Class notes
BBAs
Texas Christian University selected Stanley Block, BBA ’61, as the most outstanding faculty member for 2006–07. Block holds the Dr. Stan Block Endowed Chair of Finance and is the author of more than 30 books on corporate finance and investments
Richard W. Evans, Jr., BBA ’68, recently celebrated 10 years as the chairman and chief executive officer of financial holding company Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc. In addition, Evans serves on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and the McCombs School Dean’s Advisory Council.
Robert A. Nowotny, BBA ’70, completed principal photography on his fifth feature-length motion picture, a Western titled “Palo Pinto Gold” that was shot in the Texas Hill Country and will be released worldwide later this year. Nowotny also produced the films “False River,” “The Radicals,” “Billy Galvin” and the Emmy-award-winning documentary “The Legend of Billy the Kid.”
Jay K. Turner, BBA ’76, joined CapitalSouth Partners in Dallas. He will oversee the expansion of investment opportunities, evaluate investments and manage portfolio companies.
Steve Carlson, BBA ’83, is senior vice president over Northwest Texas Business Banking for JPMorgan Chase. His daughter Elizabeth graduated in May 2007 with Phi Beta Kappa honors from Rhodes College, and his son Thomas is a sophomore at Baylor University.
Julia Barton Diana, BBA ’86, is a special projects coordinator intern for the San Antonio mayor’s office. Diana will establish the Voelcker Park Conservatory as a public-private partnership with the city to support the development of the city’s new 311-acre park.
Steven Sheldon, BBA ’88, is the founder of SMS Capital Management in Houston. Prior to founding SMS, Sheldon worked as a senior member of a corporate principal investments group. He is also president of the MBA Council of Houston.
Yvonne Cullen, BBA ’89, and her husband opened their third Jersey Mike’s Subs franchise in Austin’s Southpark Meadows. They were named area franchise directors/developers for Austin and the surrounding area.
Vince Calicchia, BBA ’90, is the new president of the Houston Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders, a group of bankers who specialize in Small Business Administration (SBA) loans. Calicchia is the senior vice president for SBA business lending at Woodforest National Bank.
Adam E. Auten, BBA ’91, was named the portfolio manager of the Epiphany Core Equity Fund, a multi-cap mutual fund with a socially responsible investment mandate and strategy based on guidelines set by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Ruby Bhandari, BBA ’93 and Raj Bhandari, MBA ’91, have started Silk Threads, Inc., showcasing Indo-ethnic designer clothing for men and women, as well as home design accessories.
Laura (Pierce) Carbonneau, BBA ’93, married Shane Carbonneau in November 2006. She is the manager of online communications for Georgetown University’s office of advancement.
Robert G. Lowe, BBA ’94, joined Houston-based Patriot Wealth Management, Inc., as a principal. Lowe provides comprehensive financial advisory services to high-net-worth individuals and their families. He was formerly the CFO of the private investment group Coalco and was president of Aton Securities.
Mary Anne Leichliter-Rice, BBA ’95, earned her MBA from Meredith College in 2007.
Chris Barth, BBA ’96, founded Realm Cigars. The company sells premium hand-rolled cigars made in the Dominican Republic directly to customers via its Web site, www.realmcigars.com.
Christopher C. Ege, BBA ’97, is a partner at Brown McCarroll, L.L.P. Ege defends companies in both state and federal courts, with an emphasis on complex products liability and toxic tort litigation claims.
The Houston Junior Chamber named Jason M. Ryan, BBA ’98, one of Five Outstanding Young Houstonians. Ryan is an attorney with the Houston office of Baker Botts, L.L.P.
Sarah (Hutto) Resutek, BBA ’99, and Robert Resutek, accounting Ph.D. candidate, welcomed their first child, Stephen James, on May 26, 2007.
Andrew Allemann, BBA ’00, launched VirtualVentures.com, a new twist on social networking and venture capitalism. The game lets players act as venture capitalists who can make virtual investments in real technology.
Kinan H. Romman, BBA ’01, joined Fulbright & Jaworski, L.L.P., in Houston as an international disputes lawyer. Romman was previously a consultant at Hitachi.
Leslie Johns Sincler, BBA ’02, and her husband, Page, welcomed their daughter, Callie Paige, on Sept. 15, 2007.
David L. Pratt II, BBA ’04, and his wife, Elizabeth, welcomed their first child, Tristan David Ramos Pratt, on Mar. 10, 2008. After entry to the Texas State Bar in November 2007, Pratt joined the law firm of Decker, Jones, McMakin, McClane, Hall & Bates, P.C. in Fort Worth. He is also an adjunct professor in the Appellate Advocacy Department at the Texas Wesleyan University School of Law, where he coaches the school’s state and national moot court teams.
Casey Charlton, BBA ’05, was named production manager for Glyph Language Services (www.glyphservices.com), which provides custom globalization strategies, translation to language software, Web site localization, geopolitical consulting and e-learning Web applications.
MPAs & MBAs
Leadership California selected Linda Brown, MBA ’75, as one of 60 women leaders for its Class of 2008 California Issues and Trends Program. Brown owns a consulting practice and specializes in compliance communications and outreach campaigns.
Rod Clark, MBA ’75, retired as president and COO of Baker Hughes, Inc. Recently, Clark was named an independent director of TK Corp. and also named a member of the Board of Incorporate Members of Dallas Theological Seminary. In addition, Clark serves as a trustee of the Center for Christian Growth.
Nancy Nagle Zinsmeister, MBA ’78, is director of custom programs for Executive Education at the McCombs School of Business. Previously, she spent 29 years with Ford Motor Co., and most recently was director of retailer education and training and on the Dealer Policy Board. She and her family have happily relocated to Austin and can finally say, “We’re home.”
J. Francisco Escobar, MBA ’80, founded his first venture, JFE International Consultants, Inc. The consultancy focuses on relationship management in the advertising/marketing services industry.
Bruce Leib, BBA ’79, MBA ’82, CEO for North Dallas Region Market at Sterling Bank, has handled the local banking relationships for 23 years. Leib also serves on the YMCA board of metropolitan Dallas and as a trustee for Texans CAN! Academy, the largest charter high school in the state. With four children between the ages of 12 and 17, he says that he will be “working several more years.”
Stanford Group Holdings, a member of the Stanford Financial Group, appointed Charles Weiser, BBA ’81, MBA ’84, CFO. Weiser was previously senior vice president in Stanford’s Merchant Banking Group.
The Houston CPA Society recognized E. Rhett Buck, MPA ’85, for distinguished public service for his work providing free tax return preparation services to non-resident students and low-income taxpayers.
Albert Lin, BBA ’90, MPA ’90, was elected partner in the corporate and tax group of the Austin-based law firm Brown McCarroll, L.L.P.
Ruby Bhandari, BBA ’93 and Raj Bhandari, MBA ’91, have started Silk Threads, Inc., showcasing Indo-ethnic designer clothing for men and women, as well as home design accessories.
Governor Rick Perry appointed James H. Lee, BBA ’88, MBA ’92, chairman of the Teacher Retirement System of Texas board of trustees.
Andrew S. May, MBA ’92, was awarded the certified financial planner designation by the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards. May is a retirement planning and investment management specialist with Chitwood Advisory Group in Birmingham, Ala.
Gad Benett, MBA ’93, is a patent attorney for the Israeli Patent Office. Benett returned to Israel with his family in late 2004 and joined the family practice. He is also a founder and vice president of business development for RGBlaze, a company that develops candles that burn with colored flames.
In February 2008, Damon Hylton, BBA ’92, MBA ’93, joined Seabury APG, a niche aviation consulting firm, as vice president. Damon and his family, wife Susan, daughters Reagan and Parker, and son Samuel, have relocated to the Washington DC area. Prior to moving, Damon was a longtime officer of the Hawaii Texas Exes.
Joe Miner, MBA ’93, will operate the new Internet consultant office of We Simplify the Internet, a company specializing in Internet strategies for small to medium-sized businesses in Central Texas.
Dan Petronella, MBA ’94, is the vice president/treasurer for Abercrombie & Fitch, a leading specialty apparel retailer based in New Albany, Ohio.
Dean Meyer, MBA ’95, was promoted to president and CEO of Pelco, which designs, develops and manufactures video security systems and equipment.
Ricardo Rodriguez, MBA ’95, opened the first high-pressure processing salsa and pasta sauce plant in the U.S. His customers include Sam’s Club, Brookshire Brothers, Hannaford and Food Lion.
Claire Ferguson Tudor, MBA ’96, is an account supervisor at GSD&M’s Idea City in Austin.
Xueqian Pu (Park), MBA ’97, is head of investment banking, China, for NMRothschild & Son.
Gwenn Elineau-Barat, MBA ’98, is a sales operations manager at Haemonetics Europe, overseeing financial analysis for 10 European countries. She divides her time between Geneva and Paris and expects her fourth child in August 2008.
Craig Berger, BBA ’99, MPA ’99, joined FBR Capital Markets Corp. as a senior vice president and senior research analyst focusing on the semiconductor sector. Berger previously had stints at Wedbush Morgan Securities, Smith Barney Citigroup and Intel Corp.
Naomi Chen Lyons and Kevin Lyons, both MBA ’99, are the proud parents of their second child, Blake Sheridan Chen Lyons, born in January 2007. He’s getting along great with big brother, Aiden, now 5. Naomi is an adjunct marketing instructor at a Dallas-area college, and Kevin is a product manager for Lennox.
David Zahn, MBA ’99, is COO for Consero Global Solutions, Inc.
Chris Boyle, MBA ’02, and Brice (Woods) Boyle, MBA ’02, welcomed their third child, Lisa. To “defray the costs of daycare, 529 savings plans, and Mattel’s new line of edible watercolors,” Chris works in the strategy group at Cox Communications, and Brice is an operations analyst in the finance group at Georgia Pacific.
Shawn D. Newlands, MBA ’02, was appointed chair of the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Newlands is an expert in head and neck oncologic surgery.
Eric Schneider, MBA ’02, is a vice president for credit risk at Wachovia. In 2005 he got married and received his chartered financial analyst designation.
Philip Wright, MPA ’02, is practicing corporate law at Bracewell & Giuliani L.L.P. in Houston. Previously, Wright was in the energy assurance group at PricewaterhouseCoopers. In January 2006 he married Helen (Henry) Wright.
Chad Auler, MBA ’03, launched beverage company Savvy, one of a handful of Austin-based distillers producing vodka.
Tim Evers, MBA ’03, has relocated to Charlotte, NC, with his wife, Sameena, and children, Luke, 3 and Sasha, 1. He’s looking forward to reunion in September.
Jason Heffron, MBA ’03, is owner/broker of Juice Homes, Inc. (www.juicehomes.com), a residential real estate brokerage focusing on central Austin homes.
Jon Poglitsch, MBA ’03 and Courtney (Rieke) Poglitsch, BBA ’98, MBA ’03, welcomed their first child, Kendall Erin, on Feb. 19, 2007.
Thomas J. N. Verhagen, MBA ’03, joined Natural Gas Partners as a principal. Verhagen previously worked in a variety of roles, such as field engineering, oil and gas field developments, and commercial operations.
Wendy Fu, MPA ’05, was named vice president of finance for ShengdaTech, Inc., a China-based manufacturer of nano-precipitated calcium carbonate and coal-based chemical products.
Richa Malhotra, MBA’05, moved to New York to work in online marketing strategy with Citicards.
Margaret Row, M.D., MBA’07, joined the Center for Global Oncology as the associate vice president for Global Clinical Programs. Row will work with Dr. Ed Diaz, vice president for the same program, in communicating and implementing strategic plans for clinical aspects of Global Oncology care.
PH.D.s
The University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business named a conference room in its Koelbel Building after John Lymberopoulos, MBA ’56, Ph.D. ’65. Lymberopoulos is an emeritus professor of international business and finance at the Leeds School. The conference room was named in his honor by Leeds School alumnus Dick Engebretson, who fondly recalls the ‘A’ that he earned in Lymberopoulos’ statistics class. Lymberopoulos began teaching in 1964 and served as associate dean, assistant dean and director of undergraduate studies, dean of the division of continuing education, dean of the summer session and acting vice chancellor at the University of Colorado, Denver
Mason A. Carpenter, Ph.D. ’97 and William (Gerry) Sanders, Ph.D. ’96, published the second edition of “Strategic Management: A Dynamic Perspective” (Pearson/Prentice-Hall). Carpenter is a professor of strategy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Sanders is a strategy professor at Brigham Young University.
Albert M. Chammah, Professor Emeritus, Remembered
Albert M. Chammah, professor emeritus of management and Middle Eastern studies, passed away Jan. 24, 2008. Chammah joined the university in 1969 and became internationally renowned in the application of game theory in the social sciences. His book, “Prisoner’s Dilemma: A Study in Conflict and Cooperation,” co-authored by Anatol Rapoport, is considered a classic in the field.
Chammah was a highly sought after consultant in France and also taught at the International School of Disarmament and Arms Control in Italy. He was a native of Aleppo, Syria, and graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in industrial engineering, then went on to earn a Ph.D. in mathematical social psychology from the University of Michigan.
