The Reinvestment Fund (TRF) has named John Summers ’80, P’12, as the new chair of its board of directors, on which he has served for more than a dozen years. Summers is a shareholder in the litigation department at Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller. His practice includes complex commercial litigation including health care, intellectual property, and construction. In addition to his involvement with TRF, Summers is involved in professional organizations including the American Law Institute, and he also serves on the board of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project. Summers graduated in 1984 from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he served as an editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review and was awarded the Mark E. Lefever Prize for Law and Economics. An economics major at Wesleyan, he earned his degree with high honors. He has served the university as a trustee.
Michael K. Banbury ’85, MD, has been named the W. Samuel Carpenter III Distinguished Chair of Cardiovascular Surgery at Christiana Care’s Center for Heart and Vascular Health. After receiving his medical degree from the University of Connecticut, Banbury completed his cardiothoracic surgery training as both a clinician and a researcher at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. Currently, he is chief of cardiac surgery for Christiana Care Health Systems in Delaware.
Frances Goitia Padilla ’81 was appointed president of the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, a nonprofit that has lobbied for universal health care in the state. Padilla, who joined the foundation in 2004 and served as executive vice president, succeeds Juan A. Figueroa, the founding president, in September. The foundation employs an activist philanthropy approach to build a movement for universal health care by funding results-oriented outreach, education, and mobilization. Padilla directed the foundation’s research and policy initiatives, which culminated in the development of Connecticut’s historic SustiNet health care reform policy in 2009. Padilla currently serves on the Governor’s SustiNet Health Care Cabinet, charged with overseeing the implementation of federal health care reform under the Affordable Care Act with state-based health care reform initiatives. A psychology major at Wesleyan, she holds a master’s degree in public administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
The Association of California Water Agencies (ACWA) presented its sixth annual Emissary Award to Greg Zlotnick ’86, a longtime water leader whose involvement with the association spans more than a decade. ACWA President Paul Kelley says, “Greg Zlotnick is in a class by himself when it comes to sustained involvement and dedication over the years.” Zlotnick’s involvement in the issues surrounding water management in California was inspired by his CSS honors thesis, “Rivers of Controversy: California Water Politics, A Primer.” Zlotnick served over 10 years as an elected member of the Board of the Santa Clara Valley Water District, Silicon Valley’s water management agency, chairs ACWA’s Groundwater Committee, and is in his 13th year on the ACWA Board of Directors. After receiving a BA from the College of Social Studies at Wesleyan, Zlotnick graduated from the University of California, Hastings College of Law, and became a member of the California bar.
Photographer Stephen Gorman ’82 received the 2011 Benjamin Franklin Award from the Independent Book Publishers Association for his book, Arctic Visions: Encounters at the Top of the World, a lavish and memorable tribute to the land, sea, wildlife, and people of Canada’s North. Gorman traveled throughout the Canadian Arctic and the Northwest Passage aboard the expedition ship Lyubov Orlova for four seasons, giving him an unprecedented opportunity to take pictures of some of our planet’s most spectacular landscapes and wildlife populations
Dr. Joseph J. Fins ’82, an internationally renowned medical ethicist and pioneer in the field of neuroethics and disorders of consciousness, was named the first recipient of a newly established professorship, The E. William Davis Jr. M.D., Professor of Medical Ethics at Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Davis is a member of the Wesleyan Class of 1947. Fins serves as chief of the Division of Medical Ethics and is a tenured professor of medicine, professor of public health, and professor of medicine in psychiatry. He is also director of medical ethics and a physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and on the adjunct faculty of Rockefeller University. He is a co-author of the 2007 Nature paper describing the first use of deep brain stimulation in the minimally conscious state. The Davis Professorship was created in honor of Dr. E. William Davis Jr., who was instrumental in the founding of New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell’s Ethics Committee in 1994, when Dr. Fins was named as its founding chair. Dr. Davis served as professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Weill Cornell Medical College and is currently vice president for medical affairs emeritus at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.
Joy Anderson ’89, founder and president of Criterion Ventures, landed on Fast Company’s 2011 list of “100 Most Creative People in Business.” Through her leadership of Criterion and its initiatives that shape markets to create social and environmental good, she is working to change the rules of our economy. As faculty on the leading social innovation award programs, Anderson advises the next generation of leaders. Her insights have shaped hundreds of ventures, including Good Capital, a social investment firm she co-founded in 2006, and Village Capital, where she chairs the board. A political science major at Wesleyan, she earned her Ph.D. in American history from NYU.
RBC Capital Markets, the investment-banking arm of Royal Bank of Canada, hired Judith Fishlow Minter ’82 to co-head U.S. Loan Capital Markets. Fishlow Minter, who will lead the New York-based business with Miguel Roman, joined RBC from North Sea Partners LLC, where she was a managing partner. Previously, she ran Citigroup Inc.’s Loan Syndicate desk for North America. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, RBC has climbed to 11th most-active underwriter of leveraged loans in the U.S. this year, from 15th in 2010, Fishlow Minter was an economics and government major at Wesleyan. She also holds an MBA in finance from the University of Pennsylvania.
J. Gordon Cooney Jr. ’81, managing partner at the Philadelphia office of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP, will receive the 2011 Judge Learned Hand Award from the American Jewish Committee this January. Cooney and Michael Banks, also a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP and a co-honoree, have been pro bono legal representation for John Thompson, a former death-row inmate, wrongly convicted for the murder of a New Orleans executive and an unrelated armed carjacking. Working together on the case since 1988, Cooney and Banks uncovered evidence, witnesses, and other critical information that had not been provided to Thompson’s initial defense team. In 2003, they retried the case: after just 35 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Thompson not guilty. Totally exonerated, Thompson was released after 18 years in prison. Serving as co-chair of the Judge Learned Hand Award event is Charisse R. Lillie ’74.
Hannah Doress ’88 produced Earth Day Marin, a country-wide celebration of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. The day drew thousands of attendees and received front-page coverage in the Marin Independent Journal. Senator Mark Leno, of California’s third district, and State Controller Steve Chiang were among the speakers at the event. The day’s festivities included a green songs contest, topical forums, a local foods “iron chef” contest, and an animation festival. A local resource guide with green living tips was also distributed to attendees, available at earthdaymarin.org. At Wesleyan, she was a sociology major.
