Dartmouth College Fund Committee

After Dartmouth, Beth earned masters and doctoral degrees in Public Health from the University of Massachusetts, where she is now on the faculty. In addition to teaching graduate and undergraduate courses, she chairs the admissions committee for the Biostatistics and Epidemiology graduate program. While at Dartmouth, Beth was a drill instructor, a UGA and co-founded SAFE, a peer education group about eating disorders. Beth’s passion for Dartmouth has led to a variety of volunteer roles. She is co-Head Agent for the Class of 1994. She represented head agents and gift planning chairs on Alumni Council from 2016-2019 and she recently wrapped up a term on the Council’s Nominating and Alumni Trustee Search Committee, which she chaired. She is a former co-chair of the Women of Dartmouth Boston group and has been an alumni interviewer for more than 20 years. She was inducted into the Stephen F. Mandel ’52 Society in 2020. When not working or volunteering for Dartmouth, Beth leads a Girl Scout troop and serves on the board of the Wellesley Scholarship Foundation. She is an active volunteer for a number of local organizations. She enjoys reading, running, and spending time outdoors. She and her husband Todd ‘93 have two fantastic daughters, Alice and Louisa.

Merle Adelman is a marketing consultant providing marketing services to medical and high technology companies, marketing agencies and non-profit institutions. Prior to starting her practice, Merle was Vice President, Marketing for the Heart Rhythm Society, a professional medical association, and held a variety of management positions in the medical technology industry. An economics major at Dartmouth, Merle has been an active volunteer for both her class and the college, serving as Class President, Head Agent, Interim President of the Alumni Association, and Alumni Interviewer. She received the Alumni Award in 2010. Merle lives with her husband, Ron Menner in Ayer, Massachusetts.

John Apostolides is a Managing Director on Rothschild & Co’s Global Advisory team. Prior to joining Rothschild & Co, he held various senior positions at Palistar Capital, Macquarie and Evercore. Mr. Apostolides started his career at Citigroup. While at Dartmouth, John was an economics major and music minor, participated in the Language Study Abroad program in Siena, Italy and was Musical Director of the a cappella group, Final Cut (now The Brovertones), head of the Student Services committee for the Student Assembly, a member of the Dartmouth Wind Symphony and an active 2003 Class Council and Student Activities Board participant. John has remained active with the College since graduation: He has served as an alumni interviewer, reunion donations co-chair, and class agent for the Class of 2003. John lives on Long Island, NY with his wife, Kim ’06, and their two daughters.

Zainab Bakrin is an Investment Associate on the Biotech Accelerator team at the Gates Foundation. Prior to her current role, she was the Head of Finance and Strategy at an early-stage genomics company. Previously, Zainab served as a Senior Associate at Casdin Capital, where she invested in life science tools, diagnostics, healthcare IT, and industrial applications of biotechnology. She started her career in investment banking at Goldman Sachs, working on the investment grade capital markets and acquisition finance teams.

At Dartmouth, Zainab majored in neuroscience, was a member of the varsity women's soccer team, chaired the Hill Winds Society, and worked as a research assistant in the Mood Disorders Clinic at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. Since graduating, she has served as an alumni interviewer, volunteer, and head agent for the Class of 2018.

Zainab currently resides in Seattle, where she continues to be an avid soccer player and aspiring triathlete.

After graduating from Dartmouth in 2009, I joined Artisan Healthcare Consulting.  I met a Dartmouth alum, while working reunions the summer before my senior year, who was starting his own firm and he asked if I needed a job.  I was at Artisan for 3 years until going back to Hanover to Tuck for my MBA (T'15).  While at Tuck, I got to know one of my professors well (who received his PhD at Dartmouth and was/is a VC Partner in Seattle), and he introduced me to a few Biotech CEOs.  I ended up working at a public biotech company, VBI Vaccines, until this last January (~9.5 years).  During that time I was the Chief Business Officer and ultimately the CFO, with responsibility for corporate strategy and development, finance, investor relations, public relations/communications, HR, legal, and at one point sales and marketing of our approved hepatitis B vaccine.  In March 2025, I started as CEO of a new biotech company with technology coming out of Stanford (hence the move to SF).  That same Tuck professor/Seattle VC Partner is the chair of this new company as well, so I owe much of my career to the incredible network of Dartmouth and Tuck.  In my spare time, I love to hike (working on the NH 4,000ers), bike (4x Pan-Mass Challenge participant), and ski (my parents first put me on skis at 2 years old).  I also love planning adventures for my friends and family, and have more than once been called my family's camp activities director.

Gino Beniamino is the founder of 5 to 9 Media, a small video production company focusing on non-profit, philanthropic and higher education clients in the greater Boston area. Prior to starting the company, he worked for ten years as a senior academic technologist at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. While at Dartmouth, Gino majored in engineering modified with economics, but really credits his jobs at both the Jones Media Center and Dartmouth Broadcasting with providing the skills that ultimately led to starting a media production company. Additional activities at Dartmouth included being house manager at SAE, studying abroad as part of the Rome LSA Plus program, serving as a freshman trip leader, and playing almost every intramural sport available! Gino currently serves as the DCF co-head agent for the class of 2004, focusing on participation and 1769 level giving. He and his wife, Jennifer Beniamino '03, live in Quincy, MA (just south of Boston) with their two children.

After graduating Dartmouth in 1987, Karyn worked in Marketing Consulting before returning to Tuck. After Tuck she lived in NYC and worked at Bankers Trust Company in an internal management consulting group and then Private Banking for several years. Since that time, professionally she has focused her efforts in the not-for-profit sector with many organizations with a concentration on fundraising efforts. Karyn graduated from Dartmouth with an A.B. in Psychology and received an M.B.A from Tuck in 1991. At Dartmouth, she was a member of the Women’s Tennis team, a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority and a UGA. She met her husband Lawrence Calcano T’90 at Tuck and they have three grown children. Their oldest graduated from Dartmouth in 2018 and their youngest is a Dartmouth ’24. Karyn’s passion for Dartmouth is evidenced by her many volunteer roles. She has been a Head Agent for her class since 2012, is currently Co-District Enrollment Director for the Admissions Ambassador program for Fairfield County, CT, and has recently completed a five year term on the Dartmouth Alumni Council, including Chairing the Alumni Nominating and Trustee Search Committee. During her time on the NomCom, four trustees were seated. Karyn is an avid golfer and plays amateur competition locally and is currently Chair of her Club’s women’s golf program. She is also an avid skier with a second home on Okemo Mountain in VT, about 45 minutes from Hanover. She hails from Stamford, CT and now lives in Greenwich, CT with her husband, one of her daughters and her Labrador Retriever Molly and Bengal cat Emmy.

Dave is a retired IT professional who built technology consulting practices both organically and thru acquisition. Dave graduated Dartmouth with a degree in computer science and embarked on a 30-year IT consulting career working with commercial, energy, and government clients. He served as CTO of BHS, president of DRT Strategies, senior vice president at ICF, and director at CGI-AMS. He is now a part-time technology advisor to companies focusing on digital strategy, IT operations and partnerships. In his free time, Dave is a high school lacrosse official, youth league leader, aging lacrosse player, high handicap golfer, sailor, and fisherman.  For the DCF, Dave is a long-time class agent, serving as co-head agent for the 20th and 25th (record breaking) reunions for the 1991’s. He has two children and splits time living in Arlington, VA and Dewey Beach, DE with his wife.

Samir Desai joined Needham & Company in 2002 and is the Head of New York Investment Banking as well as the Head of the Software and Services Corporate Finance team. Samir’s experience includes a wide variety of equity, debt and private placement financings and advisory assignments for a large number of technology clients over the last 25 years. At Needham & Company, he has been the lead advisor on a number of IPOs, Follow-on and Private Placement offerings, as well as buy-side and sell-side M&A transactions related to a large number of enterprise, application, network and infrastructure software as well as tech-enabled and IT Services companies. Prior to joining Needham, Samir was a Vice President in the Technology Investment Banking Group at Credit Suisse First Boston/Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, where he focused on clients in the Enterprise Computing, Software and Internet Consulting Services sectors. Prior to CSFB/DLJ, he worked at Cowen & Company, where he was an Associate in Cowen’s Technology Investment Banking Group. He also worked at Salomon Brothers Inc, where he was a Financial Analyst in Salomon’s Mergers and Acquisitions Group. Samir earned an M.B.A. with Honors from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business and a B.A. in Government and Economics cum laude from Dartmouth College.

David “Jody” Dietze ’78 studied economics and classics at Dartmouth. He played freshman football, was a Rufus Choate Scholar, and studied Spanish in Granada. David graduated Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, with honors in economics, in 1978. After working for ten years as an attorney at Wall Street law firms, he returned to New Jersey and founded an investment advisory firm. David is the managing principal and senior portfolio strategist at Peapack Private Wealth Management and resides in New Jersey with his wife. They have one son and one daughter. He has served as President of the Dartmouth Club of Suburban NJ for 20 years, has recently completed a six-year term on the Dartmouth Alumni Council, including Chairing the Service and Enrollment and Admissions Committees, is Co-President of the Class of 1978 as well as serving as its Head Agent, currently serves as a District Enrollment Director for the Admissions Ambassador program in NJ, and is a Co-Chair of the 1769 Society. David has also served as a member of the Tri-State Area 250th Celebration Planning Committee, the Advisory Board for Friends of Dartmouth Football and on the executive committee of the Dartmouth Lawyers Association.  David is an avid golfer, skier and cyclist.  “If we can give back some of what we’ve benefited from to allow the next generation to take advantage of those same opportunities, you’ve got to feel good about that. And by reaching down a little bit deeper for students, we can help even more.”

Douglas Drachman is an interventional cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital. He serves as the Heart Center Director of Education and as the Director of the Interventional Cardiology Fellowship Program, as well as an Assistant Professor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Erica Mayer is a breast cancer medical oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. She serves as the Director of Clinical Research and an Institute Physician in the Breast Oncology Center at DFCI, as well as an Associate Professor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Doug and Erica live in Newton, Massachusetts with their dog Lucy.  They have two children, Jamie (Dartmouth ’27) and Kate (Dartmouth ’29).

Steve serves as Global Co-Chair of the White Collar Defense and Investigations Practice Group at Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, D.C.  Earlier in his legal career, he was Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor in the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice and a law clerk to the Honorable Peter J. Messitte of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.  At Dartmouth, Steve held various leadership positions on the Student Assembly, wrote columns for The Dartmouth, gave tours for the Admissions Office, served on several other campus committees, studied abroad on a Budapest FSP, and was a member of Zeta Psi.  After graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with an A.B. in Government, Steve worked in strategy consulting for the Monitor Group, before receiving his J.D. magna cum laude from Harvard Law School.  Steve met his wife, Phyllis (Steinberg) Fagell ’95, at Dartmouth on their First-Year Trip.  Together, they have been Alumni Interviewers in the D.C. area, and Steve currently serves as Co-Head Agent for the Class of 1995.  Phyllis and Steve live in Bethesda, Maryland, and they have a recent Dartmouth graduate (Ben ’24), a current Dartmouth student (Emily ’25), a high school junior (Alex), and a Cavapoo (Moose), who runs the house.

Pam is an experienced brand strategist and social entrepreneur who is passionate about education equity. Pam’s 30 years of non-profit board work and consulting have been focused on creating educational access for students worldwide and improving youth mental health outcomes. 

Before working in the non-profit space, Pam was building brands as a VP, Account Supervisor at J. Walter Thompson and BBDO advertising, the Vice President of International Ad Sales Marketing at Time Warner Turner, and a division creator and Senior Vice President at Viacom. She is currently the founding Executive Director of the EdAccess Lab, a capacity-building nonprofit that works with organizations supporting first-generation, low-income students on their pathway to post-secondary education. 

Pam earned her BA from Dartmouth College and a master’s degree in Education Leadership and Entrepreneurship from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She participated in the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI) and served as a Fellow at Harvard’s EdRedesign Lab.

Pam loves skiing, hiking, biking, golfing, and spending time with her adult twin daughters. She lives with her husband, Randy Freer, and their dog, Chance, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Park City, Utah.

Colin S. Harris is a litigator in the Washington, D.C. office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, representing clients in the aviation, energy, manufacturing, technology, food, and retail industries. At Dartmouth, Colin majored in Government and minored in Arabic. He served as Political Director of College Democrats, Social Chairman of Sigma Nu Fraternity, Advocacy Director of Habitat for Humanity, and President of the Dartmouth Chamber Orchestra. He also served as a Politics & Law Fellow and James O. Freedman Presidential Research Assistant in the Department of Government and was awarded the Fowler Family Prize for Democratic Politics. After Dartmouth, Colin was the Democratic nominee for the 18th district of the Virginia House of Delegates in the 2013 general election. He then attended Vanderbilt Law School, serving as a summer law clerk to Chief Judge Kevin H. Sharp of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. Colin serves as an alumni interviewer and as a Head Agent for the Class of 2013. He lives in Alexandria, VA with his wife, Calynn, and daughter, Audrey.

Rachel Kort is a Managing Director and leads Client Advisory for New York. Additionally, she serves as a strategic investment advisor to multi-generational families, charitable foundations and endowments. Prior to joining Pathstone, Rachel served as Managing Director & Co-Head of Portfolio Management at Hall Capital Partners LLC, an Outsourced Chief Investment Office (OCIO) which advised on $45 billion of client assets. She also served on the firm’s Executive Committee, Management Committee, and Investment Review Committee. Before joining Hall Capital Partners in 2008, Rachel was at Goldman Sachs in Investment Banking in the Consumer and Retail group, in both London and New York. Rachel began her career as an Investment Banking Analyst with Salomon Smith Barney in New York as part of the Global Financial Institutions group.

Rachel graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and earned an MBA from Columbia Business School. Rachel serves on the Board of Trustees (Vice Chair) and is the Chair of the Investment Committee at the Loomis Chaffee School.  Rachel is also on the Investment Committee for the Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Erin R. Lansky is a Principal at Blue Sea Capital, a growth-oriented private equity firm based in West Palm Beach, Florida. A member of Blue Sea’s healthcare team, Erin leads the firm’s investment efforts across medical devices, healthcare products and medtech opportunities. Prior to joining Blue Sea, she was a Vice President at RoundTable Healthcare Partners, an operating-oriented healthcare private equity firm. Before that, Erin was a Vice President with BDT Capital Partners and an Associate on GTCR’s Healthcare team in Chicago. She began her career in the Global Mergers & Acquisitions Group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York. Erin serves of the Boards of Directors of Apex Physics Partners, Hatch Fertility, and WillowWood Global and supports Minds Matter Chicago, which prepares high school students from underserved communities for college success. She has served as an alumni interviewer, Regional Campaign Committee member, 5th and 10th Year Reunion Chair, and Head Agent of the Class of 2012 for the Dartmouth College Fund. She lives in Delray Beach, Florida, with her partner, Luke Hathaway ’08, who was a fellow double major in Economics and Spanish/Hispanic Studies while at Dartmouth. 

After graduating from Dartmouth, earning a masters degree in English from Stanford, teaching at private schools in California and Chicago, moving back to my hometown and raising two children (who both attend Dartmouth!), I now run a small local business leading book groups for women in my community and serve on our public library's Board of Trustees.

Andra Winokur Newman graduated with a BA in English from Dartmouth College in 1999. She was a four-year varsity letter winner on the women’s squash team and was the captain her senior year. Andra was a member of Kappa Delta Episleon and Cobra. 

Andra spent most of her career in in executive search and recruiting at Korn/Ferry International, Abercrombie & Fitch and J.Crew. From 2010-2014 she launched and ran a boutique executive search firm focused on recruiting creative, brand, and product related talent. Andra co-founded of QuadJobs, a digital platform that connects college students with on demand employment. 

Most recently, Andra has been pursuing a masters degree in executive coaching at NYU and is focused on performance and mindset coaching for young athletes. 

Andra is an active member of her community, and just finished a four-year term as the Chair of the Board of Trustees for Greenwich Academy, an independent Day School in Greenwich, CT. She has served in several volunteer roles at Dartmouth College including most recently co-chair for advancement for her 25th reunion last year. 

Andra and her husband Elliot have three children. Will is a Freshmen at UPenn (BOO!) and she has two daugthers, Winnie (16) and Mary (12). In her free time, she is found running, reading and bridging with her high school friends…. Or planning an adventure trip!

John Nicholson is a retired Banking professional who managed multiple Sales and Trading businesses over the course of a 30 year career on Wall Street. Graduating in 1982 from Dartmouth with an AB in History, John taught high school for 2 years before making a career change to Finance at Chase Manhattan. Transferring to the Tokyo office, John managed multiple trading desks in Asia, then moved to London and ultimately back to NY working for Lehman Brothers, Barclays Capital and finally for Citibank. John has advised, mentored, and hired many Dartmouth undergraduates and graduates. He now consults part time and serves as an expert witness in the banking business. Additionally, John is a Vice Chair of the Leadership Council of the Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital. He still enjoys reading history, is an avid paddle tennis player and golfer, and proudly gets together multiple times a year with his Dartmouth SAE brothers and their spouses. For the DCF, John is a long-time class agent, having served as an agent on the 20th reunion, co-head agent for the record breaking 25th reunion, and an agent on all subsequent reunions. John is an alumni interviewer of prospective Dartmouth students. This is John’s second time on the DCFC. John has five daughters, including two Dartmouth daughters, Hailey ’19, and Jamie ’26. He and his wife, Lesley, split their time between Chatham, MA, and Rowayton, CT.

Brett is a Partner and Global Head of Marketing and Communications at Pantheon, a global private markets investment manager. Prior to joining Pantheon she was Head of External Relations at FCLTGlobal, a non-profit research organization focused on rebalancing capital markets to support a long-term, sustainable economy. Brett graduated from Dartmouth in 1992, where she was a Government major, and also earned her teaching certificate in elementary education. She also earned a JD/MPP from Duke University in 1999, where she was also Editor-in-Chief of the Duke Law Journal. While at Dartmouth, Brett was president of Sigma Delta, a member of Green Corps, and the Senior Class Gift. She has been a class agent since graduation, and was inducted into the Stephen F. Mandel ‘52 Society in 2022. Brett lives in South Hamilton, MA, with her daughters, Grace and Ellis.

Andrew Son is Senior Vice President at District Wharf Properties, where he oversees asset management and finance for the “The Wharf,” a 3.2 million square foot mixed-use real estate development in Washington, DC with retail, residential, office, hotel, entertainment, and maritime uses. He previously served as Vice President of Asset Management with JBG SMITH and has held real estate and finance positions with RLJ Lodging Trust, Federal Realty Investment Trust, and JLL. Andrew graduated from Dartmouth in 2009 with an AB in government. At Dartmouth he was the president of Phi Delta Alpha, an admissions tour guide, and an SAT tutor and college admissions counselor with the non-profit, “Let’s Get Ready.” Since graduation, Andrew has been an active volunteer. He served on the Executive Committee of the Association of Alumni, volunteered on the Young Alumni Advisory Board for the Dartmouth College Fund, was president of the Class Officers Association, and served his class as head agent and president. In 2021, the Alumni Council awarded Andrew with the Young Alumni Distinguished Service Award for his service to the College. He currently resides in Annandale, Virginia with his wife, Inra.

Being third generation Dartmouth, Betsy was accepted into the class of 1977, the second class at Dartmouth. She was the first female head class agent serving from 1977-1982, was a member of the Alumni Council from 1981-1984, President of the Cleveland Dartmouth, Alumni Interviewer and was honored to serve of the Dartmouth Presidential Search Committee in 1986-87. In 1990, she was given the Young Alumni Distinguished Service Award. She has lived in Cleveland, OH for 40 years with her husband and two adult sons. She retired from a career in Human Resources at a bank to raise her children, but has continued to be involved and committed to volunteerism and philanthropy through non-profit Boards and in fund-raising event planning. She was on the planning committee for both her 35th and 40th reunions and in 2017 agreed to serve as ’77 class head agent again. Betsy has a family home on an island in Lake Erie where she spend time with family. She is in three book clubs, loves attending plays and musical concerts. This year will be the 41st New Years Eve gathering of a dozen Dartmouth classmates and their families from around the country.

Chris is a Senior Advisor at FTV Capital, a leading global private equity investment firm. A founding team member, Chris joined the firm in 1999 during its early days as a start-up and spent over 25 years helping scale FTV into a multi-billion-dollar growth equity platform. As a Partner and Managing Member, he served on both the firm’s investment and management committees, working closely with high-growth technology and tech-enabled services companies as an investor, board member, and strategic advisor.  In his current role, Chris continues to provide mentorship and strategic support to the FTV team.

Originally from Concord, New Hampshire, Chris graduated in 1997 with a Government degree. While at Dartmouth, he played ice hockey, served as an officer of Chi Heorot fraternity, and worked in Blunt Alumni Center calling alumni for donations to the Dartmouth College Fund —a role that sparked his enduring commitment to the college. Since graduation, he has served as a fundraising volunteer, Head Class Agent, Class Executive Team Member and was inducted into the Stephen F. Mandel ’52 Society in 2024 in recognition of his sustained volunteer leadership.

Outside of his work and volunteerism with Dartmouth, Chris serves on the Board of Trustees of Marin Academy, an independent day school in San Rafael, California, and actively supports the Advanced Studies Program at St. Paul’s School, a summer academic program for New Hampshire high school students, along with YMCA Camp Coniston in Grantham, NH.

Chris lives in Larkspur, California, with his wife, Cindy ’97, and their three children, Addie ’27, Tommy, and Charlie. The family enjoys spending summers on Pleasant Lake in New London, NH, and Chris can often be found hiking, skiing/snowboarding, mountain biking, playing golf or pickleball, or cheering on Boston sports teams.