Meet the board.
C. Mead Welles
Founder & Chairman
Mead co-founded ALTSO in 2002 and serves as the organization’s Chairman. 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.
Catharine A. Carroll, MBA, MCC
Co-Founder & Treasurer
Cathy is the owner and founder of Legacy Onward, Inc., which brings leadership coaching services to family businesses. After growing up in a family business, Cathy pursued a 20-year corporate career before leading her father's manufacturing business. Before joining Pro Equine Group, she spent twelve years in the travel industry at United Airlines and Sabre Inc, as well as six years as a pension actuary at AON/Hewitt. Cathy holds an MBA from the University of Chicago, a BA from Boston College, and she earned her Associate in the Society of Actuaries (ASA) prior to attending graduate school. She is also a Master Certified Coach (MCC) with the International Coaching Federation. Cathy has always been active in her community and is currently serving on both non-profit and family business boards.
Edwin W Laffey Jr.
Director
Wynn attended the Lawrenceville School and Columbia University before pursuing a career on Wall St, starting in 1970 with Chemical Bank, and culminating with his co-founding of First Money Managers International in 1982 (a concern no longer extant). Also during that period he served on the boards of 313 East 10th St. Corp., Collette Mfg. Co., and the Children of Bellevue Hospital. After taking some time off, but looking to re-engage with the charitable sector, particularly with an enterprise that was young and as much in need of sweat equity as donations, Wynn was introduced to Mead Welles and the newly created A Leg To Stand On. At first his involvement was primarily passive due to personal time constraints, but that all changed when he took on a more active role following the earthquake in Haiti in 2010. After visiting the Hôspital Albert Schweitzer (HAS), 2 1/2 hours north of the capital, in 2011, Wynn joined ALTSO's Advisory Board. Wynn is also currently involved in the activities of another not-for-profit, Puppies Behind Bars, an organization dedicated to the raising & training of service dogs by prison inmates for the primary benefit of those service men & women who suffer from ptsd &/or have limb disabilities. He also takes a "puppy" once a week to the New York City District Attorney's Family Justice Center to assist in a pilot program to help victims in battered families adjust to and accept their trauma as well as seek justice.
Ray McKenzie
Director
Ray McKenzie has worked in financial services and technology for most of his career. He has been a trader at J.Aron/Goldman Sachs, Senior Sales Executive at Morgan Stanley, CME Group and ICE and now works at Apple helping enable employees to do their best work. Ray also owned an independent record label, Zero Hour. Ray has been involved with ALTSO for over 10 years helping grow the Chicago, New York and London support in the financial services community. Ray is a graduate of New York University and musician and plays in bands in New York and Chicago.
Dr. Harold van Bosse
Co-Founder, Medical Director & ardent fan
Dr. van Bosse is an attending pediatric orthopedic surgeon at the Cardinal Glennon Hospital for Children in St. Louis, 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. He has been a proud member of ALTSO since joining the first mission to Ahmedabad, India in 2003, and counts his 5 trips with ALTSO among the highlights of his professional career. He remains committed to providing orthoses and prosthetics to children in third world countries.
