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HKS Alumni Association Board of Directors

Giving to the Kennedy School

Through their support, alumni and friends share our mission of public service and scholarship.

Office of Career Advancement

The OCA supports students and alumni seeking to develop rewarding professional careers.

Executive Committee

HKSAA Mission
The association shall foster mutually beneficial relationships between and among Harvard Kennedy School and its alumni by promoting alumni engagement and advancing the mission of Harvard Kennedy School.

Rudy Brioché MPP 2000, chair

Rudy Brioché is Legal Advisor for Media Issues for the Federal Communications Commission. He most recently served as legislative counsel to Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ). In the Senate, his portfolio included business, communications, judiciary and labor. His prior experience includes serving as counsel to the NAACP Washington Bureau, law clerk to U.S. District Judge Andre M. Davis and to Chief Judge Robert M. Bell of the Court of Appeals of Maryland, and practicing commercial litigation in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and New York. Rudy has served as an international monitor of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Rudy received his Master in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School, where he worked for the late Judge A. Leon Higginbotham and served as editor-in-chief of the Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy. Rudy also earned his J.D. from the University of Maryland Law School, where he was student body president and editor of the ABA's business law journal, The Business Lawyer. Rudy, a native of Brooklyn, received his B.A. from Rutgers College.

Committees: Executive Committee, Chair; Fundraising, Chair

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Rosario “Chato” Calderon MPA 1988, vice-chair

Rosario Calderon is a principal of Lawin Energy LLC in San Francisco that addresses the global energy and climate change crises with clean and sustainable energy development. Chato forms strategic alliances for the development of power projects in solar, wind, small hydro and biomass; and for promoting energy efficient and alternative vehicle fuels projects in the United States and emerging economies of Asia. She pursues research, development and commercialization of cutting edge technologies that will revolutionize and make competitive renewable energy and energy efficiency. She provides consulting services on business, project and policy development on clean energy and carbon trading.

Passion drives Chato. Having spent her professional life in both the private and public sectors, Chato is passionate in dealing with the challenges of reform and governance in corporations and in government, with the benefits of public-private partnerships in leveraging resources, and with the goals of corporate social responsibility in putting a human face in technology and reducing poverty. Her faith in God has influenced her lifestyle in the market place and public square. As Vice-President of Business Development and Government Relations for CalEnergy International, she was involved in the power production from $1.4 billion geothermal and hydro electric plants in the Philippines. Chato managed multi-million dollar grant programs to the Philippine Department of Energy on energy independence, climate change and rural electrification as the Senior Technical Advisor of the United Agency for International Development (USAID) in Manila. At USAID, Chato emphasized the critical collaboration with US Departments of State, Energy, Commerce, and Environment; with Federal and State Regulatory Commissions; and multilateral donor agencies like World Bank, Asian Development Bank and United Nations Development Program in achieving sustainable economic development. In the US East and Gulf Coasts, Chato worked on natural gas production, transmission and cogeneration; clean coal technology for power generation; and alternative vehicle fuels.

Chato’s professional career in energy has opened opportunities to travel in Asia and the United States where she had the chance to have a proactive outreach to the HKS Alumni. While in the Philippines, she was President of the HKS Alumni Foundation (www.ksgphil.org). She is a founding and a current Board Director of the Association of Harvard University Alumni Clubs of Asia (AHUACA). As Board Director of HKSAA, Chato takes seriously the role of Ambassador to bring mutually beneficial relationships among the Dean, the school and students with over 20,000 degree and 15,000 non-degree alumni.

Chato has a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of the Philippines, a Masters in Business Administration from Syracuse University in New York and a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.

Committees: Executive Committee, Vice-Chair; Alumni Awards, Chair

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Janet Thompson MPA 1987, secretary

For over 20 years, Janet Thompson worked in state and local governments in California, Washington, and the City of Bellevue. In 2002, she was executive director of the Lake City Chamber of Commerce in Seattle. Between 2003 and 2006 she served as managing editor the Academy of Management Journal (AMJ), one of the most prestigious academic journals on management in the world, and as a conference organizer for the Academy of Management (AOM), the largest academic association of professors of management in the world with almost 18,000 members worldwide. As managing editor, she corresponded with faculty and graduate students in universities and colleges across the global. She assisted in the bimonthly publication of AMJ. In 2005, she organized the Professional Development Workshops for the AOM’s annual conference in Honolulu, which had approximately 350 workshops and over 3,000 participants. In 2006, She organized the scholarly program for AOM’s annual conference, with approximately 7,000 scholars from around the world.

She has served on the boards for the Sierra Club, Washington Environmental Council, PTA, and currently serves on the Board of the Metropolitan Democratic Club of Seattle and the HKS Alumni Association Board.

Janet holds a deep passion for education. She received her MPA from the Kennedy School in 1987. She has an MA in speech pathology from the University of Kansas and a BA in communication from the University of Massachusetts.

Committees: Executive Committee, secretary; Alumni Awards; Communications; Regional Affiliations

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Jackie Weatherspoon MPA 1991, treasurer

The Honorable Jackie K. Weatherspoon served in the New Hampshire House of Representatives for six years, serving in various roles, including Minority House Whip, member of the Election Law Committee and third from the chair of the opposition party. Jackie was the chief sponsor of the Martin Luther King, Jr. observance in her home state of New Hampshire, which was the last state in the United States to adopt the holiday. She also co-sponsored the Banning of the Death Penalty Bill. Since 2004, Jackie has served as one of the UN Secretariat’s roster of electoral experts in the electoral assistance division. She was seconded by the US State Department to facilitate the implementation of the last phases of the Dayton Agreement. Jackie was also with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which the US State Department is a member of, for two and a half years before taking a leave of absence to serve in the New Hampshire state legislature.

Jackie worked on the presidential election teams for Vice President Al Gore and Senator John Kerry. She was a member of the Women for Hillary Clinton for President team and the state committee, Women for Obama. She currently serves as the faculty advisor to the Democratic Club at Phillips Exeter Academy, where students are making hundreds of calls on behalf of President Obama’s Health Care Initiatives, Organizing for America, and Change That Works.

Jackie has coordinated elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Malawi, and Nigeria, working for OSCE and UN/UNDP respectively. She most recently functioned as technical advisor of the 2007 presidential elections in Nigeria for the UN/UNDP. She has been on a number of U.S. delegations, including the Northern Initiative preparing the Baltic countries of Estonia and Lithuania for their entry into the E.U. She also accompanied First Lady Hillary Clinton to Iceland for "Vital Voices."

Jackie earned her Masters in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School and presently serves on the Harvard Kennedy School Alumni Association Board of Directors. She has been appointed by Governor John Lynch of New Hampshire to be on the Commission to Study the Banning of The Death Penalty and holds a position on the board of trustees at New Hampshire Public Radio. Jackie started her own NGO, "Decisions in Democracy International," which offers training programs for those seeking to run for public office. She is a member of the Harvard Law School Mediation Program and works as a mediator in the Massachusetts court system. Earlier in her career, she was a development officer at the Harvard School of Public Health and the associate director of the Reebok Foundation, serving as their representative at the signing of the trade agreement between the U.S. and South Africa. She has also served on the advisory council at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Endowment for Health of New Hampshire.

Jackie is married to Russell D. Weatherspoon, class of '81 Harvard School of Education, who currently holds the position of dean of residential life at Phillips Exeter Academy. They have four adult children and six grandchildren.

Committees: Executive Committee, Treasurer; Fundraising

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Shannon Christian MPP 1987, at-large member

Shannon Christian is a consultant on children’s issues in the context of human capital development, social policy, and work-family balance. Her practice builds on work in and out of government on a range of social service and workforce development issues. Most recently, she served as associate commissioner for the Child Care Bureau in the Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2002-06), managing the $5 billion federal child care subsidy program and spearheading major pieces of the Administration’s early learning initiative.

Previously, Shannon was part of former Governor Tommy Thompson’s nationally renowned welfare reform team in Wisconsin, first as director of planning for the Department of Health and Social Services, and then as senior policy advisor to the secretary of workforce development. Earlier in her career, she held several staff positions at the U.S. Department of Labor, serving under secretaries Ann McLaughlin, Elizabeth Dole, and Lynn Martin. Prior to her post at HHS, she was a consultant to the Hudson Institute and others in the nonprofit and communications fields, working on a variety of child care, welfare reform, responsible fatherhood, distance learning, and multimedia projects.

Shannon participates in volunteer activities related to children’s healthy development, and presented at a two-day Action Tank exploring strategies to better help the orphans of AIDS victims in Sub-Saharan Africa and other countries at the World Child Care Forum in Malaysia.  

Committees: Executive Committee, at-large; Communications, co-chair; Affiliated Associations

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Richard “Giles” Whiting MPP 2005, at-large member

Giles Whiting attended Harvard Kennedy School after graduating as a Distinguished Graduate from the United States Air Force Academy where he majored in physics and mathematics.

While at the Kennedy School, Giles was active in Student Government, wrote on the staff of The Citizen, and captained the Harvard Crew and Triathlon Teams.

Immediately following the MPP program, Giles returned to the Air Force where he served as a physicist. His service complete, he accepted a consulting position with McKinsey & Company focusing on economic development and emerging markets. In that position, Giles has worked on projects throughout the world and is a firm expert in economic development and infrastructure.

Giles currently resides in New York where he is a founding member of the New York Kennedy School Alumni Steering Committee; his focus is strengthening the connectivity of the chapter. Giles is also a member of the Harvard Clubs of New York and Boston.

Committees: Executive Committee, At-Large; Fundraising; Virtual Connections

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Paul Hodge MPA 2000, Ex-Officio

In addition to being awarded two HKS Service Awards for his “exceptional commitment to community and public service,” Paul Hodge has been committed to volunteering his support to the Kennedy School and Harvard as an HKS Alumni Board member, KSG New England Alumni Board member, HKS Dean’s Alumni Leadership Council Founding Chair, HKS Dean’s Council Executive Committee member and Harvard University Board of Overseers, Committee on University Resources member. Paul recently published a book “Baby Boomer Women: Secure Futures or Not?” He is Founding Chair of the Global Generations Policy Institute, Board member of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, Director of the Harvard Generations Policy Project, Research Fellow at HKS’s Hauser Center, Founding Editor of the Harvard Generations Policy Journal and a recent Distinguished Visiting Fellow, University of Oxford. Paul is a recognized authority on policy issues dealing with the country’s elder citizens and baby boomers. He has led ground breaking public service initiatives to improve the quality of life and care of women, minorities, baby boomers, youth, the elderly, and other vulnerable citizens. As a public advocate, Paul has led ventures to protect our environment, advised the White House and the U.S. Congress, appeared on or been quoted/published in various national news media and received national awards, commendations and recognition for his work. Paul holds a JD from Boston University’s School of Law, an MBA from Columbia University Business School, and a bachelor’s degree from Brown University. In 2000, as a John B. Pickett Fellow in Criminal Justice Management, Paul earned an MPA from HKS, graduating in the top of his class and being awarded Harvard’s prestigious Lucius N. Littauer Fellowship for academic excellence and public service achievement.

Committees: Executive Committee, Ex-Officio; Fundraising

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Giving to the Kennedy School

Office of Career Advancement

Executive Committee

Rudy Brioché MPP 2000, chair

Rosario “Chato” Calderon MPA 1988, vice-chair

Janet Thompson MPA 1987, secretary

Jackie Weatherspoon MPA 1991, treasurer

Shannon Christian MPP 1987, at-large member

Richard “Giles” Whiting MPP 2005, at-large member

Paul Hodge MPA 2000, Ex-Officio

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