CDS Advisory Board

“The Advisory Board provides strategic advice and guidance to Professor Azer Bestavros to help CDS in its vision of bringing computational and data-driven technologies, systems, and processes to bear on the greatest challenges facing our world.”

Peter Wexler (Questrom ’93)

President Forest Avenue Technology Group

CDS Advisory Board Chair

Peter Wexler is an Engineer, entrepreneur, and investor. As president of Forest Avenue Technology Group, he is involved with a number of early-stage technology companies.

Previously, he led the development of key products that form the foundation of the Internet and today’s rapidly growing mobile networks. He was co-founder of Spidercloud Wireless, a global leader in small cell technology (sold to Corning). He also served as the founding VP of Engineering at Juniper Networks, helping lead the company from initial product through the delivery of multiple generations of high-performance routers that are playing a key role in the backbone of the Internet. Subsequently, he managed Juniper’s Mobile Business and was a director of the Ericsson–Juniper joint venture.

Peter has held Engineering and management positions at a number of Companies including Bay Networks, Wellfleet Communications, and Siemens. His good fortune has enabled him to help take several companies public, raise many rounds of venture financing, and work with insanely great people.

Peter serves on several private company boards and is a Trustee of Boston University where he serves as the chair of the audit committee. He received an MBA from Boston University (Questrom ’93), an MSE from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a BSEE from SUNY Stonybrook. Peter and his wife, Deborah (Questrom’93) live in Palo Alto, California and have one son.

Jason Atlas (Parent CDS ’27)

Founding Partner, Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg Atlas LLP

Jason B. Atlas is a founding partner and head of the health care department at the Manhattan office of the law firm of Schwartz Sladkus Reich Greenberg Atlas LLP.  He specializes in the counseling and representation of nursing homes, hospitals, assisted living facilities, home health care agencies and other manner of health care providers.  Jason regularly advises and guides both not-for-profit and proprietary health care facilities and entities to structure and streamline procedures to address and resolve all manner of complex issues that present in the operations of health care clients. He is a frequent lecturer to nursing home and hospital associations as well as private concerns and organizations.

Jason lives in Dix Hills, New York with his wife Meredith, the proud parents of daughters Amanda, Jenna and Sabrina, and their dog Hudson.

Jason earned a BA from New York University (1993) J.D. and graduated from Hofstra University School of Law (1996)

Fred Cibelli (CGS ’97, CAS ’99)

Principal, Technology Consulting, Ernst & Young

With nearly 20 years of experience delivering complex technology transformations for multi-national financial services clients, Fredric is a Principal in the EY Financial Services Consulting practice. He is currently the US lead for the Architecture practice at EY, and previously was the Global FS Chief Technology Officer for EY. Before that, Fredric led EY’s Technology Transformation practice and Process Innovation offering, focused on agile transformations and innovative ways to redesign processes using the latest technologies.

Prior to joining EY, Fredric was a Captain in the United States Air Force, where his responsibilities included development of the 14th Air Force’s global IT policies, management of the IT security divisions, and service-wide information warfare exercises.

Fredric earned a BS in Computer Science from Boston University. He lives in Manhattan with his 2 kids and wife, enjoying time upstate away from the city, skiing with the family and dinners with friends.

Marjorie Hsu (ENG ’86, Questrom ’93)

Global CTO / CRO Bridging People, Diverse Technology into Business Impact

After a corporate career, Marjorie pivoted to the excitement of start-ups. As Chief Revenue Officer and VP of Global Business Development for The Experience Engine (TE2), she built a robust pipeline of clients and channel partnerships with global brands for this data orchestration middleware platform that enables enterprises to create personalized customer experiences at large venues.

Previously and after retiring from Verizon Wireless, Marjorie was recruited to provide her innovation and executive leadership to SingTel. As the company’s Chief Technology Officer and Managing Director of Networks, Marjorie’s organization executed on the wireless, fiber and IPTV strategies in Singapore while collaborating on vision and roadmap with SingTel affiliates across SE Asia and Australia.

Marjorie’s 27-year career at Verizon Wireless culminated in her role as VP of Wireless Network Administration with a multi-functional team of 150 employees and 6 direct reports. She established operational excellence and best practices across network security, network real estate, field operations assurance, FCC and FAA compliance, and transport services.

As VP of Services Technology, Marjorie built and led a team of 120 engineers and user-centered design experts to create products and services for FiOS consumers, SMB and enterprise. She authored the network strategic plan that enabled Fiber to the Home in her prior role as VP of Planning and Metrics Management.

When she was appointed to her first enterprise-level position – Executive Director of Data Services and Network Operations – Marjorie re-integrated a separate data affiliate for layer 2 services, creating a 1,000-employee, ISO-certified organization with 99.999% network availability.

Marjorie holds an MBA and BS in Electrical Engineering from Boston University where she now serves on the Advisory Board for the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences. She also serves on boards for early stage tech, the Westchester Community Foundation, and Westchester County’s Asian American Advisory Board.

Brahm Alexander Rhodes (ENG ’85, ENG ’88, GRS ’91)

General Partner, Malaika Ventures

Dr. Brahm Rhodes is a multi-disciplinary engineer, venture-backed founder, and General Partner at Malaika Ventures, where he invests in early-stage climate tech startups through a transformative climate justice lens. Brahm is passionate about leveraging technology and data to increase access to and improve knowledge, health, and financial well-being and address climate change and responsible AI to create a sustainable future for everyone.

Brahm has founded and worked in various startups, was an NIH Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School, and has deep experience across multiple industries and technologies. He is also a mentor with leading startup accelerators, teaches data science and AI/ML, and lectures on responsible AI.

Dr. Rhodes holds a BS in Electrical Engineering, an MS in Aerospace Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University.

Azer Bestavros

Warren Distinguished Professor of Computer Science

Associate Provost for the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences

Azer Bestavros is the inaugural Associate Provost for Computing & Data Sciences appointed in 2019 to oversee the development and launch of the Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences (CDS) a university-wide tenure-home and degree-granting academic unit focused on broadening BU’s footprint in computational and data-driven research as well as introduce new educational pathways for all students to gain computing, data science, and AI skills.

In recognition of distinguished teaching, research, and service, Professor Bestavros received many awards, most notably the inaugural ACM Sigmetrics Test of Time Award for 1996 work "whose impact is still felt 15 years after initial publication" and the 2010 United Methodist Scholar Teacher Award for "outstanding dedication and contributions to the learning arts and to the institution." In 2017, he was named a William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor, the highest distinction bestowed upon senior faculty members at BU for “representing our community with distinction, enriching the academic experience for our students, and raising our stature as a major research university.”

A native of Alexandria, Egypt, Professor Bestavros holds BS and MS degrees in Computer Engineering from Alexandria University, and SM and PhD degrees in Computer Science from Harvard University. With his wife Kathryn, he resides in Wayland, Massachusetts, where they raised their three BU Terrier children Mark (CAS’18), John (CAS’23), and Kristen (CDS’25).