• Biographies
• Biographies (Cont.)

Biographies

Rudy Brioché MPP 2000, Chair

Rudy Brioché is Legal Advisor for Media Issues for the Federal Communications Commission. He most recently served as legislative counsel to Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ). In the Senate, his portfolio included business, communications, judiciary and labor. His prior experience includes serving as counsel to the NAACP Washington Bureau, law clerk to U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis and to Chief Judge Robert M. Bell of the Court of Appeals of Maryland, and practicing commercial litigation in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and New York. Rudy has served as an international monitor of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Rudy received his Master in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School, where he worked for the late Judge A. Leon Higginbotham and served as editor-in-chief of the Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy. Rudy also earned his J.D. from the University of Maryland Law School, where he was student body president and editor of the ABA's business law journal, The Business Lawyer. Rudy, a native of Brooklyn, received his B.A. from Rutgers College.

Committees: Executive Committee, Chair; Fundraising, Chair.

Rosario “Chato” Calderon MPA 1988, Vice-Chair

Rosario Calderon is a principal of Lawin Energy LLC in San Francisco that addresses the global energy and climate change crises with clean and sustainable energy development. Chato forms strategic alliances for the development of power projects in solar, wind, small hydro and biomass; and for promoting energy efficient and alternative vehicle fuels projects in the United States and emerging economies of Asia. She pursues research, development and commercialization of cutting edge technologies that will revolutionize and make competitive renewable energy and energy efficiency. She provides consulting services on business, project and policy development on clean energy and carbon trading.

Passion drives Chato. Having spent her professional life in both the private and public sectors, Chato is passionate in dealing with the challenges of reform and governance in corporations and in government, with the benefits of public-private partnerships in leveraging resources, and with the goals of corporate social responsibility in putting a human face in technology and reducing poverty. Her faith in God has influenced her lifestyle in the market place and public square. As Vice-President of Business Development and Government Relations for CalEnergy International, she was involved in the power production from $1.4 billion geothermal and hydro electric plants in the Philippines. Chato managed multi-million dollar grant programs to the Philippine Department of Energy on energy independence, climate change and rural electrification as the Senior Technical Advisor of the United Agency for International Development (USAID) in Manila. At USAID, Chato emphasized the critical collaboration with US Departments of State, Energy, Commerce, and Environment; with Federal and State Regulatory Commissions; and multilateral donor agencies like World Bank, Asian Development Bank and United Nations Development Program in achieving sustainable economic development. In the US East and Gulf Coasts, Chato worked on natural gas production, transmission and cogeneration; clean coal technology for power generation; and alternative vehicle fuels.

Chato’s professional career in energy has opened opportunities to travel in Asia and the United States where she had the chance to have a proactive outreach to the HKS Alumni. While in the Philippines, she was President of the HKS Alumni Foundation (www.ksgphil.org). She is a founding and a current Board Director of the Association of Harvard University Alumni Clubs of Asia (AHUACA). As Board Director of HKSAA, Chato takes seriously the role of Ambassador to bring mutually beneficial relationships among the Dean, the school and students with over 20,000 degree and 15,000 non-degree alumni.

Chato has a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of the Philippines, a Masters in Business Administration from Syracuse University in New York and a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.

Committees: Executive Committee, Vice-Chair; Alumni Awards, Chair.

Gerd “Gary” Schwarz* MPA 2007, Secretary

Gerd “Gary” Schwarz, MPA 2007, is a Visiting Fellow at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. He is the recipient of a Dean’s Award for Excellence for his work as a Teaching Fellow for the HKS course “Strategic Management for Public Purposes”. He also facilitated sessions at HKS Executive Education programs and was a panelist at Harvard conferences, such as in the Harvard China Review Conference. During his studies at HKS, he represented his classmates in the KSSG and served on the Academic Advisory Committee.

Before coming to Harvard, he worked in the consulting department of Deloitte, holding various positions, ultimately as the Serviceline Leader Performance Management. In this capacity he advised numerous public and private sector companies on strategy and organizational issues. Previously, he was as a Financial Controller for Bertelsmann, one of the largest European media companies, and for an affiliate of Wienerberger, one of the leading Austrian manufacturing corporations, where he worked as an expatriate in Central Europe.

He co-edited and co-authored “Outsourcing”, a book that reached the top-5 of the Financial Times list for German business books and published numerous articles in journals and business magazines. He has traveled to more than fifty countries and lived at least half a year in eight countries in various parts of the world.

He holds graduate degrees from Harvard University, Northwestern University, the University of St. Gallen, and the University of Graz. He was named a 21st Century Fellow, a leader below the age of 40 who will shape this century, by the 21st Century Trust.

Committees: Executive Committee, Secretary; Branding and Marketing, Co-Chair; Virtual Connections.

Jackie Weatherspoon MPP 1991, Treasurer

The Honorable Jackie K. Weatherspoon served six years in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. She served as a Minority House Whip and served on the Election Law Committee, holding the position as 3rd from the Chair of the opposition party. Jackie was the chief sponsor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday, the last state in the United States to adopt the holiday. She co-sponsored Banning the Death Penalty Bill. She served a total (2 ½) seconded to the State Department to OSCE, Organizational for Security and Cooperation in Europe to Implement the Dayton Agreement. UN Secretariat, since 2004, EAD, Electoral Assistance Division, United Nations, New York. Jackie also worked on the Presidential Election Team, Vice President Al Gore for President, Senator John Kerry for President, and was a member of the Women for Hillary Clinton Team for President.

Jackie has supervised elections, in Bosnia I Hercegovina, Malawi and Nigeria, working for OSCE and UN/UNDP respectively. She most recently served at the Technical Advisor of the 2007 Presidential elections in Nigeria for the UN/UNDP. She has been on a number of US Delegations, the Northern Initiative preparing the Baltic Countries of Estonia and Lithuania for their entry into the EU. And, she accompanied First Lady Hillary Clinton to Iceland for "Vital Voices."

The Honorable Jackie Weatherspoon has her Masters degree in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. She is presently serving on the Harvard Kennedy School Alumni Association Board of Directors and has served as a Development Officer at the Harvard School of Public Health and as the Associate Director of the Reebok Foundation, and as their representative at the signing of the trade agreement between the US and South Africa. She has served on the Advisory Council at the Harvard School of Public Health, the Endowment for Health of New Hampshire. She is presently serving on the Board of Trustees at New Hampshire Public Radio. She started her own NGO, "Decisions In Democracy International," training programs for those seeking to run for public office. She is married to Russell D. Weatherspoon, Class of '81 Harvard Ed. School, who is presently serving as Dean of Residential Life at Phillips Exeter Academy. They have 4 adult children and 6 grandchildren.

Committees: Executive Committee, Treasurer; Fundraising.

Farah Karim MPA2 2001, At-Large Member

Farahnaz Karim is currently involved in founding and presiding over an emerging philanthropic venture focusing on Afghanistan and India, the Insaan Group (www.insaangroup.org). She has over 10 years of development experience in management, humanitarian program design and implementation, fund raising and strategy. This experience includes practical field and policy exposure in several development contexts including Tajikistan, Palestine, Bosnia- Herzegovina, and five years on the ground experience in Taliban and post-Taliban Afghanistan. Her last assignments included a management position within the Afghan governmental structure and a Country Director assignment for one of the largest non-profits in Afghanistan. During this period, she focused on rural development, support to education, water and sanitation, and cultural revitalization. Prior to returning to Afghanistan, following her enriching time at Harvard, Farahnaz played a co-founding role in a private management consulting startup in Italy. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Modern Languages at McGill University; a Master’s Degree in International Relations from Hautes Etudes Internationales; and her MPA from HKS. A French, Malagasy and Canadian national, she is fluent in French, English, Spanish, Italian and has knowledge of Gujarati and Persian.

Committees: Executive Committee, At-Large; Fundraising; Marketing and Branding, Chair.

Gayanne Afrikian MPA 2005

Ms. Gayane Afrikian has served as CEO of the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia and as Senior Advisor to the CEO of “Kazyna” Sustainable Development Fund of the Government of Kazakhstan. Prior to this, Gayane was an Associate of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University pursuing her research on Armenia’s national competitiveness and regional cooperation. A native of Armenia, born during the communist regime of the Soviet Union, from a young age Gayane has thrown herself into the front lines of activism, be it her crusading journalism behind the Iron Curtain, or her humanitarian work in a variety of still-hot conflict regions around the world. Before coming to Harvard, she most recently served as Political Affairs Officer with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. During this assignment, she worked directly with the local government, opposition and tribal leaders, warlords, civil society organizations, and others on issues related to good governance, disarmament and peace building.

Gayane also served with the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, as Regional Labor and Social Welfare officer, and with the European Commission Delegation for Armenia, as Head of the Information and Public Relations office. She has been a working journalist, with stints at Agence France Presse, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Economist Intelligence Unit, and London’s daily newspaper, The Independent. As the only non-Soviet Union sanctioned journalist reporting from Estonia in 1989-1991 for the Armenian media, her reporting shone a spotlight on the fledging democratic movement in that country. Her articles were published in the London’s Financial Times, and her reports from the conflict zone in the 90’s from the Southern Caucasus were covered on the front pages of the most prestigious international media.

Ms. Afrikian was a Mason Fellow and received her Master in Public Administration degree from Harvard Kennedy School in 2005. She was also educated at The London School of Economics (Masters in Russian and Post Soviet Studies, 1996) and the Yerevan (Armenia) State University (Masters in Journalism, 1991). As a result of her work, Ms. Gayane Afrikian has been awarded with the “Exceptional Woman” title by Boston’s Magic 106.7 radio. The interview with her on her remarkable life journey aired on June 11, 2006.

Committees: Career Advancement, Co-Chair.

Jeff Amestoy* MPA 1982

Jeff Amestoy is a 1982 mid-career MPA graduate and Fellow at the Center for Public Leadership, Harvard Kennedy School. He served as Chief Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court (1997-2004) and Attorney General of Vermont (1985-1997). Chief Justice Amestoy was the author of Baker v. State, the decision of the Vermont Supreme Court which held that same-sex couples were constitutionally entitled to the rights and benefits of marriage and led to the nation's first civil union law. He was first elected Attorney General in 1984 and was re-elected six times. In five elections Attorney General Amestoy was the nominee of both the Republican and Democratic parties. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the Conference of Chief Justices, served as President of the National Association of Attorneys General, and was a 1994 Fellow with the Institute of Politics at HKS.

Committees: Career Advancement; Virtual Connections.

Marilyn Averill* MPA 2000

Before coming to the Kennedy School I served as an attorney with the U.S. Department of the Interior. Prior to law school I worked as a program evaluation specialist in public school districts. At HKS my interests expanded to more global environmental issues. I currently am pursuing a doctorate in Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder. My research interests focus on international environmental governance, the politics of science, and the ethical implications of environmental issues, particularly in the context of global climate change. I currently am studying the use of science and the treatment of uncertainty in litigation relating to climate change and the effects these cases may have on law, science, and policy. I am particularly interested in the role the courts and climate litigation play in a democracy by educating the public about climate science and ethical disputes, by stimulating public debate, and by shaping public policy on controversial issues.

Committees: Career Advancement; Marketing and Branding.

Michael “Yemi” Cardoso* MPA 2005

Mr. Yemi Cardoso holds a Bachelors degree in finance and accounting from Aston University UK and a Masters degree in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, USA. He was a Mason Fellow at the Kennedy School at Harvard University. He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers.

He has several years of banking experience with Chase, Citibank and Citizens International Bank. He attained the position of Vice President at Citibank and Executive Director at Citizens. In 1999 he was approached by the Government and appointed to the cabinet as the first Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget in Lagos state, a state with dominant strategic and economic importance on the African continent. In this capacity he championed the reform process creating awareness of the challenges of managing the world’s 6th largest mega city. He held the cabinet portfolio until 2005 when he voluntarily relinquished his position and returned to private life. Since returning to private life he runs his investment banking business, FBC Associates, consulting on capital market and developmental activities. He has forged working alliances with several donor agencies such as World Bank, Ford Foundation, UN Habitat, Clinton Foundation, DFID and Swedish International Development Agency. FBC Associates is rating advisor to the Lagos State Government and serves as interlocutor with international rating agencies such as Standard and Poor’s.

His non-profit activities include being Co-Founder (along with two other HKS Alumni) and board member of the Africa Policy Institute; and the Afro-Brazilian Heritage Foundation. His efforts with the Afro-Brazilian Heritage Foundation are bringing about a twin city relationship between Lagos and Salvador.

Mr. Cardoso sits on the board of directors of several companies including Chevron Oil Plc. He is Chairman of Citibank’s Board Audit Committee and was appointed Chairman of the Project Steering Committee of the World Bank’s Lagos Metropolitan Development and Governance Project (LMDGP). LMDGP is the largest World Bank project ever granted a sub national government. The project will positively impact the lives of over one million slum dwellers through sustainable access to roads, drains, water, schools and clinics.

Committees: Alumni Awards; Marketing and Branding.

Roland Castãneda* MPA/JD 1974

I am currently Senior Operating Partner at Pacesetter Capital Group (PCG), an investment banking firm that specializes in investing in mostly minority/women-owned businesses. To date, PCG has raised over $300 million in capital. My main responsibility is to replenish this capital base continuously.

In 1974, I became the first Hispanic graduate of the MPP/JD Joint Degree Program. I specialized in Real Estate Development Law in San Antonio. A highpoint was securing a $24.5 MM UDAG Grant that revitalized 25 city blocks in downtown San Antonio. Upon graduation, I served on the HKS Alumni Board of Directors where I focused on the preparation of our foundational documents.

In 1985, I took a one-year sabbatical to study theology/Greek exegesis at Princeton and concentrated my studies on Applied Ethics. Thereafter, I settled in Austin and developed a public finance practice. I co-founded Manos De Cristo, a non-profit corporation comprised of over 25 metro area churches that provided, at no cost, medical/dental services, a clothes closet, food pantry and after school tutoring classes for low income residents, most of whom were undocumented aliens.

In 1989, I moved to Dallas to expand my law practice and in 1994, I was selected General Counsel to the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Agency (“DART”) and joined the executive team that designed, constructed and operated DFW’s Light Rail System as well as the Commuter Rail System linking Dallas/Ft. Worth. I founded a non-profit organization known as the Texas General Counsel Forum (TGCF) which provides networking and management training, exclusively, to all corporate general counsel. Today, TGCF has over 400 general counsel members and is poised to become the country’s first professional trade organization for corporate general counsel.

In 2004, I retired from the legal profession and am now focused on two primary activities: Pacesetter Capital Group (PCG), and the United States Community Development Corporation (USCDC) whose goal is to increase the number of very low cost housing units throughout the USA. As the organization’s Director of Development, I will focus on fundraising and deal origination and growing the organization nationwide.

Committees: Alumni Awards; Fundraising.

Kriengsak Chareonwongsak* MPA 2007

Professor Dr. Kriengsak Chareonwongsak gained first class honours and a PhD in Economics, 1981, from Monash University, Australia. He obtained a Master’s degree in Public Administration (MPA) from Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University. He is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Business and Government and an Associate of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University. He is a Fellow at the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Saïd Business School and a Visiting Fellow at Oxford Internet Institute (OII), Oxford University, UK. He is a Research Professor at Regent University, USA and an Adjunct Professor at universities in Thailand and overseas.

Professor Chareonwongsak is presently a candidate for Governor of Bangkok election. He is President of the Institute of Future Studies for Development (IFD) and Honorary President of the Social Science Association of Thailand. He is Chairman and President of Political Leaders for Social Enterprise (PLSE), a non-profit organization registered in Massachusetts, USA and President of the Social Entrepreneurship Institute, a Thai-registered foundation. Besides being Chairman of the Masters of Business Administration (MBA) Program of Far Eastern University, he is chairman of a number of foundations and holds positions on the governing/advisory boards of various Asian and international organizations and educational institutions. As an academic, he lectures to graduate students at several universities.

He was elected to the National Economic and Social Advisory Council (NESAC), advising Thailand’s cabinet and held fifty national level positions in organizations and committees in Thailand. He was Advisor to the Commission on Justice and Human Rights, Honorary Advisor to the Commission on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, and a Prime Ministerial advisor. He was Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee on Economic Development in the House of Representatives, an Executive Board member for the Democrat Party in Thailand, and an elected Member of Parliament.

In business, he is Chairman of the Success Group of Companies, spanning diverse media technology fields, biotechnology, investment, travel, and management consultancy. He is a newspaper and magazine columnist, authoring 170 books and 4,000 articles of academic analysis and proposals, especially on public policy and development issues. He has presented his viewpoints to government and non-government organizations, academic institutions and community groups in over 2,200 lectures in fifty countries, with his perspectives often highlighted in Thai and overseas media interviews.

Committees: Career Advancement; Virtual Connections.

Shannon Christian* MPP 1987

Shannon Christian is a consultant on children’s issues in the broader context of human capital development, social policy and work-family balance with a practice that builds on earlier work both in and out of government on a wide range of social service and workforce development issues. Most recently, she served as Associate Commissioner for the Child Care Bureau in the Administration for Children and Families at the US Dept. of Health and Human Services (2002-06), managing the $5 billion federal child care subsidy program and spearheading major pieces of the Administration’s early learning initiative. Previously, Shannon was part of former Governor Tommy Thompson’s nationally renowned welfare reform team in Wisconsin, serving first as Director of Planning for the Department of Health and Social Services, and then as Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of Workforce Development. Earlier in her career, she held several staff positions at the US Dept. of Labor serving under Secretaries Ann McLaughlin, Elizabeth Dole and Lynn Martin. Prior to her post at HHS, she was a consultant to the Hudson Institute and others in the non-profit and communications fields, working on a variety of child care, welfare reform, responsible fatherhood, distance learning and multimedia projects. Shannon participates in volunteer activities related to children’s healthy development, and last year, presented at a 2-day Action Tank exploring strategies to better help the orphans of AIDS victims in Sub-Saharan Africa and other countries at the World Child Care Forum in Malaysia.

Committees: Marketing and Branding; Virtual Connections, Co-Chair.

Paul Hodge MPA 2000

In addition to being awarded two HKS Service Awards for his “exceptional commitment to community and public service,” Paul Hodge has been committed to volunteering his support to the Kennedy School and Harvard as an HKS Alumni Board member, KSG New England Alumni Board member, HKS Dean’s Alumni Leadership Council Founding Chair, HKS Dean’s Council Executive Committee member and Harvard University Board of Overseers, Committee on University Resources member. Paul recently published a book “Baby Boomer Women: Secure Futures or Not?” He is Founding Chair of the Global Generations Policy Institute, Board member of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, Director of the Harvard Generations Policy Project, Research Fellow at HKS’s Hauser Center, Founding Editor of the Harvard Generations Policy Journal and a recent Distinguished Visiting Fellow, University of Oxford. Paul is a recognized authority on policy issues dealing with the country’s elder citizens and baby boomers. He has led ground breaking public service initiatives to improve the quality of life and care of women, minorities, baby boomers, youth, the elderly, and other vulnerable citizens. As a public advocate, Paul has led ventures to protect our environment, advised the White House and the U.S. Congress, appeared on or been quoted/published in various national news media and received national awards, commendations and recognition for his work. Paul holds a JD from Boston University’s School of Law, an MBA from Columbia University Business School, and a bachelor’s degree from Brown University. In 2000, as a John B. Pickett Fellow in Criminal Justice Management, Paul earned an MPA from HKS, graduating in the top of his class and being awarded Harvard’s prestigious Lucius N. Littauer Fellowship for academic excellence and public service achievement.

Committees: Executive Committee, Ex-Officio; Fundraising.

Andrea Marmolejo* MPA 1988

Andrea is involved in investments in the power, water and clean technology sectors. She is a former portfolio manager at Regency Capital and Caxton Europe with 15 years experience in the utility sector and 4 years experience in the renewable energy space. Andrea started her career in McKinsey & Co. in Madrid, and then moved to London to join the financial sector where she continues today. Her experience in the utility sector is both is the sell side as research analyst at Kleinwort Benson and Goldman Sachs and in the buy side, as portfolio manager at Caxton Europe and Regency Capital. Andrea also worked in private equity projects on renewable energy and clean technology for The Carbon Trust and helped set up a hedge fund focusing on power, water and environmental services at Impax Asset Management.

Throughout her career, Andrea has been able to work on a number of critical policy issues, from within the private sector. She has worked on the restructuring and subsequent privatization of electricity, water and gas monopolies in Latin America and has advised governments in the deregulation of their electricity markets in Europe and USA. In the last four years, Andrea has worked on projects aimed at reducing carbon emissions and fostering carbon trading and has become actively involved in global climate change issues involving sustainable development. Overtime, Andrea has also become an active member of non-profit organizations such as microfinance operations in Latin America and other venture philanthropy groups that focus on education and on women’s development and standing in society. Andrea holds and MPA2 degree from Harvard University (Fulbright Scholar) and an Economics degree from University of Buenos Aires.

Committees: Career Advancement; Fundraising, Virtual Connections.

*New Member