Harvey Plotnick has been a member of Argonne's Board of Governors since 2001. He is also a member, since 1994, of the University of Chicago's Board of Trustees. Plotnick was President and CEO of Paradigm Holdings, Inc. until his retirement in 2007. He was formerly President and CEO of Molecular Electronics Co., and previously he founded and was President and CEO of Contemporary Books, Inc., which was one of the largest publishers of adult basic education instructional materials in the United States. Contemporary Books was acquired by the Tribune Company in 1993, and is now a part of McGraw-Hill Co. A 1963 graduate in English literature from the University of Chicago, Plotnick has chaired a number of its major fundraising campaigns, including the $650 million Campaign for the Next Century, which ended in 1996. He chaired the College and Student Activities Visiting Committee and was a member of the Alumni Association's Board of Governors and Chair of the College Visiting Committee. He and his wife endowed the Elizabeth and Harvey Plotnick Scholarship fund for undergraduate students, as well as a fund for graduate students in the Physical Sciences at the University.