Northfield, Minn.––Carleton College has named eight new members to its Board of Trustees: Danielle Bart ’04, John Harris ’85, Pamela Kiecker Royall ’80, Arthur Kowaloff ’68, Margaret Simms ’67, David B. Smith, Jr. ’88, Brooks Wallin ’78, and Kirk Weidner '85.
The new members officially began their terms on July 1, 2010. Following are individual biographies of each new Trustee.
Danielle Bart '03 will serve as young alumni trustee. She has worked most recently in the areas of international philanthropy, development, and social entrepreneurship, managing the research and internship program of a foundation in Santa Barbara, Calif. This fall she will begin studies at the Harvard University School of Law. Her aim is to be involved in global governance, policy reform and development, themes she previously explored as a member of the inaugural class of the University of California, Santa Barbara's master of arts program in global and international studies. While at Carleton, Bart was involved in a number of activities, including intramural sports, the Carleton choir and singers, and the Knightingales. She also worked as a resident assistant, a senior admissions fellow, and in the Burton Dining Hall. She is originally from Trinidad & Tobago.
John F. Harris ‘85 is the editor-in-chief and a cofounder of Politico, a publication specializing in national politics and the workings of the federal government. Since its launch in January 2007, Politico has become one of the country’s most-trafficked news sites and has drawn widespread attention nationally and internationally for its efforts to create a new editorial and business model to sustain robust journalism in an era of radical change for the media industry. Harris is a native of Rochester, N.Y., and graduated from Carleton with a major in American history. He began his newspaper career in 1985 as a summer intern at the Washington Post. The summer ended with a job offer, and Harris spent the next 21 years at the paper in a succession of beats that began in Virginia politics. He covered the term of Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder, the nation’s first elected black governor, spent time covering the military, and six years, starting in 1995, covering the White House during Bill Clinton’s presidency. Harris’s last position at the Post was as national politics editor. He is the author of “The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House,” a history of the 42nd president which was a New York Times bestseller and a Times Notable Book of the Year. He is also the co-author of a book on modern politics, “The Way to Win,” which he wrote with Mark Halperin. In late 2006, Harris joined with colleague Jim VandeHei to launch Politico, in collaboration with publisher Robert Allbritton. The publication now has more than 140 employees in its news and business operations and was recently named by Fast Company magazine to its annual list of America’s most innovative companies. Harris was also recently listed in the Telegraph’s list of most influential Washington journalists and GQ’s list of the most influential people in Washington. He is a frequent guest on such television shows as CBS’s “Face the Nation,” PBS’s “Washington Week” and “The Charlie Rose Show,” and MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” In addition, he is a board member of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the American Society of News Editors. He lives with his wife, Ann O’Hanlon, in Alexandria, Va., with their three children.
Pamela Kiecker Royall ‘80 brings 25 years’ experience in higher education as a professor, researcher, and marketing strategist to her position on Carleton’s board. Her faculty and administrative appointments have included business and health-care management positions at both private and public institutions in the U.S. and Canada. She most recently served as Executive Director of the Interactive Marketing Institute, and is former Chair of the Department of Marketing, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va. Kiecker Royall’s research is widely published in academic and trade journals and she has been awarded grants from the Fulbright Commission, the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Department of Education, and the World Bank, among others. She has participated in academic programs and consulting projects in Scandinavia, Eastern and Western Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, India, Malaysia, China, Central Asia, and Australia. Kiecker Royall serves as Head of Research at Royall & Company, a direct marketing agency working exclusively with colleges and universities on student recruitment and enrollment programs. Her husband, Bill Royall, is founder and Chairman of Royall & Company.
Arthur Kowaloff graduated from Carleton in 1968 and from Yale University School of Law in 1971. From 1971-91, he practiced corporate and securities law at the New York law firm of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, where he became a senior partner and member of the executive committee. He joined Patricof Capital Corporation in 1991 and helped to establish that business as an international investment bank dedicated to the needs of entrepreneurs and their companies. In 1998, Kowaloff and his partners sold Patricof Capital to the Bank of New York and until 2003 he served as a senior managing director of BNY Capital Markets. Since that time, he is a public company director, board member of Orange Regional Medical Center (a hospital located in Orange County, N.Y.), and President of the PBP Foundation of New York. Arthur and his wife, Betty, live in New York City and have two daughters, Abigail and Katie.
Margaret C. Simms, serving as alumni trustee, is an Institute Fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., where she directs the Low Income Working Families project. Prior to joining the Urban Institute in July 2007, she was a vice president at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Simms has held academic appointments at Atlanta University and the University of California at Santa Cruz. She has edited many books and monographs on black economic well-being, and has written extensively on issues of employment and training, education, income and poverty, and minority business development. Simms served as editor of the Review of Black Political Economy from 1983 to 1988. She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and recently served on the National Research Council Committee on the Fiscal Future of the United States. In 2008, the National Economic Association presented her with the Samuel Z. Westerfield Award for her contributions to scholarship, institutional leadership, and service. Carleton awarded her an honorary doctor of laws degree in 2010. She received her PhD in economics from Stanford University.
David B. Smith, Jr. ’88 is the general counsel of the Mutual Fund Directors Forum, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that provides education to and advocates on behalf of the independent directors of mutual funds. Prior to joining the Forum, Smith spent ten years on the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission in a variety of positions, was an associate at the law firm Shea & Gardner and clerked for Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Smith serves as a director of Illinois Tool Works, Inc. and of the Northern Trust Corporation. He is also president of the board of trustees of the Green Acres School, a private K-8 school in Rockville, Md., dedicated to progressive education. Smith graduated from Carleton in 1988 with a degree in philosophy, and also received an MA in English from the University of Chicago and a JD from Harvard University School of Law.
Brooks H. Wallin, serving as international trustee, is president and owner of Organic Stories SAS, a Paris-based manufacturer and marketer of premium organic food products. With its two manufacturing facilities in France, Organic Stories produces own-brand and private label organic breakfast cereals and organic canned food and preserves, mainly for the French market, but also for numerous other European and Asian markets. After completing his BA at Carleton where he majored in geology, Wallin received his MS degree from the University of Hawaii in marine geology and geophysics in 1982. He began his career in 1982 as a petroleum geophysicist in Houston working for Conoco on offshore Gulf of Mexico fields and prospects. In 1986, Brooks went on to attend the MBA program at Harvard Business School after which he relocated to Paris, France. In Paris, he first worked as a banker from specializing in energy project finance for Crédit National SA, and then in 1994 joined TOTAL SA, the French oil company, as vice president in the mergers and acquisitions and business development departments from 1994-99. Wallin is married to Catherine Chapalain and they have 3 children, Pierre (’12), Elena, and Agathe.
A 1985 graduate in economics, R. Kirk Weidner will serve as 25th reunion trustee. He currently is vice president and corporate account leader responsible for building the relationship between Cargill, Inc., and The Coca-Cola Company and System on a global basis. Weidner joined Cargill in 1985 as a commodity trader in Memphis, Tenn. He has held various roles in sweetener sales and management including product manager and regional sales manager. In 1991, he helped to launch Cargill’s entry into the worldwide Acidulants business. In 1995, he was named general manager of the Cargill Foods distribution business in Medley, Fla., serving the cruise industry. In 1997, Weidner received the Broken Silo Award for leading cross-business collaboration in the company. He joined the leadership team of the corn milling business unit in Minneapolis in 1998. In 2000, Weidner was selected as one of Cargill’s first global corporate account leaders. Weidner is also a member of the board of trustees of TPT – Twin Cities Public Television. He is married to Angie Weidner and has three children.
