Seven alumni elected to the Board of Overseers

Widener Library in Harvard Yard.

Kris Snibbe/Harvard file photo

Campus & Community
Seven alumni elected to the Board of Overseers

May 26, 2022 5 min read

Six others join Alumni Association board

Seven alumni have been elected as new members of Harvard University’s Board of Overseers and six as directors of the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA).

The new members of the Board of Overseers

Monica Bharel, M.P.H. ’12
B.S./M.D. ’94, Boston University
Senior Adviser to the Mayor of Boston
Brookline, Massachusetts

Sangu Delle ’10, cum laude, J.D. ’16, M.B.A. ’16
M.St. ’19, University of Oxford
Chief Executive Officer, Africa Health Holdings Ltd.
Accra, Ghana

Scott Mead ’77, cum laude
M.Phil. ’79, University of Cambridge; J.D. ’82, University of Pennsylvania
Photographer
London

Lauren Ancel Meyers ’95, magna cum laude
Ph.D. ’00, Stanford University
Professor, Departments of Integrative Biology and Statistics & Data Sciences, University of Texas at Austin; Director, UT COVID-19 Modeling Consortium
Austin, Texas

Todd Y. Park ’94, magna cum laude
Co-Founder and Executive Chair, Devoted Health
Los Altos Hills, California

Vikas P. Sukhatme, M.D. ’79
S.B. ’71, Sc.D. ’75, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dean, Emory University School of Medicine
Atlanta

Wilhelmina “Mimi” Wright, J.D. ’89
B.A. ’86, Yale University
U.S. District Judge, District of Minnesota
St. Paul, Minnesota

Five of the new Overseers — Sangu Delle, Lauren Meyers, Todd Park, Vikas Sukhatme, and Wilhelmina Wright — were elected for six-year terms. Monica Bharel will complete the remaining four years of the term of Tracy K. Smith ’94, who stepped down as an Overseer to become a member of the Harvard faculty. Scott Mead will complete the remaining two years of the term of Yvette Roubideaux ’85, M.D. ’89, M.P.H. ’97, who has stepped down in view of other obligations.

The new Overseers were elected from a slate of nine candidates nominated by an alumni nominating committee whose 13 voting members are appointed by the Harvard Alumni Association executive committee. Harvard degree holders cast a total of 31,383 ballots in the election.

“The board benefits from a new complement of members every year, and we’re fortunate to have such an impressive group of colleagues who’ll be joining us,” said Paul Choi ’86, J.D. ’89, who will serve as president of the board for 2022-23. “I look forward to working with all of them in the coming year, as all of us do our part to help Harvard thrive in complicated but also exciting times.”

The Board of Overseers is one of Harvard’s two governing boards, along with the President and Fellows, also known as the Corporation. As a central part of their work, the Overseers direct the visitation process, the primary means for periodic external assessment of Harvard’s Schools and departments. Through its array of standing committees, and the roughly 50 visiting committees that report to them, the board probes the quality of Harvard’s programs and assures that the University remains true to its charter as a place of learning. More generally, drawing on its members’ diverse experience and expertise, the board provides counsel to the University’s leadership on priorities, plans, and strategic initiatives. It also has the power of consent to certain actions, such as the election of Corporation members.

Additional information about the board, its members, and its work can be found on its webpage.

The newly elected HAA directors

Sofia Bahena, Ed.M. ’13, Ed.D. ’14
B.A. ’06, Trinity University
Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of Texas at San Antonio
San Antonio

Michael Bervell ’19
M.S. ’21, University of Washington
Portfolio Development Manager, Microsoft Venture Fund
Snohomish, Washington

Jyoti Jasrasaria ’12, cum laude, J.D. ’18, cum laude
Associate, Elias Law Group L.L.P.
Washington

Cherie Lynn Ramirez, Ph.D. ’12
A.A. ’02, Valencia Community College; B.A. ’06, Rollins College
Assistant Teaching Professor, Chemistry and Physics, Simmons University
Boston

Corina Santangelo, M.P.A. ’99
A.B. ’93, Pontificia Universidad Cattolica Argentina
Head of Fundraising, Child Fund Mexico
Mexico City

Judith Michelle Williams ’91, cum laude
M.A. ’95, Ph.D. ’97, Stanford University
Human Capital Consultant, Magic Deer L.L.C.
San Francisco

The new directors were each elected for three-year terms. They were chosen from a slate of nine candidates, nominated by the same HAA committee that puts forward candidates for Overseers. Harvard degree holders cast 32,498 ballots in the directors election.

The HAA Board of Directors is an advisory group that actively works to support Harvard alumni volunteers working on behalf of the HAA. The board’s main work focuses on developing volunteer leadership and increasing and deepening alumni engagement through an array of programs that support alumni communities worldwide. In recent years, the board’s priorities have included strengthening outreach to recent graduates and graduate school alumni; supporting antiracism work in alumni communities; and continuing to build and promote inclusive communities.

“It’s an exciting time to welcome new alumni leaders to our deeply committed HAA board,” said Allyson Mendenhall ’90, M.L.A. ’99, the association’s incoming president, whose tenure starts July 1. “We are all eager for these dedicated volunteers to join in our continuing work — to ensure a vital and deeply connected alumni community and to support and empower the countless Harvard graduates from across the globe who are advancing positive change in the world.”