About this Event
New York, NY
Thursday‚ June 4
6 pm - 8 pm
The Harvard Club of New York
35 West 44th Street
New York‚ NY 10036
The GW community in New York is invited to join us for a reception and discussion with Elliott School Dean Alyssa Ayres. See below for information on our panelists.
During the program‚ we are also pleased to present the International Women of Elliott Alumni Award‚ recognizing exceptional Elliott School alumni who have made significant contributions to the cause of promoting women in global leadership. This year’s recipient is Julie Monaco‚ ESIA BA ’85‚ who retired from Citi in July 2025‚ as Managing Director and Global Head of Public Sector Banking.
Registration for the event is $20 for alumni‚ parents‚ and guests‚ and includes hors d’oeuvres‚ beer‚ wine‚ and soft drinks. Students are free.
Please note that the Harvard Club of New York observes a dress code: Business casual is expected; jackets and ties are not required. Jeans are not permitted.
Registration for this event is now closed‚ and a waitlist has been started. Please contact Liberty Tennyson in Elliott School Alumni Programs at l.tennyson@gwu.edu with any questions and/or to be added to the waitlist. We will be in touch by Thursday morning‚ if we can accommodate you. Unfortunately‚ WALK-INS ARE NOT ALLOWED.
Blair Bennett‚ ESIA BA ’00‚ is a senior talent acquisition executive with extensive experience leading global recruitment strategies across the private sector. Since 2019‚ she has served as Senior Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition at PepsiCo‚ overseeing early career‚ professional‚ and executive hiring worldwide and advancing the company’s position as an employer of choice. Previously‚ Bennett was Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition at Walmart‚ where she led executive recruiting and managed eCommerce talent acquisition during a period of rapid organizational transformation. Her earlier career includes senior roles in human resources and strategic initiatives‚ as well as several years at Korn/Ferry International as a Client Partner and Senior Associate conducting senior‑level searches across multiple industries. Bennett also brings experience in political and nonprofit fundraising‚ having led development efforts for Fraioli & Associates and served as Finance Director for Jody Wagner’s congressional campaign.
Diana Blaney‚ ESIA MA ’93‚ is a financial services executive who transforms data into competitive insights to drive global corporate strategy. Drawing on her Elliott School background in International Finance‚ International Economics‚ and Western European Politics‚ she is an industry leader in measuring corporate performance across regions and business units. Blaney’s Elliott School education sparked a deep passion for global business affairs. She is currently senior director at SS&C‚ a global technology firm‚ where she provides strategic direction and manages a team developing Generative AI tools for financial services clients. She previously held senior leadership roles at Thomson Reuters‚ Euromoney Institutional Investor‚ and Elsevier. She is a member of NICSA’s Data Analytics committee. Diana holds an M.A. in International Affairs from The George Washington University. She has two sons‚ one of whom is a member of GW’s Class of 2026 of the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. She lives in Manhattan with her husband‚ a GW Law graduate.
Dr. Lindsay Sarah Krasnoff‚ ESIA BA ’99‚ is a globally-recognized sports diplomacy expert and consultant whose pioneering work as a scholar-practitioner of basketball diplomacy and Franco-American sports diplomacy inscribed the power of individual lived experiences into the public record. Thanks to these blueprints‚ citizens worldwide can be empowered to be better sports diplomats – or to take inspiration from a sports diplomat’s playbook – in leveling-up their leadership‚ engagement‚ and storytelling abilities. She is the author of Basketball Empire: France and the Making of a Global NBA and WNBA‚ “Views From the Embassy: The Role of the U.S. Diplomatic Community in France‚ 1914‚” and The Making of Les Bleus: Sport in France‚ 1958-2010. Krasnoff directs the FranceAndUS project and has written for national and international media like TIME‚ CNN International‚ The Athletic‚The Washington Post‚ The New Yorker. She is a Clinical Assistant Professor at New York University’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport‚ leading the institute’s new sports diplomacy track. A veteran of the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Historian‚ Krasnoff holds a B.A. from George Washington University; M.A. from NYU; PhD in History from The Graduate Center‚ City University of New York.
Moderator: Appointed in February 2021‚ Alyssa Ayres is the first woman to serve as permanent dean at the Elliott School. She is a foreign policy practitioner and award-winning author with senior experience in the government‚ nonprofit‚ and private sectors. From 2013 to 2021‚ she was a senior fellow for India‚ Pakistan‚ and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations‚ where she remains an adjunct senior fellow‚ and from 2010 to 2013 served as deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia. Her work focuses primarily on India’s role in the world and on U.S. relations with South Asia in the larger Indo-Pacific. Ayres received an AB from Harvard College and an MA and PhD from the University of Chicago. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations‚ the Trilateral Commission‚ the Halifax International Security Forum’s agenda group‚ and serves on the board of directors of the National Endowment for Democracy and the Women’s Foreign Policy Group. In 2021 and 2022‚ the Washingtonian included her as one of their “most influential people shaping policy.”
