3 Alums Named University Foundation Trustees

Three Terp alumni have been named to the University of Maryland College Park Foundation’s Board of Trustees, with three-year terms starting July 1.

Jason I. Cohen ’96, founder and co-CEO of food-focused Halen Brands; Christine E. Fisher ’91, a former executive at several department stores and major clothing retailers; and Mark K. Lewis ’87, managing partner of the D.C. office of Bracewell LLP, an international law firm; were all elected at the board’s annual meeting on May 10.

As trustees, they will oversee the investment and distribution of private funds, serve as ambassadors on behalf of the foundation and the university, assist and advise the university’s president, and help increase the level of philanthropic support for the university.

“We are pleased to welcome Jason, Christine and Mark to our board,” said Jackie Lewis, vice president for University Relations and president of the foundation. “Their success in their respective fields, combined with decades of volunteer experience, ensures that they will be great additions to our foundation board. I look forward to working with them to further raise the profile of, and support for, the University of Maryland.”

Cohen is a serial entrepreneur who has founded, invested in and sold companies in the consumer food space including Veggie Straws, SkinnyPop popcorn and Core Water. Halen Brands, which he co-created in 2015, develops and acquires emerging food brands. Its current portfolio includes Chef’s Cut beef jerky, From the Ground Up snacks and OWYN plant-based beverages.

He also serves on the advisory boards for the Robert H. Smith School of Business, where Cohen majored in marketing, and the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, which he supports along with Maryland basketball. He and wife, Jamie, and their two children live in Caldwell, N.J.

Fisher has a background in retail, working at The Gap, the May Department Stores Co. and Hecht’s. She has served on the board of directors for Women for Women International for 14 years, serving in various committee chair roles in the U.S and U.K. Fisher also sits on the boards of Saving Mothers, Mommy Matters and MacDowell Colony and is on the advisory council for the School of Public Health at Brown University.

At Maryland, she earned an international business and management degree. She supports undergraduates at UMD today through the Fisher Family First-Generation Endowed Scholarship.

A resident of New York City, she and her husband, Todd, have four children.

Lewis manages Bracewell’s Washington office and leads its oil and gas regulatory practice, working on pipeline development projects and high-stakes regulatory disputes. Ranked among the nation’s top lawyers in that specialty, he also serves on Bracewell’s management committee.

He has served on Maryland Smith’s advisory board for a decade, including a term as chairman, and supports the school as well as Maryland Athletics. He’s also a former board member of the Terrapin Club. Lewis, who studied personnel and labor relations at UMD and earned his law degree at Georgetown University, lives in Bethesda, Md. He and his wife, Donna ’86, have two children.