Washington, DC: WAPPS Launch Reception and Panel Dialogue

Join us to launch a new DC and Wesleyan community devoted to building connections that make a positive difference in your career, your community and the world.
Moderated by Wesleyan Alumni in Philanthropy and Public Service (WAPPS) co-founder Steve McCarthy '75, the one-hour dialogue features prominent Wesleyan alumni in public service: Peter Simpson '70, Lee Bodner '91, Obi Okobi '98 and Jorge Andres Soto '09.

Please reply (yes or no) by November 13.  Refreshments and light appetizers provided.

Space is limited and registration is accepted on a first come, first served basis.

Organized by:  Anne Lebleu '00, Kate Nattrass '03, Rachel Schreiber '05, Julie Meyer '79, Dan Atzmon '10, Brendan McEntee '10

About the Speakers

Peter Simpson '70, PhD, is Senior Director for Presidential Initiatives at World Learning, a nonprofit organization advancing leadership through education, exchange, and development programs in more than 60 countries. He is responsible for developing cross-organizational aspects of World Learning’s strategic framework, including extending collaboration across program units and field offices, and establishing the World Learning Exchange, a forum for sharing ideas, networks, and resources among alumni and supporters. He previously was director of program units at World Learning and Delphi International implementing professional and student exchange programs for about 1,200 participants each year, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitors Leadership Program and Citizen Exchanges divisions. Dr. Simpson began his career in Public Diplomacy in 1986 at Delphi International, Inc. as a Program Officer designing exchanges for visitors funded through USIA and the German Marshall Fund of the U.S. He also managed grants for multi-year USAID development projects in Poland and the Balkans and the State Department’s EFL Fellows Program in Eastern/Central Europe, Russia, and the NIS.

Prior to joining Delphi, Dr. Simpson taught language and cross-cultural courses at the primary, secondary, and university levels. At Cornell University and the Westphalian University in Bielefeld, Germany, he was an instructor in German literature. In Munich, Germany, he taught English as a foreign language in public and private schools. He holds a PhD from Cornell, an MA from Princeton, and a BA from Wesleyan University in Germanic Studies. He has lived in Europe a total of five years. He traces his commitment to a career in cross-cultural education and exchanges to the year he spent in Erlangen, Germany, as an AFS exchange student.

Dr. Simpson has been a member of the National Council for International Visitors since 1986, served as chair of its National Meeting in 2005, joined its Board of Directors in July 2008, and is currently Treasurer. He lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife, Penny Mills, CEO of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, son Jacob, and an exchange student from Armenia.
Lee Bodner '91 oversees Arabella Advisors’s management of two nonprofits: The New Venture Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity, and the Sixteen Thirty Fund, a separate 501(c)(4). Both serve as fiscal sponsors to new and innovative public interest projects and nonprofits as they coordinate donor collaboratives and small-grants programs.

Lee brings to Arabella more than 15 years experience incubating and launching innovative partnerships with the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. He previously served as the founding Executive Director of ecoAmerica, an environmental nonprofit that works to make conservation a higher priority for the American public. At ecoAmerica, Lee was instrumental in launching the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, which put the fight against climate change at the center of the higher education agenda. Lee also built strategic partnerships with companies including Monster.com and the Princeton Review, and nonprofits including the William J. Clinton Foundation and The Nature Conservancy.

Previously, Lee led a 40-person project team at D&R International, which established ENERGY STAR as an internationally-recognized brand name for energy efficient consumer products. Lee and his team worked in support of the U.S. EPA and DOE to convince companies like Sears, The Home Depot, Whirlpool, and GE to use the ENERGY STAR label.

Lee currently serves as a national at-large trustee for EarthShare, a nonprofit that raises $8 million annually for environmental groups through workplace giving campaigns. He holds a BA from Wesleyan University and an MBA from Georgetown University.

Obi Okobi '98 has worked in education for twelve years in various capacities, including tutor, sports coach, community outreach coordinator and lead classroom teacher. She is a long-time believer in the power of interdisciplinary studies and the limitless potential of urban communities.

Born in Pittsburgh, PA, Obi is a life-long city dweller. She begins her walk on the City Neighbors path after several years of living as a Baltimore transplant and a recent stint up North in New England. She graduated with departmental honors in Art and Architectural History from Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, before completing her first master’s degree program in Urban Studies at Southern Connecticut State University where she focused on multi-generational communities in New Haven, CT. Shortly thereafter, Obi completed her teacher training through the Baltimore City Teaching Residency while teaching at Waverly Elementary/Middle School. She also taught at the Park School of Baltimore. Most recently, Obi received her Master of Education degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Jorge Andres Soto '09 is a Public Policy Associate at the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA), the only national civil rights organization exclusively dedicated to protecting and promoting equal access to housing, home loans and insurance policies for all residents of the United States. In this capacity, Jorge lobbies Congress and the executive branch of the federal government to ensure equal access to housing, home loans and insurance for communities of color, people with disabilities, religious minorities, women, families with children, and members of the LGBT community. Prior to joining NFHA, Jorge worked on civil rights investigations and lawsuits involving governmental failures to comply with federal civil rights laws, lending and housing discrimination, and has consulted on employment and contracting diversity. Jorge has also worked on fundraising campaigns for various national non-profit organizations, and as a labor and community organizer.

Since 2010, Jorge has served as the Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Latino GLBT History Project, a non-profit volunteer-led organization dedicated to investigating, collecting, preserving, and educating the public about the historical presence and activism of the Latino LGBT community in the nation’s capital. Jorge earned his B.A. from Wesleyan University in 2009 with majors in History and American Studies.

Stephen J. McCarthy '75 is the Senior Vice President of KCG Capital Advisors, a family investment office/foundation administration venture that he co-founded with his father, John M. McCarthy, a former Managing Partner/CIO of Lord Abbett. Stephen has over 37 years of diversified professional experience in both the financial services and foundation management sectors. Before establishing the family run entity in the mid 1990’s, for almost a twenty year period, he held increasingly complex and more senior executive positions in the strategic planning, credit/risk management, business consulting, capital markets and retail brokerage arenas at PaineWebber, Security Pacific, Deloitte, Citibank and Bache respectively. 

An honors graduate of Chaminade HS, Mr. McCarthy received a Bachelor of Arts in dual majors - Economics and Government - from Wesleyan University (where he won an Alumni Service Award and served on the $600M endowment legacy PSC), was granted a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University and completed an EE Certificate Program on Entrepreneurship/Venture Capital Investing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.

Stephen is trustee of a 27 year old private foundation, represents his clan as a long time member of the Institute for Private Investors (IPI), is a founding member/original trustee of The Greenwich Roundtable (GR) and a co-founder of The Gotham Triangle (TGT), is acting president of Shaking The Tree (STT) Interactive Productions, was named 2010 Mentor of the Year for his role as a coach/semi-final judge for NYU/Stern’s 12th Annual Business Plan Competition, stood for his family as an original LP investor with FLAG Capital’s ($4.5B AUM) 1995-97 VC fund of funds and is the lead investor/Executive Producer on seasoned filmmaker Matthew Miele’s 2012/13 documentary “Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s”. 

Related Links

• About WAPPS