Keith Benjamin '09

Keith Benjamin is Vice President, National Cities Initiative Leader at STV where works with clients across the country to develop holistic strategies focused on improving infrastructure, transportation, and organizational resilience at the municipal and regional levels.

Benjamin previously served in the Biden Administration as Associate Administrator for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) at the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), where he received the department's highest honor, the USDOT Gold Medal. There, he oversaw FHWA's implementation strategy for the $350 billion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, launched a new strategic plan, and maintained bilateral connections with Asia, Europe, and Africa.  

Prior to his federal appointment, Benjamin was Director of the department of traffic and transportation for the City of Charleston, SC where he received a joint resolution for outstanding service from the South Carolina Senate and the House of Representatives. He also served in the Obama Administration, overseeing the initial formation of the Transportation Equity Caucus, represented 155,000 workers with the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) and was the Community Partnership Manager for the Safe Routes to School National Partnership.

Keith has been a fellow with the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL), the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) Leadership program, Next City Vanguard, the Riley Institute at Furman’s Diversity Leaders Initiative (DLI) and the Eno Transportation Senior Executive (TSE) program.

Benjamin is a graduate of Swarthmore College and lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and son.

Alberto Mora '74

Alberto Mora (Swarthmore, BA ‘74, Hon. ’08; Miami, JD ‘81) is an American attorney. His career has spanned private practice, including as a major law firm partner and corporate general counsel; U.S. government service, including as a State Department Foreign Service Officer and General Counsel of two federal agencies; and academia, including holding an Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellowship from Harvard and serving as a Resident Senior Fellow at the Kennedy School’s Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights Policy. At the time of his retirement, Mora was the American Bar Association’s Associate Executive Director for Global Programs, where he directed the ABA’s Rule of Law Initiative and the Center for Human Rights.

Mora served as General Counsel of the Department of the Navy from 2001 to 2006. In 2006, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Foundation awarded him its Profile in Courage Award for his consistent opposition, while serving in the Bush administration, to the use of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment to detainees captured during the War on Terror.

Anne Schuchat '80, H'05

Anne Schuchat, MD (Swarthmore BA 1980, Hon. D. Sci. 2005) served three decades at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including two stints as Acting Director.  She was the first Director of CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases and Chief Health Officer during the 2009 influenza pandemic. In the 1990s, Schuchat spearheaded national guidelines for prevention of group B strep disease in newborns. Dr. Schuchat retired as a two-star Rear Admiral in the Commissioned Corps of the US Public Health Service. She graduated from Swarthmore with Highest Honors in Philosophy, followed by medical school at Dartmouth and internal medicine residency at NYU’s Manhattan VA Hospital. She is on the boards of Swarthmore College and GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance and is completing a book about her CDC experiences.

Kathryn Zyla '96

Kathryn Zyla is the Executive Director of the Georgetown Climate Center, where she oversees the Center’s work at the nexus of climate and energy policy, supervising staff and student work on climate mitigation and adaptation at the state and federal level. She is also a senior lecturer at Georgetown University Law Center and faculty advisor for the student Georgetown Energy Law Group.

Zyla served as Deputy Director and Director of Research and Policy Analysis for the Climate Center from 2009–2018. Prior roles include Program Director, Northeast Policy, at Energy Foundation; Senior Associate in the Climate and Energy Program at the World Resources Institute; and Senior Research Fellow for Domestic Policy at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. She has a BS in engineering from Swarthmore College, a Master of Environmental Management from the Yale School of the Environment, and a JD, cum laude, from Georgetown Law.

Zyla was appointed by Administrator Regan to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Mobile Sources Technical Review Subcommittee of the Clean Air Act Advisory Committee from 2022–2025, has served as a Commissioner on the District of Columbia’s Commission on Climate Change and Resiliency since 2017, and was a member of the Engineering Advisory Council for Swarthmore College from 2013–2018. In 2016, she received the Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Law and Finance Award, given by the Department of Energy, MIT Energy Initiative, and Stanford Precourt Institute for Energy.