The Harris Council is the lead advisory group to the Dean and school administrators and is comprised of accomplished professionals with substantial experience in the public, non-profit, and private sectors.

The Council's contributions range from providing advice and financial support to interacting with students and connecting the work of Harris Public Policy to the world.

Harris Council Members

Read below or click on their names to learn more about the Council members. The Council includes:

Chair: Hilarie Koplow-McAdams

Hussam Abu Issa
Jay Bartlett
Alice S. Cho
Phil Clement
Thomas Dunn
M. Hill Hammock
King Harris
Joan W. Harris
Fay Hartog-Levin
Kathy Im
David Jacobson
Dennis Keller
Christine Lefkarites White
Daniel Levin
Fabio Malina Losso
Jeffrey C. Neal
Erika Poethig
Anne Richard
Smita Shah
Diane Swonk
David Bolling Wells
Paula Wolff
Richard Wong
 

Hussam Abdul Salam Abu Issa

Vice Chairman and COO,
Salam International

Mr. Abu Issa has distinguished himself in a variety of fields, including entrepreneurship, business, finance, philanthropy, and in inter-cultural relations. Moreover, his interest in promoting higher education, research on health issues, and inter-Arab trade & investment are notable. He is a regular attendee of various international Forums and Council meetings.

He began his career in 1980 with his family’s business, Salam Studio & Stores, Qatar as Operations Manager. A founding member of & co-partner in establishing Salam Holdings, he took a major role in the merger process of Salam Holdings with Salam International in 2002 to form Salam International – a conglomerate of companies – the first family-owned company traded in the Stock Market in Qatar.

Mr. Abu Issa is a Qatari National. He holds a BS in Marketing from San Diego State University with more than 35 years of professional experience. 

Read Hussam Abdul Salam Abu Issa's full profile.

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Jay Bartlett, MSESP '08

Senior Research Associate,
Resources for the Future

Jay Bartlett is a Senior Research Associate at Resources for the Future, an independent, nonprofit research institution in Washington, DC focused on environmental, natural resources, and energy economics. His recent work has been on renewables finance and risk, wholesale power market design, and policies for hydrogen and carbon capture technologies.

Previously, he worked in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and the Solar Energy Technologies Office at the U.S. Department of Energy. Bartlett had earlier positions in alternative energy equity research at UBS, mergers and acquisitions at a boutique advisory firm in New York and in biophysics research at Princeton. He earned an MS in environmental science and policy from the University of Chicago and his BA in chemistry from Princeton University.

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Alice S. Cho, AM'91

Senior Advisor,
Boston Consulting Group

Alice Cho is a senior advisor at Boston Consulting Group and serves on the board of directors at First Interstate BancSystem. Previously, Alice served as Company Advisor to Varo, the nation’s first digital fintech bank with over 2 million accounts and a mission to improve the financial health of consumers. Prior, Alice was a managing director at Promontory Financial Group and the head of its West Coast Practice. Earlier in her career, Alice served as Special Assistant to Vice Chair Alice M. Rivlin at the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C. In that role, Alice provided analysis and recommendations on board issues relating to banking, payment innovations, and financial regulations. She began her career at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

Alice is a co-founder of Allrise SF, an organization dedicated to promoting women’s leadership in financial services and technology. She is a founding member of Extraordinary Women on Boards and a member of the Council of Korean-Americans. Alice received her A.M. in Public Policy from the University of Chicago and a B.A. from Whitman College.

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Phil Clement, AM/MBA ’93 

Global Chief Marketing Officer, Johnson Controls

As Global Chief Marketing Officer for Johnson Controls, Phil Clement is responsible for all global activities related to conceptualizing and implementing market strategy and demand generation, including achieving marketing targets through in-depth market development, research and planning. Clement most recently served as Global Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for Aon. As Aon's first ever Global CMO, Clement was responsible for developing the company's global CRM systems, common sales processes and a single global brand. Prior to joining Aon, Clement was the founder of a management consulting firm specializing in growth strategies.

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Thomas Dunn, AB'81, MBA '86

Founding Partner,
New Holland Capital

Thomas Dunn is a founding partner and former CEO of New Holland Capital. Tom spent the early part of his career at Goldman Sachs Asset Management before moving to Lazard to lead their fixed income asset management division. Starting 2002, he helped build the hedge fund program at ABP, an outgrowth of the Dutch civil servants’ pension fund. This endeavor evolved into New Holland Capital a few years later. Tom is a Trustee of the University of Chicago, has served on the Urban Labs Advisory Council since 2016 and the College Dean’s Parent and Family Council (2007-2013).

Tom received his AB in English literature  (1981) and an MBA (1986) from the University of Chicago.

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M. Hill Hammock, MBA'70

Former Chair,
Board of Cook County Health & Hospital System

M. Hill Hammock has recently served as Chair of the Board of Cook County Health & Hospital System, the primary safety net health care institution in Chicago. He is the former Vice Chairman of LaSalle National Bank, where he was the Chief Operating Officer. After banking, Hill served as the Chief Administrative Officer for the Chicago Public Schools, and he also serves on the Boards of a number of not-for-profits in Chicago.

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King Harris

Chairman,
Harris Holdings, Inc.

King Harris is Chairman of Harris Holdings, Inc. and Board Chair of the Illinois Housing Development Authority. He currently Co-Chairs the Illinois Re-Entry Council and is a Senior Fellow at the Metropolitan Planning Council. He is an Emeriti Trustee of the University of Chicago. He graduated from Harvard College and spent two years in the Peace Corps as a community development worker in Lota, Chile. Subsequently, he got an MBA from the Harvard Business School and then spent 29 years at Pittway Corporation where he rose to be President & CEO.

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Joan W. Harris

Former Chair,
Irving Harris Foundation

Mrs. Harris is the former Chair of the Irving Harris Foundation Board (2016 – 2018). She served on the President's Commission for the National Endowment for the Arts. She currently serves as Trustee for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Julliard School and the Harris Theater for Music and Dance. In recognition of her leadership and contribution to the arts in Chicago and across the United States, in July 2014, she was awarded a National Medal of Arts from President Obama.

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Fay Hartog-Levin

Distinguished Fellow,
Chicago Council on Global Affairs

Fay Hartog-Levin is a distinguished fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. From 2009-2011 she was the 65th Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Prior to that, she was the Vice President of External Affairs at the Field Museum.

Read Fay Hartog-Levin's full profile here.

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Kathy Im, MPP'97

Director of Journalism and Media,
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

Kathy Im is the Director of Journalism and Media at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, one of the nation’s largest philanthropies. She manages a $25 million annual portfolio that is best known for supporting public media, nonprofit journalism, and documentary storytelling. During Kathy’s tenure, the program has deepened and expanded its investments in the creation, dissemination, and amplification of accurate, just, and inclusive news and narratives across three areas of media -- Professional Nonprofit Reporting, Nonfiction Multimedia Storytelling, and Participatory Civic Media -- with the goal of informing, engaging, and activating Americans to build a more equitable future.

Kathy is a recognized leader in philanthropy and media. She is a member of the Board of Jurors for the Peabody Awards, a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and a former board member of Media Impact Funders, the Center for Asian American Media, and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy. She is the author of several editorials and essays about press freedom, media diversity, and the connection between media and democracy. Kathy earned her Master’s in Public Policy from the Harris School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago, and she earned her Bachelor’s in Government Studies from Smith College. Kathy lives in Chicago with her husband and their three children.

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David Jacobson

Vice Chairman,
BMO Financial Group

David Jacobson became Vice-Chair of BMO Financial Group in 2013. Prior to that, he served as Special Assistant to President Obama and U.S. Ambassador to Canada, as Special Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel, and was a corporate lawyer before his White House appointment.

Mr. Jacobson received a JD degree from Georgetown University, where he was the Administrative Editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. He received his BS degree from Johns Hopkins University.

Read David Jacobson's full profile here.

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Dennis Keller, MBA'68

Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Co-Founder
Adtalem Global Education

Mr.  Keller is co-founder and retired chairman and CEO of Adtalem Global Education, and currently serves as director emeritus and Senior Advisor. Adtalem is a global provider of educational services. Mr. Keller serves as chairman of Mpala Wildlife Foundation and is a chair of the the National Board of the Smithsonian Institution.

Mr. Keller has been a director of Templeton, Kenly & Co., Precision Plastics of Indiana, Inc., NICOR, Inc., the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, and the Great Books Foundation; member of Princeton University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Leadership Council; vice chairman and trustee of the Chicago Zoological Society; and trustee of the Glenwood School for Boys, the George M. Pullman Education Foundation, and Princeton University.

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Hilarie Koplow-McAdams, AM'87

Venture Partner,
NEA

An enterprise software veteran, Hilarie spent the last three decades at growth-stage technology companies in operating and board roles. Most recently, Hilarie was President at New Relic, responsible for New Relic’s growth strategies as well as leading global sales, marketing, customer success, support, and business development. Prior to New Relic, Hilarie was at Salesforce, where she led the company’s worldwide sales teams and focused on growing the business globally. Hilarie joined Salesforce from Intuit where she was vice president of direct sales for small business and a member of the executive committee. Hilarie currently serves on the board of directors of Automation Anywhere, Beyond Identity, BloomReach, DataRobot, HackerOne, Knotch, Tableau Corporation and Zendesk Corporation. She is the Vice Chair of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. She previously served on the board of directors for Informatica Corporation.

Hilarie has a master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree from Mills College. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband Steve and their two daughters.

Read Hilarie Koplow-McAdams' full profile here.

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Christine Lefkarites White, MPP'90

Co-Founder & Program Director,
Sahsen Ventures

Christine is a Co-Founder and Program Director for Sahsen Ventures since 2016. She worked professionally in health research and policy in governmental and nonprofit agencies in Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. She has volunteer experience in over a dozen small and medium-sized nonprofits as a board member/trustee and in service delivery. Christine earned her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the City University of New York at Queens College in 1986, and her Master of Public Policy in Social Policy from the University of Chicago in 1990.

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Daniel Levin, AB'50, JD'53

Founder and Chairman,
The Habitat Company

The founder and chairman of The Habitat Company, Daniel Levin has been a real estate developer in Chicago and other areas of the country since 1957. He has been active in development and management activities involving over 25,000 residential units, market rate, affordable, public, senior, and student housing, and has been principally responsible for the financing, structuring, and equity syndication of Habitat's programs. He serves as a trustee of WTTW Public Television as well as the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and is vice chairman of the Board of Environmental Law and Policy Center.

Daniel has a Bachelor of Arts and a Juris Doctorate from University of Chicago Law School.

Read Daniel Levin's full profile

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Fabio Malina Losso

Founder,
Priori Capital

Fabio Malina Losso is a seasoned attorney specialized in complex international cases and transactions. Additionally, he invests in both real estate and technology companies. His career features a rich mix of legal proficiency and leadership roles, notably his tenure as Chair of the Dean's International Council at the Harris School.

In the professional realm, Losso serves as an independent director and committee member for leading firms across various sectors, including energy, telecommunications, finance, IT, and pharmaceutical retail.
He also boasts a track record in guiding significant public sector projects, demonstrating his influence on policy and governance.

On the academic front, Losso holds a Ph.D. in Civil Law from the University of São Paulo, where he earned high distinctions. Furthermore, his academic endeavors include a period as a visiting researcher at the Harris School of Public Policy from 2013 to 2020.
 

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Jeffrey C. Neal

Founding Partner and Chairman,
Horizon Capital

Jeffery C. Neal is a founding partner and Chairman of the Investment Committee of Horizon Capital. Previously, he held a number of key leadership positions at Merrill Lynch including head of Midwestern investment banking practice, head of the global domestic corporate banking group, and the founder and head of the global corporate finance group.

Mr. Neal, a native of Peoria, Illinois, earned his B.A. in 1967 from Harvard College and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Read Jeffrey Neal's full profile here.

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Erika Poethig, MPP'96

Special Assistant to the President for Housing and Urban Policy
White House

Erika Poethig is the Executive Vice President for Strategy and Planning at the Civic Committee and Commercial Club of Chicago. In consultation with Civic Committee and Commercial Club members and senior executive leadership, she leads the development and execution of a comprehensive strategic framework and action plan for the Civic Committee and Commercial Club reflecting their distinctive roles in strengthening Chicago’s and Illinois’ economic future. Working with colleagues and key partners, she develops strategies and helps to advance initiatives on immediate and emerging issues and challenges – education, public safety, transportation, economic development, inclusive innovation, business diversity, and state/city finances – that bolster economic opportunity and social mobility in Chicago, in an effort to make our region a better place for everyone to live, work and do business.

From 2021 - 2023, Poethig was the Special Assistant to the President for Housing and Urban Policy in the White House Domestic Policy Council. In this capacity, she led interagency policy development on the housing and community and economic development components of President Biden’s Build Back Better Agenda. Under her leadership, the Biden-Harris Administration created results-oriented action plans and new policies to prevent evictions and foreclosures, increase the supply of rental and for-sale housing, improve housing affordability for low- and moderate-income Americans, address racial and ethnic bias in the home appraisal process, reduce unsheltered homelessness and ensure federal infrastructure investments result in more equitable development.

Prior to joining the Biden-Harris administration she served as vice president and chief innovation officer at the Urban Institute, where she created and led the Research to Action Lab, an innovation hub serving decisionmakers and creative thinkers eager to effect social change.

Before joining Urban, Poethig was acting assistant secretary for policy, development, and research at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. During her tenure in the Obama administration, she was also deputy assistant secretary for policy development and was a leading architect of the White House Council for Strong Cities and Strong Communities. As associate director for housing at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, she developed grantmaking strategies focused on rental housing policy and research and research on how housing matters. In the 1990s, she was assistant commissioner for policy, resource, and program development at the City of Chicago’s Department of Housing and developed Mayor Richard Daley’s campaign to combat predatory lending, prevent foreclosures, and stabilize communities.

Earlier in her career, she was associate project director of the Metropolis Project of the Commercial Club of Chicago, which produced the Metropolis 2020 policy and action agenda to address major issues faced by metropolitan Chicago.

Poethig serves on the Harris Council, the Advisory Committee for the J. Ronald Terwilliger Center for Housing Policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, and the Low Income Investment Fund’s board of directors.

She was a Phi Beta Kappa member at the College of Wooster, a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Vienna, and has an MA with honors in public policy from the University of Chicago. In 2022, she received a Career Achievement Award from the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago.

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Anne C. Richard, AM ’84

Afghanistan Coordination Lead/Distinguished Fellow,
Freedom House

Anne C. Richard joined Freedom House as a Distinguished Fellow and Afghanistan Coordination Lead in October 2021. Previously, she served as Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration in the Obama Administration (2012-2017).

Prior to joining the Obama Administration, Ms. Richard was the vice president of government relations and advocacy for the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Earlier in her career, she served in other senior positions at the State Department, at Peace Corps Headquarters and at the US Office of Management and Budget. As an International Affairs Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations (1993-94), she was part of the team that created the International Crisis Group. She also was a fellow of the Robert Bosch Foundation in Germany and a Presidential Management Intern. 

Ms. Richard is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and has a Master’s degree in Public Policy Studies from the University of Chicago.  She has lived overseas in Austria, Germany and France and traveled extensively to crisis zones around the world.

Between 2017-2021, Ms. Richard taught or lectured at a number of universities, including the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service and its Institute for the Study of International Migration, Hamilton College, and Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania.

She has also been an advisor/activist on refugee issues to a wide range of efforts.  She currently serves on the board of USA for IOMand is also a member of the Refugees International Advisory Council, and on the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service’s President’s Council.

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Smita N. Shah

Founder and CEO,
SPAAN Tech, Inc.
 

Smita N. Shah is Founder and CEO of SPAAN Tech, Inc., an engineering and project management firm with expertise in public and private infrastructure projects including transportation, aviation, and facilities. She has been recognized by Crain's Chicago Business as one of Chicago's 40 under 40, an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist, and received the U.S. Small Business Administration 8(a) Graduate of the Year Award. Additionally, she was selected National Community Leader of the Year by the American Consulting Engineers Council. 

Ms. Shah earned her Bachelor of Science from Northwestern University, where she is recognized and completed her Master of Science in civil and environmental engineering from M.I.T., where she wrote her thesis on the state of the nation’s infrastructure. She also holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Management Studies from Oxford University where she completed her thesis on the Culture and Leadership of Public Private Partnerships. She is a graduate of University of Chicago’s Lab School.

In recognition of her work in both building bridges between India and the United States as well as the Indian community and the community at large, she received the Congressionally recognized Ellis Island Medal of Honor honoring those “who changed the fabric of America.” Ms. Shah serves as the Chairman of the Delhi-Chicago Sister Cities Committee, and led a trade mission to India to promote economic, cultural and social exchanges between the cities. In this capacity, she also chaired several events connecting Indian officials and culture to the city, including events introducing the Vice President and Ambassador from India to members of the Chicago business community. 

Recognized by Crain’s Chicago Business in 2016 as one of the city’s 100 most-connected Chicagoans (19th) and in 2021 a Notable Nonprofit Leader, Ms. Shah dedicates herself to the community and serves on several civic boards and commissions. In January 2022, she was appointed by President Biden to the President’s Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. 

Some of her additional civic commitments include: member of the M.I.T. Corporation Development Council and Visiting Committee for Civil and Environmental Engineering; Chair of the President’s Council and member of Board of Trustees of the Museum of Science and Industry; Vice-Chairman of the Chicago Plan Commission; Vice Chairman of the Regents for Loyola University of Chicago; advisor to Lurie Children’s Hospital; and Board Member of After School Matters, YPO Chicago, Navy Pier, and the Environmental Law & Policy Center. She also serves as an independent director and member of the audit and finance committee for MacLean-Fogg Company.

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Diane Swonk, MBA ’89

Chief Economist, KPMG

Diane Swonk started her career with money-center bank First Chicago and has won many awards in her career for her excellence in her profession and leadership in the broader business community. She climbed from entry-level to Director of Research and Chief Economist at Bank One, the merged bank. Before joining KPMG, Diane had her own economic consulting firm and worked at Grant Thornton. She spent the prior 10+ years as Senior Managing Director and Chief Economist at the financial services firm, Mesirow Financial.

She served as an advisor to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the National Economic Council (NEC) on a nonpartisan basis. She regularly briefs the regional Federal Reserve banks and the Board of Governors in Washington, DC. She has provided Congressional testimony on income inequality and how to preserve and bolster the quality of government statistics on the economy.

She was honored by her peers as Fellow of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) for her outstanding contributions to the field. She serves on the NABE statistics committee to advocate for better information on the economy. Diane serves on the board of the Posse Foundation in Chicago, an organization dedicated to increasing access to higher education. She is active in supporting scholarships and programs to diversity the ranks of economists with more women and underrepresented minorities with her alumni groups and work on the NABE Foundation. She is a member of many business groups, including the Economic Advisory Board of the US Chamber of Commerce, and the Council on Foreign Relations.

Diane recently took over the growing economics team at KPMG to serve partners and clients, and to engage with the media to help showcase the firm’s many achievements. Diane was named one of the top 50 most influential economists during the pandemic. She has won numerous awards through the financial press and been recognized for her excellence in forecast by the regional Federal Reserve banks.

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David Bolling Wells, MPP/MBA'98

Board Member & Advisor,
High Growth Tech Company

David Wells has focused the last 20+ years on helping consumer businesses grow and has recently shifted towards helping younger companies and the NGO and nonprofit world, particularly growth in the developing world.

He spent nearly 15 years at Netflix, with the last 8 as it’s CFO, departing in early 2019 and having served as VP of Financial Planning and Analysis prior to CFO.  Mr. Wells was an integral part of the team that presided over Netflix’s transition to a self-produced content streaming company from the DVD company of its early days, its expansion to 190 countries, raising $12B+ in capital, and growing to a $140B+ company along the way.

Prior to joining Netflix, Mr. Wells served in progressive roles at Deloitte Consulting for 6 years and in the non-profit world before getting his MBA.  Mr. Wells is a Director for public ad tech company, The Trade Desk (since 2016) and public direct-to-consumer healthcare HIMS (2020), and is Board Chairman and formerly Senior Independent Director for public fintech Wise.com (2019).  He also serves as an advisor to several growth stage private companies and a selection panelist for Endeavor.  He is on the Board of non-profit Innovations for Poverty Action which supports academic RCTs on anti-poverty research and is a mentor for YearUp.

Mr. Wells holds a joint MBA/MPP Magna Cum Laude from The University of Chicago and a Bachelor's Degree in Commerce from the University of Virginia.

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Paula Wolff, AM'69, PhD'72

Policy Advisor,
Illinois Justice Project

Paula Wolff is Policy Advisor at the Illinois Justice Project, a civic organization developing and implementing policy initiatives and programs to reform the criminal legal system by addressing youth trauma and reducing youth and adult violence, crime and incarceration.
She has serves on numerous corporate and foundation boards.  Her civic engagement has included serving as board Chair of the Illinois Tollway and of the City Colleges of Chicago and is currently Vice President of the Chicago Police Board.

Paula received her Bachelor’s degree in government from Smith College and a M.A. and Ph D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago .

Read Paula Wolff's full profile

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Richard Wong

Partner,
Accel

Rich Wong joined Accel as a partner in 2006. Rich led Accel's investments and currently serves on the Boards of Atlassian (TEAM), UiPath (PATH), Checkr, Middesk, Instabug, Pyn, Process St, Dovetail, and Qwilt. Rich also served on the National Venture Capital Association Board of Directors.

Rich previously led Accel's investments in AirWatch (acquired by VMware), Angry Birds/Rovio (ROVIO.HE), MoPub (acquired by Twitter), AdMob (acquired by Google), Dealer.com (acquired by Cox), Osmo (acquired by BYJUs), Parature (acquired by Microsoft), ServiceChannel (acquired by Fortive), Sunrun (RUN), SwiftKey (acquired by Microsoft), and 3LM (acquired by Motorola).

In non-profit roles, Rich serves on multiple committees for the MIT Corporation including: the Visiting Committee for the Economics Department,  the Visiting Committee for the Political Science Department, the Corporation Development Committee and the Advisory Board for the Trust Center for Entrepreneurship.   Rich also serves on the Harris Council, the Advisory Board for University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. 

Rich previously worked as an operator as EVP/GM of Products for mobile pioneer, Openwave Systems and CMO of Covad Communications. Rich started his career as a brand manager at Procter & Gamble and at McKinsey.

Rich grew up in Santa Rosa, California and has a Materials Science & Engineering degree and Masters in Management from MIT.

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