Class Notes

Lily Hakim (Com ’08) was at the forefront of the finances for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. Hakim led the financial management of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine research and development program, including clinical trials, for which emergency use authorization was received from the FDA. She worked alongside Pfizer’s senior leadership and scientists to provide for the allocation of funds necessary to meet rapidly changing estimates and needs.

As the COVID-19 vaccine R&D finance lead, Hakim monitored and facilitated rapid expenditure approvals for logistics, materials, and personnel around the world. Hakim believes that finance should be a partner to the business, not be a barrier. This included management of financial resources for the initial clinical trial of ~44,000 participants at several international sites and additional clinical trials that followed. She additionally managed the financial needs of Pfizer’s Pearl River R&D facility and related laboratories operating throughout the pandemic.

In December, Hakim was promoted and named director, executive operations working within Pfizer’s Office of the CEO. In this new role she works side-by-side Pfizer’s most senior leaders supporting strategic decisions.

Throughout her career, Hakim has deployed accounting implementations and held conversations on complex accounting matters while being commended for explaining these matters in a way that non-financial individuals can understand. She furthers her passion for the subject by teaching accounting, business writing, and public speaking in her spare time.

Hakim received her master’s degree in accountancy from the University of Virginia (COMM ’08), graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University with a bachelor’s degree in applied economics and management, and is a CPA licensed in New York.

Peter Coy (Col ’71) published a book of plays, A House In The Country and Other Plays. The collection, by the award-winning playwright, includes A House in the Country, Will’s Bach, The Gift of the Magi, Poe & All That Jazz and A Shadow of Honor. Coy’s plays explore chaos and emotional depth as his characters confront disorder, wrestle with love and struggle with the effects of trauma and loss. He tackles these issues with a mixture of psychological realism, offbeat humor, musicality and theatrical inventiveness. Currently based in Nelson County, Virginia, Coy has directed more than 60 productions and written or adapted more than 45 plays. His plays have been produced in Washington, D.C., New York City, across Virginia, and beyond, including at the Charter Theatre, Barter Theatre, Capital Fringe Festival, D.C.; Theatre at Saint Clement’s, Keegan Theatre, Lime Kiln Theater and more.

Mark Apelt (Col ’00), a stay-at-home dad in Richmond, Virginia, recently invented a new gadget during COVID to help bring back a little normalcy for everyone. The Blowzee preserves the tradition of blowing out birthday candles without involving germs. It was recently aired on several news outlets: https://wjla.com/news/local/blowzee-henrico-dad-blow-out-candles-not-germs. Apelt writes: “The Blowzee keeps your cake clean while bringing back birthday joy and wishes. Kids love it. Parents love it. Guests appreciate it. How does it work?  Blowing into the open end of the Blowzee activates a battery-powered fan. The device blows clean air to extinguish the candles while redirecting your breath away from the cake. Spread joy, not germs!”

John Weckerling (Col ’54 CM) lives in Frankfurt, Germany, after serving 30 years in the U.S. Army, during which he received the Legion of Merit, and graduated from the NATO Defense College in Rome, Italy. He also received the Federal Cross of Service of Germany from the president of Germany. He spent eight years as manager of the Steuben-Schurz Society for eight years, which includes 850 members from several cities in Germany.

Frank B. Connolly (Arch ’72 CM) has published two books on local government after a career in Connecticut local government as a town planner, town manager and school business manager. Local Government in Connecticut, 3rd Edition, has been used as textbook in the state, and Hidden Agendas: Inside Town Hall, is novel about the shenanigans that take place in local government. He was recently featured in Bow and Stern, a publication of his flotilla in the U.S.Coast Guard Auxiliary for his work as a certified instructor teaching boating safety. He attended UVA’s Senior Executive Institute. 

Jay B. Marcus (Law ’66) published The Coherence Effect: Tapping into the Laws of Nature Governing Health, Happiness, and Higher Brain Functioning. The book, which he wrote with Chris Clark and Robert Keith Wallace, is about the daily health routines followed for centuries by yogis and sages and what these routines can do for health and clarity of mind today. He also published an article adapted from the book and produced a short podcast promoting the importance of brain wave coherence. This is his fifth book on this topic. 

Kendall Jones (Col ’89) has been named vice president of legal and risk at the global headquarters of California Pizza Kitchen Inc., based in Costa Mesa, California. 

Jordan Gilliam (Col ’16) was listed as a Top 40 Under 40  lawyer by National Black Lawyers. Gilliam is an attorney based in Stites & Harbison’s Lexington, Kentucky, office. He is a member of the real estate and banking service group. Gilliam assists clients with wide-ranging real estate needs, including land acquisition, zoning, development and leasing matters.

JoAnne Marie Mancini (Col ’90 CM) was awarded the 2020 Peggy O’Brien Book Prize for the best book in American Studies 2017-2019 for Art and War in the Pacific World: Making, Breaking and Taking from Anson’s Voyage to the Philippine-American War. Mancini is also the author of Pre-Modernism: Art-World Change and American Culture from the Civil War to the Armory Show and, with Keith Bresnahan, is the co-editor of Architecture and Armed Conflict: The Politics of Destruction. She lives in Dublin, Ireland.

Nebil Husayn (Col ’04) published his first book, Opposing the Imam. Husayn is an assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Miami. His research broadly considers the development of Islamic theology, historiography and debates on the caliphate. Husayn earned his doctorate in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University and a master’s in Arabic and Islamic studies from Harvard University. He is the recipient of a Fulbright award and the University of Miami Fellowship in the Arts and Humanities. 

Lyndsay Anderson (Nurs ’07 CM) has been accepted into the Nursing Science and Health-Care Leadership doctorate at University of California, Davis. She plans to continue research in cancer and health disparities. She serves as part-time faculty at California State University, Sacramento, in the College of Health and Human Services. She lives in Sacramento with her husband, Steven D. Anderson (Col ’96), and two sons, Thomas and Henry. 

Phil Garn (Col ’82 CM) and his old master chief, Jim Gray, wrote Warboats: 55 Years of Naval Special Warfare Combatant Craft History for their veteran’s nonprofit organization, the Combatant Craft Crewman Association. This is the first history of “The Silent Ones” and traces the history of what is now known as Special Warfare Combatant Craft Crewmen (SWCCs). They have been part of naval special warfare since their inception late in the Eisenhower administration and deployment early in the Kennedy administration. Initially the largest individual component of the former Naval Operational Support Group during the Vietnam War, SWCCs currently compose more than a quarter of the operators in naval special warfare, including the Naval Special Warfare Development Group. Heavily illustrated with many never before published photos, documents, insignia and veterans recollections, it is available through the Combatant Craft Crewman Association Website.

Carolyn DeMain Pipitone (Engr ’94, ’96 CM) self-published her first book now available on Amazon. Based on her personal experience, Make Your Boomer Parents Do This Now!: A Generation X Guide to their Boomer Parent’s Estate Plans, provides a short and manageable list of the critical documents and accounts every Gen Xer needs their Boomer parents to make immediately. Convenient “Gotcha Tips” provide hints for how to avoid pitfalls you would never know about until you live through them.

Golara Haghtalab (Col ’17) published Immigrant, a book about change and adaptation and explores the personal and professional identities of a 30-year-old immigrant woman. She writes: “I wrote this book because I believe everyone can learn something about accepting what is, letting go of what is not working, and starting anew from immigrants.

I hope that, in reading this book, you will discover the resilience of a 30-year-old immigrant woman and her journey to self-realization in a new country. In this book, I hope to instill in you the same sort of passion and excitement I have for immigrants and the lessons of enduring change and achieving adaptation. Ultimately, I want you to see this book as a tool to help you unlock your superpowers when faced with a new situation that is unknown to you.

Because of the current state of the world, I decided to build a community around the immigrant journey topic. The New Degree Press gave me the best shot at it, so here I am building a community, and I would love for you to join us too!

Your support won’t be for the book alone. It will be for immigrants in the U.S. to be heard and seen. After all, aren’t we all immigrants in the U.S.?

Please join me in my journey by pre-ordering my book.“

Wes Jackson (Col ’95) was elected to the board of trustees of the Brooklyn Public Library, which recently merged with the Brooklyn Historical Society. Jackson previously served on the board of the historical society and was featured on ABC’s Soul Of A Nation. He discussed the depiction of African Americans in film and media over the years as well as the importance and rise of sneaker culture in the Black community. 

Linda L. Fox Bryant (Col ’88, Darden ’21 CM) was elected to a six-year term as a judge for the general district court in Chesapeake, Virginia. She received her law degree from the College of William Mary Marshall Wythe School of Law in 1992, after which she served in the U.S. Army as a JAGC. Since leaving active duty in the mid-1990s, she has served Virginia in many different legal roles. She will receive her MBA from the Darden School of Business in May 2021. Her husband Scott, served in the U.S. Navy, and her daughter is Alexandra Connell (Col ’19, Batten ’20).

David S. Lessen (Col ’94 CM) has joined the University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center after being appointed medical director of Sylvester Deerfield Beach and Fort Lauderdale. He is also a voluntary assistant professor of medicine in the hematology division at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

J. William Lewis (Law ’68) will publish his debut novel, The Essence of Nathan Biddle, in June 2021. The book is a timeless coming-of-age tale that, as novelist David Armstrong observed, “is like discovering The Catcher in the Rye all over again.” 

Derrick Agee (Col ’14) and Rachel Bryant Agee (Nurs ’19 CM) celebrated their one year wedding anniversary! 

Suzanne Miller (Engr ’60) published her third book: Walking in Love: Why and How? She retired a few years ago after a career in aerospace and intelligence as a scientist, program manager and executive at Lockheed Martin, TRW and the U.S. Department of Defense. She also served for 10 years as president of her own consulting firm. A lifetime Episcopalian, she attended seminary at the Claremont School of Theology and served for five years as the licensed lay vicar of a Baltimore Parish. She also is a retired Navy Commander. Her career focus now is on her singing and writing career. As a singer she is a member of several choral groups, performing both locally and internationally, and recently released two albums of her solo songs. The title of one of them, It Ain’t Over ‘Till It’s Over,  sums it all up. Her website is suzannermiller.com. 

Bud Mayo (Educ ’75 CM) is in the process of completing some family research and needs help. He writes: “My family spent numerous summers at the Breezy Hill Farm Tourist Cabins of Rt. 29 during the 1950s. I am attempting fine the exact location and any information on this site.” Anyone with information can reach him at mayo5304@cox.net.

Chris Conlan (Col ’20) founded Conlan Scientific, a fast-growing nationally recognized authority in delivering AI/ML-based financial data science solutions. The company was recognized by Clutch Research as the top artificial intelligence development services firm in the Washington D.C., region.

Robert Edwards Griffin (Col ’02 CM) and his wife, Claire, welcomed a daughter, Hazel Chislett, on Mar. 16, 2021. Hazel joins her older brothers, Gordon Charles and Thomas Murphy, and is granddaughter of Gordon Dix Griffin Jr. (Arch ’72 CM). The family lives in Huntsville, Alabama.

Timothy Shelley (Grad ’98) has written two books, Stories When Little: Growing Up Under MK-ULTRA and Playboy’s Progress: Coming of Age Under MK-ULTRA, which are available for free at his website, Fighting Monarch, which now has more than one million hits. The books are an epic detective story exploring the themes of memory, forgetting, sexual programming, personal and national identity, globalism, and their intersection with conspiracy theories.

Diane Smith Wilkin (Col ’77) was named the 2021 Pennsylvania Art Educator from the National Art Education Association. This award, determined through a peer review of nominations, honors an outstanding member from each state or province association whose service and contribution to art education merits recognition and acclaim. Wilkin worked with the Bristol Township SD for 24 years as a high school art educator and also served her state organization in numerous positions, including president, and most recently completed three years representing 13 states as Eastern Region Vice President for NAEA. The award was presented during the [Virtual] NAEA 2021 National Convention.

Aysha Schomburg (Col ’95) was appointed as an associate commissioner in the Biden administration. In this role, she will oversee the roughly $10 billion U.S. Children’s Bureau, which regulates federal funding for the nation’s vast network of state- and county-run agencies responsible for foster care, child maltreatment investigations, and prevention services. Prior to her appointment, Aysha worked for New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services, one of the largest local foster care and prevention agencies in the country, where she helped expand protections for parents at risk of child abuse and neglect investigations. She’s also worked on legislation expanding support in schools for LGBTQ students, among other local laws focused on children. During an earlier stint at ACS, she helped establish savings accounts for foster youth and a hotline for recruiting foster parents.

Christy Williams Coombs (Col ’05 CM) and her husband, Robert, welcomed their daughter, Clara Eleanor, on Jan. 3, 2021. Clara is the niece of Hillery Williams (Col ’08 CM), granddaughter of Charlie Williams (Col ’74) and great-granddaughter of Dick Williams (Col ’44). The family is eager to bring her to Grounds soon to see her family’s beloved alma mater!

Lloyd F. Stamy Jr. (Col ’73 CM) published his newest book, Strangers No More, a sequel to Reunion of Strangers published in 2018. Interwoven plots of passion and patriotism collide in this gripping drama of global cyberwarfare and looming economic enslavement. Stamy serves up a riveting tale of intrigue, espionage, cyberterrorism, betrayal, revenge, the dethronement of an American president, and a reconciliation of anxious hearts and flawed psyches – all during the throes of a global pandemic. He lives in Fox Chapel, a suburb of Pittsburgh, and the direct link to his author page is: 

www.amazon.com/author/lloyd.stamy

Richard F. McGonegal (Grad ’75 CM) published a mystery novel, Sense of Grace. While attending UVA, he studied creative writing with Peter Taylor, who later won a Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University in 1973. McGonegal and his wife, Kristie, live in Jefferson City, Missouri, where their two adult daughters, Heather and Jane, also live. He retired in 2017 after a 41-year journalism career at the Jefferson City News Tribune, a daily newspaper in Missouri’s capital city. Twenty-four of his short stories have been published in magazines, including Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.

Robert F. Graboyes (Col ’76) is senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He recently launched a podcast series, Fortress and Frontier: Conversations on Healthcare and Innovation. For his first episode, “Different, but Not Less: Temple Grandin and the Economics of Neurodiversity,” he interviewed animal scientist and autism advocate Temple Grandin. During the pandemic, he also launched a YouTube channel featuring his musical performances and compositions—often in collaboration with the visual art of his wife, Alanna. Graboyes was previously a clinical professor in UVA’s School of Nursing, teaching health economics from 2005 to 2014.

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.