Linda Belfus
Linda is a publishing and content strategy consultant. She previously served as a senior vice president at Elsevier, a leading global provider of web‐based, digital information for health and science professionals, where she oversaw the content team. Prior to that, she co‐founded and served as CEO of Philadelphia‐based medical publisher Hanley & Belfus, which was acquired by Elsevier in 2002. In addition to her Penn State degree, Linda earned her master’s degree from Villanova University.

Linda is a board member and secretary of the Philadelphia chapter of the Make‐A‐Wish Foundation. At Penn State, she has mentored more than twenty students in the Liberal Arts Alumni Mentor Program and established the Linda and Alan Belfus Undergraduate Scholarship and the Linda Poist Markey Open Doors Scholarship in the College of the Liberal Arts. She resides in Media, Pennsylvania.

Sharon Callahan
Sharon moved to Washington, D.C., in 1985 and embarked on a 34-year career with the Central Intelligence Agency where she served in an array of mission areas, including counterterrorism, counterintelligence, Africa, East Asia, and cyber. She served overseas in Africa, Asia, and Europe and represented the agency for two years at the FBI’s National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force. She retired at the end of 2019 as an executive manager and received the CIA’s Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal. Sharon currently works part-time as an instructor and mentor with the agency’s new hires; she also completed a certification in Teaching English as a Second Language and works with students from other countries who are learning English. Sharon maintains proficiency in French, Spanish, and Italian. At Penn State, Sharon enjoys participating as a mentor in the Liberal Arts Alumni Mentor Program and serves as an alumni admissions volunteer for Penn State’s Undergraduate Admissions Office. Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Sharon currently resides in Herndon, Virginia. She has a daughter, Emily, who graduated from Penn State in 2018.

Thandi Clements
Thandi is vice president of marketing and client relations for Washington Capital Management, a 100 percent employee-owned multi-strategy investment adviser based in Seattle, Washington. In this role, Thandi draws upon her many years of experience within the Taft-Hartley community to maintain important client relationships and managing key client accounts. Her role includes exploring new market opportunities that support the growth of the firm. Prior to her current role, Thandi accumulated years of experience in large group sales for a national, employer-sponsored insurance provider. Since graduating, Thandi has volunteered as a World Campus Ambassador and participates as a mentor in the Liberal Arts Alumni Mentor Program. She received the Penn State World Campus Outstanding Alumna Award in 2019 in recognition of her success as a leader and her dedication to Penn State World Campus. She resides in Dana Point, California.

Barbara Cohen
Barbara is the retired president and founder of Kannon Consulting, a marketing and strategy consulting firm that provided advice to both businesses and nonprofit organizations facing market disruption. Throughout her more than thirty years in the marketing and strategy industry, she counseled businesses and organizations in the media, technology, utility, human services, and education sectors. Prior to Kannon, Barbara was a partner at Booz Allen Hamilton, a global information technology consulting firm, and held marketing positions at Procter & Gamble. At Penn State, Barbara served on the advisory task force for the business minor in the College of the Liberal Arts and sat on the Women in Leadership panel. She and her husband, Robert (Bob) Chirinko, established the Cohen-Schwartz Renaissance Fund, a Trustee Scholarship, and a Paterno Fellows Program scholarship. She was named a Penn State Alumni Fellow in 2016. Barbara and Bob reside in Chicago, Illinois.

Christopher Dobbins
Chris is currently director of people strategy and planning for San Francisco-based DoorDash, where he leads long-range business planning and effectiveness. He also spent time at Uber during its culturally transformative years, where he and his team were integral in shaping procedure and controls in support of diverse, equitable, and inclusive employment. Chris began his corporate journey at Twitter, where he was the founding member of the recruiting operations organization, enabling the company’s talent strategy as it matured from private to publicly traded. Chris is also a veteran of the United States Air Force, where he served five years as an intelligence officer, primarily in unmanned aerial vehicle operations. As a Penn State student, he was a member of the Air Force ROTC. In addition to his Penn State degree, Chris holds a certificate in leadership and strategy from Harvard Business School’s Executive Education Program. He resides in San Francisco with his fiancée, Lindsay.

Joseph Farrell
Joe is a partner with Latham & Watkins, based in Los Angeles, California. He provides employment law advice to and represents employers in litigation in the automobile, biotech, finance, food services, garment, healthcare, retail, technology, telecommunications, and utilities industries. Joe also provides legal advice to not-for-profit organizations and writes on a variety of employment law topics; for instance, he is the contributing editor for the Rutter Group’s California Practice Guide, Employment Litigation, Age Discrimination chapter. He also teaches employment law as an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California's Gould School of Law. Joe is a mentor in the Liberal Arts Alumni Mentor Program; he has also established a Trustee Scholarship in honor of Professor Art Goldschmidt and a fund for study abroad. Joe resides in Altadena, California, with his wife, Brenda.

George Gowen
George is the founder of Avir Realty Group, LLC, the consulting and brokerage affiliate of Avir Corporation, which focuses on corporate real estate work. George’s roles have included acquisitions, dispositions, analysis, debt origination and the full range of asset management, leasing, and property management. George also supervises construction from ground-up development through minor tenant improvements. At Penn State, George is a mentor in the Liberal Arts Alumni Mentor Program, and he served on the inaugural Alumni in Business panel. He and his wife Karen created a fund in the Paterno Fellows Program and are annual donors to the Liberal Arts Futures Fund. They reside in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, have three adult children, and are excited to be first-time grandparents this year!

Peter Grollman
Peter is currently senior vice president for external affairs at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where he oversees the hospital’s Marketing and Public Relations, Government Affairs, and Community Relations departments. He also supports CHOP’s president and CEO on external affairs and ensures that all of the hospital’s external communications align with its mission and strategy. Peter began his tenure at CHOP in 2007 as the hospital’s director of government affairs, community relations and advocacy; before that, he served as an aide in the U.S. Senate before joining a Washington, D.C.-based public affairs firm specializing in healthcare advocacy. In addition to his Penn State degree, Peter holds a master of governmental administration degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Peter serves on the boards of the Greater Philadelphia YMCA, the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia (chair), and the University City District; he also served on the Health Transition Review Team for Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf. He is a recipient of the Community Service Award from Chai Lifeline, Education Innovators Award from the Social Innovations Journal, and the Outstanding Public Service Award from Penn State’s Department of Political Science.