Meet Prep for Prep's New Board of Trustees and Associates Council Members

This past spring, we welcomed eight new Board of Trustees and Associates Council members to Prep for Prep. Among our newly elected members are three Prep alumni.
Please welcome our new Board of Trustees and Associate’s Council members who joined us this spring. We appreciate their commitment to Prep for Prep and look forward to their future contributions to our community.

Board of Trustees

Melanie Dow 
Melanie Dow is the Chief Administrative Officer at First Eagle Investment Management with oversight of the Human Resources division, the Corporate Operations division, and the Project Management Office. She also serves as the President of the First Eagle Investment Management Foundation. She earned a BA in psychology from the University of Maine and earned her Post-Graduate Diploma in Organizational Leadership at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

Mehdi Mahmud 
Mehdi Mahmud is the President and Chief Executive Officer of First Eagle Investment Management. He also serves as the president of First Eagle Funds. Mehdi came to First Eagle in March 2016 from Jennison Associates, where he was CEO and chairman of the board. Mehdi received a BS in electrical engineering from Yale University.

Dusty Philip 
Dusty Philip is the Co-Chair of Global Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) at Goldman Sachs. Previously, he was global co-head of M&A and global co-head of the Industrials group. Dusty joined Goldman Sachs in M&A in 1991. He was named managing director in 1999 and partner in 2000. 

Dusty serves on the Board of Trustees for the Brearley School, Young People's Chorus of New York City and Room to Read (New York). Dusty earned a BA from Amherst College and an MBA from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College.

Nancy Reyes (IX)
Nancy Reyes (IX) is CEO of TBWA/Chiat/Day New York, an award-winning advertising agency based in NY. Nancy has specialized in partnering with dozens of companies such as IBM, HP, Adobe, Google, Facebook, and Procter & Gamble to develop their brands, create meaningful relationships with their consumers/customers, and ultimately drive a more purposeful and profitable future. 

Throughout her career, Nancy has devoted her attention to pushing a robust Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion agenda in the marketing industry. In 2018, she founded Circle of Women, an executive coaching program for women on the cusp of leadership, to build a pipeline of future female leaders—and more than half of the participants are women of color. She is a founding member of Times UP and is in her fifth year of establishing a summer internship program for aspiring advertising young people of color which includes Prep for Prep students.

Nancy attended The Trevor Day School, Trinity High School, and Harvard University where she graduated cum laude.

Adora Whitaker 
Adora Whitaker is the Managing Director in the Strategic Advisory Group at PJT Partners, based in New York. Prior to joining PJT Partners in May 2020, Ms. Whitaker worked at Deutsche Bank in the Investment Banking Division as part of the Financial Institutions Group. At her previous organizations and now at PJT, she has always been, and continues to be, a key member of firm-wide efforts around recruiting, mentoring, developing and promoting talent, including Prep for Prep students.

Adora serves on Duke University’s Trinity College Board of Visitors, and on the Board of Directors of Duke NY. She received her BS in Economics and MBA from Duke University and is a CFA Charterholder.

Associate’s Council 

Algeria Aljure (XV)
Algeria Aljure is the Vice President/Assistant General Counsel within the legal department of JPMorgan Chase & Co. In her current role, she provides legal advice regarding the offering of Retail Non-Deposit Investment Products in Chase branches, and through chase.com and Chase Mobile app. In 2019, she joined JPMorgan Chase’s Field Services Corp., a highly selective program that leverages the skills and talent of employees to drive inclusive growth in communities. 

She actively collaborates on diversity initiatives and co-leads the Recruiting Workstream for the department’s Black Legal Forum. Passionate about Prep for Prep’s mission, Algeria participated in panels and served as a mentor for summer interns in 2020. She received inMotion’s Commitment to Justice Award in 2011. Algeria has a JD from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and a BA from Yale University. 

Jake Chasan 
Jake Chasan is an Investment Banking Analyst at Goldman Sachs in New York and also serves as IBD Intern Captain. Jake joined Goldman Sachs after graduating early from Duke with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Computer Science. Prior to Duke, Jake studied Computer Science at Stanford University concurrently with high school.
 
At Duke, he developed a passion for mentoring college students who were interested in a career in the financial services industry, and that is where he was introduced to Prep for Prep. Since 2017, Jake has served as a personal, academic, and professional mentor to several students. Jake is honored to be joining the Associates Council of Prep for Prep to become more directly involved in the program while continuing to serve as a mentor. 

Julie Novick-Lederer (XXXI) 
Julie began her career at Goldman Sachs on the Cross Asset Sales team within the Global Markets Division. She is now making a transition to the High Yield Credit Research team covering Telecom, Media, and Cable/Satellites within the Global Investment Research Division. She graduated from Princeton University with an engineering degree in Computer Science. Julie is also a registered yoga teacher through the Yoga Alliance.

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