United States Naval Academy Foundation News

Philip M. Bilden has been elected to Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) board of directors, effective November 7. Bilden retired last year as a co-founding member of the private equity firm HarbourVest Partners. He began his career in Boston in 1991 and relocated to Hong Kong in 1996 to establish the firm’s Asian subsidiary. Throughout his 25-year tenure at HarbourVest Partners, Bilden served in senior leadership roles in the firm’s global management, including the firm’s six-person executive committee responsible for governance.

The Navy League of the United States mourns the death of its past national president, Capt. Daniel B. Branch Jr., USN retired. He died on Oct. 21, 2013, of complications from mesothelioma cancer at the age of 75. Memorial services will be held Thursday Oct. 24, at 2 p.m. at St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, 7520 South Boulder Road, Boulder, Colo. Burial services will be held at a future date at the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md. Dan was born in Greenbelt, Md., in 1937, and graduated in 1959 from the U.S. Naval Academy.