About the Council
As ambassadors and connectors for the CCC, our Council members aid in the realization of our mission and strategic vision set by our founding Dean Matthew Johnson-Roberson and CCC leadership to be a transformative force in interdisciplinary computing education and research.
Our Council members are professionals who have built careers at the intersection of technology and innovation, and we are grateful for their vital guidance that strengthens our community and ensures long-term success.
The CCC Dean's Advisory Council Co-Chairs
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Jessica Poliner
A&S '03 | Council Co-Chair | Global CEO & Board Director
Jessica D. Poliner is a global CEO and Board Director with over 20 years of leadership experience across North America, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. She has led publicly listed and privately held companies spanning industrial manufacturing, distribution, and technology-enabled SaaS.Most recently, she served as President and CEO of Relayr, acquired by Munich Re for $300 million. She transformed the business into a scaled hardware-enabled SaaS platform serving global industrial OEMs, delivering more than 500% growth in priority segments and leading multiple successful divestitures.Previously, she held senior leadership roles at Trane Technologies (Belgium) and Barnes Group (Germany) and spent nearly a decade in general management at Caterpillar across India, Panama, and the United States. She began her career as a corporate and M&A attorney in the U.S.A dual U.S.–EU citizen, Ms. Poliner combines industrial operating discipline, digital innovation, and board-level governance expertise. She holds degrees from Vanderbilt University, Marquette University Law School, and Harvard Business School and is a published co-author.
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Corey Thomas
ENG '98 | Council Co-Chair (Interim) | Chief Executive Officer of Rapid7
Corey Thomas is the Chief Executive Officer of Rapid7, a leading global cybersecurity company based in Boston. His expertise in technology and business have been recognized through his appointments to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC) and the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Corey contributes cross-industry leadership to the boards of directors of LPL Financial and Vanderbilt University, and currently chairs the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts board of directors and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce.An active champion of the technology community, Corey is an angel investor, provides guidance to companies navigating technology transformations, and is a frequent speaker and panelist. His extensive background includes successfully guiding numerous technology companies through periods of significant growth and innovation.Corey earned a B.E. in electrical engineering and computer science from Vanderbilt University and a MBA from Harvard Business School.
The CCC Dean's Advisory Council Members
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Antonio Akins
ENG '96 | Senior Vice President Of Engineering at Salesforce
I spent my Vanderbilt years roaming the halls of the School of Engineering, Neely Auditorium (nearly completing a theater minor), and McGugin as a member of the track team. After earning my Computer Science degree, I moved to Seattle to begin a software career that has now spanned nearly three decades.My journey includes 14 years at Microsoft and 15 years at Salesforce, where I’ve led organizations through the most transformative shifts in computing—from the rise of the Internet, to mobile, to digital, and now the AI era.I’m excited to support Dean Johnson-Roberson and the College of Connected Computing as Vanderbilt helps shape the next generation of leaders in this pivotal moment for technology.
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Michael Berolzheimer
A&S '00 | Founder & Managing Partner at Bee Partners
Michael Berolzheimer is Founder and Managing Partner at Bee Partners. Michael has partnered with Founders on 100+ pre-seed investments via funds totaling over $150M and has held over a dozen board roles supporting Founders going from zero-to-one. He has amassed nearly two decades of experience at the earliest stages of deep tech venture creation.After assessing tens of thousands of ideas and meeting with thousands of founders, Michael constructed Bee Partners’ Frontier Curve of Innovation™ framework to identify the most promising deals. Michael contributes feature and product support to Bee Partners’ own AI applications. In his ‘previous life’, Michael began his career on Wall Street, working for DLJ and Harvest Partners. Side hustles include teaching his kids how to vibe code and skiing.His curiosity knows no bounds, and he thrives in the uncertainty that persists in inception-stage venture investing. You’ll never meet a more optimistic tech geek. A proud alum and continuing supporter of UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Michael graduated with honors from Vanderbilt University with dual undergraduate degrees in Computer Science and Economics. He currently serves on the boards of Knowde, Embroker, Voltaiq and Sourcetable, as well as the College of Connected Computing Dean’s Advisory Council for Vanderbilt University. Connect with Michael on LinkedIn.
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Raja Clark
Parent '26 | Investor & Non-Profit Volunteer
Raja began her career Goldman, Sachs & Co. in 1994 in the Mergers & Acquisitions department and joined the Real Estate Principal Investment Group in 1996. After Goldman, Raja worked on leveraged buyouts at EXOR America and at First Atlantic Capital before joining Insight Venture Partners. Raja later concentrated on seed and early-stage investments in the areas of digital assets, financial and healthcare services. Key areas of focus throughout have included sourcing, company diligence, and transaction and financing execution. Work with portfolio companies centered on recruiting for senior leadership roles, development of business strategy, financial and operational restructuring, and best practices implementation. Raja also volunteered her time in several non-profit organizations in New York City and in Nashville. A proud Vanderbilt parent and mom of four, Raja graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University with a Bachelors in International Relations and a Masters in Sociology, Management & Organizational Studies.
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Can Envarli
ENG '05 | Vice President of Engineering at Chime
Can Envarli is a VP of Engineering at Chime, where he currently leads teams responsible for core spending, saving, and investing experiences and for bringing large-scale AI capabilities into both member support and product development. He has led the evolution of the company’s AI-powered support assistant, which helps millions of members get fast, personalized answers in chat and voice while keeping humans in the loop for complex or sensitive issues. He has also been driving AI-augmented engineering practices—from AI-assisted coding to data-informed experimentation—to improve developer velocity and product quality. Previously, Can led engineering at LiquidityBook and spent more than eight years at Twitter shipping large-scale video and experimentation platforms, following earlier work in display advertising at Microsoft, and he holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Psychology from Vanderbilt University and an M.S. in Computer Science from Georgia Tech.
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Jennifer Frist
ENG '93 | Principal of Champion
Jennifer Frist was elected to the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust in 2021. She earned her bachelor of science in computer science from Vanderbilt in 1993 and was inducted into the 2021 class of the School of Engineering’s Academy of Distinguished Alumni. She currently sits on the College of Connected Computing Dean’s Advisory Council.Frist, a philanthropist and investor, is currently a principal of the investment management firm Champion. She also serves as a director for the Frist Foundation, one of the largest Tennessee family foundations. She is also currently an Inman trustee of The Ensworth School and sits on the executive committee. She is on the Frist Art Museum Gala Executive Committee and is actively involved in the museum. She has also held past board positions at the Nashville Zoo, Nashville Public Television, Tri-Star Centennial Medical Center, the Nashville Public Education Foundation and the Nashville Humane Association.She and her husband, William “Billy” Frist, were instrumental in the founding of the Frist Center for Autism and Innovation at Vanderbilt, and she serves on the center’s advisory board. Additionally, she serves on the advisory board of The Precisionists Inc., an employment business for those on the autism spectrum.
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Mark Godschalk
A&S '92 | Chief Financial Officer of Rain Capital
With 30 years of entrepreneurial experience in cybersecurity and enterprise software, Mark is passionate about building and investing in innovative solutions that help the good guys fight the good fight. He has founded or joined seven startups as an early employee or senior executive; four have been acquired and two completed IPOs, giving him a deep, end‑to‑end view of company building and value creation. Mark currently serves as CFO of Rain Capital, a leading cybersecurity venture capital firm, and over the past decade has invested in multiple startups while also serving as an independent director.Mark’s prior operating roles include COO/CFO at Eclypsium, Chief Strategy Officer at Secureworks, and GM at HP Software. He engineered HP’s first security acquisition with the purchase of application security pioneer SPI Dynamics and held a front‑row seat at Loudcloud, later chronicled by Ben Horowitz in “The Hard Thing About Hard Things.” Mark received his BA from Vanderbilt and his MBA from Wharton.
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Thomas Hoy
ENG '05 | Vice President of Data Architecture at HCA Healthcare
Thomas Hoy is Vice President of Data Architecture at HCA Healthcare, where he leads enterprise data strategy and architecture for one of the nation’s largest healthcare systems. With more than two decades of experience in healthcare, he has held leadership roles spanning enterprise information management, cloud transformation, and the development of large-scale, secure, and highly scalable data ecosystems that enable clinical, operational, and research innovation.He has led major data modernization initiatives, including enterprise-wide platform transformations and the migration of complex healthcare data environments to the cloud. His work sits at the intersection of data engineering, governance, AI enablement, and cost optimization, translating emerging technologies into practical, mission-driven outcomes. Thomas holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering from Vanderbilt University School of Engineering. As an advisor to the Vanderbilt University College of Connected Computing, he brings industry perspective on data architecture, cloud data platforms, applied AI, and the real-world integration of computing into complex enterprises.
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Rob Thomas
A&S '97 | Senior Vice President of Software and Chief Commercial Officer at IBM
Rob Thomas is Senior Vice President Software and Chief Commercial Officer, IBM. He leads IBM’s software business, including product management and design, product development and business development. In addition, Rob has global responsibility for IBM revenue and profit, including worldwide sales, strategic partnerships and ecosystem. Rob has also overseen numerous transformational acquisitions, representing over $30B in transaction value.Rob is the author of four books on technology and innovation. His most recent book, AI Value Creators, was released in 2025 and shares practical ways to plan your generative AI journey to take maximum advantage of this new innovation while transforming your business. Rob’s other books – Big Data Revolution, The End of Tech Companies and The AI Ladder: Accelerate Your Journey to AI – provide essential advice for business leaders on how to navigate the technological transformations that have defined the past decade.