“Job” Class Notes

Gunes Hopson (Col ’97, Law ’01 CM) has started her own travel business, Luxe Travel by Gunes. She provides curated luxury travel planning services to her clients, taking care of all the details so that they can relax.

Daisy Stevens Rojas (Col ’09, Educ ’15) recently accepted a role at Charlottesville-based, Platt Financial, as a financial services professional. She works collaboratively with individual and corporate clients to create financial strategies bridging generational, cultural and professional challenges. Rojas also develops the branding and marketing strategies of the firm’s related content, research and initiatives. Before moving into this role, Rojas was vice president at a multi-state contracting firm managing contracts in locations such as the Homestead and Greenbrier resorts and other private communities in Central Virginia, West Virginia and the Washington, D.C. and Maryland areas. Before that, Rojas worked in philanthropic pursuits garnering more than $20 million in support for the University of Virginia, education initiatives and various community service organizations. She also served as president of the Albemarle County Rotary Club during the 2022-2023 fiscal year and has over 20 years of financial services experience. She holds a Certified Fund Raising Executive designation and has acquired industry registrations with Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the State of Virginia with Annuity, Life & Health Insurance, SIE, Series 6, 63 and 65 exams. https://www.plattfinancial.com/

Devon Knudsen (Col ’05) is concluding a two-year secretariat position coordinating the U.S. government’s atrocity prevention efforts. She also led the multilateral atrocity prevention efforts of a group started by Samantha Power, who she first heard speak at UVA. Knudsen is grateful to have been entrusted with this responsibility and for the widespread support she received in this role.

Eric Solomon (Law ’78) former assistant secretary for tax policy at the U.S. Treasury, has joined Ivins, Phillips & Barker (IPB) firm as a partner in its Washington, DC office.

Solomon brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to IPB, having most recently served as a partner and then senior counsel at Steptoe & Johnson, where he focused on transactional tax, tax policy, and tax controversy issues. Previously, Solomon held the position of co-director of Ernst & Young’s national tax department. He also served in the Office of Tax Policy at the Treasury from 1999 to 2009 and at the IRS from 1990 to 1996.

He was assistant secretary for tax policy, the highest tax policy position in the Treasury, from 2006 to 2009. At the IRS, he headed the corporate tax division in the Office of Chief Counsel.

Kim Curtis (Col ’00 CM) has accepted a position as director of communications & outreach at Rare Book School at UVA. Rare Book School provides continuing education opportunities for students from all disciplines and skill levels to study the history of written, printed, and digital materials with leading scholars and professionals in the field.

Dr. Jill Garrett (Col ’01), a licensed psychologist with extensive specialty experience in perinatal mental health, has founded Motherhood Feels, a platform to share information and evidence-based strategies on maternal mental health for new, expectant and seasoned moms.

Dr. Garrett has over ten years of experience as a practicing psychologist, and is the founder of the maternal mental health service line at the hospital where she practices, as well as the founding psychologist and program director of a perinatal-specific day program for the same hospital system.

 Dr. Garrett created Motherhood Feels to support more moms and families in the pregnancy and postpartum period.

Motherhood Feels: Before Baby Boot Camp, is an online course designed to support moms to healthily cope in pregnancy and the postpartum period. 

Motherhood Feels: Hindsight is 20/20 is a podcast where Dr. Garrett engages with seasoned moms on their motherhood reflections to learn what they wish they had known ahead of mom life and how, in hindsight, they would have supported their “motherhood feels” differently. 

The Motherhood Space is the maternal mental health program at Baptist Medical Center in Jacksonville, Florida that Dr. Garrett founded.

Cheri Pridgen (Com ’83 CM) has recently accepted a position as General Manager with Curtis Media Group, the largest privately owned broadcast company in the state of North Carolina. Curtis Media Group owns and operates several radio stations in Raleigh and throughout the state of North Carolina, as well as providing Digital and Event Marketing services to their clients. 

Owen Howlett (Arch ’07) has been promoted to associate principal at Pickard Chilton, an award-winning architecture studio. Owen is currently leading design teams for several large-scale, mixed-use master plans including the Le Coeur project — a complex repositioning of existing and new buildings on one of the most prominent sites in Düsseldorf, Germany — and CoStar Group’s new corporate campus in Richmond, Virginia. Owen received his Master of Architecture degree from Yale School of Architecture and a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and minor in Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia. 

Ameena Gill (Engr ’04) leads Lyft’s Global Operations team based in San Francisco, CA. She and her team manage operational performance metrics across Lyft’s multiple business units including customer satisfaction and loyalty, efficiency and productivity, revenue and engagement and diversity goals. 

Frances Keene (Educ ’02) has been named vice president for student affairs at Virginia Tech, after serving as interim VPSA since July 2022. She will continue to lead a division known for facilitating robust and comprehensive student life experiences. 

Keene deeply values her work with students and educators who prioritize student learning and development in a residential context. She was honored in 2016 as a recipient of the Aspire! Award recognizing her commitment to embracing Ut Prosim (That I May Serve). 

Student Affairs at Virginia Tech oversees more than 3,000 employees, 20 departments and critical student life programs — including dining and residential life, student organizations, counseling, health and well-being, international student services, student conduct, and learning partnerships. 

Keene earned a Ph.D. in higher education from Virginia Tech, a master’s degree in counselor education from the University of Virginia and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the College of William & Mary. 

Stephen Lee (Col ’85 CM) has joined the firm JP Morgan Chase as Vice President, Agility Lead. Stephen works in the Chicago office where he helps development teams plan, execute and deliver software and system enhancements using modern, iterative development processes. Stephen has worked in software development for over two decades.

Rachel Kessler (Col ’22 CM) has joined the Walt Disney Company as a conservation guide at Epcot. She has delivered hundreds of conservation messages about sustainable agriculture, wildlife conservation, and the Disney Conservation Fund to guests from around the world while bringing the magic of nature to life. 

Ted Koerth (Col ’99 CM) has joined Uber as senior counsel -autonomous mobility & delivery within Uber’s Chicago office. He will focus on commercial transactions and building strategic relationships with alliance partners within the autonomous vehicle industry.

Kirsten Randall (Col ’95) has joined the Law Office of Beverly Allen in Tacoma, Washington as a paralegal, specializing in immigration and family law.

Jennifer Balinsky Armini (Col ’91 CM) was sworn in as the Massachusetts State Representative for the 8th Essex District on January 4, 2023 in the historic House chamber of the Massachusetts State House. Armini, a Democrat, won a hotly-contested six-way primary and ran unopposed in the fall. 

Julie Kleckley Hummer (Col ’90 CM) was elected to the Anne Arundel County Council in November 2022, representing 85,000-plus residents in District 4. She is the first woman to hold that seat. Previously, she served on the Anne Arundel County Board of Education from 2015-2020. She and her husband Jon and their five children live in Laurel, Maryland.