Alumni Profiles
The following profiles highlight some of the professional accomplishments of Woodward Debate alums. It was last updated on September 16, 2020. If you would like to be added to this page, please contact Maggie Berthiaume.
Academia
Brett Mizelle '85 — Tenured Professor in the Department of History and Director of the American Studies Program at California State University-Long Beach; holds a B.A. from Georgetown University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota
Ellis Godard '89 — Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at California State University-Northridge and Executive Director of the Mockingbird Foundation (a non-profit organization that supports music education); holds a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia
Business/Economics
Cyclone Covey '97 — entrepreneur with six active businesses; previously an investor with Gathering of Angels, a group of venture capitalists and venture bankers; holds a B.A. and J.D. from Wake Forest University
Eric Zampol '98 — Managing Director at The Peakstone Group; former Director of Infrastructure Banking at BMO Capital Markets, a leading North American financial services provider; former Associate at Goldman Sachs who worked on several significant corporate acquisitions and public concessions; holds a B.A. in Economics from Dartmouth College
Ryan Marietta '02 — Senior Financial Analyst at Bronson, Rehmus & Foxworth—a wealth management company in Chicago; holds an M.B.A. from Loyola University of Chicago
Bunny Tucker '02 — Architect at DIGSAU in Philadelphia; holds a Master of Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology, a Master of Environmental Management from Duke University, and a B.A. from the University of Southern California in Environmental Studies; taught High School Science in Eastern North Carolina as a 2006 Teach For America Corps Member.
Bobby Rosenbleeth '07 — Director of Corporate Strategy and Business Intelligence at DASH Financial Technologies in New York City; former Vice President at Parthenon Capital in Boston; holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania
Lina Skandalakis '07 — Senior Insights Analyst at Coca-Cola Freestyle; former Co-Founder, Marketing Director, and Producer at Macho Zero Productions—an independent game studio
Brittany Nehman '09 — Vice President for Technology and Disruptive Commerce in the Commercial Banking division at J.P. Morgan; holds an M.B.A. from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University
Matthew Pesce '10 — Strategic Marketing at Honeywell Building Technologies; former Consultant and Business Analyst at Deloitte; holds an MBA from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University
Nasir Nanjee '12 — Consumer Lending Manager at Platinum Federal Credit Union; holds a B.A. in International Affairs from the University of Georgia
Government & Non-Profit Organizations
David Strickland '86 — Democratic Staff Director for the Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation at the U.S. Senate; former Partner in the Regulatory Group at Venable LLP—a law firm; former Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration during the Obama Administration; former Democratic Senior Counsel on the Staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation; holds a B.S. from Northwestern University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School
Bomee Jung '92 — Senior Vice President for Energy and Sustainability and the New York City Housing Authority; former Senior Director of Enterprise Community Partners—a leading national affordable housing organization; teaches in the Capstone Program of New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service; holds a Master in City Planning degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. in Comparative Literature and Japanese from the University of Georgia
Avery Dale '02 — Manager of Special Projects in the Division of Medical Programs at the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services; formerly served on the election campaigns of several candidates for Congress; holds a B.A. in Political Science from Northwestern University and a Master's in Public Policy from the University of Chicago
Aliya Bhatia '06 — Chief Operating Officer at VotER, a civic engagement organization; former Vice President of Program Services at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta; former Math Instructor at Edna Karr High School in New Orleans as a member of the Teach For American program; spent a year studying in China as part of a Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs program; holds an M.P.P. from Harvard University
Evan Matthews '08 — Impact Manager and Committee Chair of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion at City Year, an education nonprofit organization; holds a B.A. in Race and Ethnic Studies from the University of Redlands
Journalism
Marcelo Ballve '94 — Vice President of the Intelligence Unit at CB Insights; former Principal Research Analyst at Business Insider; former Journalist specializing in Latin America; has contributed writing and reporting to The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Mother Jones magazine, NPR, and the PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
Jacob Brown '98 — filmmaker, journalist, and brand consultant; Creative Director of Branded Content at Vogue; former Features and Entertainment Director at T Magazine, The New York Times Style Magazine; former editor of V Magazine and VMAN; holds a B.A. from Cornell University
Alex Duner '13 — Content Engineer at Apple News; former Front-End Developer at Axios; holds a B.A. from Northwestern University
Law
Andre Hylton '92 — Deputy General Counsel of Operations and Legal Service Innovation at Koch Companies Public Sector, LLC; former Chief Counsel at Georgia-Pacific LLC; former Associate at Kilpatrick Stockton and Jones Day; holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School
Robbie Ashe '93 — Partner at Bondurant Mixson & Elmore LLP in Atlanta; serves on the Board of Directors for MARTA; has worked on the election and re-election campaigns of the three most recent Atlanta mayors, several members of the Atlanta City Council and the Atlanta Public School Board, and numerous Georgia General Assembly members; holds a J.D. from Georgia State University
Danny Sherwinter '95 — Senior Patent Attorney at Kilpatrick Townsend in Denver; Adjunct Law Professor and Clinical Instructor at the University of Colorado-Boulder; Author of the IP Strategist blog; holds a J.D. from the University of Colorado School of Law
T.J. Hadley '01 — Project Manager at Complete Discovery Source, Inc. in New York City; former Senior Discovery Staff Attorney at Troutman Sanders eMerge LLC—a division of the international law firm; holds a J.D. from the Emory University School of Law
Laura Reinhold '01 — Associate at Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld LLC in Philadelphia; former Associate at Duane Morris LLP and McGuireWoods LLP; holds a J.D. from Georgia State University College of Law
Elise Borochoff (Baumgarten) '03 — Associate at Williams & Connolly LLP—a DC law firm; holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School
Craig Kunkes '03 — Attorney at Robbins Firm—an Atlanta business litigation and regulatory law firm; former Attorney for the Georgia Governor's Office of Consumer Protection; former Counsel to the Georgia House of Representatives Judiciary Non-Civil Committee; holds a J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School
Gopi K. Panchapakesan ’03 — Partner at Bird Marella—a Los Angeles-based litigation boutique. Gopi holds a law degree from Harvard Law School.
Niji Jain '04 — Impact Litigation Attorney at The Bronx Defenders—a public defender office in the South Bronx; former Associate at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP—a New York City law firm; holds a J.D. from the Emory University School of Law
Mona Mehta '04 — Senior Employment Counsel at Revlon Inc.; former Employment Counsel at Success Academy Charter Schools; former Associate at Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman LLP—a New York law firm; holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School
Medicine/Healthcare
Nishan Fernando '90 — Oncologist with Georgia Cancer Specialists; holds an M.D. from Duke University where he completed his fellowship and residency; well-known speaker in the medical oncology community
Naveen Parti '90 — Radiologist specializing in Neuroradiology at Greenville Radiology in South Carolina; holds an M.D. from Emory School of Medicine and completed his fellowship and residency at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University
Suma Dronavalli '92 — Board Certified Endocrinologist at Laureate Medical Group; holds an M.A. from Emory University where she completed her residency
Peter Miller '01 — Hematology-Oncology Fellow at the Dana–Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Cancer Center; holds an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and a Ph.D. in Leukemia Biology and Therapeutic Targets from Harvard University
Feras Akbik '02 — Neurocritical Care Fellow and Assistant Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery at Emory University; former Neurology Resident at Massachusetts General Hospital; holds an M.D. and Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the Yale University School of Medicine
Lauren Tanis (Gensler) '02 — Internal Medicine Physician at Grady Hospital; Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Emory University School of Medicine; Co-Founder of the volunteer service for the City of Refuge Mental Health Clinic—a free mental health clinic in inner-city Atlanta; holds an M.D. from the Emory University School of Medicine
Genna Cohen '03 — Health Researcher at Mathematica Policy Research; holds a Ph.D. in Health Services Organization and Policy from the University of Michigan