Vanessa fondly remembers her Deerfield days, whether in the classroom, dorm, or on the Lower Level. Highlights of her time include serving as captain of the Varsity Soccer Team, playing on the Varsity Lacrosse Team, and mentoring the next generation of DA students as a proctor and as Head Peer Counselor. After Deerfield, Vanessa attended Harvard College. She played on the Varsity Lacrosse Team, serving as captain her senior year. She graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in Social Studies. She then attended UCLA Law School, where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the UCLA Law Review, followed by a Ninth Circuit clerkship for the Hon. Kim Wardlaw. After traveling the world for a year, Vanessa began her legal career in New York. Vanessa is now a litigation partner at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP. Her practice focuses on trial work in complex commercial matters. Vanessa lives in Tribeca, not far from her brother, Ben Lavely (Deerfield ’02), who calls Brooklyn home.
Brian graduated from Deerfield after a wonderful four-year experience. He spent his last year as a proctor in Hitchcock House with Chris Flagg ’83 and a motley crew of sophomores. He fondly remembers his life and times at the school. After DA, he attended Duke University where he majored in history and minored in zoology. Upon graduation, Brian returned to his native Texas for law school. Brian passed the bar in 1990 and has practiced civil litigation since that time. He is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He is a Member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He has tried cases in Texas, Louisiana and New Mexico in his thirty-year career. He has also been a frequent presenter at the Advanced Personal Injury Trial Law conferences as well as the Texas Trial Lawyers legal education seminars. He served as the Chair of the District 10 State Bar of Texas Grievance Committee. He served as the chair of the San Antonio Bar Association Medical-Legal Liaison Committee for three terms. He is a current Board member of the Texas Trial Lawyers Association as well as the San Antonio Trial Lawyers Association. He has served on the Board of Directors for Child Advocates of San Antonio as well as San Antonio Academy and the San Antonio Public Library Foundation. He currently serves on the Board of The San Antonio Zoological Society, Planned Parenthood of South Texas. He is on the Board of Directors of the San Antonio Report. He is the Chair of the Duke University Alumni Admissions Advisory Committee. Brian resides in San Antonio with his wife, Hannah, and their daughter, Grace.
Brigitte came to Deerfield as a new junior in the Fall of 1996. She is the Founder and Principal of Orange Vista LLC, a market research consultancy focused on the healthcare, education and social sectors. With over 18 years of professional experience, Brigitte began her career in the financial services industry and spent nearly a decade with various financial institutions in Chicago, New York, London, Johannesburg, and Nairobi.
Brigitte holds an AB in Anthropology from Princeton University and an MBA from Chicago Booth. In June 2020, she completed an MS in Biomedical Informatics from The University of Chicago. Brigitte currently serves as Secretary for the Scenemakers Board of the Goodman Theatre and a Vice-President of the Princeton Club of Chicago. She is also active as a mentor and sponsor of entrepreneurial activities with various business incubators.
Abby is a Harlem, NY native who made her way to Deerfield in the fall of 2009 after attending KIPP Academy in the South Bronx. Abby is absolutely grateful for her overall Deerfield experience, both on campus and abroad as she participated in School Year Abroad France her junior year. Upon graduating from the Academy, Abby went on to the University of Pennsylvania where she majored in Africana Studies while minoring in French and English and graduated in 2017.
Inspired by her Deerfield experience and the wonderful professors she had at Penn, Abby decided to begin her own journey as an independent school educator at Kent School as a teaching intern. Following her one year at Kent, Abby returned to Penn as a student in the Graduate School of Education’s Boarding School Teaching Residency through which she taught at Milton Academy in the Upper School English department. Abby now teaches at Greenwich Country Day School. Abby remains invested and involved in Deerfield as a class agent and is thrilled to be a member of the Executive Committee.
John is a member of Frank Boyden’s last graduation class as Headmaster. Most recently, he was Co-Chair of the class’s 50th Reunion, which was a rousing success, both in the number of returning alumni and funds raised as a Class Gift. John and his wife Brigita are also the parents of three Deerfield alumni, Erika ‘98, Marisa ‘01 and Alex ‘05. While at Deerfield, John played varsity baseball and football and was a proud denizen of Dean Hall and Plunkett Hall, both of which are mere memories now. After Deerfield, he attended Dartmouth, graduating with a degree in Government and moved on to Boston College Law School. After practicing trial law for four years, John was summoned to run a family company, which was sold in 2010. Over the years, John has been extensively involved in healthcare and education in Massachusetts, as a trustee of various institutions. He was appointed Trustee of Fitchburg State University by Governor William Weld and chaired the Academic Affairs Committee. John has chaired the boards of Leominster Hospital and New England HealthAlliance and currently serves on the board of UMass Community Hospitals. John loves all things Italian, especially vintage Alfa Romeos. He and his wife live in Princeton, Massachusetts, but can be found from time to time in Fort Lauderdale.
Rose graduated from Deerfield in 2013. At Deerfield, she fell in love with the humanities, which led her to endow the Fisher Chair, a teaching fellowship specifically within the discipline. Her fondest memories took place during Track and Cross Country practice, running through the beautiful Pocumtuck Valley, and in the quieter moments towards the end of feeds, when no one wanted to sleep and everyone wanted to laugh. After graduating from Deerfield, she earned a B.A. in History from Stanford and will be returning in the Fall of 2021 for her MBA. After a year-long stint traveling around the world (she’d love to discuss Silk Road architecture or silent meditations anytime), she moved back to her native San Francisco and joined Gap Inc.’s Rotational Management Program. She spent 2 years in Merchandising, overseeing Women’s Sweaters for Banana Republic. Rose is now a Project Manager at VMG Partners, a consumer-focused Private Equity and VC Fund based in San Francisco. In her free time, she enjoys everything related to food – eating, cooking, devouring cookbooks like books – running, and spending time with her three-month old nephew.
John is a native of Worcester, MA and spent three memorable years at Deerfield. After receiving the Deerfield Cup at graduation, he matriculated at Princeton University, majoring in Psychology. He was Manager of the Princeton Men’s Ice Hockey team for four years and earned the Vaughan Cup for dedication and perseverance. A “school man” at heart, John has worked at Salisbury School (CT), North Shore Country Day School (IL) and twice at Deerfield. Most recently he worked in the Deerfield Development Office from 2004-2014. Two uncles, two cousins and his brother have attended Deerfield and hail from the classes of ’54, ’58, ’81, ’87 and ’03. John now works supporting individuals in their philanthropy as Principal at Positive Charge LLC and lives in Denver with his wife and daughter.
Elisa is a Chicago native who made her way to Deerfield through the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund. Grateful for her time at Deerfield, Elisa fondly remembers Mac II, the Rhapso-Ds, Greer nights, and her friends. After Deerfield, Elisa attended Georgetown University where she majored in Government and minored in English and Spanish. While at Georgetown Elisa was a tutor and coordinator for the DC Reads program, focused on mentoring, tutoring, and advocacy for elementary school students in Washington D.C.’s wards 7 and 8. Elisa joined Goldman Sachs after graduating in 2014. Elisa is Vice President within Goldman Sachs’s Asset Management Division. In her role, Elisa manages a US based team focused on facilitating fund distribution and onboarding of fund investors. Prior to this role, she managed a trade support team and focused on process and organizational design. After many years on the East Coast, Deerfield and after, Elisa returned to Chicago in 2020 and lives in Pilsen. She is a member of the Associate Board of the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund, and sits on the Local School Council for Irma C. Ruiz Elementary, which she attended prior to Deerfield.
Meridith came to Deerfield Academy as a new junior and graduated in 2008. She was proud that both of her younger sisters (Margaret ’15 and Madeline ’13) attended Deerfield as well, and has fond memories of playing on the Varsity Golf Team, late nights as a proctor in McAlister, and the endless patience and dedication of Deerfield’s exemplary teachers. After Deerfield, Meridith followed her mother and grandfather to The University of Texas at Austin where she majored in the Plan II Honors program and English and was inducted into the Friar Society, the university’s oldest honorary organization for her academic work and contributions to the university. After college, Meridith received an M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and began her career at ABC News as a Frank Reynolds Fellow. While at ABC News, she covered Capitol Hill and the White House as a reporter and producer, traveled the world covering the Trump presidency, and was part of two Emmy award winning teams. In 2019, Meridith joined POLITICO as a White House reporter and broke stories on the White House and State Department. She is now a National Political Correspondent with POLITICO, and regularly appears on CNN, MSNBC, CBS News, and more to discuss her work. She currently lives in Washington, D.C. with her beloved basset hound, Daisy.
Janie came to Deerfield as a junior in the fall of 1989 when the school returned to coeducation. At Deerfield, Janie particularly enjoyed dormitory comradery, vibrant classroom dynamics, and friendships with people from around the world. She found Deerfield challenging, grueling even, and wonderful nonetheless. She went on to graduate from Dartmouth, and then to Yale University for a PhD in Biophysics (specializing in protein folding). Professionally, Janie thrives at the intersection of science and service, in roles helping other scientists implement new methods, most recently in drug discovery. She and her colleagues at Yale help making many different state of the art technologies available and easy for researchers to access and learn. She enjoys consulting for the National Institutes of Health about novel therapeutics for all sorts of brain disorders and diseases. She is married to Jonathan Grauer, a spine surgeon, and they have two daughters, Julia and Jemma, who keep them on their toes. They enjoy living in New Haven, and being part of a community of scholars and artists.
Emmie attended Deerfield for four years and graduated in 2010. She enjoyed playing Varsity Field Hockey, JV tennis, and was active in the Dance program. Emmie also served as a Peer Counselor and a Proctor on Mac I. Emmie graduated from The College of William & Mary in 2014 where she majored in Art & Art History and French. Emmie is currently the Communications Manager for a small contemporary dance company in New York City and also works as a freelance writer. She previously worked at New York City Ballet for four years as Assistant to the Executive Director. Emmie also serves on the William & Mary campaign committee and as a Deerfield class volunteer. In her free time, Emmie enjoys running, writing, dragging her husband to museums and, most of all, spending time with her sisters Molly Murphy ’15 and Eliza Chang ’06. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, CJ.
Jeffrey is finishing his final year at Dartmouth College and will be joining PJT Partners as an Investment Banking Analyst in 2021. At Deerfield, Jeffrey rowed, swam, and played water polo, winning a New England Championship in 2015 and achieving an All-American title in 2016. He joined former Deerfield Academy Director of Music Maaja Roos for a concert at the Lincoln Center in New York City. Jeffrey also served as Proctor at John Williams. He continues to represent Deerfield outside of the United States as a delegate at King’s Academy in Jordan and MC at a send-off dinner for Dr. Margarita Curtis in Hong Kong. After graduating from Deerfield, Jeffrey attended University of Virginia and transferred to Dartmouth College. At Dartmouth, Jeffrey serves as Captain of the Men’s Water Polo Team and Investment Committee Member of the Dartmouth Investment and Philanthropy Program. In his own time, Jeffrey enjoys DJing and traveling with his parents and sister, Rosa Sun ’21. Jeffrey is passionate about U.S.-China relations, Chinese market liberalization, and public education reform in China.
Peter is a co-founder and Managing Director at Copley Equity Partners, a private equity firm based in Boston. Peter spearheads the Copley’s investment strategy and serves on the Board of Directors for many of Copley’s investments. Peter is also a Co-founder and Partner at Fox Rock Capital, a single-family office and Copley’s affiliate company. Prior to Copley, Peter worked at Summit Partners, a global private equity and venture capital firm. Before Summit, Peter founded and served as the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Soldiers Legacy Fund, a charitable trust established for the children of fallen US Service members. Peter also played professional ice hockey for several teams throughout the United States. Peter received an MBA from Harvard Business School and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst with a BA in Political Science and a BA in Journalism. Peter sits on the Board of Directors for the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, The Commonwealth Honors College at UMass-Amherst, the Boston Cannons professional lacrosse team, and Major League Lacrosse (MLL). Peter resides in Boston with his wife Elizabeth and their two sons Sal and Theodore.
Executive
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Members
7 Boyden Lane, PO Box 87, Deerfield, MA 01342
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