Pomona College announces the election of three new members to its Board of Trustees, which includes 35 trustees and two ex-officio members. The new trustees’ service began on July 1. They join a distinguished board that includes 30 alumni of the College.
Trustees come from throughout the United States and as far away as Africa and Asia. They are involved in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from finance, law, health and sciences to the arts, technology, philanthropy and public service. The Board of Trustees has fiduciary responsibility for the governance of Pomona College. In this capacity, the Board serves to oversee and shape the College’s mission, vision and policies, and to steward its assets in order to fulfill its mission and goals.
John Gingrich ’91
As office managing director for Accenture in Northern California, John Gingrich leads the more than 5,000 people who work out of the company’s San Francisco Innovation Hub and San Jose offices. He is responsible for Accenture’s talent development and recruiting as well as growing the business and maintaining strong client relationships. He also works to deepen relationships with local community organizations, nonprofits, higher education institutions and government entities. As health and public service lead, Gingrich develops and expands relationships with clients facing transformation and growth opportunities in the region.
Gingrich returned to Accenture in 2020 from Bay Area start-up Humu, where he held the position of chief revenue officer. Earlier in his career he spent nearly three decades at Accenture as a managing director primarily working on large-scale business model and organizational transformation initiatives for leading clients in the communications, media and technology industries.
Gingrich is a board member and past board chair of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. He is also a director for the Elizabeth V. Sanderson Foundation, which provides animal rescue resources and land preservation grants to help protect the environment.
Born in Pomona and raised in Claremont, Gingrich majored in international relations at Pomona. His wife, Christine Currie ’91, is also a Pomona alumna, and their son, Gus ’24, is a current student.
Wei Hopeman ’92
Wei Hopeman is a co-founder and managing partner of Arbor Ventures, the leading Asia based fintech focused venture capital firm founded in 2013. It invests in companies that leverage advanced technologies to facilitate, broaden or fundamentally change the way financial services are served, consumed and managed. Arbor uses its global vantage point, extensive network and deep sector knowledge to identify key trends and partner closely with leading entrepreneurs to build transformational companies.
Previously Hopeman was managing director and head of Asia for Citi Ventures, chief China representative for Jefferies & Co, and a technology investment banker at Goldman Sachs in the Silicon Valley. She currently serves on the board of directors of Booking Holdings and numerous private technology firms.
After graduating from Pomona College with a major in international relations, Hopeman earned an MBA degree at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Jim Valone ’85
Jim Valone is a retired emerging markets investment professional who is actively involved in non-profit work. From 1999 to 2021, he worked at Wellington Management, where he founded and led the firm’s emerging markets debt (EMD) effort. During his tenure, he built out a suite of EMD products, led a team of 35 professionals, and grew assets under management to over $35 billion. Prior to joining Wellington, Valone was a portfolio manager at Baring Asset Management and an analyst and portfolio manager at Fidelity Management. In retirement he continues to invest in emerging markets through his private investment fund, 4747 LLC.
Valone’s non-profit work is concentrated in youth education and sustainability causes. He serves on the boards of the Wellington Foundation and Empower. Valone is also a board member of the Emerging Markets Investors Alliance, which promotes good governance and sustainable development in emerging markets. He is on the finance committee of Sudbury Valley Trustees, which works to protect natural areas and farmland in several communities in Massachusetts.
At Pomona, Valone majored in economics. He went on to earn an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and a chartered financial analyst designation. He and his wife, Lisa ’96, live in Wayland, Massachusetts, and have two grown children.