New Trustees

From top to bottom: Hon. Jeremy A. Cooney ’04, Josephine Grayson P’18, Dr. Paula Miltenberger P’23, Mehrnaz “Naz” Vahid-Ahdieh ’85, P’17, and Stephen Wong ’89.

Board of Trustees Elects 5 New Members

At its winter 2021 meeting, the Board of Trustees unanimously elected its newest members to serve four-year terms beginning in July.

“I am thrilled to welcome these accomplished and passionate members of the Hobart and William Smith community onto the Board,” says Board Chair Craig R. Stine ’81, P’17. “They each bring a significant amount of experience and insight, and their perspectives will be tremendously helpful as we work together to further the Colleges.”

HON. JEREMY A. COONEY ’04 New York State Senator

Cooney was adopted by Anne Cooney ’63, P’04 from an Indian orphanage and recently made history as the first Asian elected to state office from Upstate New York. Cooney serves as the State Senator for the 56th District of New York, representing the City of Rochester. Previously, he served as senior director for downstate community relations for Empire State Development under Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, the first chief of staff to Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren, personal aide to U.S. Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, and as a vice president for the YMCA of Greater Rochester. A third-generation HWS alum, Cooney earned a B.A. in public policy studies, minoring in economics and philosophy, and graduating cum laude with honors. He went on to receive his J.D. from Albany Law School. He is married to urologic surgeon Dr. Diane Lu, M.D.

JOSEPHINE GRAYSON P’18 Landscape architect and philanthropist

Grayson spent a decade in the financial markets before becoming a landscape architect and environmentalist. Driven by creativity, social good and beautiful spaces, Grayson now pursues her interests in art and her family’s philanthropic organizations, The Peter and Josephine Grayson Foundation and the Fund for Individual Potential. She holds a B.S. in environmental planning and design from Rutgers University as well as a B.S. in business from the College of New Rochelle; she has also completed extended study programs at Parsons School of Design, Universita Bocconi in Milan, and the School of Visual Arts in New York. She is a former member of the HWS Parents Executive Committee and served as a judge for the 2020 Pitch Contest. Lifetime members of the Cook Parents Circle, Grayson and her husband Peter P’18 have two children, Eric and Bradley ’18.

DR. PAULA MILTENBERGER P’23 Psychologist and mental health expert

Miltenberger is a licensed psychologist and founder of Women’s Mental Wellness, a private practice that provides comprehensive mental health care for women. Outside of her private practice, Miltenberger is a consulting psychologist for Medical City Dallas’ Women’s Hospital, where she works with women experiencing high-risk pregnancies as well as candidates for fetal surgery. A published author on issues related to loss and perinatal depression, Miltenberger earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Texas at Southwestern Medical

School in Dallas; a B.A. in international relations from Baylor University and a B.S. in psychology from University of North Texas. A board member of Family Gateway, Miltenberger and her husband Bay P’23 have four children, Bryce ’23, Bo, Brady and Brooks.

MEHRNAZ “NAZ” VAHID-AHDIEH ’85, P’17 Citi Private Bank Managing Director

Vahid-Ahdieh began her career with Citi Private Bank as an intern and has since risen to managing director. With more than three decades of experience, she leads the bank’s Global Law Firm Group, managing more than 200 employees in 14 locations. Vahid-Ahdieh created and developed Citi Private Bank’s mentoring program and led the company’s diversity committee for North America. She holds a master’s in international affairs from Columbia University; a B.A. in economics and sociology from William Smith; and series 24, 7 and 63 licenses. A judge for The Pitch contest and former member of the William Smith Alumnae Council Honors Committee, she joined the President’s Leadership Council in 2019 and serves on the board of the Tahirih Justice Center. Vahid-Ahdieh and her husband Shahin Ahdieh have two daughters, Leila Vahid-Ahdieh and Marjorye Santos ’17.

STEPHEN WONG ’89 Goldman Sachs Executive

Wong serves as Goldman Sachs’ managing director and chairman of Investment Banking for Hong Kong and Asia Pacific ex-Japan, and head of the firm’s real estate group. He has been an executive at Goldman Sachs since 2005 covering corporate, financial sponsor and sovereign clients throughout the Greater China region and Silicon Valley. Wong graduated cum laude with a B.A. in economics from HWS and went on to earn a J.D. from Stanford Law School. A life-long collector and one of the world’s foremost authorities on baseball history and its artifacts, Wong is the author of Smithsonian Baseball: Inside the World’s Finest Private Collections and Game Worn: Baseball Treasures from the Game’s Greatest Heroes and Moments, both of which were runners-up for the Casey Award.

Entrepreneur of 2020

BY PAIGE MULLIN COOKE

Gina Perini ’95, the Chair of the Board of Directors and CEO of Somos Inc., was named the winner of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year 2020 Award, New Jersey Program. Perini leads Somos, a top provider of registry management and data solutions. The award honors her vision, strategy and leadership, including leading the expansion of the company’s portfolio of products and services. Perini joined Somos in 2012.

“We’ve created a culture where voices are respected and embraced, where we use critical thinking, agility and creativity to solve our customers’ problems,” Perini says. “So much of the culture that has been built had its foundation in what I learned during my time at HWS.”

New Endowed Fund Focuses on Teachers

BY BETHANY SNYDER

Organizations such as the Learning Policy Institute and the Economic Policy Institute have been sounding alarm bells about teacher shortages for years — shortfalls that have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. A new permanent endowed scholarship fund for students pursing a degree in education will help to mitigate the problem.

The Nancy M. Bailey Endowed Scholarship Fund, created to encourage HWS students to earn an education degree and go into the teaching profession, was established by Nancy Malfitano Bailey ’71. Bailey majored in English and education at William Smith and went on to a career as a teacher at the college level, retiring as professor emerita of teacher education at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y.

“It’s so important that teachers be honored and nurtured,” says Bailey, noting that she has been concerned about the dwindling numbers of students enrolled in education programs for several years. “It alarmed me well before the pandemic — and teaching is so much harder now with everything that’s going on.”

The fund will provide assistance to one or more HWS students who are academically qualified and have demonstrated financial need, with preference given to those in their third and fourth year who are pursuing a degree in education.

Bailey earned a master’s in education from Nazareth College and a Ph.D. in literacy from SUNY Buffalo. At HWS, she was a member of Hai Timiai and was a founding member of Koshare Dance Collective.

Michelle Poulin ’15

Nonviolent Social Movements

Harvard Kennedy School graduate student Michelle Poulin ’15 has been awarded a Topol Research Fellowship at Harvard’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. Under the guidance of Professor Erica Chenoweth, a leading scholar in alternative solutions to political conflict, Poulin will research the success rates of recent international nonviolent protest movements and gather data for the Carr Center’s Nonviolent Action Lab.

Poulin notes that studying abroad in Taipei, Taiwan, during her senior year at HWS — a time of social upheaval in Taiwan and Hong Kong as well as an election year — helped to inform her interest in social movements.

“My time in Taipei changed the way I think about social movements and democracy,” she explains. “It’s safe to say I wouldn’t have been able to land this fellowship without HWS providing me with a great education and the chance to study abroad in an incredible country.”