Devereux C. Josephs '15, President of the New York Life Insurance Company, has been elected to head the Harvard Alumni Association for 1954-55. He succeeds John Cowles '21, Minneapolis newspaper and magazine executive.

At the same time yesterday the Association announced the election of three vice-presidents and a treasurer. Irving D. Dawes '12, William Rice Odell, Jr. '19, and Maurice Heckscher '28, are next year's vice-presidents, while Howland S. Warren '32 will direct the association's finances.

Josephs, the new president, is a director of six of the nation's large business firms and a trustee of an equal number of leading philanthropic and civic agencies. Among the business groups with which he is associated are Consolidated Edison and J. P. Morgan and Co.

From 1945 to 1948 Josephs served as president of the Carnegie Corporation, and he is now a trustee of the organization. The life insurance executive is also a former president of the New York Harvard Club and a present member of the Overseers' Committee on University Resources.

Leaders in Fields

All four of the new subordinate officers are, like Josephs, leaders in their respective fields. Dawes is vice-president and treasurer of the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Corporation; Odell is vice-president and treasurer of the International Harvester Company; Heckscher is a member of the law firm Duane, Morris and Heckscher; and Warren is vice-president of the Old Colony Trust Company.

The Harvard Alumni Association, which the new officers will head, is responsible for the coordination of the University's alumni affairs, and runs an extensive fund-raising program.