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Henri J. Barkey
Thomas J. Campbell
Dale F. Falcinelli
Patrick V. Farrell
Alice P. Gast
Alita Nemroff Friedman
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Michael George
Lee Kern
Bill Kirsch
Joe Morgenstern
Alton D. Romig Jr.
Richard Van Hoesen
Brian Witlin
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Henri J. Barkey is the Bernard L. and Bertha F. Cohen Professor in International Relations and International Relations Department Chair at Lehigh University. A leading expert on Turkey, from 1998-2000 he served as a member of the U.S. State Department Policy Planning Staff working primarily on issues related to the Middle East, the Eastern Mediterranean, and intelligence.
Respected worldwide as an authority in the field, he has provided expertise and opinion editorials in all forms of media, invited lectures, and conferences including The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, C-SPAN, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and was a guest presenter in Paris and Tel Aviv earlier this year. His most recent interviews have focused on Turkey’s status as one of America’s regional allies amidst the uncertainty of the Arab Spring and also on the escalating tensions between Turkey and Israel, and the affects of the Syrian crisis.
He is widely published and has authored, co-authored and edited five books, among them Iraq, Its Neighbors and the United States, with Phebe Marr and Scott Lasensky.
Barkey has taught at Princeton, the State University of New York, and the University of Pennsylvania. He recently completed a two-year position as a non-resident visiting scholar in the Carnegie Middle East program, and was also visiting fellow at Columbia University.
He earned a B.Sc. degree in economics from the City University, London, a M.Sc. degree in international relations from the University College, London, and a Ph.D. degree in political science from the University of Pennsylvania.
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Thomas J. Campbell ’80, ’13P, ’14P
is a Lehigh University Board of Trustees member, and founder and president of DC Capital Partners, LLC, a private investment firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. DC Capital Partners, LLC makes controlling equity investments in companies that provide services and solutions to the United States federal government. In this capacity, he serves as chairman of his portfolio companies that include KS International LLC, Strategic Intelligence Group, and The Spectrum Group.
He has over 25 years of investment experience in private equity, investment and commercial banking, and public accounting. He was one of the founding partners of the Veritas Capital, LLC, and the Merchant Banking Group of Wasserstein & Perella Col., Inc. He began his business career as a staff accountant at Coopers and Lybrand, and also was an officer of the Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of many public and private companies, and currently serves on the boards of The Pomfret School, the National Guard Youth Foundation, the Middle East Institute, and USO-Metro.
Campbell is a CPA and earned a B.S. degree in business and economics with a dual major in finance and accounting from Lehigh University.
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Dale Falcinelli ’70, ’72, ‘98P, ‘00P retired from decades of service on the Lehigh MBA and undergraduate faculty. He is now on special assignment with LehighSiliconValley, an experiential program that exposes Lehigh students to venture capital and tech startups on both East and West Coasts.
He recently joined Spouting Rock Capital Advisors, a Radnor, PA investment bank, and leads their M&A practice. reviously, and for many years, he advised CEOs and boards of early stage and emerging growth companies.
Falcinelli created VentureSeries, an award-winning executive certificate program in entrepreneurship that also serves as a track for Lehigh MBA students. He has received numerous awards for teaching and professional service, including the MBA Teaching Excellence award, and most recently the Farrington Award for Outstanding Commitment to Entrepreneurship at Lehigh. Falcinelli has lectured in the MBA programs at the Wharton School in Philadelphia and Wharton San Francisco, and appeared on A&E Biography and PBS.
He graduated from Lehigh University with a B.S. degree in business and economics and a M.A. degree in economics.
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Patrick V. Farrell joined Lehigh University as provost and vice president for academic affairs in 2009 and serves as the university’s chief academic officer. His responsibilities include leading efforts to attract, recruit, and retain highly talented individuals to Lehigh, as well as playing a central role in ensuring the success of institutional goals.
In his leadership role, he has been instrumental in advancing university-wide initiatives, such as the implementation of Lehigh’s Strategic Plan, serving as principal investigator for the Lehigh ADVANCE Grant, and furthering the university’s commitment to creating and maintaining an inclusive community which advances the diverse aspirations, experiences, and interests of all its members.
He collaboratively worked in bringing the Cluster Initiative to campus, an innovative approach to learning involving cross-disciplinary groups of faculty united around a common intellectual theme, problem, or area of interest. Farrell also implemented Lehigh’s Strategic Faculty Hiring Initiative, which advances the university’s strategic goals of creating a more diversified faculty, and supporting the development of employment opportunities for partners and spouses of faculty candidates.
Before coming to Lehigh, he served as the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a professor of mechanical engineering with more than 25 years experience as a teacher, researcher and leader. He is a member of the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Advisory Committee and a Fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers. He has taught courses in thermodynamics and fluid mechanics, and has written more than 90 articles for reviewed publications. More
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Alice P. Gast, president, Lehigh University, is an internationally renowned scholar, academic leader, and a distinguished researcher in the study of surface and interfacial phenomena. She is co- author of Physical Chemistry of Surfaces, a classic textbook on colloid and surface phenomena, and has presented named lectures at several of the nation’s leading research institutions. She became the 13th president of Lehigh University on August 1, 2006.
In the first four years of her presidency, Gast launched a long-range strategic plan for Lehigh University that includes four comprehensive components: addressing grand challenges and national needs in strategic areas of focus; investing in faculty and staff; providing a best-in-class student experience; and partnering in the renaissance of the local community.
In 2010, Gast was named to the prestigious post of science envoy by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the U.S. State Department. She is a member of the Board of Governors of the New York Academy of Sciences and the National Academies' Committee on Science, Technology, and the Law. In 2011, she was appointed to the Board of Trustees of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. Additionally, Gast is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Before coming to Lehigh, Gast was vice president for research and associate provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to that, she was a professor of chemical engineering at Stanford University. More
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Alita Nemroff Friedman ’87 is a principal and the chief operating officer of Pretty Ugly™, LLC, developing the UGLYDOLL® brand into a top specialty property that is sold worldwide. Currently, she is focusing on licensing UGLYDOLL for all categories of merchandise and digital applications globally and collaborating with major celebrities and entertainment properties. Universal Studio’s Illumination Entertainment is now adapting UGLYDOLL, the award winning character brand, into an animated feature film.
Because of the marketing and public relations engine Friedman and her team have created, UGLYDOLL has been featured in hundreds of newspapers, magazines and other media outlets including CBS Evening News, Time, CNN, The New York Times, and Businessweek. She has been a guest on the NBC Today Show seven times and has donated more than $1,000,000 worth of UGLYDOLL merchandise to the Today Show Toy Drive.
Friedman has held numerous board and committee positions with a variety of not-for-profit organizations over the years. Recently, she has worked on her 25th Reunion Committee at Lehigh University, setting a new class record for donations, and also has become Class Treasurer.
At Lehigh University, she earned her B.S. degree in business and economics majoring in accounting and also earned a minor in sociology. She obtained her C.P.A. and was previously employed at Arthur Andersen in New York City for 10 years, where she audited companies in the service, entertainment, and manufacturing industries.
Friedman resides in Warren, NJ with her husband Glen Friedman ’86 and is a hockey mom to her two teenage sons who attend The Pingry School. More
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Michael George is the director of the Centennial School at Lehigh University and an associate professor by courtesy appointment. The Centennial School is a school for children and youth with emotional and behavioral disabilities and a training facility for graduate students at Lehigh.
Centennial School’s achievements under George’s leadership include being designated as a School of Excellence by the National Association of Special Education Teachers, achieving accreditation by the Middle States Commission, and being featured on CNN for working with challenging children and youth without the use of aversive interventions.
Prior to Centennial School, George was the administrator of the Lane School Programs in Eugene, Oregon, a day-school education and consultation program recognized for its methods for working with students with emotional disturbances.
George is a member of several professional organizations and former president of the International Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders. He is the recipient of Lehigh University’s Tradition of Excellence Award as well as the Hillman Award for outstanding professional contributions. He was invited to the First White House Conference on Mental Health, and was recently invited to provide testimony before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee of the U.S. Senate on the topic of creating positive learning environments. He is widely published and has presented papers at many national and international conferences, including the First World Congress on Special Education.
George earned his doctorate from the University of Missouri with specialization in special education and behavior disorders.
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Lee Kern is currently Iacocca Professor and director of the Special Education Program at Lehigh University. She has worked in the field of special education for more than 25 years as a classroom teacher, behavior specialist, and consultant. Her research has focused on developing assessments to identify the cause of problem behavior and identifying interventions that effectively reduce those problems. Her work includes developing education programs for parents of pre-school children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, examining the relationship between school curriculum and student problem behaviors, and prevention of dropout among high school students with mental health and behavior challenges. Kern has published numerous research articles, book chapters, and two books.
She has received over $20 million in grant support from the Department of Education and National Institute of Mental Health to pursue research in behavior problems. She is heading a national Center, funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, to reduce behavior problems and dropout of high school students. She is associate editor of Journal of Behavioral Education and School Mental Health and serves on the editorial boards of eight educational journals. She received her doctorate in special education from the University of South Florida. More
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Bill Kirsch ’76 is co-founder and managing partner of Costella Kirsch, a structured debt firm headquartered in Silicon Valley that provides capital to emerging technology companies. Costella Kirsch has committed over $300 million in structured venture loans to 200 companies. Prior to starting the company in 1986, Kirsch ran the western region for Rolm Credit Corp, the financing arm of telecom equipment provider Rolm Corporation, where he was the top volume producer nationwide during his two year tenure. He also worked in the lease underwriting division of GATX Capital Corp, structuring and negotiating large, tax-oriented equipment financings.
Kirsch has played a leading role in community-based efforts to improve pedestrian and bicycle access in West Menlo Park, and in helping transform the local business district into a neighborhood serving retail corridor. He was active in youth sports during his children’s primary and middle school years as a coach and coordinator and served as Co-President of the Menlo Atherton High School Foundation. He is a regular on the road cycling circuit and swims for a local masters team.
He graduated from Lehigh University with a B.S. degree in business and economics majoring in accounting. He received his MBA degree from UCLA's Anderson School in 1981. He recently joined the Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Innovation Advisory Council.
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Joe Morgenstern ’53 is the film critic of the Wall Street Journal. He joined the Journal in 1995 and is based in Santa Monica, CA. Morgenstern was a foreign correspondent for The New York Times – in Switzerland and France – before he became a theater and movie critic for The New York Herald Tribune in 1959. He moved to Newsweek as a movie critic in 1965 and was a columnist for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner from 1983 to 1988. His articles have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Playboy and the Columbia Journalism Review. His produced television scripts include "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" and several episodes of "Law & Order." Morgenstern is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and a co-founder of the National Society of Film Critics.
A graduate of Lehigh University with a B.A. degree in English, he won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for criticism. More
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Alton D. Romig Jr. ’75, ’77G, ’79 Ph.D. is vice president and general manager, Aeronautics Company’s Advanced Development Programs (ADP) for Lockheed Martin Corporation. He is responsible for leading the strategic direction for the capture of new business and the management of the world-renowned Skunk Works®, the pre-eminent seat of aerospace innovation.
Prior to ADP, Romig spent more than 30 years with Sandia National Laboratories, operated by Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company. His responsibilities included the leadership of development and engineering activities providing science, technology and systems expertise in support of U.S. programs in: military technology; nuclear deterrence and proliferation prevention; technology assessments; intelligence and counterintelligence; homeland security; and energy programs.
While with Sandia, he held a variety of management assignments including chief technology officer and vice president for Science, Technology, and Partnerships. In that role, he was chief scientific officer for the Nuclear Weapons Program.
Romig serves on many councils, boards, and in advisory capacities including the Air Force Studies Board, and the Standing Committee on Technology Insight, an advisory committee to the intelligence community. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Council on Foreign Relations, and is a fellow of three scientific and engineering professional societies including the American Society for Materials and The Materials, Metals and Minerals Society. He is also a Senior Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
Romig received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in materials science and engineering from Lehigh University. More
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Richard Van Hoesen ’77 ’05P is chief financial officer at Onpharma, Inc., a privately held company whose mission is to provide innovative solutions to healthcare professionals, and deliver products that improve the local anesthetic experience for patients.
Prior to joining the Silicon Valley firm, Van Hoesen served for nearly four years as executive vice president and CFO of Epocrates, Inc., a medical technology company and provider of mobile drug reference applications. During his tenure, Epocrates increased its market penetration among US physicians from 25% to 40%, and increased annual revenues from less than $50 million to nearly $100 million. He also served as CFO for several publicly held Bay Area companies, including NetIQ and Micro Focus, and has nearly 30 years of experience in finance, administration, investor relations, manufacturing, and operations.
Van Hoesen earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Lehigh University, and a MBA degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. A member of the Asa Packer Society, Lehigh’s leadership giving society, Van Hoesen has been recognized for both his generosity and his fundraising volunteerism. He is also a member of Lehigh’s Engineering Advisory Council, an external consultative group who provides strategic guidance to the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science.
His wife, Jill, is also a Lehigh graduate, as is their eldest daughter Lauren, and several other members of Van Hoesen’s family, including his brother, sister, and father.
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Brian Witlin ’01 is a serial entrepreneur who is the CEO and founder of ShopWell, a personalized nutrition resource. He also holds entrepreneur-in-residence positions at IDEO and StartX, a lecturer position at Stanford University's Hasso Platner Institute of Design, and serves as a startup mentor for 500 Startups seed venture fund, Insidr, DiamondMMA, and IDEO's Entrepreneurship Initiative. Previously, Witlin co-founded Golaces, LLC, a product company acquired by a publicly traded footwear company and also co-founded LeverWorks, a software development consultancy acquired by LEO Media (now Quasar Strategies).
Witlin earned a B.S. degree in business and economics with a dual major in finance and marketing from Lehigh University, and a M.S. degree in engineering and design from Stanford University. He is a classically trained artist/draftsman, an aspiring mixed martial artist, and has a love for his hometown Chicago-style hotdogs and deep-dish pizza. |