Class Notes

New job? Promotion? Your classmates and colleagues want to know. Send your updates for Class Notes to mgt-editor@buffalo.edu.

Individuals are listed according to the year of their most recent School of Management degree.

1970s

Howard L. Pierce, BS ’71, joined the law firm Halloran Sage as partner, focusing on health care cost containment, False Claims Act whistleblower matters and internal investigations.

Alexander O. DuBrow, MBA ’73, has diversified his boutique defense industry consulting firm, Avonis Inc., by adding Moulage battlefield injury simulation technology for international distribution.

Zach Roros, BS ’74, was named director of business development at Robert Frances Group, which provides consulting and research services to business technology executives.

1980s

Nancy Brach, BS ’80, vice president and co-owner of Brach Machine Inc., was honored with the Frances G. Francis Empowerment Award from the YWCA of Genesee County.

Joseph P. Lojacono, BS ’79, MBA ’80, was named entrepreneur in residence with Launch NY, where he provides individualized coaching for startups. He also owns Valmark Associates LLC, a marketing resource consulting firm, and Vicar Industries LLC, an e-commerce dealer offering high-temperature refractory products for construction and commercial applications.

Wm. Dennis Huber, MBA ’81, CPA, released his second book, Economics, Capitalism, and Corporations: Contradictions of Corporate Law, Economics and the Theory of the Firm.

Mark Schrutt, BS ’84, strategic advisor for public sector innovation research at IDC Canada, published his book, Shifting the Balance: How Top Organizations Beat the Competition by Combining Intuition with Data.

Alumni Spotlight: Newly Minted Partners

School of Management accounting alumni make their mark at the Big Four and regional firms, in industry and as independent consultants—and beyond. Over the past year, several alumni shared the good news that they made partner at their firms. Congratulations!

  • Jonathan Roller, BS ’03, MS ’04, CPA, Lumsden McCormick
  • Andrew Moon, BS ’06, CPA, Tronconi Segarra & Associates
  • Sara (Pendergast) Basko, BS ’07, CPA, KPMG
  • Jeremy Blecha, BS ’08, CPA, Tronconi Segarra & Associates
  • Stephen Turner, BS ’08, CPA, The Bonadio Group

Are you celebrating a promotion or new role? Send your updates to mgt-editor@buffalo.edu

Sam Burruano Jr., BS ’86, was promoted to executive vice president and chief legal officer for Five Star Bank, where he oversees legal, governance, audit and human resource functions.

Mike Watts, BS ’89, joined CBRE, a leading commercial real estate services and investment firm, as president of investor leasing in the Americas.

Sujata Yalamanchili, BS ’88, MBA ’89, partner at Hodgson Russ LLP, was honored with the ATHENA Leadership Award from the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.

1990s

Steven Kreit, BS ’90, CPA, joined Benjamin, a leading public accounting and consulting firm, as partner and leader of the firm’s assurance practice. 

Anthony DeSimone, BS ’91, CPA, was named interim executive director for the UB School of Management’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. DeSimone also is owner of You’re the Expert Now and a member of the CEL advisory board.

Keith Belote, BS/MBA ’93, CPA, assurance partner at PwC and managing partner for its Buffalo office, was appointed to the UB School of Management’s Accounting Advisory Council.

Michael Ayalon, BS ’97, CEO of the educational platform Greek University, published his book, From Letters to Leaders: Creating Impact on Your College Campus and Beyond, which offers strategies for fraternity, sorority and student club leaders to improve their organizations. 

Donald Boyd, MBA ’97, was promoted to president and chief operating officer of Kaleida Health.

Matthew Calipari, MBA ’98, was named project manager at Power Drives Inc.

Michael Levine, BS ’98, was promoted to managing director and head of Morgan Stanley’s fusion response operations.

Lisa LaTrovato, BS ’99, donor relations manager at Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute, was recognized as a finalist for the ATHENA Leadership Award by the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.

2000s

Amar Jhaveri, BS ’00, was named vice president – capital markets at Dune Real Estate Partners.

Jennifer Kooney, BS ’94, MBA ’00, was promoted to vice president and group manager in M&T Bank’s Commercial Lending division, specializing in health care banking.

Raj Rege, MBA ’00, was appointed senior director, business process effectiveness at Comcast.

Dave Wedekindt, PMBA ’02, was promoted to vice president of concerts and marketing at Artpark, a park and cultural institution in Lewiston. He also was elected vice president of the board for Arts Services Initiative of WNY.

Kirk Berry, BS ’05, was named project manager at Public Strategies, where he serves on the Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood technical training and assistance team.

Bharat Kohli, EMBA ’05, MD, is chief clinical officer for The Event Doc, which provides on-site COVID-19 testing for events around the country.

Sean Moskal, BS Engineering/MBA ’05, senior vice president, commercial banking at KeyBank, joined the UB School of Management’s Global Advisory Council. 

John J. Herman, EMBA ’06, was named CEO of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, a nonprofit health system with more than 300 primary-care and specialty physicians and four hospitals. 

Marc Adler, MBA ’82, CEL ’08, president of Why Not Marketing, was appointed president of the board of directors for Hillel of Buffalo. 

2010s

Kayleigh Lot, BS/MBA ’10, was promoted to business and integration arch manager at Accenture, a global professional services company.

Qi Ma, BS ’09, MS ’10, CPA, senior manager in Deloitte’s Risk and Financial Advisory Group, was appointed to the UB School of Management’s Accounting Advisory Council.

Kimberly Meier-Dehr, BS ’07, MBA ’10, was promoted to senior manager, e-commerce planning and operations at New Era Cap Co.

Shayna Arrington, JD/MBA ’11, chief compliance officer at The Money Source, was named to National Mortgage Professional’s 40 Under 40 list and featured on the cover of its magazine, NMP.

Olga Stamatova, BS ’11, was named strategic partnerships and business development account executive at Haven Life, a MassMutual-backed startup that offers an online solution for buying life insurance.

Nate Carbrey, BS/MBA ’12, CPA, was promoted to director, accounting policy and special projects at ACV Auctions.

Oliver Hays, PMBA ’13, joined MSR Communications, an award-winning public relations firm, as account manager and will open the firm’s first East Coast office in Buffalo.

West Richter Jr., BS/MBA ’13, joined Moog Inc. as director of global IT quality and process management. He also serves as an adjunct instructor in the UB School of Management. 

Carson Ciggia, BS ’14, is an MBA student at the University of Arizona and completed an internship at Shamrock Foods.

Eric Felder, EMBA ’14, was promoted to supply chain transformation manager at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Colin Gannon, BS ’09, PMBA ’14, was promoted to senior solutions sales executive in the Unified Communications and Collaboration Division at Ingram Micro.

Daniel Ovadia, BS ’14, joined Latham & Watkins, a global law firm, as an associate. 

Matthew Silver, BS ’13, MS ’14, CPA, was appointed senior manager, technical accounting at Roivant Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company.

Kamer Toker-Yildiz, PhD ’14, was named data science manager at Udemy, a leading online educational technology platform that has reached more than 40 million learners worldwide.

Ryan Weisz, BS ’07, PMBA ’15, joined Uniland Development Co. as senior marketing manager, leading marketing planning and strategy for all service lines.

Ryan Fogle, MBA ’16, was promoted to vice president and commercial banking relationship manager at Bank of America.

Rema Hanash, EMBA ’16, director of resource development at the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County, was recognized as a finalist for the ATHENA Leadership Award by the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.

Shelby Wilde, BS ’16, joined Medtronic, a medical device company, as senior global reimbursement specialist, economics, reimbursement and evidence.

Michael Anderson, EMBA ’17, was promoted to senior vice president and retail banking administrator at BankOnBuffalo.

Kim Mrowczynski, MBA ’18, joined Rich Products Corp. as associate customer marketing manager.

Steven Ngo, BS ’18, was promoted to human resources business partner at Amazon.

Ryan Dunn, EMBA ’19, was promoted to senior accounting manager at Distinguished Programs, a national insurance program manager. 

Alex Sisti, MBA ’19, was promoted to intermediate business systems engineer and management consultant at MITRE, a nonprofit that operates federally funded research and development centers.

Prateek Sollapur, MBA ’19, was named director – North America at Skyscend, a global fintech company that automates the invoicing process and provides supply chain finance services.

Lauren Weiss, MBA ’19, joined UT Southwestern Medical Center as a strategist.

2020s

Shelby Connors, BS ’19, MBA ’20, was appointed corporate project specialist at Value Network WNY.

Kirsten McCarthy, BS ’19, MBA ’20, joined ACV Auctions as a business operations analyst.

Stephanie Morrissey, BS Engineering/MBA ’20, was named quality engineer at Henkel, a global leader in adhesive technologies and consumer goods.

Mohit Shrivastava, MBA ’20, joined Crowley Webb, an advertising agency, as a data analyst. 

Kayleigh Terranova, EMBA ’20, was recognized as a finalist for the ATHENA Young Professional Award by the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.

Tanya Dheer, MS ’21, joined Citi as a credit risk reporting and analysis intermediate analyst.

Emily Dowdall, BS ’21, was named marketing associate at Athena SWC, a provider of outsourced services for marketing, new business development and sales support.