Vassar’s Board of Trustees Welcomes Five New Members

Vassar’s new trustees bring a wealth of talent and a wide variety of expertise to the board as they assume four-year terms this fall. They are: Alexandria Dempsey ’09, Mélida Hodgson ’85, Dashiell Flynn ’99, Michael Neuwirth ’89, and Andrew Solum ’89.

Board Chair Sharon Chang ’84 P’19 said she was looking forward to working with the new cohort of trustees. “We are thrilled to welcome this exceptional group of five new trustees to the board,” Chang said. “They bring diverse backgrounds, perspectives, regions, and class years, along with a breadth of expertise, experience, and skills that will strengthen our board, deepen our collective engagement, and help advance the College’s mission as we look to the future.”

Alexandria Dempsey ’09

Alexandria Dempsey landed her first job at the Food Network straight out of Vassar and has worked in the food and hospitality field ever since. She is currently Vice President and Managing Director at af&co, a marketing and media relations firm in San Francisco. She earned an MBA in food and wine studies at the University of Bologna in 2016. In recent years, she has coordinated fundraising events for Taste of the Nation, an initiative of No Kid Hungry, an organization that combats childhood hunger in the United States.

A native of Los Angeles, Dempsey said her high school guidance counselor encouraged her to consider attending an East Coast liberal arts college. She majored in psychological science with a minor in economics, but sampled courses in many other fields “like every good Vassar student.”

Since leaving Vassar, Dempsey has volunteered for the College in various capacities. She has served as President of the Vassar Club of the Bay Area and recently completed a four-year term on the board of the Alumnae/i Association of Vassar College (AAVC).

Dempsey said she was eager to begin her work on the Board of Trustees. “I’m excited to get involved in serving Vassar in this new capacity and take on a new challenge,” she said. “I’ll be joining a group of people who are dedicated to Vassar. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Dashiell “Dash” Flynn ’99

Dash Flynn recently accepted a job as Chief Technology Officer of Basketball Operations for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He will be leading AI and machine learning strategy and delivery for the team’s front office.

Flynn said he learned about the job while speaking with Kerry Tatlock ’93, a fellow trustee and the NBA’s Executive Vice President of Global Marketing Partnerships and Media. He had occasionally worked with Tatlock at his previous job as the Global Head of Artificial Intelligence for Amazon Web Services.

Flynn said he viewed his service on the board as a way of repaying the College for preparing him for his post-Vassar life. “Vassar is a special place,” he said. “You met people here from many different backgrounds and with many different interests. You can go from playing a pickup basketball game in the afternoon to a poetry reading at night.”

As a member of the board’s Student and Academic Affairs Committee, Flynn said he expects to use his background in artificial intelligence to help students and faculty navigate this new technology. “I have an understanding of where the industry is going, and I think I can be helpful in looking at how AI is used in the classroom and as a teaching topic,” he said.

Flynn said Vassar’s multidisciplinary approach to education had helped him navigate his own career in many ways. “A liberal arts education gives you the confidence to figure things out even if the answers aren’t readily apparent,” he said. “When you graduate from Vassar, you’ve done rigorous work. You’re not scared of a challenge.”

Mélida Hodgson ’85

Most lawyers have individual people as clients. As a partner at the international law firm Arnold and Porter, Mélida Hodgson often represents entire countries. She is widely recognized as an expert in resolving international disputes through arbitration, particularly in Latin America. She has recently represented the governments of Uruguay, Panama, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

Hodgson recently stepped down as President of the American Society of International Law and will soon finish her term as Vice Chair of the Institute for World Business Law of the International Chamber of Commerce, which has allowed her to join Vassar’s Board of Trustees. “I’ve always felt an obligation to give back, to ensure that the College is in a position to continue being Vassar, with funding for student scholarships and faculty salaries,” Hodgson said.

Hodgson was born in Nicaragua and lived there for 10 years. One of her first in-depth experiences in international affairs began in Nicaragua during her senior year at Vassar. In the spring of 1985, she was part of a contingent of students and faculty, including Professor of Economics David Kennett, who visited the country to learn more about recent political events there. Six years earlier, the Sandinistas had ended 46 years of dictatorship by the Somoza family.

Hodgson said the trip was one of many experiences that enabled her to form close ties with Vassar faculty, and that she has kept in touch with Kennett and others ever since. “Vassar is that kind of place,” Hodgson said. “The professors here are focused on maximizing each student’s potential with a goal of preparing you to be the best citizen you can be.”

Michael Neuwirth ’89

Michael Neuwirth spent more than 30 years in corporate communications, chiefly advising in the food industry. He currently runs his own communications consulting firm, heads an angel investment group, and is involved in real estate management. One of his duties as a trustee will be serving on the board’s Investment Committee.

In addition to his new role, Neuwirth will continue to serve on the board of the Alumnae/i Association of Vassar College (AAVC), where he chairs the Alumnae House Committee and is President of the Class of 1989. He has also worked with the Admission Office, interviewing applicants to the College.

Neuwirth says his involvement in volunteer activities for Vassar stems from his gratitude for the education he received here. He majored in French and spent a semester studying in France (“The quality and depth of the French program blew me away,” he said). Still, he added that the non-academic aspects of the College were at least as important in his development.

“I played lacrosse for a couple of seasons and navigated a variety of social circles, and I found Vassar to be an extremely caring place,” he said. “My advisors extended themselves well beyond their professional duties because they cared. They helped me believe in myself. The liberal arts ethos really overdelivered on my expectations.”

Andrew Solum ’89

Andrew Solum’s career has often involved advising clients in the hospitality industry, so it’s appropriate that he owes his Vassar experience to a trip to the nearby Culinary Institute of America (CIA). He said his parents had urged him to consider applying to Vassar as he was approaching his senior year in high school, but he responded with a flat “No.”

A few weeks later, Solum recalled, the family booked reservations for lunch at the prestigious culinary school, located only a few miles north of Poughkeepsie. His father suggested a new route home that happened to lead through Vassar’s Main Gate. “My jaw hit the floor at Vassar’s beauty and positive energy,” Solum said. “In that instant, I knew I had found my educational and forever home.”

Solum described his Vassar experience as life-changing. “The students were fantastic, and the professors were amazing,” he said. “I met some truly inspirational people there.”

Solum lived in London for five years as a child and has lived there for most of his adult life, yet he has managed to stay close to Vassar. He has been an active member of the Vassar Club of the United Kingdom, and that experience led him to join the Alumnae/i Association of Vassar College (AAVC).

Solum says he looks forward to his new role as a trustee. “All of my volunteering for the College has been rewarding,” he said. “My message to younger Vassar grads is, ‘Please give back. It’s a very rich experience.’”

View a full roster of Vassar Trustees and their biographies.