Our People
Fellows & Scholars
Zephyr’s graduate and senior fellows are active advisors of our intellectual programming and in some cases teach seminars that we host.
LANDON HOBBS
Research Fellow and Director of Academic Programs
Landon Hobbs’s research focuses on Ancient Greek philosophy, especially the theoretical philosophy of Aristotle. He received his PhD from Stanford University in 2023 and is currently pursuing a research project on the content, justification, and use of the ancient metaphysical principle that the cause must precontain its effect.
MOLLY OSHATZ
Senior Fellow & Director of High School Programs
Molly Oshatz is Senior Fellow and Director of High School Programs at the Zephyr Institute’s Center for the Study of First Principles. Educated at Yale University (B.A., Ethics, Politics, and Economics) and the University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D, Intellectual History), she has served as Assistant Professor of History at San Francisco State University and Florida State University. Dr. Oshatz's publications include Slavery and Sin: The Fight Against Slavery and the Rise of Liberal Protestantism (Oxford University Press, 2011). Her work has also been published in Modern Intellectual History, Church History, The Journal of Southern History, and First Things.
AARON KHERIATY
Senior Fellow and Director of the Health and Human Flourishing Program
Aaron Kheriaty is currently Chief of Psychiatry & Ethics at Doc1 Health and Chief of Medical Ethics at The Unity Project. He is a Fellow and Director of the Program in Bioethics and American Democracy at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and a Senior Fellow and Director of the Health and Human Flourishing Program at the Zephyr Institute. Dr. Kheriaty holds the positions of Scholar at the Paul Ramsey Institute, Senior Scholar at the Brownstone Institute, Fellow at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, and he serves on the advisory board at the Simone Weil Center for Political Philosophy.
Dr. Kheriaty graduated from the University of Notre Dame in philosophy and pre-medical sciences, earned his MD degree from Georgetown University, and completed residency training in psychiatry at the University of California Irvine. For many years he was Professor of Psychiatry at UCI School of Medicine and Director of the Medical Ethics Program at UCI Health, where he chaired the ethics committee. He also chaired the ethics committee at the California Department of State Hospitals for several years.
Dr. Kheriaty has authored books and articles for professional and lay audiences on bioethics, social science, psychiatry, religion, and culture. His work has been published in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Arc Digital, The New Atlantis, Public Discourse, City Journal, and First Things. He has conducted print, radio, and television interviews on bioethics topics with The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, Fox, and NPR.
On matters of public policy and healthcare he has addressed the California Medical Association and has testified before the California Senate Health Committee. Dr. Kheriaty has consulted on Covid related ethical issues during the pandemic, such as ventilator triage and vaccine allocation, for the UC Office of the President, the County of Orange Healthcare Agency, and the California Department of Public Health.
GEORGE BARTH
Senior Fellow, Center for the Study of First Principles
George Barth is Billie Bennett Achilles Director of Keyboard Programs and Professor of Music at Stanford University. As the director of Stanford’s keyboard programs in the Department of Music, his specializations include eighteenth- to twentieth-century performance practice and the piano music of Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Ives and Bartók. Along with his teaching and administrative responsibilities, Professor Barth pursues research interests ranging from eighteenth-century pedagogy to twentieth-century composition. His publications include The Pianist as Orator: Beethoven and the Transformation of Keyboard Style (Cornell University Press, 1992).
Godefroy Desjonquères
Graduate Fellow
Godefroy Desjonquères is a doctoral candidate in political philosophy at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, in Paris. His dissertation explores the political and moral implications of holism in social philosophy, drawing mainly on the works by Ludwig Wittgenstein, G.E.M. Anscombe, and Alasdair MacIntyre. In parallel with his thesis, he is currently translating MacIntyre’s Ethics in the Conflicts of Modernity into French.
Board of Directors
BOYD SMITH G’64
Chairman of the Board
Boyd C. Smith G’64 is a private investor in commercial real estate and high-tech start-up companies. He and his two business partners founded the California Family Foundation, which funds Beechwood School, an independent K-8 school that serves low-income and minority students. He and his wife, Jill, also founded the Golden Gate Family Foundation, which runs a scholarship and college preparation mentoring program for youth. He is an Emeritus Board Member of the Hoover Institution Board of Overseers at Stanford University and past Board Member of the Lucille Packard Foundation for Children’s Health. He holds a B.S. in Economics from the University of Utah and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
MATT BOWMAN
President and Executive Director
Matt Bowman is the Board President and Executive Director of the Zephyr Institute. His work focuses on technology-driven innovation in education systems. He cofounded EdSurge, a news service for education entrepreneurs. He worked previously as a KIPP teacher, Teach for America corps member, and writer for VentureBeat, and helped launch the Phaedrus Initiative, a nationwide network of inner-city blended-learning schools. He holds a B.A. in History from UC Berkeley. His interests are in moral philosophy and the history of ideas, and he particularly enjoys discussing the telos of human life and action, and the historical context of intellectual trends.
LUIS TELLEZ
Director
Luis Tellez is president of the Witherspoon Institute. He spent the early part of his career working in the chemical industry, and subsequently spent over twenty years administering several non-profit corporations. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering and an MBA in Finance from Washington University in St. Louis.
JOHN ENDRIZ G’70
Director
Dr. John Endriz G’70 spent his career in engineering and technical management in the field of physical electronics. He has worked as guest researcher at the University of Linköping (L.T.H.), Sweden; project manager at RCA Sarnoff Laboratories (flat-screen TV); division engineering manager at Varian Image Tube Division (night vision); and vice president of engineering at SDL, Inc. (later JDSU, Inc.) (communications lasers). Since retiring in 1999, Dr. Endriz has been active in charities involved with inner-city K-12 education (Big Shoulders Fund, Chicago) and higher education (Stanford Multiple Sclerosis Research, ISI, ACTA). He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from MIT, and a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
KIRK HOIBERG
Director
Mr. Hoiberg has over 25 years of experience in leading successful privately held companies - including four from start-up. From 1992 to 1998, Kirk was President of MixStar Incorporated, a business-to-business vertical market application serving the residential mortgage banking industry and the first business-to-business application on America Online. From 2001 to 2003 he was a Senior Associate and Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company. From 2003 to 2008, he was Senior Managing Director within CB Richards Ellis’ Global Corporate Services business unit which managed over 1.3 billion square feet of commercial real estate on behalf of Fortune 500 companies, and which acquired Trammell Crow for over $2 billion in 2006. Kirk was a founding employee of GoldPocket Interactive which was eventually sold in 2006 to Tandberg.
In 2008, Kirk and two other Principals co-founded Trinitas Partners, a private equity investment company that specializes in identifying superior investments within sectors characterized by favorable supply/demand dynamics and in which hard assets and real property play a central role. In 2017, Trinitas formed Pomona Farming LP, a joint venture with PSP Investments to create a global food and agriculture business which has grown to well over $1b in invested capital and which now is one of the largest food and agricultural businesses in California’s Central Valley and also the principal owner of Mahi Pono, LLC, the largest private landowner on Maui and operator of a diversified agricultural business on Maui which consists of over 40,000 acres and is focused on food security and sustainability. In 1992, Mr. Hoiberg graduated summa cum laude from Claremont McKenna College with degrees in economics and mathematics. In 2000, he graduated from Harvard Business School with High Distinction as a Baker Scholar.
ANDRE VANIER ’97 G’04
Director
Andre Vanier ’97 G’04 is a veteran entrepreneur and executive. He founded two start-ups with exits to major strategics (INFONXX and YHOO). He is passionate about building products that meet real user needs and leading teams to confront market challenges. After Yahoo acquired his second start-up in 2013, he was responsible for a nine figure revenue portfolio of search products. He co-founded United Students for Veterans' Health, the nation's most enduring organization mobilizing students to volunteer with hospitalized veterans. He has also served under two California governors on the state public service board. He holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Stanford University, an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a J.D. from Stanford Law School. He is a member of the California Bar.
JUDY ROMEA ’14 G’21
Director
Judy Romea ’14 G’21 is Program Director of the Zephyr Institute’s Center for the Study of the Professions and Moral Purpose, and former Associate Director of the Zephyr Institute. Before joining Zephyr, she worked as a consultant in PwC’s strategic technologies group for pharmaceutical companies. She holds a B.A. in Economics and a minor in International Relations from Stanford University, where she served as editor-in-chief of the Stanford Review. She just completed her MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Her interests are in business ethics and the philosophy and theology of culture.
LYRA RUFINO-MACEDA
Director
Lyra Rufino-Maceda is a founding board member of the Chesterton Academy of St. James. Her work has focused on volunteer teaching and supporting education (Georgetown Board of Regents, CUA School of Philosophy Board of Visitors, Canyon Heights Academy) and educational non-profits (SF International Diplomacy Council, Philippine International Aid, The Culture Project International Regional Development Council, and the Martial Arts Character Development Alliance).
She holds an MA in International Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy-Tufts, an MA in Liberal Studies from Georgetown and a JD from Boalt-UC Berkeley. She is a member of the California Bar. Her interests lie in moral philosophy, human rights, and bioethics.
MELISSA WATERS
Director
Melissa Waters grew up managing a sheep farm with her 4 sisters, and was heavily involved in the 4-H organization at local, state and national levels. She holds a B.F.A degree from St. Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN, and has a professional background managing creative teams in developing corporate/brand identity programs (Chicago, Silicon Valley).
Her passion for life, truths and human formation takes various paths, such as participating in Benedictine College’s “Transform the Culture” strategic plan, coaching an Odyssey of the Mind team, and serving as a crisis phone counselor and trainer for the Tokyo English Life Line.
Currently she is a member of the President’s Advisory Council for FOCUS, leads community and fundraising efforts at Canyon Heights Academy, and is involved in various ways in other organizations which are generally in the area of formation.
Staff
MATT BOWMAN
President and Executive Director
Matt Bowman is the Board President and Executive Director of the Zephyr Institute. His work focuses on technology-driven innovation in education systems. He cofounded EdSurge, a news service for education entrepreneurs. He worked previously as a KIPP teacher, Teach for America corps member, and writer for VentureBeat, and helped launch the Phaedrus Initiative, a nationwide network of inner-city blended-learning schools. He holds a B.A. in History from UC Berkeley. His interests are in moral philosophy and the history of ideas, and he particularly enjoys discussing the telos of human life and action, and the historical context of intellectual trends.
DANIELA ASUNCION
Director of Operations
Daniela Asuncion is the Director of Operations. Her work involves the event management, marketing management and administrative dimensions of the Institute. She has held hybrid operations and project management roles for IBM, Hewlett Packard, and Oracle. She holds a B.S. in Computer Science and an MBA from the University of the Philippines Diliman. Her interests are in ethics and natural law.
Young Alumni Council
The Young Alumni Council is an invitational collective of recent Stanford alumni who were involved with the Zephyr Institute and exemplify Zephyr’s commitment to liberal learning and intellectual friendship. The work of the council focuses on two pillars: mentorship and ideas.
Read more about the council here.
SARAH THOMAS ’19
Chair, Young Alumni Council
Sarah Thomas ’19 served as Associate Director of the Zephyr Institute in 2019-20. Currently, she works at International Christian Concern, an NGO which supports the persecuted Church around the world through awareness, assistance, and advocacy. Sarah holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Religious Studies and a minor in Data Science from Stanford University. She also studied theology and intellectual history at the University of Oxford, and pursued graduate studies in philosophy at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. Sarah has presented papers at Stanford University, the University of Dallas, the Eric Voegelin Society, and the Pedagogical University of Kraków. While an undergraduate, she worked at the Stanford Literary Lab, Stanford Humanities Center, Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis, and Religious Freedom Institute. For two years, she served as editor-in-chief of the Stanford journal of Christian thought, affiliated with the Augustine Collective. For several years, she served as a music director of Stanford’s college radio station, and had a show that was mostly shoegaze and ambient drone. Sarah’s interests are in metaphysics, political theology, and the history & future of natural law thinking.
Most life-altering primary text read during university: Anselm, Monologion
ANTONIO AGUILAR ’18
Member · San Francisco, CA
Antonio Aguilar ’18 was born and raised in San José, Costa Rica. He holds a B.S. in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University. At Stanford, he paired a love of the humanities with a desire for technical knowledge by studying philosophy and literature as well as artificial intelligence and mathematics. He was an advising fellow for the Symbolic Systems Program, did research with the Human-Computer Interaction Group in the Computer Science department, staffed student residences junior and senior years, led his fraternity’s member development arm, and volunteered in the Catholic Community at Stanford, leading weekly meetings and co-founding the Stanford chapter of the Thomistic Institute. Following graduation, he joined Alloy, a supply chain and sales analytics platform based in San Francisco. Today, he works on their Solutions Architecture team helping deploy their software at scale and improving data operations. As of September 2020, he is also a member of the Stanford Alumni Association Board of Directors. In his spare time, Antonio enjoys cooking and baking with fresh ingredients from the farmers market and playing modern strategy board games.
Most life-altering primary text read during university: Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
ELISE KOSTIAL ’18
Member · New Haven, CT
Elise Kostial ’18 is a second-year J.D. candidate at Yale Law School, where she serves on the board of the Yale Federalist Society and as an editor of the Yale Law Journal. Before attending law school, she spent a year as a Rehnquist Fellow at Cooper & Kirk, an appellate litigation firm in Washington, D.C. Elise holds a B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University, where she was awarded the Firestone Medal for Excellence in Undergraduate Research for her honors thesis “Time Heals All: Timing and Competitiveness of Primary Elections.” She also studied comparative politics at the University of Oxford. Elise held leadership positions at the Stanford Conservative Society, Stanford Board on Judicial Affairs, and Stanford Students for Life. She is originally from St. Louis, Missouri.
Most life-altering primary text read during university: The Federalist Papers
HORMAZD GODREJ ’19 G’20
Member · Palo Alto, CA
Hormazd Godrej ’19 G’20 is a recent graduate from Stanford's M.S. program in Statistics. He holds a B.S. in Biology, with a specialization in Computational Biology, from Stanford University. Hormazd developed an interest in philosophical and literary texts as a student in Stanford’s Structured Liberal Education (SLE) program during his freshman year. He has done research at the Rosenberg Lab at Stanford in population genetics, on which he wrote his undergraduate honors thesis. While an undergraduate, he studied abroad for a quarter in Florence, attended an overseas seminar on Israeli politics in Jerusalem, and participated in the Stanford in Washington program, during which he did research on biosecurity at the Nuclear Threat Initiative. He also served as a writing tutor for SLE and as an RA in FroSoCo. Hormazd has a keen interest in artificial intelligence, from both a technical and philosophical standpoint. He enjoys reading about and discussing religion, American politics, and the Effective Altruism movement.
Most life-altering primary text read during university: Mill, On Liberty
EMILY KING ’19
Member · Chicago, IL
Emily King ’19 is a graduate student at the University of Chicago Divinity School, where she was awarded the Elsa Marty Fellowship in Ministry. She holds a B.A. in English with distinction from Stanford University. She also studied literature and philosophy at the University of Oxford. At Stanford, she was awarded the Robert M. Golden Medal for Excellence in the Humanities for her honors thesis “Poetry as Decreation: Impersonality and Grace in T.S. Eliot and Simone Weil.” Emily has presented papers at the American Literature Association, the T.S. Eliot Society, and the American Weil Society. She has worked at Commonweal Magazine, Philosophy Talk, the Sacramento Bee, and Stanford’s Arts Intensive and Structured Liberal Education (SLE) programs. Most recently, she was a Summer Fellow at the Zephyr Institute.
Most life-altering primary text read during university: Simone Weil, Waiting for God
MYRIAM YAO ’19
Member · Palo Alto, CA
Myriam Yao ’19 graduated from Stanford University in 2019 with a B.A. in Political Science and concentrations in justice, law, and ethics and international relations. She has long felt driven to understand the ideas that shape how people view their relationships with each other and with their societies. Myriam currently works in community outreach at a San Jose-based nonprofit women's health clinic, which provides low- to no-cost reproductive health services, prenatal care, and optimal health education. As an undergraduate, she worked as a research assistant in the Stanford Political Psychology Research Group, as a course assistant in the Stanford Center for Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, and as a housing rights intern at the Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A. She has held fellowships from the Ayaan Hirsi Ali Foundation, Ideas Beyond Borders, and the Zephyr Institute.
Most life-altering primary text read during university: G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
JOEL DOMINIC ’20 G’20
Member · Austin, TX
Joel Dominic ’20 G’20 is a Quantitative Trader at Virtu Financial in Austin, TX. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy, B.A. in Mathematics, and M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University. At Stanford, he did research his senior year developing an original philosophy of beauty. Joel has worked as a software engineer at Lumina. He is a former Junior Fellow at the Zephyr Institute, and an alumnus of Structured Liberal Education.
Most life-altering primary text read during university: Augustine, Confessions