Conn appoints new members to Board of Trustees

Six alumni have joined Connecticut College’s Board of Trustees, including a Young Alumni Trustee from the Class of 2022. The new trustees began their service on July 1. 

The new trustees are:

 

Isaac (Chip) H. Clothier V ’79 P’10

Clothier is managing partner and co-founder of HFC Executive Search, where he has focused on filling senior level positions for privately-held and Fortune 1000 companies for more than 15 years. Prior to joining HFC Executive Search, he spent 20 years in a variety of sales and marketing positions in the consumer and B2B industries. He earned an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in 1986.

At Conn, Clothier majored in history and served as the Student Government Association parliamentarian and senior class president, and was a recipient of the Anna Lord Strauss Medal. Since graduation, he has served as his alumni class president and class gift officer, and joins the board as the President of the Alumni Association Board of Directors.

 

Marisa Fariña ’93

Fariña is managing director of Washington Post Live, a leading live journalism platform featuring newsmakers, elected officials and industry experts. Prior to joining the Post, she was CRO and VP of strategic partnerships at Tina Brown Live Media, where she spearheaded business strategy and partnerships for Women in the World summits and salons presented domestically and internationally. She also spent 18 years at Time Out North America.

Fariña majored in political science at Connecticut College and received the Elizabeth Fielding Memorial Award, which recognizes an outstanding woman in each class. She was a member of the Student Government Association and served on the Senior Pledge Committee. She is currently president of the Class of 1993 and previously served as a reunion committee member, class gift chair and alumni admission representative. This is Fariña’s second appointment to the board; she served as a Young Alumni Trustee from 1993-1996.

 

Kim-An Hernandez ’99

Hernandez is principal and chief procurement officer at Vanguard. In her nearly four years at Vanguard, Hernandez has also served as principal and head of IT global resource strategy and controls, and senior counsel and head of information technology and security and legal. Prior to arriving at Vanguard, she served as senior counsel of information technology, eDiscovery, and knowledge management at International Paper. 

She earned her B.A. in government from Connecticut College and earned a J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law and a Law and Business Certificate from the Vanderbilt Owen School of Management. She is one of the only Connecticut College athletes to lead two teams in two different sports (soccer and lacrosse) to the NCAA Tournament. She also played on the women’s basketball team for one season. Hernandez was named NSCAA All-American, NESCAC All-Academic, IWLCA Regional and Academic All Region, and Umbro All-Star Select. She was inducted into the CC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017 and was a member of Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society.

 

Samirah Jaigirdar ’22

Young Alumni Trustee

Originally from Bangladesh, Jaigirdar double majored in international relations and global Islamic studies, minored in Arabic studies, and was a CISLA scholar. In 2021, she received the Jay Levin ’73 Exemplary Leadership Award for service to the College and the Global Islamic Studies Junior Prize for outstanding achievement in the major. 

Jaigirdar served as president of the Student Government Association (SGA) in her senior year, as a member of the 2021 Dean of the College search committee, as chief of communications for the SGA during her junior year, as student adviser coordinator during her sophomore year, and as an admissions committee selector for the United World College Bangladesh National Committee since 2016. She also completed an internship in the public affairs and sustainability department of the Coca-Cola company in Bangladesh; was an assistant instructor at the Global Leadership Forum in New Mexico; served as a research intern at the High Atlas Foundation in Marrakesh, Morocco; and was a digital media intern in Conn’s Office of Communications. She is currently pursuing a Master of Theological Studies degree at Harvard Divinity School.

 

Jonathan A. Krane ’90 

Krane is founder and chief executive officer of KraneShares, a global asset management firm known for its China-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and innovative China investment strategies. KraneShares focuses on equity and fixed income markets and has numerous funds, including those focused on internet, healthcare, clean technology, 5G, semiconductors and science/technology innovations.  

Krane studied art history at Conn and went on to earn his MBA from Columbia Business School in 1999. He played four years on the varsity tennis team.

 

 

Diane E. Stratton ’91

Stratton is a jewelry designer and owner of Diane Stratton Jewelry. She has been making jewelry for over 30 years. She is inspired by natural forms and elements, and reflections of light on water, and her simple, elegant jewelry is lightweight and comfortable to wear.

Stratton majored in studio art with a focus in painting at Connecticut College. She furthered her formal education by earning her M.F.A. in the jewelry and light metals program at Rhode Island School of Design in 1998. She was a member of the women's field hockey and indoor and outdoor track teams and sang with the a cappella group The Shwiffs. Since graduation, she has volunteered as class president, class agent and class correspondent.