Fletcher Board of Advisors

Former Senior Director, Resource Development
Accion
New York, NY

Leslie Puth has spent her career working in finance and with community-based organizations dedicated to poverty alleviation, education, and public parks. Puth began in investment banking, then in 2011, after receiving a MALD degree from The Fletcher School with a focus on development economics, she continued her career at Accion International. She served as a Senior Director at Accion, a global financial inclusion non-profit, until 2021. 

Senior Vice President of Talent, Diversity & Equity at Diversified Search Group
Diversified Search Group – Boston University
Boston, MA

Maureen Alphonse-Charles is the Managing Director and Senior Vice President of Inclusion and Equity at Koya Partners/Diversified Search Group. She has served as a regional judge for the White House Fellows Program and as a Board Member for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston. She also served as the first African-American President of The Boston Club, the longest-standing organization in the Northeast focused on the advancement of women’s leadership.

NY Regional Director
Environmental Defense Fund
New York, NY

Andy Darrell is the New York regional director and chief of strategy for EDF's US Climate and Energy Program. Darrell has deep expertise in clean energy financing, environmental justice, energy efficiency, and smart grids. He is passionate about reducing pollution in urban areas and removing barriers to clean energy adoption in the U.S. and abroad.

Retired General, 36th Commandant of the Marine Corps, 19th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Marshfield, NY

Joseph Francis Dunford Jr. is a Boston native and retired United States Marine Corps general who served as the 19th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2015 to 2019.  Dunford is the first Marine Corps officer to serve in four different four-star positions; including commander of the International Security Assistance Force and United States Forces – Afghanistan from 2013 to 2014, and as the thirty-second assistant commandant of the Marine Corps from 2010 to 2012. 

Tufts Trustee
Founder and Director
Addgene
Watertown, MA

Kenneth Fan is a co-founder of Addgene, a non-profit organization dedicated to making it easier for scientists to share plasmids, based in Cambridge, MA. From 2004 to 2015, Fan led business efforts at Addgene as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Before Addgene, he was an investment banking analyst at Credit Suisse’s Technology Group in Palo Alto, CA. 

Associate Professor, Department of Security Studies & Criminology
Macquarie University
Sydney, Australia

Dr. Courtney J. Fung is an Associate Professor in Security Studies in the School of International Studies at Macquarie University. She is a Non-Resident Fellow at LSE IDEAS; the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University; Asia Society Australia and the Lowy Institute. Fung is also part of the Graduate Research and Development Network on Asian Security initiative and was a Fulbright scholar at Georgetown University. 

Independent Board Member
London, England

Maria Gordon is a tenured investment professional and an independent board member of three large publicly listed companies. Before assuming her board roles in 2015, Gordon led the emerging markets equity portfolio management team at PIMCO’s London office. Before joining PIMCO in 2010, she was a managing director, portfolio manager and head of global emerging markets equity strategy at Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Gordon was also a reporter for the Moscow bureau of "The Washington Post."

Partner
K&L Gates LLP
Boston, MA

Thomas Holt is a partner in K&L Gates’ Boston and Washington, D.C. offices, concentrating in complex civil litigation, international arbitration and internal investigations. He advises clients in the development and execution of risk management strategies, corporate governance, and regulatory compliance. He has served on K&L Gates’ firm-wide management committee. Holt is also Co-Head of SovereigNET, a global network for policy research and analysis at The Fletcher School. 

Operating Partner
Capitol Meridian Partners
Boston, MA

Dr. Peter Malone served as Senior Managing Director of CSP Associates, Inc., a firm he co-founded, from 1985 to 2013. CSP is a leading strategy advisory firm, specializing in the aerospace, defense and information technology sectors. The firm provides strategic advisory services to major industrial corporations, foreign and domestic governments and financial investors. In 2013, he joined the Carlyle Group as Operating Executive in the Aerospace, Defense and Government Services Group.

Senior Managing Director
CSP Associates, Inc.
Cambridge, MA

Dr. Brad Meslin is a co-founder of CSP Associates, the leading provider of transaction diligence services in the aerospace, defense and security sectors. Meslin heads the firm’s strategic and transaction advisory practices and manages CSP’s private equity co-investment affiliate, CSP Equity Partners, which is an investor in more than 100 aerospace, defense, and government services companies. 

Principal
Deloitte & Touche, LLP
Washington, DC

Kelly Miller Smith is a principal at Deloitte & Touche LLP and is the Government and Public Services (GPS) Cyber Data leader for Deloitte Risk & Financial Advisory, helping federal executives use cyber risk data. Miller has extensive leadership experience across federal agencies and private companies, managing disaster recovery, risk management, privacy, and cyber threat intelligence. Before Deloitte, he worked in counterterrorism, homeland security, intelligence, and information management.

Global Practice Lead
Digital Education & edTech
Russell Reynolds Associates
Boston, MA

Meredith Rosenberg is a co-founder of NU Advisory Partners. She is a market-leading voice in the edTech sector. Rosenberg brings more than 25 years of entrepreneurial and operating experience in the education sector. Prior to co-founding NU, she led the Global edTech Practice at Russell Reynolds Associates. She spent ten years there working across the sector, advising larger public companies and VC and private equity portfolio companies, as well as nonprofits and higher education institutions.  

Member of the Board
Mitsubishi Corporation
Tokyo, Japan

Akitaka Saiki is a career diplomat who began with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1976. He received successively senior postings responsible for Western Europe, Southeast Asia, International Economic Affairs, and International Organizations. He was appointed Ambassador of Japan to India and concurrently to Bhutan in February 2011. Before this appointment, he was Director-General, Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of Japan in the US.

Chief Executive Officer
VARO Energy Group, AG
Switzerland

Dev Sanyal is the Chief Executive Officer of VARO Energy Group AG, based in Zug, Switzerland. Before becoming CEO he had a three-decade career with BP plc including over ten years as a member of the group executive committee and as head of gas and low-carbon energy globally. Before this work, he was chief executive, alternative energy and accountable for BP’s Europe and Asia regions. 

Tufts Trustee
CEO of Ziff Davis, Inc
Bronxville, NY  

Vivek Shah is CEO of Ziff Davis, Inc., a digital media and internet company whose portfolio includes leading brands in technology, entertainment, shopping, health, cybersecurity, and martech. Before this, he held various management positions at Time Inc., including Group President, Digital, overseeing Time Inc.’s news, business, and sports properties. He also served as president of Time Inc.’s Fortune/Money Group, which included the magazines Fortune, Money, and Fortune and Small Business.

President and Chief Executive Officer
Stamm International Corporation
Fort Lee, NJ

Chief Strategy Officer
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearings – HKEX
Hong Kong, China

Daniel Sonder has served as Chief Financial Officer of B3, the Brazilian Stock and Derivatives Exchange since 2013. Prior to joining B3, Daniel served as a Managing Director in the Structured Credit Funds area in the Asset Management Division of Credit Suisse. Previously, he worked in the public sector, first in the Brazilian National Bank for Economic and Social Development, and then as a member of the senior staff of the São Paulo State Secretary of Treasury.

Executive Director
Promise of Childhood Campaign
Save the Children
Fairfield, CT

Nancy Arnot Taussig is the founder of Pinnacle Philanthropic Advisory Services, where she provides strategic guidance and mission development for emerging and next-generation family philanthropists. Previously, she served as Senior Advisor for Global Philanthropy at Save the Children International, collaborating with stakeholders across 20 countries to drive strategic planning. Taussig also brings over a decade of experience in pharmaceutical and healthcare public relations.

Chief Financial Officer
Focused Energy Inc.
Miami Beach, FL

Christopher Wendel is the Chief Financial Officer for Focused Energy Inc. He brings extensive investment experience to the role, having previously held leadership positions in global financial institutions. Wendel served as Managing Director at Goldman Sachs from 1993 to 2006, Managing Director at Lehman Brothers from 2006 to 2008, and Senior Managing Director at Nomura Securities from 2008 to 2012.

Tufts Trustee Emerita
Vice President & Trustee
The Tavitian Foundation
Boston, MA

Retired Partner
Sullivan & Cromwell
New York, NY

Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Accounting Officer
Campbell Soup Company
Camden, NJ

Managing Director
Corporate Perspectives
New York, NY