PETER R. GATES is Partner of Acropolis Advisors, based in Boston, Massachusetts. Gates has more than 20 years international consulting and entrepreneurial experience with a focus on healthcare and medical technology, and was previously an Executive Advisor at consulting firm EY-Parthenon and a founding partner of MedEquity Capital, a healthcare focused private equity firm. Prior to MedEquity, he held senior executive positions at GE Healthcare and Concentra, Inc.  He began his professional career with Bain & Company where he served as partner in the Boston and London offices and developed their healthcare strategy practices. He serves on several hospital boards. Gates holds a BA, magna cum laude from Princeton University and an MBA, with distinction, from Harvard Business School.

JAKKI KELLY has spent 20+ years working to ensure high quality education and life success for people and communities traditionally left behind. She is currently the Deputy Executive Director of Development and External Relations at Hudson Guild.  Jacki previously served as the founding Executive Director of The Writing Revolution (TWR) and as Director of Development at several educational non-profits including Friends of the Children of New York, Student Leadership Network, and READ Alliance. Jacki has taught elementary school children and adult immigrants. She serves on the board of College and Community Fellowship and the Petey Greene Program, two exceptional non-profits focused on the education of individuals impacted by the criminal legal system and to dismantling the unfair systems that led to their incarceration in the first place.  Jacki holds an M.A. in Elementary Inclusive Education from Teachers College Columbia University and a B.S. in Journalism from Northeastern University.

YUSUF DAHL is the CEO of the Century Promsie, a program that builds career pathways for high school students. He has been awarded fellowships from Google to expand wireless access in Boston and Tata Consultancy Services to work on emerging technology issues in Kolkata, India. He is a graduate of Princeton University,  School of Public and International Affairs with a Master’s degree in Public Administration; he holds an MBA from University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and a Bachelor of Arts, Information Technology Systems from Ottawa University.

BILL ACHTMEYER started his career in the strategy consulting industry in 1977 at Bain and Company where he rose to being one of ten senior partners leading the firm. He started the mergers and acquisitions practice and led Bain’s North American business development activities. In 1991, Bill Co-founded Parthenon and became Chairman, CEO, and Managing Partner in 1994. By 2014, Parthenon had grown to be a $100mm business with 28 partners and 350 professionals. It operated out of six offices: Boston (headquarters), San Francisco, London, Mumbai, Shanghai, and Singapore. At that time, the firm was a major global advisor to the Education and Private Equity industries, with emerging positions in the Consumer/Retail, Industrial, Healthcare, and Technology sectors. Parthenon merged with EY in the fall of 2014 at an all-time high acquisition multiple for a strategy consulting firm. Bill continued to lead the organization until the end of 2019. Upon handing over the reins, he built EY-Parthenon into a $2 billion, 500 partner, and 5,000 consultant juggernaut. It was the fastest growing, highest margin entity within EY. Besides being its best acquisition to date, EY decided to make Parthenon its only sub-brand. Bill developed a proprietary strategy construct called The Full Potential ParadigmTM (FPP) that he utilized and perfected throughout his career. FPP helps CEO’s set growth and margin expectations for investors and employees that are fact based and reliable. A book on FPP and Bill’s experiences as a CEO advisor is in the works. During the course of working in the consulting business for over forty years, Bill has advised a number of Chief Executive Officers on the strategic direction of their corporations. Those corporations include: Agilent, Briggs & Stratton, Corning, DeVry, eBay, Educate, Ford Motor Company, Hachette, Herman Miller, J.M. Huber Corporation, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill, Laureate Education, Mead/Westvaco, QuadGraphics, Saatchi and Saatchi, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Thomson Reuters, and Young & Rubicam. Bill is recognized as an expert in corporate strategy, as well as mergers and acquisitions strategy and integration. Philanthropically, Bill has served as Chairman of numerous organizations, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra; the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children; the Massachusetts High Technology Council; Tenacity; Lawrence Academy; and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. In June of 2012, Bill stepped down as Chairman of the Board of Overseers at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth after 11 years of service. At that time, he was awarded the Overseers’ Medal in recognition of his dedicated service to Tuck, where he has hooded over 2,600 students at Investiture ceremonies. Finally, he has served as Vice Chair at his alma mater, Belmont Hill, for over two decades. Bill holds an A.B. from Princeton University (Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) and an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

 

CHERI SYPHAX is the CEO of Phax Entertainment Group, LLC. and a former Sales and Marketing Executive with more than 30 years of management, driving sales and getting results in the ever changing and male dominated Medical Supply industry. Cheri holds a Master's Degree in Leadership and Organizational Development, where she further developed her skills around understanding values, the psychology of individuals in individual and group dynamics, and how to influence social behavior through thoughtful, compassionate, and strategic approaches. She has also been a member of and volunteered with organizations like Emerge and 100 Black Women, where she worked with future female leaders to help develop social and life skills. Cheri’s combined years of life and professional experience make her a powerhouse and maven when it comes to business, sales, marketing and the attributes needed to drive and see the results that matter! She is excited to share more of her expertise in the coming months with the relaunch of Phax Marketing, LLC - a boutique marketing firm geared towards the growth of female and minority-owned small businesses. A native to the San Francisco bay area, Cheri now calls the East Coast her home. After meeting her soulmate online during COVID, the pair share dual residency between his hometown of Trenton, NJ and Cheri’s adopted city, Philadelphia, PA. Together, they work on social justice issues, focusing on economic, educational, and entrepreneurial access to marginalized individuals. They work tirelessly on education initiatives for justice impacted individuals in and out of the criminal justice system through their company From the Block to the Boardroom. Now the proud owner-operators of Booker’s Restaurant and the Bayou Lounge in West Philadelphia, Cheri and her husband are honored to provide a space that celebrates art, culture, good food, and community and gives opportunities to returning citizens for gainful employment in the restaurant industry. Cheri recently penned her own memoir, "Second Act: Living Boldly and Abundantly at Every Age." In the book, Mrs. Syphax illuminates the notion that no matter how many times it takes to design your best life, the greatest part is the journey and lessons gained along the way.

 

CASON CRANE is an entrepreneur, adventurer, and activist. He is the first openly LGBT person to climb the Seven Summits - the highest mountain on each continent - including Mt. Everest. He is passionate about combining his love for exploring the world with his desire to make it better, namely in the areas of LGBT rights, suicide prevention, lung cancer research, climate change mitigation, and criminal justice reform. For his activism and advocacy, he’s been awarded LogoTV’s 'Young Trailblazer' honor and The Trevor Project’s 'Youth Innovator Award'. Cason graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University with a bachelor’s degree in History and certificates in American Studies and Near Eastern Studies. While at Princeton, he led the Community Service Interclub Council and volunteered for the Petey Greene Program. After starting his career as a management consultant in Bain & Company's New York office, he founded an award-winning coffee business, Explorer Cold Brew (www.explorercoldbrew.com), leading it to reach seven-figures in its first year and becoming the first cold brew on a major US airline. Under Cason's leadership, Explorer has been featured by Bon Appetit, The New York Times, Saveur, and more, and has been lauded for both its exceptional quality as well as its commitment to impact and sustainability. Cason is also an avid endurance and adventure racer and has competed in dozens of ultramarathons, obstacle course races, and IRONMAN triathlons, in addition to numerous marathons, open-water swims, hikes, climbs, and more. You’ll soon find Cason competing on Season 1 of Race to Survive: Alaska, premiering on the USA Network in early 2023. When not off on an adventure, he lives in Brooklyn, NY with his husband Francis and their dog Timmy.

 

LEE GLADDEN is the founder and CEO of several financial firms focused on the futures markets.  Prior to moving to Princeton, he was a partner at a management consulting firm in Boston. He is a graduate of Harvard Business School, MBA and University of California at Santa Barbara, BA in Mathematics.

 

DAVID J. HARDING is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley and Director of the Berkeley D(ata)-Lab. Harding’s research and teaching is focused on poverty, inequality, education, the criminal justice system, and statistical and qualitative research methods. He has published multiple scholarly articles on the impacts of incarceration and other forms of justice system involvement and written two books on prisoner reentry and reintegration: On the Outside: Prison Reentry and Reintegration (with Jeffrey Morenoff and Jessica Wyse, University of Chicago Press, 2019), and After Prison: Navigating Adulthood in the Shadow of the Justice System (with Heather Harris, Russel Sage, 2020). Harding earned a BA in Sociology from Princeton (1998) and a PhD in Sociology and Social Policy from Harvard (2005). He has also served on the faculty in Sociology and the Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.

 

ROBERT D. KARTHEISER, JR. is currently Chief Business Officer of climate tech innovator TerraCO2. He also participates as an outside board member in entities active in the energy transition and climate tech space, and for charitable institutions pursuing social justice and educational goals. Bob brings 35 years of solution-oriented leadership in the US and emerging markets managing teams throughout the life cycle of E&I assets (including pre-revenue stage). He has done so in a commercial capacity – as Chief Business Officer of TerraCO2 and earlier as the head of an independent power producer’s LatAm development team – and as a partner and departmental head of E&I teams at some of the world’s leading law firms. Bob has lived and worked in some of the most challenging markets (including Russia, Brazil and the Middle East) and brings unusually broad and deep experience to the development, financing and buying/selling of E&I assets, as well as risk assessment and responsible governance acumen.

 

LAURI MATHIS is a Senior Vice President and Internal Audit Director at OceanFirst Bank N.A. Ms. Mathis started her career in banking as a teller right out of high school and was promoted to positions with increased responsibilities at several branch locations in Southern New Jersey. She began her career in Internal Audit in 2011 and has worked at OceanFirst Bank since 2016. Lauri attended Atlantic Cape Community College and Stockton University where she earned her bachelor’s degree (BA) in 2016 and obtained her master’s in legal studies (MLS), focused on financial services, from Seton Hall University in 2024. All her degrees were earned while working full-time and raising her daughter as a single parent. She also holds two professional certifications: Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) from the Institute of Internal Auditors and Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM) from the American Bankers Association. She has excelled in Internal Audit, receiving multiple promotions, and currently serves as Senior Vice President and Internal Audit Director at OceanFirst Bank. Under the direction of the Chief Audit Executive, Lauri manages the Internal Audit team, as well as the Internal Audit Professional Practices role. Lauri is affiliated with the Institute of Internal Auditors, American Bankers Association, and the NJ Bankers Association. Lauri is a member of the WomenL.E.A.D. committee at OceanFirst, which is dedicated to cultivating a workplace where women can thrive and champion those who inspire and motivate employees through collaboration, professional development, networking opportunities, mentorship, and enrichment. She also leads the Networking and Foundation sub-committees of WomenL.E.A.D. Lauri recently moved from South Jersey to Langhorne, PA. She highly values education and how her educational opportunities have helped her advance in her career.

 

GEORGE H. McLAUGHLIN II is a former entrepreneur in the food industry and has held executive positions at companies in both the food industry and in the financial sector. During his career, George served as the President and as Vice President for Finance of the Mocatta Metals Corporation.  Previously he served as Chairman of American Specialty Foods and President of Iron Mountain Security Storage.  Over the years, George has served on many Boards and held other executive positions, which include, but are not limited to Boca Flowers International, Misty Flowers, PsychoGenics, Florespa, Moviefone, and Mercer Alden.  George holds a BA from Princeton University. Following his graduation from college, he served in the military for three years as an officer in the U.S. Navy Supply Corps and then received an MBA from Harvard Business School.

 

CHARLES W. PUTTKAMMER has held positions in the U.S. Department of Education, the Office of Economic Opportunity, the Department of Agriculture, the District of Columbia Poverty Program, with the Agency for International Development as chief of Nutrition Division, in India, and as a private in the US army. Most recently, he and his wife owned and operated the Inn at Millrace Pond, a 17-room inn with a full-service restaurant in Hope, N.J. During his college years at Princeton University, Puttkammer worked for racial diversity by recruiting qualified African American applicants. His interest in race relations continued after living with a lower middle class African American family in Chicago after graduation. His father, a professor of Criminal Law at the University of Chicago Law School inspired him to care about people in prison and his interest in student volunteering. Puttkammer met his wife, Cordie, when they both volunteered for a Harvard program through which they each visited a patient in a psychiatric hospital in one-on-one sessions each week – an experience that further solidified his support for volunteer programs and motivated him to found the Petey Greene Program. Puttkammer received his BA from Princeton University, and his MPA from the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard University.

CORDIE PUTTKAMMER is the mother of a son and two daughters and spent 25 years as an Assistant Professor at Howard University, and has also taught at Kean University and Dominican College. She now volunteers in the school and City Museum of Mackinac Island. In 1987, Cordie received the Teacher of the Year award from Howard University. She also co-authored the “Preschool Visual Motor Integration Assessment” and “My Motor Baby” and edited “Working with Substance Exposed Infants and Children.” In 2000, she was elected a Fellow of the American Occupational Therapy Association. Cordie graduated from Tufts University in 1962 with a B.S. in Ed, becoming an occupational therapist. In 1976, she received a MED degree in Special Education from American University. Charlie and Cordie both continue to live in Seattle and on Mackinac Island where they speak to groups of Road Scholars each summer.

RICHARD O. SCRIBNER most recently served as president and CEO of Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (now called Learning Ally), a national non-profit that records textbooks and other educational material for students at all levels who cannot effectively use standard print. He also worked as a lawyer and executive in the financial services industry, occupying senior positions with Salomon Brothers, the American Stock Exchange, and the Securities Industry Association, and before that in private law practice. He is a former trustee of Princeton University and the Princeton HealthCare System. He graduated from Princeton University and Columbia Law School and served in the U.S. Marine Corps.

 

MARTHA STANIFORD is a Managing Director at Wealthspire Advisory (formerly known as Sontag Advisory).  Martha serves as an advisor, working with clients to develop comprehensive financial plans and investment strategies. Before joining Sontag Advisory/Wealthspire Advisory, Martha was responsible for directing the development of CIBC Oppenheimer’s Wealth Management Alliance (“WMA”) program, which offered a full complement of products and services for high-net-worth individuals, families, and family offices. Previously, Martha spent 15 years at Bankers Trust Company and BT Alex Brown in a variety of positions including Managing Director of BT Brokerage (the firm’s high net worth retail brokerage operation) and Managing Director and Head of the Latin America Private Banking Division. She also headed the Latin America/Emerging Markets Corporate Finance group and was one of the original members of the Derivatives/Capital Markets Group at Bankers Trust. Martha has also worked at GTE Corporation, Rohm & Haas Company, and Chase Manhattan Bank. She is an active volunteer and currently serves on the Zoning Board of Appeals - Borough of Fenwick, CT. Martha received a BA in Economics from Smith College and an MBA, with honors, from New York University.

 

RAY TEBOUT is an experienced people practices consultant and strategist who helps organizations improve both employee equity and productivity outcomes through systems design, coaching, training, and professional development. His target clients are organizations working to increase equity for communities negatively impacted by the criminal legal, and other dehumanizing systems. Ray's primary practice areas include: Executive People Business Partnering, Organizational Development, and training on the dynamics of Addiction and Substance Use. His approach is focused on strength-based and restorative people solutions. Ray currently serves as the Director of People and Practices at Exodus Transitional Community (a New York City reentry organization) and as an independent consultant at MindFrame Development Solutions. Most recently Ray directed an in-prison college program at Rutgers University, as the Assistant Dean.  Ray earned his BA in Psychology and Economics from the CUNY BA program via John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and is currently earning his MS in HR Administration at Central Michigan University. He holds international credentials in strategic and global human resources, as well as an advanced practice credential in addiction counseling. He currently serves in leadership and advisory roles on several non-profit boards of directors.

 

100% of the Trustees financially support the organization.