Prominent Des Moines entrepreneur Tej Dhawan was named vice-chair/chair-elect of the Central College Board of Trustees at the group’s spring meetings Saturday.

Dhawan will succeed current board chair Lanny Little on July 1, 2018. Over the next year, he’ll work closely with Little and with Central president Mark Putnam in leading the board. A 1991 Central graduate, Dhawan was student body president as an undergrad, and joined the trustees in 2002 after six years of service on the college’s National Advisory Council. Dhawan served as the board’s Finance Committee chair from 2009-12 and has also on board committees for Student Life, Executive Compensation, Investment and Trusteeship, as well as the Executive Committee. President Putnam called Dhawan a cutting-edge innovator and thought leader.

“Tej is a catalyst,” Putnam said. “He is generative in everything he touches from the creation of innovative business enterprises to working on state policy issues and economic development.”