ALTSO is led by a committed and influential team that oversees the organization’s evolution – and works strategically to level the playing field for the world’s neediest children.
C. Mead Welles - Mead co-founded ALTSO in 2002 and serves as the organization’s Chairman and Treasurer. Mead is also the Founder and CEO of Octagon Asset Management, LLC and is responsible for managing the core portfolios and determining the overall strategy of the hedge funds managed by Octagon. Mead brings to Octagon unique experience in trade and commodity finance, emerging market fixed income asset management, and emerging market structured finance. Prior to Octagon, Mead worked at Cargill Financial Services International, the internal emerging market investment and trading arm of Cargill, Inc. As one of the original members of the emerging markets trade and structured finance group, Mead focused on finding ways of using Cargill’s international trade and working capital flows to arbitrage capital markets, finance subsidiaries, mitigate risks and minimize balance sheet usage. Before Cargill, he worked in asset management for Bull & Bear Securities and for Shearson Lehman Hutton. Mead received his B.A. in Economics from Bates College in Lewiston, ME with additional studies in international business in Lugano, Switzerland. Learn why Mead founded ALTSO.
Dr. Harold van Bosse - Dr. van Bosse is an attending pediatric orthopedic surgeon at the Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, and his niche specialties include treating the orthopaedic manifestations of arthrogryposis and Prader-Willi syndrome, as well as spinal deformity, upper and lower limb deformities, hip problems and neuromuscular diseases. He has been deeply involved in popularizing the Ponseti technique for treating clubfoot as a low cost alternative for developing countries. Dr. van Bosse trained at the University of Illinois for his general orthopedic residency, followed by a fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario.
Catharine A. Carroll - Catharine is the past President and Chief Operating Officer of Pro Equine Group, a leading manufacturer of rodeo and equestrian equipment. Before joining Pro Equine Group, she spent twelve years in the travel industry in a variety of finance, marketing and sales roles at United Airlines in Chicago, IL and Sabre Inc. in Southlake, TX. Her work experience also includes six years as an actuary at Hewitt Associates in Illinois. Catharine holds an MBA in Finance and Organizational Behavior from the University of Chicago, and earned her Associate in the Society of Actuaries prior to attending graduate school. She has always been active in her community, mentoring at-risk teens through the I Have A Dream program, and currently serves as an advisor to the President of St. Xavier University, one of the oldest universities in the Chicago area.
Barbara Welles Iler - Barbara is the Executive Director of the Stephen Phillips Memorial Scholarship Fund in Salem, MA. The Phillips Scholarship Fund, founded in 1991, awards college scholarships to low-income students who display academic excellence and a commitment to service. Prior to Phillips, Barbara was the Executive Director and Founder of ANCHOR, Inc., an innovative non-profit in New York City that established two urban boarding-school programs where at-risk youth thrive. Before starting ANCHOR, she spent three years fundraising for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in San Francisco. In addition to her service on ALTSO’s board, Barbara participates in a number of other groups that are dedicated to providing services and educational opportunities for underserved youth.
James Zengierski – Mr. Zengierski is Senior Documentation Manager at Barclays Capital, a global commodities trading and investment company. Previously, he was a VP in Citigroup’s Office of the General Counsel, where he worked to establish a Citigroup Network for Disabled Employees. Given his own congenital limb deformity, Mr. Zengierski has been able to use his notable career success to encourage disabled children to focus on their unique skills, instead of on what others see as their disability. He holds a degree in Law and Economics from the University of Buffalo, and is a Trustee for the International Center for the Disabled.