He officially joined the institution as Chief Human Resources Officer in the spring of 2022 after a year as in an interim position and a year consulting.
Benjamin Aderson is Carnegie's General Counsel and Secretary. He is responsible for legal matters and governance.
Michael Stambaugh is Carnegie's first Chief Investment Officer. He is responsible for managing the institution's endowment.
Scientific Leadership
Yixian Zheng has a long-standing interest in the mechanism of cell division and the cellular scaffolding known as the cytoskeleton. She has made team has made breakthroughs in understanding genome organization, with implications for both embryonic development and the aging process, as well as in the differentiation of stem cells into their final forms. In recent years, her lab applied biomedical research techniques to revealing the molecular underpinnings of coral biology with a particular focus on the symbiotic relationship between the coral host and its symbiotic algae.
Visit BioExperimental petrologist Michael Walter became Director of the recently formed Carnegie Earth & Planets Laboratory in 2022, where he was previously Deputy Director. His recent research focuses on the period early in Earth’s history, shortly after the planet accreted from the cloud of gas and dust surrounding our young Sun, when the mantle and the core first separated into distinct layers.
Visit BioObservational astronomer Alycia Weinberger works with EPL Director Michael Walter to set and execute the Division’s overall scientific and cultural vision. She also manages the postdoctoral fellowship program and oversee the Division's colloquia and internship programs, serving as a mentor to the next generation of researchers and helping to maintain a long-standing legacy of scientific excellence.
Visit BioAstronomer Michael R. Blanton joined the Carnegie Science Observatories as its 12th director in January 2026. Blanton’s research has centered primarily on conducting large astronomical surveys to place precise constraints on cosmological history and to unravel the formation history of galaxies.
Visit BioGuillermo Blanc is the Interim Director of Carnegie Science's Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. Prior to this role, he led scientific-and technical development at the observatory. His astronomical research expertise is in galaxy formation and evolution. He is involved in a series of research projects on the properties of young galaxies at high redshift, the large scale structure of the universe, the nature of dark energy, the process of star formation in the interstellar medium, and the measurement of chemical abundances in galaxies.
Visit BioEmeritus Presidents
As the 11th President of Carnegie, Eric D. Isaacs developed new institutional partnerships, expanded interdisciplinary research efforts, and ensured Carnegie Science researchers access to the most advance scientific tools of the day.
Visit BioAs the 9th President of Carnegie Science, Richard A. Meserve worked hard to recruit and retain top scientific talent and to steward the Carnegie Science endowment to enable these leading researchers with the means to move in novel scientific directions.
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