“Job” Class Notes
Marcus Ruscetti (Col ’08 CM)
Marcus Ruscetti (Col ’08 CM) recently began teaching as an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Cell and Cancer Biology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. His laboratory investigates the dynamic interactions between tumors and the body’s immune system in cancer.
Nayna Agrawal (Col ’98)
Nayna Agrawal (Col ’98) has worked on six animation shows this year with Netflix, Mattel, DreamWorks and Apple. Her plays were workshopped and/or received readings with several Los Angeles and New York theater collectives. Her radio play, Plucker, was featured in an LA Times article and was selected for production by L.A.’s Antaeus Theater Company. She has been selected from 850 applicants to participate in the inaugural XYZ Salon for South Asian artists in Hollywood and will be paired with veteran comedy writer, Vera Santamaria for the year. She is currently a 2021 Cimientos playwright with NYC-based theater, Iati. She just signed with Disney to write on a new animation feature film.
Michael Burger (Col ’90 CM)
Michael Adam Burger (Col ’90) is currently a partner in the law firm of Santiago Burger and a managing member in Neutral Mediation Group, both concentrating in the resolution of commercial and fiduciary relationship disputes. Mike is also a volunteer firefighter. He lives in Brighton, New York, with his wife, Anne, and their daughter, Jane. The family hopes to visit Grounds in 2021 for the 30th reunion, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic.
Kevin Doyle (Educ ’99 CM)
Kevin Doyle (Educ ’99 CM), has been named the dean of the Hazelden Betty Ford Graduate School of Addiction Studies outside Minneapolis and will begin in early 2021.
Steve Williams (Col ’86 CM)
Steve Williams (Col ’86) continues his work at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia as dean of the College of Rehabilitation Sciences, the Jesse B. Michie Professor and Chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, and the Enterprise Senior Vice President for Post-Acute and Rehabilitation Services at Jefferson Health.
Shannon Reaves (Col ’97)
Shannon Reaves (Col ’97) was promoted to partner at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan’s Washington, D.C., office.
David Landin (Col ’68, Law ’72 CM)
David Craig Landin (Col ’68, Law ’72 CM) has established the Landin Law Group, for which the primary office is in Richmond, Virginia.
David Williams (Col ’78, Darden ’82 CM)
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 Hopson (Col ’97, Law ’01 CM)
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)
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)
Douglas Varley (Col ’83, Law ’94 CM) was named president of the law firm Caplin & Drysdale in September 2020.
Charles Sparkman (Arch ’12)
Charles Sparkman (Arch ’12), an architect with Quinn Evans and former faculty member at the UVA School of Architecture, was recently promoted. Sparkman has completed design projects nationwide in the higher education, cultural and institutional markets.
Shannon Baxter (Col ’92 CM)
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)
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.
Bryan Braswell (Col ’93 CM)
Capt. Bryan Braswell (Col ’93 CM) completed a successful tour as commanding officer of Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station, Pacific in August. He and his wife, Tracy, live in Memphis, Tennessee, where he is assigned to the Navy Personnel Command as the division director of Information Warfare Community Assignments. Their sons, Brandon and Alex, are college students in the Carolinas.
Jeannette Lichner (Com ’79, Grad ’80 CM)
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.
Lisa Waddell (Col ’84 CM)
Lisa Waddell (Col ’84 L/M) has been named chief medical officer for the CDC Foundation. As CMO, Waddell will manage COVID-19 response efforts, including directing the Foundation’s team of senior advisers, who are providing support to health departments across the nation, and the COVID-19 Corps surge staff hired as part of the response. Waddell joins the CDC Foundation from the March of Dimes, where she served as deputy chief medical and health officer and the senior vice president for Maternal and Child Health Impact nationwide. Waddell received her medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia, where she also completed her residency. She received her master’s in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Casey Bartok (Com ’99 CM)
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)
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.
Erik Buice (Engr ’94 CM)
Erik Buice (Engr ’94 CM) was named Northrop Grumman sector vice president in July 2020. As the general manager for the Information Solutions and Services division, he leads 8,000+ total staff and more than $2 billion in annual revenue encompassing Department of Defense, civilian, commercial, international, federal, state and local customers. Buice is responsible for profit and loss, scope, cost, schedule, resources and technical performance for 600+ complex IT, engineering and technical services programs. He lives in Fairfax, VA with his wife, Laura Dent Buice (Col ’96 CM), and two daughters, including a rising second-year.
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