Summer 2007 MPP Alumni Notes
MPP ’06
Verena Arnabal has a new position as policy analyst in the office of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.
Preeti Aroon is working as an assistant editor at Foreign Policy magazine, which in May won a National Magazine Award for General Excellence.
Laronda Blessing and her husband, Randy, proudly announce the birth of a son, Galen Thomas, on May 7. Laronda and her family live in Durham.
Ann Hardman has moved to Dhaka, Bangladesh, for a two-year tour in the Foreign Service of the U.S. State Department.
Elizabeth Bax Hoffmann now works as a policy analyst for the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) in Washington. As a member of the Child Care and Early Education team, she works on issues such as state initiatives in Head Start and Early Head Start, measuring the quality of infant/toddler programs and the structure of child care subsidies.
Amber Kuchar has a new position as a commercial loan underwriter at NCB Capital Impact, a community development lender in Washington.
Erica Lee received the Dr. Howard F. Miller Memorial Award from her employer, the New York State Division of the Budget, in June, along with other members of the School Aid Team. The award recognizes teams that bring an analytical solution to an issue or proposal.
Leandra Marin has a new position with Kaplan Inc. in Los Angeles as a special projects coordinator working with several divisions, including medical, test preparation and admissions, and international sales, development and marketing.
Lanier McRee has left the Office of State Budget and Management and is now a research associate for the Bicycle and Pedestrian Program at the NC State University Institute for Transportation Research and Education in Raleigh.
Kate Roetzer has been promoted to legislative assistant in the office of U.S. Rep. David Price (D-NC) in Washington.
Justin Wheeler is the new director of high school placement at KIPP Philadelphia Charter School in Philadelphia, Pa.
Jeremy
Williams married Elizabeth Hoodless
on June 30 in Albuquerque, N.M. Classmates from the Class of 2006
attended—Jeff Clark, Amber Kuchar, Drew Pounds, David Rice, and Kate
Roetzer—along with Alejandra Lopez-Fernandini (’07). The
couple lives in Fairfax, Va., where Jeremy works for Booz Allen Hamilton.
MPP ’05
Megan Burns completed her administrative fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and has a full-time position as manager of ambulatory operations at UPMC South Side.
Geoff Coltrane and his wife, Sneha, welcomed their second child and first son, Devak Shah Coltrane, on June 12. Geoff and his family live in Durham, where Geoff works for the New Schools Project, a public/private initiative to improve high schools in North Carolina.
Ruhi Gandhi Shah and her husband, Amit, have moved to Washington, where he has cardiology fellowship at George Washington University and Ruhi will continue her work with IBM Consulting.
Li-Jun Elizabeth Ku will return from Taiwan to North Carolina in the fall to begin a PhD program in Health Policy and Administration at the School of Public Health at UNC, Chapel Hill.
Neetika Prabhakar is engaged to Joseph Cox (MDiv ’05), and planning a spring 2008 wedding in New York City.
Paul Stahle and his family will move to Bridgetown, Barbados, in the fall for Paul’s job as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. State Department.
Kim Williams has taken a position with the Center for the Support of Families on a new contract with the State of Louisiana, where Kim had been working with the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation.
MPP ’04
Lori Allen married Ryan Karaian,
center, on June 9, 2007 in Louisville, Ky. Classmates attending were, from
left, Megan Fotheringham, Felicity Kolp, Gina King, and Jim
Huynh.
Tim
Greeff smiles with musician Sheryl
Crow, left, and activist Laurie David during
the "Stop Global Warming College Tour" in April 2007, co-sponsored
by the Natural Resources Defense Council. Greeff has since left NRDC for
a position as deputy legislative director for the League of Conservation
Voters in Washington.
Lauren Hierl and her husband left San Diego for a six-month extended honeymoon, traveling around the western United States.
Mark Moland and his wife, Shana, and daughter, Ruthanne, welcomed a second daughter, Sophia Pearl, on April 25. Mark and his family live in Norwich, Conn., where Mark is assistant dean of academics at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.
Liz Peters will enter law school this fall at UNC, Chapel Hill. Liz lives in Durham and works at Self-Help.
MPP ’03
Katherine Tedrow Astrich, and her husband, Craig, welcomed Emma Caroline Astrich on March 30. Katie and her family live in Chevy Chase, Md., and Katie works in the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.
Mike McBrierty has a new position as manager of public affairs for Biogen Idec in Research Triangle Park.
Emily Schilling and her husband, Matthew, proudly announce the birth of Spencer Reagan Schilling on Jan. 26. Emily works as an attorney at Akin Gump in Washington, where she specializes in environmental and land-use law.
Michael Yankovich has a new position as an equipment and investment program analyst in the Army’s Directorate of Program Analysis and Evaluation. Mike and his wife, Cori, and big sisters, Makenzie and Katie, welcomed baby Benjamin in November 2006.
MPP ’02
Sarah Butzen and husband, Ben, welcomed a daughter, Eleanor Grace, on April 24.
Delvecchio Finley has been selected for the 2007-08 class of Leadership San Francisco, a program that develops future community leaders.
Heather Holsinger left GAO to become senior fellow for domestic policy at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change in Arlington, Va.
Tim Saintsing reports that 94 percent of students at Excellence Charter School of Bedford Stuyvesant, where he is director of operations, scored proficient or above on the New York State 3rd Grade English Language Arts exam in May, making Excellence the highest performing charter school in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Margaret Smith-Isa is program development doordinator with the Public Employees’ Benefit Board of the State of Oregon, which purchases benefits for state employees, working with contracted health plans on disease management efforts and performance tracking.
Juliette White and her husband, Jon Owen, and son, William, welcomed baby Benjamin Griffin Owen on May 18. Juliette is an attorney at Parsons Behle & Latimer in Salt Lake City.
Jill Ozarski is the new executive director of the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts in Denver.
MPP ’01
Lisa Jaworski Murphy recently was promoted to manager at Avalere Health, a health care consulting firm in Washington.
MPP ’00
Stephanie Grice McGarrah left Red Hat for a new job as assistant secretary of policy, research and strategic planning at the North Carolina Department of Commerce in Raleigh. She and her husband, Chris, welcomed twins, Kate and Sean, on Sept. 19, 2006.
MPP ’99
Cheryl Hauser McCormick and her husband, Seth, are proud parents of a daughter, Freya Raquel, born on June 7. Cheryl is the director of quality assurance at the Office of the New York State Inspector General in New York City.
Sekou Kaalund is leaving Citigroup for a new position at JPMorgan as senior vice president and global head of sales for Private Equity Fund Service. Sekou and his family live in Greenwich, Conn.
MPP ’98
Jennifer Baker Frownfelter and her husband, Brian, and their business partners have opened a franchise of Super Suppers, a studio kitchen where customers prepare meals they can cook at home for their families.
MPP ’97
Heidi Recksiek has returned to Eastpoint, Fla., with NOAA Coastal Services Center, focusing on the Gulf of Mexico region.
Jim Rettew is working in Melbourne, Australia, for a public relations firm and is also involved in the federal prime minister election this fall.
Trent Stamp, executive director of CharityNavigator.org, has partnered with CNN to provide viewers with contact information for charities relevant to stories in categories such as refugees, homelessness, poverty and natural disasters.
MPP ’96
Keith Ernst and his wife, Nisha Gopal, and son, Nilay, proudly announce the birth of a daughter, Swati, on April 8. Keith is senior policy counsel for the Center for Responsible Lending in Durham.
Tracy Hollister and her girlfriend, Alison, visited South Africa and Zambia in May visiting Capetown, Kruger and South Luangwa National Parks, Victoria Falls, and Tracy’s uncle and aunt who have lived in Zambia for years doing health education and administration.
Jun-ichiro Kuroda has moved from Tokyo, Japan, to New York City to be director of industrial research at JETRO (Japanese External Trade Organization).
Ryan Lordos, his wife, Megan, and daughter, London, proudly announce the adoption of Canela-Jayne Marleny Lordos, born in Jutiapa, Guatemala on Jan. 11, 2006 and welcomed home on Nov. 10, 2006. Ryan lives in Arlington, Va., and is a senior supervisory financial analyst at the Federal Reserve System Board of Governors in Washington.
MPP ’95
Monica Wassell and her family moved to Helena, Mont., where she is director of quality improvement for New West Health Services, a small health insurance company.
MPP ’94
Susan Goldenson was married on June 23 in upstate New York to Sam Hendrix (Trinity ’92). Susan lives in Washington, where she is a senior associate at Mercer Human Resource Consulting.
Claudia Horwitz reports that stone circles, where she is director, is purchasing 70 acres of land in Mebane, N.C, to create The Stone House, a training and retreat center where activists can pursue and renew spiritual life and strategic action.
MPP ’93
Mike Brogioli, Special Olympics International’s
vice president for policy and governmental relations, and board member Vanessa
Williams meet with Sen. Barack Obama, D-IL,
during Special Olympics’ annual Capitol Hill Day in March 2007.
MPP ’92
David Feingold was named special advisor on bioenergy to the director general of CATIE (Centro Agronomico Tropical de Investigacion y Ensenanza) in Turrialba, Costa Rica, where he lives with his wife, Olga Corrales and children.
MPP ’91
Monica Metzler is a vice president at Conlon Public Strategies, a Chicago public affairs consulting firm. In her spare time she founded the Illinois Science Council, a nonprofit organization aimed at improving outreach efforts in science and technology for the adult public.
Esther Alonso welcomed a baby girl, Samantha, born in April, 2006. She uses her public policy skills as a private family practice physician as she negotiates with patients and insurers over medical coverage, compliance and behavioral changes. Esther lives in Miami Lakes, Fla.
MPP ’90
Amar Bhat left the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services after 17 years to join C&M International, a trade policy and investment consulting firm, as a director. Amar lives with his wife and four children in Bethesda, Md.
Michael Sorrell was named interim president of Paul Quinn College in Dallas, Texas, the oldest historically black college west of the Mississippi River.
MPP ’85
Dan Hofrenning was promoted to professor of political science at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn.
MPP ’83
Bruce Cowans was elected to another term on the Village Board of Glencoe, Ill., and also will serve as chairman of the finance and community grants committees. Bruce is a management consultant to government agencies with MAXIMUS, and his daughter, Deena, will enter Duke as a freshman this fall.
MPP ’82
Steve Martin left GAO after more than 20 years to join InterVISTAS-ga2 Inc. as a senior vice president in the Washington office. The consulting firm assists the transportation industry with strategic planning, marketing, economic analysis and advocacy.
MPP ’81
Rosalind Reid has been elected the 39th Honorary Life Member of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Honor Society, an award conferred upon nonscientists whose work has advanced science. Rosalind has been editor of Sigma Xi’s magazine, American Scientist, since 1992. She has also been selected as a Fellow with the New Initiative in Innovative Computing at Harvard for Fall 2007, where she will work on development of a collaborative visual workspace for interdisciplinary science as well as education and outreach programs in computation-intensive science.
MPP ’77
Jack Nichols has been appointed by Gov. Mike Easley to the North Carolina State Health Coordinating Council as a representative of the N.C. Association of County Commissioners. He and classmate Ran Coble drafted the legislation, initial rules and executive order creating the council in the early 1980s. Jack is an attorney with Allen and Pinnix in Raleigh.
