Class Notes, Spring 2020

Spring/Summer 2020
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1960–’64

Arnold Young (BBA ’63, LLB ’65) of Savannah was named in The Best Lawyers in America 2020 edition. He is a partner and general counsel at HunterMaclean.

Henry Duggan (BBA ’64) of Albany released his book Silver’s Odyssey. He is a freelance writer and retired banker from Regents Bank.

1965–’69

John Tatum (AB ’65, LLB ’68) of Savannah was named in The Best Lawyers in America 2020 edition. He is a partner and special counsel at HunterMaclean.

Sen. Johnny Isakson (BBA ’66) of Atlanta is the winner of the UGA Alumni Association’s 2020 Alumni Merit Award. It is the Alumni Association’s oldest and highest honor and presented to individuals who bring recognition and honor back to the University of Georgia through outstanding leadership and service to the university, the community, and his or her profession. He served in the U.S. Senate

John McGarity (BBA ’68) of McDonough received the 2019 Renaissance Award from the Georgia Cities Foundation. The Renaissance Award recognizes an individual who made a significant contribution to the revitalization of one or more of Georgia’s cities. He is a principal at Greensboro City Development LLC.

1970–’74

Cliff McCurry (BBA ’71) of Savannah was inducted into the Junior Achievement Savannah Business Hall of Fame. He is director of community development at Sterling Seacrest Partners, and an emeritus trustee of the UGA Foundation and the Terry College Alumni Board.

Steve Rogers (BS ’71, MBA ’73) of Fairfax, Va., retired from his position as business development manager at Mercedes-Benz USA in Alexandria, Va.

Richard Taylor (BBA ’73) of Kennesaw was included in Marquis Who’s Who. He is president of AVID Wealth Management Group LLC, a registered investment advisory firm. He is the managing member of Hearthstone Development LLC, a developer of residential subdivisions in Greenville, S.C. He previously served as a client services shareholder at HLB Gross Collins for more than 45 years, working as its international practice leader from 1989 until 2018.

Jack ‘Al’ Butler (BBA ’74) of Winter Garden, Fla., released the Applications of Enterprise GIS for Transportation Guidebook, which was issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

1975–’79

Tom Schulte (BBA ’76) of Ball Ground is president and CEO of Your Family’s Table, a nonprofit that builds kitchen tables for Habitat for Humanity families.

Jack Gibson (BBA ’77, MBA ’79) of Dallas, Texas, received the Gottheimer Malecki Memorial Award from the Society of Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters for his outstanding contribution to the field of risk management. He is president and CEO of the International Risk Management Institute and CEO of WebCE.

Steve Korb (BBA ’77) of Alpharetta retired as VP of Siemens after 25 years with the company and 38 years working in the supply chain industry. At Siemens he was responsible for directing all sales activities of the company’s construction product categories. Prior to his employment at Siemens he spent 13 years at General Electric’s Lighting Business Group as the national account manager responsible for The Home Depot.

Trip Taylor (BBA ’78) of Sharpsburg retired from Philips Healthcare, where he served as its SVP of corporate alliances.

John Wilbanks (MBA ’79) of Jacksonville, Fla., retired as EVP and COO of Baptist Health. He worked at Baptist Health since 1986, when he joined as VP of professional services. He served as the organization’s COO for the previous 15 years.

1980–’84

Allen Ryan (AB ’80, BS ’81, BBA ’02) of Baton Rouge, La., received his doctorate from Louisiana State University. He is an assistant professor at the University of New Orleans.

Sandy Dittus (BBA ’81, MAcc ’82) of Chattanooga, Tenn., joined True North Advisors at Raymond James. Previously she worked in the trust departments at Pinnacle Financial Partners, FSGBank, Pioneer Bank, First American Bank and AmSouth Bank.

Richard Morgan (BBA ’84, JD ’87) of Alpharetta was named in The Best Lawyers in America 2020 edition. He is an attorney at Morgan and DiSalvo PC.

John Neel Jr. (BBA ’84) of Macon was appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp to the Georgia Film, Music, and Digital Entertainment Commission. He is CEO of The Sanford Co.

Greg Peters (BBA ’84) of Atlanta was named president and COO of Bright Mountain Media Inc. He is also CEO of MediaHouse, which syndicates and distributes broadcast video content to publisher sites throughout the U.S.

1985–’89

Manilka Fernando (MBA ’85) of Colombo, Sri Lanka, was named to the board of directors at Softlogic Finance PLC. He is joint managing director of the Pership Group. He has more than 40 years of management experience in Sri Lanka and overseas, and held senior management positions in the banking/financial services sector and commercial establishments.

Kelly Fogarty (BBA ’85) of Southold, N.Y., was voted as receiver of taxes for the town of Southold. She has been a CPA for 29 years.

Lisa Laube (BBA ’85) of Atlanta was appointed president of Floor and Decor Holdings Inc. She previously served as the company’s SVP and chief merchandising officer.

George Monk (BBA ’85) of Macon was named general manager of Georgia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Co. He was previously the executive director of insurance company operations at the Georgia Farm Bureau.

Christie Copeland (BBA ’86, MBA ’87) of Sharpsburg is a buyer at Yamaha Motor Manufacturing Corp. of America in Newnan. She previously served as a store manager at Uniforms Plus Embroidery and More.

Zack Jones (BBA ’88) of Lexington, S.C., is founder of CottonTown Brew Lab in Columbia, S.C. He also serves as president and chief architect at Q1 Technology.

Thomas Ondrof (MBA ’89) of Isle of Palms, S.C., was named EVP and CFO of Aramark. He previously served as CFO with Performance Food Group.

1990–’94

Maria Perry (BBA ’90) of Roswell was named director of talent acquisition at Mark Spain Real Estate. She previously was the director of talent acquisition at AmTrust Financial.

Margaret Caldwell (AB ’91) of Atlanta was named managing director at Stan Johnson Co.

Mike Wilbert (BBA ’91) of Philadelphia, Pa., was named chief revenue officer at Purchasing Power LLC, a voluntary benefits company. He will be responsible for leading sales and account management. He recently served as SVP of sales for Reliance Standard Life, a provider of group benefits.

Brad Ferguson (BBA ’92) of Atlanta was named CFO of Stratix Corp., a provider of managed mobility services in the U.S. He recently worked as SVP and CFO with Cotiviti.

Diane Edwards (BBA ’93) of Braselton was promoted to president of Roper Pump Co., a provider of displacement pumping solutions. She previously served as the company’s VP of finance and strategic sorting.

Rep. Tom Graves (BBA ’93) of Rome announced he will retire after his current term in Congress. He has been an elected public official since 2003, having previously served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives. He was elected to the U.S. House in June 2010, after winning a special election in Georgia’s 9th Congressional District.

Rebecca Lerner (BBA ’93) of Brooklyn, N.Y., was recently recognized in both Forbes’ 2019 Best-In-State Wealth Advisors and Top Women Wealth Advisors lists. She is a wealth management advisor and managing director at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management.

Paige Collier (MBA ’94) of Atlanta was named a senior lender and corporate real estate manager at Pinnacle Financial Partners. She previously worked as a senior director, market corporate real estate at Synovus.

Mandy Shaw (BBA ’94) of Pasadena, Calif., was named president and CEO of Blaze Pizza, a restaurant chain. She has been with Blaze since 2018 as its COO. She previously worked in a number of roles at Bloomin’ Brands for 12 years, including serving as CIO and chief accounting officer.

Brian Shulstad (BBA ’94) of Cumming was named SVP of business development at Triad Advisors. He previously served more than 12 years as VP of business development at LPL Financial.

Mary Upshaw (MBA ’94) of Roswell was named head of professional service-EMEA at Origami Risk, a risk, safety, and insurance Software as a Service technology firm. Previously she managed several of Origami’s UK- and EMEA-based accounts and will continue leading those client relationships.

1995–’99

Richard Courts IV (BBA ’95) of Atlanta was named to the board of directors at the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. He is principal with Atlantic Realty Co., a privately held commercial real estate firm providing real estate investment, development, brokerage and advisory services.

Jon Higbie (PhD ’95) of Austin, Texas, was named chief scientist at Zilliant, a company that works in intelligent B2B price optimization, price management and sales guidance software. He was previously managing director at DataPrime, and has served on the Terry College MIS Advisory Board since 2000.

Michele Reddick (BBA ’96) of Marietta joined Burr & Forman on the food and beverage team as part of the corporate and tax practice group. She previously served as in-house counsel for Bickers Consulting Group LLC.

Richard Becker (MBA ’97) of Greensboro was appointed CEO of DIGARC, a provider in higher education curriculum management software. He previously served as COO at Stack Sports.

Jim Chasteen (BBA ’98) and Charlie Thompson (AB ’99, MBA ’03, JD ’03) of Atlanta, founders of ASW Distillery, expanded their business to join the food and beverage lineup at the Battery Atlanta development in Cobb County, which is anchored by the Atlanta Braves’ Truist Park.

Jennifer Mier (BBA ’98) of Dallas, Texas, was elected president of the Texas Surplus Lines Association. The TSLA is a nonprofit, trade association of excess and surplus lines brokerage and underwriting professionals. She is EVP with AmWINS Brokerage of Texas.

Max Richardson (BBA ’98) of Charlotte, N.C., was named EVP of business insurance in the Mid-Atlantic region at Marsh & McLennan Agency. He has been with MMA for 15 years.

Louis Alterman (BBA ’99) of Marietta was named president, CEO and member of the board of directors at Stratix Corp. He served recently as CFO of Rackspace and prior to Rackspace spent 14 years at Earthlink

Ian Mackay (MBA ’99) of Brookhaven was named managing director at BlackArch Partners, a middle-market investment bank. He will serve as head of BlackArch’s Financial Sponsors Group. Prior to joining BlackArch, he was a managing director at Raymond James.

Ashlei McAleer (BBA ’99) of Canton was named one of Mortgage Banking’s Most Powerful Women by the National Mortgage Professional Magazine. She serves as chief of staff-lending and is senior general point of contact for Angel Oak Home Loan LLC and with the Angel Oak asset management team. Honorees were selected based on their accomplishments where they were instrumental to a major industry innovation, the number of social media followers, or have overcome some insurmountable obstacle in their career to rise to the top.

J.J. Seman (BBA ’99) of Cataula was promoted to EVP of Kinetic Credit Union. He worked at Kinetic for the last 14 years and served as the chief strategy and lending officer for the last six years.

2000–’04

Patrick Allen (BBA ’00) of Dallas, Texas, was named a senior asset manager at Preston Hollow Capital, an independent specialty municipal finance company. Prior to joining the PHC team, he was a VP of asset management with Deutsche Bank.

Edward Cochran (BBA ’00) of Valdosta was named a partner at Coleman Talley LLP. He concentrates his practice in commercial real estate, commercial transactions, affordable housing and banking.

Eric Huff (BBA ’00) of Roswell was promoted to VP, manager research and senior consultant at LCG Associates, a national, independent investment consulting firm. Huff joined LCG in 2006.

Craig Marbach (BBA ’00) of Atlanta was named EVP at Hilltop Residential, a Houston-based multifamily real estate investment company. He will help lead the firm as it extends its portfolio into the southeastern USA, specifically focusing on Georgia and Florida markets. He joins Hilltop Residential from Venterra Realty Management, where he served as managing director.

Scott Spence (MBA ’00) of Bell Buckle, Tenn., was named president and CEO of Duck River Electric Membership Corp. in Tennessee. He previously served as general manager and CEO at Arab Electric Cooperative Inc.

David Walker (BBA ’00, MAcc ’01) of Atlanta was named business assurance director at Moore Colson. He previously served as a partner at GreerWalker CPAs and Advisors in Charlotte, N.C.

Claire Chotiner (BBA ’01) of Marietta was promoted to VP, senior consultant at LCG Associates Inc., a national, independent investment consulting firm. She joined LCG in 2007.

Zack Deming (BBA ’01) of Atlanta was named a consultant in the industrial practice and will serve as executive director of global transportation and logistics as well as civil aviation at Russell Reynolds Associates advisory and executive search firm. He previously worked as an operating partner and board advisor at Material Capital.

Sara Hornbuckle (BBA ’01) of Woodstock is operating systems director at Turf Masters Lawn Care in Roswell.

Cade Joiner (BBA ’01) of Brookhaven was appointed a member of the Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia. He is chairman of the National Federation of Independent Businesses of Georgia.

Shelton Wilder (BBA ’01) of Santa Monica, Calif., joined Haute Residence, an invitation-only real estate network. She is CEO of Shelton Wilder Group at Compass, specializing in residential and commercial real estate in Malibu, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Pacific Palisades.

Lance Einstein (BBA ’02) of Brookhaven is a partner at MendenFreiman in Atlanta.

Benjamin Graham (BBA ’02) of Littleton, Colo., is the growth groups pastor at Foothills Bible Church in Littleton. He is also the co-owner of PB&J Properties in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Sarah Heath (BBA ’02, MEd ’05, PhD ’11) of Denver, Colo., was named secretary of the SkillsUSA board of directors. SkillsUSA is a nonprofit focused on workforce training. She is Colorado state director of career and technical education.

Thaddeus Kwiatkowski (BBA ’02) of Alpharetta was named CFO of Advanced Medical Pricing Solutions. He joins AMPS from Cotiviti, where he was VP of global financial planning and analysis.

Wendy Frost Martin (BBA ’02) of Louisville was named CEO of Jefferson Hospital. For the last nine years she served as CFO at Shands Starke Regional Medical Center in Starke, Fla.

Derek Norton (BBA ’02) of Smyrna was sworn in as mayor of Smyrna. He is director of government relations for the Medical Association of Georgia.

Trea Pipkin (BBA ’02) of McDonough was appointed to a seat on the Georgia Court of Appeals by Gov. Brian Kemp. He serves as a judge for the Henry County Superior Court.

Daniel Cooper (BBA ’03) of Buford was promoted to SVP of multifamily and commercial construction at Crescent Communities. He will oversee all preconstruction and construction operations for both multifamily and commercial businesses. Previously he led the multifamily construction team for Crescent, which he joined in 2016.

Amy Ellis (BBA ’03) of Roswell was named SVP of commercial lending at Hyperion Bank. She previously served as VP commercial lending at The Piedmont Bank.

Margaret Jones (BBA ’03) of Atlanta joined Cushman & Wakefield as a senior director with the firm’s Southeast retail investment advisors team. Prior to joining Cushman & Wakefield, she was a VP in the JLL Capital Markets Group.

Frank Marley (MBA ’03) of Jacksonville, Fla., was appointed chief administrative/govern-mental affairs officer and general counsel for River of Grass Technologies, an L3Harris-licensed dealer in South Florida.

Ben Fry (BBA ’04) of Atlanta was named campaign manager for Sen. David Perdue. He recently served as Perdue’s state director, as well as chief of staff for Georgia Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle.

Mark Harris (BBA ’04) of Austin, Texas, was named SVP at JLL. He previously served as VP at Avison Young and has been in commercial real estate for seven years.

Liz Perkins (BBA ’04) of Henrico, Va., was promoted to SVP and CFO at Apple Hospitality REIT Inc. She joined the company in 2006 and recently served as SVP of corporate strategy and reporting.

Shannon Versaggi (MBA ’04) of Davidson, N.C., was appointed SVP and chief marketing officer at SiteOne Landscape Supply, a national wholesale distributor of landscape supplies. She previously served as VP of integrated marketing and VP of targeted marketing at Lowe’s Companies Inc.

2005–’09

Major Dan Hudalla (BBA ’05) of Bolling Air Force Base, Washington D.C., received a master’s degree in operations research from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. He is an analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Nipul Patel (BBA ’05) of San Francisco, Calif., was named a consultant in the consumer practice at Russell Reynolds Associates, a leadership advisory and search firm. Previously he served as co-founder of Townsquared, a private business network.

Jackson ‘Jad’ Dial (BBA ’06) of Marietta was selected as a 2019 Georgia Rising Star by Super Lawyers magazine. He is a partner at Weinberg, Wheeler, Hudgins, Gunn & Dial LLC.

Michael Paupeck (BBA ’06) of Atlanta was selected as a 2019 Georgia Rising Star by Super Lawyers magazine. He is a partner at Weinberg, Wheeler, Hudgins, Gunn & Dial LLC.

Justin Cates (BBA ’07) of Clermont, Fla., was named publisher of Club Insider, a publication about the health and fitness club industry. He has been with the publication since 2008.

Sravanthi Meka (ABJ ’00, MBA ’07) of Atlanta is a marketing and business development manager at Story First Creative. She previously worked as a marketing manager at the Georgia Institute of Technology department of housing.

P.J. Zonsius (BBA ’07) of Peachtree City was promoted to director of C&I Sales and Business Development at Gas South LLC.

Sean McGuire (PhD ’08) of College Station, Texas, received a Distinguished Achievement Award in the category of teaching by Texas A&M University and the Association of Former Students. He is an associate professor of accounting at the Mays Business School at Texas A&M.

Jasmine Atherton (BBA ’09) of Roswell was named VP of marketing for etúHOME, an Atlanta-based and European-inspired lifestyle brand. She recently managed social media content and creative at Delta Air Lines.

Brynton Lett (BBA ’09) of Arden, N.C., is pursuing a doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Amanda Sheneman (BBA ’09, JD ’12) of Atlanta was recently elected a partner at Nelson Mullins. She previously worked as an associate at the firm.

2010–’14

Matt Gaziano (BBA ’10) of Alpharetta joined Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer, where he will specialize in industrial sales and leasing. He previously served as a law enforcement officer and in the U.S. Army.

Jillian Multari (BBA ’10) of Atlanta was named a business development specialist at WM Events, an event planning and design firm. She previously served as an event manager at Rivertown Lodge in Hudson, N.Y.

Joe Wytanis (MBA ’10) of Boston, Mass., was named CEO of Zoom Telephonics Inc. He joined the company as president and COO in 2018, serving as principal at High Tech Associates LLC before coming to Zoom.

Ryan Miller (AB ’11, BBA ’11) of Brooklyn, N.Y., was promoted to the group data strategy director at Droga5. He previously served as the company’s data strategy director.

Lindsey Neal (MBA ’11) of Atlanta was promoted to VP of client serves at Depth Public Relations LLC, a provider of consultative marketing, public relations and reputation management services for the mortgage lending and residential finance industry. She has been with the company full-time since 2015.

Trevor Booth (BBA ’13) of Nicholson was named VP and director of business services of the Bogart branch of the Oconee State Bank. He previously served as the bank’s AVP-financial center manager.

Katie Colucci (BBA ’14) of Roswell was named a senior communications specialist at the National Christian Foundation in Alpharetta. She was previously the foundation’s marketing coordinator.

Amber Guyton (MBA ’14) of San Francisco, Calif., is a lead product marketing manager at Affirm Inc. and home stylist and social media manager at West Elm.

Cory Yost (BBA ’14) of Atlanta is an underwriter at the Beazley Group.

2015–

Stephen DePaul (MBA ’15) of Dallas, Texas, is an attorney and counselor at law at the Scroggins Law Group. He was previously a lead attorney at The DePaul Law Firm PC.

Megan Sullivan (BBA ’15) of Richmond, Va., was promoted to AVP at the Richmond office of Colliers International. She came to Colliers in January 2019, and before that was a senior associate at CBRE.

Christal McCamy (BBA ’15) of Brooklyn, N.Y., is pursuing a Juris Doctor at Brooklyn Law School in New York. She previously was an AVP commercial leader at Bank OZK in Tampa.

Byron Stufken (BBA ’15) of Los Angeles, Calif., is an AVP in the entertainment practice group at Marsh & McLennan Companies.

Sina Iranikhah (BBA ’16) of Chicago, Ill., was named a senior strategist at AnalogFolk, an independent digital creative agency. Recently he was a strategist at MKTG in Chicago.

Sean Spellman (BBA ’16) of Savannah was named a business development officer at BankSouth. He previously worked as a staffing manager at TMX Finance Family of Companies.

Noah McCutcheon (BBA ’17) of Atlanta was named a winner of the 2019 Elijah Watt Sells Award by the American Institute of CPAs. To qualify for the award, CPA candidates must obtain a cumulative average score above 95.50 across all four sections of the Uniform CPA Examination, pass all four sections on their first attempt and have completed testing in 2019.

Mikaela Canty (BBA ’18) of Atlanta is a senior analyst at The Home Depot headquarters in Atlanta. She previously served as a logistics analyst at The Home Depot.

Amber Diver (MBA ’18) of Cumming was appointed CFO of AmeriPro EMS, a medical transportation and emergency services provider. She previously served as a senior manager of business transformation services at Bennett Thrasher.

Abby Dudman (BBA ’18, MMR ’19) of Athens joined MMR Research Associates as project manager/analyst for client services.

Holly Haynes (BBA ’18) of Atlanta was named to the 20 under 40 Cobb Life List, created by Cobb Life Magazine. She is a marketing coordinator at Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty.

Campbell O’Steen (BBA ’18, MAcc ’19) of Surrency was named an associate in the healthcare division at Draffin Tucker LLP.

Dr. Madhurima Uppalapati (MBA ’18) of Marietta was named the new president and medical director at the NorthWest Georgia Oncology Centers PC. She has worked for the organization since 2006.

Jordan Einstein (BBA ’19) of Philadelphia, Pa., is pursuing a law degree at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Reed Ferguson (AB ’19) of Washington, D.C., is a legislative correspondent in Rep. Ben Cline’s office.

Chanmeet Narang (BBA ’19) of New York City is an investment banking analyst at B. Riley Financial.

Jonny Sharpton (BBA ’19) of Orem, Utah, is a sales development representative for Qualtrics.com.