VERONICA A. BETTENCOURT ‘98, PRESIDENT

After lingering on the East Coast for grad school, Veronica moved to California with her husband to join her five closest Brown friends on the best coast. At Brown, Veronica made up her own sub-specialty concentration that blended international relations and political theory. Her subsequent career has reflected her multiple interests, ranging from working at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, through being an in-house lawyer in tech for over a decade, to creative writing. Veronica is an avid hiker, nature enthusiast, jazz vocalist and cook.

Fun fact about Brown: While at Brown, Veronica founded her own literary and arts magazine, Ophelia. Ophelia met an untimely death when Veronica could no longer cajole her friends into staffing it post graduation.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/veronicaab23/

JULIAN BARING ‘97, MEMBER AT LARGE

Julian Baring Class of ’97 is married to Elisa Baring Class of ’99 and lives in Los Gatos with 3 children and a dog. At Brown he was on the Crew Team (Hall of Fame ’94 crew) as well as competed for Brown in Club Rugby, Club Skiing and Club Sailing. Professionally he is currently Adform‘s Regional President, Americas and has more than 25 years of digital and technology industry operating experience across a variety of management roles including marketing, sales, corporate and business development in companies at all stages of maturity from start-up to exit. Julian matriculated with an MBA from Oxford University in 2004 . Julian and his family feel privileged to finally be living in Silicon Valley's beautiful hills, an outcome he predicted over 27 years ago when he visited Los Gatos, the home of his then college girlfriend, now wife.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianbaring/

CAROL RHOADS ‘70, VICE PRESIDENT

Carol has led organizations through growth and change, from higher education to corporate startup and Fortune 500 healthcare companies. She chaired Planned Parenthood in southern California and was a Santa Clara County Juvenile Justice Commissioner. Now she is a pro bono lawyer for young people aginG out of the foster care system.

Brown around ‘70 (as now) was exciting! Defining moments were the birth of the New Curriculum, political activism, and the passing of Pembroke (along with the skirt requirement on the Brown campus). Carol worked on the nascent Brown Student Agencies and tutored disadvantaged kids. Not to mention Spring Weekend with Sha-Na-Na!

After business school at Columbia, Carol and her husband Keating started a family in San Francisco. After criss-crossing the country, they returned to the Bay Area with the arrival of grandchildren.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolmaeder-rhoads/

KIM HIGHLUND ‘04, COMMUNITY SERVICE CHAIR

Kim, a native Californian, is excited to be back in the Bay Area after living on the East Coast (Providence and NYC) for one too many winters. At Brown, she split her time between a cubical at the Sci Li or the Rock, and training in the Pizzitola with the Women’s Varsity Volleyball team. A team captain and 2001 Ivy Champion, Kim no longer digs volleyballs, but the library is still her happy place! After graduating with a degree in Political Science, Kim has gone on to manage projects in television at HBO Sports and the NHL, build healthcare facilities, and create programming in higher education at Columbia University (nonetheless, she is Ever True).

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-highlund/

NAEEM ZAFAR '81, TREASURER

Naeem is a serial tech entrepreneur, 5X CEO of Silicon Valley startups, an angel investor, and teaches courses on Entrepreneurship at the University of California Berkeley and at Northeastern University. After Brown with an electrical engineering degree, he was exiled to the frozen tundra of Minnesota for graduate school and has been in Silicon Valley since 1988. After teaching ENGIN 1010 at Brown, while commuting from SF Bay area, he founded Startup-Advisor, a company focused on educating and advising entrepreneurs on all aspects of starting and running a business (www.Startup-Advsior.com)

Sci Li days: "It took me a long time to find out that there is another library on campus. Other than flipping between Barus & Holley and Ratty I spent every day in the basement of Sci Li that had a vibrant social scene."

https://www.linkedin.com/in/naeemzafar

JORDAN PISARCIK ‘08, MARKETING CHAIR

Jordan graduated from Brown with a degree in Neuroscience, moved to New York City, and began a career in healthcare. He initially worked in the life sciences area before moving to healthcare technology and digital health, joining an early-stage startup focused on patient engagement that was acquired by Optum (part of UnitedHealth Group) in 2021. He has built and led teams across business development, customer success, and product management.

Jordan moved to the Bay Area in 2022 with his wife, where they are raising a family and enjoying the nice weather. He fondly remembers the strong sense of community and service from his time at Brown, during which he led campus tours and assisted with Admission Office initiatives for new and prospective students. Some of his favorite memories on campus were Spring Weekend and Commencement.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpisarcik/

DAVID SABEL '86, P'17, '19, UNIVERSITY LIAISON

David is a Product leader currently focused on the platform build out at Gwynnie Bee, a pioneer in subscription clothing rental. David has lead product teams in e-commerce and online advertising for 20 years at such companies as Microsoft, Yahoo, LookSmart and at startups in the Web Intelligence and Music Recommendation spaces. While at Brown, when he wasn't studying for his degree in International Relations of course, David spent most of his free time at WBRU wrestling with large vinyl platters.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidsabel