Simons Foundation Dedicates the Marion T. Greenup Conference Center

During a ceremony on November 9, the Simons Foundation inaugurated its new conference center, naming it after its vice president of administration, Marion Greenup. The newly christened Marion T. Greenup Conference Center at the Simons Foundation’s headquarters in New York City will host collaborative meetings between mathematicians, scientists and foundation staff.

“The Simons Foundation has many superpowers,” said David Spergel, president of the Simons Foundation. “Perhaps our most important one is our ability to convene outstanding scientists across fields ranging from number theory to autism in workshops and conferences. The conversations at these events have the possibility of leading to transformative science. I’m hoping that the Marion Greenup Conference Center will be the place where new insights happen that change our understanding of the brain, our understanding of physics, our understanding of biology; and have impacts on so many areas of science.”

Greenup joined the Simons Foundation in 2007, taking on an outsize role in the foundation’s growth and evolution, particularly the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI).

“When Marion joined us, things took a terrific turn for the better,” said Jim Simons, co-founder and co-chair of the Simons Foundation. “She just made everything go much more smoothly in all departments.”

At the time of Greenup’s arrival, the foundation had only a handful of employees. Over the coming years, she was instrumental in building the foundation into its present-day form, with hundreds of employees and a diverse range of programs. “When you came, things took a leap forward,” Marilyn Simons, co-founder and co-chair of the Simons Foundation, told the ceremony’s honoree. “That’s why it couldn’t be more appropriate than to have our conference center with your name on it.”

Before her role at the Simons Foundation, Greenup worked in health and university administration for more than 20 years. She previously served as administrative director of the New York University Child Study Center and Department of Child Adolescent Psychiatry; as assistant vice president of administration in the Columbia University Health Sciences department; and as administrator of pediatrics at Columbia University. She also served as senior vice president of education and health promotion at the March of Dimes, where she led the development of educational programs for consumers and health professionals.

Greenup holds an undergraduate degree in psychology from Harriet Sophie Newcomb College, an M.Ed. in early childhood development from Tulane University, and an M.P.A. from Columbia University School of Public Health.