Alumni & Giving

Karen Albert, M.A. SOCY '96
Chair
Vice President and Head of Internal Audit, Constellium

Karen Albert serves as the Vice President and Head of Internal Audit at Constellium. Constellium, headquartered in Paris, France, is a global leader in the manufacturing of high value-added aluminum products and solutions.

She has been involved with the Marian House—an organization offering rehabilitative services and housing to women and families experiencing homelessness—since 2008, and was the chair of its board of directors from 2021-2023.

She is also the executive sponsor of the affinity network for women, called Women Inspiring Networking & Success (WINS), at her employer, Constellium. Previously, she was a member of Executive Alliance—a Maryland-based organization focused on accelerating the success and leadership of accomplished women by expanding their impact and influence through advocacy, education, and mentorship—and she volunteered her time to the board of the Girl Scouts of Central Maryland for 12 years. She was recognized as a Daily Record Top 100 Woman in 2020. 
 

Sean Chesley, CCJS
Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Sean Chesley is a litigation partner in Gibson Dunn’s Washington, D.C. Office. He focuses his practice on white collar criminal enforcement and government-related litigation. 

He represents corporations, board committees, and executives in internal investigations and before government agencies in matters involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, procurement fraud, environmental crimes, securities violations, sanctions enforcement, antitrust violations, and whistleblower claims. He also has significant trial experience before federal and state courts and administrative tribunals nationwide, with a particular focus on government contract disputes.

Brandon Cole
Principal Cyber Security Analyst, U.S. Army

Brandon Cole is a Principal Cyber Security Analyst with the U.S. Army and is an 18-year member of the Intelligence Community. He previously served in engineering roles with Boeing and the U.S. Department of State. He and his wife also own and operate Choice Clinical Services, a group mental health practice with offices in College Park and Greenbelt serving the UMD community.

The Coles established an endowed scholarship supporting the Department of Psychology in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences in 2018. The Taylor and Brandon Cole Student Experience Scholarship supports undergraduate student stipends for experiential learning opportunities. 

Mr. Cole served as the President of the BSOS Alumni Chapter Board, and was the BSOS College Representative on the Alumni Association’s Board of Governors.

Mr. Cole is a lifetime member of the UMD Alumni Association. He and his wife are both graduates of BSOS, The University of Maryland and have great passion for all things UMD. Go Terps!

Dr. Yamalis Diaz,
PSYC M.A. '05, Ph.D. '09
NYU Child Study Center, NYU Langone

Dr. Yamalis Diaz is a Clinical Child Psychologist and Clinical Assistant Professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the NYU Child Study Center at NYU Langone.

She joined NYU in 2011, after receiving her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2009, and completing a 2-year post-doctoral fellowship at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. 

Leah Durant, PSYC '99 
Principal and Managing Partner, 
Law Offices of Leah V. Durant & Associates 
 

Leah V. Durant is a distinguished litigator and founding partner of the Law Offices of Leah V. Durant & Associates, a premier boutique law firm based in Washington, D.C., that specializes in complex vaccine litigation. Durant currently serves as the President of the United States Court of Federal Claims Bar Association, the court in which all vaccine claims are adjudicated.  

Previously, Durant served as an attorney with the United States Department of Justice, Civil Division, where she argued cases before various United States Courts of Appeal. She earned her J.D. from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, where she graduated as a Fellow in the Law School’s inaugural class of the Rose Zetzer Fellowship Program. She also holds a B.A. from UMD.  During law school, Ms. Durant distinguished herself by serving as an editor of “The University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class.” She has published several academic articles on topics related to vaccine litigation. In addition to her legal work, Durant serves on the board of trustees for the John S. Mulholland Family Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that owns and operates 10 food pantries serving underserved communities in Washington, D.C.

Matthew "Matt" Fishlinger, GVPT '07 
Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Gramercy Risk Holdings, LLC

Aja Hill, ECON '07
Modern Work Federal Civilian Customer Success Leader, Microsoft

Aja Hill is the Modern Work Federal Civilian Customer Success Leader at Microsoft, supporting premier federal civilian government entities across the United States. 

Aja is responsible for Microsoft Teams adoption and support at all federal civilian agencies. Through her team, Aja works to help customers transition value from the Office of the CIO to the broader organization. Customers that Aja’s team supports include United States House of Representatives, Internal Revenue Service, Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and many others.  

Ann Holmes
Retired Senior Assistant Dean of Finance and Administration, BSOS

Brian Kern, CCJS '01 
Partner, Acadia Professional

Brian Kern joined Acadia Professional as Partner in 2019. He is a thought leader in healthcare risk, and a sought-after speaker on health law and risk issues. Kern has repeatedly spoken before the American Health Lawyer Association, as well as numerous other groups.

Kern  serves as Affiliate Chair on the Board of New Jersey Medical Group Management Association, and is a member of the Union County Medical Society Judiciary Committee. He has testified before the New Jersey Legislature and worked directly on several bills impacting healthcare. In 2016, he was honored as one of “Forty Under 40” by NJBiz.

Previously, Kern founded Toro Risk Consulting Group. a risk consulting firm specializing in value-based care. Prior to Toro, Kern was the co-founder of Argent Professional, which was acquired by Bollinger. He serves as an advisor to several notable healthcare companies that specialize in areas such as blockchain technology, palliative and value-based care, revenue cycle management and data analytics. Kern is a member of the New Jersey Bar, and is a graduate of Seton Hall Law School and the University of Maryland.

Akash Magoon, Computer Science '18
Co-Founder and CEO, Adonis

Sorabh Maheshwari
B.A. ECON, B.S. Finance ’01
Founding Partner, Churchill Real Estate Holdings

Sorabh Maheshwari is a founding partner of Churchill Real Estate Holdings. Most recently prior to Churchill, he was a principal at Onex Real Estate, a multi-billion-dollar private equity firm located in New York. At Onex, Sorabh had complete responsibility for acquisitions, dispositions, and asset management of Onex’s rent-regulated housing portfolio starting in 2010. Sorabh has been involved in over $500 million of transactions in the New York multifamily sector including equity investments, recapitalization, and distressed debt purchases. While at Onex, Sorabh ran Onex Real Estate High Yield Debt Fund which invested in distressed debt opportunities and was one of Onex Real Estate’s top performing investment vehicles.

Prior to Onex, Sorabh worked as an investment banker at Credit Suisse and DLJ in the real estate investment banking group. Sorabh received an MBA from Columbia Business School and an MBA from London Business School. Sorabh completed his undergraduate education at the University of Maryland where he graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Economics and B.S. in Finance.

Aman Malik, ECON '09 
Chief Operating Officer, 
BMO Capital Markets 

Aman Malik joined BMO Capital Markets as Chief Operating Officer in February 2026.

Prior to BMO, he was Head of Strategy and Chief Administrative Officer for Banking at Wells Fargo where he was responsible for strategy development, execution and business management. He partnered closely with business CEOs and infrastructure teams, leading multiyear business plans, growth initiatives, talent and financial investment priorities, risk and control programs and enterprise-wide transformation efforts.

Before Wells Fargo, Malik worked at Jefferies where he was a Chief Operating Officer and Head of Digital Strategy in the Markets business, focusing on the Equities and Research franchises globally. He led strategy, business and client management and digital innovation, building CRM and analytics platforms that improved efficiency and delivered actionable insights across Sales, Trading, Research and Banking.

Malik has also held various roles at Morgan Stanley and Skadden, working across investor relations, fixed income, strategy and business development roles.

Michael Mann
B.A. GVPT '02
Partner, Sidley

Michael Mann is a partner in Sidley’s White Collar: Government Litigation and Investigations practice, where he strategically counsels and defends companies, financial institutions and related individuals in internal, criminal and regulatory investigations, prosecutions and litigations. He is a trusted advisor to senior management and boards of directors faced with some of their most complex and sensitive enforcement and investigation-related issues, including matters concerning alleged bribery and corruption, money laundering, and other forms of financial and ethical misconduct.

Michael was recently recognized as one of five white collar “Rising Stars” by Law360. He was also recognized with the “Best in white collar crime” award at both the inaugural and second annual Euromoney LMG Americas Rising Star Awards.

Aparna Mathur, ECON Ph.D. '05
Senior Manager in Economic Policy, Amazon

Aparna Mathur is currently a Senior Manager in Economic Policy at Amazon. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, and a Visiting Fellow at FREOPP. 

During the pandemic, she worked as a Senior Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and prior to that, was a Resident Scholar in economic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2005. 

Mathur has published in top quality academic journals, testified several times before Congress, including to the Joint Economic Committee, and published numerous articles in the popular press on issues of policy relevance. She has done numerous TV appearances and radio interviews, including the popular Diane Rehm Show on NPR. Her work has been cited in leading news magazines such as The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Financial Times, Forbes and Business Week. Government organizations such as the Congressional Research service and the Congressional Budget Office have also cited her work in their reports to Congress. 

She has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School Of Public Policy, and has taught economics at the University of Maryland.

Paul Mavrikes, GVPT '18
Director of Business Operations, Bush School of Government and Public Service

Paul G. Mavrikes is Director of Business Operations at the Bush School of Government and Public Service in Washington, D.C. In this role, Paul oversees all aspects of the Bush School D.C.’s business functions, managing the Finance, Information Technology, Human Resources, Facilities & Operations teams, as well as the Business Office. A member of the Bush School D.C. Senior Leadership Team, Paul works with the executive leadership in both Washington, DC and College Station, Texas to craft the long-term financial and strategic goals of the institution. 

Previously, Paul served as the Director of Governance, Facilities and Operations at the Daniel Morgan Graduate School of National Security in Washington, D.C. Paul is a member of the Board of Trustees of Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland and serves as Chairman of Bullis' Alumni Board. He also serves on the Young Professionals Council of the First Tee of Greater Washington. 

Joseph H. Meltzer
B.A. GVPT '93
Founding Partner, Kessler Topaz Meltzer Check, LLP

Joseph H. Meltzer is a founding partner at the firm Kessler Topaz Meltzer Check, LLP and leads the firm’s Fiduciary, Consumer Protection and Antitrust groups.

A pioneer in prosecuting breach of fiduciary duty cases, Joe has been lead or co-lead counsel in numerous nationwide class actions brought under fiduciary laws including ERISA.  Joe represents institutional investor clients in a variety of breach of fiduciary duty cases and has some of the largest settlements in fiduciary breach actions including several recoveries in the hundreds of millions of dollars. 

The firm also has a robust Consumer Protection department which represents individuals, businesses, and governmental entities that have sustained losses as a result of defective products or improper business practices.  

In his antitrust work, Joe represents clients injured by anticompetitive and unlawful business practices, including overcharges related to prescription drugs, health care expenditures and commodities. Joe has also represented various states in pharmaceutical pricing litigation as a Special Assistant Attorney General.

Joe graduated, with honors, from the University of Maryland in 1993 with a degree in Government and Politics and he received his J.D., with honors, from the Temple University Beasley School of Law in 1997.

Jonathan Michaels, GVPT '08 
Founder and Principal, Michaels Strategies 

Jonathan Michaels is the Founder and Principal of Michaels Strategies, a boutique consulting firm focused on the North American gaming industry. Prior to founding the firm, Michaels served as Senior Vice President, Strategic Development & Government Affairs for Sightline Payments, the U.S. sports betting and casino gaming market’s leading digital payments provider and mobile app developer.

Michaels began his tenure in the gaming industry at the American Gaming Association, the national trade group for the U.S. casino industry, serving as Vice President, Strategic Alliances. Michaels has been the recipient of several awards, including the American Business Awards Silver Stevie for Communications Professional of the Year and the Global Gaming Business "40 Under 40" for 2021. He also served in development roles at the Sports & Fitness Industry Association and the University of Maryland.

Michaels is a proud alumnus of the University of Maryland, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in government and criminology. He  lives in Bethesda, Md., with his wife and three children.

Linh Nguyen, SOCY '08
Chief Strategy Officer, 
PLEX Solutions LLC

Sachin Sachdeva 
B.A. ECON '97
Head of Global Program Delivery for Digital, Data & Operations, AIG 

Sachin Sachdeva currently serves as the Head of Global Program Delivery for Digital, Data & Operations at AIG, a global insurance and financial services organization based in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to this role, he acted as Managing Director for Client Experience Platform & the Atlanta iHub at BlackRock, where he oversaw the global client experience program to ensure it enhanced the company’s digital capabilities and
processes. 

Sachin’s extensive experience in the financial services sector further encompasses his 10 year term at SSA Company, where he served in the following roles: Associate Director, Director, Senior Director, Vice President, FS Lead, and Managing Director, Financial Services Practice Lead. In these positions, he managed financial services and client engagement while delivering significant results in the form of improved customer
satisfaction and earnings. 

Sachin’s early career set the foundation for his current successes as he worked to develop his financial and customer service experience at Bank of America from 1997 to 2009. While working at Bank of America, he held the position of Senior Vice President, Consumer Leadership Program, Senior Vice President, Deposit Products, and more. 

Sachin earned his BA in economics from UMD in 1997 and subsequently, his MBA from Duke University in 2006. He currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia.

Brandon Tepper, CCJS '98 
Senior Vice President and Global Head of Data, Nasdaq Capital Access Platforms  

Ken Ulman
President, Margrave Strategies; 
Chief Strategy Officer for Economic Development, UMCP Foundation

Ken Ulman is the President of Margrave Strategies, an innovative strategic consulting firm that provides a comprehensive array of economic development, planning and visioning services to institutions, businesses and other groups throughout Maryland and the mid-Atlantic. The firm’s principal initial client is the University of Maryland College Park Foundation, where Ulman serves as Chief Strategy Officer for Economic Development.

Ulman previously served two terms as Howard County Executive. Ken has won numerous awards, and was named a Tech Titan by Washingtonian Magazine, a Top 25 Doer, Dreamer and Driver by Government Technology Magazine and a Regional Visionary by the Greater Baltimore Committee for his leadership to bring broadband technology to Maryland.

Ken served as president of the Maryland Association of Counties and as chairman of the Baltimore Metropolitan Council.

Ken and his wife, Jaki, established the Ulman Family Maryland Promise Scholarship, which supports need based scholarships for students in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences. He and his wife—also a proud Terp—live in Columbia, with their daughters Maddie and Lily.