The six-year vice chair of the University’s highest governing body was elected to steer the group Friday.

Alumnus Nelson Carbonell, a fierce advocate for the University’s burgeoning science and engineering focus, has served on the Board of Trustees for 11 years and will replace Russ Ramsey as chair starting in July. Carbonell now leads committees on finance and the Science and Engineering Hall.

Carbonell, who will serve a three-year term, graduated from the School of Engineering and Applied Science in 1985 on a full scholarship. He has matched the giving rate of seniors who donate to the senior class gift for the past two years, shelling out $101,000 to the University’s need-based aid program, the Power and Promise Fund.

He was also part of the committee that handpicked University President Steven Knapp in 2007, luring him from Johns Hopkins University.

Carbonell, a Rockville, Md. native, is the president and CEO of Snowbird Capital, a Virginia-based company that provides capital for mid-sized businesses. He also ran the popular dot-com startup Cysive before it collapsed in 2003.

Alumna and Board member Ellen Zane will serve as the vice chair. She is also the vice chairman of the Tufts Medical Center Board of Trustees and an assistant professor at Tufts’s medical school.

Lawyers and alumni Weston Burnett and Mark Chichester will join the board for the next four years. Terry Collins, former adviser to the president of Boeing Network and Space Systems, was also elected to the Board on Friday.

This post was updated May 18, 2013, 10:34 a.m. to reflect the following:

Correction appended

The Hatchet incorrectly spelled the former Board chairman’s last name. It’s “Ramsey,” not “Ramsay.”