Four Coke Scholars Join Alumni Advisory Board

Coca-Cola Scholars are connected not only by a college scholarship, but also a shared desire to improve the world. Together, they make it happen, and the Coca-Cola Scholars Alumni Advisory Board (AAB) was created to help.

Formed by alumni in 2006, the AAB supports the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation’s mission to foster a network of socially conscious and service-minded leaders. A representative cross-section of the entire population of Coca-Cola Scholar alumni, they serve to increase the level of alumni engagement and foster a greater alumni investment in the Coca-Cola Scholars network.

Currently, 16 alumni serve on the AAB on a 3-year rotation, and in December they welcomed new members Anita Kishore (1995), Ben Nicol (1998), Mike Woodward (2004), and Kari Philbeck (1994).

The AAB initiatives include Leadership Summits, Service Summits, #CokeScholarPro professional development sessions, and casual #CokeScholarsDine gatherings across the country.

Learn more about the new members below!

Anita Kishore is a Career & Executive Coach and Consultant. As the Principal & Founder of Access to Opportunity Consulting (A2OC) and a Senior Coach at Management Leadership for Tomorrow, she has worked with nearly one thousand students across the country to help them find their dream jobs.

Prior to coaching, Anita worked in positions of increasing seniority in the healthcare industry. She first followed her passion to increase access to affordable medicines for patients around the world by serving clients in the private and public sectors. Anita worked at Bain & Company, Sandoz (a Division of Novartis), and Pfizer, in strategy and operations in the US and internationally.

In nonprofit access to health, she worked at Doctors Without Borders and the Clinton Health Access Initiative, leading global vaccines supply chain logistics. She recently launched New York City’s first internship program in the Life Sciences.

She holds a BS in chemistry from Yale University, an MSc (with Honors) in chemistry from the University of Melbourne (supported by a Rotary scholarship), PhD in chemistry from the University of Georgia, and an MPA from the Robert Wagner School of Public Service at New York University.

As a self-proclaimed do-gooder, Ben Nicol adores leading the Phi Kappa Psi Foundation, one of the most significant scholarship granting fraternity foundations and an organization that invests in today’s collegians through leadership programming and academic awards. Working alongside donors as they realize their philanthropic passions is his professional mission.

After serving in the roles of Director of Operations and Managing Director, Nicol became CEO in 2012. His approach to nonprofit management includes cultivating personal relationships with each donor and increasing face-to-face meetings to develop connections. He has concentrated much of his efforts in strengthening the Foundation’s majoring giving and planned giving initiatives. Today, the Phi Psi Foundation is a leader amongst its fraternal foundation counterparts.

With a strong background in leadership and fundraising, Nicol began his career in collegiate admissions and institutional advancement work before finding his way to the Phi Kappa Psi headquarters team. Nicol enjoys overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Phi Kappa Psi Foundation, including long-range planning, staffing, fundraising and marketing. Nicol is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE), a designation only 6,100 professionals internationally hold.

Nicol lives in Indianapolis, Indiana, with his best friend and wife Abby. They are blessed to have two sons, Graham and Grier, and a daughter, Ashton. He enjoys volunteering for various organizations, particularly bringing the FUN back to fundraising, working out, traveling and also spending time with family, friends and the two furry members of the Nicol family, Finley and Essie, two golden doodles.

Mike Woodward is the Executive Director of College Track New Orleans. He is a first-generation college graduate whose life work is to break the chains of intergenerational poverty within communities. He is the son of two loving parents who did what they could with what they had, but too often what they had was not enough due to the systemic injustices that plague communities of color socially, politically, and economically.

He is a continuous learner, capacity builder, and systems-oriented problem solver whose narrative as a first-generation college graduate is too often the exception and not the expectation. He is a member of society who seeks to have opportunity distributed in the way that talent is: evenly.

Granted a second chance at life, Kari Philbeck believes that time is your most precious commodity and where you invest it is your most important decision. As a result, her faith, family, health, career, and service are her priorities. Her proudest accomplishment is being a Mom of 4 and having an incredibly supportive husband.

Kari’s recent promotion with Crane Company, as the National Director of Strategic Accounts ~ West, resulted in the expansion of her team, territory, and portfolio performance. Prior, she worked for The Coca-Cola Company for 19 years, which she is extremely proud of. Her commitment to community is vital to her personal growth, as it grounds her and provides purpose.

Kari sees the opportunity to serve on the Coca-Cola Scholars Alumni Advisory Board as an honor and one that will not be taken lightly. She is eager to invest her time into a program that has had a significant impact on her life by helping to ensure its continued success and creating a positive ripple effect throughout the alumni community.