Faculty Type: Advisory Board

Kirsten Villers (T’01) spent her early career working in investment and commercial banking at J. P. Morgan and its legacy organizations. During her time at JPM, she worked for the CFO of Chase Commercial Banking, assisting in all aspects of supporting a $6 billion dollar business. Subsequently, Ms. Villers worked at Chase Capital, focusing on providing subordinated debt and equity capital to Chase customers. She has also served as the CFO for a digital media start up called Rouge Paper. Kirsten earned a A.B. in Political Science from Duke, followed by her M.B.A. from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, with concentrations in Finance and Not-for-Profit Administration. She lives in Chicago with her husband, Ned, and their three children.

Sonali Mehta (T’20) is one of two young alumni on the board and a J.D. candidate at Harvard Law School. She is working as a Legal Intern for the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Appellate Section. Prior to her work at the Justice Department, Sonali worked as a Legal Extern for Project Democracy in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a Legal Intern for the ACLU Women’s Rights Project, and a Pre-Law Fellow in the Office of the Solicitor General of Virginia. Sonali graduated from Duke with degrees in Public Policy and Human Rights in 2020. Her thesis “Disclosure of Sexual Violence Since #MeToo, A Comparative Study of University Students in Chile, Nepal, and Jordan,” was awarded Highest Distinction by the Sanford School of Public Policy.

Ellen Kollar (T’89, P’21, P’25) has served as general counsel for the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company and for Mars, Inc., North America, and has also been in private practice at McDermott, Will & Emery in Chicago. She is a founding member of East Beach, LLC, a private investment company, and also of Towpath Productions, which produced an award-winning independent film, AKRON, in 2015. She served on the DukeEngage National Advisory Board and is an active member of the advisory board of the Gene Siskel Film Center, a public program of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She received her J.D. from New York University School of Law and an A.B. in Economics and History from Duke. She lives in Kenilworth, Illinois, with her husband Tim. They have three sons: Louis (E’21), Timmy, and Francis William (T’25).

Janice A Gault (T’87, MD’91, P’24) is an Associate Surgeon for Wills Eye Ophthalmology Clinic, Wills Eye Hospital, and is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia. She teaches and has a clinical practice. She earned her bachelor’s and M.D. degrees from Duke. She has served on the Duke Annual Fund Advisory Board and the DukeEngage National Advisory Board and received the Duke Alumni Association award for Outstanding Volunteer Service. Her husband, James Vander, is a retina surgeon at Mid-Atlantic Retina at Wills Eye Hospital. They have three children: Caroline (T’24), William, and Eli.

Doug M. Fuchs (T’89, P’25, P’27) is a partner in Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher’s Los Angeles office and is the co-chair of the firm’s Los Angeles Litigation Department. He has a special expertise in representing corporations and individuals in white collar criminal, SEC, and other regulatory enforcement matters, including cases involving allegations of securities fraud, environmental violations, public corruption, antitrust violations, economic espionage, and government contracting fraud. Doug lives in Pacific Palisades, California, with his wife, Caroline Wittcoff. They have three children, Jackson (T’25), Lauren (T’27), and Ryan.

Andrew Carlins (T’20, MMS’21) is one of two young alumni on the board. He has worked in management consulting at Bain and Company since November 2021. Currently, he is wrapping up an externship at Accion Venture Lab (AVL), working across AVL’s investment and portfolio management teams. He is the founder of Empowering Education, Inc., a nonprofit that focuses on educational and economic empowerment for lower-income, first-generation students in public schools. For fun he enjoys reading and writing—his favorite book is The Little Prince. Carlins lives in Oceanside, New York.