The Pomona College Board of Trustees has elected four new members with terms starting July 1. Justice Halim Dhanidina (Ret.) ’94, Robi Ganguly ’00 and Cosimo H. J. Thawley ’11 are Pomona alumni. Bill Riley is the parent of a 2026 graduate and recently chaired the College’s Family Leadership Council.
“Trustees play a vital role in the leadership of the College,” says Geoff Pearson, secretary to the board. “They ensure that the College maintains its academic excellence and long-term sustainability through the strategic direction and fiduciary oversight they provide.”
Dhanidina is dean of the Western State College of Law. He also serves as a mediator and arbitrator at Signature Resolution and is an independent director for Fidelity National Financial Group.
Earlier in his career, Dhanidina was an associate justice for the Second District of the California Court of Appeal, becoming the first South Asian American to sit as an appellate justice in California and the first Muslim appellate level judge in the U.S.
When Dhanidina was appointed as a judge for the Los Angeles County Superior Court in 2012, he was the first Muslim judge ever appointed in California. Among many honors, he has received the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Daniel K. Inouye Trailblazer Award.
“When I first arrived at Pomona 26 years ago, I sensed that I was embarking on a journey that would change the course of my life,” says Dhanidina. “Now I am grateful for the opportunity to serve the institution that has done so much for me both professionally and personally, and to aid in its mission to provide world class education to the next generation of Sagehens.”
Dhanidina holds a law degree from the UCLA School of Law, which named him one of its 75 Distinguished Alumni for its 75th anniversary. He earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Pomona College, where he founded the Muslim Students Association and received the Senior Service Award. During the College’s 2025 commencement, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree.
Ganguly began his two-year term as president of the College’s Alumni Association Board in July. He cofounded the software company Apptentive in 2011 and was its CEO until it was sold in 2022. Previously, he cofounded DraftMVP using sports data to build tools for fantasy sports.
Ganguly now invests in and advises early startups and coaches CEOs of new ventures. His focus is on building customer relationships, along with strengthening teams, corporate culture and boards. A resident of Seattle, he is a member of the city’s Pedestrian Advisory Board.
Pomona is where “I learned how to use my voice, to lead and to pursue what I cared about,” says Ganguly. “My education was top notch, for sure, but the environment it created for me to truly start on the path to becoming who I want to be was unparalleled. I hope to support that for as many other students as possible.”
The College “allows people with different backgrounds and ideas to connect, debate and find common ground as they discover more of their true beliefs and how they want to show up in the world,” Ganguly says. He looks forward to helping increase alumni mentorship opportunities and increasing regional alumni chapters.
Riley is a partner at Twin City Dealerships in Knoxville, Tennessee. He got his start as an auto sales associate while attending college at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. “I could not get over the size of the opportunity in the automotive industry,” he recalls. After graduating, he moved to Washington, D.C. where he worked for a time with intelligence agencies through a private contractor.
A few years later, he was given the opportunity to open a new car dealership and later to buy into the ownership group in Tennessee. He is now the operating partner.
Riley’s love for classical music led him to become a member and for a time president of the Board of Trustees of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. He also co-chaired two capital campaigns while serving on the board of the Webb School of Knoxville.
“I am so grateful my son was able to attend Pomona, and I was able to indirectly experience the magic,” says Riley. “The genuine intellectual curiosity of the student body combined with the engagement between faculty and students has such an impact on the future lives of our students.”
Riley says that he gets “a burst of energy and a smile on my face every time I walk the campus.” As a trustee, he aims to “serve in a capacity that respects where Pomona College is today but also looks to the future.”
Thawley is an assistant secretary for the Australian Treasury Department, currently serving as the country’s minister-counsellor and senior treasury representative to China. He is a director on the board of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and is a fellow with the Asia Society for the next generation of leaders across Asia.
Thawley recently moved to Beijing from Jakarta, Indonesia, where he had been Australia’s treasury representative to Southeast Asia. Previously, he was a member of the Australian Foreign Service, posted to Jakarta as a political officer.
At Pomona, Thawley double-majored in economics and history. He was head fellow of the Writing Center, an international student mentor, a residential sponsor and an orientation leader, and he was elected vice president of the Associated Students of Pomona College. At the College, he says he found a supportive community that allowed him to experiment and to grow as a leader, as well as professors who helped him cultivate the ability to think, read and write critically.
Thawley sees Pomona as having “a unique strategic advantage, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, where liberal arts education generally and Pomona specifically deserve greater recognition.” He believes that in the world today, an international perspective is essential, both for students and for institutions. As a trustee, he hopes “to contribute to Pomona’s vision for expanding its global engagement with students, alumni, partnerships and professional opportunities.”