Citigroup Foundation President and Chief Executive Officer Pamela Flaherty will take over next month as the first woman chair of the Johns Hopkins University’s board of trustees, the university announced Monday.

“[Flaherty] is a role model and an inspiration for other Hopkins women,” university President William Brody said in a statement.

Flaherty, 62, is a 10-year veteran of the board of trustees, Johns Hopkins’ governing body, and an alumna of the university’s Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.

She was elected to the position earlier this month to replace outgoing chair Raymond “Chip” Mason, president and CEO of Legg Mason Inc.

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Flaherty could not be reached for comment because she is in China to mark the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Hopkins-Nanjing Center for Chinese and American Studies.

She hopes to focus on financial aid, recruitment and retention of top faculty, diversity and research funding in her new position according to Hopkins spokesman Dennis O’Shea.

The Mississippi native started her 39-year career with Citigroup in Citibank’s International Banking Group.

She moved up through the company ranks, serving as Citigroup’s senior vice president of corporate citizenship before being appointed president and CEO of the company’s philanthropic arm, Citigroup Foundation, in January.

In 2006, Citigroup Foundation gave out more than $92 million in 86 countries and territories, according to the organization’s Web site.

Flaherty has memberships on the boards of various nonprofit organizations, including the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, ACCION International, Kenyon College, Colonial Williamsburg and the Nature Conservancy Long Island Chapter. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

“I feel blessed by the current leadership to be named chairman of the board of trustees,” Flaherty said in a statement.

mmcilroy@baltimoreexaminer.com