INTERNAL — confidential prospect intelligence. Do not share or forward. Working draft, unverified capacity (role proxies only).

Roots Match · Patrons

Capacity prospects

Where the money actually is, by tier. Role-based proxies only — true capacity confirmed by NSSR Advancement's wealth screen.

✓ Verified high-capacity NSSR graduates — found by this engine

Real, degree-confirmed NSSR alumni with major financial capacity. None of them appears on any public alumni list — they went to Wall Street and finance instead of academia, so standard research is blind to them. We found them, then opened their records and confirmed the NSSR graduate degree. This is the engine working.

Samer G.
NSSR — PhD, Economics (verified)
Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Arizona State Retirement System (~$50B+ public pension). Also Imperial MBA, U. of London MSc Quant Finance. Origin: MENA / likely Lebanese — affluent + foreign-origin (match keys on origin, not residence).
Andrew Torgove
NSSR — PhD, Economics (verified)
Managing Director, Lazard
Anant Vashi
NSSR — MA, Economics (verified)
CFO, Mad Capital. Also Weatherhead / Case Western MBA. Origin: India — affluent + foreign-origin.
Lincoln S. Ellis
NSSR — MA + ABD PhD, Political Science (verified)
Chief Investment Officer, a private family office

4 of 4 leads checked verified as genuine NSSR graduates. Dozens more identified and queued. The point: an NSSR alumni base everyone wrote off as "all academics" contains pension CIOs, investment-bank MDs, and family-office principals — we can find them on demand.

The one honest truth: the 107-alumni roster is ~84% academics who cannot fund $52K. Capacity lives in trustees who already give, estates/foundations, foundations alumni run, and benefactor families.

Tier 1 — Act first

NSSR-grad trustees/governors who already give
Montie Mills Meehan
Living PhD Clinical Psych (grad) · grade HIGH
Co-chair NSSR Board of Governors; already endowed Meehan Fellowship
Action: Lead ask — proven grad+donor
David R. Poma
Living MA Economics 2002 (grad) · grade HIGH
New School Trustee + NSSR Governor; private investor (ex-UBS, Credit Lyonnais)
Action: Lead ask
Caitlin D. McKoy
Living PhD Philosophy 2003 (grad) · grade HIGH
Co-chair NSSR Board of Governors + Alumni Trustee
Action: Lead ask
Susan U. Halpern
Living MA 1976 (grad) · grade HIGH
Life Trustee, The New School; private-foundation trustee
Action: Cultivate
Ana Oliveira
Living MA Anthropology 1984 (grad) · grade HIGH
CEO, NY Women's Foundation (~$11M/yr granted)
Action: WARM FIRST CALL

Tier 2 — Estates & career-wealth graduates

Martin J. Whitman estate / Hilda Mullen Foundation
Estate/Foundation MA Economics ~1956 (grad) · grade HIGH
Founder Third Avenue Mgmt (~$3.2B); foundation ~$7.4M, trustees Lois Q. & Barbara E. Whitman
Action: Open family/estate conversation
Alexander Melamid estate
Estate/steward PhD Economics 1951 (grad) · grade HIGH
Named Melamid Fellowship; steward Ilse Melamid (NSSR Governor)
Action: Cultivate steward
Douglas Cliggott
Living (now academic) MA Economics 1985 (grad) · grade MED
Ex-Chief Investment Strategist, JPMorgan
Action: Cultivate
Stewart Krentzman
Living (now adjunct) MA 1977 (grad) · grade MED
Ex-President & CEO, Oki Data Americas
Action: Cultivate
Donna Palumbo
Living PhD Clinical Psych ~1990 (grad) · grade MED
Senior Director, Pfizer
Action: Cultivate (lower ceiling)

Tier 3 — Foundation-grant channel

alumni who direct institutional money
Kimberly Spring
Living PhD Sociology 2012 (grad) · grade HIGH
Dir. Research & Eval, Annie E. Casey Foundation (~$2.8B)
Action: FOUNDATION GRANT channel
Camila Gripp
Living PhD Politics 2019 (grad) · grade HIGH
Sr Research/Eval Officer, Mother Cabrini Health Foundation (~$3.5B)
Action: FOUNDATION GRANT channel
Emma Raynes
Living MA Anthropology ~2009 (grad) · grade MED
Director of Programs, Magnum Foundation
Action: Foundation grant (smaller)

Tier 4 — Benefactor families

mostly not graduates; Advancement owns
Beth Rudin DeWoody
Living BA 1975 (UNDERGRAD - benefactor, not grad) · grade N/A-grad
Rudin real-estate family (~$5.1B); Life Trustee; major philanthropist
Action: Advancement/President owns
Bernard Schwartz
Living NOT a grad · grade N/A
Funded SCEPA ($3.7M); Loral CEO
Action: Advancement owns
Daniel Tishman
Living NOT confirmed grad · grade N/A
Tishman Construction; $1M New School gift
Action: Advancement owns
Robert Mundheim
Living Honorary (not grad) · grade N/A
Long-time trustee; endowed multiple fellowships
Action: Advancement owns
Frank Altschul / Overbrook Foundation
Foundation NOT a grad (funder) · grade N/A
Lazard partner; Overbrook Foundation endowed an NSSR fellowship; still active
Action: Advancement owns

★ Old money — graduates & families who ALREADY finance NSSR scholarships

The brief's target: people connected long ago, with real wealth, who can fund a scholarship NSSR then matches. This is NSSR's own benefactor list — people who already wrote checks for named fellowships. Pre-qualified on both axes (have money + already give). The Roots Match is a renew-and-match play on them and their estates.

Martin J. Whitman
MA Economics ~1956 (grad)
Founder, Third Avenue Mgmt (~$3.2B); $23M to Syracuse. Hilda Mullen Foundation LIVE (trustees Lois Q. & Barbara Whitman). Prime major-gift / estate open.
Walter & Vera Eberstadt
39-year trustee; University-in-Exile patron
Lazard Frères partner, German-Jewish émigré who fled the Nazis — the exact heritage this program honors. Already endowed the Eberstadt Prize Fellowships. Estate/family (d. 2014).
Alexander & Ilse Melamid
PhD Economics 1951 (grad)
Named Melamid Fellowship; living steward Ilse Melamid (NSSR Governor). Estate.
Vera G. List / List family
List family philanthropy
Funded ~12+ NSSR fellowships. Estate/family — deepest existing scholarship donor.
Malcolm & Betty Smith
Longtime trustee
President, General American Investors (closed-end fund). Endowed a named scholarship (2004).
August Heckscher family · Dorothy Hart Hirshon
Old New York wealth
Heckscher Foundation fortune; Hirshon (board chair 1980–85) — both already endowed funds. Estates/families.
Robert & Guna Mundheim
Sr partner, A&O Shearman
Endowed the Latvia-targeted Guna S. Mundheim Fellowship. Living, affluent, diaspora-matched already.
Leo Model Foundation · Rothenberg family · Onassis Foundation
Banker / philanthropy / shipping fortunes
Already fund the Israel (Model), Latin America (Janey/Rothenberg) fellowships. Renew + match + expand.

Why this beats any alumni search: these donors are pre-qualified on both money and willingness. The definitive "old money" record is NSSR Advancement's planned-giving / bequest file — who has already pledged estates. Several already map to the diaspora frame (Model→Israel, Mundheim→Latvia, Rothenberg→Latin America, Eberstadt→Germany).