Class Notes: Spring 2020

Tell us what you’ve been up to

1959

John “Dick” Anderson (BFA ’59) of Yankton, South Dakota, studied under modern artist Vance Kirkland, who headed DU’s art school from 1946–69. John recently held his first large-scale exhibition of artwork in Denver. He also was selected to showcase his non-objective abstract art at the South Dakota Art Museum from February to May 2020.

1960

Jay Cimino (BS ’60) of Colorado Springs is president and CEO of Phil Long Dealerships. He was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame in January 2020.

1965

Mollie (Finch) Belt (BA ’65) is publisher of the Dallas Examiner newspaper. The National Newspaper Publishers Association honored her with its Lifetime Achievement Award in January.

1971

Suresh Kulkarni (PhD ’71) of Perry, Utah, worked for 31 years at Thiokol, an aerospace company in northern Utah. In 1989, he became vice president of space engineering following the 1986 Challenger disaster. He was responsible for 55 successful flights without a failure between 1989 and 1998. Now retired, he has received many honors and awards for public service in his community and has penned a memoir titled “Rocket Man.” 

1973

Gregory Brown (BA ’73) has rejoined Fox Rothschild LLP in Denver as counsel in the energy and natural resources group. His practice focuses on oil and gas exploration and development transactions.

1974

Richard Berman (PhD ’74) of Henderson, Nevada, retired as county director of mental health services in Michigan in 2001, then joined the faculty at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is now fully retired but continues to teach as a volunteer in UNLV’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute program. Richard also serves on the Senior Services Advisory Commission for Henderson and writes for the quarterly publication Back in the Bronx. He will be 80 this year and is proud that he spends an hour in the gym every day.

Condoleezza Rice (BA ’74, PhD ’81) in January was appointed head of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, a position she will assume at the beginning of September. Condoleezza was national security advisor from 2001–05 and U.S. secretary of state from 2005–09. She has been at Stanford since 1981, when she joined the university as a political science professor. She was appointed provost in 1993. 

1976

Steven Eichberg (BSBA ’76) of Plymouth, Massachusetts, in January was elected to the board of directors of the Lymphoma Research Foundation.

1977

Perry Goorman (JD ’77) of Scottsdale, Arizona, has retired from the active practice of law after 42 years in the profession.  

1980

R.E. Chips Portales (JD ’80) of Denver has been practicing law for 36 years and has been a member of the Colorado Bar Association Ethics Committee for 21 years. R.E. and his wife, Mary Jo Portales, have two sons, Aaron and Chips. In January 2020, after a five-hour test, R.E. earned his third-degree brown belt in kenpo karate.

1982

Peter Clothier (BA ’82) of Colorado Springs has been named a top doctor in family practice by Colorado Springs Style magazine. Peter has been in practice for 32 years and enjoys teaching college and high school students considering a career in medicine.

1983

Michael Boyd (JD ’83) of Wheat Ridge, Colorado, is head coach and captain of Colorado’s Phantom Dragons and Pink Phantoms dragon boat teams. In August 2019, the teams won seven gold medals at the IDBF Dragon Boat World Championships in Thailand. Michael raced as a member of the Team USA Senior C Open crew, an elite group of athletes 60 and older who emerged victorious in every heat in which they raced.

1985

John Adams (BSBA ’85) of Dumfries, Virginia, is a researcher at the Institute for Defense Analyses.

1988

Elizabeth Lorell (JD ’88) of Hackensack, New Jersey, is a partner at law firm Gordon & Rees and is on the board of directors for Lawyers for Civil Justice and the Defense Research Institute (DRI). Elizabeth also is president of the DRI’s Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel, which honored her as one of three winners of the 2020 Mary Massaron Award. The award is given to individuals who have demonstrated a dedication to the inclusion of women in the legal profession, community and society. 

1990

Jeff Bi (MA ’90) of Alhambra, California, is CEO and executive director of Greatview Aseptic Packaging, which creates shelf-stable packaging for beverage companies.

1997

Jeff Wright (JD ’97) of Naples, Florida, has been named chair of the land use and environmental law department at the law firm of Henderson, Franklin, Starnes & Holt.

1998

Bryan Hall (BA ’98) of Denver is academic dean of and professor in Regis University’s College of Contemporary Liberal Studies. He is the author of three books, most recently “An Ethical Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse” (Bloomsbury Academic).

Vivek Vaidya (MS ’98) of San Francisco is co-founder of the venture studio super{set}, which founds, funds and builds data-driven enterprise tech companies.

2002

James Zobel (JD ’02) was appointed to the Denver County Court in January. James previously served as a magistrate for the court.

2005

Michelle Martinez-Thomas (JD ’05) was appointed to the Denver County Court in January. Michelle previously served as a district court magistrate for the 17th Judicial District.

Brent Neiser (MGS ’05) of Greenwood Village, Colorado, is director of strategic programs and alliances for the Denver-based National Endowment for Financial Education, a private operating foundation committed to educating Americans about personal finance. In October, Brent was appointed chair of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Consumer Advisory Board. 

2006

Katrina Coffelt (MA ’06) of Murray, Kentucky, received the Kentucky Counseling Association’s Tim Robertson Advocacy Award — which recognizes outstanding dedication to the counseling profession and counselors in Kentucky — in November 2019. Katrina owns Bridges Counseling Center, which serves children, adolescents, adults, families and couples throughout western Kentucky. She initiated the establishment of the Be the Change 5K Run to support counseling agencies and end stigma for those seeking mental health services.

2007

Espen Haugen (BA ’07) founded Proyecto Remedios Educativos, a nonprofit that helps build and refurbish schools and other structures in Tola, Nicaragua. Espen was inspired to create the organization after visiting Nicaragua as a geography student at DU. 

Charles Smith (BSBA ’07, JD ’12) of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, in January was named a shareholder at Denver law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.

2008 

Mahalia Newmark (BA ’08) of Yellowknife, the Northwest Territories, in December was awarded an NDN Collective Changemaker Fellowship. Representing the Northwest Territories/Yukon region of Canada, Mahalia will work on two projects as part of her fellowship: a public art mural project focused on reconciliation with indigenous peoples in the north; and an indigenous woman’s gathering focused on revitalization of Dene culture. 

Kerry (Miller) Roets (MT ’08) is a certified public accountant with Lumsden McCormick in Buffalo, New York. 

2010

Collin Audley (BA ’10) was named head coach of the women’s soccer team at Long Island University in Brookville, New York. Most recently an assistant coach for the women’s soccer team at the University of Kentucky, Collin also has coached soccer at Stanford University, the Colorado School of Mines and DU. As a player at DU, he earned three All-Conference selections and a Newcomer of the Year Award. 

Antoinette Gomez (MSW ’10) of Denver received her doctorate in marriage and family therapy from Argosy University. She owns the private practice Harmony Counseling Services and serves as a consultant to A True Change, a nonprofit that provides community education to at-risk populations in Denver.

2011

Chris Mayfield (MS ’11) has been named chief engineer for the Naval Research and Development Establishment Cloud and DevSecOps at the Naval Information Warfare Center-Pacific in San Diego. 

Eric Peterson (BA, BS ’11) of Seattle is a co-founder and head of engineering and product at Automaton, a startup that creates automated quality assurance for marketing and sales teams. He also plays guitar and keyboards in a band called Golden Idols.

2012

Matthew Arentsen (JD ’12) of Lafayette, Colorado, in January was named a shareholder at Denver law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.

Rafael Hernández (MBA ’12) of Anahuac, Texas, accepted an account executive position with the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development’s Office of Residential Care Facilities.  

2013

Ashley Ewing (JD ’13) and Kyle Ewing (BSBA ’08, MBA ’09) of Denver welcomed their first child, daughter Abigail Ewing, on Jan. 16.

2014

Gilda Zaragoza (MS ’14) of Denver owns Invalesco Real Estate.

2016

Ily Reiling (MA ’16) of Trinidad, Colorado, teaches art classes at Trinidad State Junior College, where she was named Adjunct Instructor of the Year for 2019. Ily has taught studio art and art history for more than a decade. She also is an artist whose works have been shown in Colorado, Arizona, California, New York and Ireland.

2018

Matt Carle (BSBA ’18) of Excelsior, Minnesota, is a former DU hockey player and Hobey Baker Award winner who played for 12 years in the NHL. Matt, who grew up in Anchorage, was inducted into the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame in April 2019.

Sarah Gerson (BSBA ’18) of Denver is community manager at Cultivated Synergy, a co-working space that also hosts private cannabis-friendly parties.