Board of Trustees

Chair

Debo P. Adegbile is Chair of the Connecticut College Board of Trustees. As Board chair, he is also an ex-officio member of all trustee committees. He has served on the Board since 2011.

Adegbile is a litigation partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP in New York where he represents a variety of corporate, municipal, and not for profit clients, including colleges and universities in trial and appellate courts and investigations. He chairs the firm's antidiscrimination practice and serves on the firm's Global Management, Partner Compensation, and firm-wide Executive Diversity and Inclusion Committees. He is also a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights to which he was appointed to a six-year term by President Obama in 2016. Until 2014, he was senior counsel to United States Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy and previously served as acting president and director-counsel and director of litigation of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. Adegbile twice defended the constitutionality of core provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in oral arguments before the United States Supreme Court and has testified before Congress several times. Prior to joining LDF, Adegbile was an associate at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison for seven years. 

In 2020, Adegbile was appointed the Joe Rauh Chair at the University of D.C. Law School. He is a member of the New York University School of Law Board of Trustees, where his is currently co-teaching a class on Lawyers and Leaders, and vice chair of the Vera Institute for Justice. He is the former chair of the Board of Trustees of the Manhattan Country School and serves on the Advisory Council of the Center for Democracy and Technology and the Policing Project Advisory Board at NYU Law School.

At Connecticut College, Adegbile majored in government and was awarded the Anna Lord Strauss Medal at Commencement in recognition of his outstanding work for the College and community. As a student Adegbile was a member of the men’s soccer team and was involved with the Office of Volunteers for Community Service and student government and athletics advisory boards. He worked as an intern at New London High School and the New London Public Defender’s office, among other volunteer service. He earned a J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1994. As an alumnus, Adegbile has served as a convocation, baccalaureate, orientation, camel athletics club, distinguished reunion, Agnes Gund ’60 Dialogue Project, Elevate social justice project, and alumni speaker, and as class agent and as a member of the prelaw advisory and young alumni committees, Forum, and on the Presidential and DIEI and Marketing VP search committees. He was awarded the Agnes Berkeley Leahy Award in recognition of his service to the College at Reunion 2011.

Vice Chair

Karen Quint joined the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2012. She is a partner in Spencer Stuart's San Francisco office and a core member of the firm’s Financial Officer and Board practices. With more than 30 years of experience in executive search, she focuses on senior-level financial executive searches for chief financial officer as well as board director searches for financial experts and audit committee members. As a certified executive coach, she also works with clients on succession planning, team effectiveness, and aligning culture with strategy. Quint is a three-time winner of the firm’s prestigious Lou Rieger Quality Award.

A frequent speaker at financial executive conferences, Quint presents on talent management and the changing role of the chief financial officer. She has been a featured speaker and panelist for the Financial Executives Institute, Corporate Executive Board Roundtables, National Association Corporate Treasurers, and the National Investor Relations Institute.

Quint graduated from Connecticut College in 1987 with a major in American studies. She participated in the Westminster College Exchange in Oxford, England during the fall of 1985. Karen served as a housefellow and as secretary of the J-Board. Post-graduation she has served on the CISLA Alumni Advisory Board and as a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors. In 1997, Karen received the Goss Award for enthusiastic participation in programs and activities that made a significant contribution to the College community. 

Seth Alvord joined the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2016.

He is the Founder and Managing Partner of Balance Point Capital Partners, a private equity investment company. Alvord has over 20 years of experience in advising and financing companies to achieve growth and profitability. Prior to joining Balance Point Capital, he held various positions in the investment banking industry, including the Investment Banking Division of Morgan Stanley.

Alvord previously served as a Trustee and Vice Chair of the Board of the Northfield Mount Hermon School. There he served on the Investment Committee and as Chair of the Financial Policy Committee. He has spoken to members of the Connecticut College Peggotty Investment Club about careers in the investment field and participated in club panel discussions on capital markets.

At Connecticut College, Alvord majored in political science and received his bachelor’s degree in 1993 and was a member of the men’s rowing team. In 1998, he earned an M.B.A. from the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University where he was awarded the A. Donald Kelso Award.

Jessica Archibald joined the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2021.

Archibald is a managing director and member of the Investment Committee at Top Tier Capital Partners in San Francisco. She is co-lead of the Funds team and participates extensively in the capital formation efforts of the firm. Archibald joined Top Tier’s predecessor firm Paul Capital in 2005. Prior to joining Top Tier, she was part of the investment team at Care Capital LLC, a venture capital firm specializing in biotechnology. Before that, she spent five years at Salomon Smith Barney.

Archibald serves as a west coast board member of Team IMPACT, an organization which tackles the emotional trauma and social isolation experienced by children facing serious and chronic illnesses by matching them with a college athletic team through a two-year therapeutic program that complements their medical treatments.

Archibald studied abroad at Glasgow Caledonian University in the fall of her junior year and graduated in 1995 with a major in math and economics. She took a business school semester abroad at the University of St. Gallen in 2001 and earned her M.B.A.in finance from NYU's Stern School of Business in 2002. She was a member of the varsity crew team and was inducted into the College’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006. She continued to row competitively after graduation through the New York Athletic Club where she was a nine-time national champion and she competed in the 2000 and 2004 Olympic trials.

Katherine Bergeron is the 11th president of Connecticut College. During her tenures, she has worked to advance the College’s reputation by building its academic, residential, community, and financial strength. Starting in 2014, Bergeron vigorously supported the faculty’s development of Connections, a bold new venture in interdisciplinary education, designed to prepare students for leadership in an interconnected world. During this same period, Connecticut College received some of the largest single gifts in its history to enhance financial aid, career education, academic support, athletics, and the arts. Supporting capital projects have included the renovation of the Charles E. Shain Library, the creation of both the Walter Commons for Global Study and Engagement and the Hale Center for Career Development, and, most recently, the revitalization of the College’s historic art deco theater into the Nancy Athey ’72 and Preston Athey Center for Performance and Research at Palmer Auditorium. Currently underway are the renewal of the College’s riverfront for sailing, rowing, and marine science; and the completion of the new Stark Center for the Moving Image a new home for film studies.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wesleyan University, Bergeron earned master’s and doctoral degrees in music history from Cornell University, and wrote two prize-winning books on French music and culture. Before coming to Connecticut College, she was dean of the college and professor of music at Brown University. She serves as Past-Chair of the Board of the Council of Independent Colleges; on the Board of the American Academic Leadership Institute; on the Board of the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut; on the Board of Directors of the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra. Previously, she was on the Board of the Association of American College's and Universities. She has hosted a podcast, Think.Do.Lead. about creativity and innovation, and has co-taught, with her husband, media artist Butch Rovan, a course on songwriting that has yielded three albums of original songs by Connecticut College students. She and her husband also wrote and produced the new version of the Connecticut College alma mater, "Alma Mater by the Sea," and performed it with talented staff and student colleagues for the CLass of 2020 Commencement.

Betty Bibbins was elected to the Board of Trustees in 2018. She is a retired health care management professional with administrative and teaching careers in both clinical and business environments. Bibbins was founder, CEO, and Executive Physician Educator of DocuComp® LLC, a health care consulting educational organization providing in-patient record Clinical Documentation Improvement (CDI) services. It also offers continuing education and educational support for the certification in CDI to physicians, nurses, case managers, coders, and CDI specialists. She has authored several books and presented at numerous national speaking engagements.

Bibbins is the president of the Board of Directors for the Eastern Shore Rural Health System, Inc. and previously was a member of the Advisory Board of American College of Physician Advisors. She serves as secretary of the Board of Visitors for Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) in Norfolk, VA. and is also a Planning Committee member of the Black Alumni Engagement Committee.

Majoring in zoology, Bibbins received her B.A. from Connecticut College in 1973 and went on to earn a B.S. in nursing, with highest honors, from Hampton University in 1977. In 1982, she received a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) from Eastern Virginia Medical School and then proceeded to complete an internship and residency as Chief Resident / Assistant Instructor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas in 1986. 

Maria Boyce was appointed to the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2020.

Boyce is a partner at Hogan Lovells LLP in Houston, Texas where she prosecutes and defends complex commercial and intellectual property cases in the energy and technology industries in courts throughout the United States. She is an elected member of the American Board of Trial Advocates and is ranked by Chambers. Prior to joining Hogan Lovells in 2015, Maria was a partner at Baker Botts LLP, where she served as the first female office managing partner of a major Houston law firm and served three terms on the firm’s Executive Committee.

In 2014, Boyce was selected by her United States senators to serve on the bipartisan committee that interviews federal judicial candidates for district court and Fifth Circuit vacancies in Texas. In this role, she actively participates in the process of vetting presidential appointed federal judges in Texas. Boyce is actively involved in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas and is a director of Night Court and the Women in Law Empowerment Forum, Houston Chapter.

With a major in government and a minor in history, Boyce graduated cum laude from Connecticut College in 1985. She went on to graduate with a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law in 1988, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology.

Ethan Brown joined the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2021.

Brown is the founder of Beyond Meat and has served as President and Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the company's board of directors since its inception in 2009. He also serves as a manager of the Planet Partnership, LLC, Beyond Meat’s joint venture with PepsiCo, and served as Secretary for Beyond Meat from 2009 - 2018. Brown began his career with a focus on clean energy and the environment, serving as an energy analyst for the National Governors’ Center for Best Practices. He then joined Ballard Power Systems, a hydrogen fuel-cell company, where he assumed a series of increasingly responsible roles, eventually reporting directly to the Chief Executive Officer. Brown also created and opened a center for fuel reformation and has held several industry positions, including Vice Chairman of the Board at The National Hydrogen Association and Secretary of the United States Fuel Cell Council. 

Brown is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, was honored as part of Inc.’s Best Led Companies 2021, The Bloomberg 50 for 2019, Newsweek’s Top Innovators of 2019, and, along with Beyond Meat, is the recipient of the United Nation’s highest environmental accolade, Champion of the Earth (2018). He holds an MBA from Columbia University, an MPP with a focus on Environment from the University of Maryland, and a BA in History and Government from Connecticut College. While at the College, he played on the men’s basketball team, was publisher of the Connecticut College Review, and received the Mary F. Morrisson Prize.

Chip Clothier  joined the Connecticut College Board of Trustees upon his appointment as President of the Alumni Association Board of Directors on July 1, 2022. 

Clothier is Managing Partner and Co-Founder of HFC Executive Search where he has focused on filling senior level positions for privately-held and Fortune 1000 companies for more than 15 years. Prior to joining HFC Executive Search he spent 20 years in a variety of sales and marketing positions in the consumer and B2B industries, in particular with Nabisco and ShareMax. Before attending business school, Clothier spent five years in merchandising management for Filene’s in Boston, MA and Strawbridge’s in Philadelphia, PA. He has received numerous awards including the American Marketing Association’s prestigious EDISON Award, Advertising’s EFFIE Award, and Point-of-Purchase Advertising International’s Gold Award. He also has been quoted in publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Ad Age, Brandweek and CFO Magazine.

Majoring in history, Clothier received his B.A. in 1979 and earned an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in 1986. While attending Connecticut College, Clothier served as the Student Government Association parliamentarian, senior class president, and was a recipient of the Anna Lord Strauss Medal. Since graduation, he has served as his alumni class president, class gift officer, has hosted frequent college events in the Philadelphia area. He is the chair of the nominating committee of the Merion Cricket Club and former chair and board member of the Agnes Irwin School in Bryn Mawr, PA.

Lynn Cooley joined the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in July 2015.

Cooley is Dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Vice Provost for Postdoctoral Affairs, is the C.N.H. Long Professor of Genetics, and professor of Cell Biology and of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at Yale University.

She is Past-President of the Genetics Society of America and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Cooley’s honors include a Pew Scholar Award in the biomedical sciences and membership in the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering.

Cooley majored in zoology at Connecticut College and graduated in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree. She was a member of the women’s swimming and basketball teams. She received the E. Francis Botsford Prize, which is awarded to a senior for excellence in biology. She attended graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin, but found her way to the lab of Dieter Söll at Yale University to carry out her dissertation research. Cooley received her Ph.D. in chemistry from UT Austin in 1984 for her research at Yale. She did her postdoctoral training at the Carnegie Institution for Science, Department of Embryology in Baltimore, MD. In addition to research and teaching, she directed Yale’s Combined Program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) for many years.

Dodie Crawford began serving on the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2018.

While at Connecticut College, Crawford majored in economics and art history and received her B.A. in 1989. She attended Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management earning a M.B.A. in marketing, strategy and organizational behavior in 1995.

She began her career in advertising at Ketchum Communications in San Francisco and worked for Clorox in brand management and for Webvan and eBay in marketing, data management, merchandising, and operations. As an independent consultant, Dodie has led marketing, strategy, and global crowd-sourced innovation consulting projects for a wide range of businesses.

Crawford served on the Board of Trustees of the Drew School, a college preparatory high school in San Francisco and was the founding President of National Charity League, Inc., Golden Gate Chapter from 2016 to 2018.

Her double major in art history and economics has allowed her to develop an appreciation for the extraordinary voice and beauty of art from diverse cultures, while building a foundation and understanding of the economic frameworks underlying the development, growth, and fluctuations of the world and local economies. While at Conn, Crawford served as an admission tour guide, was the Student Activities Council representative her senior year, and was a member of President Gaudiani’s Five-Year Strategic Plan Finance Committee. After graduating, she served as an admission alumni interviewer, member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors, and the CC San Francisco Bay Area Core Group.

Nat Damon began serving on the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2021.

Damon is the founding Executive Director of Reach Academics, an organization that works closely with K-12 schools to strengthen relationships among students, teachers, staff, parents, and administrators to ensure all members thrive. He also hosts the “Reach.Teach.Talk” podcast. In 2021, Nat founded Reach Academy for Young Men, a summer institute for boys grades 7-10 in the LA area focused on learning, leadership, and positive growth. Previously, Damon was the assistant head of School/Upper School director for seven years at The John Thomas Dye School in Bel Air, CA. Before that tenure, he was founding academic dean/dean of students at Sierra Canyon in Chatsworth, CA. As an English teacher grades 6 through 11, Damon worked at The Park School (Brookline, MA), Derby Academy (Hingham, MA), and Harvard-Westlake School (Bel Air, CA). He has published two books: "True Colors in My Ordinary World" and "Time to Teach: Time to Reach."

Damon is a member of the Board of Governors at Soho Parish Primary School in London and was recently elected to the board of the Episcopal School of Los Angeles. He has served as a board member of Beacon School for Boys and Valley Charter Schools in North Hills, CA, with three years as Board Chair.

Damon graduated in 1993 with a major in American studies and psychology and earned his M.A. in English literature from Middlebury College in 2000. While at Conn, Damon served as a housefellow, a community service volunteer, was a member of CoCo Beaux, and was on the men’s rowing team.

Mark Fallon was appointed to the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2021.

Since April 2020, Fallon has served as Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer at APTIM, a portfolio company of Veritas Capital. APTIM is a leading environmental, resilience, and critical infrastructure consulting and delivery firm. Prior to joining APTIM, Fallon served as president and CEO for Envirocon and Modern Machinery. Previously, he held various leadership roles at CH2M, including board member, president of Global Regions, managing director of Europe, and president of Global Nuclear Business. Fallon began his career in the U.S. Department of Energy where he served as a senior advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Energy.

Fallon has served as a director of the Denver Scholarship Foundation, a member of the Advisory Committee to the Export Import Bank of the United States, and a member of the Environmental Management Advisory Board of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Fallon graduated in 1992 with a degree in Government. While at Conn, He played on the varsity Basketball team and was a member of the judiciary board.

Marisa Fariña was elected to the Board in 2022.

She is Managing Director of Washington Post Live, a leading live journalism platform featuring newsmakers, elected officials, and industry experts. Prior to joining the Post, she was CRO and VP of Strategic Partnerships at Tina Brown Live Media, where she spearheaded business strategy and partnerships for Women in the World summits and salons presented domestically and internationally. She also spent 18 years at Time Out North America, including serving as executive vice president/group publisher. While there, she was named a recipient of Folio Magazine’s 30 Under 30 award. She is the co-founder of TEDxEast, a program designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level.

She is Chair of the Brooklyn Book Festival Board, Development Committee Chair & Board Member of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, and Development Committee Chair & Board Member of Horizons.

Fariña majored in political science at Connecticut College and received the Elizabeth Fielding Memorial Award, which recognizes an outstanding woman in each class. She was a member of the Student Government Association and served on the Senior Pledge Committee. She is currently president of the Class of 1993 and previously was a reunion committee member, class gift chair, alumni admission representative. Fariña served as a Young Alumni Trustee from 1993 – 1996.

Greg Gigliotti joined the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2020.

Gigliotti is the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Investment Officer, and a founding partner of Xtellus Advisors, a New York based advisory and private equity investment firm. He formerly was a founding partner and senior portfolio manager of Trilogy Global Advisors, LP. Gigliotti also previously served as a vice president and senior portfolio manager at Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Mutuals Series Funds Inc.

Gigliotti is a member of the Board of Trustees of SoundWaters, a non-profit organization focused on marine based education and youth sailing programs and a trustee of the LISOT Sailing Foundation, another non-profit that provides advanced training to youth sailors who have an ambition to compete both nationally and internationally. He was previously a trustee for The Stanwich School a pre-K-12 private school in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Majoring in economics and international relations, Gigliotti graduated with a B.A from Connecticut College in 1988. While at the College, he founded the Connecticut College ski team. 

Rob Hale was elected to the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2015. He is Co-founder and President of Granite Telecommunications, LLC, a communications company headquartered in Quincy, Massachusetts. Founded in 2002, Granite now has annual revenues exceeding $1.75 billion and employs over 2,500 teammates. Granite was recognized in 2019 as the most philanthropic company in Massachusetts after donating $25M to community organizations.

Hale also owns FoxRock Properties, a Boston-based real estate firm with over 5 million square feet of commercial space. He also founded Copley Equity Partners, a private equity firm that invests in small and middle market businesses with significant growth prospects. Hale is an owner and Director of the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association. 

Hale has held or holds leadership roles at Boston Children’s Hospital, The Massachusetts Soldier’s Legacy Fund, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Deerfield Academy, and Brigham & Women’s Hospital where he currently co-chairs the $1.5 billion Life.Giving.Breakthroughs Campaign. Hale, and his wife Karen, have received numerous awards recognizing their commitment to the lifesaving missions of numerous health institutions and organizations. For 2019, The Chronicle of Philanthropy listed the Hales as among the top 15 most generous philanthropists in America.

At Connecticut College, Hale majored in history and received his B.A. in 1988. He was class president and played varsity lacrosse. He volunteered with the Connecticut College’s Big Brothers program and he continued his volunteer work with Big Brothers Big Sisters for over 30 years after graduating. 

Alice Handy joined the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2021.

Handy is the founder, former president, and CEO of Investure, an outsourced investment office for colleges and foundations with $12 billion under management. Before founding Investure, Handy served the University of Virginia for 29 years, beginning as its first investment officer, later becoming treasurer, and finally president of the University of Virginia Investment Management Company (UVIMCO). She was the treasurer of the Commonwealth of Virginia from 1988 to 1990. Handy began her career as a bond portfolio manager and assistant vice president at the Travelers Insurance Company.

Handy serves on the board of the American Friends of the National Gallery London and the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation. She also generously contributes her expertise to the investment committees of St. Jude’s Hospital, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, the United Way of Greater Charlottesville, Sweet Briar College, and the Smithsonian Institution.

At Connecticut College, Handy majored in economics and graduated with a B.A in 1970.

Kim-An Hernandez joined the Board in 2022.

She is Principal and Chief Procurement Officer at Vanguard. In her nearly four years at Vanguard, Hernandez has also served as Principal and Head of IT Global Resource Strategy and Controls, and Senior Counsel and Head of Information Technology and Security and Legal. Prior to arriving at Vanguard, she served as Senior Counsel of Information Technology, eDiscovery, and Knowledge Management at International Paper. 

Hernandez serves on the Board of Advisors for GRCIE, officer and co-lead for OPEN, Vanguard’s LGBTQIA+ ERG, and on the Board of Directors for The Fund for the School District of Philadelphia.

She earned her B.A. in Government in 1999 from Connecticut College. In 2004, she earned her J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law and a Law and Business Certificate from the Vanderbilt Owen School of Management. She is one of the only Connecticut College athletes to lead two teams in two different sports (soccer and lacrosse) to the NCAA Tournament. She also played on the women’s basketball team for one season. Hernandez was an NSCAA All-American, NESCAC All-Academic, IWLCA Regional and Academic All Region, and Umbro All-Star Select. She was inducted into the CC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017 and was a member of Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society.

Steve Jacobson joined the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2020.

Jacobson is chairman of the board, president, and chief executive officer of Sankaty Light Consumer Health, Inc. In 1994, he founded Olympus Health Care Solutions and developed the international health care cost containment model still widely emulated today. Under his leadership, Olympus led the market by developing and implementing new products and services which contribute to industry leading savings and service. In 2015, he sold Olympus to an international insurance services company.

Jacobson is a founder of Mt. Sinai Medical Center of Miami Beach and active in many community activities including Young Presidents Organization (YPO).

Majoring in economics and government at Connecticut College, Jacobson received his B.A. in 1985. He earned a J.D from Tulane School of Law in 1989 and completed Harvard Business School’s Owner/President Management (OPM45) program in 2014. While attending Connecticut College, Steve served for a year as the Student Government Association parliamentarian and as class president his junior year.

YOUNG ALUMNI TRUSTEE

Samirah Jaigirdar joined the Connecticut College Board of Trustees as a Young Alumni Trustee in 2022.

Originally from Bangladesh, Jaigirdar double majored in International Relations and Global Islamic Studies, minored in Arabic Studies, and was a CISLA scholar. In 2021, she received the Jay Levin ’73 Exemplary Leadership Award for service to the College and the Global Islamic Studies Junior Prize for outstanding achievement in the major. During her sophomore summer, Jaigirdar studied Arabic at the Middlebury Language School and since that time served as a research assistant and teacher’s assistant in the Global Islamic Studies department where she transcribed primary sources, conducted research with Professor Uddin, and reviewed papers and taught students how to properly structure a paper. Through the International Relations department, Jaigirdar developed a 3-year integrated research project titled “Tearing Down the Façade: Power, Realism, and the War on Terror” which she presented at the All-College Symposium.

Jaigirdar’s leadership experience includes serving as president of the Student Government Association (SGA) in her senior year, a member of the 2021 Dean of the College search committee, chief of communications for the SGA during her junior year, student advisor coordinator during her sophomore year, and an admissions committee selector for the United World College Bangladesh National Committee since 2016.

Jaigirdar’s work experience includes an internship in the Public Affairs and Sustainability department of the Coca-Cola company in Bangladesh where she designed a factory tour of the plant, proofread and translated internal documents, and coordinated corporate social responsibility projects. She also was an assistant instructor at the Global Leadership Forum in New Mexico helping to plan the curriculum for over sixty students and co-facilitating workshops on race theory and leadership styles, a research intern at the High Atlas Foundation in Marrakesh, Morocco collaborating on English-Arabic translations about sustainable development, and a digital media intern in the Communications Office at the College creating content for the College’s social media outlets and writing articles for The Experience blog. 

Future plans include earning a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, specializing in Religion, Politics, and Ethics.

Jon Krane was elected to the Board in 2022.

Krane is founder and chief executive officer of KraneShares, a global asset management firm known for its China-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and innovative China investment strategies. KraneShares focuses on equity and fixed income markets and has numerous funds, including those focused on internet, healthcare, clean technology, 5G, semiconductors, and science/technology innovations. 

Krane graduated with a BA in Art History in 1990 and went on to earn his MBA from Columbia Business School in 1999. He played four years on the Varsity Tennis Team. His sister, Jennifer, also attended Conn College and was a government and history major in the class of 1988.

YOUNG ALUMNI TRUSTEE

Sydney Lamb joined the Connecticut College Board of Trustees as a Young Alumni Trustee in 2021.

Lamb majored in American studies, minored in sociology, and achieved dean’s honors or high honors every semester. She received the Vera Snow Graduate Fellowship, the Class of 2003 Prize in American Studies, and the Robert Hampton Award which is award to two seniors who have contributed the most to the College and community. During the summer of 2019, Lamb was an intern at the Columbia University Pre-College Program in New York. There she assisted professors with courses for high school students and produced media and marketing content for the program. Lamb also studied abroad in the fall of 2019 at University College London where she studied American history and the history of antiquity.

Lamb served as a representative on Honor Council for all four academic years, including as the Council’s chair where she presided over weekly meetings. Lamb was the creative director and co-president of the Womxn’s Empowerment Initiative, produced and directed theatrical productions with over 100 participants, organized leadership committees, and raised funds and awareness for local women’s empowerment non-profit organizations.

After graduating, Sydney worked as a producer for the Harlem Cultural Festival, a full day music festival at the Apollo Theater in New York City. Currently, Sydney is based in Washington D.C. where she works as a staffer for Congresswoman Jahana Hayes from Connecticut.

John Linehan was elected to the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2018.

Linehan is the chief investment officerr for the Equity and portfolio monager for the Equity Income and the U.S. Concentrated Large-Cap Equity Income Strategies and co-portfolio manager of the U.S. Large-Cap Value Strategy at T. Rowe Price. In addition, Linehan is a member of the firm’s U.S. Equity Steering and Equity Brokerage and Trading Control committees. He is a vice president of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. and T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.

Linehan has 29 years of investment experience, 24 with T. Rowe Price. Prior to joining T. Rowe Price, he was an executive in the oil trading and consulting industry. He has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

Linehan serves as a board member for St. Mary’s Seminary and the University and the Baltimore Equitable Society. Previously, he has served on the board of the Odyssey School where he was chair for five years, Friends School of Baltimore, Gilman School, Baltimore Equitable Scholarship Trust, and the South Baltimore Homeless Shelter.

Linehan earned a B.A. in economics from Amherst College and an M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was the Henry Ford II Scholar, an Arjay Miller Scholar, and the winner of the Alexander A. Robichek Award in finance.

Jonathan McBride rejoined the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2020 after previously serving from 2000 to 2009.

McBride is a partner at Heidrick & Struggles, an international executive search firm, and is the leader of its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion practice. He is the former Global Head of Inclusion and Diversity at BlackRock and was a member of the firm's Global Operating Committee. Prior to joining BlackRock, McBride served as Director of the Presidential Personnel Office in the White House, a role he was appointed to in July 2013. He joined the Obama administration as a special assistant to the President and the deputy director of the Presidential Personnel Office in August 2009.

In 2000, McBride co-founded Jungle Media Group. Jungle's magazines, websites, and live events served a variety of audiences including MBAs, JDs, college students, and young black and Hispanic professionals. In 2006, Jungle Media Group was sold to Universum, a global employer branding company. As chief strategy officer at Universum, McBride served as the company's most senior consultant to companies and agencies looking to attract and recruit top talent.

McBride earned his B.A. in U.S. history and economics from Connecticut College in 1992 and his M.B.A. in finance from Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania in 1997. McBride was a senior admissions fellow, a research assistant in the history department, an affirmative action intern in the President’s Office, a member of the Diversity Committee, a member of the College Development Committee, and a student activities representative. In 1990 and 1991, he was captain of the men’s varsity soccer team and selected to the All-New England team. In 1991, he was selected for the NCAA Second Team All-American team. After graduating from Conn, Jonathan served as a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors and is currently a member of the College’s Defy Boundaries Campaign Committee.

Sarah Mudho began serving on the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2021.

Since 2015, Mudho has served as General Counsel at Wellspring Capital Management, a private equity firm in New York.  She also became the Chief Compliance Officer in 2017 and serves as a member of the firm’s investment committee. Prior to joining Wellspring, Mudho was a counsel in the Corporate Department at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP in New York. As a member of the mergers & acquisitions group at Paul Weiss, she worked on various foreign and domestic acquisitions and investments, divestitures, joint ventures, recapitalizations and other transactions for U.S.-based and overseas clients engaged in a wide variety of businesses, including the steel, manufacturing, defense, hospitality, healthcare, sporting goods and consumer goods industries.

Mudho graduated cum laude in 1998 with a degree in International Relations and received her J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2001. While at the College, she played on the varsity Women’s Basketball team for three seasons and participated in Umoja all four years. Sarah’s brother, Christopher, also attended Conn as a member of the Class of 2001.

Devon Preston joined the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2021. Since 2014, Preston has worked with children living in foster care as a court appointed special advocate with Marin CASA. Her professional career has primarily focused on the environment and sustainable development. She has held positions as an environmental program officer with the Rhode Island Foundation, executive director of the Washington County Regional Planning Council, environmental compliance officer and sustainability manager with the Presidio Trust, and with the National Audubon Society.

Preston serves as vice-chair of the board of Insight Garden Program, an organization that facilitates an in-prison curriculum and reentry support for people leaving prison. While a student at Conn, Preston was a volunteer at the York Correctional Institution for Women, which sparked a lifelong interest in and advocacy for prison policy reform. She is also a board member of Children for Change and a trained volunteer in support of domestic violence survivors.

Preston earned her B.A. from Connecticut College in 1993 with a major in Environmental Studies and a minor in English and an M.S. in Environmental Policy from the University of Michigan School of the Environment in 1999. Devon’s sister, April Danz, also attended Connecticut College and graduated in 1996.

Leslie Rosen became a member of the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2020.

Rosen is a principal at Rosen Harbottle Commercial Real Estate, where she contributes significantly to business strategy and operations, transaction management, managing landlord/tenant disputes, and the review of legal documents. Prior to joining Rosen Harbottle in 2015, she practiced transactional commercial real estate law in New York at Paul Hastings LLP and Kasowitz, Benson, Torres LLP.

Rosen is a director of the Rita and Herbert Rosen Family Foundation and is a board member of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Hillel at the University of Washington, the Northwest School for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children, the Isador Simon Family Foundation, and Jewish Family Services of Seattle. She is a participant in the Wexner Heritage Program.

Graduating with honors in 2002, Rosen earned a B.A. in government from Connecticut College. She earned a J.D. from Brooklyn Law School in 2007. In 2012, Rosen was honored by Connecticut College with the Mach Arom ’89 Alumni Award for distinguished achievements in her profession and within society.

Peter Skaperdas became a member of the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2017.

Skaperdas is a Senior Vice President and a Private Wealth Advisor at UBS Financial, a global provider of financial services to private, corporate, and institutional clients. His prior positions include Chief U.S. Economist for UBS, Senior Economist at Salomon Brothers and Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

He is a past President of the Board of Directors of the New Canaan YMCA and is a past president of the Connecticut Grand Opera and Orchestra.

Skaperdas earned his B.S. in economics and mathematics from the University of Illinois in 1975 and his M.S. in economics from the University of Wisconsin in 1977.

Dwayne Stallings was elected to the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2018.

Stallings is a Raymond James Financial Advisor and Vice President of Liberty Bank in Mystic, Connecticut. Stallings has over 16 years of experience in the finance industry. Previously, he was a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch in New London. He had been named one of the Top 100 Financial Advisors in America by Bank Investment Consultant magazine.

After graduating from the College, Stallings played professional basketball in Europe. He now works closely with the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich, England, where he assists students with finding internships and jobs. Dwayne hosts several financial panels each year in the U.K. on behalf of the UEA. He also funds the UEA Dwayne C. Stallings scholarship.

At Connecticut College, Stallings majored in history and earned his B.A. in 1999. He participated in basketball, club baseball, theater and was involved with Unity House. His senior year, he was team captain and leading scorer on the men’s varsity basketball team. The team posted a 28-1 record, was ranked No. 1 in the country and advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA Division III men’s basketball tournament. Stallings was inducted into the Connecticut College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018.

Diane Stratton became a member of the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2022.

Stratton is a jewelry designer and owner of Diane Stratton Jewelry. She has been making jewelry for over 30 years. She is inspired by natural forms and elements, and reflections of light on water. Lightweight and comfortable to wear, her jewelry is simple and elegant. 

In her community, Stratton serves as the clerk of programming of the Moses Brown Parents’ Association, as a board member of the Michael H. Flanagan Foundation, and as chair of the development committee for the Rhode Island Center for the Book. She previously was the president of the board for the Arts Alive Theater from 2011 – 2015.

Stratton majored in studio art with a focus in painting at Connecticut College. She furthered her formal education by earning her M.F.A. in the Jewelry and Light Metals program at Rhode Island School of Design in 1998. She was a member of the women's field hockey and indoor and outdoor track teams and sang with the Schwiffs. Since graduation, she has volunteered as class president, class agent, and class correspondent.

Young Alumni Trustee

Shyanne Temple joined the Connecticut College Board of Trustees as a Young Alumni Trustee in 2020.

Temple is preparing to take the MCAT and apply to medical schools while exploring different learning opportunities at medical practices in the Worcester, MA area. She is also collaborating with members of her church community to create a program teaching black history that is not currently taught in the local school district to the youth of her community.

Temple was accepted in the Connecticut College Science Leaders Program upon her admittance to the College. She was a scholar in the Center for International Studies and the Liberal Arts (CISLA). Her coursework and 2019 summer internship as a research assistant at the University of Chile in Santiago, Chile led to her CISLA senior integrative project, “The Effects of PM 2.5 on Infants Born Small for Gestational Age.”

A natural leader, Temple is former director of the CC Gospel Choir, where she led efforts to organize events aimed at uplifting students through gospel music, and the founder of Womxn of Color Collective (WOCC), a Conn club that builds community with women of color through meetings and events with students, staff and faculty. Since 2012, Temple has been a teacher in the Children’s Department of Faith Fellowship Ministries International.

While at Connecticut College, Temple majored in biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology graduating with a B.A. in May 2020. She was the 2020 recipient of the Community Builder Award.

Maarten Terry was elected to the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2021.

A marketing executive, Terry has more than 30 years of experience in direct marketing and brand management in diverse categories including telecommunications, books, magazines, coffee and tobacco. Terry President of Converge Marketing Services, a direct response media firm that delivers strategic solutions in media planning and buying, analysis and marketing services. Prior to CMS, he was a founding partner of ConvergeDirect,. He previousley held marketing and brand management roles at Time Inc., Philip Morris and Kraft Foods.

Terry serves as a senior mentor for COOP Careers, an organization which works to help individuals overcome underemployment by improving digital skills and making peer connections. He is a former board member of the United Way of New Canaan and a former board member and vice president of A Better Chance of New Canaan, a community-based organization focused on offering academically talented minority students a range of opportunities which may not be available in their own communities.

Terry was a sociology-based human relations major at Connecticut College. He received the Anna Lord Strauss award during commencement in honor of his volunteer work at the Community Resource Commission Afterschool Center, his role in coordinating the relief effort on campus for victims of a major fire in New London, and his work to establish a local youth chapter of the NAACP. He was president of Unity House and of Umoja and worked at the WCNI radio station and was a housefellow. Terry was a member of the student advisory committee to the Sociology department, commissioner of intramural athletics, and was also a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors. Terry's wife, Annette Boykins Terry was also a member of the class of 1983.

Rajneesh Vig joined the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2019.

Vig is a managing director in the Global Credit Platform at BlackRock, Inc. and president and Chairman and CEO of BlackRock-TCP Capital Corp. (NASDAQ: TCP) an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of BlackRock. Prior to joining BlackRock in August 2018, Vig was a Managing Partner at Tennenbaum Capital Partners (TCP), where he was also chairman of the Investment Committee and a member of the Management Committee. TCP with its more than $9 billion in committed capital was acquired by BlackRock in 2018. Prior to TCP, Vig held roles within investment banking, debt capital markets and the structured solutions groups at Deutsche Bank Securities from 1999 through 2006. He currently chairs BlackRock Private Credit’s Investment Committee, is a member of the Credit Oversight Committee and serves on the Board of Directors of TCPC and Edmentum.

Vig graduated magna cum laude from Connecticut College in 1993 with a B.A. in economics. He went on to earn his M.B.A. in finance from New York University in 1994. While a CC student, he was active in the Student Government Association. Since his graduation, Vig has participated in the Camel Alumni Admission Program and alumni regional events. 

Leslie Wong was elected to the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2019.

In July 2019, Wong retired as president of San Francisco State University (SFSU) and from the California State University system. He was the university’s 13th president, appointed to the position in 2012. SFSU is a research intensive doctoral level institution which serves approximately 30,000 students at three sites.

Wong’s career in higher education and administration spans 45 years. Prior to joining SFSU, he served as president of Northern Michigan University from 2004 to 2012. From 1999 to 2004, he served as vice president academic affairs at Valley City State University in North Dakota. He also held several leadership positions with the University of Southern Colorado in Pueblo (now Colorado State University at Pueblo) from 1996 to 1999, including serving concurrently as provost and academic vice-president, and interim president in 1997. He also served as academic dean and a member of the faculty at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington.

Wong is a foundation trustee for Lingnan University in Hong Kong. He is a member of the Committee of 100, a national and international organization with the dual mission of advancing constructive dialogue and relationships between the United States and Greater China, and advocating for Chinese American rights in the United States. Wong previously served board of directors of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, the Bay Area Council, and the National Collegiate Athletics Association’s Board of Governors Committee to Promote Cultural Diversity and Equity. He also served on the National Collegiate Athletics Association’s Division II President’s Council for three years.

Majoring in psychology, Wong graduated with a B.A. from Gonzaga University. He earned a M.S. in experimental psychology from Eastern Washington University and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from Washington State University.

Pamela Zilly returned to the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2020 after previously serving from 2005 to 2018. She served as Chair of the Board of Trustees from 2012 to 2018.

Zilly retired as a senior managing director in the Restructuring & Reorganization Advisory group at The Blackstone Group L.P. At Blackstone, she provided financial advisory services to companies in need of capital or operational restructurings, often in a bankruptcy proceeding, or to creditors of such companies. Prior to joining Blackstone in 1991, Zilly worked at E.F. Hutton & Company Inc. and three years at Chemical Bank in investment banking.

Currently, Zilly serves on the Board of Trustees of the American Theatre Wing and is chair of its Finance and Investment Committees. She is a member of the board of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Company and is Chair of its Investment Committee.

Zilly majored in economics and American history at Connecticut College, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, and with distinction in major in 1975. She received a Master of Science in industrial administration from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University in 1977. She is co-chair of Defy Boundaries, The Campaign for Connecticut College.