The LEVIN Team

Garrick Utley, President

Mr. Utley is founding president of The Levin Institute. Prior to his current position, he worked as a broadcast journalist on NBC, ABC, CNN, and public radio and television. He focused on international affairs and reported from more than seventy-five countries. He has served on the boards of the Council on Foreign Relations, Public Ratio International, and Carleton College. He is chairman of the American Council on Germany. Mr. Utley received a B.A. from Carleton College and did graduate work at the Free University in Berlin. He holds honorary degrees from Carleton College and Pomona College.

Thomas Moebus, Vice-President, Development

Mr. Moebus joined Levin in July 2006. He previously served as Director of Corporate Relations at MIT, where he helped transform MIT's approach to industry through substantial partnerships with major international firms, and was instrumental in the creation of numerous international programs. He later was Vice Chancellor at the University of California, Irvine. More recently he founded a consulting practice in development and innovation, and co-founded and served as Executive Chairman of OCTANe, a Southern California technology development organization.

Maryalice Mazzara, PhD., Director of Academic Affairs

Dr. Mazzara is the Director of Academic Affairs. She received her doctorate in International Education from Columbia University. Prior to Levin, she was the Director of Education for Global Film Initiative, a non-profit organization promoting cross-cultural learning through the medium of film and was Education Attaché for the Government of Québec (New York office), responsible for Québec academic relations for the office’s region of eight states and DC. Dr. Mazzara was also Director of Teacher Training Outreach for The Harriman Institute’s (Columbia University) U. S. Department of Education’s East European, Eurasian, and Russian National Resource Center for ten years. Her consulting works include cross-cultural training programs for international corporations and education seminars for non-profits including the Soros Foundation in Mongolia and The Business Alliance in Vietnam.

Helene Rude, Director of Educational Programs

Ms. Rude joined Levin in January 2010 to lead Levin’s significant programs aimed at entrepreneurship and career transition – JumpStart NYC and FastTrac. Ms. Rude served previously at the IBM Corporation, where she was most recently responsible for Development at the IBM Executive Business Institute; a group that provided strategic education to IBM clients and IBM business units. In addition to her experience with executive education programs, Ms. Rude brings Marketing, Business Development and Operations expertise to her current role from her tenure at IBM. Helene earned a dual Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and MIS from New York University’s Stern School of Business, and is a Certified Kauffman FastTrac Facilitator.

Kathleen Bardolf, Program Manager, JumpStart NYC

Ms. Bardolf came to the Institute after working twenty years in the private sector, including a major Wall Street firm and a Big Four Accounting firm. She is a graduate of St. John’s University, where she earned a BS in Quantitative Analysis and an MBA with a concentration in Accounting.

Tricia Lapinski, Program Manager, FastTrac

Ms. Lapinski came to the Institute from Babson College, where she held a position as Operations Manager in the Graduate School MBA Center for Career Development. Prior to working in academia, Ms. Lapinski held positions at both a private equity firm and minor league baseball team. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and is currently pursuing an MSEd in Higher Education Administration at Baruch College.

Cao Cong, PhD., Research Fellow

Cong Cao is a senior research associate with the Levin Institute where he also directs the Center for Science, Technology, and Innovation in China. He received his PhD in sociology from Columbia University in 1997 and has worked at the University of Oregon and the National University of Singapore. As one of the leading scholars in the studies of China’s science and innovation, Dr. Cao is the author of China’s Scientific Elite (London and New York: Routledge Curzon 2004), a study of those Chinese scientists holding the elite membership in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and China’s Emerging Technological Edge: Assessing the Role of High-End Talent (with Denis Fred Simon, Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009). Dr. Cao has been involved in the study of development of nanotechnology in China and a project examining China’s biotechnology policy, supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Dulce Kontak, Administrative Support

Ms. Kontak has more than six years of experience in administration assisting executives, attorneys and college faculty. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from SUNY Old Westbury, and also holds a Paralegal Certificate from Wagner College. Ms. Kontak was a Resident Assistant for SUNY Old Westbury, providing support to the office of Residential Life. She received an Academic Excellence Award for her outstanding performance while in school. Ms. Kontak is a native of the Dominican Republic and speaks Spanish fluently.

The Levin Foundation:

Michael DiGiacomo, Secretary to the Foundation
Mr. DiGiacomo came to the Levin Institute in its start up phase, and served in various capacities in the building of the Institute. Prior to that, he worked in law and international finance, including positions at major Wall Street firms and service as the chief financial officer of a publishing company. He is a graduate of Yale College and Fordham Law School, where he has been an adjunct professor.