Class Notes

Linda Lakhdhir (Col ’81 CM) has joined the NGO Climate Rights International as its legal director. CRI was founded in 2022 to focus on the intersection between climate change and human rights abuses, using on the ground research, detailed documentation and strategic advocacy to press for needed change. Lakhdhir previously served as Asia legal adviser for Human Rights Watch.

Malerie Ma Roddy (Col ’10 CM) has been promoted to partner at the law firm ArentFox Schiff. Roddy concentrates her practice on civil litigation and class action defense, serving clients across industries such as juvenile products, food and beverage, automotive, and consumer home goods. Her experience extends to multidistrict civil litigation, governmental investigations, and advising clients through all stages of product development and sales. Roddy co-chairs ArentFox Schiff’s New Moms Group, ParentFox Midwest, and the Asian Attorneys Inclusion Group.

Allison (Powell) Leighton (Arch ’07) has been promoted to senior associate at Quinn Evans. Leighton has served as the project manager for Cristo Rey High School in Richmond, Virginia; the Acuff Center for Aquaculture at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in Gloucester Point, Virginia; and the Advanced Career Education Centers at Hermitage and Highland Springs for Henrico County Public Schools.

Ryan McEnroe (Arch ’09) has been promoted to senior associate in Quinn Evans’ Washington, D.C. office. He has contributed to the design of the recently reopened Bird House at the National Zoological Park and the award-winning National Native American Veterans Memorial at the National Museum of the American Indian, both for the Smithsonian Institution. He is a co-founder of AIA|DC’s Christopher Kelley Leadership Development Program.

Nakita Reed (Arch ’06) has been promoted to senior associate in Quinn Evans’ Baltimore office. Working at the intersection of historic preservation, sustainable design, and equity, she engages in transformative projects such as the redevelopment of the 800 block of Harlem and Edmondson in Baltimore, Maryland, and the restoration of Baltimore Penn Station. Reed currently serves as president of the Baltimore Architecture Foundation.

Lawrence E. Jordan (Arch ’80 CM) published his first book, The Way: Meaningful Spirituality for a Modern World. The Way integrates religion and science and reconciles Eastern and Western worldviews, confirming with the mystics and the scientists that everyone is related, and everything is connected. Larry lives in Arlington, Texas and Crestone, Colorado. He retired in 2011, after a 25-year career in investment banking. He and his wife, Jill, have two grown children and three young grandchildren, and they enjoy playing with their grandchildren, traveling, and volunteering.

Jonathan G. Malacarne (Col ’09 CM) and Janet E. Horsager welcomed a son, Ari Horsager Malacarne, on December 13, 2023.

Steven Munger (Col ’89 CM) is joining the faculty of the UVa School of Medicine as a professor of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, where he will continue his research into the function and dysfunction of the senses of smell and taste and direct a new center focused on the science of smell, taste, hearing, speech and balance. Dr. Munger has served as the director of the University of Florida Center for Smell and Taste since 2016, is a past-president of the Association for Chemoreception Sciences, and is the editor-in-chief of the scientific journal Chemical Senses. He and his wife, Caroline Worrall (Darden ’98 CM), a financial consultant, will move to Charlottesville in the spring of 2024.

Juliana Yee (Col ’10 CM) has been promoted to partner at the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson.

Juliana focuses her practice on high-stakes disputes, including class actions, mass actions and trials in state and federal court and across a wide range of industries, including technology, entertainment, higher education and financial services. She helps companies navigate their most challenging and high-profile matters through all stages of litigation. Juliana also maintains an active pro bono practice focused on immigration matters and civil rights. She is committed to advancing diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and currently serves as the co-chair of the Development Committee of the Utah Center for Legal Inclusion.

Before joining the firm, Juliana clerked for Judge Vince Chhabria of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and Judge Jay Bybee of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In 2019, she completed a three-month fellowship as a volunteer assistant district attorney for the San Francisco District Attorneys’ Office, first-chairing four criminal jury trials to a verdict.

Ilana Berry’s (Law ’03) debut novel, The Peacock and the Sparrow (Simon & Schuster), was named a best book of the year by The New Yorker, NPR, and Diplomatic Courier. The book is about an aging spy caught in the crosswinds of the Arab Spring on the Persian Gulf island of Bahrain. Berry was a spy for the CIA for six years, including one year in wartime Baghdad. She publishes under the pen name I.S. Berry.

Jane E. Hardy (Col ’85) was recently named senior associate dean at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

John Armstrong (Col ’69 CM) has published Breaking Stories, a novel in which the principal character, Jake Morris,  is a young journalist who launches an unauthorized investigation of a corrupt politician. When his editor seems to balk at publishing the story, Jake quits and goes on a journey leading toward discovery of the reason for his editor’s reluctance. Breaking Stories is available through Amazon/Kindle. John lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife Val, who he met at the UVA.

Heather Brown Holleman (Col ’97 CM) has won Christianity Today’s 2024 Book of the Year Award for her young adult novel, This Seat’s Saved.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/december-web-only/christianity-today-2024-book-awards.html

Roger Millar (Engr ’82 CM) recently completed his service as president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, advocating for a resilient national transportation system that is safe, smart, and sound.

Jessica Bantom (Col ’98 CM) recently joined integrated design firm DLR Group as their global leader for equity, diversity and belonging. This role is the culmination of her career spanning management consulting, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, and interior design consulting. She released her first book, Design for Identity: How to Design Authentically for a Diverse World, in April 2023, and is currently teaching a course based on her book at Marymount University.