Class Notes

Andrew Taylor-Troutman (Grad ’11) has published a new book. Hope Matters: Churchless Sermons in the Time of the Coronavirus is a collection of weekly editorials he wrote for the local newspaper over the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Part memoir, part social commentary, he draws on biblical interpretation and theological reflection to make connections with a reading audience beyond my faith community in a time in which we were all tested. One hundred percent of the profits support a food assistance ministry in his community that began during the pandemic: the church partners with a local farm and restaurant to provide nutritious meals to people living with special needs.

Greg Van Patten (Col ’92 CM) will serve as the interim dean of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences at Middle Tennessee State University starting July 1, 2021. The college is MTSU’s largest college and is home to more than 5,500 students and 210 faculty. Van Patten is a professor in the Department of Chemistry and has served as the chair of that department since 2012.

David Meredith (Com ’03), CEO and board director of Everbridge, was awarded Best CEO by the 2020 Comparably Awards for large companies. Everbridge, Inc., the global leader in critical event management, was awarded Best Company Culture.

Everbridge CEO David Meredith was listed in the Best CEO category including honorees such as Zoom’s Eric Yuan, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Apple’s Timothy Cook, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.  Everbridge received exceptionally high ratings from its employees including an overall A Rating for Company Culture and a CEO Rating of A+.  The awards reflect sentiment ratings of employees based on 20 core metrics (e.g., leadership, environment, compensation, team, outlook, career growth, work-life balance, and benefits.) View the full list here.  Everbridge ranked top 50 in the largest company category, including Adobe, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Zoom, for Best Company Culture.

Kevin B. O’Connell (Col ’78 CM) retired in April after 35 years with Delta Air Lines. He flew his final crossing of the Atlantic, from Madrid to New York City, after accumulating more than 17,000 hours on the 757/767 aircraft alone. Prior to working for Delta, O’Connell spent eight years on active duty with the U.S. Navy. He participated in combat operations off Lebanon in 1983-1984, and he was recalled to active duty for the first Gulf War as an A-6 pilot.  During the air war in Kosovo he provided expeditionary logistic support to the Sixth Fleet and NATO units while operating at forward support sites in both Greece and Italy. He completed his naval service with more than 2,000 hours in the A-6 Intruder and 401 carrier landings and retired as a captain in the Naval Reserve in 2001. With his wife of 35 years, he is retiring to East Orleans, Massachusetts. on Cape Cod, where his retirement goals include not being attacked by a great white shark while surfing at Nauset Beach. He would also like to avoid falling off the family tractor while mowing the fields on Pochet Island and injuring himself severely. Finally after 43 years of being subject to random alcohol and drug testing at work he would like to blow as much dope as is humanly possible.

Michael D. Huffstetler (Arch ’87) was invested in the 2021 class of the Society of American Military Engineers Academy of Fellows. The academy recognizes members who have rendered dedicated and outstanding service to the society, military engineering and the architecture, engineering and construction professions. 

David A. Thompson (Engr ’51 CM) writes: “Just checking in on the 70th anniversary of my UVA graduation. I received a BME in mechanical engineering in June 1951. I was in the Naval ROTC Squadron that graduated that yaear and was launched into the active Navy upon graduation and sent to sea to fight the Korean War. I found my UVA engineering training very valuable in my service as a Naval Officer, both in gunnery operations and in command and control duties. Upon return from wartime operations, I put my GI Bill credits toward advanced graduate work, earning a PhD from Stanford University, and was awarded and emeritus professorship in the management sciences and engineering department. As i went through my active military involvement in the Korean War, graduate work and a 27-year professorship at Stanford, I would find problems similar to and extensions of my UVA training, and appreciated the timely assistance of that earlier training. So, thank you again, Virginia, for a great start in a very complex world.”

J. Hagood Tighe (Col ’87 CM) was named president-elect of the South Carolina Bar. Based in Columbia, South Carolina, Tighe is a partner at Fisher Phillips and co-chair of the firm’s wage and hour practice group, In this role, Hagood will further the bar’s mission to serve more than 17,000 members and the public by advancing the legal profession through high quality education, continuous innovation and facilitating improvements in the administration of justice. He will assume the role of President of the South Carolina Bar in May 2022. 

Khalilah L. Brown-Dean (Col ’98) was promoted to full professor in the Department of Political Science at Quinnipiac University. She was also appointed as the inaugural associate provost for faculty affairs. Brown-Dean is the author of Identity Politics in the United States and co-author of the forthcoming book, Protesting Vulnerability: Race and Pandemic Politics. She is host of the radio show and podcast, Disrupted, for Connecticut Public Radio. 

Michael Scott Doyle (Col ’75, Grad ’81 CM) was received the highest award conferred by Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society, and was inducted into the Order of Don Quijote. Doyle is a professor of Spanish in University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Department of Languages and Culture Studies. The award is conferred annually upon only 1-3 people worldwide and past honorees include renowned literary figures such as Carlos Fuentes, Carmen Laforet Fernando Arrabal. 

Marc Olsen (Com ’01 CM) and his wife, Emily, are thrilled to announce the birth of their third child, Vivienne Gray, on Jan. 2, 2021. (Not a 2020 baby!) Marc is president of one of the largest COVID-19 testing networks in the Southeast and manages a multitude of testing and vaccine medical clinics in Georgia. His wife is an epidemiologist at the CDC, studying on COVID-19. The family happily resides in Atlanta.

David Theisz (Engr ’04) and Erika Chiang (Col ’04 CM) welcomed their second child, Haley Shing-Yu, on May 1, 2021. Haley joins big brother Henry, and is the granddaughter of Gordon Frederick Theisz Jr. (Engr ’59, ’66) and the niece of Gordon W. Theisz (Med ’98). The family lives in Arlington, Virginia.

Dawn Newton (Educ ’87) recently published two books. Winded: A Memoir in Four Stages (2019) chronicles her journey with stage IV lung cancer while taking targeted therapy for the vulnerable EGFR mutation. The Remnants of Summer (May 2021), a literary novel, explores the guilt and grief of 14-year-old Iris Merchant, who must deal with the aftermath of her younger brother’s drowning death in southeastern Michigan in the 70s. Both books were published by Apprentice House Press of Loyola University Maryland. 

Kim Nelson (Col ’78) began serving as pastor of North Scituate Baptist Church in August 2020. He previously served for 10 years as associate pastor of Barrington Baptist Church. Nelson and his wife, Nancy, live in Rumford, Rhode Island. They have two grown children and four young grandchildren.

Robert “Bob” Rose (Com ’60) received the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award for his more than 10,000 hours of volunteer and community service work through 2020. Approved by the White House and Florida governor’s office, he was recognized at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida, in April 2021. After graduating from UVA, Rose continued his education with graduate work at George Washington University. He spent more than 33 years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C., in addition to positions in the steel and electronics industry. He has pursued a variety of public volunteer and community service activities over the years concerning the environment, animal welfare, education, and more. He has participated in numerous community board functions including county planning and town council positions. He has also established a Sustainable Environmental Grant Program through the Community Foundation of Sarasota, Florida, for the benefit of future generations.

Caitlan Smith Wilber (Col ’07 CM) and Michael Wilber (Col ’09) welcomed a son, Harrison Elias, on July 6, 2020. Harrison joins doting older sister Arden Adela. The family lives in Rochester, New York, where Michael is a fellow in cardiovascular disease at the University of Rochester.

Deborah E. Sheetenhelm Hammond (Arch ’82 CM) published her 24th novel, These Foolish Things. The second in her Someone to Watch Over Me series, the book brings to life the story of Victoria Sloan and Matthew Madison. They met at the wedding of her best friend, Alexandra Wesson and sparks flew. The problem is, Victoria lives in New York City and owns a marketing firm. Matthew lives on a horse farm in rural Virginia and rescues people in peril for a living. Can these two seemingly diverse lives mesh and if they do, will the precarious nature of Matthew’s vocation endanger them both?

These Foolish Things is available on Amazon.com along with the prior 23 novels of the author and at local book signings and events in the tri-state area. For more information, contact the author at downtongirl13@gmail.com  on Facebook at dhammondbooks and Twitter @DeborahHammon18.

A Falling Waters, West Virginia, resident, Hammond was also recently appointed to a four-year term on the West Virginia Broadcasting Foundation Board of Directors. She also serves on the Eastern West Virginia Home Consortium and has worked as a fundraiser for United Way of the Eastern Panhandle for six years.

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.