Fall 2025 Alumni Newsletter
The Center for Leadership Studies Newsletter is dedicated to the CLS community, including current seminar students, CLS alumni, partners and friends. It is intended at once to keep you informed and to keep us accountable to our mission and vision of bringing the highest quality living-learning experience to the finest blossoming professionals from around the world.
Our space
The Center for Leadership Studies is home to Carnegie Mellon University’s Leadership Development Seminar. The program provides students with a clear framework through which they can think about and hone their leadership skills, including many and varied resources that will help them to contextualize their academic and metacurricular experiences, and to grow in key areas of awareness and skills that are critical for leadership. The shared space serves as a home for current students, alumni, and fellows to gather, connect, and enjoy weekly events on campus during the semester.
Note from the executive director
"From our humble beginnings in the College of Engineering–coursing the halls of West Wing and feeling the magic of the Tech Lounge–we find ourselves now in five colleges. And so it is, this thing we used to call a Center in name is now a Center in fact, with a wide array of activities and events in part outlined below.
If you are reading this, then know that none of it would have been possible without you. Starting with our wonderful students and alumni, who while here and since make and have made all of the difference with wise counsel and true heart. Our Deans and friends in the colleges, whose encouragement and facilitation continue to be a cornerstone; President Jahanian and Provost Garrett, whose guidance and institutional commitment both inspire and ensure our success; our Executive Fellows and distinguished special guests who bring alive a curriculum and make it a truly lived experience; and, make no mistake, our partner donors who allow us to not only deliver on the promise, but to do so in distinctive and disproportionate ways, as we both steward your support and celebrate your owned shared vision and values.
We hope you enjoy this newsletter and those to periodically follow, and we welcome your ideas for feature stories and foci to enhance our path forward."
- Meghan Bollens
The Character Initiative
Events
“A Focus on Character and Leadership,” led by Executive Fellow Dr. Meghan Bollens and Educational Program Assistant Preveena Thathireddy. This was an opportunity for open discussion on the ways in which you and your colleagues feel character informs leadership and why issues of character are critical to human and organizational development. This gathering was part of The Character Initiative, a cross-campus and interdisciplinary exploration of character at Carnegie Mellon funded by the Eli Lilly Foundation and Wake Forest University’s Educating Character Initiative.
John P. Surma, Penn State alum and former chairman & CEO of U. S. Steel, joined us for a lively session on leadership and the future of industry. Questions ranged from navigating cyclical markets and supply-chain shocks to building safety culture, governing ethically, and leading through public scrutiny. Surma spoke candidly about decision-making under uncertainty, balancing stakeholder interests, and the discipline it takes to uphold values when pressure is high. He also shared pragmatic career advice: do the unglamorous work well, prepare relentlessly, and protect your integrity. Attendees left with a clearer view of how policy, markets, and technology intersect—and how principled leadership can shape outcomes.
Upcoming events and visitors
- Roger Ma ’05: Personal Finance Night
- Nicole Ayala ’01, ’05: BNY Mellon
- Jeff Nagel ’87, AEA Investors Operating Partner
- Andress Appollon ’02, CEO at Appollon Strategies LLC
- Kristin Gilmore ’02 U.S. Department of State Foreign Service officer
Alumni spotlight
Emily Tolmer (class of 2019) is a Staff Service Designer at LinkedIn, where she leads work to simplify complex systems and create seamless, trustworthy interactions across the company’s global products and services. While studying mechanical engineering, she discovered her passion for understanding how people and systems interact in the School of Design, learned collaboration and resilience as the three-year captain of the women’s soccer team, and found clarity and reassurance in her path through the leadership seminar. Since graduating, her work has focused on connecting people, tools, and processes to make experiences feel more intuitive and meaningful. Emily lives in Brooklyn, where she loves eating her way through the neighborhoods, going to concerts, traveling, and returning to Pittsburgh whenever she gets the chance.
“I’ve built a career in human-centered design, a path I never could have imagined when I started at Carnegie Mellon as an engineering student still figuring out where I fit. The leadership seminar gave me the confidence to explore beyond what I thought my future ‘should’ look like and to follow my curiosity toward work that felt meaningful.
The leadership seminar exposed me to leaders from a wide range of industries, each with their own nonlinear journey. Hearing how they made choices not just around roles or companies, but around the kind of lives they wanted to build, was profoundly grounding. Just as impactful were the weekly reflections and discussions with peers, which helped me build a habit of introspection that has become essential in my life—especially after graduation, when those natural moments for reflection aren’t built in. And perhaps most memorable was the way Michael led our class: with deep respect, warmth, and care for every student and visitor, he set the gold standard for creating belonging and fostering a community that endures.
Those lessons have guided me ever since. My advice to current students is to pay close attention to the culture and leadership of the teams and organizations you join. The right environment and the right leaders can make all the difference in how you learn, grow, and experience your work. I’m deeply grateful for the foundation the leadership seminar provided and thrilled to see how it continues to grow and shape future CMU students.”
Newcomers
Meghan Bollens
Executive Director, Center for Leadership Studies
Dr. Meghan Bollens joined the Center for Leadership Studies as an Executive Fellow, where she is guiding CMU’s cross-disciplinary execution of a capacity-building grant focused on character education. Her work assesses existing efforts, identifies gaps, and imagines new pathways for integrating character across academic, co-curricular, and community life. Dr. Bollens completed her doctorate at Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development. Her research focused on the influence of belongingness on independent school faculty retention and extended to include belongingness indicators across school communities. Dr. Bollens serves as the Associate Head of School at St. Edmund’s Academy in Pittsburgh, PA where she supports advancement, admissions, and athletics. Through her work, she prioritizes community connections to foster an ecosystem of belonging for faculty, staff, students, and their families. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Washington and Lee University and a Master of Public Management from the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University.
“I am thrilled to be back at Carnegie Mellon and am enjoying the opportunity to support the Center for Leadership Studies’ work through this exploration of character across campus. Students, faculty, and staff all have unique perspectives to bring to this conversation, and I look forward to creating connections for our community to learn from one another.”
Laura Christopherson
Executive Fellow, Center for Leadership Studies
Laura Christopherson, an alumna of the CMU Graphic Design Program, joins the Center for Leadership as an Executive Fellow, pioneering the first course taught to CFA students. She is an avid sailor and a past sailboat racer and has two sons, ages 25 and 22. She holds both an M.A. and a Ph.D. from New York University (dissertation - leadership styles of those who manage creative groups). Christopherson led Creative Services/Marketing teams (mostly for financial services), taught at NYU (undergrad/“planning, organizing, leading, and controlling in organizations”), worked on the boards of small arts nonprofits, and consulted. In an interesting career twist, she worked with military leadership on stress reduction strategies in the largest and most prominent military medical center in the US. Laura learned from experience that life is not linear and the best leaders are nimble and responsive to opportunity. She is a devoted supporter of CMU traditions and student life, and has abundant energy and enthusiasm for CMU students. Laura is thrilled to welcome CFA students into the interesting and inspiring world of leadership thought and has had oodles of fun with her CFA group these first six weeks.
Meet the EPAs
Nolan Casey
Nolan Casey, is a graduate student in the Tepper School of Business, getting his masters in management, with a concentration in finance. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon’s Dietrich College in spring of 2025, with bachelor's degrees in Behavioral Economics and Decision Sciences. Casey plays on the Carnegie Mellon basketball team and this season will be his third as captain. His summers have been spent in his hometown of Brooklyn, NY, where he interned at PricewaterhouseCoopers on their Digital Product Development, and most recently, Commercial Technology and Innovation teams. He joins the center this fall as Senior Educational Program Assistant, where he hopes to continue growing the Leadership Center on campus, and looks forward to bringing forth new initiatives and opportunities for both current students, and alumni to get involved in the center.
Alondra Robles
Alondra Robles is a senior studying Information Systems with a minor in Software Engineering. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She is the president of Girls Who Code and also serves on the board of the Catholic Newman Club. Outside of her studies, she enjoys volunteering with local organizations, reading, and hiking. After graduating, she hopes to work full-time in a role that combines her interests in software engineering, data science, and consulting.
Daniel Aluko
Daniel Aluko is a senior studying mechanical and biomedical engineering. After taking the leadership seminar course last fall, he now serves as the Educational Program Assistant, supporting seminars and new student initiatives in the center. Active in research and campus leadership, Aluko also enjoys playing piano, cooking, and weightlifting in his free time.
Sophie Clarke
Sophie Clarke is a first-year Ph.D. student at Stanford University in Bioengineering. In Spring 2025, she graduated from Carnegie Mellon’s College of Engineering with a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical and Mechanical Engineering. At Carnegie Mellon, Clarke was President of the Biomedical Engineering Society and conducted biomedical engineering research for 3.5 years in tissue engineering and biotherapeutics. Her graduate research focuses on 3D bioprinting for congenital heart defects. Sophie joined as a senior EPA in May 2025, and she hopes to contribute to strengthening alumni connections to the CLS.
Praveena Thathireddy
Praveena Thathireddy is a second-year MBA candidate at the Tepper School of Business, where she focuses on strategy, leadership, and technology. She joined the Center for Leadership Studies as a Graduate Educational Program Assistant, supporting CMU’s cross-disciplinary execution of a capacity-building grant from the Educating Character Initiative. In this role, she helps assess existing efforts, identify gaps, and collaborate with faculty, staff, and student leaders to integrate character development into coursework, co-curricular programs, and community engagement. Prior to graduate school, Thathireddy worked in product management and corporate development, with experience spanning global enterprises and startups. She is also an entrepreneur, having co-founded a nutrition-focused venture centered on sustainable practices.
“I am excited to contribute to the Center’s mission of exploring how character shapes leadership and community at CMU. I look forward to fostering meaningful collaborations across campus and learning from the diverse voices in our community.”