“Job” Class Notes

Charlotte Miller Russell (Col ’04 CM) opened Charlotte Russell Contemporary, a contemporary art gallery in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Jan. 8, 2021 with a focus on underrepesented, emerging and mid-career artists. 

Sharon Rubin Kressel (Col ’05, Med ’12 CM) is launching a new tech-enabled and patient experience-focused OB-GYN practice in Washington, D.C., Liv by Advantia Health, in March of 2021. She and her husband, Jason, live in Maryland with their two sons, Aaron, 2, and Max,1.  

John H. Zacharia (Col ’92, Law ’95 CM) founded Zacharia Law  in Washington, D.C., in June 2019. His practice centers on representing clients in matters involving intellectual property violations, cyber threats, domestic and international commercial litigation, and administrative law.  Before starting his firm, Zacharia spent more than 17 years at the U.S. Department of Justice, including 12 years as a federal prosecutor at the Justice Department’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section. Zacharia currently teaches intellectual property criminal law at the George Washington University School of Law.

Kristin Zielinski Duggan (Col ’98) was promoted to partner at Hogan Lovells. Based in the Washington, D.C. office, she is a member of the firm’s global regulatory group.

Martha Cabell Peters (Col ’90) was appointed assistant provost at Montana State University.

Joan Herlong (Col ’81), a real estate agent based in Greenville, South Carolina, is launching a Clemson office of Joan Herlong Associates Sotheby’s International Realty to better serve clients in South Carolina’s Upstate.

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.

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.

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.

David Craig Landin (Col ’68, Law ’72 CM) has established the Landin Law Group, for which the primary office is in Richmond, Virginia. 

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.

Karlyn Crowley (Grad ’02) was named provost of Ohio Wesleyan University. “As one of the ‘Colleges that Change Lives,’ Ohio Wesleyan embodies all that I believe in – challenging academics, civic engagement and service to the community, a commitment to equity and inclusion, and the development of the whole person,” Crowley said. “OWU is the best of what a residential liberal arts college can be. I can imagine no better culmination of my liberal-arts passions and experience than leading OWU academics.”

Matthew W. Hughey (Grad ’09) was recently promoted to full professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut. 

Michael H. Sampson (Col ’96) joined the law firm Leech Tishman as a partner in the litigation practice group and will serve as chair of the firm’s insurance coverage group and co-chair of the cannabis group. Sampson is based in Leech Tishman’s Pittsburgh office.

Jose Luis Alvarado (Educ ’01 L/M), who currently serves as founding dean and professor of the College of Education at California State University Monterey Bay was recently named the next provost and vice president of academic affairs at Cal State Los Angeles. Dean Alvarado will begin his new role during Summer 2020.

Sol Bermann (Grad ’92) is the chief information security officer and executive director of information assurance at the University of Michigan. Sol is responsible for the university’s information assurance program, including IT security, privacy and policy on several campuses. Sol was previously the director of international privacy at Walmart, and before that, the chief privacy officer for the state of Ohio.

Lawrence “Larry” Roberts (Col ’78 L/M) returned to Charlottesville in February 2020 when he was named the fifth director of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at UVA. Prior to joining Sorensen, Larry served in high level positions with two statewide elected officials and chaired five successful statewide political campaigns. In addition, he was a lawyer in private practice for more than 25 years—winning multiple awards for distinguished service and pro bono work —and founded the Federal Communications Bar Association Foundation, which has distributed millions of dollars in student scholarships and donations to nonprofit service organizations.

Jon McCullers (Col ’89) has been named senior executive associate dean of clinical affairs and chief operating officer of the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Tennessee. He retains his roles as chair of pediatrics and pediatrician-in-chief at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.