January 2024 Accolades
Yale’s website notes that Olivia, who hails from Oakland, California, spent the summer as a White House intern in the Office of the Vice President, where she served the vice president’s advance team, traveling throughout the country to help execute events. Last spring, she was appointed by New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker as the youngest member of the city’s Commission on Equal Opportunities, the oldest municipal civil rights agency in the United States. Before that, she served as Miss Connecticut Volunteer 2021, where she served as the first woman of color to hold a New England state title in the system’s history.
A second-year law student at Texas A&M University School of Law, Cage’s legal education at A&M is focused around capital markets and private equity. He majored in public policy and energy technology at Texas Christian University, graduating summa cum laude in 2021.
Outside of pursuing his J.D., Cage is a passionate creator. He exited his first business, Sawyers Brands LLC, in 2022 and is currently the founder and managing partner of 903 Capital + Advisory, a rural Texas investment fund active in national franchise brands, core economic businesses, and consumer items. Philanthropically, Sawyers is the founder and executive director of Sawyers’ Salute to Service, a veterans nonprofit organization that assists post-service veterans on their path to better physical, mental, and spiritual health post-military service.
Rosita Najmi (2000) gave a Ted Talk on multilingual leadership. She would love to get your feedback on the concepts proposed in the talk. If interested, please fill out a brief survey here.
Rosita has worked at the intersection of global social, environmental, and economic development for more than twenty years. As Vice President, Rosita leads strategy, innovation, grantmaking, and measurement, evaluation, and learning (MEL) at The UPS Foundation. Before joining UPS, she led PayPal’s Global Social Innovation Team, which helped put the company’s operations, employees, and products to work for social, economic, and sustainable development. Prior to PayPal, Rosita was at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where she focused on increasing access to financial services for the 700 million people around the world living in extreme poverty.
Alumni News
February 2024 Connections
Alumni virtually interviewed our Regional Finalists across the country and got together in person around the US.
February 2024 Accolades
Heather Bowerman (2002) and her company, Dot Labs, was featured on NASDAQ’s iconic billboard in Times Square; Eric Veal, Jr. (2022) was accepted to the Institute for Responsible Citizenship’s Class of 2025; and Kristina Skrela Gisonde (1999) was inducted into her company’s Hall of Fame
January 2024 Connections
Scholars gathered virtually for the first learning event of the year, “An Inside-Out Approach to Goal Setting,” and in person around the world.