Class Notes: Fall 2022

1960s

Chuck Squires, ’65 BSB, recently retired from the role of VP/sales development at Robert Half after 49 years of service.

1970s

Richard Katz, ’71 MHRIR, recently started an organization, K-9 Ambassadors, which teaches courses about how to get involved with therapy dogs. After retiring from a career in human resources, Richard joined UCLA Health and learned about therapy dogs. Next thing he knew, he was training Rudy, his poodle (pictured), and the rest is history! Currently, Richard is working to mobilize a small team of therapy dog handlers to travel to eastern Europe to support Ukrainian refugees

1980s

Scott Wallace, ’80 BSB, is now chief financial officer of Dedicated Financial GBC, a promotion from executive vice president of finance.

Jim Weber, '82 BSB, published a book, Running with Purpose, the story of his life journey and experience leading Brooks Running for more than 20 years.

Moez Limayem, ’88 MBA, ’92 PhD, is now president of the University of North Florida.

Jeffrey Weirens, '88 BSB, a partner at Deloitte, recently published a book, The Synergy Solution, along with colleague Mark Sirower.

Christine Sovereign, ’89 BSB, has been named CEO of the 2026 Special Olympics Games, to be held on the U of M Twin Cities campus. Sovereign, also a member of the school’s Board of Advisors, is a longtime volunteer for the organization where her sister is an athlete. She is an executive on loan for the role from Accenture, where she leads the Minneapolis office

1990s

Lisa Knight, ’90 BSB, started a new role as vice president of strategy and innovation at Pearson.

Bob Burns, ’91 BSB, ’02 MBA, is now chief operating officer at Advance Design & Systems, LLC, a promotion from plant manager. Burns started at ADS, which designs and fabricates automation projects and precision fixtures, in 2018.

Sherif Guirguis, ’91 BSB, started a new role as chief operating officer at Lodging Dynamics Hospitality Group.

D. Wayne Pool, ’91 BSB, started a new role as chief operating officer at Zylo.

Leah Vriesman, ’91 MBA, is now associate dean of academic and faculty affairs at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Vriesman was also recently named to the Luther College Board of Regents.

George Hadjiyanis, ’92 MBA, started a new role as vice president, sales & marketing at Conservis.

Kathy Megarry, ’92 MHRIR, started a new role as vice president of human resources and labor relations at the Metropolitan Airports Commission.

Maureen Tholen, ’92 MBA, was appointed to the SkillsUSA Board of Directors.

JoAnn Neau, ’93 BSB, ’98 MBA, started a new role as chief marketing officer at Northmarq.

Hilary Marden-Resnik, ’94 MHRIR, is now president and CEO of UCare, after serving as interim president & CEO for five months, a promotion from senior vice president and chief administration officer.

Mike McKee, ’94 BSB, is now managing partner at Baker Tilly for the firm’s Minnesota market.

Tonya McCabe, ’95 BSB, started a new role as recruiting program manager at Destination IT, LLC.

Kari Wimmer, ’96 BSB, started a new role as vice president, finance & corporate development at Businessolver.

Nicole Graves, ’97 MHRIR, started a new role as senior director of people, office of the CFO, at Apple.

Mark Kunkel, ’97 BSB, started a new role as senior vice president and managing director—fund management at Northmarq.

Dominic Louwagie, ’97 MBA, is now senior automotive global product line manager at Reell Precision Manufacturing.

Jennifer (Rybarczyk) Selenske, ’97 BSB, started a new role as finance director for the City of Marshfield, Wis.

Dan Schumacher, ’97 BSB, was appointed chief financial officer at Proto Labs. Thomas Lampros, ’99 MBA, is now director of service sales at Model N, Inc.

Matt Homan, ’98 MBA, has been named CEO and equity partner of Premier Marine, a manufacturer of luxury performance pontoon boats.

Kristina Morton, ’99 MHRIR, started a new role as chief people officer at APi Group.

2000s

Jill Fitzharris Smith, ’00 MHRIR, started a new role as director of HR, talent strategy, at Park Nicollet Health Services.

Gregory Heim, ’00 PhD, was appointed as the Blue Bell Creameries Chair in Business at the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. Heim previously held the Janet and Mark H. Ely ’83 professorship. Heim has been a professor at Texas A&M since 2007.

Sourav Ray, ’01 PhD, is now the Lang Chair in Marketing at the Gordon S. Lang School of Business and Economics at the University of Guelph.

Sanjay Zaveri, ’01 MBA, started a new role as senior vice president, business development at PDS Biotechnology Corporation.

Keith Dieruf, ’02 BSB, started a new position as senior vice president, digital strategy & experience at Life Time Inc.

Jen Hanson, ’02 BSB, ’14 MBA, is now senior manager, enterprise data quality & master data management operations at 3M, a promotion from data intelligence technology leader, safety & industrial business group.

Heidi Holmes, ’03 MHRIR, started a new role as senior people manager at Waste Management.

Christina (Miller) Reszka, ’03 BSB, is now a partner at Frazier Healthcare Partners, a promotion from principal.

Craig Schmidt, ’03 BSB, started a new role as head of global regulatory controllers at CitiGroup.

Brandon Lukach, ’04 MHRIR, is now head of human resources at Wildlife Studios, a promotion from head of HRBP, global engineering.

Ashwani Monga, ’04 PhD, is now the chief academic officer and executive vice chancellor of academic affairs at the University System of Georgia (USG).

Casey Sarver, ’04 MHRIR, started a new role as vice president of human resources at Knutson Construction.

Zhaoli Song, ’04 PhD, associate professor at the National University of Singapore, recently published an article, Genetics, leadership position and well-being: An investigation with a large-scale GWAS, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America (PNAS).

Renee Konzelman, ’05 MHRIR, started a new role as senior vice president, America’s People Partnering at Cushman & Wakefield.

Dorota Serafin, ’06 MBA, a graduate and former director of the Warsaw Executive MBA program, has been playing a critical role in humanitarian relief efforts as refugees stream across the border between Ukraine and Poland. As the executive director of Polish Humanitarian Action (PAH), Serafin has been leading the work, from her office in Warsaw, of a team delivering food, water, medicine, and hygiene products to thousands of vulnerable and displaced people impacted by the Russian invasion into Ukraine. PAH has been delivering aid in Ukraine since 2014 and maintains field offices in Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, and Ukraine, from which they deliver ongoing support to vulnerable populations in these volatile areas. Serafin last traveled to the regional office in eastern Ukraine in September 2021 (pictured).

Tiffany Beitler, ’06 BSB, recently sold the boutique creative services and marketing firm she founded in 2014, Cooks Bay Marketing, to NFR Communications. Through the acquisition, Beitler has joined NFR Communications as their vice president of design services.

Bethany Beyer, ’06 MHRIR, started a new role as senior manager global compensation at Equinix.

Chris Jones, ’06 MBA, is now the director of WATCHMAN market development at Boston Scientific.

Sandy Malecha, ’06 MHRIR, is now interim executive director at Healthy Community Initiative.

Scott Neils, ’06 BSB, ’07 MAcc, was appointed as chief financial officer at Xtant after serving as interim CFO since January.

Katie Pretzel Tenney, ’06 BSB, started a new role as head of memberships at Innovation Roundtable.

Josh Arbit, ’07 MHRIR, started a new role as a senior product manager at Redfin.

Stacy Eichenlaub, ’07 MBA, started a new role as partner at MedTech Bridge.

Tessa Retterath Jones, ’07 BSB, is now VP of event operations at Chapman University.

Maya Wheeler, ’07 BSB, started a new role as a counselor and psychotherapist at Haven Chemical Health Systems, LLC.

Matthew Branson, ’08 MBA, is now vice president and general manager at Nalco Water.

Bruce Henderson, ’08 MHRIR, started a new role as vice president of HR at Avantor.

Shashanka Muppaneni, ’08 BSB, is now managing director & partner at Boston Consulting Group.

Ally Ward Delgado, ’08 BSB, is now CEO of Merchology, a promotion from chief marketing officer.

Jenna (Rogowski) DeMilio, ’09 MHRIR, started a new role as global HR leader, finance and corporate strategy and development at Cargill.

Cullen Glass, ’09 MBA, is now vice president of supply chain management at HII, a promotion from director of supply chain procurement.

Avi Sethi, ’09 BSB, started a new role as investment director at International Schools Partnership Limited.

2010s

Anil Hurkadli, ’10 MBA, started a new role as senior vice president of community impact at the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation.

Rick Olson, ’10 MBA, is now a member of the board of directors for Donaldson Company. Rick is the president and chief executive officer of Toro Company.

John Rozanski, ’10 BSB, is now head of fulfillment at The Farmer’s Dog, a promotion from director of supply chain.

Michael Schroeder, ’10 MBA, is now sales chief of staff at Auris Health, a promotion from director of commercial operations.

Samantha South, ’10 MHRIR, started a new role as director of people analytics at Microsoft.

Matt Stoll, ’10 MBA, started a new role as senior associate, program management at Rebiotix Inc.

Celeste (Pape) Winer, ’10 MHRIR, started a new role as corporate director of HR at Hayward Industries.

Kara Zetzman, ’10 MHRIR, started a new role as HR manager, HRBP & talent management at Nonin Medical, Inc.

Jesse Ng, ’11 BSB, is now senior actuarial analyst at Bright Health Group, a promotion from actuarial analyst.

Beth Oddan, ’11 MHRIR, started a new role as director, human capital partner - OptumRx at Optum.

Lauren (Pike) Sandbulte, ’11 BSB, is now senior account director at Giant Voices, a promotion from Giant client leader.

Kaj Thompson, ’11 MBA, started a new role as principal scientific account lead at Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

Teddy Wyder, ’11 MBA, became a business owner in early 2022 by signing a franchise agreement to bring Fajita Pete’s to Chicagoland.

Nathan Annis, ’12 MBA, is now vice president of corporate development at Hormel Foods Corp., a promotion from director of investor relations.

Lance Bryan, ’12 MHRIR, started a new role as a sourcing recruiter at Amazon Web Services.

Jackie (Hess) Gamboni, ’12 BSB, ’20 MBA, is now a vice president at Wells Fargo in Marketing Execution, a promotion from assistant vice president.

Bethany Johnson, ’12 BSB, started a new role as an associate at Proskauer Rose LLP.

Kristen Kranzler, ’12 BSB, ’18 MS SCM, is now senior value stream manager - operational services at Starkey Hearing, a promotion from senior manager of distribution & fulfillment.

Dustin Leszcynski, ’12 MHRIR, started a new role as head of talent acquisition at PathAI.

Mitchell Mudra, ’12 MBA, started a new role as chief operating officer at SideKick Health.

Santi Strasser, ’12 BSB, ’19 MBA, is now an intrapreneur at GWorks, the General Mills Venture Studio.

Bailey (Wolfe) Bassett, ’13 BSB, is now vice president of clinical strategy & value, at UnitedHealth Group, a promotion from chief of staff.

Brendan Harper, ’13 MHRIR, started a new role as staff compensation analyst at Seagate Technology.

Sam Kemp, ’13 BSB, is now chief strategy officer at GoDaddy, a promotion from vice president of corporate strategy.

Jacob Martinmaas, ’13 MHRIR, is now director, compensation programs & operations at VMware.

Corrine Meuwissen, ’13 BSB, started a new role as vendor manager II at Amazon.

Erica (Johnston) Simmons, ’13 BSB, is now senior finance manager at Nestlé.

Megan Singamsetty, ’13 MHRIR, started a new role as talent acquisition partner at ACV Auctions.

Ali (Hawes) Weideman, ’13 BSB, is now a product line specialist - HIS & polyols at Cargill.

Aaron Boyd, ’14 MBA, is now chief executive officer at Midwest Family Group, a promotion from chief financial officer.

Matt Derheim, ’14 BSB, started a new role as controller at Carter Day International.

Jessica Vang Herr, ’14 MHRIR, started a new role as senior HR business partner at Reece USA.

Kevin Krueger, ’14 MBA, is now a senior marketing manager at Land O’Lakes.

Zachariah Roberts, ’14 MHRIR, started a new role as senior campus recruiter at Armanino.

Shweta Singh, ’14 PhD, assistant professor at Warwick Business School, was recently named a finalist for a Rising Star Award in Education & Academia.

Grace Truckenbrod, ’14 BSB, started a new role as an investment banking associate at Morgan Stanley.

Rich Austin, ’15 MHRIR, started a new role as HR consultant at Minnesota Department of Human Services.

Martin Caride, ’15 BSB, is now director of marketing technology at Subway, a promotion from senior regional technology leader.

Nivriti (Jaie) Ingram, ’15 MBA, started a new role as director, brand marketing, strategy & CX at Spectrum Reach.

Elisabeth Kwe, ’15 MHRIR, started a new role as HR business partner at LUFKIN Industries.

Meghan Stiling, ’15 MBA, is now chief digital and operating officer at The Nerdery, a promotion from chief digital officer.

Garret Zastoupil, ’15 BSB, recently started as an assistant professor of sustainable rural economic development at Northland College in August 2022.

César Carmona, ’16 MBA, is now head of cyber programmes Spain at Airbus CyberSecurity, a promotion from team lead aerospace security.

Marina Chen, ’16 MBA, co-founded Vivaia, a company focused on sustainable and eco-friendly footwear and apparel.

Ethan Lauer, ’16 BSB, started a new role as marketing & communications manager at Askov Finlayson.

Nikita Basandra, ’17 MBA, started a new role as director of regulatory affairs at CVRx | Barostim.

Allison Gettings, ’17 MBA, is now president at Red Wing Shoes.

Alicia Gutierrez, ’17 MHRIR, started a new role as PhD recruiter of Reality Labs at Meta.

Andrew Harte, ’17 BSB, is now vice president, equity research at BTIG, a promotion from equity research associate.

Amanda Warner, ’17 MHRIR, is now senior associate, executive search, financial officers practice at Korn Ferry.

Ben Weir, ’17 BSB, is now manager at West Monroe partners, a promotion from senior consultant.

Tomas Wieczorek, ’17 BSB, started a new position as product manager at Kroger Technology & Digital.

Jess Zamora-Weiss, ’17 MHRIR, started a new role as HR leader at Owens Corning.

Kaia Anderson, ’18 BSB, is now senior digital strategist of e-commerce at Post Consumer Brands, a promotion from senior associate communications manager.

John Curry, ’18 MBA, is now CEO of Knutson Construction, a promotion from president.

Kaitlyn DeMartelaere, ’18 BSB, started a new role as a product analyst at Surescripts.

Liz Hadala, ’18 MBA, is now marketing transformation senior manager at Boston Scientific, a promotion from senior marketing strategy and analysis manager.

Juhyun Kwon, ’17 BSB, started a new role as senior manager, measurement & analytics at Albertsons Media Collective.

Vinayak Bharadwaj, ’19 BSB, is now assistant manager, financial industry risk and regulatory at Deloitte, a promotion from consultant.

Kaityn Dick, ’19 BSB, is now advisory services senior consultant at Optum, a promotion from advisory services consultant.

Kshitij Kohli, ’19 MBA, is now assistant vice president of IT application development and integration at Church Mutual, a promotion from director of strategic alignment.

Katrina Renacia, ’19 BSB, started a new role as advisory trading specialist at Ameriprise.

Nayla Sater, ’19 MHRIR, started a new role as HR business partner, manager oncology, at AbbVie.

2020s

Shareen Ali, ’20 BSB, started a new role as marketing strategist and video production assistant at The Creative Company.

Maria Andrew, ’20 BSB, started a new role as substitute teacher at Saint Paul Public Schools.

Mercy Grace Brazil, ’20 BSB, started a new role as plant finance analyst at 3M.

Kyle Burkhardt, ’20 MBA, started a new role as vice president, club strategy & business intelligence at Major League Soccer.

Joao Halab, ’20 MHRIR, started a new role as specialist/HR business partner at L3Harris Technologies.

Katie McClarty, ’20 MBA, started a new role as chief academic officer at McGraw Hill.

John Reichert, ’20 MBA, is now senior consultant of health and life science at PA Consulting, a promotion from consultant.

Elizabeth West, ’20 BSB, is now senior account management specialist at Gartner, a promotion from account management specialist.