Five Alumni Named 2016-17 Donaldson Fellows

Biographies

Danguole Altman ’85, Vapogenix’s President and CEO, is an experienced health care entrepreneur. Ms Altman co-founded Vapogenix, a clinical stage drug development company focused on developing a novel, locally acting, non-opioid class of pain medications. Ms. Altman has driven Vapogenix’s strategy, built a successful drug development team, led the Company’s product development from initial patent to clinical stage and raised over $18M to fund the Company to date. She was previously President and CEO of FemPartners, Inc., a private-equity backed women’s health care services firm that she co-founded.  Prior to FemPartners, Ms. Altman held management positions at HCA and Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, as well as served 4 years as a Consultant at McKinsey and Co. Ms. Altman serves on the Advisory Board of the Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Healthcare Industry Foundation, as a member of the Greater Houston Partnership’s Executive Women’s Partnership, and in 2008 was named a Woman on the Move by Texas Executive Women and the Houston Chronicle. Ms. Altman is a Director of the BalticAmerican Freedom Foundation, whose mission is to enrich ties between the US and Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania through programs of education and exchange centering on economic growth and democratic processes.  She also serves on the Executive Committee of the Harvard Alumni Association Board.   Ms. Altman holds an A.B in Economics magna cum laude from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management.  

Joaquin Avila ’82 is a co-founder of EMX Capital, a private equity firm based in Mexico City.  Mr. Avila has a key role in selecting, analyzing and structuring transactions to be presented to his investment committee.  He is also actively involved in monitoring investments, acting as a member of the financial and operating committees of most investment companies. Mr. Avila also currently serves as Chairman of the Board of several portfolio companies including: ILSP, AG Convertidora, Farmapiel, and Bisonte.

Prior to the formation of EMX Capital, Joaquin served as Managing Director and Fund Head for The Carlyle Group’s Mexican branch, Carlyle Mexico Partners (CMP).  During his tenure at CMP, he was appointed as a Global Partner in The Carlyle Group.

Before joining Carlyle, Joaquin served as the Head of Latin America for Lehman Brothers in New York. Prior to joining Lehman Brothers he worked at Banco Santander, first as Head of Corporate Finance for Latin America and subsequently as Managing Director and Member of the Board of Santander Investment in Spain.  In the latter position, Mr. Avila was responsible for the development of Santander’s strategy throughout Latin America.  Previously, he also worked at Bankers Trust, Libra Bank PLC, and in the Mexican Ministry of Energy and Mines.

Joaquin has actively participated in the promotion of  Yale University in Mexico and is currently Honorary Chairman of the Yale SOM Mexico Board of Advisors.

Joaquin holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the Universidad Iberoamericana inMexico City, a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Stanford University, and a Masters in Public Private Management from Yale University.

Colonel Rich Morales ’99  is a Professor and Deputy Head of the Department of Systems Engineering at the United States Military Academy.  His experiences as a soldier and scholar have helped him form insights into the challenges and rewards of leading and managing in a variety of environments, from working with housing authorities to better support our youth, or advising senior military and government leaders, to leading men and women in combat.  

Rich has served in cavalry, armor and infantry units in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East and led at every level from platoon (16 soldiers) through brigade (several thousand soldiers).  As a tank platoon leader in the Gulf War,and commander of an armor company and a UN multinational peacekeeping force in the Balkans, he refined his tactical competence and learned to work with allied officers while immersed in different cultures.  He spent multiple year-long tours in hostile fire zones, culminating as the commander of an 800 soldier battalion arrayed across 1/3 of Baghdad, where as a leader he stressed the need to balance defeating a violent insurgency with rebuilding local governance,commerce, and security all while maintaining respect for the populace.   Later as a Brigade Commander, his team was distributed across 8 states at 97 colleges and universities and was responsible for transforming college students into resilient future Army leaders skilled at problem-solving, ethical decision-making, and understanding their role in society. Colonel Morales is a graduate of US Army parachute, air assault, reconnaissance, operational law, and defense strategy courses.  His units earned awards for valor, and he was awarded a Legion of Merit, Bronze Stars for combat merit, and isa Purple Heart recipient.

Rich studied aerospace engineering at West Point, is a Yale MBA, and has degrees in resource management and strategic studies from the Naval War College and the National Defense University.  He studied systems dynamics and organizational learning at MIT, military strategy at Columbia University’s Saltzman Institute, decision and risk analysis at the Defense Resource Management Institute, and is a graduate of UNC’s Advanced Logistics and Technology program. As a doctoral student in the UK he explored service innovation and systems design in the Centre for Strategy and Performance at Cambridge University.  He co-authored a chapter in a book on defense innovation, and has published articles on complex service systems, naval sea-basing logistics, and leadership in extreme conditions.  

Rich served in the Executive Office of the President twice.  In 2001, he was a White House Fellow on the President’s management and budget staff and later was Deputy for Borders and Transportation Security on the planning staff that developed the blueprint for the new Department of Homeland Security.  In 2013, Colonel Morales rejoined the White House Staff as Executive Director of Joining Forces, an effort to transform how our country supports transitioning military, veterans, and their families by leveraging partnerships across federal, state, and local agencies, non-profits,Veteran and Military Service Organizations.

Colonel Morales studies systems improvement and teaches project management, engineering economics, and dynamics systems analysis at West Point.  As an Operations Research analyst he examined the privatization of federal services, human resource staffing models, and collaborative command and control systems. Leveraging his experience, he has worked closely with leaders across the defense sector, large global companies and entrepreneurs, and US Army and defense analytical agencies.  Rich was a Special Assistant and direct report to the head of NASA on the organizational impact of changing Agency missions, and has served as an elected member of several advisory boards.  

Rich is a first-generation American born in El Paso, Texas and is fluent in Spanish.  Beyond his work with cadets, he is an active supporter of STEM education, is engaged in outreach to Hispanic youth to advocate the value of education beyond high school, and works with leaders from all sectors to develop innovative ways to support veterans’ education, employment, and wellness efforts.  He met his wife Christy, a pediatric nurse practitioner, in kindergarten.   They enjoy rowing, traveling beyond the beaten path, and work hard to keep up with their son Matthew, who is usually chasing their loyal Labrador. They have moved 13 times as a military family and enjoy the geographic stability and the rewards of teaching, mentoring, and research as part of a community of scholars on the Hudson.

Dr. Ann Olivarius ’86 is the Chair of McAllister Olivarius, one of the leading firms in the US and UK advancing the rights of women.  After developing her corporate finance skills in the M&A departments of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, Ann’s career includes service as a strategic advisor for Perot Systems and as head of the corporate department in the Washington office of Shearman & Sterling. Ann was deeply involved in a landmark civil rights case, Alexander v. Yale, establishing sexual harassment law in the US. The ACLU has named her as one of the nine most influential actors in the history of Title IX, which provides for equal treatment for women in education, and Nelson Mandela introduced her as “a lawyer who has advised me well and who has courageously advanced the cause of justice, and improved life opportunities, for millions of women, blacks and disadvantaged, worldwide.” Ann’s practice now focuses on representing women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted at universities and senior women in employment disputes, in the US and UK. The firm has based its business model on the principle of making money by doing good, and it has had huge financial success in doing so, winning some of the largest awards on both sides of the Atlantic. Ann has served on the Boards of OpenDemocracy USA and Autistica.  She also founded and chairs the Rhodes Project, which evaluates the lives and careers of Rhodes Scholars.

Sandra A. Urie ’85 is Chairman Emeritus and served as former CEO and COO of Cambridge Associates, with responsibility for directing the firm's consulting practice. Prior to assuming her management positions, Ms. Urie was an active member of the consulting staff, providing investment consulting services to a number of endowed nonprofit institutions and private clients, with a specialty in long-range financial planning. Before Ms. Urie joined Cambridge Associates, she worked as a member of the faculty at Phillips Academy (Andover) where she taught Russian language and served on the admissions office staff. She also served on the school's development office staff, where she had responsibilities for capital fund raising and eventually assumed the position of Associate Secretary of the Academy with responsibility for the school's annual giving and alumni programs. Ms. Urie was a member and vice-chair of the Investors' Committee of the U.S. President's Working Group on Financial Markets (2007-2010) focusing on defining best practices in alternative assets, including due diligence and ongoing oversight. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Stanford Management Company, Social Finance, Inc., the Plymouth Rock Company, the Board of Overseers at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She formerly served on the Global Board of 100 Women in Hedge Funds as Vice Chair, the Board of Homesite Group Incorporated, the Board of Advisors of the Yale School of Management, the Board of Visitors of the New England Baptist Hospital, the Board of Overseers at the deCordova Museum, the Board of Overseers of the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Board of Overseers at the Boston Lyric Opera, and the Boards of Phillips Academy, Belmont Day School, and Buckingham Browne & Nichols School. Ms. Urie has received many awards including the 2015 Investor Lifetime Achievement Award from Institutional Investor. Ms. Urie graduated from Stanford University, received an MPPM degree from the Yale School of Organization and Management, and earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.

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Learn more about the 2016-17 Donaldson Fellows and the Donaldson Fellows Program 

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