Development Committee

Cathy Bacich

Cathy is a former corporate lawyer who spent most of her career at General Motors Asset Management (now Promark Global Advisors) advising the GM retirement plans on their investments in alternative investment structures and participating in new product planning.  She previously worked as a corporate associate at the law firms of Debevoise & Plimpton and Thacher Proffitt & Wood.  She spent the past three years at LegalHealth, a nonprofit that provides free legal services in hospitals to low-income New Yorkers, where she researched potential funding sources, wrote grant proposals and worked on special projects. She has served on the board of the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival and as president of her co-op. Cathy received a B.A. from UCLA, a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and a Certificate in Grantmaking and Foundations from the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies.  She is the mother of Matthew, a junior at Packer-Collegiate Institute, and an active member of the Packer Parent Association.

Michael Balaban

Michael (Mike) Balaban is Managing Director at Xinhua Finance and is responsible for the company's global integration of operations in the US and Europe. With more than 20 years of experience as a senior investment banker at Lehman Brothers and Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup, Mr. Balaban has specialized in Asia-related business, primarily focusing on China, Korea, and Japan. Prior to that, Mr. Balaban ran Citigroup's Equity Capital Markets Group in Japan in 1998-1999. Mike holds a B.A. from Brown University and a Master of Arts in International Finance from Tufts.

Vanessa Burgess

Vanessa Burgess manages a fund focused on public equity investments in the health care sector and previously advised private companies on capital raising. For sixteen years, she was a Managing Director of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette's Health Care Group and served as Chief Operating Officer of the Technology Investment Banking Group. Prior to her time at DLJ, Vanessa was an Investment Officer at Overseas Private Investment Corp. She holds an M.B.A. with distinction from George Washington University, a Master's in International Administration from the School for International Training, and a B.A. with Honors from Wesleyan University. She is a Trustee Emerita of Wesleyan University and a member of her coop board.

Guy de Chazal

Until recently, Guy was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley and President of Morgan Stanley Venture Partners (MSVP). He remains on the board of one of MSVP’s portfolio companies, Thrupoint Technologies and a previous portfolio company, Lionbridge Technologies (LIOX). He also serves on the board of Uhlig. He served on the board of the National Venture Capital Association, co-chairing the Education Committee and chairing the Annual Convention in 2005. In 2004 and 2005, he was an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, teaching Venture Capital to second year MBA students. Prior to his twenty-two years at Morgan Stanley, he worked at Citicorp Venture Capital and, before that, McKinsey and Co. In the nonprofit sector, Guy serves on four boards; he is chairman of Fountain House, a residential, service and advocacy program for people living with mental illness. He also serves on the boards of two Connecticut schools, Eagle Hill in Greenwich and Suffield Academy, and the Meadowbrook Hunt Club on Long Island. Guy has a BS Engineering from Manchester University in the UK and an MBA from Harvard University. He is married to Kitty Choate and has two teenage children, Justine and David.

Rick Juneja

Rick Juneja is a Sales Director with EMC Corporation, in the company’s advanced services division where he is focused on developing and selling business and technology solutions to large financial services organizations. Prior to joining EMC, Rick was a Senior Director with Alvarez & Marsal in the company's performance improvement practice, focused on solving technology and operations challenges for private-equity sponsored portfolio companies. He received a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Miami University (Ohio) and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Marie Kelly

Marie Kelly is the mother of William (graduate of the United States Naval Academy and Oxford University), James (Duke University graduate), and Carolyn Kelly (Princeton University Junior). Marie is on the board of Prep for Prep and serves on two advisory boards, the Dean’s Council of Weill Cornell Medical College and the Trinity School at Duke University. She is a former Board member of the Collegiate School and the Spence School. Prior to raising her three children, Marie was Managing Director of Institutional Marketing for Fixed Income Products at Merrill Lynch & Company. She is also former Senior Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company. She has a PhD and MS in International Business from Penn State University and attended University of Kansas for her BA.

Maria Kourepenos

Maria Kourepenos is the mother of Alexa, Ariana, and Ellery.  In addition to raising her three young daughters, Maria is a consultant for the on-line editing application, GorillaSpot, and is an active member of The Brearley School Parents Association.  Maria has over twenty years of experience in marketing and advertising. She is a former Director of Marketing/Advertising at HBO, where she headed up the marketing campaigns for award-winning programs such as: Sex And The City, The Sopranos and Angels in America.  Prior to joining HBO, Maria was a Vice President at Ogilvy & Mather working on both the American Express and AT&T accounts. Maria is a graduate of Princeton University.

David Sicher

David spent forty years on Wall Street, most recently thirty years at Salomon Brothers/Citigroup where he retired as a Managing Director in the Fixed Income Division in June 2007. He was the Founder in 1991 of Apply Software Systems, a College and Business School software application program, which was sold to The Princeton Review. He has previously served on the Boards of The Associated YM-YWHA's of Greater New York and The American Cancer Society New York Chapter and is active in various Alumni activities for Collegiate School and Deerfield Academy. David holds a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.

Emily Susskind

Emily Susskind has more than twenty-five years of technology management experience. She recently served as Chief Information Officer of the International Division of Prudential Financial Inc, where she was responsible for the strategic direction of information technology throughout Prudential’s international insurance and investments operations. Prior to Prudential, she served as Executive Vice President of the Sony Corporation of America and President of its Broadband Services Company. She is on the Boards of Directors of Education Through Music and of City Harvest. She has an MBA from the Wharton School and a BA from Wellesley College.