“Other” Class Notes

Cynthia Alam (Col ’19 CM) recently facilitated an executive presence workshop for senior leaders at Microsoft through her company, PRSNCE Command. During the workshop, she guided participants in building composure, clarity and influence in high-pressure situations, skills that drive stronger leadership and more effective decision-making. PRSNCE Command helps leaders and teams translate executive presence into measurable impact in any high-stakes environment.

Laura Thigpen (Nurs ’68 CM) traveled to Antarctica in December. She takes her UVA spirit with her wherever she goes, including Antarctica!

Laurin (Goff) Malatich (Arch ’96 CM) launched new branding and website for her interior architecture and design studio, Malatich Cochran Design, that she shares with business partner, Beth Cochran. Malatich Cochran Design is in their seventh year of business and focuses on luxury residential design in and around Charleston, South Carolina.

Malatich has thirty years of project design and management experience ranging from high-end interior residential and boutique retail to large-scale hospitality projects. Her previous employers include LS3P, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Robert D. Henry Architects, Gabellini Sheppard Associates, J.P. Molyneux Studio, Loews Hotels and Camens Architectural Group. Highlighted projects with Gabellini Sheppard Associates in New York City include the award-winning Rainbow Room and Bar SixtyFive landmark renovation at 30 Rockefeller Center, ARIA hotel retail development in Las Vegas, award-winning Top of the Rock renovation at 30 Rockefeller Center and the Vera Wang Collection retail concept. Malatich lives in Charleston with her husband, Matt.

John Cooney (Col ’21) won his UVA friend group’s Fantasy Football competition, dubbed the Valley Fantasy Football League. The Valley Fantasy Football League members lived together on Valley Road during their time at UVA, and remained connected through the friendly competition.

William Lawson (Darden ’72) and Catherine Wood Lawson will celebrate their 48th wedding anniversary in 2026. Mr. Lawson is retired from Eli Lilly. The couple spends summers at their lake cottage on Lake Charlevoix, Michigan. In the winter, they spend time in Saint Barthélemy, Sarasota, Florida and Rosemary Beach, Florida. They fly fish in the western North Carolina mountains in the fall and spend several weeks in Europe in the spring shoulder season.

Lawson keeps in touch with fellow alumni Marc Christman (Darden ’72 CM), who is recently fully retired and is living in Chicago with his wife, Deirdre; Byron Donics (Darden ’72), who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, raising horses with his wife, Debby; David Vondle (Darden ’72) and his wife Debbie, who are residents of Grand Cayman and recently completed a multi year build of a beautiful beach front home in Cayman Kai; and Larry Killgallon (Darden ’72), who is celebrating 50 years of marriage with his wife, Debbie. The Killgallons live in Bryan, Ohio, and frequently travel the world and visit family in various parts of the southern U. S.

Ron Culberson (Col ’83 CM) produced Pep Banned, directed by Chris Farina (Col ’82) and Bill Reifenberger, which premiered to a sold-out crowd at the Virginia Film Festival in October 2025. The film depicts the creation, the humor and the ultimate demise of the UVA Pep Band, which performed from 1974 to 2003.

Craig W. Sampson (Col ’90, Law ’93 CM) has been named a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, a national organization of leading family law practitioners who are recognized by the bench and bar for their knowledge, skill and integrity. Sampson is president of Barnes & Diehl in Richmond, Virginia, and is a co-author of legal treatise Virginia Practice – Family Law: Theory, Practice and Forms (2025 edition).

William Gerstmyer (Arch ’79, ’83 CM) has been sailing from Maine to the Caribbean. He is currently in Ocean City, Maryland. This is his sixth round trip from Maine, where he spends his summers.

Bob Johnson (Col ’77 CM) released a new EP, Purer Eyes: The Songs of Bungalow Stokes, now on Spotify, YouTube, Deezer and Apple Music. The first track is about a painting on a wall in a Lambeth apartment in 1977; the artist was Asher Roth (Col ’77), whose art also adorned Newcomb Hall’s Pavilion XI for several years.

David Meredith (Com ’03) and his wife, Jamie, ran the 2025 Boston Marathon to raise money for The Children’s Room, a nonprofit organization that provides caring grief support for children, teens and families. Their team raised over $20,000 for the organization.

John Peebles (Col ’82 CM) has started an organization, food4nj.org, to provide groceries and grocery store gift cards to families visiting their loved ones detained at the Delaney Hall ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey. The organization welcomes donations as well as volunteers to help at Delaney Hall during weekends and Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

Charles M. Bryant (Col ’67 CM) co-founded Spangler Bryant, a company dedicated to originating and producing Broadway shows and movies. His co-founder, David Spangler, is a composer of Broadway musicals, including Hard Road to Heaven, which premiered at the Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope, Connecticut, in March to standing ovations. The new company has also optioned a book by Stefani Moore, Last Dance in Paradise, which is in pre-production for a shoot in New Hope in the late spring. Along with running Spangler Bryant, Bryant is a practicing interior designer based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Will Overman (Col ’17) releases his second record, Stranger, September 26, and will tour Virginia with the band Holy Roller in November, making stops in Roanoke, Harrisonburg, Norfolk and Charlottesville. Singles on the album include “Virginia is for Lovers,” “Held Up by a Woman” and “Landlocked Heart.” Much of his record was inspired by and written in Virginia during a tumultuous time in his life. Overman, a working singer-songwriter, is currently based in Nashville, but he grew up in Virginia Beach and spent many years in Charlottesville, giving him a lifelong love of both Virginia’s coastlines and the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Jena Crisler (Col ’86) is running for the Virginia House of Delegates, District 35. She is campaigning against assaults on civil rights, the repeals of women’s rights to bodily autonomy, the lack of due process, and budget cuts designed to eliminate basic health care. Crisler has a 25-year career as an internal medicine physician and seeks to use her experience and knowledge of the inner workings of the healthcare landscape to make a difference. She has been endorsed by the Virginia Democratic Women’s Caucus and the Democratic Party of Virginia Rural Caucus. Virginia District 35 includes large swaths of Augusta County and Rockingham County, as well as parts of Bath County and Highland County.

Peter M. Page Jr. (Col ’88 CM) and his daughter, Anne Page (Col ’17, Darden ’23 CM) celebrated their 60th and 30th birthdays at Grand Teton summit August 10. Joining them were fellow ‘Hoos Lyons Brown (Col ’82, Darden ’87 CM), Kayde Schwabacher (Col ’19 CM), Emma Whelan Page (Grad ’22, ’26), John Hughes Page (Col ’20), Valerie Newton Page (Col ’88 CM) and Turner Bredrup (Col ’88, Darden ’94 CM).

Thornton Staples (Engr ’80) had his composition, “Symphony #1, in F major,” performed by the American Contemporary Classical Orchestra at the Miracle Theater in Washington, D.C., on May 22, 2025.