Five join Conn’s Board of Trustees

Five new members recently joined Connecticut College’s Board of Trustees, while two current trustees have been elected to serve as vice chairs. Seth W. Alvord ’93 will continue his tenure as chair during the 2026-2027 academic year, while Jessica L. Archibald ’95 and John D. Linehan P’18 ’23 ’24 will serve as vice chairs. The new trustees began their tenures on July 1. 

New Trustees 

Ryan J. ‘RJ’ Casey ’26, Young Alumni Trustee

Casey graduated from Connecticut College with a major in neuroscience. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree from the D’Amore McKim School of Business at Northeastern University and plans to build a career in the business of healthcare.

While at Conn, Casey was a two-time captain of the Men’s Basketball team and represented the NESCAC as one of 43 student members of the NCAA Division III national student-athlete advisory committee (SAAC). He was affiliated with One Love, Team IMPACT and Special Olympics. Casey is also the founder of the Portuguese Club and was a Senior Admission Fellow.

Upon his graduation, Casey received the Andrew H. Chait Award, which honors a member of the College community who has shown outstanding service and commitment to the Connecticut College Department of Athletics.

 

Peter D. Eckel

Eckel is the senior fellow and the director of leadership programs at the Alliance for Higher Education and Democracy at the UPenn Graduate School of Education. He has spent 20 years in nonprofit leadership related to higher education and the last 12 years as an academic working on governance and management of higher education. His work is both domestic and international in locations such as Kazakhstan, Canada, the UK, India and the UAE. He has also developed an online master’s degree program in global higher education management.

Eckel is a trustee emeritus from the University of LaVerne, where he chaired the Governance, Enrollment, and Academic and Student Affairs Committees. He writes frequently for Inside Higher Ed on issues of governance, leadership, strategy and change.

Eckel earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University in 1989; a master’s degree in college personnel from the University of Maryland in 1991; and a doctorate in educational policy, planning and administration from the University of Maryland in 1998. Eckel and his spouse have one daughter.

 

Fletcher F. Previn ’00 P’29

Previn serves as a senior vice president and chief information officer at Cisco, a multinational technology conglomerate best known for its networking hardware, software and telecommunication. He is an executive sponsor for Cisco’s work with various U.S. government agencies. Prior to joining Cisco, Previn served as global chief information officer at IBM, where he led a global team of more than 12,000 IT professionals to provide secure, global IT at scale for IBM employees worldwide.

Previn is on the board of OpenText and the energy drink company CELSIUS, and is a board adviser for the oil and gas company BP. Previously, he served as an adviser for the CIA and an executive sponsor for IBM with the NSA, DoD and the Defense Information Systems Agency.

Previn graduated from Conn in 2000 with a double major in German and government. He and his wife, Gillian Desjardins ’99, have two daughters, including Maureen Previn ’29. Previn’s mother-in-law, Sarah Bullock Desjardin ’63 P’99 GP’29, is also a Conn graduate.

 

Andrea Braun Tarbox ’72 P’09

Tarbox is an experienced public company director and former chief financial officer with extensive expertise in corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, financial strategy and executive leadership.

She serves on the boards of public companies, educational institutions and community organizations. She is currently a board member of Solo Brands, Inc. and Live Oak Acquisition Corp., where she chairs the audit committee for each company and helped lead initial public offerings and business combination transactions. Previously, she was a founding officer of KapStone Paper and Packaging Inc., serving as executive vice president and chief financial officer. KapStone grew to become the fifth-largest domestic paper and packaging company until its sale in 2018.

Beyond her corporate responsibilities, Tarbox is dedicated to education and community service. She serves on the University of Rhode Island Foundation Board of Trustees and on their Dean’s Advisory Council for the business school. In addition, she has served as the business school’s executive-in-residence and was inducted into the URI College of Business Hall of Fame in 2023. She was elected to the board of the Community Services Associates of Sea Pines on Hilton Head Island in 2023 and has been a member of their finance committee since 2019, and she has been a member of the Connecticut College President’s Leadership Council since 2015.

Tarbox earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Conn and  a master’s degree in finance from the University of Rhode Island. She and her husband have three daughters, including Caroline Gransee ’09.

 

Veronica ‘Ronnie’ A. Venture ’86 

Venture is an attorney with the Walton Law Group. She previously served as the Department of Homeland Security’s Deputy Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, as well as its Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity Director. Prior to DHS, she worked for the FBI for nine years and spent 12 years at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She also works with Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA)/Prince George’s County in Maryland.

Venture double majored in English and government at Conn and went on to earn her juris doctorate from the Washington College of Law at American University in 1990. At Conn, she served as a student adviser, housefellow and member of Umoja and of Students Organized Against Racism. She currently serves as president of the Alumni Association Board of Directors and is a former chair of the Connecticut College Alumni of Color and the Diversity Committee. She has also served as  a Reunion committee member and as co-chair of the Celebrations X Reunion committee for the 50th anniversary of Unity House. She received the alumni Unity Award in 2026 at her 40th Reunion.

 

New Officers

Jessica L. Archibald ’95, Vice Chair

Archibald joined the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2021. She is a general partner and member of the Investment Committee at Top Tier Capital Partners in San Francisco. She is co-lead of the Funds team and participates extensively in the capital formation efforts of the firm. Archibald joined Top Tier’s predecessor firm, Paul Capital, in 2005. Prior to joining Top Tier, she was part of the investment team at Care Capital LLC, a venture capital firm specializing in biotechnology. Before that, she spent five years at Salomon Smith Barney.

Archibald graduated from Conn in 1995 with a double major in math and economics. She took a business school semester abroad at the University of St. Gallen in 2001 and earned her master’s degree in finance from NYU’s Stern School of Business in 2002. She was a member of the varsity crew team and was inducted into the College’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006. She continued to row competitively after graduation through the New York Athletic Club, where she was a nine-time national champion, and she competed in the 2000 and 2004 Olympic trials. Currently, Archibald rows with the Sarasota Rowing Club in domestic and international competitions.

 

John D. Linehan P’18 ’23 ’24, Vice Chair

Linehan was elected to the Connecticut College Board of Trustees in 2018. A vice president of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. and T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., Linehan has 37 years of investment experience. He is the chief investment officer of Equity and portfolio manager for the Equity Income and the U.S. Select Value Equity Strategies, as well as co-portfolio manager for the U.S. Large-Cap Value Strategy. He is a member of the firm’s Global Equity Steering, Asset Allocation, and Global Trading Committees. Prior to joining T. Rowe Price, he was an executive in the oil trading and consulting industry.

Linehan currently serves as a board member for the Odyssey School and the Baltimore Equitable Society. Previously, he has served on a number of boards, including Friends School of Baltimore, Gilman School, Baltimore Equitable Scholarship Trust, the South Baltimore Homeless Shelter, and St. Mary’s Seminary and University.

Linehan earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Amherst College and  a master’s degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was the Henry Ford II Scholar, an Arjay Miller Scholar, and the winner of the Alexander A. Robichek Award in finance. He has earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.