White, a Belmont resident, is more than familiar with PRIM. He was a member of the Board as a Governor William Weld appointee in 1992. At that time, White was a vice-president of UNC Partners Inc., a Boston venture capital firm.

In December 1994 he became director of PRIM, following Paul Doane's resignation. In September 1997 White resigned to join TA Associates, a private equity firm.

Shortly after, TA purchased 40% of ValueQuest, a Marblehead firm headed by Catherine McGrath. ValueQuest, which was managing $330 million of PRIM's money in a large capitalization value style, was then renamed ValueQuest/TA.

At that time ValueQuest had been on PRIM's "watch list" because of an unsatisfactory performance, which was 2.5% less than its benchmark over a five-year period.

In June 1998, ValueQuest/TA announced that Greg White had been made managing director and chief operating officer.

In July 1998, the PRIM Board voted to terminate ValueQuest/TA and place the $330 million in a S&P 500 index fund, pending a search for a new large cap value manager.

On May 13, 2002, Thomas Weisel Asset Management, a subsidiary of Thomas Weisel Partners LLC, announced its acquisition of ValueQuest, which was then managing $500 million in assets.

White is currently a partner at Thomas Weisel Partners LLC, an asset management and private equity firm headquartered in San Francisco, with additional offices in New York, Boston and London.

"Alex Aikens was one of our most active Board members and will be missed," said Board member Ralph White. "He served on the recent search committee, which resulted in the hiring of Mike Travaglini. Whatever the issue, he brought a lot of savvy to the table. Alex had no personal agenda - he just wanted to help." Aikens, who lives in Wellesley, is a business professor at Brandeis University.