WINTER 2018
Perspectives I B C H A N G E M A K E R S Ryan Mellon ’02 AT T O R N E Y, H B O No spoiler alert necessary. Ryan Mellon may be an attorney working on the world’s most popular television show, Game of Thrones, but he does not learn what is happening before episodes air. “Technically I could,” he admits, “but as a fan myself, why ruin the experience? I would rather watch it when it premieres with everyone else.” A lawyer for the last eight years, Ryan has spent the last five with HBO. “Most recently, I have managed HBO’s global trademark portfolio. This primarily involves helping to select the titles of new HBO programs and then seeking to register those titles in most countries throughout the world.” He has worked on marketing campaigns for many of the network’s shows and organized the international “Game of Thrones: The Exhibition.” As Ryan puts it, George School generally and the IB program specifically trained him to have the rigorous academic discipline needed for his job. He ranks his senior year at George School among his most challenging
David Selinger ’02 S E N I O R C O R P O R AT E C O U N S E L , SCIENTIFIC GAMES Fifteen years after graduating from George School, David Selinger is an attorney. After working for two large law firms and as corporate counsel for Aon in New York City, he moved to Chicago, where he is senior corporate counsel
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academic experiences, including his undergraduate years at Colgate University as well as Columbia Law School. “Aside from the content of the courses, the ability to absorb information and manage my schedule have been invaluable throughout my life and career.” The IB program holds another special place in Ryan’s heart. His wife, Lauren Mauro Mellon ’01, is also a George School IB graduate.
in mergers and acquisitions for Scientific Games. His work as an attorney, he says, is much like his work in IB English classes: “As a lawyer, writing and reading are basically what I do.” For David, the strong IB focus on close reading, careful analysis, and clear writing—particularly in classes with Stephanie McBride and Terry Culleton—taught him an attorney’s most critical skills, skills he feels are lacking in a lot of new lawyers. “I did particularly well in law school,” he says of his time at Fordham. “The way to attack things in law school is not just to read something once, but to come back to it. In IB English, there was no way to get a good grade without doing the homework more than once.” David also credits the IB with giving him the flexibility to take more advanced, career-focused courses at Washington University in St. Louis, since it enabled him to place out of introductory classes. In addition to a BA in economics, he earned a second major in finance through the business school and a minor in legal studies. “The main benefit of the IB program is that it is holistic,” says David. “Each thing builds on the next. The skills you learn in English class are useful in other ways, like in Theory of Knowledge.” And even in law.