Mei-Wei ’72 and Amy Cheng Distinguished Lecture Series

2026

• Anthony Sun ’93, Electrical Engineering

  Essex Group

  Anthony Sun is currently the founder of Essex Group and is passionate about being a professional entrepreneur and student. Previously, he was co-founder and CEO of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals (ZNTL) and Zentera Therapeutics. Prior to that, he spent 13 years on the investment side of the business, first at Perseus-Soros BioPharmaceutical Fund and then at Aisling Capital, where he served as Partner.

  Anthony received his M.D. from Temple University School of Medicine with A.O.A. honors and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He received his MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University. At Cornell, he was a member of the illustrious Founders Hall Intramural Championship Team.

  Anthony can be found in NYC and wishes he owned a dog.

2025

• Jason S. Erdell ’95, Operations Research and Industrial Engineering

  MDpanel
  Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management

  Jason Erdell is an accomplished technology and innovation leader who has dedicated his career to modernizing healthcare administration. His career evolved from a focus on publicly traded companies to support predominantly PE-backed healthcare companies capable of making longer-term investments, including those owned by Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, TowerBrook Capital Partners, EQT Holdings, and Aquiline Capital Partners.

  Jason currently serves as Chairman and CEO of MDpanel, a newly created marketplace facilitating the delivery of physician medical opinions to those in need. MDpanel is transforming a laggard, services-based industry through AI/ML and other data science approaches into modern standards. Jason recently deployed similar approaches as CEO at Aspirion, a leader in complex reimbursement services for the largest US health systems.

  Jason holds a B.S. in operations research and industrial engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He has spent his entire professional career in Silicon Valley, yet commonly engages with companies located broadly across the US and beyond.

• Leane M. Sinicki ’85, Mechanical Engineering

  Group President, Precision Motion

  Leane Sinicki built an accomplished 35-year career with Corning Incorporated, Rogers Corporation, and Novanta Corporation, achieving increasing levels of responsibility across a variety of functions, including Applications Engineering, Manufacturing Management, Strategic Marketing, Product Management, and General Management. Her strong drive to create value-added business strategies, build and develop diverse teams, and execute with excellence was core to her success.

  As Novanta Group President, Precision Motion, Leane led the transformation of an outdated $30M business through significant change management and acquisition cultivation, creating a $300M engineered solutions platform serving the high-growth surgical robotics, automation warehousing, and semiconductor lithography markets. The global team grew to 500 people across the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Japan, and China with the completion of five acquisitions.

  Leane attended Cornell University, earning a B.S. in mechanical engineering, and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. Leane is also an inductee of the Cornell Athletics Hall of Fame, class of ’97, for field hockey and lacrosse.

• Charles F. Calitri ’81, Chemical Engineering

  Kyowa Kirin, Inc.- U.S.

  Charles (Chaz) Calitri is a seasoned engineering and operations executive whose career in the BioPharma industry spans nearly two decades and includes leadership roles at some of the world’s most recognized pharmaceutical organizations. In 2020, during the global pandemic, Chaz led Pfizer’s Kalamazoo, Michigan, manufacturing site, where he played a pivotal role in enabling, scaling, and launching Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, the first authorized treatment for COVID-19 in the world. Over his tenure at Pfizer, Chaz held several senior leadership positions, including Vice President of Operations for the US and EU sterile injectables network and Vice President of Global Engineering. His earlier roles spanned Production Operations, Capital Projects Management, Facilities Management, and Site Engineering.

  Chaz currently serves as Vice President of Operations for Kyowa Kirin North America, a global specialty Biopharmaceuticals company headquartered in Japan. He leads the team responsible for designing, constructing, and starting up a Drug Substance Biologics manufacturing plant in Sanford, North Carolina – a critical new site that will accelerate new therapies for patients with rare diseases.

• Patrick T. Nichols ’97, Computer Science

  Vista Equity Partners

  Patrick Nichols is a seasoned technology executive and investor currently serving as Managing Director at Vista Equity Partners, where he leverages a deep background in technology and executive leadership to drive strategic growth. He is also a member of the boards of Model N, Finastra, and SalesLoft.

  Before Vista, Patrick was CEO of Quest Software and One Identity, leading IT management and cybersecurity companies with thousands of employees serving 130,000 organizations worldwide, including 95% of the Fortune 500. He continues to serve as a board advisor for those companies. His extensive leadership experience includes nearly a decade at Corel Corporation (serving as CEO) and senior roles at Trilogy/Versata, where he oversaw multiple business units. Patrick has also served on the boards of Cornerstone OnDemand, Vector Capital Management SPAC II and SPAC III, Accolite, and CloudSense, contributing to the strategic direction of high-performing technology businesses.

  Committed to community engagement, he previously served on St. Andrew’s Episcopal School Endowment Committee, Hand-To-Hold, and various other non-profit boards.

2024

• Dr. Howard M. Singer MS ’77, PhD ’79 (Operations Research)

  NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development

  Dr. Howard (Howie) Singer is a leading expert on the implications of new technology in the music industry. During his 15 years at Warner Music Group (WMG), he served as SVP and Chief Strategic Technologist, analyzing services and companies that could enhance or disrupt WMG’s businesses. He now consults for the Recording Industry Association of America, Beatdapp, and others, advising on products, services, and technologies related to artificial intelligence, content authenticity, and streaming data analysis.

  Howie played a leading role in the transition to digital music delivery and, in 1996, he co-founded a2b music, a pioneering distribution service using AT&T technologies. Over his 20-year career at Bell Labs, he led teams developing retail and call-center management software, speakerphones, cellular phones, and videophones.

  Howie holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. in operations research from Cornell and a B.S. in computer science from Stony Brook University. He has been teaching in NYU’s Music Business program since 2018 and co-authored Key Changes: The 10 Times Technology Transformed the Music Industry (Oxford University Press, 2023).

• Robert D. Boehringer ’81, Mechanical Engineering

  Orion Development Group

  Robert (Bob) Boehringer is Co-Founder and Vice President of Process Management Services for Orion Development Group in Rockaway Park, New York. Bob has over 40 years of experience in manufacturing, project management, consulting, and training, including work with DuPont, Shell Oil, Procter & Gamble, and PepsiCo.  Bob has led over 1,000 seminars, training 40,000+ people for 500+ organizations, public and private, throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.  Bob has taught courses in Total Quality Management, Statistical Process Control, Supplier Certification, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis, Team-Based Problem Solving, and Facilitator Skill Development.  His current efforts focus primarily on Process Management, and he teaches Process Mapping, Measuring and Improving Processes, and Maximizing Process Performance.  He is the author of The Process Management Memory Jogger (Goal/QPC).

2022

• Brett G. Wood ’85, Mechanical Engineering

  Toyota Material Handling North America; Toyota Industries Corporation

  Brett Wood is President & CEO of Toyota Material Handling North America (TMHNA), and Senior Executive Officer of TMHNA’s parent company, Toyota Industries Corporation (TICO), a global company of more than 70,000 employees. In addition to these roles, Wood serves as a board member for TMH, The Raymond Corporation, and Bastian Solutions, a Toyota-owned subsidiary specializing in advanced logistics, robotics, and automation.

  Wood’s previous positions included president of Toyota Material Handling U.S.A., Inc., and vice president of marketing, product, strategic planning, and training operations, as well as dealer development. He has worked in the material handling industry since 1989.

  Prior to joining Toyota, Wood held engineering positions with IBM Corp. and Northrop Aerospace, where he earned the prestigious recognition of “Engineer of the Year.” He has served on the Cornell Duffield Engineering College Council Advisory Board since 2022, and has been the keynote speaker at several universities, including Clemson University, Purdue University, Indiana University, Cornell University, and Miami University of Ohio.

   

2021

• Anne Chow ’88, Electrical Engineering, MEng ’89, MBA, ’90

  Transformative Executive & Servant Leader

  Anne Chow made history as AT&T’s first woman of color CEO, leading AT&T Business, a $35B global organization of 35,000 employees. She currently serves as Lead Director on the FranklinCovey Board and sits on the Boards of 3M and CSX. In addition, she is a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor of Executive Education at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

  Renowned for her inclusive leadership and ability to drive meaningful transformation at the intersection of people, culture, and technology, Anne has earned some of the most prestigious business recognitions, including being named to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Business twice, Forbes inaugural CEO Next list, and Light Reading’s Most Inspiring Woman in Communications. Her recent accolades include Cornell SC Johnson College of Business’ L. Joseph Thomas Leadership Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Lifetime Achievement Award for Women in Business from the Dallas Business Journal, and induction into the Dallas Business Hall of Fame, the first Asian American to be inducted since its inception in 1999.

  Now, in what she calls “rewirement,” Anne focuses on inspiring leaders and teams as The Rewired CEO.