Young Alumni Trustees

About the Young Alumni Trustees

The Vanderbilt Board of Trust includes four Young Alumni Trustees (YATs) who bring the knowledge and viewpoints of young alumni and current students to the Board. One YAT is selected each year to serve as a full board member for a four-year term.

The Young Alumni Trustee selection process

Each spring, members of the senior class may nominate up to three candidates (including him or herself) for Young Alumni Trustee. Then, the nominating committee (comprised of members of the junior class and alumni who graduated one year ago) deliberates on all nominated candidates to determine a slate of three to be voted on by the junior class, senior class, and alumni who graduated one year ago. After the vote, the Vanderbilt Alumni Association (VAA) offer the elected name for approval by the Vanderbilt Board of Trust as the newest Young Alumni Trustee.

Current Young Alumni Trustees

Each YAT serves as a full voting Board member for a four-year term.

	Chandler Anthony, BA’12 Current location: Dallas, TX Chandler Anthony graduated in 2012 from the College of Arts and Science, with a major in economics and double minors in corporate strategy and financial economics. As an Ingram Scholar, Chandler spent his final semester in an independent study developing a rehabilitation home for street boys in Kenya. Throughout his undergraduate career, he helped coordinate 31 Manna Project International spring break trips, led seven mission trips to Honduras, and organized legislative initiatives for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Chandler has served as the AcFee Service Committee co-chair and is a former member of the club baseball and tennis teams. He is a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and served as its philanthropy chair, leading the 2010 Kickoff Cookoff charity tailgate which raised over $30,000 for Fannie Battle Day Home for Children. After graduation, Chandler joined Bain & Company in Dallas, TX as a management consultant. In the future, Chandler plans to pursue an MBA and a career in economic development through social enterprises in East Africa and Latin America.
	Leslie Labruto, BE’11 Current Location: Cape Town, South Africa Labruto graduated from Vanderbilt in 2011 with a degree in civil engineering with a double minor in engineering management and energy and environmental systems. While at Vanderbilt, she served as president of Students Promoting Environmental Awareness and Recycling (SPEAR) and led an initiative in partnership with Vanderbilt Student Government to secure Vanderbilt’s $75,000 Green Fund for sustainable student initiatives on campus. Leslie also helped create Vanderbilt’s first humanitarian senior design project which aims to bring renewable energy to a community in Guatemala. For her 21st birthday, Leslie raised $5,647 to benefit her charity: Water Campaign. She also served as a VUceptor with Chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos for three years; participated in Engineers Without Borders’ implementation project in Peru; Manna Project International in Argentina; and VISAGE South Africa. Leslie served on the board of Global Poverty Initiative and the American Society of Civil Engineers student chapter; and reviewed honor code cases as an Appellate Review Board member. Leslie was a member of the Pi Beta Phi women’s fraternity and was actively and enthusiastically involved in the Vanderbilt student community. After graduation, Leslie pursued her masters of science in sustainable energy futures at Imperial College London in England.
	Wyatt Smith, BS’10 Current Location: Reform, AL Wyatt Smith is a 2010 graduate of Peabody College with a double major in human and organizational development and political science with a minor in economics. As president of Vanderbilt Student Government, Wyatt helped drive improvements in many aspects of student life, including the replacement of the OASIS course enrollment system and the creation of a $250,000 Global Summer Fellows scholarship fund for student study abroad. As a member of the Ingram Scholars program, Wyatt pursued a range of community service projects during his time at Vanderbilt, including tutoring through the Synergy, Vanderbuddies, and Art Reach organizations and participation in two Manna Project alternative spring break trips. He was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and served as its philanthropy chairman, leading the 2007 kickoff charity tailgate. Wyatt has also been an active member of the Vanderbilt Catholic Community, where he regularly served as a lector and Eucharistic minister. Following graduation and election as a young alumni trustee, Wyatt traveled across 30 countries on six continents as the 2010 Michael. B. Keegan Traveling Fellow at Vanderbilt, exploring issues of democratic institution building and citizenship. He now works with the Teach for America organization as a secondary social studies teacher at George Washington Carver High School in Birmingham, Ala.
	Ayo Ositelu, BE’09 Current Location: Ithaca, NY Ayotunde O. Ositelu graduated from Vanderbilt with a major in biomedical engineering and a mathematics double major. He was elected in May 2009 as a young alumni trustee. While at Vanderbilt, Ayo served as the president of the African Students Union, and he was also a member of the Multicultural Leadership Council. Additionally, he was vice president (external) of the Biomedical Engineering Society, Regional Academic Excellence Chair for the National Society of Black Engineers, a participant of Alternative Summer Break, and former Mr. Commodore (the university mascot) for a brief time. Ayo was a Chancellor’s Scholar which gave him the opportunity to study abroad in Berlin, Germany, which he acknowledges as an invaluable addition to the Vanderbilt experience. Ayo is also committed to helping others, donating his time while a student to Vanderbilt Students Volunteering for Science, the Nashville Adult Literacy Council, and to tutoring students at Kipp Academy in Nashville. Ayo continued his study of biomedical engineering at the graduate level at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He finished in May 2010. Currently, he works for Angel Medical Systems, Inc. as a field clinical engineer.