As a duly elected body, the Board of Trustees has fiduciary responsibility for the governance of Connecticut College. The Board’s primary functions are to oversee the policies and to steward the financial, physical and human resources of the College. It is the responsibility of each trustee — acting as one body — to understand the current needs of the College and to implement policies and plans for its future.

Service on the Connecticut College Board of Trustees is both an honor and a responsibility. As a group of highly accomplished, diverse and collaborative individuals, the Board sets the highest standards of leadership, working to support the President and to advance the College’s educational mission in an atmosphere of collegiality and mutual respect. Its most important objective — to which all trustees dedicate their efforts — is to provide the necessary external perspectives and resources in order to steward Connecticut College into the future, thereby ensuring its ongoing development, stability and success.

Officers

Debo Adegbile, trustee, Connecticut College

Debo P. Adegbile '91

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 partner in the Government and Regulatory Litigation Group at global law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP 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 was also a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights, on which he served a six-year term following his appointment 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. 

Adegbile has taught classes at New York University School of Law and University of D.C. Law School, where he served as the Joe Rauh Chair in 2020. He is a member of the NYU School of Law Board of Trustees 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 the 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 a Conn alumnus, Adegbile has served as a speaker at numerous events, including Convocation, Baccalaureate, Orientation, Camel Athletics Club, Reunion, the Agnes Gund ’60 Dialogue Project, and the Elevate social justice project, and has served as a class agent and member of the prelaw advisory and young alumni committees, Forum, and on the Presidential, DIEI, and Marketing and Communications VP search committees. He was awarded the Agnes Berkeley Leahy Award in recognition of his service to the College at Reunion 2011.

Seth W. Alvord '93

Seth W. Alvord '93

Vice Chair

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 founding 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 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 which is given to individuals who have contributed significantly to the advancement of the school.

Maria Boyce Headshot

Maria Wyckoff Boyce ’85

Vice Chair

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 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, Boyce 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. Boyce has been 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 vetting presidentially appointed federal judges, as well as U.S. Attorneys, in Texas.

Boyce is passionate about issues surrounding health equity, particularly in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. She is a member of the Board of the Episcopal Health Foundation and a director of The Rose. She previously served as a Trustee of St. John’s School, a K-12 independent school in Houston.

With a major in government and a minor in history, Boyce graduated cum laude from Connecticut College in 1985 and went on to obtain her J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law. While at Conn, Boyce served as the housefellow of Windham House her senior year, as a member of the Judiciary Board during her junior year, and as president of Harkness House her sophomore year. She also attended the London School of Economics for one semester.

Jessica Archibald '95

Jessica Archibald '95

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.

Bibbins, MD Headshot 1

Betty Brown Bibbins '73

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, with ongoing participation as visiting faculty with the Health Sciences Academy at Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) in Norfolk, VA.

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. While at CC, Betty was a member of the a cappella group Conn Chords. She is currently an active supporter of the Jewel P. Cobb Scholarship and is a member of the planning committee for the 50th Anniversary of Unity House.

Ethan Brown

Ethan W. Brown ’94

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

Brown is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Beyond Meat, a company dedicated to building meat directly from plants. Beyond Meat has partnered with the Stanford University School of Medicine and established an agreement with the American Cancer Society to further research on the health and nutritional benefits of plant-based meat. His early work centered on electricity restructuring in support of an open grid, where his analysis at the gubernatorial level directly informed federal and state policy on grid management. Subsequently, Brown joined the world's leading Proton Exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell developer Ballard Power Systems, rising to report directly to the company's CEO. 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 2017 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.

Clothier, Chip 7 2022

Isaac (Chip) H. Clothier V ’79 P’10

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, and currently serves as the president of the Alumni Association Board. 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.

Loulie (Dodie) Sutro Crawford '89

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

Crawford began her career in advertising at Ketchum Communications in San Francisco. She earned an M.B.A. in marketing, strategy, and organizational behavior from  Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management. Crawford worked for Clorox in brand management and for Webvan and eBay in marketing, data management, merchandising, and operations. As an independent consultant, Crawford 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 where she was on the Executive Board as Treasures and Chair of the Finance Committee. She was the founding President of the 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 a student advisor, 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, as a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors, and as a member of the CC San Francisco Bay Area Core Group.

Lawrence (Nat) B. Damon III '93

Lawrence (Nat) B. Damon III '93

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 in the US and UK 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 the 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" and its corresponding workbook.

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 Relation-Centered Educators Network. He has served as a board member of the Episcopal School of Los Angeles, Beacon School for Boys, and Valley Charter Schools in North Hills, CA, with three years as Board Chair. Outside of education, Damon is involved with All Saints/Beverly Hills Episcopal Church's educational for ministry program and is passionate about the outdoors, the arts, and transforming LA into a cultural, educational, and civic beacon. 

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.

Fallon, Mark 7.26.22

Mark D. Fallon '92 P'27

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 (now Jacobs), 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.

Farina, Marisa 8.8.2

Marisa Fariña ’93

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.

Fariña 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, and alumni admission representative. She also served as a Young Alumni Trustee from 1993 – 1996.

Greg Gigliotti

Gregory J. Gigliotti ’88

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/Miami-based advisory and private equity investment firm. He formerly was a founding partner and senior portfolio manager of Trilogy Global Advisors, LP. Previously, Gigliotti was 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. He remains supportive of the CC sailing team.

Gonzalez, Hannah E.

Hannah E. Gonzalez '23

Hannah Gonzalez was elected by the Class of 2023 as their nominee for Young Alumni Trustee. She came to the College as a member of Posse Foundation’s eleventh Chicago cohort and is currently working at Legal Aid Chicago as an education law paralegal. 

While at Conn, Gonzalez majored in government, minored in philosophy, and earned a certificate from the Holleran Center for Community Action and Public Policy. In 2023, she was inducted as a member of the Pi Sigma Alpha National Political Science Honor Society for her academic achievements and earned the Holleran Center’s Tracee Reiser Community Activism Award for her community impact as a PICA Scholar. Additionally, she earned the Dean’s Leadership Award, the Judy Bailen Kateman ’65 Outstanding Senior Prize, and the SGA Margaret Watson Leadership Award for her extracurricular achievements. Her work experience includes internships as an undergraduate clerk with the Domestic Violence Division of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and as a summer policy advisor & advocacy fellow with the U.S. Resettlement, Asylum & Integrations team at the International Rescue Committee. 

Gonzalez’s leadership experience includes serving as President of the Student Government Association in her senior year, as Chair of the Government and International Relations Department Student Advisory Board, as Chair of Equity and Inclusion and House Senator on SGA, and as a Big Sib for the Genesis Mentorship Program. Throughout her years at Conn, Gonzalez was deeply involved in the Division of Institutional Equity and Inclusion where she worked as the inaugural Lead Communications and Programming Fellow in her senior year and as the Leadership Development Ambassador of Race and Ethnicity Programs in her sophomore and junior years. For her work with the Division, she earned the DIEI Emergent Leader Award and the Janet Foster ’80 Senior Award, the highest honor bestowed on a senior who has upheld the legacy of Unity House as a place of support and refuge for students of color at Connecticut College.

Hernandez, Kim-An 8.12.22

Kim-An Hernandez ’99

Kim-An Hernandez joined the Board in 2022.

Hernandez is a data strategy and privacy attorney in Holland & Knight’s Philadelphia office. She counsels clients on a range of legal issues related to data strategy, consumer and employee privacy compliance, transaction risk, and emerging technologies. Her experience also includes advising on large information technology transactions and business process outsourcing matters, joint ventures and strategic alliances, technology transition services agreements, and cloud solutions.

Prior to joining Holland & Knight, Hernandez served as Chief Procurement Officer for Vanguard Group Inc., where she led purchasing, strategic sourcing, accounts payable, and third-party vendor management functions globally. In 2023, Kim-An was named as one of Procurement Magazine’s Top 100 Women in Procurement. She also served as Head of IT and Security Legal at Vanguard and International Paper, where she provided legal advice on all information technology and security issues.

Hernandez sits on the Advisory Boards of GRCIE, a next-generation organization for educating and training diverse GRC workforces, and LaunchCode, a non-profit offering free tech education and job placement opportunities to bring new people from all backgrounds into the tech field and reshape the way employers think about hiring.

Hernandez earned her B.A. in Government in 1999. 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. Hernandez also played on the women’s basketball team for one season. She 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.

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Steven W. Jacobson ’85 P’22

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 has over 30 years of experience in the insurance business formerly working as counsel for John Alden Life Insurance Company and vice president for HCA owned Health Advantage Network.

Jacobson is a founder of Mt. Sinai Medical Center of Miami Beach and is active in many community activities including the 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, he served for a year as the Student Government Association parliamentarian and as class president his junior year.

Jaigirdar, Samirah 4.2022

Samirah Jaigirdar ’22

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. 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. 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. She is currently pursuing a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, specializing in religion, ethics, and politics.

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. During her time at Conn, she was also a digital media intern in the Office of Communications creating content for the College's social media outlets and writing articles for The Experience blog. 

Krane, Jon 7.25.22

Jonathan A. Krane ’90

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.

Sydney L. Lamb '21

Sydney L. Lamb '21

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 awarded to two seniors who have contributed the most to the College and community. 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 worked in the Office of Admission for most of her College years and served as a Senior Admissions Fellow conducting evaluative interviews with prospective students. Throughout her four years at Conn, she was also a member of the Track & Field team as a thrower, sang with the ConnArtists co-ed a capella group, and was creative director for the Connecticut College Empowerment Initiative.

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 Senator Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut.

Linehan, John

John D. Linehan P'18 '23 '24

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

Linehan is the chief investment officer of Equity and portfolio manager for the Equity Income and the U.S. Select Value Equity Strategies as well as co-portfolio manager for the U.S. Large-Cap Value Strategy. He is a member of the firm’s U.S. Equity Steering, Asset Allocation, and Global Trading Committees. John is a vice president of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. and T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc.

Linehan has 34 years of investment experience, 25 with T. Rowe Price. Prior to joining T. Rowe Price, he was an executive in the oil trading and consulting industry. First as a vice president and managing director for Delaney Petroleum, then as vice president and managing director for E.T. Petroleum. He began his investment career in 1987 at Bankers Trust NY Corporation.

He currently serves as a board member for the Odyssey School and University and the Baltimore Equitable Society. Previously he has served on a number of boards including Friends School of Baltimore, Gilman School, Baltimore Equitable Scholarship Trust, the South Baltimore Homeless Shelter, and St. Mary’s Seminary and University.

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. He has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. 

Jonathan McBride

Jonathan D. McBride ’92

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.

Mudho, Sarah 8.11.22

Sarah A. Mudho ’98

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 Danz Preston ’93

Devon Danz Preston ’93

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 four-year 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 Next Steps Liaison Program and is 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. While at Conn, Preston worked in the College Communications office and was an admission tour guide. She received 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 photo

Leslie Rosen '02

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, provides complex transaction management, manages landlord/tenant disputes, and performs reviews 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 the President of the Board for Hillel at the University of Washington, a director of the Rita and Herbert Rosen Family Foundation, and a board member of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the Northwest School for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children, and the Isador Simon Family Foundation. She is also a participant in the Wexner Heritage Program. Leslie previously co-chaired the UJA – Federation of New York Young Lawyers Division and co-chaired the UJA – Federation of New York ELP, now known as Young Leaders.

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

Peter Skaperdas P’17, trustee

Peter D. Skaperdas P'17

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. He currently serves on the Board of Crossing Thresholds, which builds schools in the slums of Kenya.

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 C. Stallings '99

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, and theater and was involved with Unity House. In his senior year, he was the 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. As a member of the 1998-99 team, he was also inducted into the New England Athletic Hall of Fame and the New London Athletic Hall of Fame. 

Stratton, Diane 7.28.22

Diane E. Stratton ’91

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

Stratton is an artist, jewelry designer, and owner of Diane Stratton Jewelry. She has been designing, creating, and making a line of 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 on painting and minored in history. She was a member of the indoor and outdoor track teams and the women's field hockey team, serving as captain her senior year, and she sang with the Schwiffs. Since graduation, she has volunteered as class president, class agent, class correspondent, and with the Camel Athletics Club. She furthered her formal education by earning her M.F.A. at Rhode Island School of Design in 1998 where she was the 1997 winner of the Royal Marcher Scholarship prize. 

Maarten D. Terry ’83

Maarten D. Terry ’83

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 is President of Converge Marketing Services, a direct response media firm that delivers strategic solutions in media planning and buying, analysis, and marketing services. He previously held marketing and brand management roles at Time Inc., Philip Morris, and Kraft Foods.

Maarten 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 that 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, 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.

Raj Vig Photo

Rajneesh Vig ’93

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. 

Les Wong Photo

Leslie E. Wong, Interim President of Connecticut College

Leslie E. Wong, Ph.D., is interim president of Connecticut College. He assumed office on July 1, 2023, and will serve until the appointment of the College’s 12th president. He recently resigned as a member of Conn’s Board of Trustees and is serving on the Board in an ex-officio capacity during his interim presidency.

Wong has extensive experience in higher education leadership and a strong understanding of Connecticut College through his service on Conn’s Board of Trustees since 2019. He has served on the Board’s Executive Committee, chaired the Faculty-Trustee Liaison Committee and served as vice chair of the Committee on Academic Affairs. When he was appointed as interim president, he resigned as a trustee and is serving on the Board in an ex officio capacity, as is customary, until the 12th president is appointed.

Wong earned a B.A. in psychology from Gonzaga University, an M.S. in experimental psychology from Eastern Washington University and a Ph.D. in educational psychology from Washington State University. He previously served as president of San Francisco State University and Northern Michigan University; vice president of Academic Affairs of Valley City State University in North Dakota; interim president, provost and academic vice president of the University of Southern Colorado; and academic dean and faculty member at Evergreen State College in Washington. He is married to Phyllis Michael Wong, who is the author of the award-winning non-fiction book We Kept Our Towns Going.

Wong’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion has been evident throughout his career. He served on the NCAA’s Task Force on Equity and Inclusion, led a national effort to admit Mexican universities into Division II of the NCAA and since 1985 has worked closely with the State Department to promote U.S.-China relations as well as the well-being of Chinese Americans. He also led California’s statewide effort to expand Project Rebound, a social justice initiative that helps formerly incarcerated students to earn college degrees.

He is a widely published scholar in the fields of psychology, higher education leadership and diversity, equity and inclusion.

Zeiler, John

John S. Zeiler '74

John Zeiler was elected to the Board in 2023.

Zeiler started Hudson Housing Capital an institutional investment management firm specializing in high-quality affordable housing in 1998. Hudson’s developments have been part of neighborhood revitalizations in urban areas nationwide.

John is a certified NY State teacher. He teaches at the Bronx Academy for Applied Math and Science, a community public school. He founded the nonprofit Project Trampoline (PT) to support minority public school students in the Bronx to matriculate and graduate from college. PT provides focused academic and life skills support through college graduation. There are currently 22 Project Trampoline students enrolled at Conn.

John is a board member of the Police Athletic League (PAL) of New York, the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition, and the Urban Land Institute Affordable Housing Council.

John graduated from Connecticut College with a BA in Urban Studies and holds an MBA from New York University, a MPA from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a MEd from Relay Graduate School of Education. John was inducted into the College’s Ad Astra Society in 2022.