Class Notes

Hedieh Fakhriyazdi (Arch ’09) Director of Social Responsibility and the Weil Foundation, has been awarded a 2021 Innovation Award by the New York Law Journal for her leadership in making our communities more equitable, inclusive, just and sustainable through philanthropy and social impact initiatives.

Hedieh was recognized as one of the legal industry’s innovative individuals and honored for her achievements leading Weil’s Social Responsibility department and charitable foundation. Her recent accomplishments include the launch in 2019 of the Weil Legal Innovators program, a groundbreaking philanthropic initiative that partners with top law schools and nonprofit organizations to provide annual public service fellowships for rising law students. Hedieh has also launched Community@Weil, enhancing the Firm’s community service platform to help attorneys and staff give back in meaningful ways.

The winners of the Innovation Awards will be recognized in the New York Law Journal’s upcoming Professional Excellence magazine and honored at the New York Legal Awards in New York City on October 13, 2021.

Ellsworth K. “Kenny” Johnson III (Col ’92 CM) retired from the U.S. Army at the rank of Colonel on September 30, 2020.  He served in the Army for 28 years and was awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal at his retirement ceremony, which was held on August 6, 2020.  His last military assignment was as the Program Manager for the Missile Defense Agency’s X-Band Radars Program Office at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.  COL(R) Johnson, his wife, Terri, and their sons live in Madison, Alabama.   

Richard Rannellone (Engr ’68) has published a novel,  Auslander (German for foreigner). The story deals with a World War II German soldier, who is captured in  North Africa by the American army.  After spending his captivity at  a POW camp in Texas, he returns to war-ravaged Germany, but is disillusioned by the dismal state of the country and the lack of professional opportunities for him, a degree holder in aeronautical engineering.  He longs to return to the U.S. and finally achieves that goal. Life in the U.S. presents a new array of opportunities and challenges that he must confront.  

Michael Widener (Col ’72 CM) has digitally published a novel, Fishbein, Ascending, now available, together with his non-fiction writings, at https://widenerites.com. Mike retired from law practice and public officialdom in 2021, and divides his time between Arizona’s deserts and the hills of Middle Tennessee with his wife Peggy.

In August 2021, Steven Bingler (Arch ’72) AIA will celebrate the 38th anniversary of Concordia, an Architecture, Planning, and Community Engagement Firm headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana, that he founded in 1983.  Bingler is a leading advocate for innovative, equitable, and community-centered architectural, urban design, and stakeholder engagement solutions. His work has received support from Ford, Rockefeller, Bill and Melinda Gates, and other foundations. His research papers have been widely published and his op-eds have appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Most recently, he was the principal investigator for the Global Transformation Roundtable, a Rockefeller Foundation-funded initiative that produced “Sea Changes,” a document outlining planning principles for communities to address climate change.  Bingler is included in Wikipedia’s roster of internationally acclaimed urban planners.  A native of Charlottesville, he is a member of The Raven Society.

Katherine Sheehan Sears (Col ’05 CM), Robert Sears (Col ’05), and big brother, Henry, welcomed baby Benjamin Robert on May 25, 2021. Ben is the grandson of Mary Gardes Sears (Col ’82 CM), the great-grandson of Col. George Gardes (Engr ’60), and the nephew of Annie Sheehan (Col ’13). The family lives in Leesburg, Virginia.

Amie Herman (Col ’90 CM) married UVA classmate (and college sweetheart) Tom Tarnowski (Engr ’90) in 2020, after a hiatus of almost 30 years. They have spent the past nine months self-building an adventure-ready camper van. Beginning in September 2021, they will be living of the road for the next year with plans to hike, bike, kayak and explore the U.S. You can follow their journey at https://Amie.Substack.com

Marc Friedman (Com ’95 CM) and Gina Schaefer are selling their company, A Few Cool Hardware Stores, to their employees. Ownership will transfer to 250-plus employees over the next several years through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. The company, a group of 13 Ace Hardware stores in the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore metro areas, was founded in 2003.

Rod MacDonald (Col ’70 CM) published his 13th compact disc of songs, Boulevard, and second novel, The American Guerillas, in 2021. The CD is a collection of his first songs, written when he was a graduate student in New York City, living on upper Broadway. Though released on the independent label Blue Flute Music, the CD made the top twenty in national folk & roots music charts. The novel, a story of a man on the run who ends up on a remote desert American Indian reservation, was published by Archway Publications in April. MacDonald lives in South Florida and is a “geezer dad”, with two teenage children. He works full-time, as a performer, as co-producer of the monthly Greenwich Village Folk Festival, and as Music Americana instructor in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Florida Atlantic University, where he was named Distinguished Faculty Member in 2012. 

Sarah Yancey (Educ ’66) was elected chair of the board of directors of AFS-USA, the largest partner in a worldwide network of non-profit, volunteer-based international education organizations. A former teacher and assistant principal at Parkway South High School in St. Louis, Missouri. Sarah has been an AFS-USA volunteer for nearly 50 years. 

Cameron Sims (Col ’18) was recently promoted from business development analyst to development analyst at Lloyd Jones, a multifamily and senior housing real estate investment, development and management firm. 

Dawn Bryant Crim (Col ’89 CM) earned her doctorate in educational leadership and policy analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May 2021.

David Meredith (Com ’03), CEO and Board Director of Everbridge, ranked among Comparably’s “2021 Best CEOs for Diversity” in the largest companies category. Meredith ranked alongside peers from industry leaders including Zoom, Adobe, IBM, Google, Microsoft, Uber and Ford Motor Company.  Comparably, a leading workplace culture site measuring employee sentiment, compiled its annual Best CEOs for Diversity to shine a spotlight on leaders who create inclusive cultures for all.  

Tien-Wei Huang (Col ’99), Justin Anderson (Col ’16) and Ty Jerome (Col ’20) founded Locker Room Access, a website designed to give fans an inside look at players, coaches, family and friends of the Virginia program. The site features podcasts, merchandise, blogs and forums. UVA is the pilot program, with plans to expand to other schools in 2022.

Jeffrey Ryan (Col ’80) retired after 25 years as a family physician at Ryan Family Medicine in Albany, New York. Dr. Ryan’s practice was varied and included conventional as well as non-traditional approaches. Among these were acupuncture (Medical Acupuncture – UCLA) and integrative medicine (Integrative Medicine Fellow – University of Arizona). Jeff’s practice was evolving to include an emphasis on geriatric care. Jeff then experienced manifestations of an inherited addictive disorder fueled in part by childhood trauma. It signaled the need for interruption of career and modification of certain life and career goals. Treatment of this is ongoing and is as deeply meaningful as it is profoundly challenging.

Alden Abbott (Col ’74 CM) joined the Mercatus Center at George Mason University as Senior Research Fellow in January 2021. He runs a research program on antitrust and competition policy. From 2018-2021, Abbott served as general counsel of the Federal Trade Commission. He was an adjunct professor at George Mason (now Scalia) Law School from 1991-2018. In August, the Mercatus Center released his podcast interview on antitrust and Christianity, featuring a discussion with UVA Economics Professor Kenneth Elzinga and University of Michigan Professor Dan Crane.

Paul A. Lombardo (Grad ’82, Law ’85), Regents Professor and Bobby Lee Cook Professor of Law at Georgia State University College of Law, was chosen as the 2021 Jay Healy Health Law Teacher of the Year by the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics.