The 2024 Awardees

Melissa L. Bradley

BSBA 1989
Washington DC

Melissa Bradley, a Washington-based entrepreneur and venture capitalist, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin, Ireland on April 20, 2024.

The awards release on Ms. Bradley noted the following: "Melissa L. Bradley is the founder of 1863 Ventures, a small business platform to accelerate New Majority entrepreneurs from high potential to high growth. She is on the board of Eat the Change, and a trustee of the Nathan Cummings Foundation. She is a member of the Milken Institute DEI in Asset Management Initiative and Goldman Sachs' One Million Black Women Advisory Council. She is also a member of the Small Business Administration's Investment Capital Advisory Committee and is the former co-chair and current member of the National Advisory Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. In 2022, Bradley was awarded the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Alliance Excellence Award for Impact and named to the Forbes 50 Over 50.

Bradley is a Professor of the Practice at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. Over the last two years, she was commended with the Entrepreneurship Faculty Excellence Award, the Joseph F. LeMoine Award for Undergraduate and Graduate Teaching Excellence, the Peter W. Gonzalez, Jr. Award for Excellence in Adjunct Faculty Teaching, and The Ideas Worth Teaching Award from the Aspen Institute.

She is married to Allessandra Bradley-Burns (F'90), and they have six kids."

Peter Croncota

BSBA 1983
New York, NY

Peter Croncota, a New York based director with the KIPP Schools, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin, Ireland on April 20, 2024.

The awards release on Mr. Croncota noted the following: "Peter Croncota is the director of school and program partnerships at KIPP Infinity Middle School, a public charter school in Harlem, New York. He joined KIPP in July 2007 through the Broad Foundation Residency and served during that time as managing director of finance and human resources for KIPP NYC. Upon completing the Broad Residency, he became director of operations for KIPP Infinity in 2009. Croncota began his career in education as the CFO/COO and co-founder of Democracy Prep Charter School.

Prior to his career in education, Croncota spent 20 years working in finance, retiring in 2004 as a senior managing director at Bear Stearns, where he was the global head of fixed income and credit derivatives sales and marketing. He joined Bear Stearns in 1995. Prior to that, he worked in the derivatives business at Bankers Trust Co., Westpac Banking Corp., and Nomura Securities International.

After graduating from Georgetown, he earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors and as the Chair of the Board of Regents of Georgetown University. He previously served on the MSB Board of Advisors and was a founding member of the Board of the Wall Street Alliance. Croncota is currently an Emeritus member of the Board of Regents."

Hon. John K. Delaney

JD 1988
Washington, DC

John Delaney, a business executive and former member of the United States House of Representatives, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin, Ireland on April 20, 2024.

The awards release on Mr. Delaney noted the following: "John Delaney is an entrepreneur, business leader, and public servant. In 2017 he was named one of the World's 50 Greatest Leaders by Fortune magazine. Delaney served six years in the U.S. Congress, earning praise for his bipartisan approach to economic, foreign, and climate policy. While in Congress he was co-president of his freshman class and served on the Financial Services and Joint Economic Committees while co-founding the Artificial Intelligence and Climate Solutions Caucuses. In 2019, he stepped down from Congress to pursue the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

Before Congress and by the age of 40, Delaney had founded and led two New York Stock Exchange-listed companies. In 1993, he founded HealthCare Financial Partners Inc., which provided loans to small- to mid-sized healthcare service companies. In 2000, he founded CapitalSource Inc., which provided loans to a wide range of mid-sized businesses. More recently, he is the founder and chairman of Forbright Bank, a bank mission aligned around decarbonization.

A member of the Young Presidents' Organization, Delaney was named Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year. He has been on the board of numerous private and non-profit entities, including the Georgetown University Board of Directors. Delaney received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University and his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. He and his wife, April McClain Delaney (L'89), have four daughters."

Patrick J. Grant

AB 1973 JD 1977
Bethesda, MD

Patrick (Pat) Grant, a Bethesda, MD based attorney and alumni volunteer, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin, Ireland on April 20, 2024.

The awards release on Mr. Grant noted the following: "Grant's grandfather and namesake emigrated from Ireland in the 1880s and became a Great Lakes captain and partner in a stevedoring business in Erie, Pennsylvania. During college, Pat was a captain of the sailing team, was elected vice president of the undergraduate student body, and worked at Alumni House.

He joined the Washington law firm of Arnold & Porter in 1974 as a "winter law clerk" and remained there until retiring as a senior partner in 2019. During that time, his work ranged from antitrust litigation to assisting in the development of the Closed Captioning System, advising local governments on cable TV franchising, and counseling on telecom transactional and regulatory matters.

Grant has been an active Georgetown volunteer, serving as an interviewer for both the AAP and the Law Center. He was a member of the Law Alumni Board and served as a member of the Alumni Association Board of Governors since 2016, where he held several leadership positions. He is married to Mary (Conway) Grant (F'74). Three of his children, Caitlin, Bridget, and Michael, are Hoyas, and he hopes some of his seven grandchildren will be Hoyas as well."

Michelle Schara Mauboussin

BSBA 1986
Darien, CT

Michelle Mauboussin, chair emeritus of the Georgetown Scholars Program, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin, Ireland on April 20, 2024.

The awards release on Ms. Mauboussin noted the following: "After a stint on Wall Street following college, Mauboussin transitioned into the fashion industry and became a territory sales manager for the Anne Klein brand. After taking some time off to raise her five children, she co-founded Tara Michelle Designs, where she designed and marketed a profitable resort clothing line available in 200+ specialty stores across the United States. She also designed and oversaw construction for an award-winning waterfront home in Connecticut's Gold Coast. An avid tennis player and former marathoner and triathlete, Mauboussin is now an integrated nutrition and health coach specializing in optimizing personal health, weight loss, balancing hormones, and healthy aging.

Mauboussin has been very involved in philanthropic activities. She is Chairman Emeritus of the Board of the Georgetown Scholars Program and is on the Board of Regents of Georgetown University. She also served on the parent's committee for Harvard University and Columbia University. Mauboussin is on the board of Grassroots Tennis and Education, serving low-income youth in Fairfield County.

She is married to Michael Mauboussin (C'86) and they are proud parents of Alex Mauboussin (C'17) and Madeline Mauboussin (C'19)."

Peter Mellen

AB 1989 MBA 1998
Bethesda, MD

Peter Mellen, business advisor and founder of the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Alliance, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin, Ireland on April 20, 2024.

The awards release on Mr. Mellen noted the following: "Peter Mellen is Founder and CEO of Netcito, a network of CEO forums for entrepreneurs. He also serves in a variety of other roles that include advising and investing in startups, leading entrepreneur networks, and managing a family-owned portfolio of commercial real estate. As an advisor and investor, Mellen has worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs to successfully navigate the path from conception to growth and scale. He is a member of angel investor networks that include NextGen Venture Partners and the Georgetown Angel Investor Network (GAIN).

In addition to working with entrepreneurs, Mellen served on the Board of Directors for the Tides Network from 2010 to 2020, where he helped to grow annual revenue from $150 million to over $1 billion. Earlier in his career, he co-founded Headlight, an online learning pioneer that raised over $15 million of venture capital from Silicon Valley investors...Following the sale of Headlight, he led online learning initiatives in intrapreneurial roles at Pearson Education and AOL.

Mellen serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Georgetown University. He is also Founder of the Georgetown Angel Investor Network (GAIN), and Founder and President of the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Alliance (GEA). He is married to Valerie Parker (MBA'92) and his daughter, Elisabeth, will graduate from Georgetown University's College of Arts & Sciences in 2026."