Learn more about the 2023 Chief Marshal candidates!
Chief Marshal Candidates
House Affiliation:
Leverett House
First-Year Dorm:
Weld
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’98, History and Literature, cum laude in field
Harvard-Related Activities:
I worked for three summers and part-time during the year writing and editing travel guides with Let’s Go (known as Let’s Stay by my roommates, based on how much time I spent in the LG office). I sang all four years with the Noteables, where I found many of my closest friends, and volunteered with Phillips Brooks House programs, mostly focused on teaching children and adult ESL. I dabbled in many other things, from three years of Leverett intramural crew (only requirement: getting up at the then ungodly hour of 7 a.m.), to comping the Crimson, to taking speechwriting classes at the Institute of Politics, to making way too much pottery in the House studios. I’ve stayed connected through friends and local Club events—and every Reunion so far.
Achievements and Honors:
2020–22: Champion of Public Health Award, Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Serafino Award, Community Health; Award for Public Service, Institute of Medicine of Chicago; Mayor’s Medal of Honor, City of Chicago (inaugural award); “The New Power 30,” Chicago Magazine; Woman of the Year, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc.; Health Care Champion Award, Humboldt Park Health; Enhancing Lives Award, The Boulevard of Chicago; Health Innovator, Health Equity Impact Awards, Erie Family Health Centers; Excellence in Public Service Award, Motorola Solutions Foundation; Notable Women in Health Care, Crain’s Chicago Business; Chicagoan of the Year, Chicago.
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
I really enjoy my job leading the Chicago Department of Public Health and most of my activities indirectly relate to that work. For as long as I’ve lived in Chicago, I’ve been a regular volunteer primary care physician at our city’s largest free clinic. I still enjoy teaching and regularly teach epidemiology and public health classes on a voluntary basis. I’m a regular volunteer docent with the Chicago Architecture Center, developing and leading walking and boat tours about Chicago’s history and architecture, often with a public health twist. I’m the vice-chair and a board member for Big Cities Health Coalition, which brings together the largest cities’ health departments; a leadership co-chair of Elevated Chicago, which supports equitable transit-oriented development; and a board member of NeighborSpace, which supports the development and sustainment of community gardens.
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
Looking back, I was so young and “undifferentiated” as an undergrad, excited to be around people who liked learning so much but unsure of my life’s direction. Harvard taught me that no matter what interested me, there would always be someone more talented than I was—but that this was a fact to be embraced as I stepped outside my comfort zone, rather than feared. I took extra classes for fun every semester, from conservation biology to economics, and learned that I am most naturally suited to making connections across disciplines and best at working in teams. I learned that great teaching matters and that the messenger is as important as the message. I learned to pay attention to the larger world and to look for untold stories. I learned hard lessons about vulnerability and trust. Twenty-five years later, all of this still drives my life’s work. Every day, I get to translate science and data for the public, build partnerships and support my underfunded and incredibly committed team, and fight for a healthier, more equitable Chicago. And most of all, in a time of COVID, every day I try to build and rebuild trust.
House Affiliation:
Adams House
First-Year Dorm:
Hurlbut
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’98, Social Studies (International Development, International Relations); cum laude in field
Harvard-Related Activities:
During College:
o Harvard College Scholar
o Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Scholar
o Undergraduate Council
o Class Committee
o Room 13 Counselor
o Prefect
o Peace Games
o South Asian Association
o International Students Association
Post College:
o Class Secretary
o Reunion Committee, 5th–25th Reunion
o Class Report (Co-)Chair, 5th–25th Reunion
o Donor
Achievements and Honors:
Completed two graduate degrees from Johns Hopkins University: a master of public health and a master of business administration; received the Johns Hopkins Outstanding Recent Graduate Award in 2009.
Played a critical role in enabling the first major nonprofit acquisition in the global development space, helping Family Health International evolve and diversify into a >$1 billion organization now called FHI 360.
Helped establish one of the first offices for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation outside of Seattle.
Served as a peer reviewer/judge for a range of organizations: International AIDS Society, Global Health Council, Global Business Coalition for HIV/AIDS, TB & Malaria.
Supported the Vatican in establishing a global commission to support its response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its underlying causes.
Remain the youngest person to have served on a Royal Commission in Canada.
Serving as the first-ever chief executive officer and global executive for Pratham in the U.S.
A proud mother to triplets—a boy, a girl, and an angel.
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
My entire career has been focused on social impact. I have had the privilege and opportunity to have worked with a range of UN agencies: UNICEF, UNDP, UNAIDS; government agencies: U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Canadian and Ontario governments in various aspects of social development (workforce development, education); philanthropic organizations: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, FXB Foundation, GHR Foundation; direct delivery organizations including FHI 360 and an India-rooted global education nonprofit named Pratham. I have also had the honor to support the Vatican in its global development and social justice efforts.
My work has been comprised of roles I would have done on a voluntary basis. It has been a gift to dedicate my full professional life to social causes.
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
Harvard has been, and remains, an incredible gift that keeps on giving.
I give my undergraduate experience an incredibly high rating. The institution and the social connections that have emerged since have been equally, if not more, rewarding. I have gained personal enrichment from creating new and deepening existing relationships with block mates, former social studies’ classmates, undergraduate council alums, reunion organizers, and alums I have met from all classes since I have graduated. I continue to learn with and from these individuals on a regular basis.
These relationships—all sparked by our common tie to Harvard—have enabled me to have varied and thought-provoking discussions ranging from managing midlife crises to the shared experience of still facing imposter syndrome 25 years later, to thinking through the translation of for-profit approaches to the nonprofit space, to understanding the world from a widened racial lens following George Floyd’s murder.
I am humbled to be a part the amazing global community that Harvard creates.
House Affiliation:
Quincy House
First-year Dorm:
Hollis South
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’98 Social Studies, magna cum laude
Harvard-Related Activities:
During College: First-Year Urban Program (FUP), Harvard Crimson (co-executive editor), Harvard-Radcliffe Asian American Association (co-president), Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations (student advisory committee), Harvard Magazine (Ledecky undergraduate writing fellow), Phillips Brooks House Association (Chinatown ESL tutor)
Post College: Harvard Magazine Board of Incorporators (since 2006); Harvard Magazine Board of Directors (since 2022); Class of 1998 20th Reunion Campaign Committee (1636 Society Committee); Class of 1998 25th Reunion Campaign Committee (Associates Committee)
Achievements and Honors:
This year, the newsroom I oversee, the Texas Tribune, was awarded a National Edward R. Murrow Award for overall excellence among large digital newsrooms. We were also recognized with an Online News Association Award for Breaking News for our coverage of the tragic mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. Also this year, I was presented with an outstanding leadership award by the Asian American Journalists Association.
In 2021, under my leadership, the Los Angeles Times was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for Robert Greene’s columns on criminal justice reform. In addition, I was the author of the lead editorial in “Our Reckoning With Racism,” a 2020 project that critically examined the Los Angeles Times’s record with communities of color and employees of color. That project was awarded a special citation by the Society of Professional Journalists.
At the New York Times, where I worked from 2004 to 2018, I was part of a team awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News for coverage of the scandal that led to New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s resignation. Many of the articles I edited for the New York Times op-ed section developed into books, including Joseph E. Stiglitz’s The Great Divide (2015) and Yascha Mounk’s The People Vs. Democracy (2018). I received several regional honors for my local reporting at the Washington Post, where I worked from 2000 to 2004.
In 2012, I was named a Marshall Memorial Fellow by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a U.S. nonprofit that promotes transatlantic relations. I've been selected for bilateral “young leader” programs organized by the French-American Foundation (2009), the American Council on Germany (2014) and the U.S.-Japan Foundation (2019). I'm also a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
My proudest professional achievement is the dozens of journalists I’ve mentored, hired, helped get hired or connected with professional opportunities — many of them people of color, women, LGBTQ+, from rural communities, first-generation college graduates, and military veterans.
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
In addition to Harvard Magazine, I currently serve on the boards of Freedom House (with fellow board member Ian Simmons AB ’98), the News Leaders Association, and the Columbia Journalism Review.
I am deeply involved in efforts to make the journalism profession more diverse, equitable and inclusive. I have moderated or spoken at dozens of events for journalism students and early-career journalists. I am a lifetime member of the Asian American Journalists Association, Journalism & Women Symposium, Military Veterans in Journalism, National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Native American Journalists Association, NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists and South Asian Journalists Association, among other organizations.
I have served as a volunteer juror for major journalism awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Selden Ring Award for Investigative Journalism, the Knight International Journalism Awards, the National Magazine Awards, and the Pulitzer Prizes.
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
Harvard College transformed my life. As a child of Chinese immigrants who were born during World War II and had little formal education—my father had only five years of rural schooling and does not speak English; my mother has a GED—I was blessed with opportunities that my ancestors could never have imagined. My studies were supported by a scholarship endowed by Alan N. Locker AB ’61, need-based aid, the Federal Work-Study Program and student loans.
I've never again been surrounded by such a concentration of talented and inspiring people. I made lifelong friendships which continue to nourish and sustain me. From the First-Year Urban Program to Phillips Brooks House Association, and from the Asian American Association to the Crimson, I was given opportunities to serve and to lead. Long after we’ve forgotten what we learned in Core classes or Ec 10, we remember the people we met and the interactions we had. I want to live in an America where every student has such opportunities for growth and uplift.
Harvard isn’t perfect. But it stands for knowledge, truth and reason, which cannot be taken for granted at a time when ignorance, misinformation, and extremism have become rampant, even celebrated. Harvard has given me so much, and I want to do all I can to pay it forward.
House Affiliation:
Dunster House
First-year Dorm:
Canaday
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’98, Government, cum laude
Harvard-Related Activities:
Harvard International Relations Council, Harvard-Radcliffe Women’s Leadership Project, Crimson Key Society, HACIA Democracy, Harvard National Model UN, Harvard Model UN
Achievements and Honors:
Honors after Harvard: Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellow, SIPA International Affairs Fellow
Achievements: I have dedicated my professional life to preventing the further spread and use of nuclear and chemical weapons globally. Some achievements include providing thought leadership for influencing nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament policies; improving the measures by which countries can provide confidence that weapons-usable nuclear materials are secure from theft; and countering disinformation campaigns targeting the global authority on chemical weapons. I am especially proud of the work I have done in facilitating a culture shift within a multicultural international organization to ensure everyone is empowered, accountable, high-performing, and treated with dignity and respect.
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
Women in International Security (Executive Board); Harvard-Radcliffe Women’s Leadership Project Alumni Network (Executive Board); Council on Foreign Relations (Term Member Advisory Board), The Hague Organizations Diversity & Inclusion Network (Annual Event Chair); Columbia Mentoring Programme (Mentor)
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
Harvard was an unparalleled opportunity for learning about leadership in service of larger goals. I cherish how I was warmly embraced by my friends and inspired by similarly motivated classmates as I learned about myself and how to navigate the path ahead. I have carried that sense of self, coupled with a sense of purpose, with me over the past 25 years as I have unrelentingly applied myself to tackling the threat of nuclear and chemical weapons.
My success in the challenging field of international security can be credited to foundational experiences like the Harvard-Radcliffe Women’s Leadership Project, which shaped my views on the importance of authenticity and leadership by example. Leading the Harvard International Relations Council also helped me figure out how to work with and inspire people to give the best of themselves. From connecting the dots academically to connecting with people through activities, Harvard gave me the confidence to embrace different opportunities for gaining new perspectives and making a difference.
As an international civil servant, I feel both a calling and a keen sense of responsibility to the 186 governments who entrust me and my colleagues to carry out our mission to ban nuclear explosions in all places and for all time. Throughout my career, a lot of my work has been behind the scenes and this is especially the case now as I manage the politically sensitive and complex machinery of international organizations focused on global peace and security. Because of this, I am deeply touched and honored by our classmates acknowledging these efforts to create a better world through this nomination for chief marshal. I so look forward to reconnecting with everyone in June!
House Affiliation:
Quincy House
First-year Dorm:
Stoughton
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’98, Economics
Harvard-Related Activities:
Crimson Women’s Basketball
Achievements and Honors:
o Co-captain Crimson Women’s Basketball
o 1998 Radcliffe Prize
o 1994 Ivy League Rookie of the Year, three-time Ivy League Player of the Year, four-time All-Ivy Selection
o Three-time Ivy League Champion
o Fifth pick in 1998 WNBA Draft
o 2004 WNBA All-Star Team
o 2022 YW Boston Academy of Women Achievers
o 2023 NCAA Silver Anniversary Award Recipient
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
o Co-Lead, Boston Celtics United for Social Justice
o Advocate, juvenile justice and carceral system reform
o Advocate, global advancement and empowerment of women and girls
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
I wish I could find more eloquent words to describe my experience at Harvard, but quite truthfully, Harvard changed my life. I’m from a small rural town in South Carolina, and I grew up in a family that emphasized education as the vehicle out of poverty and the key to access and opportunity. As a standout athlete in high school, I took a leap of faith and passed on athletic scholarships because I believed Harvard would unlock doors and spaces that would otherwise be unavailable to me. I also believed in Harvard’s long-time women’s basketball coach Kathy Delaney-Smith as a leader and trusted I could have the best of both worlds academically and athletically.
Needless to say, my undergraduate experience far exceeded all expectations: lifelong friendships made with the most selfless teammates, a transferable skillset that has allowed me to play any role on every team across all borders, a historic NCAA upset that stood unchallenged for two decades, and the confidence to know I belong among the giants of the NBA. Harvard prepared me for life, for leadership, for adversity, and for triumph. I would not be where I am today had I not had the opportunity to attend Harvard College. Forever grateful.
Anne H. Charity Hudley
Associate Dean of Educational Affairs and Bonnie Katz Tenenbaum Professor of Education, Stanford University Graduate School of Education; Professor of African and African American Studies & Linguistics, by courtesy, Stanford University
House Affiliation:
Leverett House
Freshman Dorm:
Canaday
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB/AM ’98 Linguistics with a concentration in Romance languages, magna cum laude
Harvard-Related Activities:
During College: President and vice president, Radcliffe Choral Society; member, Harvard University Choir; lead singer, Leverett Coffeehouses; piano instructor, PBHA’s HARMONY Mentoring Program.
Post College: Event Committee, Harvard Club of Virginia; vice president, Harvard Club of Santa Barbara; active mentor to Harvard undergraduates and graduates in PreK–12 and higher education.
Achievements and Honors:
Endowed term professor of English and the first faculty director of the William and Mary Scholars Program at the College of William and Mary in my home community of Williamsburg, Virginia; endowed professor of linguistics and first faculty director of undergraduate research and co-director of the McNair Scholars Program at the University of California Santa Barbara as the school transitioned to the most highly resourced minority-serving institution in the U.S.; endowed chair and first associate dean of educational affairs at the Stanford Graduate School of Education where I oversee the student educational experience, including curriculum and instruction and the admissions and degree experience; executive committee and fellow, Linguistic Society of America (LSA); Trustee Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL); fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Coauthor of four books and four edited collections, including the widely used Indispensable Guide to Undergraduate Research and Talking College: Making Space for Black Linguistic Practices in Higher Education; author or coauthor of over 50 journal articles and book chapters, particularly concerning Black language and culture, language variation in schools, and high-impact practices in higher education; first Black woman to coedit Dædalus, the journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, on the topic of linguistic justice; earned numerous teaching and public engagement awards, including the Linguistic Society of America’s Linguistics, Language, and the Public Award, which honors those who effectively increase public awareness and understanding of linguistics and language
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
Researcher of lung and brain cancer survivors on an NIH grant designed to support the survivorship needs of lung cancer patients; frequent author of scholarly and public-facing works about living with lung and brain cancer; mentor and advisor to numerous undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty worldwide, particularly from underrepresented groups on the faculty at Harvard and Stanford.
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
I’m so grateful to the friends I made at Harvard for opening up the whole world to me. They represent the best of what Harvard education can be—an invaluable opportunity to share our experiences. That sentiment was exemplified recently by the Black Lives Matter fundraiser Angela Chien ’99, and I led for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights in honor of Kristen Clarke ’97. Our fundraiser received the most donations from women of color in the history of Facebook.
I’m most proud of helping to establish the William and Mary Scholars program, which grants merit-based tuition scholarships and comprehensive academic support to deserving students back in my home state. I’m also proud of my role in shifting the intellectual focus in linguistics toward justice and liberation.
My students are resplendent. We talk about topics we rarely broached in our day, including our racial and ethnic identities, our socioeconomic status and how it impacts our experiences, our developing and fluid gender and sexual identities, and the work we need to do to create educational justice as a matter of right, not just of privilege. In this way, our Harvard experience makes all of higher education richer and more inclusive.
House Affiliation:
Lowell House
First-year Dorm:
Thayer
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’98 in American History, magna cum laude
Harvard-Related Activities:
While I was at Harvard, I wrote for the Harvard Independent and volunteered at Phillips Brooks House. Since graduation, I have attended events at the Harvard Club of Washington, D.C., as well as my class Reunion every five years!
Achievements and Honors:
After I graduated from Harvard, I spent a year studying in Spain on a Rotary scholarship and have remained active with Rotary International since then. One of the greatest honors of my life has been covering the White House for NBC News as the chief White House correspondent. I have now reported on the tenure of three presidents: former presidents Obama JD ’91 and Trump and President Biden. I have won two Emmy Awards, including for NBC News’ team coverage of the Malaysian Plane Crash of flight 370 and for our team’s coverage of the attack against the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Two years ago, I moderated the final presidential debate between then president Trump and then Vice President Biden. It is also my great privilege to co-anchor the Saturday TODAY show with my friend and colleague Peter Alexander. I believe all my achievements and honors have been possible because of the extraordinary education I received at Harvard University.
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
I have been incredibly honored to participate in various organizations that support journalism, democracy, and food security, particularly for children. I have recently emceed events for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute Awards Dinner (this year we honored Anthony Fauci and the late Bill Russell), the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and this past year I had the distinct privilege of participating in the No Kid Hungry Campaign, which aims to end childhood hunger. I am proud to donate to the DC Central Kitchen and to Martha’s Table (which provides education and food access to families in the D.C. area). I am also thrilled to be able to give back to the Harvard College Fund and to support the next generation at Harvard.
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
Attending Harvard University prepared me for the rigors of my demanding career in journalism. Through my studies in American history and Spanish, I gained exposure to the world and a deep appreciation for accurately chronicling events as they unfold. It’s a bit cliché, but as a journalist I am responsible for writing the first draft of history and for holding our elected officials to account. During my time at Harvard, I learned just how important that task is in supporting this country’s democracy.
Still, my greatest achievements at Harvard were the friendships I formed. My friends from Harvard are still among the closest in the world and have become like family to me. In June of 2021, I became a mother when my husband, John, and I welcomed with the help of a surrogate our daughter, Margot Lane Welker Hughes. My friends from Harvard have been incredibly supportive as I have taken on the most important role of my life—becoming a mom. Having Margot has given me an even greater appreciation for the education I received and friendships I formed while at Harvard.
House Affiliation:
Dunster House
Freshman Dorm:
Holworthy
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’98, Economics, cum laude; MBA ’03
Harvard-Related Activities:
During College: Prefect, Heavyweight Crew, Undergraduate Council, First Class Marshal
Post College: Co-Chair of 5th–25th Reunion Committee
Achievements and Honors:
You have likely read the bios of the other candidates nominated for class marshal. They are amazing people, and collectively capture just a tiny sliver of this amazing Class. Anything I list here seems to pale in comparison to those of you who have been on the front lines as physicians, teachers, etc. . . . but in Harvard-like fashion, I’m not going to leave a box unchecked:
Over the last 20 years, I helped a business grow from 15,000 employees to nearly 300,000 and over $300 billion of revenue; supported employers, members, and providers through the COVID pandemic; tried to improve health care in America (no risk of running out of work there 😊); and worked my best to be a good husband and father to three.
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
Serve on the board of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and the board of Greater MSP, a public-private partnership dedicated to serving the 15-county Minneapolis–St. Paul region.
Board member of the United Health Foundation which publishes America’s Health Rankings and has given grants of more than $700 million to improve health nationwide.
I wrote and self-published a children’s book for each of my three children: Avey the Aviator, The Playground Project, and The Golden Pawn.
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
Walking into the yard Freshman year, I met some of the best friends of my life.
And then I learned and rowed and prefected and had not just four of the best years of my life, but four years that would forever shape me. And to be fair, not always positively. To this day, I struggle to be comfortable with myself, with just enjoying the day around me rather than looking to the next, and with turning off that endless (sometimes mindless) drive to continually achieve more.
I have had the remarkable fortune to keep in touch with so many classmates and for those who I have not, know that seeing your names emerge unexpectedly either through a friend or social media or somewhere else always brings a smile to my face.
For me, Harvard is all of you, and YOU inspire me. As I look ahead to the second half of life, I have hope that I will be able to deliver goodness to my friends, family, coworkers, and those in the community around me at even a small scale of what you have done already. Better yet, let’s do it together.
House Affiliation:
Eliot House
First-year Dorm:
Grays West
Harvard Degree/Concentration:
AB ’98, Government, cum laude in field
Harvard-Related Activities:
During College:
President & World Tour Manager, the Radcliffe Pitches; News Editor, the Harvard Crimson; Contributor, the Harvard International Review
Post College:
I’ve remained involved in the Harvard community by conducting alumni interviews for students applying for admission, serving on the gift committees for several of our Reunions, and serving on the Board of the Harvard Club of New Jersey while I lived in the state. I also helped to launch (and then serve for five years on) the Graduate Board for the Radcliffe Pitches so that our extensive alumni network could more effectively support current undergraduate women and recent alumnae of the group.
Achievements and Honors:
I was most recently general manager of Oprah Daily, responsible for the launch and leadership of the new multiplatform lifestyle brand from Oprah Winfrey and Hearst Magazines. Prior to Oprah Daily’s launch, I was senior vice president of storytelling and journalism at ESPN, a portfolio including E60, ESPN Cover Story, Outside The Lines, espnW, the ESPN Daily podcast, the ESPYS, ESPN’s Investigative Unit, ESPN The Magazine, and all of ESPN’s global digital longform journalism. I was the first woman to run a major U.S. sports magazine when I became editor in chief of ESPN The Magazine in 2016, and led the brand to the 2017 National Magazine Award for General Excellence (finalists again in 2020). During my tenure, my teams earned multiple Emmys, Webbys, Gracies, Folio Awards, and New York Press Club Awards, as well as the 2019 Peabody for reporting on the Michigan State/USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal and crafting the cultural touchstone Arthur Ashe Courage Award presentation to 141 survivors on the ESPYS stage. Adweek twice named me one of the “30 Most Powerful Women in Sports,” and I was one of CableFax’s “Most Powerful Women in Cable” four years running, as well as an honoree on its Diversity List of the most influential multiethnic executives in media. I delivered the commencement address at Temple University’s Klein College of Media and Communications in 2019, and now serve on the board of the Mercy College Women in Leadership program.
Major Charitable/Other Activities:
Board and Executive Committee Member, American Society of Magazine Editors; Board Member, Women’s Leadership Program, Mercy College; Ran the 2013 NYC Marathon to fundraise for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, in memory of my mother, Monette Overholt; Founder and Former Member, Graduate Board of the Radcliffe Pitches
Greatest Personal Rewards/Reflections on Harvard:
Harvard taught us to ask questions—probing questions, hard questions, unexpected questions, big questions. From my first Gov tutorial, to Robert Coles’ GenEd 105 lectures and sections, to the journalistic boot camp that was comping the Harvard Crimson, this requirement to embrace intellectual curiosity, always dig just a little deeper, and push to ask the questions that others don’t think to ask has been the foundation for my professional life, certainly, and it has also fueled the way I think about my responsibilities as a citizen, a parent, a child, and a friend. Which relates to the other gift Harvard has given, one that I have only grown to understand and appreciate more and more as the years go by: the gift of this community, and membership within it. I am awed by the problems my classmates tackle in their lives and careers, I am inspired daily by the relentless drive they demonstrate in pursuit of solving them, and I am grateful always for the individuals who never hesitate to answer a call or an email or a text when any question—big or small—arises.