About Us

Karen Kearney currently serves as Treasurer, Stanford University. She is responsible for the university’s capital markets strategy, debt portfolio, working capital/liquidity management and merchant services, as well as business operations and compliance for the university’s global subsidiaries. She has spent over 20 years at Stanford in various financial roles, with experience in financial reporting, systems, tax, audit and compliance, and global operations. She serves as a director/officer on a number of Stanford’s subsidiary Boards, including in China, India, South Korea, South Africa, Chile.

In Spring 2021, Ms. Kearney led the issuance of the first ever dual-verified ESG bond in higher education, leveraging Stanford University’s long-standing commitment to environmental and social sustainability. The bond was externally verified for both CBI’s Climate Bond certification (climate-focused and aligned with objectives of the Paris Accord) and ICMA Sustainability certified (a combination of both green and social sustainability objectives).

Karen serves as an Executive Committee member of the Treasurer’s Roundtable, representing the higher education in the global NGO community. In Fall 2021, she was appointed to the board of trustees of the Climate Bond Initiative (CBI), a UK charity. CBI works to support the mobilization of capital flows in the bond markets to provide investment in the projects and assets necessary for a rapid transition to a low carbon and climate-resilient economy.

Karen was previously CFO at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and started her finance career at Price Waterhouse, London, after graduating from University of Cambridge in geography. She is passionate about sustainability, and thrilled that her professional and academic experience are threading together in support of addressing the climate crisis.

Founding Member of the Treasurers and Insurance Roundtable

Sassan Cyrus Parandeh is the Treasurer of ChildFund International, an international child development organization. During his tenure he volunteered to serve as ChildFund’s Country Director in Kenya where he oversaw the welfare of 1,200,000 children. While there, Sassan used his Treasury expertise to introduce the first ever large-scale institutional use of mobile-money. This technology provided financial services to regions of the world that were previously “unbanked.” For this, ChildFund won the 2014 Grand Pinnacle Award from the Association for Financial Professionals.

Sassan also is a regular contributor to the AFP Exchange Magazine and the Global Treasury blog “gtnews.” He has been published extensively in academic peer reviewed journals such as The Journal of Business Continuity and the Journal of Corporate Treasury Management. He is quoted frequently in the Wall Street Journal and the Economist’s Treasury Perspectives Magazine. In June 2018, he was aired on the BBC’s Storyworks. Mr. Parandeh is a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) with global experience from Dole Food Company, Litton Industries Inc., The City of Long Beach in California, and Platinum Equity LLC.

He has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and possesses a Master of Public Administration (MPA), as well as a bachelor’s degree in Mathematical Economics from California State University, Long Beach.

Founding Member of the Treasurers and Insurance Roundtable

Steve Perry has directed global treasury operations for Catholic Relief Services at HQ and in over 100 developing programming countries for 29 years. He is responsible for establishing agency-wide best practices, treasury strategies, policies and procedures. He supervises a treasury staff of three, which is responsible for liquidity and banking with 300 international accounts with 30+ global bank relationships. He oversees insurance and foreign currency risks and conversions in 40+ major and exotic currencies. He enforces security and compliance with federal and international regulations on terrorist vetting and OFAC.

Steve is a Certified Treasury Professional, Certified Public Accountant and holds an MS in Taxation.

Founding Member of the Treasurers and Insurance Roundtable

Kathryn Powers is the Global Treasurer of World Vision International (WVI), a Christian relief, development, and advocacy organization with revenues of $3.2 billion and operations in nearly 100 countries. Kathryn joined WVI in 2006 and has led the organization through the process of globalizing treasury and insurance including the development of services, policies and standards as well as implementing and leveraging technology. Before joining WVI, Kathryn held numerous treasury positions at AT&T, Lucent Technologies, and EDS.

Kathryn holds an MBA from the University of Chicago. Prior to graduate school, Kathryn served in the financial and administrative management of rural “bush” health clinics and medical facility in Blantyre, Malawi.

As the Vice President of Risk and Security, Laura manages risks related to ACDI/VOCA’s staff and assets, including security risk management, travel risk, and crisis management programs, as well as our property and casualty insurance portfolio.

Before joining ACDI/VOCA in 2014, Laura was a special risks manager at Clement Worldwide, a global insurance broker, where she coordinated detailed risk analyses for clients in the international development industry and offered insurance solutions for foreign property, casualty, and health and life exposure, such as political and war risks.

Laura has served distinguishably as a Steering Committee member of Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC)’s International Development Sector Committee (IDSC) playing a transformative role in how its 223 members serve their communities. This exceptional performance culminated in the Committee receiving the OSAC Common Interest Committee Achievement Award 2021. Laura holds a BA in Spanish from Lenoir-Rhyne College and an MA in International Affairs from American University. She is a Certified Risk Manager.

Tobias is an experienced finance professional and held various financial and treasury management positions in the private sector (specialty chemicals, fast moving consumer goods and oil industry) in Africa, South America and Europe and more recently in the development sector. Currently working for The Global Fund, an international organization active in global health, with approximately 4 billion USD disbursements per year to about 100 countries.

Tobias is a board member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers in Suisse Romande, certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM) and holder of an MBA from HEC Paris.

Rich Yamashita is the Treasurer of UCLA. He is responsible for liquidity management, planning and analysis, investment allocation of surplus funds, internal bank/financing strategy, global banking operations and payments strategy on behalf of the multiple academic, auxiliary and health system institutions across the university. Rich is also responsible for strategic advisory services and analytics related to capital structure, financial risk management, strategic initiatives and global operations support for UCLA in collaboration with the UC system.

Prior to joining UCLA in 2014, Rich served over 20 years in various senior global Treasury leadership roles at large publicly traded multinational companies including Amgen, Herbalife International and Dole Food Company where he was responsible for capital market activities, foreign currency, commodity and interest rate risk management, global insurance and cash operations.

Rich received his BA in Economics from UCLA and later earned his MBA in Corporate Finance from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. He is a Certified Treasury Professional. In addition to his UCLA responsibilities, Rich currently serves on the Board of Directors and as Vice Chairman of the Asset – Liability Committee at the University Credit Union and volunteers as a local youth leader for Scouts BSA.