Alumni Board members

Tosha Downey is a senior program officer for state and local government relations for Tennessee at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to joining the foundation, she was vice president of advocacy for the Memphis Education Fund (MEF), a partner organization in Memphis’ effort to transform chronically underperforming schools. A native Memphian, Downey has spent more than 25 years leading work in charter school management, college access and recruitment, community engagement, and talent acquisition. She has also served as director of government affairs at the Noble Network of Charter Schools in Chicago, IL, and worked for the Academy for Urban School Leadership, Comer Science & Education Foundation, and the Ryan Family Foundation. She is a graduate of Leadership Memphis, the New Memphis Institute’s Leadership Development Intensive, and Leadership Tennessee. She sits on the Board of Utmost U and the South City Development Corporation. In addition to her MPP from the Ford School, Downey earned her BA in Education at Clark Atlanta University and a JD from the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Franklin Esson Jr. is a government affairs coordinator and lobbyist for the New York State
Association of REALTORS® (NYSAR), a 63,000-member, not-for-profit trade association. Prior
to joining NYSAR in 2018, he held multiple public and private sector positions, including serving
as the director of the New York State Senate’s Higher Education Committee where he
developed and managed the committee’s legislative agenda for post-secondary schools and
licensed professions. He also worked as a legislative budget analyst in the State Senate and
Assembly in New York. Esson previously served as a trustee of a charter school in the Albany,
NY area and lives in Stillwater, NY with his wife, Sarah, and son, Caleb.

William Feuer is a director at DCI Group, a DC-based independent public affairs firm that specializes in public relations, crisis management, grassroots engagement and digital advocacy. Feuer is expanding DCI Group's presence to New York, where he advises clients across various sectors, including financial services, healthcare and energy. He joined DCI Group after a career in journalism that included stints at CNBC, The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal. He lives in Manhattan with his wife Lauren.

Safiya Merchant works on the policy team at the City of Detroit's Housing & Revitalization Department, where she focuses on strategy development, policy research and analysis, and community engagement on affordable housing and homelessness issues. Before starting her public policy career, she worked in higher education communications and as a journalist. After obtaining a bachelor's degree in journalism from Northwestern University in 2014, she worked for newspapers in the Chicago area and Calhoun County, Michigan, where she developed a passion for community-centered policymaking. Born and raised in Chicago, Merchant is a proud graduate of Chicago Public Schools.

Jim Potter is an accomplished healthcare advocate and association executive, currently serving as the executive director for the Coalition of Healthcare Communications. He previously served in senior management and advocacy positions with the American Medical Association and national specialty organizations, including radiology, speech-language pathology and physician assistants.
Potter has been awarded the FDA Commissioner’s Special Citation and the Vice President’s Hammer Award for developing consensus legislation and regulations to advance breast cancer detection and treatment. His advocacy work has been recognized by the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) with its highest honor—The Summit Award—for advancing early detection and intervention for children with hearing loss. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife Karen and their four children, enjoys playing golf and hiking with his dog, Harry.

Kevin Sweitzer is a state and local government consultant with Guidehouse, where he supports clients with the administration of large-scale government programs and strategy development that focuses on government effectiveness and service delivery. Sweitzer is passionate about transportation and urban policy. He previously interned with the U.S. Department of Transportation. While he was at the Ford School, Sweitzer was involved with several student organizations and groups and is eager to support BA students as they navigate the program and transition into the professional world. Sweitzer is originally from Lansing, MI and currently resides in Washington, DC.

Michael T. Cahill is a professor of law at Brooklyn Law School, where he was also
President and Dean from July 2019 to July 2023. He was previously on its faculty from 2003–16, leaving from 2016–19 to serve as Co-Dean and professor of law at Rutgers Law School. Cahill’s scholarship focuses primarily on criminal law; he has also written and taught courses about health law and policy, as well as teaching the introductory property course. Before joining the Brooklyn faculty, he was involved as staff director and consultant, respectively, for major criminal code reform projects in the states of Illinois and Kentucky. He lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife Rosalyn Scaff (whom he met at the University of Michigan, from which she received two master’s in 1999) and their two children.

Olga Ioffe Kasher has 24-plus years of experience in results measurement and evaluation, donor, and investor relations, fundraising, and communications in major international development organizations. Currently, Ioffe Kasher is a consultant with the International Finance Corporation’s Financial Institutions and Creating Markets Advisory Groups that support teams in Africa and the Middle East. Prior to the International Finance Corporation, Ioffe Kasher worked with the United Nations Development Program in New York as well as the World Bank in Washington DC. Loffe Kasher is originally from Kazakhstan and became a Wolverine in 1994 as an undergraduate (BA’97), and earned her MPP in 1999.

Sophia Kittler is the director of innovation and the deputy budget director for San Francisco Mayor London Breed. She has spent the last five years as a member of the mayor's senior staff in various policy and operational roles. Prior to joining city government, Kittler held various roles at the intersection of finance, technology, and social impact, including work at an impact investing venture fund; product design at financial institutions; and research at TechCrunch. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, her two year old son, and her four year old Alaskan Malador.

DJ McKerr, a principal in Kearney’s Healthcare & Life Sciences practice, brings over a decade of healthcare policy and consulting experience with large payors and providers. His experience spans the healthcare continuum and includes providers, integrated delivery networks, value-based care, private equity, payers, pharmacies, and more working with their leadership to drive immediate impact and grow advantage on their most mission-critical issues. McKerr’s commitment to healthcare focuses on the triple aim of improving quality, improving access, and lower the cost of care in communities across the country to improve outcomes and reduce disparities. McKerr’s grandfather, Bob McKerr (MPA ’58), is also an alumni and previous Neil Staebler Distinguished Alumni Service Award recipient. In addition to his BA of Public Policy degree from the University of Michigan’s Ford School of Public Policy, he also holds an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

Kelsey Rhodes (she/her) is the communications director at Physicians for Reproductive Health, a national physician advocacy nonprofit organizing, mobilizing, and amplifying the voices of medical providers to advance sexual and reproductive health. She is responsible for media training over 500 physicians across the country who are committed to protecting and expanding abortion access in the United States. She has advanced the organization’s storytelling, message development, and training for more than seven years. Rhodes has prepared physician advocates for critical hearings on reproductive and sexual health before Congress and for roundtables at the White House and has been involved with the crafting of numerous amicus briefs for cases on reproductive health before the Supreme Court. Rhodes lives with her partner, their dog, cat, and three chickens in Kansas City, MO.

Cortney Sanders currently serves as a senior advisor in the Office of the Acting Commissioner at the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) leading the agency’s equity efforts. Her current portfolio includes overseeing the agency’s equity efforts and outreach to help SSA operationalize equity as a fundamental element of its work and public service.   Prior to her appointment as senior advisor, Sanders was a senior policy analyst and senior manager at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities where she led the organization research efforts on equity and inclusion for the State Fiscal Policy Division. Her research included topics on education, criminal justice fines and fees, COVID19 equity, the Black Women Best economic framework, and a series of blogs on tax and budget issues. She was also an independent consultant and advisor for several universities, government entities, and policy organizations. Sanders has over a decade of years of experience in diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility as a subject matter, and began her career researching education, economic, and social policy.
As a student at the University of Texas at Austin, Sanders pioneered student efforts in writing an amicus brief for the Fisher v. University of Texas Supreme Court case with the Black Student Alliance as the Political Action Chair working with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Her efforts and organizing led to nation-wide support for the university and students of color attending Predominantly White Institutions. She was featured on several news outlets for her courageous work and awarded many awards for her student leadership. Sanders is a graduate of the University of Texas, Austin (BA) and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (MPP). She is also a board member for the Polichic Engagement Fund Texas and University of Michigan Ford School Alumni Board.

Alli Berry is a human capital consultant who supports colleges and universities with organizational change management, strategic communications, organization transformation, stakeholder engagement, HR, and IT strategy. Recent projects include COVID-19 response and making a transition to virtual teaching and learning. She is passionate about making the workplace an environment where employees can thrive through targeted well-being, DEIB, and HR strategies. She is known for leading and inspiring teams to drive change and achieve results.
Prior to Deloitte, Berry spent three years working at the Office of the Vice President and General Counsel at The University of Michigan, which sparked her passion for higher education. Berry graduated with honors from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan in 2019 with a minor in Gender, Race, and Nation through the Gender and Women's Studies department.

Brenda Duverce is a global sustainability / ESG analyst in Morgan Stanley’s equity research division. In this role, she conducts research on environmental, social, and governance factors and their impact on investments. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Duverce worked in management consulting for five years supporting federal government/public sector clients on a variety of business related challenges stemming from strategy and operations, business and operating model development, customer experience, and human capital management. She currently resides in Washington, DC.

Grace Evans Pedanou is the chief of staff at ONE Neighborhood Builders, a community development organization in Providence, RI. With nearly ten years of experience working in and in service to communities, she has led strategy and special projects across the philanthropic, nonprofit, and government sectors. She previously served as a government performance fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Government Performance Lab and is an alum of the Coro Center for Civic Leadership’s Public Affairs Fellowship. In addition to her MPP from the Ford School, Pedanou holds a BS in mathematics and a BS in nonprofit management from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania.

Eliza Erickson is the director of Permit, License and Certification (PLC) Innovation in the Office of Governor Josh Shapiro. As a senior member of the newly formed Office of Transformation & Opportunity, Erickson leads efforts to reform, improve, and innovate permit processes across Commonwealth agencies. Prior to joining the Shapiro Administration, Erickson served as the director of innovation & strategy for the City of Philadelphia, where she spent nine years building and growing a nationally recognized model of government innovation called “People, Place, Process,” and managed a flagship portfolio of programs, including an Innovation Academy, Lab and Fund. She studied history and religious studies at the University of Virginia, and subsequently received her master’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan. Erickson has extensive experience in strategic planning, design thinking, and civic engagement—but her true passion is exploring Philadelphia with her husband, two kids, and rescue pit bull, Brew.

David Tannenbaum currently works as a litigation associate in the D.C. office of Hughes Hubbard & Reed. While in law school, Tannenbaum represented an individual seeking asylum through Georgetown’s Center for Applied Legal Studies (CALS) and served as an intern with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division; Judge Reggie B. Walton, United States District Court for the District of Columbia; and the United States Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey in Camden, New Jersey.
Prior to law school, Tannenbaum was an associate with Schrayer & Associates. In this role, he worked with clients to advance their state and federal policy objectives in a variety of areas including gun violence prevention, foreign affairs, education, and public health. He received his JD from Georgetown University Law Center.

Janani Ramachandran Yates is a founding Partner in the management and budget consulting firm Watson & Yates, LLC. As the Deputy Budget Director for the City of Detroit from 2021-2024, she comprehensively rebuilt the City’s post-bankruptcy budget decision-making apparatus, enabling a more transparent, inclusive, and evidence-based process. From 2018-2021, Janani was Associate Budget Director to Mayor Muriel Bowser of the District of Columbia, where she led the strategic management of the District’s $10 billion capital infrastructure budget. During her tenure, she also helped direct the District's financial response to the Covid-19 pandemic, including the strategic allocation of once-in-a-generation federal aid packages totaling nearly $4 billion. Earlier in her career, Janani served as a senior financial analyst with Arlington County, VA and held budget and operations roles with the federal government at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She lives in metro Detroit with her husband (Will Yates, MPP ’13, who she met at the Ford School!), their two children, and dog.

Michael Fuller is a dual degree candidate pursuing an MPP at the Ford School of Public Policy and an MBA at the Ross School of Business. He holds a BA in public policy from Brown University. In addition to his position on the Alumni Board, Fuller has been a research assistant to Professor Wolfers, senior editor for the Michigan Journal of Public Affairs, and a graduate-level microeconomics GSI for the past two years. Before attending graduate school, Fuller dedicated himself to public service, serving as a GED tutor in Rhode Island’s Maximum Security Prison and later as a Teach for America corps member in his hometown of Denver, Colorado. Upon graduating, Fuller will join the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a lead examiner, where he aims to promote financial system stability and broad economic prosperity.

Akhila Mullapudi is a senior studying public policy with a focus area of technology innovation and regulatory policy from an international perspective. She also is pursuing minors in business administration from the Ross School of Business and UX design from the School of Information. At the Ford School, she serves as a peer advisor, the vice president of the Undergraduate Council, and the treasurer for Students of Color in Public Policy (SCPP). She is also involved in numerous U-M campus organizations and clubs. During her free time, she loves to read and go on runs. In fact she ran her first half marathon this year in October!

Rohan Dharan graduated with a BA from the Ford School in 2013, with a focus in education policy. After graduating, Rohan was a Teach for America corps member in Las Vegas where he taught 1st and 4th grade. He then spent a year in India teaching spoken English at a school in New Delhi through the Fulbright English Teaching Assistant scholarship. He has lived in DC for the past 7 years working with DC Public Schools in their central office. He currently serves as the manager for secondary advanced instruction, which primarily entails overseeing the district's Advanced Placement program. In his free time, Rohan loves to travel, try new restaurants, and go for long walks with his wife and dog.