Alumni Advisory Board

Andress Appolon has focused her life’s work on facilitating public-private partnerships that promote sustainable economic development throughout the global marketplace. A true inter-disciplinarian, Ms. Appolon’s career spans across both the public and private sectors as well as domestic and international spheres.

Ms. Appolon is currently a Senior Associate in Public Finance at Siebert Brandford Shank, the #1 minority-owned municipal securities firm on Wall Street. As a U.S. public finance professional, Ms. Appolon assists state and local governments with their infrastructure financing needs. Her clients include the states of New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, and the cities of Atlanta, Cleveland, Columbus, St. Louis, and Philadelphia. She is currently the primary financial analyst on the inaugural bond financing to restructure the State of New York’s Worker’s Compensation Second Injury Fund. Prior to joining Siebert Brandford Shank, Ms. Appolon worked in UBS Investment Bank’s Municipal Securities Group where she provided analytical and technical support to numerous municipal issuers including state-level power authorities. In these capacities, Ms. Appolon has built particular expertise in helping government issuers develop restructuring and refinancing plans in response to the recent financial crisis.

Prior to joining the public finance sector, Ms. Appolon served as the Small and Medium Enterprise Officer with US Agency for International Development in Port-au-Prince, Haiti where she managed a $16 million micro-finance program and spearheaded a portion of the national economic recovery plan. Ms. Appolon also served as Economic & Commercial Advisor to the US Ambassador to Mali where she assisted the Malian government with the privatization of the vital cotton production sector. In both positions, Ms. Appolon was charged with the creation and promotion of partnerships and alliances across the public and private sectors.

Ms. Appolon’s passion and appreciation for the value of interdisciplinary approaches to everyday problems has developed through a lifetime of practical experiences bolstered by academic exploration and rigor. As an undergraduate, Ms. Appolon spent a year in Cape Town, South Africa examining the opportunity for cross-cultural communication and reconciliation in township theatre. Her work culminated in a study published by the Robben Island Museum. Through a series of papers, she spent the following year examining the impact of globalization on the Caribbean and the consequences of US intervention on Chilean development. Finally, Ms. Appolon combined her practical knowledge with her quantitative expertise in her graduate thesis where she examined the implications of federal transportation policy on local and regional public transportation systems.

Ms. Appolon holds an MPP in Public Infrastructure Finance from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelors of Humanities and Arts in International Relations and Drama from Carnegie Mellon University.

Marsha Bannister is currently a first year, Teach for America corps member, serving as a 7th and 8th grade Literature teacher at Achievement First Endeavor’s Middle School located in Brooklyn, NY. There, Ms. Bannister has quickly established herself as a favorite among the students and has committed herself to afterschool literacy and tutoring as well as Step Dance. Marsha also serves on the Founding Board of Ascend Learning’s Bushwick Middle School located in Brooklyn, NY, and is the leader of the Administrative Taskforce at Grace Church of God, charged with evaluating and implementing systems, structures, policies and procedures.

Previously, Marsha has worked with the Administration for Children’s Services of NYC, aiding in the implementation of “Improved Outcomes for Children”, and creating assessment tools for safety and cultural competency. Marsha has also worked with other reputable organizations such as Prep for Prep, SEEDCO, Simpson, Thacher and Bartlett, and Human Rights First.

Marsha graduated early (cum laude) from Georgetown University with a BA in English and Sociology in 2006. As a PPIA Fellow, she graduated from Harvard Kennedy School with a Masters in Public Policy in 2009. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Education at Teacher University, while teaching.

Rudy Brioché, legal advisor for media issues, most recently served as legislative counsel to Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ). His duties included assisting in the development of legislation regarding the UHF discount, LPFM, spectrum management, the digital television transition, Voice over Internet Protocol, broadcast indecency, public interest obligation standards and sponsorship identification. Prior experience includes serving as law clerk to Judge Andre M. Davis on the U.S. District Court and to Chief Judge Robert M. Bell of the Court of Appeals of Maryland, and practicing commercial litigation for law firms in Baltimore and Washington D.C. Throughout his legal career, Rudy has served as an international monitor of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Rudy received his J.D. from the University of Maryland Law School where he served as student body president and editor of the leading national business law journal, The Business Lawyer. Rudy also earned a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard where he – served as editor-in-chief of the Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy. Rudy received his B.A. from Rutgers College.

Nicole Campbell served as a 2009-2010 White House Fellow, working at the Department of Energy under Secretary Steven Chu. Before becoming a White House Fellow, Nicole was the Vice President of the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation, where she developed and executed the Foundation’s education investment strategy. In her role, Nicole attracted new, external financial support and created innovative ways for the Bank to meet its Community Reinvestment Act obligations. She created College Ready Communities, which facilitates partnerships between housing developers, local education advocacy organizations, and public schools to improve academic outcomes in low-income neighborhoods. Nicole also recruited partners ranging from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the New York City Department of Education.

Her prior experience includes work with the New York City Department of Education as well as with government and nonprofit organizations in the Dominican Republic, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Nicole is a founding board member of Achievement First Brownsville, a charter school in Brooklyn, New York. She received a Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School where she founded the annual Harvard Black Policy Conference and received the Julius E. Babbitt Alumni Award for Service. Nicole received her B.A. from Amherst College, where she received the John Woodruff Simpson Fellowship and was a two time NCAA Division III National Triple Jump Champion in Track & Field.

An accomplished social entrepreneur with expertise in health care, labor issues and public policy, Cheryl Dorsey was named President of Echoing Green in May 2002. She is the first Echoing Green Fellow to lead the social venture fund, which has awarded more than $22 million in start-up capital to 400 social entrepreneurs worldwide since 1987.As a medical student committed to improving access to quality health care for poor families, Cheryl received an Echoing Green Fellowship to launch The Family Van, a community-based mobile health unit that provides basic medical and outreach services to at-risk residents of inner-city Boston neighborhoods.

As a public policy innovator, Cheryl served as a White House Fellow from 1997-1998, serving as Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Labor, advising the Clinton Administration on health care and other issues. She was later named Special Assistant to the Director of the Women’s Bureau of the U.S. Labor Department, where she helped develop family-friendly workplace policies and spearheaded the labor secretary’s pay equity initiative.

Most recently, Cheryl served as the first Director of Public Health Initiatives at Danya International, Inc., where she developed products and services aimed at substance abuse treatment and prevention, child and family services, minority health and community outreach.

Cheryl has received numerous awards and honors for her commitment to public service, including the Pfizer Roerig History of Medicine Award, the Robert Kennedy Distinguished Public Service Award and the Manuel C. Carballo Memorial Prize. Cheryl currently serves as a board member of CORO, a leadership development organization.

She holds a B.A. in History and Science from Harvard-Radcliffe Colleges, an M.D. from the Harvard Medical School and an M.P.P. from the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Christopher Edley, Jr. joined Boalt Hall as dean and professor of law in 2004 after 23 years as a professor at Harvard Law School. He earned a law degree and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard, where he served as an editor and officer of the Harvard Law Review. Edley’s academic work is primarily in the areas of civil rights and administrative law. He has also taught federalism, budget policy, Defense Department procurement law, national security law, and environmental law. Edley was co-founder of the Harvard Civil Rights Project, a renowned multidisciplinary research and policy think tank focused on issues of racial justice. His publications include Not All Black and White: Affirmative Action, Race and American Values and Administrative Law: Rethinking Judicial Control of Bureaucracy.

Following graduation, Edley joined President Carter’s administration as assistant director of the White House domestic policy staff, where his responsibilities included welfare reform and social security. He served as national issues director throughout the 1987-88 Dukakis presidential campaign, and as a senior adviser on economic policy for President Bill Clinton’s transition team in 1992. In the Clinton administration, he worked as associate director for economics and government at the White House Office of Management and Budget from 1993 to 1995. There, he oversaw a staff of 70 civil servants responsible for White House oversight of budget, legislative, and management issues in five cabinet departments (Justice, Treasury, Transportation, Housing & Urban Development, and Commerce) and a diverse group of more than 40 autonomous agencies, including: FEMA, FCC, General Services Administration, SBA, SEC, CFTC, EEOC, and the bank regulatory agencies. In 1995 he was also special counsel to the president, directing the White House review of affirmative action. He returned to the Clinton White House in 1997 as a consultant to the president’s advisory board on the race initiative.

From 1999-2005, Edley served on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. In 2001, he was a member of the Carter-Ford National Commission on Federal Election Reform. He is currently a trustee of the Russell Sage Foundation and The Century Foundation, and a member of the National Academy of Public Administration, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the executive committee of the advisory board for the Division on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education of the National Academies of Sciences. Edley holds a B.A. from Swarthmore College, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and an MPP.

Naima Green is a Foreign Service Officer at the U.S. Department of State. She is serving her first tour as a Public Affairs Officer in Alexandria, Egypt.

Before joining the Foreign Service, Naima served as an Advance Associate for Vice President Biden, where she worked to coordinate motorcade logistics. Prior to that, she assisted with the international affairs, disabilities, and arts portfolios as a White House intern in the Office of Public Engagement.

Naima graduated from Harvard Kennedy School in 2010. While at the Kennedy School, Naima was a student fellow at the Belfer Center of Science and International Affairs and a U.S. Department of State Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellow. She also served as a course assistant to Kennedy School professor and former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs R. Nicholas Burns, a volunteer with the humanitarian and advocacy group My Sister’s Keeper, and as associate vice-chair and co-chair, respectively, of the 5th and 6th Annual Black Policy Conferences.

Naima graduated from Stanford University in 2008, receiving a B.A. with honors in International Relations. She grew up in Cairo, Egypt, and it was in this context that she developed an interest in international affairs and cultural exchange. She speaks Arabic and Zulu.

Jacqueline Greer is an educational consultant headquartered in Washington, DC. She currently serves as a talent strategist at Center City Public Charter Schools. She most recently worked as a technical officer at the Center for Youth Development at the Academy for Educational Development, and served as part of the Chancellor’s transition team in the DC Public Schools.

Prior to this work, she recruited and trained teachers through The New Teacher Project, and unveiled new teaching standards while working as an Education Pioneer Fellow in the Boston Public Schools. Furthermore, Jacqueline serves as the chair of the Harvard Black Alumni Society of DC and as a former board member of a local, youth-serving nonprofit. In addition to her MPP, she holds a B.A. with a concentration in public policy studies from the University of Chicago.

Brandon Hudspeth is a career member of the U.S. Foreign Service. Most recently, he served as a Political-Military Affairs officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. His next overseas posting will be at the U.S. Interest Section in Havana, Cuba. Prior to joining the State Department, Brandon worked in the international news division at CNN in Atlanta, Georgia.

Brandon graduated from Harvard University’s Kennedy School in June 2006 with a Master in Public Policy. He attended Harvard as a Thomas R. Pickering Fellow and focused his studies on international security policy and negotiation. While at the Kennedy School, Brandon traveled to the United Arab Emirates to assess Dubai’s e-Government initiative.

Brandon received a B.A. in Political Science from Morehouse College in 2002 where he graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. His foreign languages include Persian and Spanish.

John H. “Skip” McKoy is Executive Vice President for the Anacostia Waterfront Corporation (AWC), the organization that is charged with overseeing implementation of the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative, a 25-year plan to clean and restore the Anacostia River and redevelop land adjacent to the River that has been barren or underutilized. The plan also calls for revitalizing nearby neighborhoods.

Prior to joining AWC, Mr. McKoy was an independent management consultant providing management analysis and team-building for firms, and group problem-solving for organizations and communities.

He is formerly President and CEO of DC Agenda, a non-profit organization working to strengthen civic organizations and improve the way local government functions in Washington, DC.

Prior to that, he held several executive level positions in both public and private sector organizations. He previously worked for Lockheed Martin IMS, where he held the positions of Vice President of Communications Industry Services and Senior Regional Vice President. He managed units providing telecommunications and data processing services to state and local governments. Mr. McKoy was Managing Partner for Team Management Associates, a management and leadership development consulting firm, whose clients included The Rockefeller Foundation, Port Authority of New York, United Negro College Fund, and Harvard Community Health Plan. He was also Assistant Vice President of Acquisitions at The Milton Company, a residential townhouse development company in the Washington area.

Mr. McKoy worked several years for the District of Columbia Government as the Planning Director for the Mayor’s land-use planning and zoning policy office. His federal government experience includes several years as a program manager at Action Agency (Peace Corps and Vista).

Other past accomplishments and affiliations include: member of a crisis management team that saved a New England city poverty program whose funding had been threatened by the federal government; designing and lobbying for three new federal programs to help elderly and fixed income citizens; negotiating historic passage of San Francisco Bay area’s first effective comprehensive environmental policies; fluency in conversational Spanish while serving as a volunteer in Latin America.

Skip was a member of the Board of Directors of the DC Humanities Council and served on the Boards of the DC Chamber of Commerce, Mentors, Inc., Sasha Bruce Youthworks, Leadership Washington, and as a Member of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, The Washington Committee, and the National Forum for Black Public Administrators.

He received a BA from Hamilton College, Clinton, NY; a master’s degree in City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania; and a master’s degree in Public Administration.

Queen Nworisara-Quinn is currently an Investment Officer in the Private Sector Department of the African Development Bank. Prior to joining AfDB she was a management associate with Citigroup Corporate and Investment Bank working within the Securities and Fund Services business unit. Her previous experience in the development field included consulting with the UNDP Global Sustainable Business Initiative and working with Partners for Development (PfD) in Nigeria, where she conducted program evaluation for reproductive health and microfinance programs.

Prior to attending graduate school, Queen served as the Program Manager and International Programs Coordinator for the International Institute for Political and Economic Studies (IIPES); an economics and conflict management institute for students from the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans, developed by the Fund for American Studies—an educational non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C.

She is a graduate of Penn State University and received her Master’s in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, with a concentration in International Trade and Finance. Queen currently resides in Tunisia with her husband Matthew.

Stephanie Bell-Rose is a Managing Director of Goldman, Sachs & Co. and founding President of The Goldman Sachs Foundation, a $200 million international foundation whose mission is to promote excellence and innovation in education and to improve academic performance and lifelong productivity of young people worldwide. One of the top ten U.S. corporate endowments, the Foundation utilizes grants, private equity investments, loans, and business expertise to advance its mission. The Foundation was awarded a gold medal in 2003 by the Council on Foundations for describing groundbreaking philanthropic strategies in its first publication series, “Ideas into Action.” In 2004, the Foundation was awarded the Council’s top prize for its annual report, and a bronze medal for its site.

Ms. Bell-Rose specializes in high-impact social investments to promote the development of young people and their families. Her philanthropic work extends from America’s inner cities and rural communities to Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Deeply committed to developing the full potential of all people, she has emphasized the needs of the underserved.

Prior to her appointment at Goldman Sachs, Ms Bell-Rose served as Counsel and Program Officer for Public Affairs at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, where she directed legal affairs and designed philanthropic initiatives in education and public policy in the U.S. and abroad.

Her corporate work is complemented by publications and articles, including, recently: Immigration and Opportunity: Race, Ethnicity and employment in the U.S. (co-editor, Russell Sage Press); “The Corporate Role in Developing Leaders: From the Sidelines to the Frontline,” in College Board Review; “African-American High Achievers: Developing Talented Leaders,” in The State of Black America; “The Contribution of Immigrant Women,” in Radcliffe Quarterly; “Developing a Success Orientation” in Education Week; “Using Performance Metrics to Assess Impact,” in Nonprofit Earned Income (Jossey-Bass); and “Maximizing Impact through Strategic Philanthropy,” a Goldman Sachs Foundation monograph.

As a recipient of Harvard University’s Rockefeller Fellowship, she spent a year in Caracas and Mexico City studying urban development in Latin America.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, she earned an A.B. with honors from Harvard College, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and an M.P.A.

Ms. Bell-Rose is Trustee and Board Vice President of The Barnes Foundation, Trustee of American Museum of Natural History, and Advisor to Harvard University’s Hauser Center for Non-Profit Organizations and the Cooke Foundation’s Community College Transfer Initiative Advisory Board. She serves on the Dean’s Council of Harvard Law School and Harvard’s University Committee on Student Excellence and Opportunity. She is a member of the Executive Leadership Council, the Contributions Council, the Business-Higher Education Forum, The Economic Club of New York and the Council on Foreign Relations where she serves on the Chairman’s Advisory Council and the Membership Committee.

She is the recipient of the Fay Prize from Radcliffe College; leadership awards from the Westchester Children’s Association, The Links of New York City, and the National Council of Negro Women; and a congressional citation for her work on behalf of children. The Network Journal recently named her as one of twenty-five influential women in business. Ms. Bell-Rose resides in Westchester County with her husband, Dr. Christopher Rose, and their three sons.

Donald M. Stewart has been President and Chief Executive Officer of The Chicago Community Trust since 2000. Previously, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the College Board for 12 and one half years and an adjunct lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government for three years. From July 1, 1999 until June 1, 2000, he was Senior Program Officer and Special Advisor to the President of the Carnegie Corporation in New York City. Stewart is the former president of Spelman College, in Atlanta. He also served as an associate dean and assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and as a staff member of the Overseas Development Division of the Ford Foundation with assignments in Nigeria, Egypt, and Tunisia.
A former member of the Mayo Clinic’s Board of Trustees and the Visiting Committee, Don Stewart is also an advisor to or trustee of the Independent Sector; Common Cause; Grinnell College; the Committee for Economic Development; The New York Times Company; the Campbell Soup Company; and Sotheby’s.

Stewart earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Grinnell College in 1959, with highest honors in political science. He received a Master of Arts in political science as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at Yale University in 1962. At Harvard, he earned Master of Public Administration and Doctor of Public Administration degrees in 1969 and 1975, respectively.

In addition, he studied international law, organization, and economics at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland from 1960 to 1962, and completed the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in the summer of 1983.

Fletcher H. “Flash” Wiley graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1965, and continued his studies as a Fulbright Scholar in Paris, France at L’Institut Des Etudes Politiques. Following service as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force, Mr. Wiley resigned his commission to pursue graduate studies. In 1974, he received his Masters in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and his law degree from Harvard Law School.

For more than two decades, Mr. Wiley worked as a practicing attorney concentrating in the areas of corporate and commercial law, small business development, entertainment law, and real estate. On September 1, 1996, Mr. Wiley resigned as a Senior Partner with the Boston Law firm of Goldstein & Manello, P.C. to join PRWT Services, Inc., a Philadelphia-based products and services company, as a principal of the company and its Executive Vice President and General Counsel. On September 30, 2008, Mr. Wiley retired from employment with PRWT after playing a key role in building it into one of the nation’s largest minority-owned businesses and Black Enterprise Magazine’s 2009 “Company of the Year”. He remains a Principal in the Company, and is the Chairman of the PRWT Advisory Board.

Mr. Wiley has served as a Director of several for-profit business organizations, including three public companies. He is currently a Director of The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE). He is also “Of Counsel” to Bingham McCutchen LLP, one of the nation’s largest law firms, where he specializes in corporate and commercial law. Additionally, as Chairman and CEO of The Centaurus Group, LLC, Mr. Wiley is an investor and principal in several commercial, real estate development, and management consulting ventures.

Mr. Wiley is extensively involved in civic and charitable activities. In 1984, he founded and chaired until 1990 the Governor’s Commission on Minority Business Development. He also served as a Director of the Economic Development and Industrial Corporation of Boston from 1980 to 1993. In 1994, he stepped down from a 7-year involvement as President, and then National Chairman, of the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association, Inc., to assume a two-year term as Chairman of the Board of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. He is a benefactor of Crispus Attucks Children’s Center, Inc.; a founding member of the Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School Black Alumni Organizations; a former Director of the New England Legal Foundation; and Overseer of the New England Region Anti-Defamation League. He is also the recipient of numerous civic and professional awards.

Mr. Wiley is a member of the Bars of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and District of Columbia, and belongs to the American, National, and Massachusetts Bar Associations.

He and his wife, Benaree Pratt Wiley, reside in Brookline, Massachusetts. They have two children, Pratt (33) and B. J. (31).