Class Notes
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Individuals are listed according to the year of their most recent School of Management degree.
1960s
Donald Spors, BS ’63, has retired after a career of more than 55 years.
1970s
Neil C. Woodworth, BS ’74, is senior vice president at Churchill & Associates.
Dennis Klepp, BS ’79, retired from Tops Markets after 46 years, and is enjoying life in the hills and woods south of Buffalo.
1980s
Robert Zak, BS/MBA ’80, president and CEO of Merchants Mutual Insurance Co., was named chair of the board of directors for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies.
Wm. Dennis Huber, MBA ’81, CPA, released his book, Corporate Law and the Theory of the Firm: Reconstructing Corporations, Shareholders, Directors, Owners and Investors.
Joseph Kerr, BS ’85, MBA ’86, is vice president, chief information officer and a founding partner at Value Point Associates LLC.
1990s
Bradley Salmon, MBA ’93, was promoted to oncology key account manager for upstate New York at Pfizer Inc.
Edwin Wong, BS ’94, vice president, Business Development Department at Bank of China, announced his candidacy for New York City Council (District 29) in 2021. Wong also serves on the board of several community organizations in Queens, including as president of the Forest Hills Asian Association.
Fred Vosburgh, MBA ’96, was promoted to managing director at JPMorgan Chase, where he leads state and local government banking expansion efforts in the mid-Atlantic region.
Jennifer Wozniak, MBA ’96, was named co-chair of the Goodwill of Colorado board of directors. She also serves as director of communications for Xcel Energy in Denver, and owns She’s A Rainbow, where she makes and sells custom handbags made from vinyl records.
Chris Bossert, BS ’98, and his wife, Monica Perez-Bossert, recently launched two businesses: Must NY, an apparel manufacturer specializing in custom face masks; and the Araypa Factory, a Latin food manufacturer that wholesales healthy food options to schools and retail outlets. Both businesses are in Orchard Park, New York.
George Wong, BS ’98, partner at EY, was named Americas co-director of tax accounting and risk advisory services (TARAS), leading the firm’s Channel 2 TARAS practice.
2000s
Muriel Anderson, BS ’87, MBA ’00, CPA, received the 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award from Niagara County Community College. Anderson is a clinical associate professor in the Accounting and Law and the Organization and Human Resources departments in the UB School of Management.
Kari Dettbarn-Wright, BS ’00, earned an MBA from Niagara University in 2007 and is a book writer and a fundraiser for multiple sclerosis.
Michael Patterson, BS ’00, was named assistant vice president for student affairs at SUNY New Paltz. He also earned his doctorate of education in higher education administration from Northeastern University.
Robert Keller, EMBA ’02, was named director of marketing and product management at Comar, a specialty packaging, dispensing and medical device provider in Voorhees, New Jersey.
Muhammad Chandasir, EMBA ’03, was named compliance engineering manager at Hillphoenix.
Matthew Wagner, BS ’03, was named senior vice president of development, sports and leisure for North America at Sodexo.
Alumni Spotlight: Adam Storch, BS ’02, CPA
Last summer, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced the creation of a new office—with Adam Storch, BS ’02, at the helm.
Storch likens his group—the Event and Emerging Risks Examination Team (EERT)—to a SWAT team, deployed first on scene to assess and recommend actions after significant market events that could have a systemic impact or place investor assets at risk, including exchange outages, liquidity events, and cybersecurity or operational resiliency concerns.
Previously, he was the first-ever chief operating officer and managing executive for the SEC’s Enforcement Division. Storch oversaw strategic planning and operations for the highly visible unit, and other key functions like information technology and knowledge management. He also played a lead role in establishing and supervising the Office of Market Intelligence and the Office of the Whistleblower.
“I joined at a significant inflection point after the financial crisis, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be part of a radical overhaul of an important government agency,” Storch says. “It’s incredibly rewarding to know I had a hand in creating functions that will exist for years and have become part of the language of the SEC.”
Today, Storch shares his expertise as a member of the School of Management’s Accounting Advisory Council, and by networking and connecting with students.
“Within four years, the School of Management gave me a broad accounting education, as well as expertise in internal auditing, which was—and still is—pretty unique,” he says. “I learned a lot and made a lot of friends at UB. It was really the first experience in my life that validated my potential.”
Alumni Spotlight: 40 Under 40
Congratulations to the following School of Management alumni named to the 2020 40 under 40 list by Buffalo Business First:
- Rashida Dowell, PMBA ’18
- Lindsay Jones, MBA ’05
- Jordan Lema, CEL ’20
- Alex Ljungberg, EMBA ’21
- Abel Plazola, MWEE ’18
- Michelle Watorek, BS ’04, EMBA ’14, CPA
Brooke Cianfichi, BS/MBA ’04, chief operating officer and director of business development at AscendAmerica, became an activator at SheEO, a global community of women building a $1 billion fund to support and mentor female-led philanthropic startups.
Samantha Bonano, BS ’05, was appointed to the board of DermaRite, a leading producer of skin care, wound care and nutritional products.
Jon Pancerman, BS ’05, was promoted to senior director of business operations at ACV Auctions.
Adam Dunning, BS ’06, was named chief analytics officer at axialHealthcare, a care optimization company focused on managing substance use treatment and social determinants of health issues.
Chet Spivey, EMBA ’06, was named senior vice president of clinical sales at Ivoclar Vivadent Inc.
Thomas Ulbrich, CEL ’03, EMBA ’06, was named president and CEO of Goodwill Industries of WNY and executive in residence for entrepreneurship in the School of Management.
Sara (Pendergast) Basko, BS ’07, was promoted to partner at KPMG in Pittsburgh.
Carly Battin, MBA ’09, was promoted to director of marketing at CleanCapital.
Nikhil Cherian, MS ’09, was named senior director of integrated planning at Sam’s Club.
2010s
Thomas Beauford Jr., EMBA ’08, MS ’11, was named president and CEO of the Buffalo Urban League.
Kristen Lopez, PMBA ’11, was promoted to account director at Praxis Communications LLC.
Shyam Nair, MBA ’11, was promoted to director of industrial products at Vesuvius.
Joel Cropp, MBA ’12, was named senior platform integration specialist at Reliance Standard.
Dennis Currie, EMBA ’12, was promoted to vice president of service operations at John W. Danforth Co.
Julia Jornsay-Silverberg, BS/MBA ’12, joined NOW Marketing Group as relationship marketing manager.
Anthony LaRosa, BS ’10, MBA ’12, was promoted to assistant vice president and project manager III at M&T Bank.
George Narby, EMBA ’13, MD, was named chief medical officer at Southeast Health.
Pierre Pelletreau, EMBA ’13, was named vice president of engineering at Rand-ASC Holdings.
Vince Polino, EMBA ’14, was promoted to business development manager of brewery, beverage and food (USA) at Alfa Laval.
Nida Beig, MS ’15, was named senior product manager of tech for the AWS Snow Family at Amazon Web Services.
Drew Gaczewski, BS ’15, was promoted to business development manager at ACV Auctions.
Michael Gibson, EMBA ’15, CPA, was named chief financial officer at Colton RV.
Swati Priya, MBA ’15, was named associate security consultant at Amazon Web Services.
Jesse Albares, BS ’17, is delivery operations manager for Amazon, where he leads a team that monitors 300 routes and delivers 65,000 packages daily.
Brittany (Popovski) Bartula, BS ’16, MS ’17, CPA, was named senior accountant, accounting policy and special projects at ACV Auctions.
Katherine Logan, BS ’12, PMBA ’17, was promoted to manager of human resource information systems and special projects at Lactalis American Group.
Jakki Marchesiello, BS ’15, MBA ’17, was named manager of financial planning and analysis at Price Chopper Supermarkets.
Michael Pietkiewicz, EMBA ’17, joined Wendel Cos. as director of project development.
Dan Franasiak, BS ’17, MBA ’18, was named solution architect, Salesforce industries at Salesforce. Franasiak also is an adjunct instructor for the School of Management’s “Technology Consulting for Social Impact” course.
Natasha Ghatta, BS ’18, was named business analyst in banking and finance at Cognizant.
Valerie Labella, BS ’17, MS ’18, CPA, was named senior accountant at Tronconi Segarra & Associates LLP.
Brittany O’Dea, MBA ’18, was named senior corporate business intelligence analyst at Live! Casino and Hotel.
Jonathon Percy, BS ’17, MBA ’19, was promoted to customer success manager at Impact.
Denise A. Pikuzinski, EMBA ’19, was named research manager at UBMD Emergency Medicine.
Lydia Quebral, BS ’14, PMBA ’19, joined Tops Markets LLC as pricing analyst.
2020s
Justin Downey, BS ’20, received a 2020 Student Veteran Leadership Award from G.I. Jobs Magazine and was named to the State University of New York’s Student Voices Action Committee. (Read more.)
Pavankumar Mulgund, MS ’14, PhD ’20, clinical assistant professor of management science and systems, was named program director for the MS in Management Information Systems program at the University at Buffalo School of Management.
Alyssa Szal, MBA ’20, was named marketing communications specialist at Moog Space and Defense Group.
Jacob Walsh, MBA ’20, was named senior consultant at Cognizant.