Marc was elected by the International House Board of Directors at their final meeting of the academic
year on May 14, 2024, to serve as the Vice Chair of the Board. Mr. Fisher will be taking his seat as the
Vice Chair effective July 1.
A graduate of West Virginia University in landscape architecture as well as the University of
Pennsylvania’s architecture program, Marc has spent much of his professional life on the West Coast
and within the University of California system. He began working with UCLA as a consultant in 1987, and
served as director of design and campus architect there from 1995 to 2002, leading the design direction
for a $2 billion capital program that included projects such as the California NanoSystems Institute,
Broad Art Center, and Kaufman Hall. Marc then spent 15 years at UC Santa Barbara, where he
reorganized the administrative services division, introduced and rolled out a host of new technology
services for the division and the campus, led the creation of UCSB’s long-range development plan,
established its first sustainability plan and more. In September 2017, he joined UC Berkeley to become
Vice Chancellor of Administration.
Will is a Global Investment Strategist in the Multi-Asset Solutions Team at Newton Investment Management; he joined the firm in February 2022. Previously, Will was a key member of the investment team at Mellon Investments, where he oversaw $25B of assets in equity and fixed income systematic and multi-factor strategies.
As a global investment strategist and a member of the Investment Committee at Mellon Capital, Will’s expertise spanned equities, fixed income, and multi-asset strategies and his areas of focus included asset allocation, liquid alternatives, factor investing, ESG and climate-oriented strategies. Will also served on Mellon Capital’s Senior Management Committee.
Prior to Mellon, Will served in various roles at Commonfund, a manager of endowment and foundation assets; at AXA Investment Managers, a global equity manager; and at Morgan Stanley in London. Will started his career in finance at Royal Dutch Shell, where he qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant.
Will graduated from the University of Cambridge with an MA in Classics. He earned an MSc in Management, as a Sloan Fellow, at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He holds the CAIA (Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst) designation and is also an Associate (inactive) of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) in the UK.
Will lives in Oakland, California, with his wife, two sons, two dogs and two tortoises.
Jawahar was approved by the International House Board of Directors on May 14, 2024 to return and serve as a Director after being off the Board for a year. He will also be taking the role of House Committee Chair upon his return on July 1.
Mr. Gidwani is the founding Chairman and CEO of QuSwami, Inc. where he has co-invented and patented a completely new nano-dimensioned clean energy conversion technology. He has twenty-five (25) issued/allowed patents in the United States. Fifteen (15) international patents have also been issued. He holds a Masters in Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and is an alumnus of International House where he met his wife Catherina.
Laura Hassner is passionate about helping others develop a greater sense of agency over their own lives. She is UC Berkeley’s Executive Director of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, the university’s overarching ecosystem for connecting students, alumni, and faculty with the resources needed for their ideas to succeed, and the leader and co-founder of the Berkeley Changemaker® program, a campus-wide certificate program that includes over 30 courses emphasizing critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. She is also a member of the Professional Faculty at the Berkeley Haas School of Business, where she teaches undergraduates and working professionals. She holds a BA with honors from Stanford University and an MBA with honors from Berkeley Haas. She is a recipient of the Chancellor’s Outstanding Staff Award.
Tad Allan is Of Counsel in O’Melveny & Myer’s Los Angeles office, having recently retired as a partner after more than 40 years with the firm. His practice focused on automobile and aviation industry litigation, and he also played a leading role in many of the firm’s large, highly visible trials.
In the automotive industry, Tad has extensive expertise in automotive dealer litigation, including dealer terminations and dealer network issues, as well as class actions and general commercial litigation. Tad prevailed in more than a dozen trials for his automobile manufacturer clients, which included American Honda Motor Company, General Motors, and Ford Motor Co.
Tad also represented major airlines and aviation manufacturers in air crash cases, commercial litigation and in regulatory issues, such as FAA safety investigations. Among the airline and aviation industry companies Tad has represented are United Airlines, U.S. Airways, Alaska Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Flying Tigers Airlines, Atlantic Aviation, Lockheed, and Sikorsky.
Tad serves on the California Civility Task Force, a statewide group of judges and trial lawyers working to improve civility in California courts. From 2011-13 Tad was a member of the California State Bar’s Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation, which evaluated and rated every potential nominee by the Governor for any California State Court position.
In the non-profit sector, Tad recently served on the Board of Directors of the Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness. He is also a Past President of the Bel Air Bay Club, and currently serves on the Club’s Coastal Governance Committee, working on issues related to the California Coastal Commission and California State Lands Commission.
Tad received a B.A. degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1976, and a J.D. from the George Washington University in 1981. Tad met his wife, Diana, at the International House, where they were both residents from 1974-76. Tad and Diana have three adult children, all married, and five grandchildren.