Class Notes: Summer 2014

1970s

Jack Laborde (E ’71, MBA ’73) reigned as Rex, king of New Orleans Carnival, in 2014. Laborde is president of All Aboard Development Corp., an oil and gas exploration and production company, and chairman of Gulf Island Fabrication Inc., a manufacturer of offshore drilling and production platforms.

1980s

John P. Babcock (BSM ’80) has been named senior executive vice president and president of private wealth management at Peapack-Gladstone Bank. Prior to
his appointment, Babcock was managing director and regional head of the Northeast Mid-Atlantic region for the HSBC Private Bank, where he led a team of more than 50 professionals delivering investment, banking, lending, brokerage, insurance and other wealth management services to high net-worth families and individuals.

Thomas H. Turner (MBA ’80) was appointed to the board of directors of BancorpSouth Inc. and BancorpSouth Bank. Turner is vice chairman and president of Baton Rouge-based Turner Industries Group, which has provided a single vendor solution in heavy industrial construction, maintenance, pipe, module and vessel fabrication, equipment, rigging and heavy hauling, and associated specialty services for more than 50 years.

Margaret Saer Beer (MBA ’86) portrayed Her Majesty, Queen Reginam von Aachen at the Mystic Club bal masque in New Orleans in February 2014. Beer manages community relations and marketing at Iberia Bank in addition to volunteering her time with many community organizations, including serving on the executive board of the Idea Village.

Michael “Casey” Herman (BSM ’86) was recently named U.S. Power & Utilities leader at PwC. In his new role, Herman oversees a team of professionals delivering comprehensive financial, operational and strategic services to clients in the power and utilities industries. A nearly 30 year veteran of PwC, Herman also serves as the firm’s U.S. Power & Utilities assurance leader, where he works with clients to help enhance the relevance and reliability of financial statements and maintain capital market confidence. Herman is based in PwC’s Chicago office.

Rajeev Chopra (MBA ’88) has been named global head of Philips Consumer Luminaire Business Group. Chopra had served as managing director and CEO of Philips Electronics India Ltd. since January 2011. Prior to joining Philips in 2003, Chopra worked for companies including Cisco Systems, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard Asia Pacific, Singapore.

Edgar H. Silvey (PHTM ’71, MBA ’88), CEO of the Baton Rouge Clinic, received the Harry H. Harwick Lifetime Achievement Award at the Medical Group Management Association’s 2013 annual conference in San Diego. The highest honor presented by the Medical Group Management Association and the American College of Medical Practice Executives, the award recognizes a lifetime of achievement, honoring individuals who have made outstanding, nationally recognized contributions to healthcare administration delivery and/or education with particular emphasis on the advancement of medical group practices. The honor is the second major award Silvey has received from the organizations. In 2001, he received their Medical Practice Executive of the Year Award.

1990s

Darryl Maslia (BSM ’90) is featured in Frost & Sullivan’s best practices guidebook Creating Brand Value through Content Excellence, which highlights how the Coca-Cola Co. made content marketing an integral part of its strategy to double its revenue by 2020. Maslia is global director of creative asset management at Coca-Cola.

Rochelle Weitzner (BSM ’90) has been named CEO of Erno Laszlo New York. Weitzner had served as chief operating officer of the company, a luxury skincare brand, for the past year. Prior to joining Erno Laszlo, Weitzner was chief financial officer of Gurwitch Products, a global skincare company best known
for its Laura Mercier and ReVive brands. Prior to that, Weitzner spent 19 years with International Paper, where she held various senior VP of finance roles for businesses within the group. Erik Kampe (BSM ’91) is associate vice president at Prometric, which provides technology-enabled testing and assessment services, including test development, test delivery and data management, that allow clients to develop and launch global testing programs as well as accurately measure program results and data.

Erik Kampe (BSM ’91) is associate vice president at Prometric, which provides technology-enabled testing and assessment services, including test development, test delivery and data management, that allow clients to develop and launch global testing programs as well as accurately measure program results and data.

Ken Slotnick (BSM ’91) has been named CEO of and partner in AGI Lifestyle Entertainment, which was formed by Y Entertainment Group in January 2014 to exploit opportunities in non-scripted television and the branded lifestyle segments of entertainment. AGI represents high-level personalities, producers and projects in the non-scripted television, culinary, fashion, style, home, and health and wellness categories. Prior to joining AGI, Slotnick was a senior agent and partner at WME, where he represented a diverse roster of stars and producers in the TV and lifestyle space during his 13 years with the agency.

Bryan K. Brown (MBA/JD ’93) has joined the law firm Reed Smith as a partner in its Houston office. Brown comes to the firm from the Houston office of Thompson & Knight, where he was a member of the firm’s Corporate and Securities, Energy Finance and  other finance-oriented practices. Prior to that, Brown was a lawyer and examiner in the Division of Corporate Finance at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and corporate and finance counsel  at McDermott International Inc. He also spent 13 years in private practice at Porter Hedges in  Houston. He was previously named a Texas Super Lawyer and Texas Rising Star by Thomson Reuters.

Jeffrey Klausner (BSM ’93) was appointed chief financial officer of Mandalay Digital Group in November 2013. Based in Los Angeles, the company delivers a mobile services platform that works with mobile operators and third-party publishers to provide portal management, user interface, content development and billing technology to enable the responsible distribution of mobile entertainment. Prior to joining Mandalay Digital, Klausner was managing director at
Sherwood Partners, a financial consulting firm focused on restructuring venturebacked companies, and before that he served as CFO for Razorgator, an online ticket broker and ticket marketplace.

Robert Leonhard Jr. (MBA ’93) has been named cancer center administrator for Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center at St. Tammany Parish Hospital. Leonhard is responsible for the ongoing development and operations of the center, which provides comprehensive cancer care including chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery, as well as patient navigation, clinical trials and free community screenings. Prior to joining the center, Leonhard was quality improvement manager at LSU Pennington Biomedical Research Center, where he oversaw all quality improvement projects associated with a multi-organizational project.

Michael M. Pompian (MBA ’93) is the author of Behavioral Finance and Wealth Management: How to Build Optimal Portfolios That Account for Investor Biases. Published by Wiley Finance, the book takes a practical approach to the growing science of behavioral finance, showing investors and financial advisers how to either moderate or adapt to behavioral biases to improve investment results. Pompian is a partner at Mercer Investment Consulting, a firm serving institutional and private wealth clients. Prior to joining Mercer, he was a wealth management adviser with Merrill Lynch and PNC Private Bank.

Roderick Anderson (MBA ’94) and his wife, Marta, announce the birth of Kilian Anderson in June 2013. Kilian is the couple’s sixth child. Anderson is assistant inspector general with the U.S. Department of the Interior. The family lives in Fairfax, Va.

Christopher Slager (E ’91, MBA ’95) has been named executive vice president of Pinnacle Foods Inc. and president of its Duncan Hines Grocery Division, which manages top brands including Duncan Hines baking mixes and frostings, Vlasic pickles, Wish-Bone salad dressings, Mrs. Butterworth and Log Cabin syrups, Armour canned meats, and Open Pit barbecue sauces. Slager was most recently vice president and general manager of Campbell Soup Co.’s North America Foodservice. He also held various leadership positions with the company, including vice president of marketing for soups. Prior to joining Campbell in 2002, Slager served in a number of roles with Procter & Gamble
Co., including brand management positions on Folgers Coffee and Jif Peanut Butter. He also led new business development teams responsible for developing and launching business propositions for multiple P&G brands.

Craig Donahue (MBA ’97) and his wife, Ashley, announce the birth of Mackenzie Lynn Donahue on Oct. 30, 2013. Mackenzie, who joins brothers William and Kerry, was 7 pounds, 15 ounces and has been nothing but smiles ever since. Donahue is a senior consultant with Assima Inc. The family resides in Clemmons, N.C.

Erin DiManno (MBA ’98) recently completed her first assignment for IBM Corporate Service Corps, a special program that connects IBM employees with communities and organizations in emerging markets. After several months of training, multinational teams of IBM consultants spend four weeks in each project location performing community- driven economic development projects at the intersection of business, technology and society. DiManno’s first assignment was in Dong Nai, Vietnam. You can read about DiManno’s experiences in the program at her blog, http://edimanno.tumblr.com.

Maria Lorena Gutierrez Botero (MMG ’99, PhD ’03) was appointed general secretary of the presidency of Colombia in September 2013. In that role, Gutierrez serves as chief of staff to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. Prior to her appointment, she had served as dean of the School of Business Administration of the Universidad de los Andes since 2003. Gutierrez has been recognized as one of the top 100 leaders in Colombia, as one of the Junior Chamber of Commerce of Colombia’s 10 outstanding young executives, and as one of Dinero magazine’s most successful under-35 executives in Colombia.

2000s

Andres Calderon (MBA ’01) is now disaster recovery program manager at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana.

Mary K. FitzGerald (MBA/JD ’01) has been named CEO of Back on My Feet, a 501(c)3 organization that uses running to help those experiencing homelessness make real change in their lives that results in employment and independent living. For the past 10 years, FitzGerald served as chief operating officer of the youth football nonprofit Pop Warner. She also clerked for the National Football League in New York City and served as manager of business affairs at Fox Cable Networks in Los Angeles. She currently serves as chairperson of the NFL and NFLPA’s Research and Education Foundation, secretary of her local St. Vincent de Paul Society and is an active board member of the Tulane Sports Law Advisory Committee.

Rob Grossman (MBA ’02) is senior director of organization design and change management at McKesson Corp., a healthcare services and information technology company.

Tayte French Lutz (BSM ’02) has been appointed director of marketing, treasurer and assistant secretary of French Oil Mill Machinery Co. Lutz, the fourth generation of the French family to be employed with the company, also joined its management team. Based in Piqua, Ohio, French Oil Mill Machinery is a manufacturer of hydraulic presses, oilseed and polymer equipment. Lutz joined the company in 2010 as marketing coordinator.

Robert Zuppert (BSM ’02) is new business development manager at NVIDIA.

Josh LeFebvre (MBA ’03) is director of training at H&E Equipment Services Inc.

Rod West (L ’93, MBA ’05) was named a 2013 Activist of the Year by St. Charles Avenue magazine. The award recognizes individuals who have donated their time, energy and efforts to the city of New Orleans. West is president and CEO of Entergy New Orleans.

Gabe Eisner (BSM ’06) is CRM systems analyst at Velocify, a provider of cloud-based intelligent sales software designed for high-velocity sales environments.

Margaret Y. Bell (N ’93, MACCT ’07) was recently named assistant dean for finance at Tulane School of Medicine. Prior to joining Tulane, Bell was an audit senior at Bruno & Tervalon.

2010s

Wes Gautreaux (MBA ’10) was recently promoted to director of business development at Koch Minerals in Houston. The company and its subsidiaries are among the world’s largest dry-bulk commodity handlers, marketing and trading more than 40 million tons of product annually.

Jennifer Elise Lovett (BSM ’10, MACCT ’11) is executive assistant at ACTV8.

Emily Dickinson (BSM ’11) has been promoted to vice president of Wet Willie’s Management Corp. Dickinson oversees all aspects of the corporation in addition to continuing in her role as director of marketing and human resources for the company, which operates a chain of 14 frozen daiquiri bars along the East Coast and in California.

Ravi Prakash (MBA ’11) has been named chief technology officer at Dinner Lab Inc.

Emad Rahim (PhD ’11), endowed entrepreneur- in-residence at Oklahoma State University, was recognized for his social work by the United Nations Foundation and was named an Empact100 Honoree by Empact Showcase at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. His story was featured in a Huffington Post article titled “The Three Keys to Survival and Entrepreneurship From Genocide Survivor and Educator Emad Rahim” and he was interviewed by IntelligentHQ.com in a story titled “The Inspiring Story Of Emad Rahim, Survivor, Professor And Entrepreneur.” He will be speaking at a TED Talk event in Madison, Wisc., in fall 2014.

John L. Rotonti Jr. (MBA ’11) is the author of A Manual on Common Stock Investing, a new book that highlights 17 principles of successful investing. Rotonti, a private investor and Fellow at the Gabelli Center for Global Investment Analysis, wrote the book to serve as short, easy-toread introduction to the stock market and
investing. Designed to be read in one or two sittings, Rotonti devotes a chapter to each of his principles, using quotes from investors like Warren Buffett and real- world examples to help explain concepts like what to buy, when to sell, market inefficiency and contrarianism. Robert Hagstrom, chief investment strategist at Legg Mason Investment Counsel and author of The Warren Buffett Way, called it a “a must read for any beginning investor” and “a worthwhile read for experienced investors who need a periodic tune-up.” A Manual on Common Stock Investing is
available online at Amazon.com.

Vicente Torres (MGM ’12) is vice president of synergies and special projects with Grupo BAL in Mexico City, Mexico.

Jordan Callahan (BSM ’13), a former guard on the Tulane Green Wave men’s basketball team, played for the Kotwica Kolobrezeg, a Polish team competing in one of Europe’s top leagues, during 2013-2014.

Reid Pennebaker (MBA ’13) is senior financial analyst at Mainspring Partners, an investor and operator of small- to medium-sized industrial, distribution and technology services in Houston.

Jordan Dorenfeld (MBA ’14) is the co-founder and CEO of Optima Grocery, a big data platform for aggregated total market sales and marketing information for the Latino, Asian and other ethnic grocery industries designed to capture value of the shifts in demographics and purchasing power. The company sells information to help users gain a better understanding of markets, increase the effectiveness of marketing budgets, capture missed opportunities and, eventually, become more profitable and increase sales.