Hear from the 2025 HAA Elected Director Candidates
The 2025 HAA Elected Director candidates were each asked to answer the three questions listed below. Their unedited responses follow, with the candidates listed in ballot order.
• What does the Harvard alumni community mean to you and what makes you want to serve as an HAA Elected Director?
• How would your professional expertise and personal and volunteer experience serve you in this role?
• Where do you believe alumni have the opportunity to make a greater impact on the Harvard community?
Angela M. Ruggiero AB ’02 cum laude, MBA ’14
MEd ’10, University of Minnesota
Co-Founder and Chair, Sports Innovation Lab
Weston, Massachusetts
What does the Harvard alumni community mean to you and what makes you want to serve as an HAA Elected Director?
I am a first-generation college student, afforded the amazing opportunity to go to Harvard as a student-athlete as an undergrad and again for my MBA. I would love to pay it forward to this great University and support not only the current students, but also those who have attended and want to keep this community active and supportive in their current lives. In addition to the amazing education I received at Harvard, it was the honor of a lifetime to play for the Harvard women's ice hockey team, so want to contribute to supporting the student-athletes that pass through the Yard. I am passionate about creating more inclusive environments, particularly creating more opportunities for women. As a female founder in the sports and technology sector, I am also passionate about education, innovation, inclusion, and driving positive change. In service to the alumni, I want to give back and hopefully activate alumni across the University so we can collectively contribute to the next generation of students attending Harvard and create a more impactful institution for our lives and the world.
How would your professional expertise and personal and volunteer experience serve you in this role?
I have served in both paid and volunteer positions extensively over the past two decades, including serving as a board member to the International Olympic Committee (including the Executive Board and the Ethics Committee) and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (Audit Committee); as president of the Women's Sports Foundation; founder, CEO, and chair of Sports Innovation Lab; executive board of World Rugby; chief strategy officer of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Bid; and on two NASDAQ-listed boards; among others. I would love to bring my extensive board-level expertise, as well as wider business acumen to support the entire Harvard community. Specifically, I hope to act as a liaison for the HAA as well as the Harvard Varsity Club and the massive network of alumni-athletes. As a female founder, I also hope to bring a female entrepreneur’s perspective to the HBS and wider HAA community and leverage my extensive global professional board experience for more inclusive policies and good governance across the organization.
Where do you believe alumni have the opportunity to make a greater impact on the Harvard community?
I believe alumni who have both a great experience at Harvard and also stay connected are more likely to give back to this institution. With this in mind, I believe the focus of this group should be to do all that we can to support current students, but also keep alumni connected in meaningful ways. The community at Harvard stands out as something that is special in higher education and alumni who continue to feel this connection and have specific ways of contributing are more likely to give back. Therefore, I believe alumni can effect positive change by leaning into ways to support one another while we are students and beyond. The responsibility to support Harvard should not just rest on administration, but should also lay in the hands of those who benefited the most from its halls—the alumni. I hope to use this position to do just that, so that we can all give back to the place that changed our lives forever.
Allison Lee Pillinger Choi AB ’06
Author
Bedford, New York
What does the Harvard alumni community mean to you and what makes you want to serve as an HAA Elected Director?
Harvard University is special in countless ways, with every student discovering something personally meaningful during their time on campus. The connection that’s formed here extends beyond the institution itself. It encompasses the people who helped shape our memories and our character as well. I believe the Harvard alumni community serves as the living embodiment of these shared formative experiences. It serves as a way for us to reconnect with one another and our past selves. I’ve loved staying engaged with our community in various ways. Over the years, I’ve served on the Faculty of Arts and Sciences New York Major Gifts Committee, co-chaired my class Reunion Committee, and most recently participated in the 50th-anniversary event for Harvard women’s tennis.
The Harvard Alumni Association plays a vital role in cultivating our community and fostering the University's well-being. I am eager to contribute to those efforts and help ensure a vibrant future for Harvard, one where students continue to experience the distinctive moments that have become cherished memories for alumni. I hope to help bolster Harvard’s extraordinary reputation during this pivotal moment in its nearly 400-year history. Harvard has long been a beacon of intellectual curiosity. It is this curiosity—sparking vibrant discourse, ideological diversity, and exploration—that has made the University uniquely innovative and excellent. To ensure its continued success, Harvard must always promote these truth-seeking qualities, which, of course, keep the institution committed to veritas.
As an elected director, I would plan ways for our alumni community to celebrate these values that underpin veritas. For over a decade, I have been involved in establishing bipartisan efforts to build balance, find common ground, and promote collaboration. These experiences have been rewarding and enlightening, and I would love to share this with our alumni community! If elected, I would work enthusiastically with fellow HAA Board members, from all political and philosophical perspectives, to fully incorporate the wide range of viewpoints we have throughout our alumni community. My vision for Harvard is one where all sincerely held, truth-seeking ideas are heard, valued, and respected. This way I hope to ensure that alumni continue to experience the rich academic freedom that has long defined the University. It would be an honor to support the intersection of my alma mater and my passion for cultivating viewpoint diversity and constructive dialogue. I’m excited about the future of Harvard and hope you will consider supporting my candidacy. Collectively we can build a more inclusive, balanced, and thriving alumni community.
How would your professional expertise and personal and volunteer experience serve you in this role?
My personal journey began as a first-year at Harvard, where I became aware of the unspoken boundaries surrounding acceptable views, especially on political issues. At times, I found myself holding a minority opinion and chose to stay silent to avoid conflict. The path of least resistance can be tempting in an environment that doesn’t reward constructive dissent. Yet, this experience also helped me develop the ability to more deeply listen to others—a skill that can only be cultivated through exposure to other perspectives.
I recalled this tendency to withdraw from sharing views, particularly when they might seem less popular, when I became a new mother years later. I wanted to instill in my children the confidence to voice their beliefs while maintaining the humility to listen to and consider differing points of view. My hope is for them to develop the capacity to stand up for their ideals with respect, integrity, and openness.
This inspired me to put these values into practice in my own life. My professional experience of working on the trading floor at Goldman Sachs sharpened my ability to communicate under pressure and navigate competing stakeholder interests. This served me well later in a business analytics role at Equinox where I often served as a bridge between our corporate and club employees. But more meaningful experience came from leveraging what I learned in my professional career and applying it to my volunteer work. In 2014, I began pursuing initiatives that fostered bipartisan civic engagement. My work contributed to helping organizations avoid falling into the trap of echo chambers, where only reinforcing viewpoints are heard and growth is limited. In 2017, I established a partnership between a local initiative, known as Experiment in Dialogue, and the Jewish Community Center of Manhattan. My work with EID and JCCM, along with other bipartisan organizations like the Flip Side and the Renew Democracy Initiative, has provided me with insights into ways to create environments where individuals feel comfortable listening to or engaging in robust, enlightening, and civil discourse.
I’ve personally experienced how contributing and receiving diverse perspectives—intellectual, spiritual, political, cultural, and otherwise—informs new views, reshapes earlier views, and improves existing views. All are truly rewarding experiences! As an elected director, I would love to continue this journey alongside fellow alumni. Drawing on my personal and professional experiences would help me build on and strengthen the incredible work being done through the HAA. This role would offer me the opportunity to collaborate with alumni of all backgrounds who aim to support the vitality of our community and ensure that genuine, truth-seeking viewpoints are welcomed, encouraged, and valued.
Where do you believe alumni have the opportunity to make a greater impact on the Harvard community?
Every alum has a unique opportunity to make a meaningful impact on our community, particularly in this moment. It is a moment that calls for everyone’s contributions to reinvigorate Harvard’s strengths, including its foundational principles of viewpoint diversity, civil discourse, and academic freedom. These principles have allowed Harvard to thrive and evolve for nearly four centuries. Intellectual practices like open inquiry and robust debate have long made Harvard a beacon of excellence. By upholding these principles, we can continue to deepen our understanding, inch closer to truth, and expand our communities.
One of the most effective ways alumni can make an impact here is simply by showing up. With the growing number of Harvard initiatives focused on reinvigorating classical liberal values of freedom and expression, the opportunities to attend related events are abundant. Alumni can further support these efforts by helping plan or participate in programs that highlight diverse thinkers and constructive dialogue. And why not invite an alum friend along? Extra credit if that friend brings a different political perspective! A unique—and often overlooked—aspect of being an advocate for viewpoint diversity is that there is no requirement to hold an opinion. All that’s needed is curiosity. And if an advocate has opinions, that’s perfectly fine, too! The key to this advocacy is to approach differing views with humility and charity.
With these qualities, every alum is capable of both promoting and exercising viewpoint diversity. Indeed, it is an “exercise.” As Harvard Professor Eric Beerbohm, head of the University’s new Civil Discourse Initiative, aptly puts it, “The ability to engage in empathetic disagreement is like a muscle—it grows stronger with deliberate practice. These kinds of scenarios, where participants are challenged to consider new perspectives and make tough decisions, provide exactly that kind of exercise.” I’m confident that with these revitalized principles, the HAA could serve as an inspiration to the wider Harvard community—and, I believe, to society more broadly. Embracing viewpoint diversity could once again be seen as a civic responsibility for everyone who participates in American democracy. After all, democracy flourishes when people with differing ideas engage in meaningful discussion. As an elected director, I hope to help alumni recognize their unique abilities to contribute to a culture where truth-seeking points of view are not only welcomed but actively encouraged and respectfully explored. In an environment that values different perspectives, healthy debate, and free thought, our alumni community will be more fully engaged and ultimately thrive.
Sanjay Seth MPA ’19, MUP ’19
BA ’12, Goldsmiths, University of London
Former Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor for Climate and Equity, U.S. EPA New England
East Boston, Massachusetts
What does the Harvard alumni community mean to you and what makes you want to serve as an HAA Elected Director?
While a student at Harvard, I organized students across nine graduate Schools to create the Climate Leaders Program, a highly competitive, yearlong interdisciplinary program that continues to gather students with a professional interest in climate action across the Harvard community to learn in community with one another. As an alum, I cofounded and served as co-president for Harvard Alumni for Climate and the Environment, a Shared Interest Group with thousands of members that helps incubate climate ventures, train alumni to generate climate action plans, cultivate mentorship between generations of alums, and strengthen the Harvard climate community overall. As an elected director, building upon these and other efforts, I would continue my community-building work to help alumni connect across disciplines, generations, and Schools and advance climate action together. I want to serve to help alumni get further organized and engaged, so that they can strengthen their connections to Harvard and have an even greater impact in their personal and professional lives.
How would your professional expertise and personal and volunteer experience serve you in this role?
The role of an elected director is to help connect alumni to Harvard and vice versa—and to be a representative voice for alumni views on matters that arise within the Harvard Alumni Association. I have worked in the public, nonprofit, private, and academic sectors, as well as on campaigns. I have attended two Harvard Schools. I organized across all Harvard Schools. I have worked on intergenerational alumni volunteer teams to strengthen our community. And I continue to engage deeply with students and alumni as a mentor, lecturer, and guest speaker to support climate action and the broader environmental community. Through my work as a student and as an alumni volunteer, I believe I have demonstrated the breadth and depth of engagement that is necessary to serve as an effective convener and collaborator of Harvard alumni from many Schools, generations, and disciplines.
Where do you believe alumni have the opportunity to make a greater impact on the Harvard community?
In all my work, I focus on equitably advancing climate and environmental action. I believe everyone deserves clean air, clean water, a safe environment, and a hopeful future. Everyone deserves an opportunity to thrive. As a student, alumnus, and lecturer, I have focused on connecting folks to advance these values together. As an elected director, I am interested in exploring how even more alumni get the opportunity to connect with each other across Schools to learn more about the challenges we face and the ways that each of us can step up. Harvard alumni have the opportunity to shape significant climate and environmental action in their personal and professional lives. Many alumni seek to connect with others in the Harvard community who share their interest in meaningful climate and environmental progress. By building meaningful relationships and connections across Schools, disciplines, and generations of Harvard alumni, we can make even more progress on climate and environmental action in our personal and professional lives.
Nicholas J. Melvoin AB ’08
MA ’10, Loyola Marymount University; JD ’14, New York University
Elected Board Member, Los Angeles Unified School District
Los Angeles, California
What does the Harvard alumni community mean to you and what makes you want to serve as an HAA Elected Director?
As a Class Day speaker for the College Class of 2008, I riffed on the old line that "you can always tell a Harvard man, but you can never tell him much." I spoke of the countless conversations I had in lecture halls and dining halls and dorm rooms and common rooms and how often those conversations changed my mind and expanded my worldview. I ended that speech with this line: "So it is my hope that wherever we go, people can tell us as Harvard alumni, not only by whatever success or achievement we come to enjoy but by our constant commitment to a never-ending dialogue, our commitment to being told everything." In the almost 17 (!) years since that day, I have come to know the Harvard alumni community as a network that is diverse, dynamic, and bound together by a shared experience of intellectual growth, curiosity, and service. It has provided me with friendships, mentors, and opportunities that have shaped my personal and professional journey. Whether through my work as an educator, attorney, or now elected official, I have constantly come into contact with fellow alums who have helped me, pushed me, and challenged me to be a better representative, not only of Harvard but of the communities I've served. Harvard’s alumni, going back to the 17th century, have always had the unique potential to be a force for good—not just for the University, but for society at large. That’s why I’ve remained involved through guest lectures, reunion committees, and Board service. Harvard is at an inflection point, facing challenges that require engagement, dialogue, and leadership from its alumni. I want to serve as an elected director to help bridge divides, foster meaningful connections, and ensure that Harvard remains an institution we can all take pride in—one that continues to empower the next generation of change-makers.
How would your professional expertise and personal and volunteer experience serve you in this role?
Cliché as it may be, I always took note walking in and out of the Yard through Dexter Gate and reading its inscriptions: "Enter to grow in wisdom" and "Depart to better serve thy country and thy kind." Since walking out of that gate for the last time as an undergraduate, my whole career has been dedicated to public service, consensus building, and education. As an elected school board member in Los Angeles, I oversee one of the largest and most complex education systems in the country, balancing the needs of diverse communities, managing resources, and working to expand opportunities for students and families. Prior to this, I was a public school teacher, attorney, and nonprofit leader—experiences that have reinforced my commitment to equity, service, and policymaking that brings people together. Beyond my professional work, I serve on a number of nonprofit boards where I engage with diverse constituencies in areas spanning education, civil rights, legal services, responsible use of technology, camps for children, Jewish causes, and social services. I have remained engaged with Harvard by serving on boards, guest lecturing, and participating in alumni activities. I understand the breadth of perspectives within our alumni community, from those deeply engaged to those who have grown more distant from the institution. My ability to listen, collaborate, and build bridges will help ensure that all alumni feel heard, valued, and connected to Harvard’s future.
Where do you believe alumni have the opportunity to make a greater impact on the Harvard community?
Harvard alumni have the unique ability—and, I’d argue, the responsibility—to shape the future of the University and its role in the world. Our impact doesn’t stop at financial contributions; we can mentor students, create opportunities for fellow alumni, and use our collective voice to advocate for a stronger, more inclusive Harvard. We should also see our engagement not just as a way to give back, but as a way to stay connected to the kind of intellectual curiosity that first brought us to Cambridge. Whether through mentorship, public service, or professional collaboration, we have the ability to foster the kind of “never-ending dialogue” that makes Harvard more than just a name on a diploma—it makes it a lifelong community. At a time when higher education is at the center of national and global conversations, alumni can and should play a role in ensuring Harvard leads the way. That means advocating for academic freedom, equity, and innovation. It means helping students and alumni navigate an evolving workforce. It means strengthening Harvard’s public service mission and ensuring that our institution remains open and accessible to all. Most importantly, it means showing up. Harvard will only be as strong as the community that engages with it. If we, as alumni, want to ensure that our alma mater remains a place of rigorous inquiry, meaningful debate, and world-changing impact, then we need to invest our time, voices, and efforts in making it so.
Theresa J. Chung AB ’98 magna cum laude, JD ’02
Administrative Judge, U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board
Dallas, Texas
What does the Harvard alumni community mean to you and what makes you want to serve as an HAA Elected Director?
I was born in Bryan, Texas, and grew up in Plano, Texas. In 1995, the Harvard Club of Dallas provided me with my first legal experience as a college student with an interest in law. I was awarded the Harvard Club of Dallas (HCD) Community Service Fellowship and spent the summer as a volunteer serving the Dallas Bar Association Pro Bono Project, interviewing individuals for free legal services. After attending Harvard Law School, I clerked for a Federal district court judge in Los Angeles and then practiced employment law in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. After developing a specialty as an employment litigator and counselor, I returned to Dallas in 2010.
Upon my return, the HCD provided a vibrant social network of Harvard alumni in the Dallas area. The HCD community was full of individuals who were both interesting and interested in meeting longtime residents and other new arrivals. I was immediately struck by this dynamic network of welcoming individuals, from a variety of backgrounds, professions, and ages. I first became involved in the HCD through my planning of, and involvement in, family-friendly events, as the HCD embraced both new ideas. I later served the Club as secretary, vice president of membership, president, and chairman of the Board. During the pandemic, the HCD pivoted to providing virtual events, including a magician, an Indian cooking class, and a chocolate tasting, as well as speakers and authors. I planned a number of virtual author events, inviting my former Harvard College and HLS classmates who were writing books and reflecting on topics such as the pandemic, loneliness, and U.S. policies.
In addition to providing a robust social network, the HCD also connects Harvard to our local community through fundraising and philanthropy, continuing the tradition of funding the Harvard Club of Dallas Community Service Fellowship, which I had been blessed to receive decades before. The HCD has also connected the local community to the University, bringing faculty and University leaders as guest speakers, and has interfaced with the HAA in supporting events such as Welcome to Your City, or Global Networking Night. I have seen firsthand how an alumni association can bring people together, integrating newcomers into a new city, and helping to develop a sense of community that transcends categories such as profession and background.
I have received the endorsement of current HCD president David Roosevelt AB ’93, who has shared: “Under Theresa's stewardship, our Club flourished, growing in membership, engagement, and meaningful programming. Her passion for Harvard and her dedication to fostering connection within our community have left a lasting impact. … [She is] an extraordinary leader, dedicated alumna, and true friend to the Harvard Club of Dallas.”
How would your professional expertise and personal and volunteer experience serve you in this role?
Since 2014, I have served as a federal administrative judge for the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent, quasijudicial agency that adjudicates appeals filed by veterans, whistleblowers, and federal employees. I have been a practicing lawyer for over 20 years in the area of employment litigation and counseling. I am a trained and certified mediator, and I have worked with numerous parties to reach mutual agreements. I have extensive experience in communicating with individuals in difficult contexts.
Wherever I have been, I have sought to make an impact on my local community and to connect with others in pursuit of a common goal. For instance, while attending HLS, I served as a proctor and academic advisor to first-year college students. I cochaired the Law and Kennedy Schools’ National Asian Pacific American Conference on Law and Public Policy. As president of the Harvard Club of Dallas, I have organized fine arts performances and local author events.
On a personal note, I have been married for 20 years and am the mother of two teenage girls. It’s in this realm where my negotiation and conflict resolution skills have been honed to the finest! In short, I am passionate about working together with Harvard alumni and connecting community members in pursuit of a common goal. I have received the endorsement of David Roosevelt who has described my “exceptional leadership and commitment to our alumni community,” my “deep experience in building engagement” in Dallas, and my “dedication to fostering engagement within our community.”
I am particularly open to fostering harmony among people who hold various viewpoints and I have honed my skills in communicating, negotiating, and listening. I spent the first part of my career at the law firm of Morgan Lewis, representing and advising Fortune 500 companies in employment discrimination and wrongful termination cases. In this role, I came to appreciate the importance of viewing a situation from multiple perspectives and I learned how to communicate with impassioned individuals in difficult, and sometimes emotionally charged, situations. This was a skillset I first developed at Harvard, including when I spent a summer interviewing civic groups in South Korea for my senior thesis on protectionist campaigns and spending late nights talking to first-year students as a proctor and academic advisor.
I am also steadfastly committed to giving back to Harvard. In addition to funding my undergraduate community service work, research projects, and international fellowships, Harvard has provided the foundation for many deep, lifelong friendships. My education from Harvard Law School has opened many professional doors for me and provided me with the skills and confidence to pursue my dreams of being a public interest lawyer and administrative judge.
Where do you believe alumni have the opportunity to make a greater impact on the Harvard community?
There are many ways for alumni to impact, or contribute to, Harvard. I’ve historically contributed to Harvard in the ways that I have found to be meaningful, interesting, and also within my capacity as a working mother and civil servant. Harvard alumni may underestimate their ability to contribute to their local alumni organization, to join a SIG, or to contribute directly to the University. Perhaps they feel they don’t fit the “profile” of the Harvard alumni volunteer, or maybe they have time limitations. I would like to develop a greater connection between the HAA and the Harvard alumni communities outside the Cambridge area, including in the fast-growing alumni community in Texas and other Southern states. Also, I would like to strengthen outreach to recent graduates, specifically to improve networking opportunities between them and the deep network that former graduates could provide. I also seek to increase engagement by graduate and professional School alumni with their local Clubs and with the HAA more broadly. There are many differences of opinion among alumni about all issues, but I believe our shared Harvard experience unites us on many levels and can serve as a springboard for a shared dialogue based on curiosity, patience, and mutual respect and understanding. How do we build a shared alumni community among different individuals, while simultaneously appreciating, listening to, and valuing each individual’s unique perspective? What do we do when the interest of one particular group may appear to be in conflict with another group’s, and how do we resolve these differences within the alumni community? I am ready to tackle these difficult questions, which do not have easy answers, but I know the Harvard alumni community can together seek to answer these questions, developing a stronger bond amongst us.
Daniel H. Ahn AB ’90 magna cum laude, MBA ’97
Managing Partner, Clearvision Ventures
Burlingame, California
What does the Harvard alumni community mean to you and what makes you want to serve as an HAA Elected Director?
The Harvard alumni community to me means boundless possibilities. With a diverse set of backgrounds, views, geographies, and fields of professions, connecting alumni through their shared love of Harvard creates possibilities to find new ways of adding value to alumni and the University. It just requires some focus and alignment. I know from my prior experience as an HAA Director for Clubs and SIGs, that the role is what you make of it, and various constituents across the Harvard community genuinely want to serve Harvard, but they are often just siloed from each other. I have found that if you can align members of the Board as well as other parts of the University to help drive new initiatives, anything is possible. I am excited to align the elected directors and unlock the potential of this director cohort in new ways that add value to Harvard and its alumni. Specifically, I would like to create a mechanism to capture the diverse and honest views of our alumni—“alumni voice” if you will, starting with the HAA Board, then create ways that voice can be heard and constructively utilized by other parts of Harvard, including University leadership, the Board of Overseers and the Corporation. In addition, I would like to create and implement more structure in the elected director cohort to enable them to have a more specific impact and an ongoing role in initiatives like this.
How would your professional expertise and personal and volunteer experience serve you in this role?
My professional and volunteer experience has been defined by creating and implementing new initiatives or founding companies that have met unmet needs. These experiences can be directly relevant to serving as an elected director. Early in my career after Harvard College, I cofounded a tech company that solved a critical problem in semiconductor device process development, which was later acquired by a major equipment vendor. Since HBS, I have spent my professional career as an entrepreneurial venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, helping to launch and finance tech startups helping to solve important problems, such as energy efficiency and climate change. About a decade ago, I founded my current VC firm with a differentiated, long-term evergreen fund structure to address structural issues of misalignment in the VC industry itself.
In my Harvard volunteer experience, as a regional alumni leader in Northern CA and more recently as an HAA Director for Clubs and SIGs, I helped create a regional leadership group that drove collaboration amongst Harvard alumni groups associated with other Harvard graduate Schools that are outside of the direct scope HAA, including the Business School, the Law School, and the Design School, expanding Harvard alumni connections and creating new opportunities to collaborate in the region.
During this time, I also was able to gain a better understanding of how alumni and the HAA can have an impact on Harvard. As an example, during my recent tenure as an HAA Director, I created and implemented a first-of-its-kind One Harvard initiative called “Business Unfiltered,” which matches students at the College interested in business to students at HBS to meet and get career advice. The pilot initiative, which launched this past spring, involved aligning the enthusiastic support of HAA leadership, HAA staff, Mignone Center leadership, HBS leadership and staff, and two fellow HAA Board members to realize. Through this initiative, I found that everyone in the Harvard community wanted to help, they just needed connection and alignment.
The two main principles I have applied to these experiences are the cliché saying that “perfection is the enemy of progress” and focusing on creating an initiative that is initially easy to implement—a “minimum viable product,” or the simplest form that will demonstrate value. I hope to continue this thinking as an elected director.
Where do you believe alumni have the opportunity to make a greater impact on the Harvard community?
There are three clear ways in which alumni can have a greater impact. First, if one is not already, be actively involved with at least one local alumni organization and volunteer for a leadership position, whether it be a Club, a SIG, or Schools committee, and then try to fulfill an unmet need. Second, recruit just one other alum to be actively involved in an alumni organization. If every active alum did that, it would have a significant impact worldwide. Finally, reach out to other Harvard-related organizations, and see if new connections and relationships can be formed. The value of these new connections should not be underestimated.
Colin J. Kegler AB ’97
Senior Software Engineer, HealthEdge Inc.
Provincetown, Massachusetts
What does the Harvard alumni community mean to you and what makes you want to serve as an HAA Elected Director?
Harvard's alumni community is bright, energetic, multigenerational, multicultural, and globally connected. Through rigor, we challenge each other to grow; we know how to collaborate; we also have the talent and the means to grow. I believe in the strength of our Harvard community. As an elected director, I am committed to cultivating our strengths as One Harvard through service. Keeping with HAA's mission, I want to strengthen our ties back to Harvard, to strengthen the ties within our community, and work through the HAA to reinvigorate and realign its focus to the needs of the evolving needs of our community. In particular, I would work with the HAA to reengage the segment of alumni who have had a sympathetic yet diminished connection to Harvard over time.
How would your professional expertise and personal and volunteer experience serve you in this role?
A. For six years (2017–23), I had the privilege to serve as an HAA College Director. During that time, I listened to and learned from multiple facets of our alumni community, and through our collective wisdom, coalesced and shared the best practices of our HAA body back to our community. I would bring that cumulative experience with me hopefully to be informed, focused, and more effective in service as an elected director.
B. My primary focus is to work with the HAA to help realign and evolve its methods to reach alumni more effectively. Technology, properly vetted and implemented, can address those needs to scale, but there is still the core, foundational work of devising and modeling best practices. One specific example where my professional background in technology was useful to the HAA was acting as a member of the HAA's executive task force to save alumni email forwarding. When Harvard's central IT department announced it was discontinuing email forwarding because of burgeoning difficulties in supporting it, concerned alumni worked cooperatively with Executive Director Sarah Karmon to transition to a third party vendor. I believe a similar experience may help the HAA adopt technology to communicate more strategically and quickly with alumni. Still, I reemphasize that my primary focus is on working collaboratively within the HAA on the core, foundational work that engages our alumni community.
Where do you believe alumni have the opportunity to make a greater impact on the Harvard community?
I ask and encourage Harvard alumni to act as ambassadors for the University, reflecting the best of our educational experience and traditions at Harvard. I believe the recent strains of isolationism and attacks on higher education within the U.S. mean that our support for Harvard and educational opportunity matter even more. Harvard continues to refine its core mission of exemplary education, scholarship, and research; in parallel, I believe we alumni can have a greater impact for Harvard and our community by demonstrating our support in the greater public sphere. This is a time to "lean in" and engage more with Harvard.
Victoria “Vicky” Wai Ka Leung AB ’91 cum laude
MBA ’98, New York University
Managing Director and Consultant, EC M&A
London, England
What does the Harvard alumni community mean to you and what makes you want to serve as an HAA Elected Director?
Harvard is a life-long relationship, not just a four-year experience. Someone once told me, “Harvard gets better after you leave.” This rings true for me. For many years, I have helped further the interests of Harvard in different ways, such as supporting fundraising for financial aid and helping current students find internships. More recently, I have taken on leadership roles at the Harvard Club of the United Kingdom, the largest club outside of the U.S. I enjoy interacting with different people with various connections to Harvard. I love interviewing applicants, representing Harvard at college fairs, coediting the Club’s monthly outreach newsletter, and curating events for our diverse membership base.
I have participated in HAA conferences in Europe, Asia, and on campus. Meeting alumni leaders from global Harvard Clubs and SIGs is a highlight of volunteering. The alumni community is Harvard’s single most valuable resource. I want to help Harvard harness and develop this resource. HCUK is comprised of over 9,000 alumni and associates from the College and all the graduate Schools. We have collaborated on events with most Schools and worked with Clubs from all over the world to deliver programming to global participants. Through such cooperation, I have developed strong connections across the alumni community.
The better I understand the demographics of the Harvard community, the more I appreciate their diversity and respect their differences. I am amazed by how international Harvard has become. Over 40 percent of total students are international, representing almost 150 countries. At the College, international students from over 100 countries now account for 14 percent of the population.
Recent events around the world have created difficulties for the University. A global perspective is important in an increasingly polarised world. Harvard is addressing recent challenges with new initiatives so it may continue to be a beacon for the best minds and talents and stay true to its mission of educating and bringing out the best in those lucky enough to study there. Harvard’s international alumni, faculty, and student communities can help the University stay relevant and remain a force for good for the world. I am excited to move on to the next level of involvement as an alumni volunteer and leader through good times and bad. With my multicultural background, I can galvanise global alumni to serve the best interests of the Harvard community.
How would your professional expertise and personal and volunteer experience serve you in this role?
INTERNATIONAL BACKGROUND
I grew up in Hong Kong and studied in the U.K. at one of the United World Colleges (a global movement that uses education to promote international understanding) before earning two degrees in the U.S. I have lived and worked on three continents, speak different languages, and have strong family ties to Asia, the U.S., and the Caribbean. I am a natural ambassador to represent Harvard’s increasingly global alumni community.
RESOURCEFULNESS AND INTERDISCIPLINARY EXPERTISE
Through my 30-year involvement with a startup venture turned global advisory organisation, I have demonstrated resilience through vicissitudes and cycles. I spearheaded the firm’s first project in the life sciences sector, paving the way for the company to become a global leader that maximises the growth potential of innovators in related sectors. My STEM focus in high school and concentration in the humanities in college created a strong foundation to navigate across disciplines. My years in strategic advisory work gave me transferable skills in management, negotiation, communication, and strategic vision.
LEADERSHIP
HCUK is the largest Harvard Club outside of the U.S. During my presidency, membership increased 25 percent to an all-time high. We launched a new website, our charity funds are invested and generate good returns, we introduced Club merchandise and offer popular new events. HCUK plays an important ambassadorial role among the local community. My track record shows that I can help people identify common ground rather than focus on differences.
COMMITMENT TO EXPANDING ACCESS TO EDUCATION
Talent is everywhere but opportunity is not. Making good education accessible is the key to improving lives and communities. I want to help Harvard and other Schools attract the best and the brightest while creating social mobility opportunities for those facing adversities. To this end, I am serving on the boards of educational charities that promote more equitable access to quality education and help parents and educators raise compassionate children.
ADVOCACY FOR THE ARTS
As a classically trained pianist and dancer, I believe that the arts give us meaning and teach us what to value in life. I support initiatives that enable young people to enjoy music and dance regardless of their socioeconomic background and cultural heritage. To foster broader enjoyment of the arts among our alumni, I have hosted visiting student a cappella groups and formed a music trio with fellow alumni.
Where do you believe alumni have the opportunity to make a greater impact on the Harvard community?
Harvard’s 425,000 living alumni are the University’s single most important resource. Twenty percent alumni live outside the U.S. Collectively, alumni can enhance Harvard’s global influence by supporting Harvard’s outreach and recruitment, sharing expertise, and being role models. Clubs and SIGs can provide connections and amplify an individual's ability to make a greater impact.
SUPPORT OUTREACH AND RECRUITMENT
Alumni can help Harvard attract the best talents by encouraging exceptional young people worldwide to consider Harvard regardless of their ability to pay. Particularly outside of the U.S., access to information on the application process and financial aid system is not broadly available. At HCUK, outreach volunteers visit state schools to present on opportunities at U.S. universities. Our alumni interviewers help bring candidates to life to admissions officers and encourage applicants to think favourably about Harvard whether they get in or not. As affordability is a big issue for many applicants, alumni fundraising efforts can move the needle in making Harvard more affordable. In short, there is Harvard alumni involvement at every stage of one’s journey to Harvard. Even if most young people we mentor would not end up at Harvard, we can still guide young people to transformational opportunities that would otherwise not be apparent to them.
INSPIRE LIFELONG LEARNING
Many Harvard alumni hold positions of leadership and influence. Be they teachers, policymakers, parents, business leaders, authors, or social workers, their expertise and experience can inspire and expand the perspectives of fellow alumni. For HCUK, I have curated several speaking events featuring high-profile Harvard alumni. As can be seen from HCUK’s website, these include highly respected leaders in their respective fields who come from a spectrum of backgrounds and represent diverse viewpoints. Among those invited were David Lammy (U.K. Foreign Secretary, first Black Briton to attend Harvard Law School); Dr. Fiona Hill (Harvard Overseer); Sir Niall Ferguson (historian); Dame Kate Bingham (Chair of the U.K. Vaccine Taskforce during the pandemic); Professor Michael Mainelli (Lord Mayor of the City of London, advocate for social mobility), educationalists, politicians, entrepreneurs and journalists. Our members found these events educational and thought-provoking. I hope that more alumni would share their expertise and perspectives and inspire a new generation of leaders and change-makers.
Pavlos P. Photiades AB ’88 magna cum laude
Chief Executive Officer, Photos Photiades Group
Nicosia, Cyprus
What does the Harvard alumni community mean to you and what makes you want to serve as an HAA Elected Director?
I feel grateful for our alumni community and the international structure established by the HAA. Living so far from campus and the U.S., it is only through this network that I got back to connecting or reconnecting with the School, fellow alumni, and former classmates. The opportunity arose when I got the chance to set up the Harvard Club of Cyprus 13 years ago, thereby creating a small local alumni community, a process I enjoyed tremendously. This gave me extra motivation to offer my time and service to my alma mater. Subsequently, my involvement in the broader HAA affairs through the Board and the deeper understanding of the six Harvard Clubs under my supervision gave me an insight that helped me understand the scope and magnitude of possibilities of our global community. Harvard is facing unprecedented challenges. I believe that I can utilize my learnings and years of engagement with Harvard’s international community as well as my professional experience in putting together the system to reach and establish communication with that part of our alumni base that is not informed and involved. By fostering openness and engaging with the often-silent majority of our alumni, we can build a stronger, more unified voice that reflects the best of Harvard.
How would your professional expertise and personal and volunteer experience serve you in this role?
Throughout my career, I’ve honed a deep ability to connect with people—whether it’s understanding the needs and concerns of our consumers and customers, identifying the motivations of our team, or building profound relationships with stakeholders. I’m excited to bring the same approach, expertise, and instinct to the HAA Board in our liaison with our global alumni network.
Where do you believe alumni have the opportunity to make a greater impact on the Harvard community?
I believe that now, more than ever, the HAA must listen to and engage with our global alumni community in an effort to strengthen our voice and use it to uphold the values, heritage, and traditions that Harvard represents. This requires us to create space for meaningful dialogue, including on important and potentially challenging topics that have recently placed our institution under scrutiny.