Board of Directors
Nancy Conrad
Founding chairman
A former teacher, Nancy has become a recognized leader in transformative education and named one of the top 100 leaders in STEM education, serving as a featured speaker at national and international conferences. Her presentations include TED, MIT, and, the Global Competitiveness Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She also presented at the Global Diversity Leadership Conference at Harvard University and the National Modeling and Simulation Coalition conference in Washington, D.C. Nancy has also testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology detailing how the Conrad Foundation exemplifies the use of partnership to improve STEM education. She is the wife of late astronaut Pete Conrad, who during the Apollo 12 mission became the third man to walk on the Moon
Nick Costides
President of the Board
Rising through the ranks over a tenured career that spanned continents and lines of business to become UPS President of Information Technology, Nick is globally recognized for leading the development of multiple technology innovations that have disrupted and transformed the supply chain logistics and transportation industry.
Nick is a member of the Board of Directors for First Student, North America’s largest student transportation company and the Board of Directors for Motion2AI, a global supply chain IOT and AI platform company. Nick previously served on the Board of Directors for Ware2Go, a leader in digital ecommerce.
In addition to serving The Conrad Foundation, Nick serves on the executive committee of the Board of Directors for Points of Light. He has previously served as Non-Executive Chairman for ToolBank USA, as Non-Executive Chairman for Hands on Atlanta, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Kentucky Humane Society, on the Board of Trustees of the Louisville Zoo Foundation, and as an advisor to United Way Worldwide.
Andy Steinem
Treasurer of the Board
Andy is CEO of Dahl-Morrow International with 26+ years of achievement in business growth and executive leadership within Human Capital Services. She has built a leading Executive Search firm that serves global clients across technology and professional services industries, both domestically and internationally. With offices in the Washington, DC area and London, Ms. Steinem has extensive experience working collaboratively as a strategic partner to her repeat clients to strengthen their executive teams. She has additional experience in diversity consulting, interim management, mergers and acquisitions and consulting. She has built international teams for clients in EMEA, Asia, and Latin America and brings additional value with her expertise and experience in working and understanding multicultural teams, the benefits and the challenges. Andy has been a guest speaker at esteemed academic institutions, including Harvard University and the Saïd Business School at Oxford University in Oxford, England. She has served as President of the Society of Satellite Professionals International Mid Atlantic Chapter and as a Board Member of the British American Business Association. Currently she serves as the Board Chair of District Bridges, a 501c (3) and as an Advisor on the Washington Cyber Roundtable. Andy is an alumnus of Hampshire College in Amherst, MA.
Laura Peter
Secretary
Laura Peter is recognized by World IP Review as one of the most “Influential Women in IP,” Ms. Peter has practiced intellectual property law for over 25 years in leadership roles in the high technology industry. Laura is an intellectual property expert, and served as the Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Deputy Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). She was the principal advisor to the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, and responsible for all agency operations. This includes oversight for the four USPTO Regional Offices, managing 13,000 employees, and executing the policies, priorities and programs for an annual budget of $3.5 billion. She is an enthusiastic advocate and frequent speaker within IP Community on STEM, innovation diversity and intellectual property issues.
Laura received a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering from Cornell University and a master's in public policy from the University of Chicago. She also holds a Juris Doctor from Santa Clara University School of Law and a Master of Law degree in international business law from King's College, University of London.
Craig Gelfound
Craig is a partner and head of Arent Fox's Intellectual Property Group in Los Angeles, where he leads more than 30 intellectual property attorneys and legal professionals. Under Craig's leadership, the Intellectual Property Group was ranked nationally by Chambers USA in 2013 and recognized as the best in the country for client service. Additionally, Craig has been recognized by the Daily Journal as one of the Top 25 Intellectual Property attorneys in California. Craig has also been recognized as an Intellectual Property "Super Lawyer" by California Super Lawyer Magazine and selected to appear in the second edition of IP Stars from Managing IP (MIP) Magazine.
Simon Glinsky
Simon founded The Glinsky Group in 1990 to transform business performance through leadership development and business strategy management consulting. As an Internet entrepreneur, he co-founded several companies and programs including Match.com, distance-learning services, a healthcare institute, Embark/Princeton Review and Clean Power Finance and was previously with McKinsey & Co., IBM and Wharton. Simon hails from a Cuban-American family and has been an active educator, training the world’s leading MBAs in the Interpersonal Dynamics Program at Stanford Business School as a Senior Facilitator. His avocations include playing the violin and serving as a classical radio program guest host. Glinsky graduated Magna cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School as a Benjamin Franklin Scholar, attended The University of Edinburgh and earned a Stanford University MBA.
Akhil Jariwala
Akhil is a veteran product leader in climate software and data management. Previously, he was a product manager at Persefoni, where he led efforts to help enterprises automate data collection for the calculation of their carbon footprints. As a former Google Cloud product manager, he specialized in designing enterprise software products for scale. In the first part of his career, Akhil developed electric vehicle charging products at ChargePoint and PlugShare, including roaming in the North American electric vehicle charging ecosystem. Akhil is on the Board of the Conrad Challenge and mentors aspiring high school entrepreneurs. Akhil received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and he’s an alumnus of the UNC Morehead-Cain Class of 2014. Akhil is a proud alumnus of the Conrad Challenge in 2010.
Andrea Lee-Zucker
Andrea is a writer, activist, impact investor and the Washington, D.C. City Ambassador of NEXUS, a movement uniting young philanthropists and social entrepreneurs to scale positive solutions to global challenges. A native of Charleston, South Carolina, she was shaped by early experiences in community activism through her parents' leadership, as well as her involvement in Youth Service Charleston, Operation Understanding and The Coastal Community Foundation. Andrea is a member of the leadership council of South Carolina’s Women's Rights & Empowerment Network (WREN) and serves as an advisor of Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE). She also works with her family’s company, The InterTech Group, Inc., which invests in a diverse, global group of businesses while retaining its core values of innovating, finding synergies and being global citizens making a positive difference in this world. Andrea is the proud mother of three children and the wife of a tech entrepreneur who is helping her discover the potential of our exponential future.
Regina B. Schofield
Regina’s professional career has included key roles in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. She is currently the Director of Corporate Engagement and Education Outreach for Battelle, where she advances innovative efforts to create tomorrow’s workforce by leading STEM education outreach and directing all regional philanthropy engagements. She was previously nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as Assistant Attorney General (AAG) for the Office of Justice Programs at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she served as the nation’s AMBER Alert Coordinator and oversaw a range of federal programs. Regina is also a recent recipient of the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award and currently serves on the boards of the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, Children’s Science Center, the National Law Enforcement Museum Leadership Council, the National Center for the Prevention of Community Violence (aka Solve Violence) and is a corporate officer of the Battelle Education board. She received her M.B.A. from Jackson State University and her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Mississippi College. In 2014, she was honored to receive the Alumni of the Year award from Mississippi College’s School of Business.