Six Individuals Join Colby’s Board of Trustees
Innovative individuals to serve on the College’s governing board
Six industry-leading individuals have been elected to Colby’s Board of Trustees. Their expertise in entrepreneurship, bioscience, business, banking, and athletics will offer fresh perspectives to the College’s governing board.
They join Colby at a time of unprecedented growth. As a global leader in liberal arts education, Colby transforms lives with a culture of intellectual curiosity and inclusivity, arts and innovation, elevated academic programs, and much more.
Joining the board are Dean Athanasia, president of regional banking for Bank of America; Reagan Carey ’01, professional women’s ice hockey and sports consultant; David Leavy ’92, chief operating officer of CNN Worldwide; Jen Millard ’90, entrepreneur and fintech advisor; and Jeremy Springhorn ’84, chief executive officer at Nido Biosciences, Inc. Sunil Thakor ’99, a senior portfolio manager and research analyst at Sands Capital Management, is rejoining the board.
“This group of incredibly talented and accomplished individuals brings a range of expertise that will enrich the Colby College Board of Trustees and its important work governing the College,” said Colby President David A. Greene. “Colby is in the midst of remarkable progress, and their commitment to the College will help to ensure our ongoing success. I am grateful to them for serving in this capacity.”
Dean Athanasia is president of regional banking for Bank of America and oversees retail banking, preferred and business banking, and global commercial banking. He also leads data, digital, and global marketing for the company. Athanasia serves as chair of the board of Cradles to Crayons, a nonprofit that provides essential items for children living in homeless or low-income situations in Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago. He also serves on the board of the Noble & Greenough School in Dedham, Mass. At Colby, he is a member of the Parents Executive Committee. He holds a master’s in business administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and graduated from Yale University, where he majored in economics.
Reagan Carey ’01 is a 20-plus-year sports industry veteran who owns Caementum Consulting, LLC. She was instrumental in the historic launch of the Professional Women’s Ice Hockey League (PWHL) in 2023 and served as commissioner of the Premier Hockey Federation, the women’s professional hockey league. She also served as USA Hockey’s director of women’s ice hockey and as general manager of the U.S. National Women’s Team, helping Team USA win Olympic gold in 2018. Carey serves as a special advisor to the PWHL board of directors and on the Maine Sports Commission’s Girls and Women in Sports Committee. She majored in sociology at Colby and was captain of the ice hockey and volleyball teams. She received Colby’s Carl Nelson Sports Achievement Award in 2010.
David Leavy ’92 is chief operating officer of CNN Worldwide, overseeing commercial, operational, technology, and promotional activities. A 23-year veteran of Discovery Inc. and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), he was previously chief corporate affairs officer for WBD, managing corporate relations, global government relations and public policy, corporate marketing and events, global communications, corporate research, and social responsibility. Before that, Leavy served as chief corporate operations officer of Discovery Inc., where he was instrumental in many of the company’s most significant strategic initiatives. Leavy sits on the boards of the Motion Picture Association and the National Democratic Institute. He majored in government at Colby and graduated from the Salisbury School, where he now serves as co-chair of its board of trustees.
Jen Millard ’90 leads the Digital and Technology Consulting Practice at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP and is a founder of MaineLove LLC, an emerging consumer products company. As a consultant, she has worked with many strategy clients as a director at McMillanDoolittle LLP. She also serves as an advisor and board member to multiple fintech companies focused on and around consumer offers, loyalty, and rewards. She has served as committee chair on Colby’s Alumni Council for the new DavisConnects Employment Engagement Center and assists the Halloran Lab for Entrepreneurship with programming, speakers, and student engagement. A 12th-generation Mainer and the first generation of her family to go to college, she was an American studies major at Colby.
Jeremy Springhorn ’84 is chief executive officer at Nido Biosciences, Inc., which seeks to develop therapies for rare neurological disorders. He has led scientific, business development, and corporate strategy organizations, including Flagship Pioneering, Syros Pharmaceuticals, and Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he spent more than 20 years and was one of the original inventors of the drug Soliris. He serves on the corporate or advisory boards of uniQure NV, NMD Pharma AS, and Mythic Therapeutics. He was on the Board of Visitors at Colby and served on the Biology Visiting Committee. Springhorn majored in chemistry-biochemistry at Colby and then earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the Louisiana State University Medical Center in New Orleans.
Sunil Thakor ’99 is senior portfolio manager and research analyst at Sands Capital Management. Based in Arlington, Va., Thakor co-manages Sands Capital’s Global Leaders and International Growth Equity Strategies. He has co-developed each of the firm’s global and international equity strategies, which today manage assets for a variety of corporate, nonprofit, sovereign, and other institutional clients. Thakor spent five years as an analyst at Charles River Associates (today called CRA International), an economic and litigation consulting firm. He previously served on Colby’s Board of Trustees from 2016 to 2022. Thakor studied economics and mathematics at Colby, holds an M.B.A. from Columbia University, and is a CFA charterholder
