Spring/Summer 2019 Alumni Updates
’50s
Bob Pentzer, ’57 Journalism, CSU Chico public information officer from 1976 to 1996, has been elected to the university’s Retired Staff Hall of Honor. At SJSU, he served as Spartan Daily’s editor-in-chief.
’60s
Dave Newhouse, ’64 Journalism, retired Oakland Tribune columnist, published his 13th book, The Incredible Slip Madigan: The Flamboyant Coach Who Modernized Football (St. Johann Press), examining the career of the University of Notre Dame center and College Football Hall of Fame coach.
’70s
Cero Anthony, ’75 Advertising, owns Santa Clara’s Cake Expressions, creating multi-tiered wedding cakes of all sizes and flavors as well as sculpted centerpieces for other special occasions. Among his specialties: mango cake and tiramisu.
Tom Farrish, ’78 Psychology, is sales and marketing director at Foothills Senior Living in Angels Camp.
Patricia Gardner, ’79 Political Science, CEO of the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits, received the Legal Advocates for Youth Award from the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley.
Gene Hernandez, ’77 Criminal Justice Administration, a city of Yorba Linda councilmember, joined the Orange County Transportation Authority Board of Directors, an 18-member board that oversees transportation planning and funding for the county’s 3.1 million residents. A 34-year law enforcement veteran, Hernandez retired as the city of Chino’s chief of police in 2006.
Jesse Ortiz, ’78 Social Work, was sworn in as a member of the Yuba Community College District Board of Trustees in January. He retired in 2018 as superintendent of the Yolo County Office of Education.
’80s
David Anderson, ’85 Accounting, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in January for the post of United States attorney for the Northern District of California. A 1990 Stanford Law School graduate, he previously served as assistant U.S. attorney (1998 to 2002) and first assistant U.S. attorney (2008 to 2010).
Sharon Barbari, ’82 Accounting, joined the board of directors of Foamix Pharmaceuticals, a firm that specializes in topical, dermatological drugs. From 2014 to 2017, she served as CFO of Cytokinetics and in 2017 received a YWCA Silicon Valley Tribute to Women Award.
Sam Bhaumik, ’87 Finance, previously executive vice president at Square 1 Bank, is currently executive vice president, Venture Lending Group, at Avidbank in San Jose.
Jim Burton, ’89 Accounting, ’92 MBA, partner-in-charge of audit methodology and standards at Grant Thornton LLP, was named chair of the Assurance Services Executive Committee, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Steve Carp, ’80 Journalism, who reported on the Las Vegas Golden Knights for the Las Vegas Review Journal from 2015-2018, joined Gaming Today as senior editor. He has received Nevada Sportswriter of the Year honors six times during his career.
Anthony Ciaburro, ’89 BS, ’03 MS, Administration of Justice, is the East Bay Regional Park District’s assistant general manager of public safety, supervising approximately 70 police officers as well as overseeing the communications center, fire department and aquatics division. His staff patrols the district’s more than 120,000 acres by means of helicopters, horses, boats and motorcycles.
G. Bradly Cole, ’83 MBA, CFO of Genomic Health, joined the board of directors of Castle Biosciences, a skin cancer diagnostics company headquartered in Friendswood, Texas. In 2017, the San Francisco Business Times named him Bay Area CFO of the Year.
Marcia Daszko, ’89 Mass Communications, founder and CEO of the consulting firm Marcia Daszko & Associates in Santa Clara, published Pivot, Disrupt, Transform: How Leaders Beat the Odds and Survive (Diversion Books, 2018). Author Barry Posner describes the book as “filled with sage advice about taking the roads less traveled.”
Rachel Michelberg, ’84 Music, portrayed Mother Abbess in Foothill Music Theatre’s production of The Sound of Music, her third time playing the role. “I love musical theater. I’ve done it my whole life and I love it,” she told the press.
Sherri Sager, ’83 MPA, chief government and community relations officer at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford, received the Athena Leadership Award from the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce in recognition of her contributions to the community and her profession. She has served on the board of multiple nonprofits, including the San Mateo County Economic Development Association, the Menlo Park Chamber of Commerce and Ravenswood Family Health Center. “I think of myself as a pragmatic idealist,” she said. “I want to leave the world a better place than when I entered it.”
Kazuhiro Sonoda, ’87 Biological Science, dean of the College of Arts and Science at Heritage University in Toppenish, Wash., has assumed the posts of provost and vice president of academic affairs as well. He joined the faculty of Heritage University in 2007 as associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Florence Spyrow, ’80 Nursing, who served as interim president and CEO of Northern Arizona Healthcare for six months, has been named permanent president/CEO of the organization. She joined NAH in 2015, initially serving as executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Flagstaff Medical Center.
’90s
Daniel Acosta, ’93 Psychology, a San Jose Police Department veteran, is the newly appointed chief of police at Foothill-De Anza Community College.
Ron Calvin, ’91 Marketing, who joined Alaska Airlines in 1986 as a customer service agent and most recently served as managing director of inflight operations, was promoted to the company’s vice president of inflight.
William Coggshall, ’95 Political Science, who previously practiced law at Walnut Creek’s Archer Norris, joined Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani’s San Diego office as partner. He is a member of the Defense Research Institute, the Association of Defense Counsel and the Contra Costa County Bar Association.
Robert de Geus, ’99 Business Management, ’09 MBA, was appointed city manager of Westlake Village and took up his new post in March. A native of Australia, he previously served as Palo Alto’s deputy city manager.
Brad Eggleston, ’98 MS Civil and Environmental Engineering, a 20-year veteran of Palo Alto’s Department of Public Works, was named the department’s new director last September. He first worked for the city as an industrial waste investigator and more recently has been instrumental in implementing the city council’s 2014 infrastructure plan.
Rosio Gonzalez, ’95 Social Work, is the new president of the Consortium of Catholic Academies, a nonprofit that supports students of four inner-city Catholic elementary schools in the Archdiocese of Washington. D.C. The former director of the Department of Pastoral Offices for the Archdiocese of San Antonio, she has also served as social director of Catholic Charities for the Archdiocese of Washington.
Lorne Johnson, ’94 MA Applied Economics, is managing director/client portfolio manager of global multi-asset solutions at Quantitative Management Associates (QMA). The firm is headquartered in Newark, N.J.
Mike Matteucci, ’91 Economics, who joined the Burlingame Police Department in 1991 and was promoted to captain in 2004, was sworn in as the city’s chief of police in January. He holds a master’s degree in emergency services administration from CSU Long Beach.
Christopher Queen, ’98 Humanities, currently based in Washington, D.C., recently received his master’s degree in paralegal studies from George Washington University.
Monica Flores Rowley, ’96 Interior Design, executive director and co-founder of Santa Rosa’s Goals Foundation, received a 2018 Latino Business Leadership Award from North Bay Business Journal. The former operator of Sports City Inc., she also co-founded Epicenter Sports and Entertainment.
Jon Selover, ’91 MFA Directing, is artistic director of The Western Stage in Salinas, a professional community theatre that celebrates the history of the region. “We have a great challenge in keeping theatre relevant to young people today. They have to experience art if they are to become patrons or artists. We’re working on it!” he told the press.
Rick Sung, ’95 Criminology, a 16-year veteran of Santa Clara County’s Sheriff’s Office, was promoted from assistant sheriff to undersheriff. “As a first-generation immigrant, I am fulfilling a lifelong dream to serve a culturally rich county,” he told the press. Born and raised in Seoul, Korea, he and his family settled in the South Bay when he was 15 years old.
Cem Tanyel, ’96 MBA, former executive vice president/general manager of professional services at Kony, joined Sabre Corporation as executive vice president/ president of airline solutions last September. Headquartered in Southlake, Texas, Sabre provides technology to the travel industry, serving customers in more than 160 countries.
Scott Taylor, ’93 Economics, joined WiSA, the wireless speaker and audio association, as vice president of marketing last October.
Debbie Tuck, ’91 Accounting, who has worked at BlackBerry, Good Technology, Sunrun and Verisign during her career, joined Dtex Systems, a cybersecurity firm based in San Jose, as chief financial officer.
’00s
Laura Dunbar, ’04 MBA, most recently vice president of marketing at Get Well Network in Bethesda, Md., joined Global Healthcare Exchange as senior vice president of global marketing. A healthcare and data automation firm, GHX is based in Louisville, Colo.
Pasquale Esposito, ’09 Music, a lyric tenor, made his operatic debut with the San Francisco Opera in 2015 and has since recorded six CDs, toured internationally and drawn praises from the New York Times for his “airy charm” as a singer. Last October, he returned to Sacramento’s Crest Theater to perform selections from his latest album, Pasquale Esposito Celebrates Italian Piazzas.
Elaine French, ’07 MA Art History, gave a lecture at the Sun Valley (Idaho) Center for the Arts in October titled “Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Allegory of Good and Bad Government: 14th-Century Ideas with Relevance Today,” based on the Italian painter’s fresco panels in Siena’s Palazzo Pubblico.
Marisa Johnson, ’09 Marketing, owns La Create Sp_ce, a community co-working space in Inglewood serving creative artists, entrepreneurs and small business owners. She is also founder of the She Is Speaker Series.
Lance Kilpatrick, ’08 MA Education, was appointed dean of the School of Education at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill., last July. He joined ONU’s faculty in 2011 and previously taught middle school at Valley Christian Junior High in San Jose.
Evan Low, ’03 Political Science, was reelected to the California State Assembly in November 2018. He represents the 28th Assembly District, which encompasses parts of the South Bay and Silicon Valley.
Trinh Mai, ’05 Art, recently exhibited artwork at The Foodie Space, an interactive pop-up museum at the former site of the Pasadena Museum of California Art.
Steven Naylor, ’05 Management, is vice president of IT infrastructure at Santa Clara County Federal Credit Union.
Emily Parker, ’07 Humanities, a leather goods artisan, opened a storefront shop in Menlo Park last December to sell her EM Parker label. Earlier in 2018, the label had a soft launch online.
Vishnu Pendyala, ’00 Computer Engineering, who received his doctorate in computer engineering from Santa Clara University, was appointed to the Distinguished Speaker Program of ACM, the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society. He is the author of Veracity of Big Data (Apress, 2018).
Ana Maria Ruiz, ’03 MUP, is general manager of the Mid-Peninsula Regional Open Space District, a public agency created by voters in 1972. As general manager, she oversees more than 170 staff members and the implementation of land conservation projects. She joined the organization as a planning technician in 1998 and became assistant general manager in 2013.
Joan Torne, ’06 MA Sociology, former director of SJSU’s Human Resources Administrative Services, currently serves as chief of staff, human resources in the CSU Chancellor’s Office. She received her doctorate in organizational leadership from the University of San Francisco.
Jamie Turbak, ’00 MLS, was appointed director of library services for the city of Oakland. She has served as interim director since March 2018 and first joined the Oakland Public Library as a temporary assistant in 2001.
Lura Wilhelm, ’05 Art, who teaches at University Preparatory School in Redding, recently exhibited her artwork at Redding’s Main Street Gallery in a show titled “Intrinsic Reality.”
Henry Wofford, ’00 MS Journalism/Mass Communications, an Emmy-winning journalist, joined the Napa County Sheriff’s Office as public information and outreach officer.
’10s
Chris Amani, ’10 MBA, is the new CEO of San Francisco-based Humanity, a provider of cloud-based scheduling solutions. Over the past five years, he has served as the company’s chief operating officer, vice president of growth and operations and headed finance and analytics operations.
Gabriela Americo, ’14 Child and Adolescent Development, opened Little Strivers Academy in Manteca, a preschool designed to help children in low-income families succeed.
Olivia Asis, ’17 Animation/Illustration, won first place in the Warner Bros. Employee Film Showcase in November for her animated short, A Radish Tale, the story of a young radish separated from his family. Studio employees and creative executives from New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures voted on the prize.
Robin Bolster-Grant, ’12 MUP, previously a principal planner for Santa Cruz County, is the county’s current cannabis licensing manager, a newly created post. She holds a law degree from Monterey College of Law.
Andrew Hill, ’16 Music Education, a trombonist who has performed across Europe with San Francisco Symphony’s Youth Orchestra, is Los Gatos High School’s new music director.
Johnathan Hsu, ’13 Music Education and Performance, teaches at John F. Kennedy Middle School in the Cupertino Union School District. His advanced orchestra performed at the 72nd annual Midwest Clinic, a band and orchestra conference held in Chicago.
Trenton Hughes, ’13 Business, author of The Christmas Note, published Counting on Christmas (Sweetwater Books/Cedar Fork Media & Publishing) in 2018.
Melissa Kelly, ’12 MLIS, is the new director of the Lake Oswego (Ore.) Public Library. She previously served as manager of the library’s circulation division.
Ching Kim, ’18 Business Administration, based in Manteca, works in production material control at Quanta Computer.
Alessandro Lenarduzzi, ’18 Management, based in San Jose, is an account manager at GreenWaste Recovery.
Mariah McGuire, ’18 MLIS, based in Napa, is head of marketing and programming at St. Helena Library.
Aseem Mogre, ’18 Geography, is pursuing his master’s degree in geographic information systems (GIS) at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md.
Robert Rivas, ’11 MPA, was elected to the California State Assembly in November’s elections, representing the 30th Assembly District, which includes the Salinas Valley, Big Sur, San Benito County, Watsonville, Gilroy and Morgan Hill.
Justin Tennant, ’18 Computer Science, is a technical director at Walt Disney Animation Studios in Los Angeles.
Randy Vazquez, ’15 Journalism, is a visual journalist, reporting for the San Jose Mercury News and East Bay Times. He previously worked for the Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Aisha Wahab, ’10 Political Science, made history with her election to the Hayward City Council. A pro-housing millennial, she is the only renter on the city council and one of the first two Afghan women to hold public office in the U.S., according to KTVU Fox 2. A board member of Adobe Service and the Tri-City Volunteers, Wahab holds an MBA from CSU East Bay.
Jeffrey Waldrop, ’17 MLIS, former associate provost and director of the David Allan Hubbard Library at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, is the new dean of the University Library at Mercer University in Macon, Ga. He is also the author of The Emergence of Religious Toleration in 18th Century New England: Congregationalists, Baptists, and the Contribution of John Callender (de Gruyter, 2018).
Justin Wasterlain, ’15 MLIS, previously a reference librarian in the adult services department of Santa Clara’s Central Park Library, is currently acting program coordinator at Mission Branch Library, a full-service library offering programs for all age groups.
