Class Notes
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Individuals are listed according to the year of their most recent School of Management degree.
Class Years
Joseph Calabrese, MBA ’75, transit system/bus rapid transit development advisor at AECOM, was inducted into the American Public Transportation Association Hall of Fame.
Chris Greene, MBA ’75, partner and Health Care Practice Group leader at Barclay Damon LLP, was named to the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.
Terry Martin, PhD ’79, is a charter member of the Lake Erie LaMP Public Forum, an organization dedicated to the sustainability of the Lake Erie basin.
Louise Toth, BS ’81, earned dual master’s degrees in public administration and human services administration from SUNY Buffalo State College, and currently serves as contract monitor for Erie County Department of Social Services.
Richard Johnson, BS ’84, was promoted to senior vice president and small business loan administrator at BankOnBuffalo.
Ernie Neve, BS ’84, CPA, and the Neve Group Ltd. celebrated 30 years of providing proactive, income-tax-saving advice to thousands of clients nationwide.
James Krupinski, BS ’92, CPA, was promoted to partner at Dopkins & Co.
Alumni Spotlight: Lab coats and business suits
Chanel David, PMBA ’16, always wanted to be a scientist.
While other girls played with baby dolls, she gravitated toward microscopes. Later, after seeing how cocoa beans became delicious chocolate in Hershey, Pennsylvania, David found her calling. She would become a food scientist.
“Food connects people — it’s part of your heritage and your identity,” she says.
After earning her bachelor’s in chemical engineering, David joined Rich Products as the first engineer in its research and development department. One day, she might have been developing a new topping flavor, while the next, she was studying fat crystallization and heat transfer rates to improve product performance and shelf life.
Eventually, David set her sights on becoming the head of R&D — and enrolled in the School of Management to help her get there.
Her hard work paid off in March 2022, when David was named manager of research and development at StarKist Co., which provides trusted, healthy protein products in the United States. David leads a team of food scientists to develop new products and optimize the production process.
“It’s an exciting time to be on the StarKist team,” she says. “It’s a company that is more than 100 years old, and product innovation is a priority and driving force.”
Donna Doleman Dickerson, MBA ’93, was appointed vice president of brand and community development at the University of Michigan Credit Union.
John Shine, MBA ’94, CFA, was promoted to president of Trubee Wealth Advisors Inc., an independent brokerage company in Western New York.
Richard Boulware, MBA ’96, was appointed director of IP logistics and distribution at Estée Lauder Cos.
Christopher Jeannopoulos, BS ’97, was named president and CEO of Woodlawn Cemetery & Conservancy in the Bronx, New York.
Scott H. Roth, BS ’97, was named chief customer officer at Beamery, a talent lifecycle software management company.
Christopher Nickson, JD/MBA ’98, was promoted to vice president and senior consultant at Segal, a human resources and benefits consulting firm.
Geoffrey Pritchard, BS ’99, CPA, was appointed chief financial and impact investment officer for the John R. Oishei Foundation.
David Luzon, MBA ’01 — a partner specializing in trusts, estates and tax law at Barclay Damon LLP — was named to the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America.
Jamie Shrock, MBA ’01, was promoted to senior director, people operations and culture at Circuit Clinical, a fast-growing integrated research organization.
Matthew Riscili, MBA ’02, was promoted to director of internal controls – sales operations at Snap Finance.
Dave Wedekindt, PMBA ’02, was promoted to vice president of Artpark. In addition, Wedekindt was elected president on the board of directors for Arts Services of WNY.
Beata Prusaczyk, BS ’03, was named chief information officer at McCollum Christoferson Group, an independently owned investment and financial advisory practice.
Sara (Melendy) Kern, PhD ’05, professor of accounting in the Gonzaga University School of Business Administration, was named associate dean of Gonzaga’s undergraduate business programs.
Gregory Baase, BS ’07, was promoted to customer success partner expert at SAP.
Laura Berrady, EMBA ’07, joined Fidelis Care as senior director of health care transformation.
Mark Umstead, MBA ’07, was promoted to senior process improvement leader at Moog.
James Wahl, MBA ’07, joined Bionical Emas, a clinical research organization, as senior vice president of business development for clinical development.
Keith Wright, BS ’01, PMBA ’07, was promoted to chief financial officer at EverWest Real Estate Investors.
Ben Farbowitz, BS ’09, CPA, was named director of finance at Lev, a commercial real estate financing platform.
Kimberly Meier-Dehr, BS ’07, MBA ’10, was named global planning and allocation senior manager – retail at Mars.
Ryan Linden, BS ’11, joined Lorimer Ventures as a limited partner and was promoted to senior product manager at MURAL, a collaborative intelligence company.
Brooke Swensen, MBA ’11, was named vice president – direct to retail at Kerry Group, a leading taste and nutrition company.
Emily Mazur, MBA ’12, launched her business, Revitalize Home Organization LLC, in Buffalo.
Ben Pearce, BS ’05, PMBA ’13, was promoted to director of health care and life sciences industry strategy at Salesforce.
Brian Urbanczyk, PMBA ’13, was promoted to manager, tech program management/software testing at Fisher-Price.
Anthony Zoratti, PMBA ’13, was named Cisco sales director at D&H Distributing.
Jeff Beacham, BS ’12, MBA ’14, was promoted to local sales manager at WGRZ-TV.
Ashley Moreira, PMBA ’14, was promoted to vice president of customer support at Columbus McKinnon.
Girish Sundaram, MBA ’14, was promoted to director of product analytics at athenahealth.
Dipin Vidyadharan, MBA ’14, was promoted to principal program manager at Microsoft.
Victoria (Lojacono) DiVirgilio, BS/MBA ’15, joined the Jackson Laboratory, a biomedical research institute, as manager of cybersecurity awareness and communications.
Kimberly Behzadi, MBA ’16, joined Rich Products as a product manager. She also owns Bookmarks & Breadsticks, through which she curates subscription boxes with food books and culinary goodies.
Adam Fries, MBA ’16, was named associate innovation manager at FIFCO USA.
Amit Kandel, EMBA ’16, MD, was appointed corporate medical director for stroke services at Kaleida Health.
Sam M. Torchia, BS ’16, CPA, was promoted to senior manager for tax services at DKB, a Rochester-based business advisory and CPA firm.
Sarah Coyne, EMBA ’17, was appointed senior treasury manager at HomeLight, a real estate technology platform.
Jake Dominesey, BS Engineering/MBA ’17, joined the transportation team at CPL as a civil engineer.
Steven N. Hochwald, EMBA ’17, MD, was named director of the Mount Sinai Cancer Center and chief of surgical oncology at Mount Sinai Medical Center Miami Beach.
John Kleindinst, BS ’16, MS ’17, CPA, was promoted to manager of financial advisory services at Embark, a business advisory firm.
Carly Ortiz, BS ’17, was named senior talent manager at 43North, an accelerator program that invests $5 million per year to attract and retain high-growth startups in Buffalo.
Anthony Falvo, BS ’17, MBA ’18, was promoted to manager - global network planning and alliances at United Airlines.
Sidharth Jasra, MS ’18, joined Intuit, a global technology platform, as a data steward lead.
Denise Pikuzinski, EMBA ’19, was promoted to executive director of the Valley Community Association, a social service organization in Buffalo.
Sarah Snyder, MBA ’19, joined Rich Products as associate product manager.
Angelo Goodenough, BS ’18, MS ’20, was named a financial analyst at Sanderson Wealth Management.
Kristen Kozlowski, BS ’16, JD/MBA ’20, was appointed associate corporate counsel at Calspan.
Jacob Walsh, MBA ’20, was named director of operations at Aille Design, a braille fashion brand. He also serves as director of operations for Common Owner, a crowdfunding platform.
Tanya Dheer, MS ’21, was promoted to assistant vice president, strategy and operations at Citi.
Milad Ghanatios, BS ’20, MS ’21, joined KPMG as a senior associate in the Accounting Advisory Services practice.
Yoones Khanjani, BS ’21, joined Computershare as a securities analyst.
Christa R. Trautman, MArch/MBA ’21, was named an architectural designer at CPL, an architecture, engineering and planning firm.
Rich Van, BS Engineering/MBA ’21, was appointed continuous improvement coordinator at Aecon Group, a Canadian infrastructure company.
Yoonjin Bae, BS ’20, MS ’22, joined Kookmin Bank as an investment banking associate.
Samruddhi Bhambure, MS ’22, was appointed a senior software engineer at EPAM Systems.
Erica Colligan, EMBA ’22, MD, was named associate director, scientific strategy at McCann Health New York.
Mihai Noaje, EMBA ’22, joined Buffalo Construction Consultants as a project manager.
Emily Piscitelli, BS ’22, joined The Bonadio Group as a staff accountant.
Del C. Purdue-Grant, EMBA ’22, was promoted to space sector business manager at Moog.