Dean’s Advisory Board

 

Stephen P. Aubin, Ph.D. (UNI’96)
Vienna, VA

Aubin is a strategic advisor and national security expert whose career has spanned the aerospace and defense industry, service in government and the military, and academia. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Metawave Corporation. He was previously vice president for defense strategy and market research at Raytheon Technologies. Aubin previously held senior strategy and business development roles at the Raytheon Company, Boeing Company, and Lockheed Martin. Earlier in his career, he led policy and communications for the Air Force Association, was a research fellow at Boston University’s Center for Defense Journalism, worked in the Immediate Office of the Secretary of Defense, and served in the US Army as a military intelligence officer. Aubin earned a Ph.D. from Boston University in national security studies and communications and an M.A. and B.A. from Georgetown University in national security studies and government.

Hal Biagas (CAS)
New York, NY

Biagas is Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel for Seven1 Sports and Entertainment, a client-centric agency for professional athletes.

Bryan T. Biniak (CAS’90)
Pacific Palisades, CA

Biniak is the CEO and founder of Connected Travel, a connected vehicle platform and applications services company developing and operating next-generation infotainment, commerce, and advertising solutions for the auto-ecosystem, including Honda Dream Drive™ and USAA’s HyperDrive™.

Carol Ann Bischoff (COM’82)
Arlington, VA

Bischoff currently serves as the managing director at Pacific Compass Ventures, a strategic consulting and investment firm specializing in commerce between the United States and the Asia Pacific. Bischoff is a telecommunications, media, and technology (TMT) policy attorney and an education advocate whose career spans service in government, private sector law firms, and the nonprofit arena. She serves on the Arlington Academy of Hope (AAH) Board of Directors and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) Board of Trustees.

Gerald Gitner (CAS’66)
Boynton Beach, FL

Gitner is a principal of Cross Continental Capital LLC, an investment company he cofounded. He serves as chairman of Global Aero Holdings Ltd. and D.G. Associates, Inc. He is a past member and chairman of the Financial Advisory Board of the Town of Highland Beach, Florida.

Jonathan Hodge (CAS’97), Vice-Chair
Los Angeles, CA

Hodges’ strengths lie in helping clients define their goals that reach far beyond wealth accumulation. He has been at the forefront of building business and engagement within the African American community, a talent and commitment recognized by UBS Financial Services through his appointment to their inaugural Americas Diversity & Inclusion Council. These core values are what have inspired Hodges for over 20 years to build Affinity Wealth Partners into the preeminent, holistic wealth management team it has become.

Judith S. Hurwitz (CAS’73, COM’75)
Newton, MA

Hurwitz is president and CEO of Hurwitz & Associates LLC, a research and consulting firm focused on emerging technology including big data, cloud computing, service management, software development, computing management, and security. She is a technology strategist, thought leader, and author.

Steve Karbank (CAS’79, Parent CAS’12)
Mission Woods, KS

Karbank is chairman of Karbank Real Estate Company, a Kansas City-based development and brokerage company specializing in industrial, office, and mixed-use properties. He is a member of BU’s Board of Overseers and former President of the BU Alumni Association.

Bruce Karatz (CAS’67)
Los Angeles, CA

Karatz served as Chairman and CEO of KB Home until 2006. Karatz is a founder of the -based real estate development company Nafilyan & Partners.

Amy Neu (CAS)
Far Hills, NJ

Neu is a progressive real estate leader and professor with over 20 years of experience driving multimillion dollar high profile projects. Her areas of expertise include lease negotiations, project management, construction management, property management, operations, compliance, entitlements, financial management, negotiations of sales and purchase, and corporate debt and equity financing.

Rebecca Norlander (CAS’91)
Seattle, Washington

Norlander is the founder, CEO, and CTO of Health 123, Inc., a technology company that has developed a digital platform for tracking personal health and wellness via mobile fitness devices, employers and physicians groups, and other data sources. She also is executive in residence at Illuminate Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm.

Demir Sabanci (CAS’93)
Istanbul, Turkey

Demir Sabanci started his business career in Japan at Toyota City in 1993 working in various executive positions with Mitsui & Co. as well as Toyota Motor Corporation. This was followed by similar roles at the Toyota Motor Sales in the United States. In 1996, he joined Sabanci Holding as a Board Member and three years later, founded Teknosa, the pioneer electronics retail chain in Turkey. Mr. Sabanci has held various executive positions in Sabanci Holdings while serving as the President of the Retail Strategic Business Unit that is composed of Carrefoursa, Diasa, and Teknosa. Between 2000 and 2004, he served as founding shareholder and first General Manager and Chairman of Teknosa. In 2002, he also founded Sedes Holding where he is currently the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors. He is also is a founding shareholder and President of Odesa, Sedesco Inc., and Gratis.

Mr. Sabanci holds a double major B.A. in Economics and International Relations from Boston University.  He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management.

Robert Schulze (CAS’86, GRS’88, MED’92, Questrom’16, Parent MED’19, CAS’16, CGS’14)
Long Branch, NJ

Schulze is an assistant professor of surgery and director of surgical nutrition and surgical critical care in the Division of General Surgery at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. He completed his surgical residency training at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in 1998 and his fellowship in trauma/critical care at the University of Maryland in 1999.

Jennifer T. Simpson (CAS’00)
Downingtown, PA

After working for several years as a social work therapist, school social worker, and program officer for after-school programs, Simpson returned to school for a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in environmental studies with a certificate in land preservation while working as an environmental education instructor. She is currently the owner/operator of Forge Hill Farms, a CSA in Downingtown, Pennsylvania. She is the former chair of the John Templeton Foundation and the Templeton World Charity Foundation boards and former chair of the Steering Committee of the Templeton Religion Trust. 

Julee Stephenson (CAS’94)
Loveland, CO

Stephenson is a corporate affairs and communications leader. She most recently served as senior vice president of corporate affairs at NiSource Inc. and has served in other leadership roles in public affairs, communications, customer experience, and marketing at the company. Stephenson consults with individuals and organizations to guide and develop integrated communication and engagement strategies. Her commitment to service and engaging in communities is the foundation of her current work and career, which has included leadership roles in public affairs, communications, customer experience, marketing and nonprofit program management.

Thomas (Tom) R. Tritton (GRS’73)
Philadelphia, PA

Tritton is a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a senior fellow at the Science History Institute. He is the former president of Haverford College and former president and CEO of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, an organization headquartered in Philadelphia as a library, museum, and center for scholars. Prior to joining CHF, he was president-in-residence at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Scott Webster (CAS’93)
Boston, MA

Webster is a partner at the law firm Goodwin Procter LLP and is chair of its ERISA & Executive Compensation Practice. Mr. Webster specializes in a range of ERISA and executive compensation matters, including representing myriad financial service organizations and private investment fund sponsors on issues arising in connection with the investment of pension plan assets, as well as structuring and developing new investment products for retirement plans.

David Weinstein (CGS’70, CAS’72)
Newton, MA

Weinstein is the founder and CEO of Write the World LLC, an international online community of teenage writers, which he developed as a Senior Fellow at the Advanced Leadership Initiative at Harvard University.

Karin Wick (CAS’91)
Miami, FL

Wick currently serves on the Board of Fellows at The Harker School, San Jose, California, working with the Board of Trustees on initiatives and topics concerning the school as well as to provide insights and ideas about school issues. In addition, she has been a member, along with her daughter, of Sacred Heart Preperatory’s Parents’ Association Executive Board since the fall of 2018 and is also a member of the National Charity League, Mid-Peninsula, a mother/daughter organization focused on community service and the development of its members as leaders. Prior to her volunteer work, she co-founded and was President of Acacia Technical Services, an IT services firm.

• Warren Adelson (CAS’63, GRS’64, Parent CAS’12, CGS’10) 
• Mark (CAS’74) & Marsha Bookman (SAR’74) 
• George A. Clay (GRS’64, GRS’68)
• Alice B.W. Godfrey (CAS’74, Parent Law’12) 
• Robert J. Hildreth (Parent CAS’13, Questrom’10) 
• Tasneem Mayet (CAS ’95)
• Robyn Metcalfe (GRS’06, GRS’10, Parent CAS’12)
• Alicia Cannon Mullen (CAS’83, Parent CAS’19)
• Ken Norton (CAS’93) 
• Aaron Rasmussen (CAS’06, COM’06)
• Kenneth Slater (Parent Questrom’12) 
• Matthew B. Smith (CAS’70, Questrom’72) 

Purpose

The Dean’s Advisory Board was founded in 2008 to advise the dean on broad matters of policy and planning within the college. The alumni, friends, and parents who comprise the board are tasked with three principal responsibilities: as advisors, ambassadors, and philanthropic supporters of the college. They will serve as a leadership group for advancing the quality and qualities of CAS that help it fulfill its mission as expressed in Creating Our Future, 2010-2020: The Strategic Plan of the College of Arts & Sciences:

The mission of the College of Arts and Sciences is to nurture the discovery, creation, transmission and application of knowledge and understanding across the humanities and the social, natural, and computational sciences. This mission applies to all of the college’s members, from the most decorated senior scholars to our matriculating undergraduates, and unifies our three great core tasks of undergraduate education, graduate education, and pioneering research. CAS is Boston University’s standard-bearer for the proud and successful tradition that is liberal education. We also must choose to be active, engaged citizens of the larger communities to which we also belong—the University, the region, the country, and the world—in order for this mission to succeed.

Roles

Dean’s Advisory Board members have three main roles: as advisors, ambassadors, and philanthropic supporters of the college and its mission.

As advisors, board members individually and collectively serve as a sounding board for the dean and college leadership, helping them to lead the college with wisdom, skill, and creativity. They provide a rich perspective drawn from their varied experiences and knowledge bases outside Boston University. They review, evaluate, and provide insight on improving academic programs, research, student recruitment and student development, operations, alumni relations, fundraising, marketing, and other issues of importance to CAS. Board members are kept well informed of current developments in the college and more widely at Boston University and have interesting opportunities to interact with students, faculty, and college and University leaders.

As ambassadors, board members keep themselves well informed in order to help spread the good word about CAS and BU in their communities and workplaces. Board members help bridge and foster relationships and connections with potential students and their families, other alumni, potential employers of our alumni, and with individuals, corporations, and other organizations that might be in a position to support the college, its students, faculty, and its mission. Board members facilitate and attend events, and engage others with CAS and BU.

As philanthropic supporters, board members make gifts to support the advancement of CAS through the Annual Fund every year at a level agreed through discussion with the dean and their development staff, and where possible, they make gifts at a leadership level that will provide perpetual support to critical goals of excellence. The Dean’s Advisory Board serves as the leadership for the Campaign for CAS and is committed to its success.