Class Notes

Nancy Shainberg Colier (Col ’87) will release her sixth book, Narratives: Let Go of the Stories That Keep You Stuck, in November. Colier is a psychotherapist, interfaith minister, mindfulness teacher and public speaker.

Austin Palmore (Col ’15, Com ’16) has joined PJI Law as an attorney in the firm’s Richmond office, where he practices in probate, trust and estate administration and fiduciary litigation. He is licensed in Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Karin Cather (Col ’86) released A Million Monkeys, a sci-fi mystery thriller novel. Along with co-author Dick Margulis, she also released The Paper It’s Written On: Defining your relationship with an editing client. Cather has worked as a freelance editor for over a decade, specializing in detective fiction, dystopian fiction and speculative fiction, among other genres.

Brian Sneeden (Grad ’14) has published Year of the Labyrinth, a new poetry collection from Carnegie Mellon University Press. This folk-horror pastoral weaves myth and ritual, fatherhood and climate collapse, ghost stories and grief, drawing on Sneeden’s work as a translator and multilingual writer supporting ongoing language preservation efforts worldwide.

Tony Gentry (Educ ’06) published his 11th book, a dystopian novel called Covenant City, in June. The book is set in a near-future Richmond, Virginia, renamed Covenant City. Gentry is a professor emeritus at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he pioneered research into mobile devices and smart homes as cognitive-behavioral aids for people with disabilities.

Andrew Glickman (Col ’86, Law ’91, Grad ’91) has 20 photographs on display at the Leica Store Washington D.C. through Jan. 9, 2027. The show, titled Chance Encounters, features work from multiple series spanning the late 1990s to 2026. He has also been invited to give a gallery talk.

Winn Gardner (Col ’73 CM) and Laurie (Kimbrough) Gardner are celebrating 47 years of marriage this year, as well as the recent birth of their fifth grandchild. Their grandchildren live in Boston and Boise, Idaho. The Gardners live in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and think frequently of their UVA friends.

Bob Gardner (Engr ’79, ’80) retired from full-time work in 2025 after 46 years at SCS Engineers. He served on the SCS Board of Directors for 38 years and led the firm’s solid waste management practice for the last 25 years. He continues to work part time as a technical adviser for the firm. He and his wife live in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Zac Cohen (Col ’01) has joined Hirschler Law as a partner in their Corporate and Business Services and Intellectual Property & Technology practice groups in Richmond, Virginia.

Katie Genuario (Engr ’18 CM) and Jake Singh (Engr ’18) were married May 2 at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Alexandria, Virginia. The reception was held at the historic Woodlawn & Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope-Leighey House. The bride is the daughter of Rick Genuario (Com ’77 CM) of Alexandria. The couple lives in Washington, D.C.

Ben Brown (Col ’04) is now co-president and head of AV at Bond, a Los Angeles-based entertainment marketing agency. Previously, Brown was senior vice president at the Zealot Agency, where he established the company’s theatrical division, working on marketing campaigns for Apple, Amazon MGM, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros., Disney, A24, Searchlight and Focus Features.

Geoff Brown (Col ’09) has been promoted to the position of ESPN College Football Studio coordinating producer. In this role, Brown will play a key role in producing the network’s award-winning College GameDay program on site during the football season.

Ray E. Richardson (Engr ’81, ’82 CM) and Wyatt Andrews (Col ’74 CM) were featured in the television documentary series Disaster: the Chernobyl Meltdown, streaming on CNN. Richardson was a nuclear analyst with the CIA, and Andrews was the CBS Moscow correspondent during the 1986 crisis.

Michael Barry (Col ’89) was appointed dean of American University’s Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C., in July. He and Lee Newman Barry (Col ’89) have been married 36 years. They returned to Virginia this summer, settling in McLean, after 21 years in Texas.

Ruika Lin (Col ’11) celebrates one year of Fieldnotes From a Watcher, her independent literary journal. The journal publishes creative nonfiction essays monthly, exploring themes as personal as they are universal: belonging, parenthood, grief and loss, cross-cultural experience and intergenerational stories. Lin plans to share more guest writer voices and facilitate personal storytelling workshops regularly.

Juli Pappas Sarris (Col ’81) received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to teach research methods and applied linguistics at the University of Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Previously, she received a Fulbright Specialist Award to Korkyt Ata University in Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan, and a Fulbright Scholar Award to the University of Pristina in Kosovo.

Tom Henske (Col ’94) has returned to Grounds as a senior lecturer, teaching LASE 2559: Hoos Money Smart, a personal finance class. A former Virginia soccer player and recipient of the Ernest H. Ern Distinguished Student Award, Henske has spent several years working with UVA Athletics teams to help student-athletes build financial literacy and confidence as they navigate college, NIL opportunities and life beyond athletics.

John Guerard (Grad ’76) published two articles, “A Low Country View” and “Information, Security Selection, Portfolio Construction, and Active Equity Management,” in Wilmott magazine and The Journal of Financial Data Science, respectively. “A Low Country View,” written with co-author Juan Chen, discusses the foundations of American capitalism, the economic success of the Huguenots of South Carolina during the Colonial period, Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, and UVA’s role in subsequent centuries in defending capitalism in the U.S.

Guerard has authored several books in the Library of Congress. His newest book, Financial Forecasting, is at press with Oxford University Press and Peking University Press. He edited a special issue of Annals of Operations Research to honor Nobel laureate Harry Markowitz, with whom he worked and published, during his 35 years on Wall Street. A third-generation Cavalier, he continues to enjoy visits to Charlottesville.

Pictured on left are Guerard and Kevin Mo (Engr ’09), and on right are Guerard, Harry Markowitz, and Ganlin Xu, a frequent co-author.

Jack Steinberg (Col ’84) produced his fourth feature film, The Cashier, which is slated to screen at the 39th Virginia Film Festival in October. Steinberg is an assistant director member of the Directors Guild of America, with production experience encompassing feature film, television, documentaries, industrials, web-based media, film festival management, corporate training, industry education and commercial shoots for Fortune 50 clients like Google, VISA, Lockheed Martin and Mercedes Benz. His feature film credits include How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Planet of the Apes, Terminator 3, Serenity and The Last Samurai.

Kevin McBride (Col ’14 CM) and Kayla McBride welcomed their third child, Charlotte June McBride, on June 2, 2026. Charlotte is welcomed by her two older sisters, Emma Jeanne and Olivia Mae.

Janice Rayl (Nurs ’85 CM) retired this July after working full-time as a nurse for fifty years. In retirement, Rayl does some speaking for nursing and education groups in addition to women’s groups. Her primary focus is on enjoying her family, friends, crafts, hobbies and traveling.

Rayl’s entry into nursing was as a licensed practical nurse in 1976. In 1982, her director of nursing recommended that she return to school to become a registered nurse. She got into the UVA School of Nursing after having been out of school for nine years.

During her career, she worked as Boy Scout camp nurse, in long-term care and intensive care, as a travel nurse, in the visiting nursing specialty, and in in-home infusion nursing. In the last ten years of her career she decided to give back to the profession that she loved so much. She started as a nurse educator at Fairfax County School of Practical Nursing and retired as the program director. Rayl was instrumental in starting the county’s Nurse Aide and Patient Care Technician Programs, which now graduate about 250 certified nursing assistants and patient care technicians each year.

Atima Omara (Col ’03 CM) published The Instigators: How Black Women Have Been Essential to American Democracy (And What We Can Learn from Them) in May with HarperCollins. Her book explores the often-overlooked role Black women have played in shaping American political and social change and draws on Omara’s two decades of work in politics and the progressive movement. Omara is a nationally recognized political commentator who has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic and The Boston Globe, and has appeared on CNN, PBS, MSNBC, NPR, BBC and other major outlets. She was also named one of EBONY Magazine‘s list of 100 Most Influential Black Americans.

Devyn Lee (Educ ’21) and Brent Davis (Com ’21) were married Aug. 9, 2026, at Brentsville Hall in Manassas, Virginia. The couple met as students in 2019 and spent much time going to UVA Athletics games, studying in the music library, and walking along the Lawn at night.

Amelia Montague Poythress (Nurs ’63 CM) is the proud grandmother of four grandchildren who chose to attend UVA: Jessica Sterling Medlin (Col ’25), Amelia Ann Callis (Nurs ’27), Leah Clarke Medlin (Educ ’27), and Rafferty Montague Lee (Col ’28).

Brandi Sharp (Col ’08, Grad ’13 CM) graduated with high honors from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business with an MBA in January 2026. She currently works in proposal development for clinical research programs, bringing together her scientific research background and business training to support new research opportunities.

Mark W. Dewalt (Educ ’86 CM) was named the Snowden Fellow at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, for the 2026 fall semester. He will be studying various aspects of Amish culture and education. Fellows receive housing, office space, a stipend and travel funds.

Kelly Ogburn (Col ’14, Batten ’17) and more than a dozen ‘Hoos and their loved ones gathered in Charlottesville this summer to celebrate their friendship. Originally dubbed the “Batten Girls,” the group has expanded to include spouses and children. Along with Ogburn, the group includes Joshua Ogburn (Batten ’16), Christine Mihelcic (Batten ’17), John Marron (Com ’02 CM), Madeline Merrill (Batten ’17), Whitney Burkett (Col ’09, Batten ’17), Matt Burkett (Engr ’01, ’06, ’19), Ramsay Franck (Batten ’18, Darden ’18), Ali Barta (Batten ’18, Darden ’18), Cara Fogler (Col ’15, Batten ’17), Lauren Junior (Batten ’19, Law ’19), Parks Daniel (Batten ’18, Darden ’18 CM) and Caitlin McCue (Batten ’17, Med ’17). The group hopes that their young children follow in their footsteps to become ‘Hoos.

Kyle Adams (Engr ’07) was named Barnhart Crane & Rigging’s Innovator of the Year, an annual award recognizing a sales professional who demonstrates exceptional innovation and continuous improvement. Selected from approximately 275 sales professionals across the company, the award recognizes achievements in developing new accounts and markets, growing strategic business, and introducing innovative approaches that make the organization better.

During his career at Barnhart, Adams has also had three projects submitted to the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) Job of the Year competition, which recognizes outstanding crane and rigging projects from companies across the industry. Two of those projects received Job of the Year awards.

Adams has been with Barnhart since April 2012. He and his wife, Ashley, recently celebrated 15 years of marriage and live in Fairhope, Alabama, with their five children.

Clark Fownes MacKenzie (Com ’63 CM) was inducted into the Maryland State Golf Association Hall of Fame. MacKenzie is a lifelong steward of amateur golf who has held various leadership roles in the United States Seniors’ Golf Association. He has competed in numerous senior championships in the U.S. and internationally. In 2015, he received the USSGA’s William C. Campbell Award, the organization’s highest honor. During his days as a student at UVA, he played on the Varsity golf team for three years—including two years as captain—and was elected president of the V Club, among other honors and involvements.

Scott Douglas Gerber (Law ’86, Grad ’92) received a Florida Author and Publishers Association President’s Book Award in the thriller/horror category for his most recent novel, The Trafficker.

Jennifer B. Wieland (Col ’97, Law ’02 CM) was sworn in as a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the District of Kansas in Kansas City, Kansas, on July 17, 2026. Three of the five speakers at her investiture were UVA students or alumni: Maggie Wieland (Col ’29), Tom Schult (Col ’76, Law ’79 CM), and Nykia Jordan Wilson (Col ’97; Law ’02 CM). Other UVA students and alumni in attendance included Dan Hodes (Col ’98 CM), Francie Keithline (Nurs ’29), Ben Wieland (Col ’24), Lisa Bowen Heymann (Col ’01), Dan Nelson (Law ’02), Neely Fedde Salem (Law ’02), and Margo Soule (Law ’79 CM).

Tamara Myers Rogers (Engr ’88) and Jeff Lax (Engr ’88, Darden ’97 CM) co-founded Triumph Sports Travel, an active travel company specializing in international marathon experiences for runners and their supporters. Founded in 2024, the company creates curated travel programs that combine race participation with accommodations, transportation, cultural immersion and group support. Triumph Sports Travel is an official International Travel Partner for the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon and BMW Berlin-Marathon, with an extension trip to Munich for Oktoberfest, and hosts a trip to the Tokyo Marathon with a Kyoto extension. The company continues to expand its global marathon portfolio.

Elisabeth Polzin Long (Grad ’02, Law ’02) has been appointed as the chief staff attorney for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The Sixth Circuit has jurisdiction over district courts in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.

Richard Yeager (Arch ’87 CM) was elected president of the Association of University Architects (AUA) in June. Yeager is the director of planning and facilities information systems at University of Massachusetts, Lowell.

Kat (Custodio) Martin (Col ’09, Educ ’09) and Rob Martin (Col ’08) published their new book, Raising the Remnant: Stories and Tools to Help Parents Share Jesus at Home, in August. Drawing on their experiences as church planters and children’s pastors, the book is designed to inspire and equip families to build a strong spiritual foundation at home.

John H. Armstrong (Med ’88 CM) has been reelected as vice speaker of the American Medical Association House of Delegates. He is one of two presiding officers for biannual meetings of 793 delegates and serves on the AMA Board of Trustees as well. He completed five years of service on the 18-member U.S. Defense Health Board and chaired its Trauma and Injury Subcommittee, which developed two seminal reports on military health system readiness for large scale combat operations.

Cheryl Reever Moore (Com ’85) has been named chief communications officer for BD Consulting Group, specializing in CEO and executive training and crisis and reputational-risk communications for the financial services, healthcare, engineering and technology sectors. Moore serves on the boards of several Virginia-based nonprofits: the United Way of Greater Richmond and Petersburg, the Chesterfield Public Education Foundation, and Caritas, an organization that supports those struggling with addiction, housing insecurity and unemployment.

CJ Bowie (Com ’14) and Kathleen Judge Bowie (Col ’13, Nurs ’20 CM) welcomed a son, Henry William, on Feb. 23, 2026. He joins his big sister, Chloe, and the family cat, Honey. The family lives in Reston, Virginia.

Kyle Wingfield (Col ’98) recently joined Holland & Knight as a partner in its Richmond, Virginia, office, where he focuses his practice on state and local tax controversy matters. Wingfield is chair of the Virginia Bar Association’s Tax Section and is involved in the American Bar Association.

R. Lucas Hobbs (Law ’98 CM) serves as the chief judge of Virginia’s 28th Judicial District. The 28th Judicial District, located in southwest Virginia, includes Smyth County, Washington County, and Bristol.

Paulette Jones Morant (Col ’74 CM) was featured as artist of the month in a solo photography exhibition in March at the Nelson Gallery in Lexington, Virginia. The collection, Contemplation, included architectural designs, seascapes, skyscapes and portraits. One of the portraits, “Mamacita,” won second place in the Nelson Gallery’s 2026 Juneteenth show.

Gregory C. Harrell (Col ’95 CM) was sworn in as president of the Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers for 2026-2027 on June 24, 2026, at the association’s annual summer conference in Orlando, Florida.

Juliane Smith (Law ’12) was appointed to the State Bar of California’s Committee of Bar Examiners. The committee oversees California’s attorney admissions process, including the bar exam, and accredited and unaccredited law schools in the state. She is a solo attorney representing small businesses in California and Virginia through her firm, Wordsmith Law, and also serves on the board of the Queen’s Bench Bar Association of the San Francisco Bay Area.