Deborah Quazzo served as co-head of Project 82 during her senior year—a campaign that achieved 82 percent class participation in AG—and thereby aligned her passion for Princeton with an interest in raising money for the University. She adds that, “Over twenty-five years later I appreciate Princeton even more than I did as an undergraduate. The sense of community is palpable; it feels like an extended family any time I step into the room with a fellow Princetonian.”

Quazzo, who earned her BA cum laude in history and an MBA from Harvard, is president and the co-founding partner of ThinkEquity Partners; now called ThinkPanmure, it is the U.S. division of London-based Panmure Gordon, Ltd. ThinkPanmure is a 180-person full service investment bank focused on the growth economy. Quazzo is a board member of Panmure Gordon. She previously served as a managing director at Merrill Lynch & Co., where she founded and headed Merrill’s Global Growth Group.

Even with the whirlwind of family and business, she remains close to the University. She has been an Annual Giving volunteer, serving, at various times, as a special gifts solicitor for her 25th Reunion and as a member of the National Annual Giving Committee. She also served as a member of the steering committee of the Women in Leadership initiative and as a 25th Reunion committee member.

Now, Quazzo is going full throttle as regional chair for the very busy Chicago area because, “Giving to Princeton allows me to support, with one gift, most of my particular passions—including education, the environment, and scholarship. There is world-changing work being done both within academic disciplines at Princeton as well by individual undergraduates. Princeton is a compelling steward of my giving dollars.”

In addition to her work on behalf of Princeton, Quazzo has taken on numerous not-for-profit responsibilities in her core areas of passion. She serves on the Woman’s Board of Northwestern Memorial Hospital; the board of Marwen, an organization that educates and inspires underserved young people through the visual arts; and the board of America’s Promise Alliance, which was founded by General Colin and Alma Powell, and is a national collaboration between business, government, and not-for-profits dedicated to the well-being of children and youth and focused on the national drop-out crisis.

She is married to Stephen Quazzo, the co-founder and CEO of Transwestern Investment Company LLC, Harvard ’82, and a fellow graduate of Harvard Business School. They have three children, Caroline, Benjamin, and Christopher.