“Job” Class Notes

Heather Wishart-Smith (Engr ’96, ’98) was elected to the board of directors of Orion Energy Systems, which provides energy efficiency and clean tech solutions, including LED lighting and electric vehicle charging. Wishart-Smith is also on the board of Group PMX, a private program and construction management company, and facilitates partnering sessions for large construction projects with GCC, LLC. Wishart-Smith was elected to the National Academy of Construction in 2022, and earned her National Academy of Corporate Directors Directorship Certification this year. She is a Fellow of the Society of American Military Engineers, for which she served as national President in 2020, and a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers. She lives in Arlington, Virginia with her husband Keller Smith and children Glory, Nick, and Alexandra.

Anne E. McCall (Col ’81 CM) was named president of The College of Wooster, effective July 1, 2023. Her inauguration is scheduled for October 28, 2023.

An inspirational and values-driven administrator with a track record for building innovation through inclusive excellence, a dedicated teacher and mentor, and internationally recognized scholar of nineteenth-century French fiction and life writing, President McCall is the second woman to lead Wooster since its founding in 1866. She also is a tenured professor in the Department of French and Francophone Studies.

McCall previously was provost and senior vice president of academic affairs at Xavier University of Louisiana—ranked fifth among Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the U.S. according to U.S. News & World Report and first among all institutions for the number of African American graduates completing medical school and multiple Ph.D. programs. 

Charles Siu (Com ’92, ’95 CM) is director of tax and accounting at Dynamic Facility Designs, LLC in Alexandria, Virginia.

Tara Wheeler Prather (COM ’90 CM) has started a new position as the alumnae engagement manager for Alpha Gamma Delta Fraternity, Inc. Based in Indianapolis, Alpha Gamma Delta is an international women’s fraternity and is part of the National Panhellenic Conference.  Prather works from her home in Valrico, Florida where she lives with her husband and son.

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.

Spencer R. Allen (Col ’05 CM) has joined Fox Rothschild LLP in Denver, CO as an Associate in the Litigation Department. Spencer represents clients in a broad range of complex commercial disputes with a focus on environmental and natural resources litigation. 

Katherine Snider (Col ’94 CM) is the CEO of Good+Foundation, a national nonprofit that uses a multi-generational approach to address family poverty. Good+Foundation meets the short-term needs of mothers, fathers and caregivers living on low-incomes while also helping families create pathways for long-term, self-determined success.

In her fourteen years with the organization, Katherine has led the development and launch of several new initiatives including the organization’s Fatherhood Initiative, the publication of a Child Support Toolkit, a $900K microgrants program to provide cash assistance to parents who are struggling to pay for basic necessities and the Good+Training Academy which trains social workers, home visitors and frontline workers to intentionally engage fathers in their case work. 

Marlene W. Hall (Col ’96 CM) has joined Real Brokerage LLC in McLean, Virginia. Licensed in Virginia and Washington, D.C., Hall is an Air Force veteran raised in Northern Virginia with eight years of experience as a real estate agent.

John W. Via III  (Engr `84 CM) has joined Rice University as a Professor of Practice and Associate Director of the Master of Engineering Management and Leadership (MEML) program, based out of the Rice Center for Engineering Leadership (RCEL). The in-person version of the MEML was launched in 2021 and the online program was launched in 2022. The program honored its first graduates in December 2022. 

Via also continues to serve as a Trustee for UVA’s School of Engineering. 

Peter Garvey (Darden ’02) has been appointed mid-Atlantic growth officer at Dewberry, a privately held professional services firm headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia. Garvey has spent more than 16 years with the firm in various roles, including technical leader for water and wastewater, lead for northeast water business growth initiative, and business unit manager for the firm’s Boston office and New England operations. He has also developed and led the firm’s client management and business development training initiatives for senior managers. As mid-Atlantic growth officer, Garvey will help Dewberry continue its expansion in the region, focusing on maintaining and developing relationships and opportunities with state/local, commercial, and federal clients.

Matt Coleman (Col ’03, Darden ’11 CM) has joined The Demex Group as chief risk officer. Demex enhances the climate resilience and economic value of companies and people by designing, underwriting, and executing weather risk transfer products. In addition, Coleman was honored as a 125th Anniversary Fellow by Penn State University’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. Matt was nominated by the Department of Meteorology for his pioneering leadership in financial weather risk, insurance-linked securities investing, and diversity and mentorship.

Donald Delson (Law ’80 CM) serves as president of the board of trustees of Chester Charter Scholars Academy, a 700-student K-12 charter school in Chester, Pennsylvania entering its second decade. Delson is also a developer of 110 Park Avenue, a 30-unit upscale condominium project in downtown Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Cordelia, will be married 50 years in June 2023.

David Susman (Col ’81 CM) has been named executive advisor for clinical services in the Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities, Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Susman, a licensed clinical psychologist, is a former president of the Kentucky Psychological Association and a current member of the American Psychological Association (APA) Board of Directors and 2023 chair of the APA Council of Representatives Leadership Team. 

Carin M. Smilk (Col ’89 CM) became editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times in September 2022. She has worked as a journalist for nearly 30 years, most recently for the Jerusalem-based online news site JNS.org. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and four sons. 

Lynlee W. Palmer (Col ’98 CM) has joined Jackson Lewis P.C., where she will serve in the litigation group for the Birmingham, Alabama office. The firm specializes in national labor and employment law. 

Lynlee brings a depth of experience representing both public and private employers. She has represented clients before the Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board and more. 

Robert F. Graboyes (Col ’76 CM) is now owner and president of RFG Counterpoint, LLC in Alexandria, Virginia. Through his firm, he does economic consulting, journalism, and music production. He publishes BASTIAT’S WINDOW, a Substack journal devoted to economics, ethics, health, technology, and culture. He is also a FAIR in Medicine Fellow (where FAIR = Foundation Against Racism and Intolerance). His musical performances and compositions are on his YouTube channel.