“Job” Class Notes

David M. Williams (Col ’78, Darden ’82) joined Commonwealth Commercial Partners, a national commercial real estate and real estate private equity firm, as a senior vice president at the firm’s headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. He and his wife live in Richmond, and their son, Preston Williams (Engr ’11), lives and works in Boston.

Gunes Ozcan Hopson (Col ’97, Law ’01 CM) has joined My Path Unwinding Travel as an independent travel concierge and advisor, specializing in luxury and family travel. Gunes continues to enjoy writing for her travel blog, fotogenictravel.com, and offers photography services through fotogenicrichmond.com. Additionally, she still practices law full-time as associate general counsel at Automattic, Inc.

Lachlan McLean (Col ’89 CM) is now the primary afternoon news anchor for Spectrum News 1, a cable news network serving the entire state of Kentucky. He previously hosted sports talk radio shows in Louisville for the last 16 years.

Douglas Varley (Col ’83, Law ’94 CM) was named president of the law firm Caplin & Drysdale in September 2020. 

Shannon Baxter (Col ’92 CM) joined Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton as a partner. She will be a member of the Atlanta firm’s corporate department and its expanding leveraged finance and private equity teams. She was previously with Dentons US. Baxter has nearly 25 years of experience representing creditors and borrowers in financing transactions. Her clients include large U.S. and non-U.S. banks, finance companies, private equity and hedge funds, and public and private companies. 

Charles Pesant (Col ’99) joined global law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison as a partner in the corporate department and the securitization practice group. Pesant focuses his practice on highly complex domestic and cross-border structured finance deals. Over the course of his career, Charles has represented many of the world’s leading financial institutions, private equity firms and their portfolio companies, and a variety of public and private corporate clients. 

Jeannette Lichner (Com ’79, Coll ’80 CM) joined the board of the UK Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates the financial services industry, as a non-executive director. This role is in addition to her non-executive director roles at Miller Insurance Services, the Local Trust which supports 150 of the most left behind UK communities, the International Women’s Forum UK, and Elucidate GmBH a start up regulatory technology company.  She is also an executive coach and has published numerous articles on leadership, governance, and personal finance. Lichner is a member of the McIntire Global Advisory Board. She and her husband live in London, England, where she has lived since 1984.

Casey English Bartok (Com ’99 CM), audit partner with KPMG, was selected as office managing partner for the firm’s Birmingham, Alabama office. In her new role, Casey will be responsible for the strategic direction and growth of the Birmingham office as well as ensuring KPMG Birmingham remains a great place to work and build a career for its professionals.

Kate Lipper-Garabedian (Col ’03) won a special election in March to become a Massachusetts state representative. She was sworn in by the governor in the first-ever physically distanced oath of office on the grand staircase of the State House. Lipper-Garabedian was previously the chief legal counsel at the Massachusetts Executive Office of Education and a city councilor in Melrose, Massachusetts. She is running unopposed for a full term this fall. 

George Hodges-Fulton (Col ’98) became a professional EOS Implementer in 2019, and he owns 123Traction. In this role, Hodges-Fulton works with leadership teams of companies in a variety of industries to implement the Entrepreneurial Operating System, also known as Traction. EOS is a comprehensive set of simple concepts and practical tools that has helped entrepreneurs worldwide get what they want from their businesses by instilling focus, discipline, and accountability throughout the company, with all team members working toward a shared vision for the company’s future. Hodges-Fulton is a former principal of BOWA in McLean, Virginia, and former COO of Kane Landscapes in Sterling, Virginia.

Charles R. Lattimer (Engr ’01 L/M) was recently appointed as a senior faculty specialist at the University of Maryland Center for Advanced Transportation Technology Laboratory. The lab supports national, state and local efforts to improve transportation management and operations through research and development, technology implementation, big data visualization, training and education. He previously served as a project director for Atkins North America.

Drew Cutright (Com ’95 L/M) hasjoined Tallgrass Energy in Denver as vice president of regulatory affairs and chief compliance officer. Cutright previously worked at Dominion Energy in Richmond, Virginia, for nearly two decades.