Class Notes
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Please note: Individuals are listed in Class Notes according to the year of their most recent School of Management degree.
1950s
Charles H. Gustafson '59 was awarded a Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) by Fribourg University in Switzerland. He is a professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center.
1970s
Harris S. Berger '70, MBA '72, received the President's Volunteer Service Award, a prestigious national honor established in 2004 by President George W. Bush, in recognition for donating more than 500 service hours to overseas development projects. Berger also received the Service Impact Award from the Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance. He is an independent banking consultant.
David Kostrzewski '73 is president of Marketing Services Group in Orchard Park, N.Y., which recently announced the rollout of "MSG ON-SITE," the agency's new consulting service that offers in-house marketing deliverables for industry and nonprofit organizations.
Laszlo J. Meszaros '74 is chair of the Meszaros International Center of Entrepreneurship, which received a grant from the Verizon Foundation for its work with high school students.
David F. Simon '74 was appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett to a five-year term as a commissioner of the Delaware River Port Authority, a bi-state agency that operates the bridges, rapid transit line and ferry between southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Christopher T. Greene, MBA '75, was named as a Buffalo Best Lawyer of the Year for the area of corporate law by the Best Lawyers peer-reviewed publication.
James W. Ingham '75 was named chief financial officer for Meals on Wheels for Western New York.
Allan Pinchoff, MBA '75, was promoted to senior vice president and general counsel at RTKL, a global architecture, planning and design firm.
Burt Zweigenhaft '76 moderated a panel discussion on payer trends in oncology at the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care conference. He is president and chief executive officer of OncoMed Pharmaceuticals.
Burton M. Speer '76, MS '77, was appointed principal in the tax department at Mengel, Metzger, Barr & Co. LLP.
Joan C. Yang, MBA '77, received the 2011 National Federation for Just Communities of WNY Community Leader Award for Business. She is president of Rand & Jones Enterprises.
Debbie A. Cutler '78 was appointed chair of the professional ethics committee of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants and member of the AICPA Council.
Mark A. Nehra, MBA '78, received the Certified Financial Planner designation. He is an investment advisor representative with Independence Wealth Strategies in Newark, Del.
William Dratler '79 retired to West Palm Beach, Florida, after a 26-year career with the federal government as a defense contract auditor.
1980s
Robert M. Zak '80, MBA '80, was appointed vice president of the 100 Club of Buffalo and Western New York, a nonprofit group that provides assistance to the members and families of police, fire and emergency medical service agencies. He is president and CEO of Merchants Insurance Group.
James M. Culligan '81 was appointed director of investor relations at CTG, an information technology services company.
Marc A. Adler, MBA '82, was appointed to the board of Leadership Buffalo. He is director of marketing for KATZ Americas.
Donna L. DeCarolis '81, MBA '83, was elected chair of the board of Leadership Buffalo. She is vice president for business development with National Fuel Gas Co.
Robert W. Fishback, MBA '83, was appointed chief financial officer at Torvec Inc., an automotive technology company in Rochester, N.Y.
John C. Stellrecht '83 is the owner/operator of a UPS Store in West Seneca, N.Y. He is president of JCBS Enterprises Inc.
Sharon A. Swift, MBA '84, was appointed associate in the labor and employment practice group at Jaeckle Fleischmann & Mugel.
Lauren J. Fix '86 was named Time Warner's national automotive expert.
Jeffrey E. Marks '86 was appointed vice president of sales and market development at ATSI Engineering.
Douglas C. Bean, MBA '87, was promoted to chief operating officer at Eric Mower and Associates.
Marc A. Reiser '88 has joined the National Notary Association as chief executive officer.
Kevin Curtin, MBA '89, was promoted to director at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, an investment bank based in Atlanta.
Sujata Yalamanchili '88, MBA '89, was promoted to practice area leader for real estate, finance and bankruptcy at Hodgson Russ.
1990s
Michael Schaffstall '90 was promoted to partner at Chiampou Travis Besaw & Kershner.
Anne M. Wegrzyn, MBA '90, was appointed vice president of National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp., the utility segment of National Fuel Gas Co.
Kevin P. Janik '91 was named senior associate at Watts Architecture and Engineering PC.
Cheryl Ann Jankowski '91 was promoted to principal at Chiampou Travis Besaw & Kershner.
Daniel S. Laufer '91 provided tips for small businesses on crisis management on Bloomberg Businessweek's website. He is an associate professor of marketing at Yeshiva University.
Thomas A. Pellerite, MBA '92, was named co-chair of the YMCA Camp Weona Strong Kids Campaign. He is senior program manager at Moog Inc.
Aimee C. Gomlak, MBA '94, was appointed vice president of the women's service line at Catholic Health.
Christopher P. Kania, MBA '94, was appointed to the board of Leadership Buffalo. He is an administrative vice president at M&T Bank.
Valerie A. Muka '94 was appointed vice president of cash management services at Evans Bank.
Judy L. Baumgartner, MBA '96, was named president of the Visiting Nurses Association of Western New York.
John A. Sexton, MBA '96, was promoted to administrative vice president at M&T Bank.
Jeremy Booth '97 was promoted to managing director for WTAS New York, an independent tax firm.
John C. Adamo '98 was promoted to administrative vice president at M&T Bank.
Mylene Fowler, MBA '98, is the regional administrator for Helen Keller International, handling finance, human resources, logistics and operations.
Jiming Lindal, MBA '98, owns a consulting business and has started a second career as a screenwriter.
Ambar S. Qureshi '97, MBA '98, was appointed director of operations at Superior HealthPlan in Texas.
Caroline L. Raimy, EMBA '98, was named director of sales development and physician liaisons at Catholic Health.
Thomasina R. Stenhouse, PhD '98, was appointed to the board of Leadership Buffalo. She is the corporate group human resources director at Moog Inc.
Michael Graubner, MBA '99, was named head of global strategy and business development for Siemens' worldwide gas turbine business.
Jennifer A. Mucha '99 was named associate in the litigation group at Phillips Lytle.
John A. Orlowski, JD/MBA '99, was promoted to senior counsel with GE, with responsibility for all environmental, health and safety and product safety/liability matters for GE's global transportation business.
2000s
Shin K. Moon '00, was appointed assistant controller at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J.
Bradley Nowak '00, was recognized as one of Washington, D.C.'s "Legal Elite" by SmartCEO magazine.
Daniel P. Penberthy, EMBA '00, was appointed president of the 100 Club of Buffalo and Western New York, a nonprofit group that provides assistance to the members and families of police, fire and emergency medical service agencies. He is chief financial officer at Rand Capital Corp.
Shane P. Marmion '03 was promoted to vice president, product development, at William S. Hein and Co.
Kathy Y. Monnin, MBA '03, was named senior accountant in the sales and use tax department at Tronconi Segarra and Associates.
Shauna A. Thelen '03 was appointed director of human resources at Lumsden & McCormick.
Brian W. Zielinski '03 was promoted to head of mitigation/senior technical writer at Guardian Solutions.
Kristin M. Crosby '04 earned the Certified Public Accountant designation. She is a senior accountant with Brock, Schechter & Polakoff.
Dale T. Payne '04 was named sales/client relations manager at Sovran Self Storage.
Anthony M. Mrozik Jr., EMBA '05, was appointed treasurer of the board of Leadership Buffalo. He is chief financial officer at Gateway-Longview Inc.
Douglas C. Muth '05, MBA '05, was promoted to audit manager at Lumsden & McCormick.
Andrew J. Cappello '03, MBA '06, was promoted to audit manager at Lumsden & McCormick.
Jeffrey Green, MS '06, was promoted to manager at KPMG in Hartford, Conn.
Carolin D. Soldo '04, MBA '06, was named the SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the Buffalo district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration. Her company, Solmac, provides precision machining services.
Patrick Lee, SEMBA '07, was named CEO of VibroPower, a global energy and power generation corporation headquartered in Singapore.
Keith B. Wright '01, PMBA '07, was named manager, commercial, at The Bonadio Group.
Jonathan R. Davis, MBA '08, was promoted to senior analyst at Brisbane Consulting Group.
Tammie Lee Demler, EMBA '09, was one of six national winners of the Immunization Champion award from the American Pharmacists Association. She was recognized for her work with the New York State Office of Mental Health to improve vaccination rates. She is the director of pharmacy services for the Buffalo Psychiatric Center.
Lewis S. Goldsmith '09, MS '10, was named staff accountant at Brock, Schechter & Polakoff.
Meghan T. Wolcott '09, MS '10, was named staff analyst at Brisbane Consulting Group.
Mahesh Tanwani, SEMBA '11, was promoted to regional product line strategy and planning manager/product line architect for hybrid and electric vehicle electronics, safety and body security at Delphi Automotive.
Spotlight: John Alm '73
Photo (from left): School of Management Dean Arjang Assad, John Alm '73 and former UBAA President Larry Zielinski, MBA '77.
John Alm '73 was one of 13 individuals honored by the UB Alumni Association during its 2011 Achievement Awards ceremony. Alm, the former president and CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises Inc., received a Distinguished Alumni Award, which is given in recognition of exceptional career accomplishments, community or university service, or research and scholarly activity.
His career accomplishments are numerous: The certified public accountant worked for both Price Waterhouse and 20th Century Fox Film Corp. before joining Coca Cola Bottling Group as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Though successful in business, Alm prides himself on founding the Paintrock Canyon Program, a 7,000-acre working ranch in Wyoming that assists underprivileged youth. This endeavor was featured in the spring 2009 issue of Buffalo Business.
