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.

Charles Allison has experience in impact investing and working on environment, social and governance (ESG) initiatives, in renewable energy project development, in investing in private companies in Africa and he is a senior member of the Admissions Committee at Harvard Business School. He is a full-time faculty member at The New School in New York City teaching management, leadership, entrepreneurship, accounting, finance and public and urban policy courses. At Dartmouth, Charles majored in Geography with a concentration in Environmental Studies, and he was one of the first undergraduate freshman advisers, was the administrative intern at Kiewit, and working with Dr. Robert E. Huke he was assistant editor of Geography Publications at Dartmouth and served on the 1978 Class Council. He studied finance, general management, and entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School. He has been a long serving board member of the Executive Committee of the Dartmouth Club of New York City, where he is currently president. He is one of the chief class agents of his class, has been a reunion co-chair, is serving in his last year as a Dartmouth Alumni Councilor, he is the former president of the Dartmouth Communities Executive Council, and he has been an Alumni Interviewer. Charles and his spouse Michelle L. Henderson live in New York City.

John Apostolides is an Investment Partner at Palistar Capital, an alternative asset manager focused on digital infrastructure.  Prior to joining Palistar Capital, he was a Managing Director at Macquarie Capital and a Vice President at Evercore Partners. Mr. Apostolides started his career at Citigroup as a member of the Communications and Technology Investment Banking teams. 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.

Jon is a senior attorney in the Contract Law Division at the US Department of Commerce, where he regularly advises and represents Department procurement officials on all aspects of government acquisitions. At Dartmouth, Jon was a Government major and a member of Zeta Psi fraternity. After graduating from Dartmouth, Jon attended Boston University School of Law, graduated in 1985 and moved to the Washington, DC area, where he served as an Honor’s Program attorney in the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. Subsequently, Jon worked in private practice from 1988-1993 and at the Environmental Protection Agency from 1993-2013 until moving to the Department of Commerce. Jon was a head agent from 2008-2018, and is currently a Mini-reunion co-chair and a DCF agent. Jon also is the membership chairman for the Dartmouth Club of DC, and serves as an alumni interviewer. Jon lives in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife, Anita Mosner, and their two mini Goldendoodles, Nala and Izzy. Jon and Anita have two children, Emily (Tufts ’18), and Justin (Dartmouth ’21).

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.

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.

Doug Chia is founder and President of Soundboard Governance, an independent corporate governance consulting firm in Princeton, NJ, and a teaching Fellow at Rutgers Law School. His legal career includes serving as Assistant General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Johnson & Johnson and stints at Clifford Chance, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, Tyco International and as Executive Director of The Conference Board ESG Center. At Dartmouth, Doug was a Government major and studied economics, history and political science on a FSP in Budapest and then worked as an intern at The White House under President George H.W. Bush. Doug served as junior and senior Class President, was active in the Student Assembly and played in the Wind Symphony all four years. Doug was a member of Casque & Gauntlet, Palaeopitus and Green Key and was named a Runner-Up for the Dean’s Prize on Class Day in 1993. After graduation, Doug taught English in Beijing where he co-founded the Dartmouth Club of Beijing and served as DED for China. He then attended Georgetown University Law Center and served on the Alumni Council while in law school. After receiving his JD degree, Doug and his wife, Jessica, moved to New York City where he practiced law and co-founded the Dartmouth Asian Pacific American Alumni Association (DAPAAA). Doug then spent three years practicing law in Hong Kong and another two in New York before settling in Princeton. Along the way, Doug was active in the Dartmouth Clubs of Washington, DC, Hong Kong and Princeton and volunteered for the DCF. Doug and Jessica still reside in Princeton with their two sets of twins: Brendan and Madeline, and Alexander and Jonas. Brendan and Madeline will be headed to Hanover in the fall as members of the Class of 2025.

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.

Thienan currently works at KPMG in University Talent Acquisition, where she found her passion for working with college students as they begin their career with the firm. Before KPMG, Thienan spent a few years in global recruiting at EF Education First, where she travelled to 11 new countries and built friendships all around the world. Thienan graduated from Dartmouth in 2016 with an AB in Neuroscience and Development Psychology. She also worked as an Admissions Tour Guide, was a DREAM mentor, led the Orientation Team, and chaired the Senior Class Gift. One of her favorite experiences was leading a group on an Alternative Spring Break program to Denver where they supported a variety of nonprofits. She is currently a Head Agent for her class, an alumni interviewer, and part of the Women of Dartmouth Boston Leadership Team. She’s excited to continue to support the College and the DCF to make the Dartmouth experience more accessible, specifically to first-generation students like herself. She currently lives in Boston and is a proud Dorchester resident, her favorite neighborhood in the city.

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.”

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.

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.

Laurie Laidlaw is an experienced executive in global M&A, business integrations, restructuring, HR strategy and operations. Most recently, Laurie was a vice president of Eaton Corporation where she played a critical role in Eaton’s growth strategy as part of the global M&A team where she led all HR aspects of acquisitions, divestments and other transactional activity for Eaton’s global business. Prior to joining Eaton in 2005, Laurie served as Chief Operating Officer for the Townsend Group (now part of Aon), a Cleveland based financial services firm specializing in institutional real estate investment and consulting for large public and private funds. Prior to that, Laurie was Senior Counsel to the US arm of British Petroleum, BP America, and started her career at the national law firm Baker & Hostetler after graduating from the University of Michigan Law School. At Dartmouth, she could often be found studying in her chair in Sanborn Library but also found time to help found the Sigma Kappa sorority, the first such women’s group on campus and was also a four year member and co-captain of the Football Cheerleading squad and a member of Green Key. Since retiring from Eaton last year, Laurie has continued her volunteer work with Dartmouth and the American Red Cross. As only the second woman to chair the Red Cross Northeast Ohio Region Board, where she is now emeritus, she was a founder of the American Red Cross women’s leadership donor group which has 1,200 members in the US and in seven countries that that has raised over $60M since inception, and is currently a member of the Red Cross National Philanthropic Board. She is also a trustee and finance committee member of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. She served as a board member of the City Club of Cleveland, a well known national public forum. She was honored with the James Stover Volunteerism Award for Community Service from Eaton; Eaton nominated her as a Crain’s Cleveland Business “Woman of Note.” She currently serves as an elected council member for her Village of Gates Mills Ohio. For Dartmouth, she has served in numerous volunteer roles including Class President and Head Agent.

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. 

Wady practiced as a corporate securities attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. She began her career in Silicon Valley and in 1998 was one of four founding members of the firm’s first branch office, located in the Pacific Northwest. Wady has served as a professional mentor in the JD/MBA joint degree program at Seattle University and has volunteered extensively in the local public schools, with a focus on building community across diverse populations. She is also a long-time Harvard alumni interviewer. Wady currently serves as Co-Chair of Dartmouth’s Family Leadership and Fundraising Committee. Wady received her JD from Harvard Law School, graduating cum laude, and her BA from the University of California, Los Angeles, graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in political science. Wady and her husband, Matt Roberts, reside in Medina, Washington with their two dogs, Alfie and Winnie. They have two children, Teddy (Dartmouth ’26) and Flora (Dartmouth ’27).

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.

Pam transferred from Vassar as a Junior into the last all-male class to enter Dartmouth. She was a member of the first women’s crew team, played Varsity tennis for both years, and sang in the Collegium Musicum. Her 15 minutes of fame came the year after her 1975 graduation (joining 108 alumnae), when she became the second woman to grace the cover of the Dartmouth Alumni magazine. She was working on Wall Street, and her photo came with the caption “Pam Brewer is your sister,” and accompanied an article speculating what kind of alums the women would turn out to be. Would they support the Dartmouth College Fund??? The gauntlet was thrown down! Pam was an Alumni interviewer for many years, and made calls for her class from phone banks at the Yale Club after she moved to NY City. Her career and motherhood eventually curtailed her Dartmouth activity for a while, although she remained a member of what was to become the Hal Ripley Society. She served on the Board of the Brooklyn Heights Montessori school during a period of expansion. Pam retired from Barclays Capital after a 31- year career in Institutional fixed- income, and moved back to her native Pennsylvania. There, she became involved in many charitable activities, including rekindling her connection with Dartmouth- serving on reunion committees and becoming a class Co-Head agent. She is an avid gardener, sings in her church choir, and plays 4.0 USTA league tennis. She is thrilled to be a new grandmother.

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.

Julia is a DCFC board member because she emerged as a leader in her work as a DCF head agent for the class of 2015, not only managing actual donor outreach, but also proposing innovative ideas about stewardship and other areas such as class podcasting. She has also been active in DCF programs and helped lead her class volunteers on campus during Camp Granite in multiple years. At Dartmouth, Julia was an Anthropology major with a minor in film and media studies. She completed the Tuck Bridge program, and studied abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland and in South Africa. Currently, Julia has just finished her MBA at Vanderbilt University and is looking to stay in healthcare technology in Nashville. Before business school she worked at PR & Communications agencies, specializing in integrated media strategies for B2B healthcare technology companies. Julia’s family is connected to Dartmouth as well: her parents, Dawn and Vernon Weber are significant contributors to the Parents and Grandparents Fund, and her sister Hannah is a member of the Class of 2013 (married to ’12) and her brother Geoffrey is a member of the Class of 2019. Julia lives in Nashville, Tennessee currently after living her whole life in New England.