1961
Jim Shea (BSBA ’61) was inducted into the U.S. Biathlon Hall of Fame in February 2022. He was ski coach of the U.S. Olympic ’72 Biathlon Relay team in Sapporo, Japan. The team was honored for holding the best relay results to date.
1962
Judy Butler Shea (BA ’62) was inducted into the Colby-Sawyer College Athletic Hall of Fame in October 2022. The honor recognized her leadership of the DU ski team in 1959 and 1960.
1963
Dennis L. Wilcox (BA ’63), professor emeritus at San Jose State University, is the lead author of “Public Relations Strategies & Tactics,” recently published in its 12th edition by Pearson Education.
1967
Dennis Powers (JD ’67) has retired as a full professor at Southern Oregon University in Ashland. Dennis has written 30 books, including “Treasure Ship,” which was featured on “Mysteries at the Museum,” with Don Wildman. He is the author of “The Office Romance” and “The Raging Sea,” plus two other maritime books.
1972
Elizabeth Ann (Ana) Manwaring (BA ’72), award-winning author of the JadeAnne Stone Mexico Adventure series, has a new book coming out in 2023, “Backlash.” Other books in the series include “Set Up,” “The Hydra Effect,” “Nothing Comes After Z” and “Coyote.” Ana is currently working on her Mexico memoir, “Saints and Skeletons.”
1973
Debbie Supple Miller (BA ’73) has authored her 15th children’s book, “Glaciers Are Alive,” which describes the importance of tidewater glaciers and the abundance of life that surrounds the massive rivers of ice.
1977
Jeme Ertl (BS ’77) completed the master of jurisprudence-health law degree through Loyola University Chicago Law School.
1981
Rich Agnello (MPA ’81) has authored a sports-behavioral health novel, “Going to Williamsport.” His primary literary genre is virtue-based children’s writing, which includes the short story “What Do I Do With Dewey?”
1982
Sheri “Kaz” Kazmierski (BA ’82) has joined the New York publisher Trusted Media Brands as associate shopping editor for “Family Handyman.” In this role, she combines her love of writing and creating videos for home and garden products.
1984
Laurie Gabriel (BME ’84) has published a new book, “Eyes of Wonder: How to Recapture Your Childlike Spirit.” This is an expanded version of her TEDx talk at Mountain View College. Laurie also has developed leadership workshops around the subject.
1986
Jennifer Gance (BA ’86) has joined Water For People as their global director of talent management. Jennifer works to provide safe water and sanitation for families around the world. There currently are programs in nine countries.
1987
Gaby Anderson (BSBA ’87) has published a novel, “South of Happily,” about Hungarian immigrants and their first-generation American children.
Alan Willenbrock (MBA ’87) has earned the Ameriprise Client Experience Award for 2023. Alan is a financial advisor with Ameriprise. This is the third year in a row that he has received this honor.
1988
Lisabeth Pérez Castle (JD ’88) has been named Denver’s new top law enforcement watchdog. The City Council approved Lisabeth as the newest independent monitor in a unanimous decision. She previously worked for 12 years at the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office.
1990
Melanie Schild (MSS ’90) was named CEO of the Association of Junior Leagues International. Previously, Melanie served as CEO of Girl Scouts Heart of the South, where she elevated the organization’s relevance by transforming its culture to one of innovation. Melanie also served as the executive director of Kappa Delta Sorority and Kappa Delta Foundation for over two decades.
1992
James Xigui Zheng (MBA ’92) has been named CFO and director of LexinFintech Holdings Ltd., an online and offline consumption platform and technology-driven service provider in China. Previously, James was chief financial officer of Lufax Holding Ltd.
1993
David Radcliffe (MBA ’93) retired from Google as vice president of real estate and workplace services after more than 16 years with the company.
1996
Gordon Gallagher (JD ’96) has advanced by a vote of 14-7 by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to become a federal trial judge for Colorado. If confirmed, Gordon, currently a part-time U.S. magistrate judge and defense attorney, will become the first resident of the Western Slope appointed to Colorado’s seven-member court since 1989.
Thomas Krysa (JD ’96) was named one of the Top 25 Attorneys of Colorado for 2022 by Attorney Intel. Thomas is a partner at Foley & Lardner. Previously he was an SEC senior officer and a federal prosecutor.
Rico Munn (JD ’96) will join the Colorado State University Office of the President as chief of staff on July 1. Rico previously was the superintendent of Aurora Public Schools, a position he held since 2013. He has served as executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education and the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies and has served on the Board of Governors of the CSU System from 2013–2020, including two years as chair.
1998
Nicole Ament (JD ’98), chair of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck’s real estate department, has been appointed to the board of directors of Denver Civic Ventures, Downtown Denver Partnership’s charitable public purpose board.
2002
Kerith Kanaber (BS, MBA ’02) was named one of the Top 25 Attorneys of Colorado for 2022 by Attorney Intel. Kerith is a partner at Dorsey & Whitney. Her practice focuses on consumer products, medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.
2003
Casie Collignon (JD ’03) was named one of the Top 25 Attorneys of Colorado for 2022 by Attorney Intel. Casie is a partner at Baker & Hostetler. She is the digital assets and data management practice group leader in the firm’s Denver office.
Lauren Labrecque (MA ’03) has reached a career milestone with over 5,000 citations from scholars who reference her work. Lauren is an associate professor of marketing at the University of Rhode Island. She has published 31 marketing papers. In the past five years, her publications have been cited over 4,000 times, according to the website Google Scholar.
2004
Brian Elizardi (BA ’04, MA ’06, EMBA ’21) was appointed director of community impact and innovation at Colorado State University.
Trent Trujillo (BSBA ’04) was promoted to vice president of investor relations at UDR.
2005
Sammie Chergo (MS ’05)was promoted to executive director of regional advancement, while maintaining her current role as chief development officer, at Purdue University.
Max Goldberg (BSBA ’05) and his wife welcomed baby boy Jasper Peter Rapoport Goldberg in January.
Lauren Schick (JD ’05) has been named a partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP, working in the firm’s Nashville office. Lauren specializes in commercial real estate and leasing-related matters and is board certified in estate-planning law.
2007
Greg Shick (BSBA ’07) was promoted to director of advanced analytics at Charles Schwab, a financial services and wealth management provider. In this role, Greg will support Schwab Asset Management and Corporate Risk. In addition, Greg serves on the advisory board for the business information and analytics department at the Daniels College of Business.
2008
Mia Elizardi (MA ’08) was appointed director of operations of The Offr Group.
2010
Ellie Lockwood (JD ’10) was named one of the Top 25 Attorneys of Colorado for 2022 by Attorney Intel. Ellie is a partner and the commercial litigation practice group leader at Snell & Wilmer. She handles all aspects of business disputes including business torts, fraud, antitrust and matters involving both trustee and fiduciary disputes.
2012
Margaret Boehmer (JD ’12) was named one of the Top 25 Attorneys of Colorado for 2022 by Attorney Intel. She is a partner at Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, where she helps clients with civil litigation and defense legal issues.
2013
Betsy Bengtson (JD ’13) was elected partner at Kilpatrick Townsend. Betsy works from the firm’s Denver office on the trademark and copyright team.
2014
Nick Ota-Wang (MA ’14) recently graduated from the University of Colorado Denver with a master of arts in U.S. history with a focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer history, gender history and sexuality history.
Kornel Thomas (artist diploma ’14) won second place in the Bartok World Competition for his composition “Fun-tasto: Reflection and Exhilaration.” The score of his composition will be published and included in the repertoire of next year’s violinists’ competition.
2015
Madeline Barconi (BA ’15) has become a partner at Breakwater Capital Group in Denver, where she heads the firm’s financial planning efforts. Previously, Madeline worked for Fidelity Investments, where she earned both chartered financial counselor and certified financial planner designations.
Kayla Scroggins-Uptigrove (JD ’15) was elected partner at Spencer Fane. Kayla works in the Denver office, and helps clients navigate complex civil litigation with emphasis on insurance, commercial and class action lawsuits at the trial and appellate levels.
Ricardo Vasquez (BA ’12, JD ’15) became a named partner at a Colorado family law firm, Peek Vasquez LLC, in February 2022.
2016
Jeremy Moser (BA ’16) was named one of Forbes 30 Under 30 for 2023 in the marketing and advertising category. Jeremy is cofounder of uSERP, a digital public relations agency and SEO link-building company that has worked with brands such as Freshworks, monday.com, Robinhood and Shopify. He and his wife, Kelly Dodge, who works at uSERP as a PR writer, met at DU in 2013 during their freshman year.
R. Erik Brentlinger (MBA ’16) has a new position as director of CPG Solutions at ReTech Labs.
Chris Allmann (BSBA ’16) was promoted to vice president at Fulcrum Hospitality LLC.
2018
Morgan Hill (MS ’18) is the new associate director of Carbondale-based Clean Energy Economy for the Region (CLEER). Morgan has 11 years of experience in local government. She was an environmental health specialist and air quality program lead with Garfield County Public Health, and most recently was the environmental health manager for Eagle County.
Kirk McGill (JD ’18) has joined Hall Estill, a regional Southwestern law firm headquartered in Oklahoma, as special counsel in its Denver office. Kirk is a full-service attorney who specializes in federal and state appeals, litigation, constitutional law and civil rights defense, tax, estates and trusts, among other areas.
Erik Read (BSBA ’18), representing Canada, finished 15th in the World Cup men’s giant slalom in Val d’Isère, France, in December.
2021
Max Porteus (BA ’12, JD ’21), an associate at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, has been appointed to the partner board of Wish for Wheels, a nonprofit organization that serves second graders in Title 1 schools with bikes and helmets.
Mia Sundstrom (BSBA ’21) has returned to the University of Denver as a volunteer coach for the women’s gymnastics team. As a student, Mia had competed with the team for five years.