The Tisch College Board of Advisors and Emeritus Members of the Board are national leaders who together represent a diverse range of interests – from medicine and philanthropy to hospitality management and venture investing. View our full list of board members.
Board of Advisors
Members of the Board of Advisors actively contribute their expertise and insights through regular full board and committee meetings.
Matthew M. Bai, A90
Matt Bai is the chief political correspondent for the New York Times Magazine, where he covered both the 2004 and 2008 presidential campaigns. He also writes the “Political Times” column that appears regularly in the Caucus, the Times’ blog on government and politics. Bai often explores issues of generational change in American politics and society. His cover articles in the magazine include the 2008 essay “Is Obama the End of Black Politics?” and a 2004 profile of John Kerry titled, “Kerry’s Undeclared War.” Bai is also the author of ”The Argument: Inside the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics,” now available in paperback. The book, which chronicles the rise of the first Internet-age political movement and the people who built it, was honored as a New York Times Notable Book for 2007. He is currently at work on a new book about the failed era of boomer politics. Before joining The Times Magazine in 2002, Bai was a national correspondent for Newsweek and, before that, a city-desk reporter for The Boston Globe. In 2001, he was a fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government, where he led a seminar on the next generation of political journalism. Bai is a graduate of Tufts and Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism.
Seth Barad, A77, A13P
Seth’s career has involved work in both the corporate and nonprofit sectors. After graduating from Tufts University in 1977, Seth worked at the management consulting firm of Bain & Company in Boston. Following his graduate studies at Harvard, Seth joined Bain in London for four years. In 1985, Seth joined American Express where he held various general management jobs in New York, London, and San Francisco. Seth’s most recent corporate job was as a division president for Providian Financial, where he grew a business unit from 200,000 customers to over 5 million from 1994-1999. He was also a driving force behind developing an internal training program to develop the next generation of leaders at Providian. While at Providian, he served on various bank boards, which included work on community redevelopment. He also participated in Providian’s $5 Million child-care initiative in New Hampshire. Seth left Providian in 2000 to join a new nonprofit venture, The Bridgespan Group, founded in part by his former employer, Bain & Company, and dedicated to providing top-notch management consulting to the nonprofit sector. Seth was a partner in Bridgespan’s San Francisco office until November 2003. In that capacity he worked with a variety of clients: from a foundation focused on education reform to another foundation refining its strategy toward global population issues; from a technology nonprofit wanting to identify ways to generate more earned income to a zoo wanting to align its activities more closely toward conservation outcomes. While at Bridgespan, Seth authored a case study and an article on earned income at nonprofits. Since November 2003, Seth has continued his nonprofit consulting independent of Bridgespan, working on projects ranging from strategy reviews to executive coaching. He teaches classes in consulting and in nonprofit management within the MBA program at Mills College and teaches Management Communications within Wharton’s Executive MBA program in San Francisco. Seth lives in San Rafael, California with his wife Amy (A78) and two sons, Ben (A13) and Jeffrey.
Neil Chayet, A60, A84P
Neil Chayet is a graduate of Tufts (B.A., magna cum laude, 1960), and the Harvard Law School (J.D. 1963). He is President of Chayet Communications Group, Inc (CCG)., a consulting company specializing in the development of “deep coalitions” to deal with challenging societal problems including health care, education, energy and telecommunications. Before joining the Board of the Tisch College, Neil served Tufts as a Trustee for ten years, followed by three terms on the Board of Overseers of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. He is also a member of the faculties of the Tufts University Schools of Dental Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, and a member of the faculty of the Harvard Medical School. He is a member of the Harvard Law School Visiting Committee, and also serves as Vice President of the Harvard Law School Association. Neil is perhaps best known for his work in the media. He is in the thirtieth continuous year of broadcasting “Looking at the Law™”, a daily radio feature nationally syndicated by CBS that has been broadcast more than 7500 times. He also hosted a syndicated call-in radio program for more than a decade, and has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show, the Montel Williams Show, Nightline, and the Dick Cavett Show, with weekly segments on House Party and WBZ-TV Channel 4 Evening News. Neil is also a member of the Board of Directors of MassINC, the Board of Advisors of the Whitehead Institute, the Board of Overseers of the U.S.S. Constitution Museum, the Board of Directors of Timber Owners of New England and the Wildlife Conservation Trust, and chaired the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Mental Health Institute. He has authored four books, and more than 60 articles and chapters in the field of law and medicine. He has three children and five grandchildren, and lives with his wife Martha and their two cats in Salem, Mass., where they are renovating the Joseph Story House on the Salem Common. He also serves as an auxiliary member of the Manchester-by-the-Sea Police Department, and enjoys the hobbies of sailing, fishing, cruising, and model railroading.
Thomas Ehrlich
Thomas Ehrlich is a Visiting Professor at the Stanford University School of Education. He has previously served as president of Indiana University, provost of the University of Pennsylvania, and dean of Stanford Law School. He was also the first president of the Legal Services Corporation in Washington, DC, and the first director of the International Development Cooperation Agency, reporting to President Carter. After his tenure at Indiana University, he was a Distinguished University Scholar at California State University and taught regularly at San Francisco State University. From 2000 to 2010 he was a Senior Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He is author, co-author, or editor of 13 books including Rethinking Undergraduate Business Education: Liberal Learning for the Profession (2011); Reconnecting Education and Foundations: Turning Good Intentions into Educational Capital (2007); and Educating for Democracy: Preparing Undergraduates for Lives of Responsible Political Engagement (2007). He is currently working on a book about why and how young people should be involved in public service. He is a trustee of Mills College, and has been a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania and Bennett College. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School and holds five honorary degrees.
Stephanie Fan, J67, E01P, F07P
Stephanie Fan is a retired educator and active community volunteer. After graduating from Tufts University, she worked at MIT’s Center for International Studies, assisting on research regarding issues of cultural identity. She left to help found the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center. As a wave of new immigrants began settling into Boston in the 1970s, she joined the Boston School Department as an English as a Second Language teacher and a program administrator of bilingual programs. She retired from the Boston School Department to be at home with her children and to return to school, earning her MBA at Simmons College School of Management. Following completion of her studies, she helped form PEACH Corporation, a non-profit consulting group to assist community based organizations by providing technical and managerial assistance. As part of this work, she managed a community development organization and has since become involved with physical development issues in Chinatown. Following completion of the Big Dig, she co-chaired community advisory groups which focused on design and program elements for parcels freed by the Central Artery highway project, including the Chinatown Park, a part of the Rose Kennedy Greenway. She also served on the Program Committee of the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy. Stephanie is an active member of the Chinese Historical Society of New England, an organization dedicated to preserving and sharing the history of Chinese in New England, and of the Friends of the Chinatown Branch Library. She also serves on the Quality of Care Committee of Tufts Medical Center.
Robert S. Gatof, A81
Carol R. Goldberg, J53
Carol R. Goldberg is President of The AVCAR Group, Ltd., a private investment and consulting firm, which she founded in 1990 with her husband, Avram, after a thirty year career with The Stop & Shop Companies. Prior to founding AVCAR, she was the President and COO of Stop & Shop. She is a director of Alere, Inc. Over the past years, she also served on a number of other public boards, such as The Gillette Company, The Putnam Fund Groups, Lotus Development Corporation, Cowles Media, The Bingham Companies (The Courier Journal and Louisville Times), America Service Group, and The Stop & Shop Companies. She is past-Chair of United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley (Sept. 2011-June 2012); a member of the Board of Advisors, Tufts University Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service; and a member of the Boards of the Women’s Studies Research Center of Brandeis University and The One Hundred Club. She is a founding member of The Commonwealth Institute, devoted to helping women entrepreneurs grow their businesses. She is a Trustee for Life of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and past-Chair of its Medical Education Committee. She is a member of the Board of Hebrew College, and recently retired as a member of the Board of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies. Carol Goldberg received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Jackson College in 1955; was graduated from the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 1969; and, in 1990-1991, she was a Fellow at the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College, where she collaborated with Dawn-Marie Driscoll on their book, “Members of the Club – The Coming of Age of Executive Women”. It was published in 1993 by Free Press. She is married to Avram J. Goldberg; has a son, Joshua; a daughter, Deborah Goldberg; a son-in-law, Michael Winter; and two grandchildren, Evan and Meredith. Carol’s favorite pastimes are golf, travel, walking, and exercise.
Richard Henken, A80, G81
Richard Henken officially joined Schochet Associates as its Executive Vice President in 1997, after having been affiliated with, and an advisor to, the company for more than a decade. In 2004, Mr. Henken became President of the Schochet Companies including Schochet Associates, JRS Equities, and Federal Management (Schochet’s wholly owned property management subsidiary). Since joining the company Mr. Henken has been responsible for closing transactions with a total value in excess of $400 million, including the acquisition and preservation as affordable of over 2,300 apartments in fifteen developments. Mr. Henken earned Bachelors and Masters degrees in Economics from Tufts University, and a Master of Science degree in Management, with concentrations in Marketing and Finance, from the Sloan School of Management at MIT. Prior to joining Schochet Associates, Mr. Henken was a marketing and strategy consultant to Fortune 500 companies and held senior marketing positions in the financial services and consumer packaged goods industries. Mr. Henken sits on several Boards of Directors, including the Catholic Schools Foundation Inner City Scholarship Fund where he is President and chairs the Development Committee; the Rental Housing Association of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board (GBREB) where he is past President and past chair of the Affordable Housing Committee and currently serves as Chairman of the GBREB Government Affairs Committee; the National Apartment Association where he serves as a regional vice president; Hebrew Senior Life, where he co-chairs its Housing Committee; and the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University. He is a member of the Economics Advisory Board of the Tufts Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Dover (MA) Housing Partnership. Rick is the recipient of the 2011 Distinguished Service Award of the Tufts University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; the 2012 recipient of the Retirement Housing Foundation Friend of the Elderly Award; and the 2012 recipient of the B’nai B’rith Housing Distinguished Achievement Award.
Deborah Jospin, J80, A14P
Deborah (Deb) Jospin is partner and co-founder of sagawa/jospin, a Washington, D.C. consulting group that designs and guides the social ventures of foundations and nonprofit organizations. Along with her business partner Shirley Sagawa, Deb is the co-author of “The Charismatic Organization: Eight Ways to Grow an Organization that Builds Buzz, Delights Donors and Engage Employees.” Deb previously worked for the Corporation for National Service, the federal agency that oversees the AmeriCorps program, as Associate General Counsel and Chief of Staff. In 1997 President Clinton appointed her Director of AmeriCorps. Deb continues to support national service programs by serving on the boards of the Center for Music National Service and ServeNext. She is President of the Daniel A. Dutko Memorial Foundation, established in memory of her late husband. The Dutko Fellowship program enabled Tufts graduates to work in the public policy arena in Washington, DC. Ms. Jospin earned a BA from Tufts in 1980, an MSc in Public Policy from the London School of Economics in 1983, and a JD from Georgetown University in 1989. She is a founding member and now Chair of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts. Ms. Jospin was elected an Alumni Trustee of Tufts University in 2002, and became a Charter Trustee in 2008.
Brian H. Kavoogian, A84
Brian Kavoogian is the founder and President of Charles River Realty Investors. Charles River is a private equity real estate firm focused on making value-added real estate investments in the Northeast on behalf of its institutional investors. The firm and its principals have invested over $3.5 billion in real estate over the past 10 years. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Tufts University. Brian is also the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Greater Boston YMCA, a member of the Board of Overseers of Newton-Wellesley Hospital and a member of the Board of Trustees of The Park School. Brian is currently the Chairman and serves on the Board of Directors of the local chapter of NAIOP. He is a past chairman of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board and is a past board member of the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency.
Vanessa N. Kirsch, J87
Vanessa Kirsch is the Founder and Managing Director of New Profit Inc., a nonprofit venture philanthropy fund that provides financial and strategic support to a portfolio of innovative social entrepreneurs and their organizations, while also pursuing a range of strategies to help create an environment in which all social innovators may realize their full potential for impact. Vanessa has more than 20 years of experience in developing innovative solutions to social problems and is widely recognized as a leading social entrepreneur. Prior to launching New Profit, Vanessa founded and led two nonprofit organizations, Public Allies and the Women’s Information Network. Vanessa has received recognition and numerous awards for her work. Ernst & Young named her “Entrepreneur of the Year” in the category of social entrepreneurship and she has been recognized by Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report as a leader of her generation. Forbes identified Vanessa as one of 15 innovators who will reinvent the future and Harper’s Bazaar named her one of the 30 young women to be leaders in the 21st Century. In 2010, Vanessa received the Leadership in Social Entrepreneurship Award from Duke University’s Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship. Vanessa served on the Board of Advocates to Tufts University’s Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, and she currently serves on the boards of College Summit and The Mission Continues. She is a graduate of Tufts University and lives in Brookline, Massachusetts with her husband, Alan Khazei, co-founder of City Year and Be The Change, and their two children.
Steven R. Koltai, A76, A77, FG78, A12P
Steven R. Koltai has had a long career as an international investment banker, entertainment industry executive, and entrepreneur. In all of these roles, his primary forte has been in strategic planning and organizational development. Mr. Koltai began his career at the Export-Import Bank of the United States where he was part of the US trade delegation on export credit subsidies. He then moved to the private sector and served as Vice President for International Project Finance, first with Bankers Trust Company and then with Salomon Bros (based in New York, London and Singapore) As a strategist, he worked in the Media Strategy Group at McKinsey & Company (in New York and London) and was for eight years Corporate Senior Vice President for Strategy and Development of Warner Bros. At Warner Bros, Steven was also Chairman of the Studio’s 3-person Operating Committee as well as Founding General Manager of Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment and Warner Bros. Online (where in 1994, he produced the first-ever Studio produced online content.) Mr. Koltai’s entrepreneurial efforts included co-founding and serving as Managing Director of Luxembourg-based SES/Astra, currently the largest television satellite company in the world, operating six satellites and delivering almost all commercial television broadcasting in Europe, North Africa and the Western Middle East (including Sky Television, Al Jazeera, CNN, MTV, ESPN, RTL+ among others). Today, SES/Astra has a market capitalization in excess of $5 billion. From 1996 to 2002, Steven served as Founder, Chairman and CEO of online event planning company, Event411. Event411 offered both personal event planning tools syndicated to major newspaper Web sites (weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs, new baby, graduation) as well as professional event planning tools including providing the event management software for the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. Event411 raised $40 million in venture capital, and was eventually sold in 2002. Since 2002, Steven has been an active consultant to both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. Some of his for-profit activities include having been the first investor and Board Member of Ethos, a socially-responsible drinking water company which donated a portion of its profits to developing potable water in three developing countries (and was sold to Starbuck’s in 2004), over a year as strategic consulting to Lifetime Television (a joint-venture of Disney and Hearst), as well as several other consulting assignments to consumer-focused traditional and new media-based businesses. In the not-for-profit area, Steven serves or has served in numerous capacities at his alma mater, Tufts University, including on the Arts & Sciences Board of Overseers, Tisch College Board of Advocates, the Communications Media Studies Program, as President of the Los Angeles Tufts Alliance, and for over 20 years, as an admissions interviewer in Tufts’ TAAP program. He was also a long-time member of the Board of Temple Israel of Hollywood and its Hillside Memorial Park. Steven was Chairman of the Board of the Literacy Network Greater Los Angeles and English as a Second Language to adults at a Los Angeles inner-city High School. Currently, Steven is a member of the Board of Pop!Tech. Mr. Koltai is now or has been a member of the board Hungarian Jewish Museum of Safe, Israel; Founding Director of the Pacific Council on International Policy; Founding Chairman of the Entertainment Technology Center at the USC School of Film and Television; The Council on Foreign Relations (where he was also a member of its Term Membership, Membership and International Affairs Fellows’ selection committees); the selection committee of the German Marshall Fund’s American Marshall Fellows program; Human Rights Campaign; the Liberty Hill Foundation; Temple Israel of Hollywood; and Congregation Beth Chaim Chadashim, the nation’s first Gay synagogue. Steven was born in Budapest, Hungary, coming to the US as a small child after the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. He was raised in Los Angeles and Kansas City, Mo. Steven earned his BA in Modern European History from Tufts University, his MA in International Economics from the Tufts’ Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and as a Fulbright Fellow, a License in European Economics from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Mr. Koltai also served as an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He has two sons (one of whom is Tufts Class of 2012) and lives in Lincolnville, Maine and West Hollywood, California with his partner, Ivan Zizek.
Daniel LeBlanc
Lifelong Massachusetts resident with a Masters Degree in Public Affairs from the McCormack Institute at UMass Boston; has worked in community organizing, community development, and nonprofit management in several organizations in Massachusetts over the past 30 years, including Somerville United Neighborhoods, Mass. Fair Share, North Shore Community Action Programs, and Merrimack Valley Project; has also worked as a consultant to the Mass. Association of CDCs, the Organizing & Leadership Training Center, and the Mass. CAP Directors Association, among others; currently an adjunct professor at Cambridge College in nonprofit management and community development; serving as Chief Executive Officer of Somerville Community Corporation since January 2001.
Elliot D. Lobel, A70, A07P, AG10P, A11P
Elliot D. Lobel is one of the founding partners of Prince, Lobel, Glovsky & Tye LLP, a law firm of roughly sixty lawyers. His trial practice includes both civil and criminal litigation. Mr. Lobel, a former Assistant United States Attorney and Middlesex County Assistant District Attorney, has been recognized in Woodward/White Inc.’s The Best Lawyers in America. Mr. Lobel has been an instructor, lecturer, and teacher at various area law schools in the areas of trial advocacy, criminal law, and the representation of individuals and the government in the criminal litigation process. In a part-time capacity, he has been the Director of the Prosecutors’ Program at Suffolk University Law School as well as a Supervisor in the Suffolk University Voluntary Defenders’ Program He has also served as an instructor and lecturer at numerous professional and law school programs focusing on trial advocacy skills. Most recently Mr. Lobel has taught an Honors’ Seminar at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School as well as served as an advisor/instructor in the Weston High School Senior Work Project. In addition, he is an active member of his community, having served on the Weston Soccer Board, and having coached his three children for roughly thirty seasons in both soccer and basketball. With great nostalgia Mr. Lobel recalls highlights of his various connections with Tufts through the years. He founded and then ran the Tufts University Lecture Series for three years while a student at Tufts (speakers included Senator George McGovern, Bayard Rustin, Corretta Scott King, LeRoy Jones (Amiri Baraka), Seymore Hersch, Senator Frank Church, Noam Chomsky, Senator Daniel Inoue, Harvey Cox, and General Ramsey Clark). He was a residential advisor for two years and participated as such in the then first and experimental all-freshman dormitory at Houston Hall. He represented the sophomore class in the Tufts University Student Counsel, which was the last year that the student counsel was the student governing body at the University. While at Student Counsel he participated in selecting fellow Overseer Tom Glynn as “Mr. Tufts.” As a senior at Tufts, he traveled to represent Tufts as a then member of the Student Alumni Association. He tutored a middle school student in Medford for two years. After he graduated from Tufts, law school and began working in the public sector, Mr. Lobel was an instructor in the Tufts Experimental College for five semesters. He co-taught a course with Professor Sherwood Collins of the Drama Department for three semesters entitled the Merging of the Theater and the Courts. While he was a Federal Prosecutor, with only a mild amount of embarrassment and suffering only minor humiliation, he appeared in Thieves Carnival at the Tufts Arena Theater during one summer. He is married to Lenore Zug Lobel. They have three children: Katie, Louis, and Annie. Katie graduated with a BA from Tufts University in 2006. Mr. Lobel received his BA from Tufts (1970), his JD from New York University Law School (1973), and his LLM in taxation from Boston University Law School (part-time) (1977).
Charles L. Merin, A04P
Charles L. Merin serves as Executive Vice President of Prime Policy Group and joins the firm from its predecessor, BKSH & Associates Worldwide, where he was a founding partner. He possesses more than 40 years of Washington experience, beginning with service as a congressional staffer. He began his career as a lobbyist in 1976. Chuck has established himself as the premier lobbyist for hospitality industry interests in Washington. His many travel and tourism-related clients include: the United States Travel Association; National Restaurant Association; Dunkin’ Brands, Inc.; Marriott International; National Retail Federation; International Franchise Association; and Loews Corporation. His efforts have created greater cohesiveness among—and a more effective framework for unified lobbying on behalf of—this burgeoning industry. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Business for Diplomatic Action, an initiative begun in 2001 to improve American business diplomacy; Board of America’s Trust, a non-profit, non-partisan public policy organization that aims to bridge partisan and other divisions in order to better address the challenges facing the United States; and as a member of the Woodrow Wilson International Center’s “Strengthening America’s Global Engagement” initiative. Chuck is an expert in building legislative coalitions and helping clients forge effective, long-term relationships on Capitol Hill. He is perhaps best known for his close affiliation with the Blue Dog Coalition, an alliance of more than two dozen pro-business, conservative House Democrats whose votes are much coveted. In 1999, the Blue Dog Coalition made Chuck an honorary Blue Dog in recognition of his role as a counselor since their inception in December 1994. National Journal has recognized him as one of Washington’s leading Democratic lobbyists, in part a reflection of his closeness to this key bloc of votes. Prominent political analyst Charlie Cook once described Chuck as “one of Washington’s more perceptive lobbyists.” Chuck has also represented labor, senior citizen, and business trade association interests. During the last two years of the Carter Administration, he was principal liaison between the public and private sectors on a Social Security study conducted under Congressional mandate by the then-Department of Health, Education and Welfare. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in history and a Master’s degree in international relations from the George Washington University. Chuck is married to Sandy Merin and has two grown children. He currently lives in Falls Church, Virginia.
Diane McLeod
Diane McLeod has been the Director of the Office of Human Diversity & Compliance for the City of Medford for the past 19 years. Prior to that she was the Affirmative Action Officer for the City of Lowell for 10 years and was instrumental in facilitating the hiring of the city’s first Asian police officers. She currently chairs the Massachusetts Association of Human Rights & Relations Commissions, and serves as a member of the Massachusetts Architectural Access Board. Diane was a team member of the Region I Building Peaceful Communities Project of the 1990 National Race Relations Symposium in Washington D.C. and participated in the Conversation with National Woman Leaders on Race at the White House as part of President Clinton’s Race Initiative in 1998. She has been a long time community project partner of Tisch College.
Ify Nneka Mora, A04
Ify Nneka Mora is the chief of staff of the Barr Foundation, whose mission is to enhance educational and economic opportunities, to achieve environmental sustainability, and to create rich cultural experiences – all with particular attention to children and families living in poverty. She works closely with the executive director on organizational development and strategic projects. She also staffs external initiatives with which the foundation is involved. Prior to her current role at Barr, she was one of four Associated Grant Makers fellows who participated in an intense one-year professional grant making fellowship. Her fellowship was at Barr Foundation. While at Tufts, Ms. Mora was a member of Tisch Scholars program and was a Tisch Scholars program coordinator for three years. She graduated in 2004 in quantitative economics. She then received her M.P.P. degree in 2009 from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Greg Propper, A01
Greg Propper is the co-founder and managing partner of Propper Daley, a social impact agency at the intersection of entertainment and public policy which works with individuals, organizations, corporations, and causes to create transformational social change. Prior to co-founding Propper Daley, Greg most recently served as the Executive Director of ServiceNation and Managing Director of Be the Change, Inc. Greg was a founding staff member of Be the Change, Inc. which launched the ServiceNation campaign with a Presidential Candidates Forum and Summit on September 11, 2008. Greg helped lead the effort to pass the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act in the first 100 days of the Obama Administration leading to the largest expansion of national and community service since the Great Depression. Prior to his role with Be the Change, Inc., Greg was an advocate and organizer, serving as a leader of the “Save AmeriCorps” campaign of 2003 that restored cut funding from the federally sponsored national service program. He is a former Dutko Fellow and also served as the issue advocacy coordinator for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the National Mobilization Coordinator for City Year Inc. Greg has worked with the Appleseed Foundation in Washington, D.C. and with the New York City Law Department juvenile prosecution division in the Bronx, NY. Greg is a member of the board of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University. He holds a BA with high honors from Tufts University and a J.D. from Cardozo School of Law in New York City.
Mitchell Robinson, A07
Mitch Robinson is a student at Northwestern University School of Law. Prior to law school, he spent three years working for Congressman Edward J. Markey (MA-07) as a Legislative Assistant. In this capacity he helped the Congressman on a variety of issues including fiscal, judiciary, and appropriations. Before leaving Massachusetts, he also served as college and Boston coordinator for Governor Deval L. Patrick’s campaign. Mitch earned his BA from Tufts in 2007 where he was a Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service Scholar, Tufts Community Union (TCU) Student Body President, and Executive Board Member of the Emerging Black Leaders.
Simon B. Rosenberg, A85
Simon Rosenberg is President and Founder of NDN, a leading progressive think tank and advocacy organization. Simon has worked in national politics and the media world for more than 20 years. He started his career in network television, as a writer and producer at ABC News for five years, before working on the Dukakis and Clinton Presidential campaigns. On the Clinton campaign, he was a member of the famous 1992 Clinton War Room. After the campaign, Simon worked at the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Leadership Council and then started what is now NDN in 1996. During his time at the helm of NDN and its predecessor organization the New Democrat Network, Simon has helped elect more than 50 new members to the Senate and House of Representatives, has been an influential champion of a new and more modern agenda for the nation, has been an innovator in helping progressives reach out to and communicate with Hispanic voters, and has been a leader in creating a 21st century progressive movement. Simon is a member of the Aspen Institute’s 2001 Class of Henry Crown Fellows, served on the 2004 Democratic National Convention Platform Committee, and sits on the board of the Tisch College for Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University. A 1985 graduate of Tufts University, Simon and his family live in Washington, DC.
Jeffrey D. Stewart, A90
Jeffrey Stewart, A90, is Co-Founder, Partner and Managing Director of Walnut Hill Media LLC, a privately held company that makes investments in media opportunities and develops original content. Previously, Jeffrey worked at Loews Hotels in a variety of executive positions including, Chief of Staff to the Chairman, SVP, Communications and Public Affairs, and Director of Development. In these roles, Jeffrey was an integral part of the strategic development, planning and execution of a wide range of projects, including managing the $125 million dollar conversion of the landmark PSFS building into the Loews Philadelphia Hotel and serving on Loews Hotels’ Brand Strategy Committee. Jeffrey played an active role in the travel and tourism industry, where he served as an officer and member of the Board of Directors of the Travel Business Roundtable (TBR). In January of 2009, under his guidance, TBR merged with the Travel Industry Association to form the United States Travel Association, the industry’s preeminent voice in Washington D.C. Jeffrey has been the chief architect for various media and literary projects. He serves as an Executive Producer of the Emmy-nominated Beyond the Boardroom with Jonathan Tisch television series which airs on Plum TV. He is the producer of the award-winning documentary, Love Etc., currently in theaters nationwide, and the documentary, New York Says Thank You. He managed three literary projects from inception to launch. All three books, The Power of We: Succeeding Through Partnerships; Chocolates on the Pillow Aren’t Enough: Re-Inventing the Customer Experience; and Citizen You: Doing Your Part to Change the World, are national best-sellers. Jeffrey began his career as an attorney and in politics. He served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of New York and he was the Finance Director and a senior aide to United States Senator Charles Schumer, raising more money at the time than any other senate race in history. He has also been involved in various civic activities where he has taken on a number of leadership roles. After September 11, 2001, Jeffrey served as Staff Director of New York Rising, a special emergency task-force set up by NYC & Company to help revitalize and diversify the city’s economy by reviving tourism. At the request of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, he served as the Executive Director of the New York City Democratic National Convention Host Committee 2004 and served on the Board of Directors of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. He currently serves on the Steering Committee of the Association for a Better New York (ABNY), where he also chairs its Grants Committee. Jeffrey serves on the Boards of Plum TV, Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy and Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University, where he is a member of the Executive Committee and Chairs the Communications Committee. He also was elected to the Tufts University Alumni Council.
Louisa M. Terrell, A91
As director of public policy at Facebook, Louisa Terrell liaises with congress on key issues such as intellectual property, privacy, online safety, corporate tax reform, high-skilled immigration, global internet freedom, political online organizing, and advocacy. Previous to her position at Facebook, Ms. Terrell was a special assistant to the president for legislative affairs at The White House, a member of the Obama/Biden transition team, the senior director for federal policy and strategy at Yahoo!, and the deputy chief of staff and counsel to Senator Joe Biden. Terrell received her bachelors from Tufts University in 1991 in American Studies. She received her JD in 1996 from Boston College Law School. While at Tufts, Ms. Terrell was a member of the varsity women’s crew and squash teams.
Kevin L. Thurm, A83
Kevin L. Thurm is the Chief Compliance Officer of Citigroup. In this role, Thurm leads Global Compliance which is responsible for proactively identifying, evaluating, mitigating and reporting on compliance and reputational risks across the enterprise. Prior to becoming Chief Compliance Officer, Thurm served as Deputy General Counsel of Citi where he led the Corporate Legal group, overseeing a number of Company-wide Legal functions and providing support on day to day matters, including issues involving the Board, senior executives and regulators. Since joining Citi in 2001, Thurm has also served as the Chief Administrative Officer of Consumer Banking North America, where he helped lead the business group and was responsible for a variety of functions including Community Relations, Compliance, Legal and Public Affairs; Director for Administration in the Corporate Center; Chief of Staff to the President and Chief Operating Officer of Citigroup; and as the Director of Consumer Planning in the Global Consumer Group. Prior to joining Citigroup, Thurm was the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from 1996-2001. Beginning in January 1993, Thurm was HHS Chief of Staff. During 1992, Thurm worked on the Clinton for President and Clinton-Gore ‘92 campaigns. From 1989-1991, he was an associate with the New York law firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel. He also worked as a legislative assistant in the Massachusetts state legislature in 1983-1984. Thurm, a former Rhodes Scholar, received a B.A. from Tufts University in 1983, B.A./M.A. from Oxford University in 1986, and J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1989.
Jonathan M. Tisch, A76
Jonathan M. Tisch is Co-Chairman of the Board and a member of the Office of the President of Loews Corporation, one of the largest diversified financial holding companies in the U.S., and is also Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of its subsidiary, Loews Hotels. During his tenure, Tisch has engineered Loews Hotels’ expansion and emergence as a leading luxury hotel chain by infusing the properties with a widely praised corporate culture that places a high value on partnerships. His leadership philosophy, explored in his best-selling book, The Power of We: Succeeding Through Partnerships, provides a blueprint for achieving enduring success through partnerships that empower employees, satisfy customers, contribute to communities, and improve the bottom line. His best-seller follow-up book, Chocolates on the Pillow Aren’t Enough: Reinventing the Customer Experience, nominated for a Quill Award as one of the five best business books of the year, offers a detailed look at how the right customer experience can produce long-lasting success for any organization. To get a better perspective on the essential connection between upper management and entry-level employees, Tisch starred in the premier episode of Now Who’s Boss?, a television series by TLC and New York Times Television, that explored what happens when a CEO is put back in frontline positions at his own company. Tisch also hosts Beyond the Boardroom, a television series on CNBC where he goes one-on-one with the nation’s leading CEOs. The program reveals the person behind the successful executive and shows that business is about more than just numbers, but rather guts, hard work, imagination, and people. Recognized as a national leader of the multi-billion dollar travel and tourism industry, Tisch has served since 1995 as Chairman of the Travel Business Roundtable, a prominent coalition of chief executives representing various sectors of the travel and tourism industry, and in 2003, he was appointed to the United States Department of Commerce U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. Tisch also served a five-year term as an officer of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, culminating in his Chairmanship of the organization in 1997. In his role as a national leader of travel and tourism, Tisch frequently can be seen in the media touting the industry’s importance to the economy as a vehicle for economic development and job creation. He has received numerous honors and accolades for his leadership, including “Hotel Person of the Year” by Travel Agent magazine, one of the “Business Travel Industry’s Most Influential Executives” by Business Travel News, and one of the “25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry” by Meeting News magazine. Tisch is also committed to a vibrant tourism industry in New York City, where for nearly six years he served as Chairman of NYC & Company, the city’s official tourism marketing agency and local convention and visitors bureau. Concurrent with his national efforts to help stimulate travel and tourism in the aftermath of September 11th, Tisch served as Chairman of “New York Rising,” a task force set up to help rebuild the city by reviving tourism. In recognition for his leadership and civic involvement, Crain’s New York Business named Tisch one of the “Top Ten Most Influential Business Leaders” and was named the 2006 “CEO of the Year” by the Executive Council of New York. Believing you can do well and do good at the same time, Tisch is a champion of corporate responsibility and his community and philanthropic activities are extensive. He served as the Vice-Chairman of The Welfare to Work Partnership, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Tufts University, where he is also the naming benefactor of the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service. He is also on the Boards of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, the Tribeca Film Institute and the Business Council for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In addition, he is on the Board and is the Treasurer of the 2007 Super Bowl Champions New York Football Giants. After graduating from Tufts University, Tisch worked as a Cinematographer/Producer at WBZ-TV in Boston, for which he received two local Emmy nominations.
Daniel B. Winslow, A80
Daniel B. Winslow is a partner at Duane Morris where he practices in the area of litigation, with an emphasis on commercial and corporate litigation and ADR, government law for regulated and permitted industries, healthcare, corporate ethics and compliance, and corporate citizenship strategies. From 2002-2004, he served as the Chief Legal Counsel to Governor Mitt Romney and Lt. Governor Kerry Healey. In that capacity, he oversaw a corps of 830 lawyers in the executive branch agencies and acted as the Governor’s representative in matters involving the judiciary. He is the principal architect of the revised JNC Order which has been hailed nationally as a model for reform. Mr. Winslow joined the Romney administration from the Massachusetts bench, having served as the Presiding Justice of the Wrentham District Court as well as an Associate Justice on the Southern Appellate Division of the District Court Department. As a judge, Mr. Winslow wrote an award-winning study on the Massachusetts courts, “Justice Delayed,” which recently was cited by the Monan Commission as part of the history of court reform efforts in Massachusetts. He also earned a national award from the Foundation for Improvement of Justice in Atlanta for his invention of the “Smart Calendar,” a system for assuring that jury trials will usually occur on the first scheduled date. He has written and lectured extensively on the topics of judicial administration and court reform, trial practice, and criminal and civil law. His most recent publication, “Crime and Consequence: The Collateral Effects of Criminal Conduct,” was published by MCLE in early 2002.
Keith L.T. Wright, A77
Born and raised in Harlem, Keith L.T. Wright has been an active participant and public servant in his district all his life. He has gained recognition from many for his dedication and perseverance on behalf of his constituents. As a graduate of Tufts University, his academic achievements led him to continue his educational career and obtain a Juris Doctorate from Rutgers University. After graduation from law school, Mr. Wright became an associate in the Law Office of Ruffin H. Cotton, Jr., specializing in corporate and securities law. Though enjoying a successful career, Mr. Wright felt a compelling drive to become active in the public, and then political, arena, where he could become an effective vehicle through which the peoples’ voices could be heard. Before running for the Assembly, Mr. Wright’s accomplishments included joining the staff of the Human Resources Administration as a Special Assistant to the General Counsel, working as Director of the Northern Manhattan office of Borough President David N. Dinkins, and serving as the Assistant Director of Government and Corporate Operations for the New York City Transit Authority. In 1991, Mr. Wright ran for the office and became the Assembly member of the 70th Assembly District. Presently, Assemblyman Wright is the Chair of the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators, Inc., and the Chair of the Manhattan Black District Leaders; these chairmanships are governmental and political, respectively. As a result of his fervent advocacy for quality and affordable housing, Assemblyman Wright was appointed Chair of the Subcommittee on Public Housing. Because of his stance on economic development and welfare reform, he is also the Chair of the Subcommittee on Equal Economic Opportunity and Human Rights. Recently, the Assembly member was appointed Assistant Majority Whip. He is also a member of the Task Force on Criminal Justice Reform, the High Speed Rail Task Force, the Assembly Working Group on Welfare Reform, and the Lifetime Civil Commitment of Sex Offenders. His legislative accomplishments include the Prison Rape bill, the Public Housing bill, and the Harlem Independent Living legislation. Assemblyman Wright credits his success in his ability to view issues with people in a compassionate and caring manner to his mother, Constance, and to his father, retired New York State Supreme Court Justice Bruce Wright, from whom he inherited a legacy of preserving and protecting citizens’ civil and legal rights. Mr. Wright is married to the former Susan Gayle and the birth of his two children, Jared and Jordan, make the sixth generation of the Wright family in Harlem. Standing Committee Assignments 2001: Banks; Codes; Correction; Election Law; Housing; Labor.
Last update: 04/25/13
