Board of Trustees

Board member since 2023

Shirin has been an active member of the New Haven community for more than a decade. She received her B.A. from Princeton University, her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and a Certificate from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  A seasoned attorney with 20 years of legal experience, Shirin has represented countless clients in the corporate, nonprofit, healthcare, employment, real estate, and investment areas.  She is also experienced in cybersecurity and privacy related issues, having worked with state government on cybersecurity-related strategies.  Shirin lives in Hamden with her husband, Ron, and their daughter, Sophia ’30.

President

Board Member Since 2019

Committees: Executive; Development

Kavitha Bindra is the Assistant Dean for Alumni Relations at Yale School of Management (SOM). A summa cum laude graduate of Wellesley College with a M.B.A. from Yale SOM, Kavitha worked at Deloitte Consulting and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City before returning to the New Haven area. In 2012, she joined the Yale SOM Admissions office, serving as the Director of Admissions Operations prior to her current role. She serves on the boards of Calvin Hill Daycare and the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, which is dedicated to enhancing inclusion of underrepresented minorities in management schools and careers. Kavitha spent her early childhood in New Zealand and the United Kingdom before moving to Burlington, Vermont, where she completed secondary school. She lives in the Westville section of New Haven with her two daughters Sasha and Sukhi.

Board Member Since 2018

Committees: Finance; Enrollment

Elon Boms is the Managing Director of the Pritzker Vlock Family Office. A seasoned investment professional, Elon has led over 250 investments across a range of industries and geographies. Along with Karen Pritzker and Michael Vlock, Elon cofounded LaunchCapital, a premiere seed-stage investment fund with offices in Boston, New Haven and New York. He has helped raised over $2.5 billion of capital for leading and emerging companies and has been involved in over $1 billion of M&A transactions. He has also taught courses at the Yale School of Management on private equity and venture capital and on entrepreneurial finance. Elon earned his B.A. in economics from George Washington University and his M.B.A. with distinction in venture capital and concentration in finance and strategy from Yale School of Management. Elon lives in New Haven with his wife, Stephanie, two incredible daughters and a very shaggy dog.

Secretary

Board member since 2020

Committees: Executive

Emily earned her B.A. in American studies and art history from Wellesley College and her M.A. in American history from Yale. Her career in independent secondary education began at Deerfield Academy; developed at her alma mater, Kingswood Oxford; and deepened with 15 years on the faculty at Choate Rosemary Hall, where she taught history, mentored new colleagues, advised in dormitories and coached a variety of sports. She also served as director of Choate’s Prefect Program and chair of the Faculty Governance Committee. Emily is now a part-time educational consultant and full-time parent. She and her husband, Dean, are active in the Wallingford community, especially the local YMCA, the Spanish Community of Wallingford and the Wallingford Public Library. Emily has two children, Zachary and Kate.

Board member since 2023

Mike has worked in the energy industry for over 20 years and is currently the CEO of Olivewood Energy, a developer of large-scale solar and energy storage projects. His work experience is in identifying solutions that balance policy objectives with commercial and physical realities while trying to address the interests of stakeholders. Mike has a B.S. from Cornell University, an M.S. in Finance from London Business School, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. He is also an advisor to EarthSpark International, which seeks to eradicate energy poverty by creating business models that can spin off and scale to address specific aspects of energy poverty — with an initial focus on Haiti. Mike lives in North Haven with his wife, Lauren, and has two children at Foote: Will ’27 and Ben ’30. 

Board Member Since 2017

Committees: Building & Grounds; Horizons at Foote Liaison

Wick graduated from Foote in 1962. After graduating from Yale College in 1971, he served for a year in VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) working in a program that served elders in the New Haven community. Since graduating from the Vermont Law School, cum laude, in 1978, he has practiced law in New Haven for 38 years. Initially he did insurance defense work before joining what was then known as Carmody & Torrance, where Wick was assigned to the corporate commercial practice area. Wick then joined the Winnick law firm where for 20 years he represented People’s United Bank in a variety of matters including negotiating software and other IT contracts. Having previously been a partner for many years, he is now Of Counsel to the New Haven firm of Winnick Ruben Hoffnung Peabody & Mendel, where his primary area of interest is legal ethics. Wick is chairman of the Board of Benhaven, Inc. and president of the Board of the Victim Rights Center of Connecticut. He and his late wife, Susan Seidler Chambers, have two sons, Jon ('00) and Tim ('03).

Board Member Since 2021

Annette has worked for over 20 years with nonprofit organizations, government units and foundations on strategic planning, community engagement, program and policy design, impact evaluation, and operational improvement. She holds M.P.P. and M.S.W. degrees from the University of Michigan. Annette works in public interest consulting at Aim and Arrow Group. Recent planning engagements related to child learning and well-being have included: public and private schools; nonprofits providing after school programs; local and state health or education-related departments; professional associations; and local or statewide collaborative groups. Annette lives in New Haven with her husband, Kerwin, and their two sons, Lucas and Cyrus.

Board member since 2023

Maryam works at J.P. Morgan Asset Management where she designs and leads training programs for client facing professionals. She has more than 10 years of experience in human resources in addition to management consulting at PwC, and strategic management at the U.N. Children’s Fund, where her focus area was Early Childhood Development and Education. Maryam has a M.P.A. from Harvard University, and a M.S. in Human Capital Management from Columbia University where she was awarded the Dean’s Excellence Award. Maryam serves as President of the Columbia University Human Capital Management Club and is a member of Columbia SPS DEIA committee where she helps create DEI training programs for university faculty and administrators. Maryam’s other volunteer work includes having served on governance bodies of nonprofits such as the New York Women Social Entrepreneurs, serving as an alum interviewer for Harvard College, and teaching mindfulness meditation. Maryam lives in Woodbridge with her husband Kaiser Toosy and their two children Sophia ’30 and Amelia ’31.

Board Member Since 2021

Ron received his bachelor's degree from Tufts University, where he was the captain of the soccer team during fall 2010. He returned to New Haven as a Teach for America corps member in 2011 and taught middle school mathematics and coached basketball at Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy. Ron received his master's degree from Southern Connecticut State University while serving as the Director of New Haven Program at Teach for America Connecticut. He currently leads the Grow Your Own effort for the Texas Education Agency and is excited to scale the impact of New Haven Counts, a nonprofit he founded with fellow teachers in 2018 focused on math proficiency, financial literacy and youth development.

Board Member Since 2018

Committees: Development; MOSAIC Liaison

Mona Gohara, M.D., is a board-certified Dermatologist and is currently Partner within a private practice in Danbury. She also holds a faculty appointment at Yale where she regularly sees patients and teaches residents/medical students. She is a graduate of the Medical College of Ohio and completed her undergraduate studies at Oberlin College. Dr. Gohara serves as chair of the Media Committee for the American Society of Dermatologic Surgeons and serves on the board of CARRY, an organization assisting at-risk youth in Los Angeles. As Service Committee Chair for the Women's Dermatologic Society, she helped secure multimillion-dollar grants to fund skin cancer initiatives. She has also written for People, ELLE, Fitness and Good Housekeeping, and is frequently cited as a skin-care expert in numerous national publications. Mona and her husband, Kiran Makam, have two sons, Kiran '21 and Jai ’23, and live in Woodbridge.

Board Member Since 2017

Committees: Executive; Governance & Nominations; Enrollment

Rebecca Good is the founding academic director of Relay Connecticut, an alternative route to certification program serving schools and communities throughout Connecticut. Rebecca began her teaching career in the Miami-Dade School District. As a secondary ELA instructor at an alternative high school, she was named Teacher of the Year. Rebecca spent nine years at Elm City College Preparatory Middle School in New Haven, including six years as principal. She earned her B.A. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, and her M.A. in Educational Leadership from Teachers College, Columbia University. A native of Northern California, Rebecca lives in New Haven with her husband, Manuel, who is a United States Coast Guardsman, and daughter Laila '24.

Board Member Since 2020

Danielle received her B.A. in Management with honors from Salve Regina University in Newport, R.I. She began her career in Dorset, Vt., as the manager of the Dorset Theater. She then worked as house manager at The Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven. She left to take the position of general manager at BAR in New Haven, where she launched The Brü Rm pizza and brewery concept. In 2007, she opened 116 Crown, the first craft cocktail bar and restaurant of its kind in the Ninth Square section of New Haven. 116 Crown earned a New York Times rating of 'Excellent' in 2008, and again in 2013. A sister restaurant, Meat & Co., opened in 2013. She is a cofounder of the acclaimed New Haven Theatre Company. Danielle was a competing equestrian in college and continues to ride. She serves on the board of Creative Arts Workshop in North Haven and served on the board of Bethesda Nursery School. She lives in North Haven with her son Jack.

Vice President

Board Member Since 2016

Committees: Executive, Governance & Nominations (Chair), Development

George advises individuals and institutions on their international strategies. Until 2019, he had served in Yale’s administration where he focused on Yale's engagement, strategy and visibility around the world. He completed undergraduate and graduate degrees from Washington University in St. Louis and graduate degrees from Yale. Born in India, George lived in St. Louis from 1978 to 1995 and has lived in the New Haven area since 1995. He has served on nonprofit boards locally and in India that focus on education. He lives in North Haven with his wife, Preethi Varghese-Joseph, and their sons Asher '22 and Elias ’23.

Vice President

Board member since 2020

Committees: Executive

Andy is a passionate mentor/entrepreneur and angel investor with portfolio holdings in biotech, software, e-learning, advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence and real estate tech. He founded Component Sourcing International LLC, which manufactures custom- engineered metal components in a variety of product categories and was acquired by Argosy Private Equity in 2014. He was previously a partner in Osage Investments. In 2018, Andy, his wife, Jenn, and children Lucy and Nate, moved to Barcelona, Spain, where Andy was active in his children’s education, in local environmental groups and as an entrepreneur-in-residence at IESE business school. Andy is fluent in Spanish and holds a B.S. in biology from Tufts University and an M.B.A. in finance and entrepreneurial management from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Treasurer

Board Member Since 2019

Committees: Executive, Development, Finance (Co-Chair), Investment

Geert Rouwenhorst is a professor of Finance at the Yale School of Management and deputy director of the International Center of Finance. Born in The Netherlands, Geert graduated from Erasmus University in Rotterdam with degrees in Economics and Law. He joined Yale in 1990 and held intermittent visiting positions at MIT and Singapore Management University. At Yale, Geert has taught in the general areas of investments and corporate finance and served as a Deputy Dean of the School of Management. His coedited book, The Origins of Value: the Financial Innovations that Created Modern Capital Markets, was named a book of the year by Barron’s and The Economist. Geert is a founding partner of SummerHaven, an investment management company that serves endowments, foundations and pension funds. He is a past Treasurer of both the New Haven Preservation Trust and Children’s Preschool, and currently serves on the investment committee at Foote. He lives in East Rock with his wife, Bernadette Huang, and their daughter Alexandra.

Board member since 2023

Jessie serves as the Dean of Benjamin Franklin College at Yale where she is the primary adviser to 500 students, overseeing progress on academic matters and offering guidance on personal matters, as well as helping students engage resources throughout the university. Jessie holds a B.A. in European History from Barnard College and a M.S. from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. She also served as associate director of Yale Undergraduate Admissions for eight years. Before coming to Yale, Jessie worked as a journalist for National Public Radio (NPR) and wrote and edited for newspapers in Massachusetts. She is a lecturer in the English Department and teaches Reading and Writing the Modern Essay and a first-year seminar The Room Where it Happens: Writing about Performance. From her dedication to Yale athletics, Jessie conceived the Student-Athlete Mentors (SAMs), a program to bolster student-athletes in their first year at Yale to promote a culture of confidence and belonging, and serves as Director of Advising for Athletics. Jessie lives in New Haven with her daughters Lily ’20 and Ada ’23.

Board member since 2023

Ty works in the office of the CAO in the Institutional Clients Group for Citigroup. With 25 years of experience in financial services, he is an experienced financial analyst conversant in fixed income, equities, structured products, and the capital markets, having held roles across sales and trading. Immediately prior to Citi, Ty was at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in Supervision focused on the governance and control frameworks of the world’s largest financial institutions. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and holds a B.A. in Economics and an M.S. in Finance, both from Boston College.  Ty lives in Fairfield with his wife Sarah and daughter Evelyn ’30. 

Board Member Since 2021

Brett is the Vice President of Client Services at Nordic Global, a strategic advisory firm helping healthcare providers harness technology to create healthier systems, businesses, and people. A seasoned healthcare information technology professional and business leader, Brett specializes in guiding healthcare providers through business and process transformation using modern enterprise software. A frequent industry speaker, Brett offers a dynamic understanding of healthcare IT, trends and technologies available to address the challenges of a volatile market. Brett earned his B.A. in international business from the University of Arizona. Brett lives in Madison with his wife, Melissa, and their two daughters, Avery and Elle.

Board Member Since 2021

Mai is a principal at Apicella + Bunton Architects in New Haven, where she led design and construction of Yale's 493 College Street, an award-winning office and classroom building that earned LEED Gold certification. More recently, she led design and interiors of the Yale Manuscripts & Archives library renovation. Prior to joining the firm, she worked at Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. Mai has a bachelor of arts in architecture from Yale College and a master of architecture from the Yale School of Architecture. Mai has been a teaching fellow for the Architectural Practice and Management course at the Yale School of Architecture. She volunteers for the Yale Alumni Schools Committee and the Yale School of Architecture Annual Fund. She and her husband, John, live in Westville.