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Washington, D.C.— The Cato Institute’s board of directors elected a new chair, vice chair, and member of the board during a meeting held this past weekend.

James M. “Jay” Lapeyre, Jr., president and CEO of the Laitram Corporation, moves from vice chair of the board to assume leadership as its new chair. Jeffrey S. Yass, cofounder and managing director of Susquehanna International Group, steps into the role of vice chair. John Mackey, cofounder and former CEO of Whole Foods Market, joins the board as a director.

Lapeyre replaces Robert Levy, who stepped down after 14 years at the helm. Levy has served on Cato’s board since 2007, and is a former Cato senior fellow in constitutional studies. The institute’s Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies is named in his honor. While he is leaving the board, Levy will remain affiliated with Cato as senior fellow emeritus in constitutional studies.

“The Cato Institute has been so fortunate to have Bob Levy on our team, first as a policy scholar, then as a board member, and finally as our chairman,” said Cato President and CEO Peter Goettler. “But we’re equally fortunate to have Jay and Jeff—each so dedicated to the institute’s mission—to lead our board, and visionary business leaders like John Mackey to serve as directors.”

Lapeyre joined Cato as a board member in 2014. Based in New Orleans, he runs a family business that he expanded into a global company, manufacturing plastic conveyor belting, shrimp processing equipment, and space‐​saving industrial stairs. Lapeyre also serves as board chair of the Atlas Society, and is a past chair of the board of Tulane University, the Business Council of New Orleans, the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, the New Orleans Crime Coalition, and the Isidore Newman School Board of Governors.

Yass has been a member of the Cato board since 2002. He founded Susquehanna with four college classmates and built it into a major market making firm. Yass and his wife, Janine, are leading education philanthropists and in 2021 created the STOP (Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding, and Permissionless Education) Awards that grant $10 million annually—including the $1 million Yass Prize—to educators who achieve excellence.

Mackey is an entrepreneur and pioneer of natural and organic foods, and a passionate advocate for capitalism as a force for good. In his 44 years as the CEO of Whole Foods Market, he grew the company from a single store in Austin, Texas, to 540 stores in the United States, the UK, and Canada, with annual sales exceeding $22 billion and more than 105,000 team members. He recently cofounded a new company, Love Life!, for which he also serves as CEO.

“Cato has been a big part of my life for a very long time,” said Levy. “I could not be happier that Jay and Jeff will be stepping in to steward the institute into its future, and that a business superstar like John has joined as a director. At a time when the institute’s mission is more important than ever, their leadership will ensure Cato remains a principled and effective voice for liberty in the United States and around the world.”