Brittany Ford, Bosch XXXVII, President

Experience

Brittany Ford (Bosch XXXVII) is a consultant with state and local governments, health systems, and nonprofits on issues of immigrant and refugee inclusion. She is the owner and co-owner of two consulting firms, Paper Kite Collaborative and Language Equity & Access Partners and her clients have included the State of Michigan, City of Houston, Texas, and Welcoming America. Brittany is a 2020 recipient of the 20 Under 40 Award from Leadership Toledo and was a 2020-2021 Robert Bosch Fellow in Berlin, Germany. She previously spent eight years in local government as a Policy Analyst and Project Manager for Lucas County, where she helped found and lead the nationally-recognized initiative, Welcome Toledo-Lucas County (TLC). Brittany has a Master of Arts in International Educational Development from Columbia University and lives in Toledo, Ohio.

Christopher Ziemann, Bosch XXXII, Vice President

Experience

Chris Ziemann was a part of Bosch XXXII working with transit agencies in Hamburg to understand lessons from Germany and incorporate them into his work in the US. He currently lives in Alexandria, VA, where he is incorporating Transatlantic Relations into his work by coordinating webinars on local transportation topics to help seniors and to speed up buses. He has also worked on local road and road safety programs, which led Alexandria to it’s first zero-fatality year. Besides his year as a Bosch fellow, Chris lived in Berlin for a year teaching English and in Freiburg as a foreign exchange student in high school, in addition to living in Africa and South America. He’s also really good to have on your team on trivia nights.

Melis Tusiray, Bosch XXVIII, Secretary

Experience

Melis Tusiray is Co-founder and President of Cascade Advisory, a woman-owned advisory firm specializing in strategic communications and government affairs, where she co-leads the firm’s work in natural resources, manufacturing and trade, and emerging technology. A seasoned business strategist and operations expert, she has worked across the private, nonprofit, government, and academic sectors.

Melis has coordinated talented teams at organizations including Epic Media, Vox Media, the American Friends of Bucerius/ZEIT-Stiftung, and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), building out operations infrastructure and leading programs on renewable energy, sustainability, and entrepreneurship across the United States, Germany, and East Africa. She is fluent in German and proficient in Turkish, and holds a BA from UCLA and an MA from Georgetown University.

Paul Gallagher, Bosch X, Treasurer

Experience

Paul Gallagher, Bosch X, has had a 30 year career in financial services with senior leadership roles in strategy, operations, IT, and risk management, including stints at IBM, The Boston Consulting Group, Wells Fargo, Yahoo!, Silicon Valley Bank, and PayPal. During his Bosch Fellowship, he worked at the Wirtschaftsministerium in Berlin, focusing on foreign direct investment in the former DDR.  Paul lives in Brentwood, TN where he serves as the Nashville Warburg Chapter Director of the American Council on Germany and continues to consult to banks and fintech companies.

Anita Chavez, Bosch XXV, At-large Board Member

Experience

After completing her fellowship (Bosch XXV), Anita Chávez continued working in Germany with GIZ as a Project Coordinator and later as a Consultant while living in Singapore.

A New Mexico native, Anita spent 12 years living, working, and studying abroad across four continents before moving to Chicago, where she has called home for the past ten years. Her career has centered around service, from an early chapter in Washington, D.C. on The Hill to Peace Corps Tanzania and work with PEPFAR. She finds purpose in global health, international exchange, and most anything that builds connections across cultures and communities.

Anita now serves as a Grants Manager for the foundation arm of the third-largest nonprofit health system in the United States, helping connect ideas, resources, and people to improve lives.

She remains convinced that the best way to understand the world is to go see it. Anita balances global curiosity with raising her daughter, adventuring with her kind, nerdy boyfriend, and serving the Bosch and CBYX alumni communities.

Brian Trauth, Bosch XXXIII, At-large Board Member

Experience

Brian is a high-energy executive with a 20+ year global career spanning investment banking, consulting, multinational corporates, and entrepreneurship. He has been a speaker to over 20 leading global business schools and was a guest lecturer in Finance at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School. Post-Bosch, he founded and led a craft brewery and hospitality business in Berlin to bring together the best of the German and American brewing traditions. The brewery proudly sponsored multiple US Embassy 4th of July events and donated equipment to the Marine House in the US Embassy, Consular Department. During this time, Brian was regularly interviewed in mainstream and online press for his perspectives on transatlantic culture and the beer industry.

A native of New Orleans, Brian studied international business at the University of South Carolina and received his MBA from HEC Paris. He now resides with his family in London.

Charles Altekruse, Bosch III, At-large Board Member

Education

Charlie is drawn to work he’s passionate about with pursuits that bring joy, beauty, comfort, and inspiration into the world, whether through sport, international affairs, Native American tribal public affairs, and mysticism, or through music, art, and nature that embody the maxim “fitness for purpose is the essence of all beauty.” What matters most, though, are the relationships he’s fortunate to share along the way. He lived abroad in Germany and Northern Ireland as a teenager, later adding a Rotary Peace Fellowship, a Bosch Foundation Fellowship, and 15 years of competitive international rowing, earning two World Championship medals, two Olympic appearances, and Hall of Fame honors with Harvard and USA Rowing. He holds degrees from Harvard College (BA, German Studies/Philosophy, 1980) and Tufts’ Fletcher School (MALD, 1985).

Professionally, Charlie has focused on building strong teams to generate and communicate great ideas, with experience at Apple, Intuit, Sega, and an early Elon Musk start-up, plus 23 years in multicultural marketing and public affairs, including extensive work in Native American tribal affairs in California. He holds a U.S. patent from his time at Intuit and received the Congressional Gold Medal as a member of the 1980 USA Olympic Team. Widowed and the father of two sons, he is happily re-partnered, and treasures his dual U.S./Irish citizenship and the chance to travel and connect with inspired, globally-minded people.

Colette Mazzucelli, Bosch IX, At-large Board Member

Experience

Colette Mazzucelli teaches international relations, European integration, and ethnic conflicts at the NYU School of Professional Studies (SPS) and engages widely beyond the classroom, including with the Bled Strategic Forum, the BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders Network, and the Paris Peace Forum.  She participated in the Parallel Histories conference in the House of Lords and the CFR-Lumina Foundation Global Literacy Advisory Group at the Council on Foreign Relations.  Colette is Founder and Principal of LEAD IMPACT and Editor of the Anthem Press Ethics of Personal Data Collection Series.  She has authored and/or edited 8 books, including France and Germany at Maastricht, Mapping Transatlantic Futures, and Personal Data Collection Risks in a Post-Vaccine World, with 7 more forthcoming.

Named an Honorary Ambassador of Peace in 2016, Colette has over 30 years’ experience as a global affairs educator.  She mentors high-school students worldwide for Pioneer Academics and has been a Fulbright Scholar to France (1991) as well as Germany and Belgium/Luxembourg (2007).  Her career includes directing the first technology-mediated seminar at Sciences Po Paris, leading International Programs at the Budapest Institute for Graduate International and Diplomatic Studies, and assisting with Maastricht Treaty ratification in Germany as a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow.  Colette spoke on panels commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Élysée Treaty of Friendship between France and Germany (1963-2013) hosted by the French and German Embassies in Washington, DC.  She is a lifetime member of the Pacific Council on International Policy.

Dominic Marcellino, Bosch XXV, At-large Board Member

Experience

Dominic Marcellino is a technology strategist and business builder focused on solutions that build a better world through entrepreneurship and social benefits. As Co-founder and President of PASSENT MEDIA, he leverages technology to solve social challenges and generate positive financial outcomes. Passent Media’s services generate new revenue for transit agencies and other companies that deploy digital screens. Passent Media just launched TransitAds, the first programmatic ad platform specifically focused on hyperlocal advertising. By surrounding ads with engaging sports and news content, Passent Media creates enriching and revenue-generating solutions that help transit agencies meet their budgets and deliver services to riders. With a deep technical background in developing and developing secure and reliable Internet of Things and cellular products and solutions, Dominic specializes in transforming technological capabilities into compelling customer experiences that also unlock new, measurable revenue streams in complex environments. Prior to his work in technology, Dominic spent a decade focused on market-driven solutions for environmental challenges (at Environmental Defense Fund and Ecologic Institute US). While leading Ecologic US, he leveraged his experience as a Bosch Fellow and Fulbright Scholar to conceive, fund, and launch a transatlantic exchange program/social network for European and American professionals in environmental and energy professionals – ELEEP – to exchange best practices (in person) and engage in ongoing discussions through a private Facebook group.

Eric Opp, Bosch IX, At-large Board Member

Experience

Eric Opp recently retired after a 45-year career in Government Contracting, during which he held leadership roles across numerous large and small companies. Throughout his career, he was responsible for technical delivery, project management, and deal and pricing strategy, bringing deep expertise to every stage of the contracting lifecycle.

Beyond his professional work, Eric has been an active and dedicated member of the Robert Bosch Alumni Association (RBFAA), serving as Treasurer in 1994/95 and as President in 1995/96. His long-standing involvement reflects his commitment to the organization and its community. His hobbies in retirement include rowing and learning foreign languages.

Joellen Perry, Bosch XXI, At-large Board Member

Experience

Joellen Perry is a global executive whose background spans journalism, media and tech. After her Bosch fellowship she lived in Germany for more than a decade, working as European Economics Correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and Head of Digital Communications for the European Central Bank, before returning to the U.S. as Global Head of Public Relations for SAP. She holds a Master of Science from Columbia Journalism School, where she was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in Economics and Business Journalism, and an MBA from Columbia Business School. She is also a Fulbright alumna. She chairs the RBFAA’s Communications Committee.

Joellen lives in Los Angeles with her daughter.

Maggie Monahan, Bosch I, At-large Board Member

Pilar Wolfsteller, Bosch X, At-large Board Member

Experience

Pilar Wolfsteller (Bosch X – 1993-1994) is an award-winning journalist and communications professional. She began her international journalism career at the wire agencies Bloomberg and Reuters, based in Germany, the UK and Switzerland. Those experiences led her to strategic communications and corporate social responsibility (CSR) roles for numerous industry leaders including McKinsey & Company and Airbus. She currently works at the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association’s Air Safety Institute, as a Senior Editor. Pilar holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in History from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, and a Master of Science in Journalism from Columbia University, in addition to a professional certificate in CSR management from the Institute for Business Ethics at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. She also holds fixed-wing pilot certificates both in Germany and the USA, and she is an FAA Certified Flight Instructor. Her stages in Germany were at the Bundesministerium für Frauen und Jugend in Bonn and at the Sächsische Zeitung in Dresden. She has previously served on the RBFAA board for two terms as an at-large member, in 2014-2016 and again in 2018-2020.