Latest news from the American Foundation

Marie-Monique Steckel has been President of the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) in New York since 2004. As Steckel prepares to move on from her 17-year leadership of FIAF, the Sciences Po American Foundation would like to pay her homage with an alumni portrait. In this interview, Steckel reflects on her career, how curiosity has propelled her life, and what her next steps may be.

Christian Kaufholz is a Global Leadership Fellow with the World Economic Forum. He manages affiliate programs under the World Economic Forum’s Global Plastic Action Partnership, which tackles the plastic pollution crisis around the world.

Andrew Ziaja is a Sciences Po masters graduate who recently transitioned to a role as a labor lawyer in the Contempt, Compliance, and Special Litigation Branch of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Daniel Levy is the owner and founder of Illustraction Gallery, a premiere online art gallery devoted to selling high-end vintage movie and music posters using e-commerce and social media campaigns. He was previously a senior international marketing and entertainment executive working for Sony Music. Levy’s dynamic career began with his five years as a student at Sciences Po, an experience he believes developed the cultural understanding that has helped him succeed professionally.

Please join us in congratulating Alexandra Oh '21, new student at Sciences Po in Reims, and first laureate of the Henri de Castries Scholarship.

On September 16, the Sciences Po American Foundation invited Yvonne Bendinger-Rothschild and Sciences Po Alumnus Benjamin Haddad to a Sciences Po Alumni Webinar titled: Europe After Merkel? Yvonne is the Executive Director of European American Chamber of Commerce, New York Chapter, and Benjamin is the Director of the Europe Center at the Atlantic Council.

Amanda Marsted is a Managing Director at CIBC Private Wealth Management in New York. In this capacity, she has been a senior relationship and portfolio manager for the last seven years. After more than 20 years working in the industry, Marsted reflects fondly on her experiences at Sciences Po. Although her time at Sciences Po was relatively short, she remarks that it granted her some life changing opportunities.

Gilles Bransbourg graduated from Sciences Po with a degree in Economy and Finance and worked in banking before changing paths to pursue a PhD in history. Today, he balances his interests in research and business as the Executive Director of the American Numismatic Society, a US research institution founded in 1858, dedicated to the study and public appreciation of coins, currencies, medals, and other related objects, and, more generally, the advancement of monetary and currency literacy.

Vanessa Miler-Fels is the Director of Energy Innovation and Impact at Microsoft and a graduate of Science Po’s Master in Public Affairs. Miler-Fels describes a longtime interest in public affairs, particularly international public affairs, that drew her to pursue a Sciences Po education. “I grew up in an international setting and lived in a few countries growing up, and I knew I wanted to have a career that could allow me to work across cultures,” she says, “and ideally where I could be a bridge between cultures.”

Carol Sirou is an independent board member, the founder and CEO of Safineia Advisors, a boutique consulting practice, and a Sciences Po alumna.

Robert McNamara is a Partner Guidehouse, a global strategy, management, and technology consulting firm, and leads the Business and IT Strategy Practice. As an MBA student at the University of Chicago, Mr. McNamara studied abroad in an exchange program with Sciences Po. “I never had the opportunity during my undergraduate degree to study abroad,” he says, “so I really wanted to do so before beginning the next phase of my career and Sciences Po had an outstanding program.” One of his concentrations was in International Business, so the program “helped fulfill by my intellectual interest, as well as, academic requirements.”

To foster the commitment of its scientific community to studying, deciphering and clarifying the major issues at stake for the common good around new technologies, including the Internet and social networks, Sciences Po announces the signing of a partnership agreement with the McCourt Institute.

Patricia Wu is Vice President and Managing Director at Crowell & Moring International, a global government affairs and public policy consulting firm. As an undergraduate student, she spent a year abroad at Sciences Po studying international relations and affairs.

Jonathan Silver is an executive with a history of success investing in the clean economy, a senior advisor to multiple large firms in clean economy sector, and an alum of Science Po’s Certificat d’Etudes Politiques (CEP) program. After graduating from Harvard with a major in government, Silver was awarded a MacArthur Rotary Graduate Fellowship to study in France. “I chose Sciences Po because the school specialized in the areas of study I was interested in,” he says.

Louis Mark is a senior program consultant at Anthesis Group, a consulting group focusing on sustainability. He joined the Sciences Po Master’s Degree in Energy Economics in the fall of 2016, after spending time researching in China. “The year before I started was a pivotal moment for climate,” he says, “and I was already doing some research in China at the time. My focus was on air pollution, displacement of indigenous people, and energy infrastructure.” When the Paris agreement was signed in April 2016, Mark felt even more compelled to continue his studies in climate.

Benjamin Haddad is the director of the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center, and he has always had an interest in international politics, stemming from his time as a student at Sciences Po.

On June 3, the Sciences Po American Foundation honored Emilie Mazzacurati ('02), Global Head of Moody's Climate Solutions and Mike Schmuhl ('15), Chairman at Indiana Democratic Party and former presidential campaign manager for Secretary Pete Buttigieg, at the 2021 Alumni Award. The ceremony began with a conference on the Impact of Climate Change on the Midwest and beyond led by Sam Miles, the first laureate of the Michel David-Weill Scholarship and current PhD student at UC Berkley. The event concluded with networking sessions for Sciences Po alumni, who joined virtually from across the globe.

On Monday, April 26, the Sciences Po American Foundation welcomed Hubert Joly in conversation with Evan Epstein. Joly is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Best Buy and is now a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School.

Tania Johnson, the Director of Sponsored Programs at Swarthmore College, had a long-time dream of living and studying in France. She had begun studying the language in middle school and high school, and as a French and International Relations major at the University of Pennsylvania, was “really grateful to have had the opportunity to study” at Sciences Po.

Elsa Alvarado, currently a Senior Vetting Analyst for the 59th Presidential Inaugural Committee, dreamed of attending Sciences Po, where so many influential French political leaders were educated. She spoke to us about her passion for politics, leadership in the Hispanic community, and dedication to being a global citizen.

On March 11, the Sciences Po American Foundation hosted alumna Chine Labbe in conversation with Professor Nancy L. Rosenblum, Senator Joseph Clark Research Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government emerita at Harvard University.

Readers might recognize her as the anchor of the Saturday edition of the “CBS Weekend News,” but in addition to reporting on COVID-19, Chicago gun violence, and the Flint water crisis, Adriana Diaz “had the pleasure of going to Sciences Po twice.”

Alexandre Chenesseau is a Managing Director at Evercore in New York, working in global mergers and acquisitions advisory, and a graduate of Sciences Po’s Master in Finance and Strategy. He describes having always wanting to pursue diverse fields early on in his life, including foreign affairs, diplomacy, and even journalism, for which he thought “Sciences Po was a pretty obvious choice.”

The Universities of Sciences Po, Princeton and Columbia are launching a major three-year research project on Muslim communities in India thanks to the generous support of the Henry Luce Foundation. The resulting research will offer new analysis and insights into the challenges faced by Muslim communities in India today.