Who We Are

Sarah M. Abrams is an attorney and Executive Vice President at RTProExec – The OakBridge Team, a division of RT Specialty. RTProExec – The OakBridge Team is an insurance intermediary focused exclusively on management liability risks, including directors and officers (D&O), employment practices (EPL), errors and omissions (E&O), and cyber liability. Before joining RTProExec, Sarah held senior leadership roles in professional and management liability claims, overseeing complex coverage and litigation matters. She is an active writer and speaker on corporate governance, securities litigation, and emerging risks in management liability insurance, and serves as a co-author of The D&O Diary and an expert contributor for Law360. Sarah regularly participates as a panelist, moderator, and guest lecturer for industry organizations and universities. Sarah lives in Glencoe, Illinois with her husband Howard and their three children. In her personal time, she enjoys swimming, biking and running (sometimes together in triathlon competitions) and traveling with her family.

Steven R. Armstrong is the incoming president of the William R. Kenan, Jr. Funds as well as the president of Kenan Management, Inc. (KMI). As president of KMI, Steven serves in various roles in leading the single-family office for the Frank H. Kenan family. Steven is also a Director on the Flagler System Board in Florida. Prior to joining KMI, Steven practiced as a Certified Public Accountant with Arthur Andersen and Deloitte. In that role, Steve led the private client practices for those firms in central and eastern North Carolina as well as serve in Deloitte’s National Center of Excellence in Cincinnati. Steven received a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from North Carolina State University in 1989 and holds the Certified Financial Planner designation. Steven resides in Cary, North Carolina.

John Bussel (T’91, P’25) is Chief Investment Officer and a principal of Team Hewins, LLC, an independent advisory firm located in South Florida and Northern California. John has spent over thirty years in the investment advisory business starting with Fiduciary Trust International, Prudential Securities, and his own practice before joining Team Hewins in 2004.

 John has been connected to several non-profit boards and currently serves as a board member of Barry University in Miami Shores, FL, The Loomis Chaffee School (Windsor, CT), Greater Miami Jewish Federation, Jewish Community Services of South Florida, and the Board of Governors of the American Jewish Committee. He is also Vice President of The Shepard Broad Foundation, a Miami based private family foundation.

John graduated with an A.B. from Duke in 1991 in history and Spanish and is currently a Duke parent. He lives in Bay Harbor Islands, Florida with his wife Laura and three children Miriam (T'25), Adriana, and Samuel.

Catherine Forster Connolly (P’23) is the owner and CEO of Merida,—an American textile design house based in Fall River, MA. Catherine has been the CEO of Merida for 15 years and purchased the company seven years ago. During her tenure, Catherine has led the transformation of the company from an importer of high-end sisal to a design-driven textile company reimagining textile manufacturing in the United States. Prior to Merida, Catherine ran a market research company, Pyramid Research, in the high-tech space for 6 years and worked as head of Research and as an analyst for six years prior to taking over the company’s leadership. Catherine got her MA in International Relations and Economics from Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in 1995 and graduated with an AB in Comparative Area Studies from Duke University in 1991. Catherine lives in Newton, MA with her husband and her three children.

Kristen Farrell (P’26) is an accomplished businesswoman and designer who has been in the luxury home and hospitality industries for over 25 years. She has built a vast portfolio of successful projects in the construction and design fields, including over 250 houses in the Hamptons and a variety of other ventures under the Farrell brand. Her keen knowledge of Hamptons real estate and design acumen have earned her a reputation as a respected industry leader. Kristen has recently expanded the Farrell brand to include the Farrell Design Group, making an imprint in the NYC and Boston hospitality sectors.

Kristen is also a mother of three—Joey, an integrated design student at The New School; Kate, Duke P’26; and Jack, a senior in Southampton High School.

Scott Hayward (P' 22, P' 25, P' 25, P'28) is the Chief Executive Officer, member of the Board of Directors, and Partner of GMO, a global investment management firm headquartered in Boston. Prior to joining GMO in 2017, Scott served as the CEO and Chairman of Quantitative Management Associates (QMA) for 11 years. Previously, he was Head of Client Relations at QMA and Jennison Associates (both affiliates of Prudential Financial, Inc.). Prior to joining Prudential in 2003, Scott was a Managing Director at J.P. Morgan, where he spent 16 years in a variety of roles in investment management, the investment bank, the private bank, and corporate functions. In addition to various corporate boards, Scott has served as the President of the Board of the Reeves-Reed Arboretum and Head of Strategy for the Board of Newark Academy, and he currently serves on the Board of Regents for Boston College and the Executive Advisory Board of Give to the World.

Azra Kanji, T’01, is the Founding Partner of Astira Capital Partners, a middle-market private equity firm primarily focused on investing in North American-based B2B workflow solutions. Prior to founding Astira, Azra was a partner at Abry Partners where she spent 20 years in the private equity strategy. She started her career in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications group at Goldman Sachs. She has served on the non-profit boards of Boston Medical Center and United South End Settlements. Azra lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband Fiyaz and their two children. She graduated from Duke University with a B.A. in Economics in 2001.

Vincent Price (chair, ex officio) is President of Duke University and the Walter Hines Page Professor of Public Policy and Political Science. A leading global expert on public opinion, social influence, and political communication, he came to Duke in 2017. Price’s strategic vision for the university’s future focuses on five core principles: empowering people, transforming education, building community, forging partnerships, and engaging a global network. He has also overseen initiatives including continued strategic advancement of the arts; investing in Duke science and technology; launching a university-wide, impact-oriented approach to addressing climate change; implementing next-generation residential programs; advancing a comprehensive commitment to opportunity, access, and belonging; and broadening and deepening engagement in Durham and the region.

Price previously served as Provost of the University of Pennsylvania and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Price and his wife, Annette, are the parents of two adult children and can often be found walking their dogs on campus.

The Honorable Rodolfo (“Rudy”) Ruiz II (T’02) is a United States District Court Judge for the Southern District of Florida.  Prior to his confirmation to the federal bench, he was a Circuit Court Judge for the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida from 2014 through 2019, and a Miami-Dade County Court Judge from 2012 through 2014.  Before entering judicial service, Judge Ruiz was an Assistant County Attorney with the Miami-Dade County Attorney’s Office, where he represented Miami-Dade County and government employees in federal and state court at both trial and appellate levels.  Judge Ruiz was also an associate with White & Case L.L.P., where he specialized in mergers and acquisitions, asset-backed financings, and general corporate matters.

Jennifer Hainsfurther Saperstein (T’05) is a partner in the Washington DC office of Covington & Burling LLP, where she serves as vice chair of the Anti-Corruption Group and a Managing Partner for Legal Personnel.  Jennifer's practice focuses on advising clients on compliance issues arising under anti-corruption laws, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA").  Jennifer also leads cross-cutting compliance projects to help companies build and improve their compliance programs across areas of regulatory expertise, and conducts internal investigations on issues related to workplace culture, diversity, and inclusion.  Jennifer was recognized by Law360 as a 2020 "Rising Star" in Compliance.

Todd Singleton (Engineering '98) spent 25 years in the software technology industry. He served as the General Manager for Microsoft's Application Modernization & Development Tools cloud business. Before his time at Microsoft, Todd held sales and engineering leadership positions at Google, Intel, IBM, and multiple tech startups. Today, he serves as Board Chair for Ambition Angels, focused on orienting systemically marginalized children toward an economically empowered future.

While at Duke, Todd earned his bachelor's in electrical engineering and played varsity basketball. He received his master's degree at Stanford. Todd serves in his community through his local church and as a youth basketball coach. He resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife Veronica, son Judah, and their dog Sonora.

Neil Steiner (T’94, P’29) is a partner in Dechert’s Securities and Complex Litigation group. He represents private equity funds and their portfolio companies, hedge funds, investment advisers, corporations and their senior executives in litigations and regulatory investigations and works seamlessly with Dechert’s private equity team to resolve issues as they arise during transactions. Neil also devotes significant time to pro bono matters, with a particular emphasis on voting rights cases, and serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. He received the American Bar Association’s Pro Bono Publico Award in 2020 and the Second Circuit Federal Bar Council’s Thurgood Marshall Award in 2021 for his voting rights work and was named one of the ten most innovative lawyers in North America by the Financial Times in 2015. Neil served as a member of the Advisory Board of Jewish Life at Duke from 2019 through 2025. He lives in New York City with his wife, Amy, and children, Sam (T’29) and Rachel.