Dean’s Advisory Board

Julia Kim Clarke (Pardee ’91)

Julia Kim Clarke is the Chief Financial Officer at two privately held software companies. IDC Global Inc. is a NYC-based SaaS software development company that provides comprehensive, customized front and back-end technology platforms for large residential real estate companies. Etan Tolling Technologies is an accounting software solution for the infrastructure tollway sector for public and private infrastructure departments and companies. She has in-depth experience in international start-ups, building high-growth SaaS-based business models, debt and equity financing, managing investor relations, and the due diligence process.

Prior to becoming a tech executive and entrepreneur, Julia spent 10 years in the investment banking industry as an institutional research account manager for Asian equity investments. During the 1993-2003 period of explosive growth in Asian economic development and its capital markets, she was at the forefront of launching and distributing primary and secondary equities of major multi-sector, multi-country Asian companies. Julia was consistently ranked one of the top Institutional Equity salespeople by her clients and one of the top revenue-generating account managers. She was also instrumental in developing and expanding the US-based Asian Equity business at Credit Suisse First Boston and JP Morgan. She traveled extensively across Asia, meeting heads of state and company executives, developing an in-depth understanding of local economic and corporate policies.

Julia graduated cum laude from Boston University with a dual B.A. in International Relations and East Asian Studies in 1991 and received her MPIA degree at the University of California San Diego, Graduate School of Global Studies in International Business and East Asian Studies. Her focus was Asian Economic Development specializing in Industrial policy for Korea, Taiwan, and China. During her time at Barings Securities, she researched the Chinese railroad and coal industries. Building on her professional experience in finance, Julia has extensive experience in fundraising at her children’s schools in NYC and Los Angeles, where she volunteered in annual funds, and large capital campaigns and co-chaired the school benefit.

Maria Cristina de Souza (Pardee’20)

 Maria Cristina de Souza has a masters and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro and a masters in Latin American Studies from the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. She taught philosophy at universities in Brazil for over 10 years to undergraduate students of different socio-economic backgrounds and ethnicities. At Universidade Federal do Maranhão, Dr. De Souza helped organize the curriculum for and teach in a new interdisciplinary program committed to offering higher education to schoolteachers in rural and impoverished communities. She was a visiting scholar at Boston University in the Department of Sociology and at Columbia University in the Department of Anthropology. She has published articles and books in Portuguese throughout her academic career. Her research interests include Latin American – especially Brazilian – intellectual, social, cultural, and political history as well as nineteenth and twentieth century philosophy of culture.

Malik R. Dahlan

Professor Dahlan holds the Chair of International Law and Public Policy at Queen Mary University of London. He also holds several adjunct and honorary professorships in the US, UK, China, and Singapore.

He was a transnational regulatory lawyer who acted as outside counsel for international businesses, institutions, organizations, and government entities. As a policy expert, he has written and advised on matters regarding international law, dispute resolution, global governance, legislative affairs, defense, energy, and foreign relations.

He is a trustee of the British Institute for International and Comparative Law, an Advisory Board member of the Institute for Legal and Constitutional Research at the University of St. Andrew’s, and a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. He also sits on the editorial board of Defence Strategic Communications, NATO’s academic journal.

Professor Dahlan is an advocate for ethical investment. He serves as a member of the Massachusetts General Hospital President’s Council.

Milind Deora (Questrom ’99)

Milind Deora entered the Lok Sabha in 2004 as a member of the Indian National Congress. Born in 1976, Milind was one of India’s youngest Members of Parliament. He has held various positions in Parliamentary Committees on Defense, Civil Aviation, Estimates, Urban Development, and Information Technology. He has also served as India’s Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology and Shipping. Prior to entering politics, Milind worked in the private sector in the United States and India in an effort to set up one of India’s first digital public-private partnerships. By doing so, Milind and his team were able to provide economically underprivileged students free access to Information Technology-enabled education.

During his active 10-year political career, Milind became an important national voice and harbinger for transformational change. He spearheaded several important issues, including the historic Right to Information law and e-Governance. Millions of Milind’s constituents continue to benefit from his social programs in healthcare, sports, and digital literacy. After leaving public office in 2014, Milind joined the boards of Arctic Circle based in Iceland, and his alma mater, Boston University. He continues to stay politically engaged through his association with the Indian National Congress, televised debates, op-eds in major newspapers, and over 1.5 million followers on Twitter.

Milind is an alumnus of The Cathedral & John Connon School, Sydenham College in Mumbai, and Boston University in the United States. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration (BBA) from Boston University. His love for music, especially of the blues and rock genres is well known, and as an accomplished guitarist, he has several performances to his credit. Milind’s wife Pooja is a successful entrepreneur in the entertainment industry.

Gerry Gitner (CAS ’66, BU Trustee Emeritus)

Gerry Gitner is an aviation executive with a long and distinguished career in the airline industry. Among his past positions are Chairman and CEO of Trans World Airlines, Chief Financial Officer of Pan American World Airways, Chairman and CEO of Pan Am World Services, Co-Founder and President of People Express Airlines, and Chairman of Kitty Hawk Air Cargo. During his time at Trans World Airlines, he successfully increased fleet numbers, improved the organization’s debt structure, won two J.D. Power and Associates awards, and ultimately facilitated the sale of the company to American Airlines.

In addition to his work in aviation, Gerald has been part of many other companies and firms in various leadership capacities. He is currently a principal of Cross Continental Capital LLC, an investment company he co-founded. He also serves as chairman of Global Aero Holdings, LTD and D. G. Associates, Inc. In the past, he served as a director of companies including Factory Card Outlet of America, Tricom S. A., and CIFG Holdings.

Along with his professional accomplishments and accolades, Gerry is a generous supporter of higher education and outstanding faculty. He earned his bachelor’s degree with cum laude distinction from the Boston University College of Arts and Sciences and was elected to the Phi Alpha Theta National History Honor Society. He served as a Trustee of Boston University where he served on the board’s executive committee. Gerry has endowed numerous Faculty awards along with other endeavors at BU. He also established the Gerald and Deanne Family Prize for Faculty Excellence at the Pardee School, which is awarded annually to recognize excellence in teaching and mentorship. In addition to his service at BU, Gerry is a past trustee of R.I.T. and a past member of the University of Missouri (St. Louis) Chancellor’s Council as well as having served on various other educational institutions’ councils. Gerry and his family have endowed scholarships and prizes at several institutions of higher education.

Gitner graduated with a BA in history, cum laude, from BU’s College of Arts and Science and was elected to Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society. He has an MBA from the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester where he is a member of the Simon Advisory Board. He is a past member of Boston University’s Board of Trustees (1984–1996), where he served as a member of the Executive Committee.

Andrew McCarthy (CGS ’04, Pardee ’06)

Andrew is the Senior Managing Director in the Singapore office of FTI Consulting where he leads the Southeast Asia Financial Crime Compliance practice. Andrew’s practice is focused on advising Financial Services clients on Anti-Money Laundering (“AML”), Economic/ Trade (“ETS”), Tax Crime, Client Suitability regulations, risks, and corresponding controls. Andrew’s career has been primarily focused on the assessment, design, and implementation of complex Financial Crime Compliance programs for banks and other financial services organizations, often in response to regulatory findings and penalties. In addition, Andrew has led numerous regulator-imposed, sensitive money laundering and sanctions investigations. Andrew’s client experience includes matters in Afghanistan, Australia, China, Continental Europe, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Southeast Asia, UAE, the UK, and the US.

Prior to FTI, Andrew was a Partner with Deloitte, based first in Washington D.C. and then in Singapore where he has lived since 2013 with his wife and three children. Earlier in his career, Andrew was a Senior Economic Advisor in the U.S. Department of Defense where he supported counterterrorism, counter-proliferation, and counter-intelligence efforts.

Ruth Moorman (CAS ’88, SED ’89, ’09, BU Trustee)

Ruth Moorman is an educator who began her career as a secondary special education teacher for students with learning disabilities and behavioral problems. Her current areas of interest include educational leadership, supporting university and community partnerships, increasing opportunities for students in higher education, and funding early-stage medical research. She earned a BA in political science, a master’s in teaching, and a doctorate in special education at Boston University.

She is a member of the Boston University Academy Advisory Board, the Harvard Graduate School of Education Dean’s Leadership Council, the Stanford Graduate School of Education Advisory Board, and the Visiting Committee of the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Ruth and her husband Sheldon Simon have been and continue to be devoted advocates and supporters of higher education and cancer research. They established the Moorman-Simon Program for Education and Schooling for Democracy and Citizenship at various research universities and are helping to found the Men’s Collaborative to Cure Women’s Cancers at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. Ruth and Sheldon have two daughters, one a 2015 graduate of the BU Academy.

Paul Nathanson (Pardee ’85)

With more than 25 years of experience in strategic, crisis, and corporate communications, Paul Nathanson’s focus is on reputation management, message development and implementation, public policy analysis, media relations, and strategic counseling services for a range of U.S. and international clients. He assists clients in formulating arguments in persuasive ways and ensures that clients’ views are heard and understood by their target audiences, including Members of Congress, policymakers, the news media, and the public. Over the years, he has managed comprehensive crisis communications planning and response programs for a range of clients in the fields of consumer products, energy and natural resources, manufacturing, finance, and health industries. Paul has also provided crisis communications and media training to a range of corporate CEOs and other senior executives, trade association leaders, and non-profit heads.

Prior to joining Bracewell’s Policy Resolution Group, Paul spent 15 years as a partner at a public relations agency, where he headed the firm’s Washington, D.C. office and managed strategic communications programs for corporations, trade associations, foreign governments, and international donor agencies both in the U.S. and in the former Soviet Union. In addition, he has managed donor-funded privatization and economic reform programs overseas, and market entry and reputation management programs for domestic and international private sector clients.

Paul began his career in the non-profit sector, where he served for seven years as a vice president for a non-governmental organization, directing democracy-building programs around the world, including election monitoring, technical assistance to legislatures, and international conference management in Central America, Asia, the former Soviet Union, and Central and Eastern Europe.

Robert Novembre (Pardee ’91)

Robert Novembre is the CEO and Founder of Clarity Markets Holdings, LLC, operating as Clarity BidRate Alternative Trading System. Robert is the architect behind this modern trading platform promoting competitive pricing, transparency, improved accessibility, and a centralization of the floating rate market across asset classes. Robert started his career in 1991, completing the first 18.5 years of his career as Managing Director in the global capital markets division at Citigroup. By 2007, he was responsible for approximately $170 billion in remarketed securities across multiple asset classes. It was his experience, at the leading firm in the industry, during the Financial Crisis, which sparked his concept of Clarity and propelled him to the next stage of his career, operating as an entrepreneur with a total of over 30 years on Wall Street and in the Fintech industry.

Since initiating Clarity, Robert has been invited to speak at various conferences about technology in finance, including the National Association of State Treasurers, the Government Finance Officers Association, and the California Debt and Investment Advisory Committee. He has been highlighted and quoted in publications including the Financial Times, Forbes, and Bloomberg. Currently, interfacing with U.S. state and local governments and agencies, his next step is to enter the corporate market and secure a foothold in international markets.

He is also invested in other business ventures including restaurants, blockchain, crypto-technology, biotech, real estate, and finance. He holds trademarks and he is the inventor listed on two financial patents. Robert holds an advisory board seat with Municipal Finance & Servicing Corp. and Coinfront and he also served as a board member for Sixth Borough Capital Management, LLC.

Robert dedicates time to St. James “Friday Dinners” for the homeless and donates to charities including, Operation Smile, St. Jude’s Hospital for Children, and Wounded Warrior. Robert enjoys constant international travel, seeing family, friends, and colleagues living around the globe. He has a profound love of new cultures, cuisine, and as an amateur artist, he has a great interest in the arts throughout the world. Robert’s travel is constantly fueling his deep desire to always be learning, enjoying life, creating, and never stopping.

Bonnie Pierce (CAS ’92, Pardee ’94)

Bonnie J. Pierce (Pardee ’94 and CAS ’92) has over 25 years of experience in institutional asset management, global financial services, emerging markets private equity, consulting, and advocacy. She is a Senior Advisor of Elevation Gained Partners which provides deal sourcing, due diligence, growth and go-to-market strategies, operational value creation, fundraising, and exit strategies to CEOs and private equity firms. She is also in the process of founding a cybersecurity startup company with a fellow BU alum. In addition, Bonnie has been a Visiting Professor of International Business at the George Washington University School of Business since 2007 where she teaches classes in International Management, Finance, Banking, Negotiations, Global Perspectives, and Strategy.

Bonnie has MBAs from Columbia Business School and London Business School, with concentrations in Finance and Corporate Strategy respectively, and an MA in International Relations and a BA in European History from Boston University. She is a member of the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies Dean’s Advisory Board and the Boston University Alumni Council and served on President Brown’s Alumni Relations Task Force where she led the BU donor and alumni data subcommittee. She is a former opera singer and a certified Sommelier. Bonnie resides in Washington, D.C. and York, Maine with her two daughters and future Terriers, Olivia and Anabelle Pham.

Stuart Pratt (CAS ’69, Questrom Parent ’18, BU Trustee)

Stuart W. Pratt, overseer, trustee emeritus, member of the International Advisory Board, and national chair of the Annual Fund, is president and chairman of the commercial real estate company NAI Hunneman. He is also president and chairman of the board of the Fort Point Companies and chairman of the board of Danimer Scientific.

Mr. Pratt graduated from CAS in 1969 and is a past member of the CAS Dean’s Advisory Board. He is a trustee and vice president of the Peabody Essex Museum, among other charitable organizations with which he is involved.  He and his wife, Elizabeth, have two children, including Stuart F., Class of 2018 Questrom School of Business.

Aamer Sarfraz (Questrom ‘02)

Aamer Sarfraz, Lord Sarfraz, is a Member of the House of Lords, the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. He was previously a Treasurer of the Conservative Party and an advisor to the party leadership on outreach. On joining the House of Lords, he became one of the youngest peers in parliament.

His career has included roles at the Electrum Group (private equity), Draper Associates (venture capital), and 3i Group plc. He is the founder of Better Grain, an agricultural technology business.

Lord Sarfraz is involved in a number of not-for-profit initiatives. Current board and advisory roles include at Texas A&M University, Panthera, WWF Pakistan, and the Pardee School. He is also engaged in a wide range of philanthropic activities in Pakistan, where he was raised.

He graduated from Boston University with a BS in Management and received an MSc in Information Systems (with Distinction) from the London School of Economics.

Lord Sarfraz lives in London with his wife, Maryam, and two daughters.

Kenneth Slater

Ken oversees the acquisition of Slater Family Holdings’ assets and directly manages its debt holdings, currency, and syndicate trading. Ken Slater has worked in investment securities and the real estate industry for over 35 years. He is a member of the Massachusetts and Florida Bars and has held various principal securities licenses. Ken’s family was one of the 1366 members of the New York Stock Exchange until it went public in 2006. Ken has an undergraduate degree from McGill University, and while working full time, obtained a law degree from the New England School of Law.

Ken is a Trustee at Boston University, a member of the National Board of Directors for Operational Homefront, and sits on the board of the Palm Beach Fellowship of Christians and Jews. He is a member of the Wilson Center Global Advisory Council and serves on the Harvard University NeuroDiscovery Council. He and his family have endowed Chairs and Lecture Series at Boston University, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, and The Technion Institute in Israel.

Maria Sukkar

Maria Sukkar (b.1970, Beirut, Lebanon) majored in Nutrition and Dietetics at the American University of Beirut (M.Sc. ’92) and had her private practice in Beirut, creating tailored nutritional programs to specific health challenges with particular emphasis on weight loss and women and children’s nutrition. In 2004, she relocated to London with her husband Malek and their three children where she became involved in various cultural and artistic platforms.

In the UK, Maria is part of the International Council at the Tate Museum and sits on their Middle Eastern Acquisitions Committee and their Photography Acquisitions Committee. She is a trustee of the Showroom and of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA). She is a member of the CaMMEA group (Contemporary and Modern Middle East Acquisition) of the British Museum and a Strategic Advisor of the Delfina Foundation. She supports the Chisenhale, the Camden Art Centre, the South London Gallery, and the Design Museum. Maria also sits on the Solomon R. Guggenheim Director’s Circle and on the New Museum International Leadership Council in New York.

Whilst in Lebanon, she is supportive of the HomeWorks space and of the Beirut Art Centre. She is a nominator on the Prix Pictet Photography Prize since 2010 and is on the Photo London Founders Committee as well as their Advisory Board. Maria is also a member of St James’s roundtable at Chatham House, UK.

Maria and her husband Malek founded the ISelf art collection in 2007.  Their collection looks at identity with particular reference to the human condition. Thematic exhibitions based on ISelf featured in a series of displays at the Whitechapel Gallery in London from April 2017 to August 2018. The show was open to the public and received over 350,000 visitors.

In addition to her commitment to the arts, Maria is a trustee of the St Jude’s affiliated Children’s Cancer Center (Lebanon-UK) and a vice-chair of the Chain of Hope (London). She is also a member of the Executive Committee of the Give a Child a Toy charity in the UK.