Hoya Gateway Leadership

The Hoya Gateway Program’s alumni leadership supports the mission of the Hoya Gateway Program, which facilitates career-related conversations, interactions, and collaborations between University students and alumni. The HGP leadership consists of committed, experienced, and diverse alumni volunteers who collaborate alongside the GUAA professional team to shape HGP programmatic strategy for the future.

The Hoya Gateway Executive Committee, the governing body of the Hoya Gateway Program, includes: the HGP Chair; no less than six Vice Chairs; the immediate Past-Chair; the Georgetown University Alumni Association’s (GUAA) Board of Governors Career Services Committee Liaison; and other Georgetown community members.

Jacques Arsenault (C’01, G’07) is founder and coach at Post-Grad Compass, where he helps 20-somethings–and beyond–navigate post-college life in the areas of career, adulting, and meaning-making. He is a Gallup-certified Strengths Coach. In his day job, Arsenault serves as deputy managing director and chief of staff in the Office of Public Affairs at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, and he is an adjunct instructor in Georgetown’s School of Continuing Studies, teaching courses in social media marketing. He lives on Georgetown’s Hilltop campus in a faculty-in-residence apartment in McCarthy Hall with his wife, Elizabeth Grimm (a professor in the School of Foreign Service), their three kids, and their three-legged dog, Crouton.

Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick (C’08) is a writer and culture analyst based in Barcelona, Spain. With a career in television production for networks like NBC and Nickelodeon, and in social media marketing for brands like YouTube and Amazon, Fitzpatrick now runs the newsletter, The Trend Report, about online and offline culture, which offers insights of topical interest, creative inspiration, and a means to help you log off and live life on a weekly basis. Fitzpatrick transferred to Georgetown to study Theater and Performance Studies and English, the latter degree he uses everyday while the he uses the former in his fiction writing, event hosting—and to make TikToks.

Ariana Lily Nikmanesh (MSFS’22) is the co-creator of the Center for Asian-Pacific American Women’s Mentorship Program. Previously, Nikmanesh served as a senior policy analyst for Salesforce’s Office of Ethical and Humane Use, where she specialized in international human rights due diligence. She is the co-creator of Salesforce’s inaugural Artificial Intelligence Acceptable Use Policy, where she wrote and implemented company-wide ethical use policies designed to ensure the ethical use of Salesforce AI applications worldwide. Additionally, she is a founding member of the National Millennial and Gen Z Community and has advised Fortune 500 companies on how to effectively market to millennials and Gen Z. Nikmanesh holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service degree from the Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service with a concentration in Global Politics and Security. She has also earned graduate certificates in Gender, Peace, and Security from the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security and in Diplomatic Studies from the Georgetown Institute for the Study of Diplomacy.

Rishi Varma (C’94, L’97) serves as Cargill’s executive vice president, chief legal and compliance officer, and corporate secretary. In this role, he also serves as general counsel. At a global level, he oversees corporate governance, ethics & compliance, security, government relations, commercial law, intellectual property, labor and employment, and shareholder relations. Varma serves on the board of the Tahirih Justice Center and serves on the board of the Texas Asia Society, as well as the Memorial Hermann Hospital System Board, the Equal Justice Works Board of Counselors, and the Georgetown University Law Center Advisory Board. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center and graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science.

Sean Conaton (C’95, Parent’29) is founder and principal consultant at Strategy Compass, a management consultancy based in Alexandria, Virginia. He oversees growth strategy and service delivery for the firm, supporting clients in the professional services, higher education, and nonprofit sectors. Through Strategy Compass, Conaton serves as an interim executive for select clients. He has previously served as interim chief executive officer for CFA Society New York and as interim chief operating officer for the American Society for Microbiology. Conaton currently serves as interim executive vice president for Strategic Leadership with the American Geophysical Union, where he oversees AGU’s science policy and government relations, membership, strategic communications and marketing, and revenue generating functions. Conaton earned his Bachelor of Arts in English from Georgetown University, and served as a member of the Hoya Gateway Advisory Committee from 2023 – 2025.

Joanna Graham (C’02) is a marketing executive with deep expertise in product marketing, product development and nonprofit management. With over 20 years of experience in higher education and edtech, she now runs her own consulting business supporting both universities and families looking for support in the admissions process. A proud first-generation college graduate and military spouse, she’s been named a Washington Business Journal “40 Under 40” recipient. She lives in Northern Virginia with her Hoya husband and future Hoya son, and can often be found running before the sun comes up (she’s completed over 40 marathons and ultramarathons as well as two Ironman triathlons).

Christine Kirchner (C’16) serves as assistant general counsel for Business Development & Marketing at Elanco, where she focuses on complex cross-border transactions, marketing law, and sanctions compliance. Her legal career has focused heavily on agribusiness in the United States, Australia, and Europe. A proud Hoya and Georgetown Scholars Program (GSP) alumna, she received her A.B. in Government at Georgetown and her J.D. from The George Washington University Law School. She also serves as the Mid-Atlantic regional coordinator for GSP and volunteers with GSP, the Alumni Admissions Program, and the Junior League of Washington. Originally from a farm in southern Minnesota, she currently lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her dog Nugget.

Curtis Romig (C’94) leads the litigation team in Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP’s historic Atlanta office, where his practice focuses on resolving construction, real estate, and energy disputes for clients through negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and litigation in federal and state courts. Romig has been a master in the Bleckley Inn of Court for over a decade, and serves on the Advisory Committee of the Pro Bono Partnership of Atlanta, which provides legal services to over 900 Georgia nonprofits. He is a member of the Class of 1994 and an active Georgetown alumni volunteer since 2005. He has served as president of the Atlanta Club for five years, been a member of the GUAA Board of Governors for nine years (including service as the GUAA parliamentarian and the Alumni Club Committee chair), and has been a member of the Hoya Gateway Executive Committee for nine years, (seven of which he served as Hoya Gateway chair).

The Advisory Committee is made up of 15 alumni who collaborate with the Vice Chairs to support Hoya Gateway initiatives and extend its strategic priorities.

Keith Dent (B’89)
West Orange, NJ

Michael Boswell (SFS’06)
Chicago, Illinois

Michael McGrail (G’17)
Barcelona, Spain

Randy Rivera (C’02)
Chicago, Illinois

Vineet Shahani (L’05)
San Mateo, California

Annie Hopkins (SFS’03)
Brooklyn, New York

Shannon Connelly (C’99)
Havertown, Pennsylvania

Anu Osibajo (C’20)
Los Angeles, California

Kean Villarta (G’18)
Dallas, Texas

Henry Gunderson (SFS’20)
Washington, DC

Tom Fisher (C’90)
Stonington, Connecticut

Justin Holman (B’02, L’08)
Washington, DC

Brewster Crosby (MBA’02)
Portland, Oregon

Mary Quinn (C’81)
Arlington, Virginia

Scott Brener (C’87)
Edina, Minnesota