“Other” Class Notes

Jean-Jacques Cabou (Col ’99 L/M) received NARAL Pro-Choice Arizona’s 2017 Trust AZ Women Award. The award honors contributions to the cause of women’s reproductive choice in Arizona. Mr. Cabou is a partner in the white collar and investigations practice of the law firm Perkins Coie. He works in the firm’s Phoenix office.

NAVFAC Atlantic Architects and Engineers gathered together to celebrate Thomas Jefferson’s birthday, April 13, 2017. Pictured (Left to right) R. T. (Trip) Fitch III (Arch ’91, Engr ’94 L/M), Jeff Stark (Arch ’83 L/M), Lacey (Wolf) Craven (Arch ’05) and Ted Porter (Arch ’81 L/M).

Lesley A. Field (Com ’90, L/M) is pleased to announce the adoption of Mikalah N. Parsons on January 23, 2017. Mikalah is an honor student, violinist, cheerleader, and varsity track team member at her high school, and was warmly welcomed by friends and family in a happy celebration preceding the official adoption event.

Lesley is the deputy administrator for federal procurement policy in the Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President, and is also currently serving as acting administrator. She was recently recognized by FCW and 1105 Media with their top 2017 President’s Award as part of this year’s Fed 100 awards program recognizing sustained leadership in federal information technology. Lesley was featured in FCW’s March magazine, and was also named as one of the Top Women in Technology 2017 by FedScoop Magazine. Lesley is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

https://fcw.com/articles/2017/03/31/lesley-field-interview.aspx?m=1
https://www.fedscoop.com/fedscoops-top-women-in-tech-2017-lesley-field/

C. Michelle Batten (Col ’94 L/M) has been named board president of the American Marketing Association in Chicago, Illinois. Ms. Batten is launching strategic growth initiatives to unite marketers across agencies and brands in the academic, non-profit, startup and technology arenas, and has been featured in the “People on the Move” segment of Crain’s Chicago Business Magazine. Ms. Batten is the daughter of Bobby Gale Batten (Com ’58 L/M).

Bob Rosen (Col ’77) was the keynote speaker at a “Growth Awards” gala December 1, 2016, in Athens, Greece. The event, which was attended by 2,000 businessmen and women along with several dignitaries and government leaders, focused on topics of healthy leadership, growth and transformation. Mr. Rosen also recently collaborated on a leadership webinar with Rob Cross (Com ’89, Darden ’94), a professor in UVA’s Darden School of Business and founder of Connected Commons. Mr. Rosen’s books include The Healthy Company, Leading People, Just Enough Anxiety, Global Literacies, The Catalyst, and most recently, Grounded. He is currently working on his seventh book (set to be published this year) and is the CEO of Healthy Companies International in Arlington, Virginia.

Robert Chambliss “Cham” Light Jr. (Col ’76 L/M) is serving his second consecutive term as chairman of the Library of Virginia in Richmond, which is the library and state archives for the Commonwealth. Mr. Light is also vice chairman of the Lynchburg Planning Commission.

Gerard F.X. “Guy” Geier II (Arch ’76, ’78 L/M), managing partner of FXFOWLE Architects, has been elected president of the American Institute of Architects, New York chapter for 2018. He will also serve on the boards and executive committees of the AIANY and New York Center for Architecture as first vice president in 2017. The AIA was founded in New York City 160 years ago, and the New York chapter is the largest in the country, providing educational and professional services to its 5,600 members. The center organizes programs and exhibitions open to the general public aimed at broadening the understanding and impact of architecture and design on society. He is also a member and former chair of the dean’s advisory board at the UVA School of Architecture.

Alan Stephenson Boyd (Law ’48 L/M) of Seattle, Washington, helped to establish and was appointed the first secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation at its founding in April 1967, under President Lyndon B. Johnson. During his tenure, the first national highway safety and federal motor carrier vehicle standards were issued. Mr. Boyd would go on to become president of Amtrak and then to lead Airbus Industries of North America until his retirement in 2009. This spring, the transportation department celebrates its 50th anniversary, to be attended by Mr. Boyd at the age of 94. He is also featured in an anniversary video on the department’s website, Transportation.gov/50.

Jim Phillips (Col ’82) and his wife Alison (Col ’82) reside in Cleveland. In 2016 Jim completed 2 years as Interim Director for the Anesthesia Institute Center for Critical Care, a year as Senior Warden for St Christophers Episcopal Church, completed his 8th board certification, 8th Ironman Triathlon, and deployed overseas as an anesthesiologist with Doctors Without Borders.

Brian K. Matney (Col ’87 L/M) was one of eight individuals recently re-appointed by Governor Terry McAuliffe to a second two-year term on his Standards of Learning (SOL) Reform and Innovation Committee. This body of some thirty citizens was created by action of the General Assembly in 2014. The committee’s recommendations have led to legislation reducing the number of state-mandated tests and encouraging performance-based assessments. Its work is also prompting high school redesign and a re-evaluation of state graduation requirements. Matney, a long-time educator in Virginia Beach, is married to the former Kathryn Campbell, an advanced placement chemistry teacher. They are the parents of two sons, Will, a college freshman, and J.T., a high school sophomore.

Ashley Dyke (Col ’03) is appearing in the movie The Hollars, which opened on September 2, 2016. A graduate of UVA’s drama program, she also portrayed Anna in the 2013 film 12 Years a Slave.

Andrew Leahey (Col ’05) began his music career as an undergraduate journalism student at the University. During his first year, Mr. Leahey and his friends formed a band, Hobson’s Choice, in their living room in Dunglison. “Our goal,” Leahey recalls, “was to learn three hours of cover songs, so we could play frat parties. I spent the next three years playing around Charlottesville, from Corner bars to sorority functions to the time we played on the UVA Lawn and got paid in tubs of ice cream.” While at the University, Mr. Leahey was deeply involved with First Year Players and University Singers, and he was on the staff of the Declaration literary publication. A year before signing his record deal with Thirty Tigers, he became ill and underwent emergency brain surgery to remove a tumor from his hearing nerve. This extremely rare diagnosis nearly ruined his career, but he used his music and his upcoming tour as motivation to get better and move forward. After almost a year’s recovery, Mr. Leahey dedicated his newest album, Skyline in Central Time (released August 5, 2016), to the operation and healing process. Songs like “When the Hinges Give” show the sense of urgency Mr. Leahey felt after his diagnosis, when he feared he would never get the chance to create his first big album. His recent tours with his band, called Andrew Leahey & the Homestead, have included shows with Emmylou Harris, the Wild Feathers, Blackberry Smoke, Alan Jackson, and the Wood Brothers, and while Mr. Leahey’s publicist calls this a “tragedy to triumph” story, he prefers to call it a “thank God I can still hear this guitar I’m playing” story.

Annie Wimbish (Educ ’84, Educ ’91) spoke at Averett University’s spring 2016 commencement ceremony. She is a senior associate with the Schlechty Center, a nonprofit dedicated to building student engagement as a means of improving education. Ms. Wimbish has been a professional educator for more than 30 years. She has worked as a teacher and a principal, and she was the first female superintendent of the Hattiesburg, Mississippi, school district.

Mary Watson (Grad ’83 CM) is giving a series of lectures about the Sandhills region of North Carolina at the St. Joseph of the Pines retirement community in Southern Pines, North Carolina. The series began in July 2016 with a lecture about women’s attitudes toward secession and the Civil War. The other presentations are about John Charles McNeill, the first poet laureate of North Carolina; traditions and rituals in Scotland County and their relation to those in the country of Scotland; and journalist and historian Gerald White Johnson. Ms. Watson is professor emeritus at Nash Community College and a Road Scholar with the North Carolina Humanities Council.