Kravis Fellows

Elisa Alban is Executive Director of Operations at Pitzer College. She supports students, faculty, and the community by maintaining all student records and serves as the colleges data protection officer under GDPR. She currently is an active member of AACRAO and PACRAO which are the national and regional organizations for admissions and registrar enrollment services. She’s led sessions for both groups on automation in the registrar’s field, and on how data in higher education can lead to educational policy changes that are data driven. This includes early alert systems and student support notifications.

As a national Posse Scholar, the idea of community and support systems in order to graduate, ignited the passion for higher education and has led her to a career within higher education. Elisa graduated from Claremont McKenna College in 2009 with a BA in Government and is pursuing a MS in Informational systems.

Dan has more than 10 years of experience managing public and private equity investments across a variety of industries. Currently, he is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Sapling Capital LLC. Previously, he was the portfolio manager at Long Light Capital and a member of the investment teams at Ziff Brothers Investments and Madrone Capital Partners. Dan began his career with Bain & Co., where he advised Fortune 500 and private equity clients on M&A, growth and efficiency initiatives.

Dan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, summa cum laude, from Claremont McKenna College and holds a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School, where he graduated with distinction.

Dan is also a member of the Board of Directors of eXp World Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPI).

Josh Kim is an Investment Professional at Clearlake Capital, a Santa Monica-based private investment firm operating integrated businesses across private equity, credit, and other related strategies. Josh joined Clearlake from GI Partners, where he focused on private equity investments in the software sector. Prior to joining GI, Josh was an Investment Banking Analyst in the Technology M&A group at Lazard.

Josh holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Pomona College, where he also played on the Varsity Tennis team for four years.

In addition to his role as a Kravis Fellow, Josh is a long-time volunteer at The Painted Turtle, a non-profit organization that provides a year-round, life-changing environment and authentic camp experience for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses.

Julian Laguisma is a Manager in the New York Deals practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC, specializing in M&A financial due diligence. In this role he advises strategic and private equity buyers and sellers on key deal issues and financial impacts of potential M&A transactions. His industry expertise is in technology media and telecommunications, private equity, and pharmaceuticals and life sciences. Prior to moving to New York, Julian was a part of the Assurance practice in the PwC San Jose office, specializing in life science and venture capital firms as well as IPO transactions.

Julian holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics – Accounting from CMC, and is a CPA in California and New York. While at CMC, he was a member of the CMS Swimming & Diving team and was a board member for the National Association of Intercollegiate Gymnastic Clubs. He is originally from the Bay Area.

Peter X. Li is an Executive Director at Moelis & Company (NYSE: MC). Peter holds an M.B.A. from the London Business School, and a B.A. from Claremont McKenna College.

Charles McGregor graduated cum laude from CMC in 2015 with a departmental Honors in Biophysics. While at CMC, Charles built upon his interests in effective leadership in STEM centered businesses as a research assistant to Dr. Ron Riggio an advisee of Dr. Jay Conger’s, a Keck Graduate Master’s Team Associate, and as the Captain of the CMS Men’s Varsity Water Polo team.

After gaining insight into the issues surrounding intellectual property through his work at Berkley Research Group, Charles joined McGregor & Associates, a family office that focuses on growth stage investments for companies principally in biomedical, biotechnology, and SAAS technology platforms.

Charles is on the Board of Directors for the Rockies Venture Institute, which provides education for entrepreneurs and angels investors on business development and investment approaches for early stage companies and frequently serves as a mentor for the Impact Finance Center and for the RVC investors’ locations across Colorado.

Currently living in the center of downtown Denver, when not working, Charles spends his time in the mountains skiing, fly-fishing or backpacking.

Simeon Nestorov is Managing Partner of Intermediate Growth Capital Funds, hybrid debt and equity funds focused on investing in debt and equity instruments of high growth companies in the technology and consumer space as well as other related verticals. Previously, Mr. Nestorov oversaw assets under management in excess of $5 billion, consisting of loans and credit exposures across a wide variety of lending and corporate structures including leveraged loans, loans to technology companies, shareholder loans, PIK toggle notes, trade finance loans, real estate and project finance loans, amongst others. Mr. Nestorov was a member of the UBS Leveraged Finance team in New York and Morgan Stanley’s Corporate Finance and Technology team in Los Angeles, and over his 20+ year career in finance has helped originate and/or underwrite leveraged and corporate credit exposure in excess of $30 billion.

Mr. Nestorov holds an MBA degree with High Distinction from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth where he was also named an Edward Tuck Scholar. Mr. Nestorov has passed all three levels of the CFA examination program and has the right to bear the CFA designation

Maria Mengual-Paredes ’09, MA, is a professional fundraiser with ten years of experience working with philanthropists supporting arts organizations and universities in Southern California.

Before joining California Lutheran University, she served as the Director of Development at the Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts (The Soraya) at CSUN. As the frontline fundraiser for The Soraya, she developed strategic relationships with funders to present a wide variety of performances that not only include new and original work from the Los Angeles region but also work from around the world that appeals to all of LA’s rich and diverse communities.

Maria is devoted to best practices in philanthropy to develop resources for organizations that spark, nurture, and sustain the fire of aesthetic and intellectual creativity. She has worked with philanthropists of diverse interests and backgrounds to create a positive impact in their respective areas of interest through significant gifts. Previously held positions with Center Theatre Group, Freewaves, Arts Orange County, the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, The Dia Art Foundation, and the Idyllwild Arts Academy. She also likes to give back to her community, and from 2011-2014 she led the Emerging Arts Leaders Los Angeles (EAL/LA) Development Committee to implement professional development workshops for the organization’s constituents. She co-founded the CMC San Fernando Valley (SFV) Alumni Chapter, which aims to connect, build, and maintain meaningful relationships between SFV based alumni and the CMC campus. As a Kravis Leadership Fellow, she mentors college students and advises on leadership program development at CMC.

In 2011, Maria received her MA in Arts Management from the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management, and in 2009 she received her BA in Studio Art from Claremont McKenna College. During her time as a student, she received the honors of Posse Scholar, Parsons Foundation Arts Management Fellow, and Ronald E. McNair Graduate Fellow.

During any spare time, she enjoys all things wellness and creating artwork. As an artist, she examines the collaboration between biomorphic forms and the idea of transformation. As a wellpreneur, she focuses on healthy and sustainable living for the mindful professional.

Claudia Raigoza has been a leader in the fintech space for over 5 years, focusing on delivering a flawless client experience through innovative products and services. As the Director of Product Management for Clover Hardware at Fiserv (formerly First Data), Claudia is responsible for setting the go-to-market strategy and leading the end-to-end commercialization process of the Clover suite of products. Clover is an award-winning smart, customized point of sale system and platform that makes accepting payments and running a business easier for SMBs and massive stadiums alike.

Claudia proudly serves on the Mentoring Committee of Wnet and is an active Kravis Fellow. She earned a B.A. in Government and Spanish with a sequence in Leadership Studies from Claremont McKenna College in 2014 and has been involved with the Kravis Leadership Institute since 2010.

Will Su is a business analyst on the China Corporate Development team at FibroGen, a research and development biotech company based in San Francisco, CA. As part of the China management team, Will successfully sought world-first approval by the Chinese National Medical Products Administration (NMPA, previously CFDA) for Roxadustat, FibroGen’s first-in-class drug for anemia in Chronic Kidney Disease. Roxadustat marked the first time an innovative drug was approved first in the world in China. In addition, Will manages a project to launch a proprietary biosynthetic cornea medical device intended to serve as a therapeutic option for patients with corneal blindness and no access to donor cornea tissue.

Will graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a BA in Science and Management (Biotechnology Track) and a sequence in Leadership Studies.

During his time at CMC, Will participated in student government, the ASCMC (Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College), as student body President, Executive Vice President, and Campus Organizations Chair.  Will also served on the Pearson Student Advisory Board representing undergraduate students and impacting college classrooms across the country by working on projects that helped to shape the future of higher education.

Will was previously involved with the Kravis Leadership Institute as in research and programming functions, as a facilitator, and as an active member of KLI’s social entrepreneurship initiatives. With the support of KLI, Will hosted the inaugural Hult Prize competition on campus as well as the first in a series of Climate Leadership Summits.

In addition to his role as a Kravis Fellow, Will is a board member of the San Francisco based nonprofit Volunteers in Asia, which was founded at Stanford University in 1963. In his free time, Will enjoys learning new things and exploring and traveling with his friends.

Linnea Uyeno ’20 is a Senior Product Manager at SAP Concur, which is the world’s largest travel booking platform for business travel. At SAP, Linnea leads three teams that focus on hotel and flight booking with 25+ individuals across engineering and design. Her leadership has been recognized through organizational awards, including the 2023 SAP Concur Indispensable Product Manager award. Prior to SAP, she worked at Intuit, Glassdoor, and a startup in product internships.

Linnea recently graduated from CMC in 2020 and majored in Economics and Psychology with a Leadership Studies Sequence. During her time at CMC, she was team lead at KLI and did a thesis on the economic impact of company culture. Outside of work, Linnea enjoys swimming, skiing, and cooking.