Board Members

Catherine A. Allen
Founder and Chairman of the Board, The Santa Fe Group

For more than 30 years, Catherine A. Allen has been an outstanding leader in technology strategy and financial services and a key thought leader in business innovation. Today, Allen is Chairman of the Santa Fe Group, which specializes in briefings to C-level executives and boards of directors at financial institutions and other critical infrastructure companies, and provides management for strategic industry and institutional projects, including the Shared Assessments Program, focused on third party risk.

Allen serves as a board member of Synovus Financial Corporation and El Paso Electric Company and is a member of the Risk, Energy and Natural Resources, Public Policy and External Affairs, and Nominating and Governance Committees. She chairs the Security Committee for El Paso Electric. She is co-chair of the University of Missouri’s Capital Campaign and sits on the Research and Development Committee. She is also on the board of Women Corporate Directors and the Executive Women’s Forum. She sits on the Advisory Committee for Houlihan Lokey and chairs the Board of Trustees for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling and the board of Appleseed N.M. She is also a member of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, International Folk Art Alliance, Lensic Center for Performing Arts, Communities for Schools in New Mexico, Valles Caldera Trust, and the Mark Twain Research Foundation boards. She was a former board member and Chair of the Technology Committee for Stewart Information Services.In 2007, Allen stepped down from her role as the founding CEO of financial services industry consortium BITS after a decade of service to continue her work with The Santa Fe Group and pursue her passion to serve on corporate and nonprofit boards.

At BITS, Allen worked closely with CEOs, CIOs, and executives at the nation’s largest financial institutions on strategic issues, from payments strategies to risk management.

Earlier, Allen served in senior executive positions at Citicorp in the Retail, Bankcards, and Corporate Technology divisions. She represented Citibank as founding chair and president of the multi-industry Smart Card Forum. Prior to Citibank, Allen was director of corporate planning for Dun and Bradstreet, where she created and chaired the Electronic Yellow Pages and Information Association. She was also a consultant to CBS, Inc. on new technologies and international trade while she was a professor at American University’s Kogod College of Business Administration.

Allen is active politically in national and local spheres, including as a former member of President Obama’s Economic Development and Small Business Committees and the New Mexico State Investment Council. She was honored in 2007 by US Banker Magazine with the Lifetime Achievement Award for her outstanding contributions to financial services and technology. In 2013, she was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to technology by the Executive Women’s Forum. She was honored with the 2015 Leadership Award by the Griffith’s Society.

She received the highest honor from the University of Missouri in 2018 called the Distinguished Service Award. She also was named one of the NACD Directors 100 in 2018, one of the most influential corporate board directors in the U.S.

Joyce Brocaglia
Founder and CEO, Alta Associates

Joyce Brocaglia is a serial entrepreneur who for the past three decades has founded and led companies with a shared mission to build world-class organizations, advise executives, and advance diversity in leadership. She founded Alta Associates in 1986, and today it is a leader in placing executives in cybersecurity, IT risk and transformational technologies, and building the teams that support them. In 2002, Brocaglia founded the Executive Women’s Forum on Information Security, Risk Management & Privacy, a membership organization dedicated to engaging and advancing women leaders through education, leadership development, and the creation of trusted relationships. In 2019, she founded BoardSuitedTM an innovative executive education company, designed to prepare senior executives for public, private, non-profit, and advisory board candidacy and service. BoardSuitedTM offers executives the comprehensive preparation they need to obtain their first board seat with the convenience of a self-paced, online learning environment they seek.

Barbara Colwell
Corporate and Nonprofit Board Director

Barbara Colwell is a corporate and not for profit director. She previously held senior management positions with priceline.com, CIGNA and TWA.

In addition to Publishers Clearing House, she also serves on the board of Northern Technologies International Corporation. Previously she served on the boards of Mutual Trust Financial Group, Indemnity Insurance Company of NA, Innovation Network (Chair 2005-7) and ThinkQuest NYC.

Barbara also serves on several advisory boards including Mutual Trust Life Insurance Company, IPTAR (Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research), and POBA: Where the Arts Live. In the past she also served on advisory boards for WomenCorporateDirectors, AMEC Americas, GG Bailey, the communications committee of the Council on Competitiveness and the marketing council of the American Management Association. She also served on advisory boards for Avis, KindMark and tourist boards of Great Britain, Israel and Denmark.

Current professional affiliations include WomenCorporateDirectors, the International Women's Forum where she co-chaired the program committee until Jan. 2017, and where she chairs the finance committee and serves on the Membership and Executive committees. Previously she was a member of NACD (National Association of Corporate Directors) and she co-chaired the NY chapter of the National Women's History Museum from 2009 until 2011.

As an adjunct professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at GW University, she co-taught a graduate course for several years on "Global Visions, Strategies and Tactics for International Organizations".

Ms. Colwell earned her MBA from Columbia University. She resides in New York City.

Tracee E. Davis
Partner, Seyfarth Shaw LLP

Tracee worked for seven years as an attorney in the New York State Court system, researching and drafting decisions on a wide spectrum of commercial and noncommercial, substantive, and procedural legal issues.

Tracee was Principal Court Attorney to Justice Charles Edward Ramos of the New York State Supreme Court, Commercial Division in Manhattan. During her five years as Principal Court Attorney, she assisted in managing the disposition of more than 400 complex commercial cases. She also was an Adjunct Professor of Law at New York Law School. Before that, Tracee served as a Senior Court Attorney in the Law Department of the New York State Supreme Court, Civil Term in New York County.

Elected by fellow members of the commercial bar, Tracee served as Chair of the highly distinguished 2,300 lawyer Commercial and Federal Litigation Section of the New York State Bar Association. Thereafter, Tracee was appointed by Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman to serve as a member of the statewide Commercial Division Advisory Council. As part of her service on the Council, Tracee was one of the principal architects of the new accelerated adjudication procedures and adoption of proportionality in discovery in the New York State Supreme Court Commercial Division rules. Tracee also served as a member of the Chief Judge’s Task Force on Commercial Litigation in the 21st Century.

Based upon her tested leadership skills, Tracee was twice selected to act as Panel Administrator of the New York County Democratic Committee’s Independent Judicial Screening Panel (Civil Court 2004 and Supreme Court 2013) in reviewing candidates for countywide judicial vacancies.

Tracee is a frequent speaker on topics involving commercial litigation. She was invited to lecture before the New York Commercial Division Justices at The Institute on Complex Commercial Litigation for New York State. She was also invited to lecture on class actions before the Appellate Division Justices of New York State Courts at the Third Annual Joint Seminar for Appellate Division Justices.

Tracee also was selected as one of the five-member American Bar Association delegation of U.S. judges and lawyers who presented lectures to Cambodian judges at the Royal Academy of Judicial Professionals in Cambodia on the importance of specialized commercial courts and court-annexed mediation.

In her spare time, Tracee is an avid runner and outdoor adventurer.

Ceree Eberly
Board Director, Qualfon Corporation, Retired Chief People Officer, Coca-Cola

Ceree Eberly is a global business executive with more than 30 years of experience creating brand and shareholder value. She currently serves on the board of Qualfon Corporation, a global provider of business process outsourcing to companies such as Google, Amazon, Uber, and T-Mobile. She serves as board chair of the Global Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) board of Gartner, LLC (formerly CEB).

Eberly’s global experience includes 28 years with The CocaCola Company, providing a total portfolio of beverages to consumers across 207 countries with $42 billion in annual sales. She retired in March 2018 after more than 28 years with the company and eight years as chief people officer, leading a global organization responsible for transforming culture, workplace, talent, and succession, for 150,000+ employees, as well as serving as part of the executive leadership team driving long-term vision and strategy.

She has served on a number of non-profit boards, including chair of the Board of Trustees for Oglethorpe University; AACSB International Business Practices Council; Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House Charities; and Skyland Trail. Eberly is a member of the Women Corporate Directors global organization and has been involved with numerous human resources global leadership organizations.

Eberly has a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Tennessee, graduating with high honors. She lives in Atlanta, where she enjoys volunteering, swimming, and photography.

Catherine Flickinger (ex officio member)
General Counsel & VP Human Resources, New York Institute of Technology

Catherine Flickinger, J.D., heads the legal department, handling contracts, litigation, and regulatory compliance; the implementation and administration of policies, practices, and procedures throughout the university; legal matters related to labor and employment as well as student affairs; and the development and protection of intellectual property from research. Flickinger also oversees the operations of the human resources department, including employee relations, benefits plans, and recruitment. Her career path has included a clerkship for a Federal appellate judge, the New York law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore, CBS Inc., and more than 20 years as executive vice president and general counsel at media publisher Hachette Filipacchi Media, where she led the legal and human resources departments.

Flickinger earned her J.D. from Columbia University School of Law and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

In 2004, the New York County Lawyers' Association named Flickinger one of its 40 Outstanding Women of the Bar.

Henry C. Foley, Ph.D.
President, New York Institute of Technology

Henry C. “Hank” Foley, Ph.D., is the fourth president of New York Institute of Technology. He joined the university in June 2017 after serving as interim chancellor of the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU). A seasoned administrator and an accomplished research scientist and teacher, Foley has decades of high-level experience in strategic planning, economic development and advanced research collaborations, program development, and enhanced funding in higher education.

As president of New York Tech, he is committed to expanding the university's reputation as well as elevating its resource management and global outreach by ensuring that the university’s assets are synergistic and support its mission; instilling a leadership culture conducive to setting strategies that build excitement and passion for New York Tech’s future; and building and sustaining financial resources, enrollment, and the university’s relationships and stature within its various communities.

As MU’s interim chancellor, Foley directed the university’s research mission as well as led the quality and effectiveness of all academic programs. He joined the University of Missouri System in 2013 as executive vice president for academic affairs, where he was tasked with growing its academic and research expertise before being appointed interim chancellor in November 2015. Foley has also served as vice president for research and dean of the graduate school at The Pennsylvania State University. In addition, he has held faculty appointments at MU, Penn State, and the University of Delaware.

Foley earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry at Providence College, a master’s degree in chemistry from Purdue University, and doctorate in physical and inorganic chemistry from Penn State. An accomplished researcher who has dedicated more than 30 years to advancing the study of nanotechnology, he holds 16 patents, has written more than 150 articles and a textbook, and has mentored nearly 50 undergraduate and graduate thesis students. Foley has been recognized as a fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Academy of Inventors.

In addition, he holds numerous memberships in professional and honor societies, including the Computing Research Association, Sigma Xi, Phi Lambda, and Sigma Pi Sigma. In 2015, Foley was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science by Providence College and in 2017 earned the Distinguished Science Alumni Award from Purdue University. He is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Commission on Independent Colleges & Universities (cIcu) in New York and the Long Island Regional Advisory Council on Higher Education, and is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Lincoln Center Business Improvement District. In 2019, he received a Long Island Business News Executive Circle Award.

Betty Hudson
President, Hudson & Associates

Betty Hudson is an award-winning communications industry leader with more than four decades of experience in every aspect of corporate and strategic communications including consumer, employee, financial, and cause-related marketing, as well as brand and communications management. Hudson retired as Chief Communications Officer of the National Geographic Society at the end of 2015, having held similar roles with NBC, The Readers Digest Association, and iVillage. She now consults with business leaders, nonprofit organizations, and for profit entities on a wide range of marketing and communications issues.

Hudson was a member of the AFLAC Board of Directors from 1990 until May of 2018, serving as a member of the company’s Finance and Investment Committee, and chair of the Sustainability Committee. She is co-chair of the Washington Chapter of Women’s Corporate Directors, an international organization of more than 3,000 women serving on more than 5,000 corporate boards worldwide and is a member of the WCD global advisory council.

In addition to her service on the Board of Directors of Kakenya’s Dream, she is a member of the Board of Planet Forward, a national initiative working to enhance environmental story-telling at the college level, and is a past president of the New York Women’s Agenda and the Montclair Board of Education in Montclair, New Jersey, and a former chairman of the Inova Fairfax Children’s Hospital Quality Committee. She is also a former board member of the Inova Health Care Services Board and the Associates Board of Directors of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts.

Neha J. Joshi
Managing Director, Accenture Security

Neha leads the innovation organization at Accenture Security, a position she is the first to hold. In this role, she sets Accenture Security’s annual innovation agenda and leads professionals around the globe who build innovative cybersecurity solutions and ways of working. Her team produces solutions, many of which are patented, that leverage robotics, artificial intelligence, DevOps, data analytics and machine-learning technologies to help make Accenture’s clients more secure.

Neha has more than 15 years of experience in the security industry. She founded Accenture’s global Digital Identity Governance Board, has authored numerous industry articles, co-authored a book on innovation in identity and access management and is a frequent speaker on topics ranging from securing identities to innovation to leadership. Although Neha’s background is in technology, she loves working at the intersection of usability and security, Neha believes that when security gets in the way of usability, security can ultimately suffer.

Prior to accepting her current position, Neha served as Managing Director of Accenture's Global Digital Identity business. Her responsibilities included the production and market growth of an artificial intelligence solution Accenture created to improve identity and access management—this subsequently became one of its most successful initiatives. Neha also led the creation of the patented Velocity Identity Program using DevOps, robotics process automation, and natural language processing. She established a new global training program for digital identity practitioners, leveraging the Velocity Identity Program. As a member of Accenture’s Security Technology Consulting practice, Neha delivered technical projects for large, complex clients across industries in the United States and Europe. She has consulted with clients in the insurance, banking, retail, communications and media industries as well as the government and nonprofit sectors.

Neha is passionate about advancing women’s initiatives, especially in technology. She believes women need to see women like themselves leading. Neha actively mentors many women within Accenture and volunteers her time with the Executive Women’s Forum, Girls Who Code and iMentor. She is also a member of Chief, a private network focused on connecting and supporting exceptional female leaders.

Patrick Minson (ex officio member)
Vice President Development and Alumni Relations, New York Institute of Technology

As vice president for development and alumni relations, Patrick Minson, M.B.A., M.P.A., is responsible for New York Tech fundraising programs that support and grow the institution’s resources, reputation, and institutional success while ensuring its overarching commitment to students. A major part of this effort includes fostering relationships with alumni around the world and leading the institution’s response to the evolving philanthropic landscape, stakeholder interests, prospect agendas, and institutional needs, with the ultimate goal of taking New York Tech to the next level of success in terms of donor and alumni engagement.

From 2014 to May 2018, Minson served as the chief development officer at Wagner College in Staten Island, where he oversaw the implementation and strategic planning of a $60 million capital campaign. At Wagner, he also increased overall giving, reunion giving, and total number of donors there. Prior to that, Minson was the director of major gifts for The Children’s Aid Society, where in four years he doubled the amount of giving from major donors. He also spent several years at New York University as associate director of major gifts for the Stern School of Business and in several positions in the College of Dentistry. Minson has a Bachelor of Science from Boston College, an M.P.A. from NYU, and an M.B.A. from Wagner.

Shamla Naidoo, J.D.
Head of Cloud Strategy and Innovation, Netskope

Shamla is head of Cloud Strategy and Innovation at Netskope. Prior to Netskope she worked as the Global CISO for IBM and a Managing Partner in IBM Security where she advised C-Suite executives on leveraging Risk Management and Cybersecurity to create business value. She is one of the most influential security executives among Fortune 50 companies.

Shamla has spent 38 years in technology roles, including technology and cybersecurity leadership, risk management, business strategy and innovation at companies like IBM, Northern Trust, Anthem and Starwood Hotels. She teaches courses in technology, security and privacy law at UIC Law School and is passionate about practical applications of artificial intelligence and the use of data. Shamla serves as a non-executive director at QBE NA and in board roles at Reference Point and Thinkably.

Teri Robinson
Executive Editor, SC Media

Executive Editor Teri Robinson has more than two decades of experience reporting and editing on tech and business issues. She was the features editor at Ziff-Davis’s PC Sources magazine and CMP’s InternetWeek and is the former editor-in-chief of Financial Technology Review and her work has appeared in BusinessWeek, Inc. Magazine and the Los Angeles Times as well as a variety of trade magazines. She is also an award-winning screenwriter and director/producer of short films and an essayist featured in Child of Mine, a book on the first year of motherhood. Teri holds a Masters degree in Journalism from Louisiana State University (Geaux Tigers!). She currently lives with her family in Harlem.

Pennie Turgeon (ex officio member)
Vice President, IT and CIO, New York Institute of Technology

Pennie Turgeon, Vice President for Information Technology and CIO, assumed her role at the New York Institute of Technology in October 2019. She is responsible for ensuring that the university’s information technology services (ITS) resources are aligned with the strategic priorities of the institution, and that IT services are secure, reliable, easy to use, and cost efficient. To accomplish this task, she works with students, faculty, staff, and trustees to provide leadership, direction, and overall coordination of all aspects of IT. This includes administrative and academic information systems, academic technology support, high-performance computing, media services, technology-enhanced classrooms, videoconferencing and web streaming, web applications development, computing labs, help desk services, networks, systems, telecommunications, data management/analytics, and security/privacy policies. She also coordinates requests for the procurement of enterprise IT services and resources and is responsible for the management of vendor and partner relationships.

From 2006–2019, Pennie was the Vice President for IT and CIO at Clark University as well as the University’s Chief Information Security/Privacy Officer. Prior to that, she was at Worcester Polytechnic Institute for 15 years where she built and cultivated technology-mediated learning environments as the Director of Academic Technology and Distance Learning. She also held positions at Texas Instruments as a systems developer and at IBM as a marketing sales assistant. Pennie served on the NERCOMP Board of Trustees from 2005–2013, serving as the Treasurer from 2007–2009. She continues to be involved with NERCOMP by serving on the Board’s finance committee. Pennie holds a B.S. from Worcester State University and an M.B.A. with a concentration in Management Information Systems from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Deborah Verderame, Principal, AIA, ASID, LEED AP
Principal, Verderame | Cale Architecture, PLLC

Deborah Verderame is a strong client liaison and project administrator who provides strategic design direction and leadership to a variety of project types and client industries. An alumnus of New York Institute of Technology (Class of ’83), she took her architecture degree on to join and eventually co-manage Landy Verderame Arianna Architects. She personally oversaw its induction in the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) as a recognized women-owned business enterprise (WBE). Verderame maintained, grew. and relaunched the business as Verderame | Cale architecture PLLC in 2013, wherein she continues to oversee both large- and small-scale interior architecture projects for major corporate and educational institutions.

As a former managing partner and now principal, Verderame maintained and grew the legacy of the dynamic WBE over the past 25 years. She is a proven leader of complex fit-out and renovation projects and is known for her ability to lead a large team through a consensus-driven process, focused on integrated design, workplace strategy, and technical innovation. Under her design guidance, numerous projects have been recognized with distinction and awards over the years. Verderame is LEED accredited and has been recognized with several awards for her LEED qualified projects as well. In addition, to leading the staff at Verderame | Cale architecture, she spent several years on the executive board of the Boy Scouts of America, and for the past 13 years has sat on the Executive Committee of Architecture Advisory Board of New York Institute of Technology whereupon she oversees, sponsors, and contributes to the school’s initiatives in the field of architecture education.

Caroline Watteeuw
Founder, Innovation Through Technology

Innovation Through Technology
Caroline Watteeuw is the founder of Innovation Through Technology, where she advises senior executives on the critical success factors for executing a digital transformation. She was executive vice president and chief information officer of Caliber Home Loans, where she was responsible for all technology supporting Caliber’s aggressive growth plan and innovation in creating the “Ultimate Home Buying Experience”. Before this, Watteeuw served as technology officer for Warburg Pincus after retiring as chief technology officer and senior vice president of Business Information Services at PepsiCo. She joined PepsiCo in June 2004 as chief information officer for North America, supporting both the beverage and food businesses. In 2007, she was promoted to global chief technology officer and senior vice president of Business Information Solutions, where she established the company’s worldwide Information Technology Innovation Centers and managed architecture and engineering teams, infrastructure operations, and manufacturing and logistics systems.

Watteeuw has spent most of her career in financial services. She was chief technology officer of TradingEdge, where she implemented the first online trading systems for emerging market bond trading and municipal bond trading. Prior, Watteeuw was a managing director at Credit Suisse Boston and Bankers Trust. She serves on the board of directors of New Relic and the board of trustees of New York Institute of Technology. She earned a professional chemical engineering degree at the University of Ghent in Belgium and an M.S. in chemical and biochemical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Edie Weiner
President and CEO, The Future Hunters

Edie Weiner is President and CEO of The Future Hunters, one of the world’s leading futurist consulting firms. She has served over 400 clients identifying opportunities in the areas of marketing, product development, investment, strategic planning, human resources and public affairs. Clients have ranged from national governments to the Fortune 500. Edie has keynoted hundreds of conferences (including The World Economic Forum in Davos and TEDx), and has guest lectured at various prestigious institutions, including Harvard, Wharton, U.S. Army War College, U.S. Naval War College, among others.

At 29, she became the youngest outside woman ever elected to a corporate board. Her many articles have appeared in publications like The Harvard Business Review, The Futurist, and The Wall Street Journal. She wrote four books, and her latest, FutureThink, was a global bestseller, translated into many languages. She has keynoted over 300 conferences.

Edie served on over 30 Boards and Advisory Boards, now including the US Comptroller General’s Advisory Board, GOSO (Getting Out and Staying Out – reducing recidivism). Past boards include José Limón Dance Foundation (Chair), UNUM Corporation, First Unum Corp., CompUSA, the Fashion Group International, ThinkQuest New York City (Chair), Boardroom Inc., the SyFy Channel, Independent Agents & Brokers of New York, the Women’s Leadership Exchange, and the Women’s Forum. Ms. Weiner is a member of the Women’s Forum, a co-founder of the Belizean Grove and Women Corporate Directors, and has received over 30 awards and citations, including the Fashion Group International’s Entrepreneur of the Year (1998), NOW New York’s 2011 Woman of Power and Influence, and The World Future Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Charlotte Whitmore
Co-Founder and CEO, Wisdomist

Charlotte Whitmore is the co-founder and CEO of Wisdomist, a startup on a mission to create a better future by connecting people who have wisdom with people who want wisdom through a proprietary, AI-enhanced digital marketplace… anywhere…anytime. The platform is focused on connecting people who have retired from a C-suite career with entrepreneurs who seek to augment their knowledge with the experience of those who have gone before as they work to grow their businesses. Previously, Whitmore was chair of the board of Analytics Pros, a leading digital analytics consultancy and top global partner for the Google Marketing Platform, which she co-founded in 2009 and sold in 2018.

Whitmore also serves on the boards of Cancer Pathways and La Pointe Foundation. She lives in Bellevue, Wash., with her four children and husband.