Class Notes: Summer 2012

1965

Bill Goldring (BBA ’65), chairman of the Sazerac Co. and Crescent Crown Distributing Co. in New Orleans, received the Times-Picayune Loving Cup for 2011 during a ceremony at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in May 2012. The award, selected by a committee of citizens, is presented annually to recognize civic service offered without expectation of material reward.

1970

John E. Koerner III (UC ’65, L ’69, MBA ’70) has been appointed to the board of directors of Iberiabank Corp. Koerner is managing member of Koerner Capital Corp., a private investment company, and the former president and co-owner of Barq’s Inc.

1975

Hardy Fowler (MBA ’75) reigned as Rex, king of carnival in New Orleans, in 2012. Prior to his retirement, Fowler was managing partner of KPMG’s New Orleans office.

1976

Stephen R. Treuting (BSM ’76) has been promoted to president of Pontchartrain Materials Corp.

James B. Lane (MBA ’76) has been promoted to executive vice president, CFO and treasurer of Waldemar S. Nelson and Co.

1980

Rock Blanco (BSM ’80), president of Prime Numbers Technology in Medford, Mass., was named to Business Travel News’ 2011 Top 25 Most Influential Executives in Business Travel in recognition of the technological achievements that have helped the business travel sector to expand worldwide.

Lorna Donatone (BSM ’80), chief operating officer of Sodexo Inc. and president of the company’s Education Market, has been elected chair of the board of directors of the Women’s Foodservice Forum (WFF), the industry’s premier leadership development organization. In this position, Donatone will help guide the WFF in its mission to advance women in the foodservice industry throughout the 2012–2013 year. Donatone, who served as the WFF’s chair-elect for the past year, has long been a champion for women in the workplace. She encourages professional development through networking and mentoring and she’s been honored for her work empowering young women, including national recognition from Girls Inc. in 2009 and a 2010 Ascendancy Award from w2wlink.com.

Steven J. Hubbell (BSM ’80), principal of Stokes & Hubbell Capital Management, has been elected treasurer of the Catholic Foundation in New Orleans.

1981

Tim Fulton (MBA ’81) has authored his first book, Small Business Matters. The book is a collection of short essays on small business. Fulton has been publishing an award-winning newsletter for small business owners for 12 years. When he’s not writing, Fulton is a chair with Vistage International, where he leads several CEO peer groups. He lives in Atlanta.

Ben Joel (MBA ’81) recently celebrated his 25th anniversary at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Atlanta. Joel, senior vice president – wealth management, provides lifelong investment counseling to clients and their families.

1983

Emmet Geary (BSM ’83) has been promoted to vice president of finance at Peoples Health.

1984

Greg Barr (BSM ’84) has joined the Palm Beach, Fla., office of Deutsche Bank Alex Brown.

1985

J. Pegues (MBA ’85), CEO of Coventry Health Care, has been elected president of the board of the Louisiana Association of Health Plans.

1986

George Wilson Jr. (MBA ’86), president and CEO of Barriere Construction Co., was recently installed as senior vice president of Louisiana Associated General Contractors.

1987

Thomas J. Capella (BSM ’87, L ’93) has been named to the board of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation.

1988

Brad L. Mendelson (BSM ’88) has been named to EagleBank’s District of Columbia Advisory Board. Mendelson is principal of Mendelson & Mendelson, a CPA firm in Potomac, Md., that offers a wide range of accounting and tax services to individuals and business clients.

1990

Lana Lovick (MBA ’90), manager of regulatory affairs with Entergy New Orleans, has been appointed to the board of Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Louisiana.

Augusto Martinez (BSM ’90) is CEO of Parquesanto S. A., a company he founded in 2006 with the expert advice of Frank B. Stewart Jr. (BBA ’57). Parquesanto is the largest provider of death care products and services in Quito, Ecuador. Martinez was also recently appointed to the board of directors of HidroSanBartolo S.A., the largest private hydroelectric plant in Ecuador.

1991

David J. Gardner (MBA ’91) recently left New York Life after seven years as a corporate vice president to become senior director, operations and systems, at Chartis Far East Holdings KK (AIG-Japan). Japan is the second-largest region in AIG, with 15 distinct companies and over 13,000 employees. In his new role, Gardner will be responsible for the transformation and restructuring of the Japan HR organization, systems and processes, and global compliance as well as synchronization with all other entities that interface with or require data from HR and Payroll. Gardner moved to Tokyo in May with his wife, Olcay, who transferred within Thomson Reuters to Japan, and their son, Nicholas. They expect the arrival of their cat, Ming, in late July.

1992

Andrew Judelson (MBA ’92) has joined WWE as executive vice president of sales and partnership marketing. In his new role, Judelson will be responsible for all sales and key marketing partnerships for the company, including talent endorsement deals. Prior to joining WWE, he served as executive vice president, chief revenue and marketing officer for USSA. Prior to that, Judelson was chief marketing officer at Sports Illustrated Group, where he was responsible for all the marketing functions within the SI franchise. Judelson also spent eight years with NHL Enterprises, eventually rising to the position of senior vice president, corporate sales and marketing, where he oversaw the league’s corporate sales, marketing and new business development functions on a worldwide basis.

1993

Bryan K. Brown (MBA ’93, L ’94) has joined the law firm of Thompson & Knight as a partner in its Houston office. For more than 20 years, Brown has focused his practice on complex business transactions. His expertise includes capital market transactions, corporate governance, mergers and acquisitions, and private equity and venture capital transactions.

Harry L. Chisholm (MBA ’93) has been named operating partner at GenNx360 Capital Partners, a private equity firm focused on industrial business-to-business companies with $75 million to $500 million in revenues. Chisholm will be based in the firm’s New York office and focus primarily on operational leadership for GenNx360 transactions and supporting the firm’s portfolio companies. Prior to joining GenNx360, Chisholm was COO of Nantong Xingchen Synthetic Material Co. – Blue Star, a subsidiary of Chem China in the Jiangsu province of China, where he had full P&L responsibility for the $300 million maker of engineering plastics.

Byron Hatrel (MBA ’93) has been named a principal with the Jones Financial Cos., holding company of Edward Jones.

Brad Sills (BSM ’93) has joined ThinkEquity, an investment banking boutique focused on growth companies and their investors, as a senior research analyst covering the software sector, specifically focusing on SaaS. He joins the company from Barclays Capital, formerly Lehman Brothers. Prior to joining the securities industry, Sills was a product manager at Microsoft and, prior to that, he worked in business development at Ariba. He began his career as an accountant at Price Waterhouse.

1994

Roger Jenkins (MBA ’94) has been appointed to the newly created position of chief operating officer at Murphy Oil Corp. Jenkins joined Murphy in 2001 and has served as executive vice president of Exploration & Production since 2009. Jenkins played a critical leadership role in the company’s worldwide exploration and production operations, including the development of the Kikeh Field in Malaysia and the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas.

Pete Power (MBA ’94) is CEO of Angkor Mikroheranhvatho (Kampuchea) Co. (AMK), the largest microfinance institution in Cambodia in terms of borrower numbers. AMK serves about 300,000 customers, or 10 percent of the households in Cambodia. For more information, visit http://www.amkcambodia.com.

1995

Cynthia G. Burnside (MBA/JD ’95) has been elevated to partnership at the law firm of Holland & Knight. Burnside, who is based in the firm’s Atlanta office, concentrates her practice in the areas of complex commercial litigation including employment litigation and appellate representation. Burnside was also one of five women from across the firm selected for H&K’s Rising Stars program, and she was recently honored by the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers as recipient of its Visionary Award.

Corey Metz (BSM ’95), owner of Metz Insurance & Financial in Dallas, was profiled in the July/August 2011 issue of Advisor Today as one of “Four Under Forty.” The magazine, a publication of NAIFA (NationalAssociation of Insurance and Financial Advisors), bestows the honor each year to four rising stars in the insurance industry. Metz has worked in the insurance business since graduating from the Freeman School in 1995, and in 2010, he was named Established Agent of the Year for New York Life in the Dallas office.

1997

Jennifer Comeaux (BSM ’97, MACCT ’98) published her debut novel, Life on the Edge, in January 2012. The book, published by Astraea Press, is a sweet romance set in the world of competitive figure skating.

Emily Pillars (BSM ’97) was promoted to partner in PwC’s Assurance practice. Pillars specializes in leading large multifund real estate engagements. She is a Certified Public Accountant, licensed in California, Texas and New Jersey.

1999

Pablo Alberti (BSM ’99) has been named account manager, sales, at Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates. Alberti will cover the West Coast based out of Los Angeles, where he will work and develop codeshare operations between Etihad and American Airlines. Alberti will be focused on strengthening the airline’s presence in the region and bringing the brand bicoastal. Previously, Alberti served as manager of leisure sales for North America, Asia and Australia at Avianca TACA.

2000

Justin Barch (BSM ’00) is a co-founder of Healthcare Distribution Specialties and CEO of Global Nutritional Research, which manufactures OTC products for specific disease states based on Rx/OTC interaction. Before founding GNR, Barch was an investment advisor at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Bethesda, Md., where he built investment portfolios for high net worth families. Prior to that, Barch spent five years at the private investment bank Johnston, Lemon & Co. in Washington, D.C., where he was an investment advisor.

2001

Marcus Berg (BSM ’01) has opened Moss Berg Injury Lawyers, a personal injury law firm in Las Vegas.

Tully Forrester (MBA ’01) and Paul Jordan were married in March 2012 at the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans. Forrester is manager of employee compensation at Pacific Gas & Electric Co. The couple resides in San Francisco.

Gary Huntley (MBA ’01) has been named vice president of regulatory and governmental affairs for Entergy New Orleans. Huntley previously served as the region manager for Entergy New Orleans’ electric distribution operations, where he was responsible for the delivery of electricity throughout the east bank of New Orleans. Huntley joined Entergy in 2001 as a senior analyst for Entergy Solutions. In 2005, he joined the regulatory group for Entergy Louisiana and supported the filings associated with storm cost recovery for hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In 2007, he served as manager of new business development for Entergy Louisiana and his responsibilities included submitting the proposal to provide electric service for the Fort Polk military base. Prior to joining Entergy, Huntley worked for Chevron from 1989 to 2001 in various engineering assignments in the Pascagoula Refinery and the Gulf of Mexico Pipeline divisions. He also had an assignment for four years as Chevron’s crude oil lease representative for the Gulf of Mexico.

2002

Marcus V. Brown (MBA ’02) has joined the board of the Pro Bono Project in New Orleans.

Ashley D. Casey (MACCT ’02) has joined the accounting firm of Carr, Riggs & Ingram in New Orleans as a senior in the audit department.

Jenny Draffin (BSM ’02) and Sidney Smith Jr. were married in Columbia, S.C., in July 2012. Draffin is an associate with the law firm of Baker, Ravenel & Bender in Columbia.

2003

Mary Lynn Pastrana-Elizondo (MBA ’03) has been appointed regional vice president of Human Resources for the Ritz Carlton Co. and Marriott International, Americas-Southern Region, with oversight of Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, U.S. Territories, the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America and South America.

2004

Dan Jatres (BSM ’05) has been elected vice president of projects with the Young Leadership Council in New Orleans.

Eugene Schmidt (MBA ’04) has been named property manager of Hammond Square by Stirling Properties.

Kenneth Spahn (MBA ’04) has joined the law firm of Couch, Conville & Blitt as its first chief financial officer.

2005

Dart Fee (MBA ’05) is director of corporate purchasing at Stewart Enterprises.

Sean Waldo (MBA ’05) is IT sales manager at IBM.

2006

Derek Bednarski (BSM ’06), second vice president with Northern Trust Hedge Fund Services, moved to Hong Kong in April 2012 to manage the company’s OTC Structured Products team.

Brad Davis (BSM ’06) graduated with an MBA from Yale School of Management in May 2012 and has joined Barclays as an investment banking associate in New York.

Kasi Dickson (BSM ’06) has been hired as a project manager at Peter Mayer Advertising.

Patty Riddlebarger (MBA ’06) is director of corporate social responsibility at Entergy Corp. Entergy’s Power to Fight Hunger campaign with Second Harvest Food bank was recognized by the Public Affairs Council as the best grassroots campaign/program in the nation for 2011. The effort enabled Second Harvest to provide almost 100,000 meals for individuals and families in need while at the same time increasing awareness of Entergy’s commitment to community involvement by generating more than 2,000 new fans for the company’s Power to Care Facebook page.

2007

Moises Benavides (MBA ’07) is a senior financial analyst with Teyma USA/ Abengoa in Phoenix.

2008

Octave Francis III (MBA ’08) has been elected chairman of the New Orleans Regional Black Chamber of Commerce. Francis is CEO of Francis Financial Consultants in New Orleans.

Whitney Gomila (MFIN ’08) and Ashley Perschall were married in New Orleans in November 2011. Gomila is a financial adviser with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.

Mary Mustaller (BSM ’08, L ’11) and James McMillan (BSM/MACCT ’09) were married on March 31, 2012, at New Orleans City Park. Mustaller is law clerk for the Hon. Bernadette D’Souza at Orleans Parish Civil District Court. McMillan is an accountant at the New Orleans office of Ernst & Young.

Randi S.K. Rosenblatt (MBA/JD ’08) has joined the law firm of Schiff Hardin in New York as an associate in the Corporate and Securities Group. Rosenblatt’s practice focuses on growth and mid-cap companies, governmental organizations, and individuals in the United States and abroad in the areas of corporate and business law, as well as technology transactions. The core of the practice consists of assisting French and other international private companies in their U.S. investments and cross-border transactions and litigation. Prior to joining Schiff Hardin, Rosenblatt was a corporate associate in the New York office of a London-based international law firm.

2010

Jorge Alba-Garcia (MBA ’10) has joined Hornbeck Offshore Services as an international accounting analyst. Alba-Garcia is based at the company’s corporate headquarters in Covington, La.

Justin Villegas (MBA ’10) has been hired as a senior account executive at Peter Mayer Advertising.

2011

Mia Wallace (MBA ’11) has been named deputy director of compliance in the Office of Community Development for the City of New Orleans.