Class Notes

Latané Conant (Col ’99) has published a book, No Forms. No Spam. No Cold Calls: The Next Generation of Account-Based Sales and Marketing.

Ian Jenkins (Col ’97, Med ’01) has published his first book, Three Dads and a Baby: Adventures in Modern Parenting, a memoir about becoming the first polyamorous family recognized as the legal parents of a child anywhere in the world. Learn about the legal, personal and health struggles the family overcame on their journey to being proud parents of two amazing children. The story has been covered in the Huffington Post, CNN, DailyMail, numerous blogs and podcasts, and international media from Latin America to Spain, Austria, and Australia.  

Claude R. “Bud” Mayo (Educ ’75 CM) is currently serving as director of Hunt Test Preparation. Hunt is the oldest independently operated preparation program in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Maureen Kraemer Ohlhausen (Col ’84 CM) is chair of the global antitrust and competition law practice at Baker Botts.  She joined the firm after serving as the acting chairman of the Federal Trade Commission from 2017 to 2018 and as an FTC Commissioner from 2012 to 2018. 

John B. Gordon III (Col ’95, Educ ’00 CM) published his first book, The Teacher’s Lounge: The Real Role of Educators in Your Schools. The semi-autobiographical book describes the impact of educational decisions from our past, and how local and national pop culture and political events changed the culture in education. This is not your typical book about education that overwhelms the reader with research, while not thinking about the practical application in schools. Instead, readers will be provided with insight into how education has changed based on everyday experiences, the increased levels of accountability, and the influence of social media and technology in schools and student lives. The Teacher’s Lounge further looks at the role each stakeholder plays in education, and how those roles work together and unfortunately, sometimes are in opposition of each other. From the growing diversity in schools in the 1970’s, to the effect of Reagonomics in the 1980’s, the educational system became the platform for politics. The influx of reality television and music in the 1990’s, and the effect of technology and social media in the 2000’s, gave all audiences a broad view of what it is like to be a student in school today. The Teacher’s Lounge is guaranteed to make you laugh, reflect, and begin the debate on what is needed for the future of education.

Catherine A. Thompson (Law ’18) joined Ain & Bank, a family practice law firm, as an associate. Previously, Thompson worked at an international law firm in Washington D.C. She focuses her practice on a range of complex and multi-jurisdictional family law matters including divorce, child custody and support, relocation and wealth management.

Gerry Kruger (Educ ’83 CM) released her third book, On Kruger Pond: Charlie’s Legacy, about an unforgettable goose who formed a special bond with Kruger while overcoming setbacks and challenges. This book offers readers updates about three generations of his descendants. Her second book, Two of Us: A Father-Daughter Memoir, traces the ways in which her father’s compassion for others and dedication to service shaped her own life and beliefs.

Natalia C. Wilson (Col ’02) was named equity partner of family law firm Ain & Bank, where she serves as managing partner. Wilson has been a part of the firm for more than 10 years. She received her law degree from American University, Washington College of Law in 2005. 

David Massey (Col ’81, Law ’84 CM) released his fifth album, Island Creek. As of the first week of March, the six-song EP was at no.18 on the Roots Music Report’s nationwide Top Fifty Americana/Country Albums chart, and three of the songs on the album were on the RMR’s nationwide Top Fifty Americana/Country Songs chart. The record was also at No. 1 on the RMR’s Top Fifty Albums chart based on nationwide airplay for Maryland artists in any genre. Island Creek is available on most streaming sites and at his website: www.davemasseymusic.com. Massey retired from his law practice as a mergers and acquisitions partner at Eversheds-Sutherland in Washington, D.C., at the end of 2017.

Steve Odabashian (Col ’91) and his wife, Maggie, welcomed their fourth son on Nov. 13, 2020. Given the date, Friday the 13th, they wisely rejected the idea of naming him Jason and instead opted for Kevork Simon. Steve and his wife live in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, with older sons Arthur, 7, Shant, 5, and Raffi, 2. Steve is a renowned test prep tutor who runs Main Line Test Prep and Tutoring.  

Laurel Wittman (Com ’00 CM) recently joined the board of the Well Spouse Association and is serving as president-elect. She expects to begin a term as president in October 2021. The Well Spouse Association is the only 501©(3) membership organization for the spouses and partners of people living with chronic illnesses and disabilities. Wittman is managing director, head of life sciences credit–east at Oxford Finance, a venture lender focused on the healthcare space, where she has been employed since 2004. She has been married to Eduardo Lopes (Arch ’95 CM) since 2005 and they live in Falls Church, Virginia.

Ashley Bristow Bartley (Col ’06) published her first two children’s books in a social emotional learning picture book series with Boys Town Press: Diamond Rattle Loves to Tattle  and Opal Octopus Is Overwhelmed. Bartley was featured in The Winner’s Circle by The Institute for Writers. Her other publications include articles featured in The Joyful Life Magazine, Kindred Mom, Bright Futures Counseling, and Boys Town Press. 

Jessica Dunne (Engr ’00, ’03) was re-elected this past fall to a second term as a councilmember for Dunellen Borough in New Jersey.  She serves as council president for 2021.

Robert G. Saunders (Com ’90) was recently appointed by the Virginia Legislature to serve as a Judge on the General District Court for the city of Newport News, Virginia, after practicing law for 24 years. 

Hayden Saunier (Col ’79 CM) published her fifth collection of poetry, A Cartography of Home. Her other poetry books include How to Wear This Body, Say Luck, Tips for Domestic Travel, and a chapbook, “Field Trip to the Underworld.” Her work has been awarded the Pablo Neruda Prize, Rattle Poetry Prize, Gell Poetry Award, published in numerous journals, (including Beloit Poetry Journal, Tar River Poetry, and VQR), featured on Poetry Daily and read by Garrison Keillor on The Writer’s Almanac. 

Andrew G. Lee (Col ’85, Med ’89 CM)  was selected as a 2021 recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Awards established by the University of Texas Medical Branch McGovern Academy of Oslerian Medicine. The awards recognize faculty who excel in teaching students and residents in clinical settings, modeling the ideals of compassionate, scientifically sound, patient centered care, exemplified by Sir William Osler.” He writes, “I am proud to receive this award and nothing has been more challenging as an educator than teaching during a quarantine, a lockdown and a global viral pandemic.”

Kim Curtis (Col ’00 CM) was appointed to the Virginia State Historical Records Advisory Board, a gubernatorially appointed board that serves as the central advisory body for historical records planning and related projects developed and carried out by the state. 

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. 

George Morrow (Engr ’83 CM) retired from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as acting center director in December 2019. He received NASA’s highest award, the Distinguished Service Medal, the same year. He joined ASRC Federal in January 2020 and is now vice president for robotic exploration and weather in the space operating group.

Yolanda Burrell Taylor (Col ’76) has published her seventh book of poetry; she writes as Y.B. Taylor. As an African American woman, her poetry provides insights, truths, history etc. of growing up and experiencing life in segregated and integrated America—the highs, the lows, the disparity the bias. She provides footnotes/endnotes to assist those who are unfamiliar with African American experiences, African American history and commonly used idioms in African American communities. Every poem is preceded by an epigraph, which provides insight into the focus of the poem. Taylor’s books of poetry are available through Amazon, her website, and the gift shop at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. 

Victor Deupi (Arch ’86 CM) has published two new books. Cuban Modernism: Mid-Century Architecture 1940-1970, written with Jean-Francois Lejeune focuses on the modernist generation of Cuban architects active from 1940–70 and extols the national and international importance of their architecture and urban works. The second book, Stables: High Design for Horse and Home, produced with the publisher Oscar Riera Ojeda, and distributed by Rizzoli, showcases beautifully designed stables by contemporary architects and designers around the world.

Ben Mackovak (Darden ’07 CM) married to Catherine Banton on the shores of Lake Erie in September 2019. The couple celebrated with a wide cast of characters from the UVA classes of 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, who partied under the stars on a perfect summer night. The couple lives in Bratenahl, Ohio. 

Jack Sutor Jr. (Col ’69) has published a novel and a collection of short stories. Lovers in a Small Cafe is the second part of a novel about the hardships of living decently in a broken world surrounded by troubled people. Like Part I, The Ice Meadows, Lovers is published under the pen name Edmund Burwell. The short story collection, Thanksgiving, is published under his own name. All are available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. He can be reached at mattsdad284@gmail.com.

Robert A. Hilliard (Col ’74 CM) has published two novels, What Are The Odds? The Calculus of Coincidence and All In?…Beware the Cross Currents, as part of the Cutter/Wellington trilogy. The story centers around two rival families steeped in the rich tradition of thoroughbred racing—the Cutters of Leesburg, Virginia, and the Wellingtons of Lexington, Kentucky. Fellow UVA alums will gravitate toward TJ Cutter III, a 1974 graduate of Mr. Jefferson’s academical village. The third book in the series, Life’s Elusive Horizon, is slated for release in the first quarter of 2022. Mr. Hilliard’s first book was a memoir about bringing professional baseball back to NJ in the 1990s.

Anand Yang (Grad ’76) published a new book, Empire of Convicts. The book focuses on male and female Indians incarcerated in Southeast Asia for criminal and political offenses committed in colonial South Asia. A major contribution to histories of crime and punishment, prisons, law, labor, transportation, migration, colonialism, and the Indian Ocean World, the book narrates the experiences of Indian convicts, and shows how they exercised agency in difficult situations, fashioning their own worlds and even becoming “their own warders.” Yang brings long journeys across the ocean to life in a deeply researched and engrossing account that moves fluidly between local and global contexts.

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.

Paul Hodskins (Col ’12 CM) earned a master’s degree with highest distinction in 2018 from the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. That September, he married Katherine Jane Waro near Villanova University. Katie graduated from the Ithaca College Roy H. Park School of Communications and is a director of marketing at a global travel conglomerate. Paul and Kate now live in Leesburg, Virginia, where they recently purchased a home and hope to plant family roots. In 2021, Paul will mark ten years as a federal civil servant in foreign relations and national security.

Attison Barnes (Col ’15 CM) co-founded Captain Experiences, based out of Austin, Texas. The company aims to improve and streamline the booking process for outdoor sports guides, from fishing to rock climbing and more, to get “more people out of the office and off the couch and into the outdoors.” 

Catherine Donnellan Sanders (Col ’06 CM) and her husband, Kevin Sanders, welcomed their second child, Genevieve Rosemary, on Nov. 16, 2020. Genevieve joins big brother George. The family resides in Memphis, TN, where Dr. Sanders is a pediatric pulmonologist.

Andy Poarch (Col ’93, Law ’03 CM), chief operating officer of Alliance Group, was honored by Virginia Business Magazine on their list of “100 People to Meet in 2021,” a prestigious annual list of impact-makers in Virginia’s business community who are leaders in their respective industries helping to drive innovation and growth across the Commonwealth.

Katherine Bowers (Col ’02, Grad ’04) was promoted to associate professor of Slavic studies with tenure at the University of British Columbia in summer 2020. Her first monograph is forthcoming from University of Toronto Press in 2021.

Thad Long (Law ’63 CM) published a book, The Impossible Mock Orange Trial, based on a case he tried as an attorney. Long is an elected member of the prestigious American Law Institute and has been an Adjunct professor of Law at two different law schools. He has tried many memorable cases, and the one that inspired The Impossible Mock Orange Trial was rated by the National Law Journal as one of only several most outstanding defense verdicts of the year. He has recently been awarded Marquis Who’s Who in America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The Impossible Mock Orange Trial is a gripping anatomy of a huge high-stakes trial, with an unexpected turn at the end that spotlights the question: “What is Justice?” The book is available on Amazon.

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.

Frederick Wilbur (Col ’70) recently published his second poetry collection, Conjugation of Perhaps. The previous collection is titled As Pus Floats the Splinter Out. For 35 years Wilbur was a self-employed architectural woodcarver participating in the restoration of such historic properties as Montpelier, Blandfield, and the Maryland Statehouse in Annapolis. He carved several details for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. His ecclesiastical carvings appear in churches nationwide. During his career Wilbur wrote many articles and three books on decorative woodcarving; Carving Architectural Detail in Wood: the Classical Tradition; Carving Classical Styles in Wood, and Decorative Woodcarving: Accessories for the Home. Wilbur received a M. A. from the University of Vermont. He still lives in central Virginia with his wife of fifty years, Elizabeth (Educ ’87), with two daughters and three grandchildren nearby.

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