Alumnae Profiles

Edith V. Avilés de Kostes '88

Regional Head of CIB Latin America (ex Brazil), BNP Paribas

Edith Avilés de Kostes ‘88 focuses on large international private equity funds, targeting investment banking products to meet client needs. BNP Paribas is the fifth largest company in the banking industry worldwide. Headquartered in Paris, it has operations in over 85 countries.

Prior to joining BNP Paribas, Ms. Avilés de Kostes was a Principal of D.F. Hadley & Co., a boutique investment and merchant bank. She holds an M.A. in Latin American Studies from Stanford University, and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Alexis Iwanisziw '03

Deputy Director, New Economy Project

Alexis Iwanisziw ’03 joined New Economy Project (formerly Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, or NEDAP) in July 2008 as Program Associate. New Economy Project, a resource and advocacy center for community groups in New York City promotes community economic justice and seeks to eliminate discriminatory economic practices that harm communities and perpetuate inequality and poverty.  Alexis conducts research and field work for several anti-predatory lending and immigrant financial justice initiatives. A math and econ major at Bryn Mawr, Alexis received her master's degree in Community Organization and Planning at Hunter College School of Social Work and previously worked in the Research and Statistics Group at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Martha W. Paas Ph.D. '79

Wadsworth A. Williams Professor of Economics, Carleton College

Martha Paas Ph.D. ’79 is the Wadsworth A. Williams Professor of Economics at Carleton College. Her regular courses include European Economic History, History of Economic Ideas, Economics of the Arts and Culture, and Macroeconomics. She has written a book on population change and labor markets in early modern Germany, and has a book forthcoming with Yale University Press on the Kipper und Wipper inflation of 1619-23. She has held a Senior Research Fulbright Fellowship in Germany and is the architect of the annual Carleton Seminar in Economics Cambridge, England, which she began in 1983.

She holds a B.A. from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College.

Alice M. Rivlin '52 (1931-2019)

Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution; Director of the Congressional Budget Office; President of the American Economic Asociation

Alice M. Rivlin ’52 (1931-2019) was a Senior Fellow in the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution and served as Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve Board from 1996 to 1999. Among her many other acts of public service, she was the founding Director of the Congressional Budget Office (1975-1983); Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget from 1994 to 1996; and Chair of the District of Columbia Financial Management Assistance Authority (1998-2001). Ms. Rivlin received a MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship, taught at Harvard, George Mason, and New School Universities, and served as President of the American Economic Association and on the Boards of Directors of several corporations. She earned her economics PhD from Radcliffe College (Harvard University).

Beth Springer '84

Lead Independent Director, Board of Nature's Sunshine Products

Before serving on the Boards of Directors of several growing, consumer-driven companies, Beth Springer ‘86 was executive vice president – strategy and growth – for The Clorox Company. There she had responsibility for enterprise long-range strategy and business planning. She also oversaw the company's growth planning, including new ventures, licensing, and mergers and acquisitions activities, as well as the eco office.

Springer, who holds a Harvard MBA (a Baker Scholar), joined Clorox in 1990 as associate marketing manager for Household Products, and subsequently held marketing positions of increasing responsibility in the company's Cat Litter, Household Cleaning, Laundry and Glad businesses. In January 2005, she was named group vice president with responsibility for the Glad Products joint venture with the Procter & Gamble Company and The Clorox Company's cat litter, Kingsford charcoal and Food businesses. Springer worked for Braxton Associates/Deloitte in management consulting before joining Clorox.