|
Class Notes
Bob Bunyan, ’69,
would like to announce the formation of the Arlington Group LLC- Bob Bunyan and Bill Woollett and Bill
Vardoulis. Since graduation in ‘69, Bunyan served as sales and marketing executive with Mission Viejo
Company and its successor, J.F. Shea Company, and contributed to the completion of development of the
planned community of Mission Viejo, as well as the planning, development and land sales in Aliso Viejo.
In ‘02 Bunyan established Robert Bunyan & Associates, providing development, entitlement and regulatory
agency processing services to a wide range of public and private organizations.
Sandra (Rosenthal) Swanson, ’77,
Retired from University of Hawaii as Asst. Professor of Computer Science. Living on Maui with husband Robert
(UCR '67)
Chris Lawson, ’81,
recently released his new book, "Snappy Interviews: 100 Questions to Ask Oracle DBAs." Chris is currently a
performance consultant at Wells Fargo Bank, San Francisco.
Peter P. Cullen, ’82,
would like to announce that Core Performance has been selected as an Intuit Solution Provider for the
Southern California region. Core Performance offers a full range of value-added consulting services for
QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions® (www.quickbooksenterprise.com) developed by Intuit Inc., a leading
provider of business and financial management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses, consumers
and accounting professionals.
Richard Cordova, ’84,
has been recently acquired by Starbucks as Director on Internal Audit. Richard has spent the last 24 years
with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
Diana Leach, ’87,
started an independent management services and consulting practice in January ‘07. With a
primary focus on the water, wastewater and utility management industries, in which Ms. Leach enjoyed a
long-term successful public and private sector career, she has spent this first year consulting on
projects in Orange, Ventura and Los Angeles counties. In addition, she provided pro bono consulting
services to a nonprofit entity and a private school.
Mike Holt, ’93,
is teaching an MBA Class at INSEAD on Private Equity and Venture Capital and is based in Singapore,
through the CEO Advisory firm that he started (www.get2volume.com) The focus is on helping
companies do business into and out of Asia with particular focus on building business via fund
raising, growth strategy acceleration and angel investing.
Masahiro Kudo, ’94,
is the Sr. Finance Manager at Novell Japan Ltd; he stopped in Utah earlier this month, and on the
way back to Japan, he dropped in at the Merage School and met with Professor Joanna HO.
Don Archer, ’94,
started a PQM, Inc., a Quality Management Consulting firm that focuses on reducing project and
construction cost overruns for infrastructure projects. They provide consulting services,
professional services and training. PQM is based in Huntington Beach, CA.
Kristin Clarke Batoy, ’96,
and Arsenio Batoy welcomed their third child, Camille Grace, on October 26, 2007.
Wayne Foss, ’96,
completed his doctorate and was awarded the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree.
He is returning to Taiwan to teach at the International Center for Land Policy Study and
Training in Taoyuan. Dr. Foss has been invited to lecture for the past seven years at the
center. His teaching has also taken him to China and South Korea in the past two years. He
continues to run his real estate consulting business, the Foss Consulting Group, and teach at
California State University, Fullerton.
Tommy Nguyen, ’96,
was married in 2006 and moved to London in 2007.
Edward H. Hernandez, ’97,
coached a team of undergraduates Human Resource student from California State University
Stanislaus to a victory at the 2008 California Human Resource Management Games academic
tournament. This tournament took place on March 1, 2008 and was held at San Jose State
University.
Kyle van Hoften, ’97,
was recently appointed to the United Way Orange County's Marketing Committee and has received
the Irvine Chamber of Commerce's Member of the Month award for March 08.
Karym Womach, ’97,
has accepted the position of Training Manager of Financial Systems for Qualcomm Inc.
Liz (Browning), ’98,
and Joe Niccum had a baby boy, Nathan Browning Niccum, on October 21, 2007.
Kurt de Pfyffer, ’98,
After HP acquired two companies Kurt worked for (Peregrin Systems in 2006 and Bitfone
Corp. in 2007) He decided to stay on with HP and help them acquire more software
companies. “It’s been a fun ride so far and utilizes a lot of skills I learned at
business school.” His wife Sarah and he have also welcomed their third boy, Daniel,
to the family on Feb 6 so they now have a 4, 2 and 0 yr. old to keep up with.
Shana (Levy) Martin, ’98,
teaches at Orange Coast College, Adjunct Faculty, in the Business and Computing Department.
Philip Allega, ’00,
is the VP at Gartner Research. He is a current candidate for the Freedom of the City of
London as Freeman with The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists, a modern livery
company. He is also the co-chair for Gartner's European Conference on Enterprise Architecture
this September in London.
Tony Armand, ’00,
has been asked to lead as CEO, A Medical Device Startup Company. “It is an exciting opportunity
to practice what we learned in the MBA program while helping those challenged with Peripheral
Vascular Disease.”
Art Elefante, ’01,
is moving to Okinawa, Japan on April 1, ‘08. His current project takes him to the island of Okinawa
to help the III US Marine Expeditionary Force to implement a new readiness reporting system for the
Department of Defense.
Erica Legg, ’01,
is the Purchasing Financial Planner at Nissan North America, Inc., Erica and husband, Tom,
welcomed the arrival of their second child and first son, Evan Thomas, on February 21st.
Angelo Lombardo, ’01,
was promoted to Vice President of Business Development for the Coca-Cola Company in early January.
Focus will be leading the acquisition of new account as well as identifying new business opportunities.
Carmen Bamert Mason, ’01,
and her husband recently welcomed the newest addition to their family, Timothy, born in September ‘07—and
enjoying every second of motherhood!
Catherine C. Turkel, ’01,
is the Senior Director, Clinical Development, Neurology and Pain and Team Leader BOTOX Headache of Allergan, Inc.
Catherine has just recently completed her PhD in Business and Organizational Management. She also writes, “Alternative
advanced education served me well as I complete this degree via on-line coursework through Capella University.” She was
thrilled that Dr. Marta Elvira, previously associate professor with UCI and now the Academic Dean at another university,
agreed to serve on my dissertation committee.
John Waldeck, ’01,
joined Pacific Life in ‘97 as a Network Support Analyst in the Real Estate division, following four years of experience as a
technical consultant. He held positions of increasing responsibility within the division, and was promoted to Director in ‘05.
In ‘06, he was promoted to Assistant Vice President, Real Estate Underwriting. As head of Underwriting & Construction Services,
he provides direction and support to the underwriting, analysis, and structuring processes for real estate debt investments. He
has oversight for the training and development program for investment analysts and coordinators, and is responsible for the Real
Estate Division’s documentation, implementation and maintenance of commercial mortgage underwriting guidelines.
Edward Yang, ’01,
has left his position as Senior Manager Strategic Alliances at D-Link to start his own company. Firecracker will offer public relations,
traditional marketing and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) services specifically for high tech companies. Edward brings his 13 years of
marketing experience at Gateway and D-Link to his new company. Any alums interested in Firecracker's services are encouraged to email
him at edward@firecrackerpr.com or visit www.firecrackerpr.com.
Chris Claisse, ’02,
& Karin welcomed their Leap Year daughter Zoe Marie Claisse into the world on February 29, ‘08.
Joel Elad, ’02,
Owner of Real Method Consulting; has published his newest book in March 2008. It's called Web Stores Do-It-Yourself for Dummies, and it
can help anyone build their own e-commerce operation. His next book is Linked In for Dummies, which should be out this fall.
Paul Jackson, ’02,
recently left a prior role in corporate marketing to start his own business, launching a media and publishing company and securing venture
capital backing to do it. HW Publishing publishes Housing Wire, one of the most-read online financial news destinations in the mortgage
banking industry. Housing Wire currently serves more than 4 million page views monthly, and reached more than 2.5 million unique visitors
during 2007.
Andrew Kim, ’02,
got married in October ‘07.
Luke FitzSimons, ’02,
first child, son Owen Henry FitzSimons, was born 10-22-07.
John Sparks, ’02,
recently transitioned from global Business Intelligence manager to Lean Six Sigma Leader for corporate shared services. In this new role he
is responsible for business process reengineering for the global finance, IT, HR, legal, business development, investor relations, and strategy
organizations, as well as oversight for the Quote-to-Cash and Procure-to-Pay processes across all functions.
Russ Barlow, ’04,
remarks: “I currently work for the Executive branch of the Federal Government. The agency I work for is the National Credit Union
Administration as a Principal Examiner. I began with the NCUA (which is the insurer for the majority; and the regulator for many credit unions)
in August 2005 after working for a sub-prime auto finance company. I was promoted from examiner to district examiner in the minimum time possible.
I was promoted to Principal Examiner in the minimum time possible also. I enjoy government work and excel at it. I plan to continue to serve the
public interest by working for NCUA. My wife, Rebecca and I and our six children enjoy North Carolina.”
Kelly Haggard, ’04,
has been promoted to Product Development Marketing Manager for the Orange County Register. Kelly is managing all B-to-B advertising initiatives
and product development for the companies email marketing strategies. She is also President of Team Freedom board of directors that manages all
the non-profit and volunteer work of The Orange County Register.
Lisa Munro, ’04,
Jeremy Collins proposed in December on a trip back to Orange County. Our wedding will take place in August to capitalize on the sunshine and we
will have many fellow FEMBAs in attendance!
Todd Sigler, ’04,
and Heidi Sigler welcomed their first child, Chloe Suzanne on November 20, 2007. 9lbs, 7 ozs. Todd writes, “Everyone is doing great, if a little
sleep deprived.”
Chris Yount, ’04,
was recently promoted to the position of Executive Vice President/COO of Fortifiber Corporation. This change brings the sales, marketing and manufacturing
functions under his control. Chris lives in Reno, NV with his wife Mary and 2 year old daughter Amanda. They are expecting the birth of their son in May.
Avi Gur, ’05,
and Kate Reeves are getting married in Bali on April 22nd, ‘08. The couple plan to honeymoon, surf and sightsee in the area. A wedding reception
is planned at Doheny Beach in June. Avi is working in Sales and Account Management in Carlsbad, CA at Atlium, an EDA Software company that specializes in FPGA
design integration, headquarted in Sydney Australia. The couple plan to continue living in South Orange County after the wedding.
Sarah Hine, ’05,
Sarah spent the past year as an American India Foundation Fellow, working closely with Muse, an Indian Non-Governmental Organization. In this capacity, she
marketed their ecotourism services and expanded their conservation efforts while enjoying life in both Delhi and the Indian Himalayas.
Brian Kreitzer, ’05,
received promotion to - ERP/IT Financial Manager at Southern California Edison.
Anu Mathur, ’05,
received a promotion within TV Marketing.
Asher Adelman, ’06,
recently joined The Challenge Fund as an Associate. Based in Tel Aviv, The Challenge Fund is a leading venture capital and private equity firm managing over
$200 million. The Fund invests in privately-held Israeli technology companies, and over 30 of its portfolio companies have achieved an exit transaction. The
Fund's exits include 10 NASDAQ IPO's and more than 20 acquisitions by companies such as Intel, AT&T, Oracle, and Nokia Siemens.
Gregg Boehm, ’06,
and Sequoia Boehm are excited to announce the arrival of their first child, a baby girl, Taylor Marie Boehm, born on January 12, 2008.
Benjamin Medvitz, ’06,
has moved to a new job and is now at InTheAirNet LLC as Vice President of Engineering.
Abdul Rastagar, ’06,
& Bjorg are celebrating the birth of their second child, Aaron, in May. “3 out of 4 Rastagars are born in May.”
Janet Tait, ’06,
wanted to say thank you to the FEMBA 06 Section A for all their help and support after she lost her house in the San Diego Wildfires in October. She especially
wants to thank Felice Szeto-Wong for her efforts on her family's behalf. Her classmates' support is greatly appreciated.
Trevor Collins, ’07,
has left LandAmerica and began work as a business strategy consultant for cpSphere in February 2008.
Leslie Hays, ’07,
is the Director at Apria Healthcare. Apria Healthcare provides home respiratory therapy, home infusion therapy and home medical equipment through approximately
500 locations in the United States. Most recently, Apria Healthcare completed the acquisition of Coram adding more than 70 infusion branch locations, 50 ambulatory
infusion suites and centralized pharmacy distribution services capable of serving patients in all 50 states.
Leslie was offered the position of Director of Supply Chain Engineering where she will be responsible for defining supply chain strategies, rolling out operational
optimization projects, defining distribution work and process standardization, as well as a supporting the company-wide SAP implementation.
Cosmin Ibanescu, ’07,
moved to the East Coast, at the beginning of the year, to start his new position in marketing research. His is working as a consultant for Kraft Foods in East Hanover, NJ.
Shahin Jahromi, ’07,
is the Program Mgr/Business Analyst at Gemstar/TVGuide. He started his current job during his last quarter as a senior software developer. Nine months later, he has now
fully transferred the new team and will hopefully never write code again. He is defining roadmaps and building new products now; his level of satisfaction is not even comparable
with my life before the Merage School.
Chad Thacker, ’07,
has new job as Key Account Manager at Rexam Pharma - specializing in the diagnostic and medical device market space. Clientele includes all "Big Pharma" and large diagnostic firms.
Chad also celebrates a new arrival: his wife, Lori, and he welcomed their 3rd daughter, Eliza on April 4.
Carolyn Tsao, ’07,
moved to the bay area as Director of HR for Genemed Biotechnologies, Inc.
|