Harvard Graduate Council : 2008-2009 Executive Board

Aaron Chadbourne is a JD-MBA candidate at Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, currently in his third year of the program. Aaron graduated from Harvard College in 2006 and spent a year in Washington, DC at the Corporate Executive Board before returning to Cambridge where he currently serves as a Proctor for college freshmen in Holworthy Hall. Aaron serves as a director on the Alumni Advisory Board of the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation and on the Board of Directors of The COOP. Prior to his election as president, Aaron served as Vice President for External Relations.

The President is responsible for leading the HGC toward further fulfillment of its mission, focusing the desires voiced by the members into achievable goals, helping the HGC Executive Board achieve these goals and coordinating HGC contact with the administration, faculty and staff. In addition, the President serves on the Board of Directors of the Harvard Alumni Association.

Specific tasks of the President include but are not limited to:

running monthly general meetings of the full council
defining the direction of the HGC with the other officers,
approving and/or appointing posts for initiatives and collaborations,
running regular meetings of the HGC Executive Board,
providing support to the other members of the HGC in the course of their own duties
addressing the incoming students during orientations

The Vice President Communications’ main goal is to ensure the effective management and communication of information. The VP of Communications is responsible for ensuring that all possible avenues are used to establish and maintain communication between the HGC and the entire graduate community at all eleven schools. In addition, VP of Communications is responsible for identifying paths of efficient communication and ensuring distribution of electronic and print information to all graduate students, including maintaining the HGC newsletter and listservs, public relations and marketing, and maintaining the HGC archives. In general terms, the VP of Communications is responsible for presenting the HGC in a coherent and exciting framework.

Richard Townsend is a doctoral candidate in Economics at the Graduate
School of Arts and Sciences. His research is primarily on corporate
finance, entrepreneurship, and behavioral economics. Prior to coming
to Harvard, Richard worked at the White House Council of Economic
Advisors and also did research with Steven Levitt, author of
Freakonomics. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa with honors from Stanford
University in 2005.

The Vice President of Internal Operations must work with the Executive Board to ensure that the Council is communicating effectively internally. Vice President Internal Operations oversees the distribution of meeting agendas, takes minutes at meetings, and manages the HGC's archive of information. This position also works closely with the Harvard University Provost Office to ensure that the budgets are made and expenses are paid in a timely fashion.

Erica Warner is a ScD candidate in the Department of Epidemiology, entering her 4^th year of study at the Harvard School of Public Health. She has a Master’s in Public Health from Yale University and completed her undergraduate education at Duke University, graduating in 2002. Between undergraduate studies and her master’s program Erica participated in the US Department of Health and Human Services Emerging Leaders Program. There she spent two years rotating through the Department with a home office at the National Cancer Institute. In her first year on the Council Erica coordinated speed dating and looks forward to expanding HGC programming. In her spare time Erica enjoys tennis, hiking, reading, movies and traveling.

The Vice President of Events is responsible for developing, coordinating and fostering both social and academic interactions among graduate students in all 12 graduate schools. The main goal is to bring intellectual minds together and facilitate the process of relationship building, sharing of ideas, opinions and further advancing pertinent graduate-wide projects. Through internal and external collaborative committees the VP of Events organizes meaningful initiatives that appeal to the diverse Harvard graduate community.

Ashley Pollock is a Master of Liberal Arts (ALM) Candidate in the Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard University. She earned her first ALM in History from Harvard in 2005 and plans to pursue a Ph.D. with a research focus on Women’s History. Ashley serves on the tutorial board for the Committee on the degrees in the Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Harvard College. This past year she served as President of the Harvard Extension Student Association and in 2007 she served as an Assistant Dean for Harvard Summer School. Prior to her election as VP for External Affairs, Ashley served for two consecutive years as VP of Communications.

The Vice President of External Relations is also the joint contact with HGC President for Central Administration at the University, including Provost's and President's Office, and collaborative schools such as MIT, Tufts, and the Ivies. This position is also responsible for ensuring that all possible avenues are used to establish and maintain this communication in general. Vice President of External Relations is responsible for identifying paths of efficient communication and ensuring distribution of electronic and print information to all graduate students.

Fabiano Romeiro is a PhD Candidate in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, where he concentrates in Computer Vision and is a member of the Graduate Consortium on Energy and the Environment. He graduated in 2004 from the Military Institute of Engineering (IME) in Brazil. Before coming to Harvard, Fabiano worked as a consultant at Bain & Company in Sao Paulo. While at Harvard, he has served as a Dudley Fellow and has been a Teaching Fellow for courses in computer science and mathematics. In his spare time, Fabiano enjoys sailing, soccer and basketball.

The Vice President Student Advocacy oversees the main advocacy branch of the HGC. This position organizes committees for particular events or initiatives, as well as coordinating graduate volunteers. In addition to carrying out these projects, Vice President Student Advocacy is responsible for pursuing academic and career-related advocacy issues for the HGC.

Christopher Laconi is the current President of the Harvard Graduate Council (2007-2008). He is an MBA and MPP candidate in the second year of a three-year concurrent degree program with Harvard Business School and the Kennedy School of Government. In his first year at the Kennedy School, Christopher was named the Dean’s Fellow of the class of 2008 and was elected to the HGC, becoming Vice President for Communications in 2006. Prior to Harvard, he founded a profitable political campaign management firm, worked as a nonprofit consultant, and was once ranked as one of the top ten debaters on the national circuit. Christopher was a Magna cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Bates College, where he studied Rhetoric and Political Science, edited a newspaper, and served as president/chair of the student government from his sophomore year until graduation. A Rhodes Scholarship finalist, he advises Harvard College students as a Lowell House non-resident tutor for fellowships and scholarships. Outside of school, his love of music and the arts motivates his work on the Museum Council of Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, and the boards of several other non-profit organizations.