alumni ProfilEs

2021 alumni ExcEllEncE award: marK KlEtt ’71

ahead of His Time

When Mark Klett graduated from Rivers, in 1971, the coming computer revolution was on few people’s radars. But Klett was among those who knew that those large and clunky early machines were way more than glorified calculators.

It wasn’t mere prescience that led Klett to study computer science at the U.S. Naval Academy. “Abraham Lincoln said, ‘The best way to predict the future is to create it,’” says Klett, the recipient of this year’s Alumni Excellence Award.

To that end, Klett’s business, Klett Consulting Group Inc., has worked with countless clients to develop systems, manage programs, and enhance cybersecurity. Many of Klett’s clients are government and military, an outgrowth of his own 20-year career in the Navy. Today, he uses his military networks and experience to pursue such projects as designing information architecture for aircraft carriers and serving as a prime contractor for cybersecurity and communications within the Department of Homeland Security.

A bit surprisingly, Klett’s education in computer science began at Rivers. Few high schools were offering the subject at that time. “It wasn’t a very popular thing,” Klett says. “But my first computer experience was at Rivers. They had some computers there, and I learned some programming in BASIC.”

Klett didn’t spend all his time at Rivers in the computer lab; a star athlete and strong student, he played football, basketball, and lacrosse, serving as co-captain of the first two and going on to play the third in college; he performed with the glee club and drama club; and he worked at the Rivers summer camp. “I did so much, most people thought I was there four or five years,” says Klett, but in fact, he only arrived at Rivers in time for his junior year. His family had recently relocated from New Jersey to Wellesley, and after crossing paths with then Rivers athletic director Andy Navoni, he pitched his parents on the idea of attending Rivers.

They didn’t bite. “They said we couldn’t afford it, so I said I would pay for it,” recalls Klett. Good for his word, he received some financial aid and made up the difference by working various jobs, saving his earnings toward tuition. Ultimately, his parents conceded it was the right choice, sending his younger brother Tom ’77 along to Rivers in his footsteps. Despite the sacrifices it demanded, says Klett, “Rivers was a terrific fit, and it really prepared me for college. The Naval Academy is a pretty rigorous place to go to school, but I continued to use the study habits and leadership skills I learned at Rivers.”

After Annapolis, Klett was shipped out to Newport, R.I., and thus began a 20-year odyssey that took Klett and, eventually, his family to ports around the world. It was a challenging and peripatetic lifestyle that sometimes separated him from his wife and two children for months at a time. But he embraced the challenges and the opportunities that came along with them. “I learned a lot from it that I’ve been able to apply to my work as an entrepreneur,” says Klett.

He founded KCG in 2002. Today, the firm has 70 employees and has earned numerous accolades, including being named a “best place to work” in Hampton Roads, Va., for the past two years running. He’s particularly proud of that honor: “We work hard to take care of our people and to be a well-rounded company.”

KCG specializes in various areas, but Klett’s passion is cybersecurity. It’s not just his work; he frequently teaches and lectures on the topic, addressing government and community organizations. “I’m a technology translator,” he says—one who breaks down complicated topics for lay audiences. “People need to have an awareness about being cyber safe and what constitutes good cyber hygiene,” a term he coined for the type of vigilance needed to ensure our devices are safe from hackers.

He’s also involved in the effort to bring high-speed internet to Hampton Roads, serves on several boards and advisory groups, volunteers, and in his spare time (of which he has admittedly little) golfs and takes his boat out on the ocean. In some ways, his busy life echoes the trajectory he began at Rivers: Klett still has a way of packing in more activity than seems humanly possible. But perhaps what keeps him going is the lifelong drive to see and shape the future. Circling back to Lincoln’s words, he adds, “I’ve embraced that my whole career.”

wEndy nicolas ’11

Changing the System

Aself-described poster child for liberal arts education, Wendy Nicolas ’11 wasn’t always sure where her ambitions might lead. But she knew one thing: “I wanted to help people, and I wanted to make an impact.”

Goal achieved, as Nicolas enters her third year as a senior program associate for health care transformation and innovation at the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, an independent state agency that develops policy to reduce health care cost growth and improve patient care.

“It sounds very complicated,” says Nicolas, recipient of a Young Alumni Achievement Award from Rivers this year. But at base, she explains, she and her team support hospitals and other health-care providers across Massachusetts in developing programs addressing such concerns as opioid use disorder treatment, housing insecurity, and unemployment. They work with providers to make sure that their money is being put to optimal use. “My job within all that,” says Nicolas, “is program development and operations, checking in with the providers and program teams to whom we provide grant funding, helping them solve problems, and tracking their progress against stated goals.”

In hindsight, Nicolas’s career follows a logical trajectory, but, she says, “If you had asked me five years ago if this is what I’d be doing, I couldn’t have foreseen this.”

She was then a recent graduate of Colgate University, with a degree in biology and philosophy. Colgate emphasizes liberal arts, and, says Nicolas, “I had taken full advantage of that, with classes in sociology, political science, and other subjects that interested me.”

She knew she wanted to work in the area of health care, but a frightening experience at the end of her freshman year convinced her that clinical care was not her path. “My mom had a heart attack. She’s fine now, but dealing with the hospital and seeing how fragmented the system is, I had a realization: The type of problems I hoped to fix are bigger, systemic issues. I felt that if I could help create impactful changes in health policy, I could help so many more people than I could as a surgeon or a nurse.”

After taking a hard look at her strengths and interests, Nicolas decided the best fit would be public health. She enrolled at Boston University School of Public Health, completing her master of public health degree in 2018. While at BU, she completed her first stint at the Health Policy Commission, through a fellowship.

Following graduate school, she took a job in insurance consulting. “But even though that helps people, it’s very financially driven, and I still felt this very distinct need to give back; I needed to return to a more missiondriven environment,” says Nicolas. She rejoined the HPC in July 2019.

Nicolas credits Rivers with at least some of her drive to give back. “What I loved most about my time at Rivers was that it allowed me to do things I never thought I could do,” says Nicolas. “I developed an interest in art, completed the Summer Session in Spain, took on a new sport, and pursued really fascinating interdisciplinary courses. My teachers taught me that asking questions is a good thing. They fostered my curiosity, while always reinforcing the importance of community, and it was the foundation for everything I’ve built since.”

COVID has touched everyone who works in the health-care sector, and Nicolas is no exception. “As soon as COVID hit, I saw a shift in what program teams were prioritizing: Instead of worrying about transportation to appointments, they’re worried about getting patients comfortable with telehealth platforms and ensuring they have stable housing.” It was inspiring to see the response of the programs she works with: “They were very nimble, quickly understanding the situation and changing their approach or adding new services to meet patients where they were. There’s something really powerful about hearing how much of a difference these programs make in patients’ lives.”

Just as she’d hoped, Nicolas’s work has a big impact. Sometimes, she says, she can’t quite believe she’s been in the workforce for a mere three years. “It’s cool to see what I’ve been able to accomplish in that time,” says Nicolas. Ever a liberal-arts student at heart, she doesn’t know where her journey will take her next. “Only time will tell,” she says. “But one thing’s for certain: I’ll always be trying to change the system for the better.”— JD

calliE bullion ’10

Called to Serve

When Callie Bullion ’10 arrived at Rivers in ninth grade, she was, in her own estimation, “a bit of a nerd.”

“I was a quiet, reserved kid,” she recalls. A strong student who served as captain of the track and crosscountry teams, Bullion also knew what kind of person she wanted to become as she moved through college and toward a career: a leader who serves her country and community. For Bullion, who is one of this year’s Young Alumni Achievement Award recipients at Rivers, there was no better path to leadership and a life of service than joining the U.S. Army.

Today, Bullion is an Army captain who says, “The military really pushed me to come out of my shell and learn to be that leading voice.” When we spoke to her in March, she was on a deployment in Afghanistan, serving as right hand to the commander and overseeing day-to-day operations for her unit. Although it has presented its fair share of challenges, the Army has been a perfect fit for Bullion. She is voluble in her praise for the military and the opportunities it has given her to grow professionally and personally.

Serving her country was not a foregone conclusion for Bullion, though it was always a possibility. “I come from a military family,” she explains. “My dad served 30 years in the Army Reserve, and for a long time, it was in the back of my mind as a possible career choice.”

It was at Rivers, she says, that she “developed critical thinking skills and, in particular, learned to ask questions and cast a critical eye.” Rivers also pushed her to take academic risks. “I’m not very artistic, but I took a sculpture class with Rindy Garner that forced me to think about things in a different way,” she recalls. “I really appreciate having been asked to go outside my comfort zone.” Languages were a strong interest, and Bullion has fond memories of traveling to Cadiz, Spain, with the Rivers program.

After Rivers, at Middlebury, she went on to minor in Spanish while majoring in anthropology. “I was very interested in broadening my worldview to learn about other people and cultures outside my usual bubble,” Bullion notes. It was while in college that she began to think more seriously about a military career. “The military was a unique way to serve other people, challenge myself, learn valuable lessons in how to be a leader, and work with people from various backgrounds.” Sophomore year, she joined the Reserve Officers Training Corps—ROTC—at the University of Vermont, and in 2014, she was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant.

As a reservist, her service is largely limited to weekends, and after college, she worked as a civilian for the Department of Defense, while also serving in the Reserves. But make no mistake, the Reserves are demanding: In 2017, Bullion did her first deployment, to Iraq. She will likely continue to deploy on and off for the remainder of her career, in between longer stints at home. Most recently, before her current turn in Afghanistan, she was working in a civilian role with the Air Force in Florida.

Has the military proven to be the growth opportunity she sought? Bullion’s answer is an unequivocal yes. “There were definitely some growing pains for a young officer; I had to learn to have confidence in my own knowledge and leadership abilities. Now, almost seven years in, that’s gotten easier. The people around me have helped with that— smart and insightful people who challenge me on my ideas and force me to think more critically about my decisions. At the end of the day, taking care of people is by far the best part of being a leader.”

This past November, Bullion joined a panel of young Rivers alumni serving in the military, as part of the school’s Veterans Day observance. She noted that the key factor behind her career is choosing a life of service. “You don’t have to be in the military to do that,” she said. “I encourage young people to serve their community, whether in the military or for a cause they’re passionate about. There are many ways we can all serve each other.”

For Bullion, though, military service has been uniquely rewarding, and she sees at least one comparison between the Army and Rivers. “Rivers uses the motto Integritas et Sedulitas— integrity and perseverance,” she says. “And integrity is one of our core values in the Army, a similar touchstone. It’s a nice parallel.”