Class Notes December 2020


December 13, 2020

 

  • Francis Anderson BA ’95, released a fourth rock album, ASON, by Chickahominy Vibe, on Ellorenz Records, which is available on all platforms. Francis is in pre-production to shoot and star in a full feature film in fall 2021 called The Lion of Judah Legacy, with MJD Productions. 
  • Esther Agbaje BA ’0, recently won election as a State Representative in the state of Minnesota. 
  • Max Brown BA ’88, is working as a strategist for companies such as Lyft, Instacart, Zipcar, and Revel. He was reappointed to another four-year term to serve as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Washington Convention and Sports Authority by DC Mayor Muriel Bowser. 
  • David Brunori, Esq. BA ’84, MA ’95, is a senior director at RSM US and continues to serve as a research professor of public policy at The George Washington University. Most recently, he was elected a fellow at the National Academy of Public Administration. 
  • Courtney Buble BA ’18, is a reporter for the online publication Government Executive covering federal management and oversight. 
  • Steffanie Burgevin BA ’68 is living on a farm in historic Waterford, Virginia, and has another farm in Clarke County. Between these two farms and her horses, her days are quite busy. She spends afternoons writing and researching her family’s four hundred years in America.  
  • Robin Clyman BA ’69, is still currently running Cockpit USA with her husband of forty-nine years, Jeff Clyman, JD ’70. Robin is based in Manhattan, where she and Jeff have also created, sponsored, and run the www.americanairpowermuseum.org, a 501C3. 
  • Jay Cohen BA ’73, is a senior advisor to Compliance Systems Legal Group, a firm that focuses exclusively on compliance, ethics and corporate governance - helping companies strengthen compliance programs, address new rules and remediate compliance issues. 
  • Andrew Dixon, Esq. BA ’92, recently celebrated ten years as an administrative law judge with the Social Security Administration & completed a stint as acting hearing office chief administrative law judge of the Tallahassee Hearing Office in March. 
  • Bill Dugan BA ’86, is a digital marketing and publishing professional. He applies his political-science knowledge gained at GW to everyday business and personal situations. Bill is a father and grandfather and resides in both Massachusetts and Washington, DC. 
  • Kathleen Floyd BA ’18, has been working at The Washington Post in the PR Department since she graduated from GW. She started as a communications coordinator, booking reporters on TV and radio interviews. Kathleen is now a publicist for the business, tech, and investigative sections. 
  • Liz Glusman BA ’13, graduated from Berkeley Law in May and joined the Bay Area offices of Latham & Watkins in October. 
  • Enming Gong BA ’20, is currently pursuing a Master’s degree at Georgetown University. 
  • Billy Grant BA ’20, has hit the ground running since his Covid graduation. He worked with a Florida political consulting group leading up to the election. Now, Billy finds himself working in a Federal Courthouse awaiting the potential impending election litigation. 
  • Kendahl Hawkins BA ’18, is currently the finance director for Mike Siegel for Congress.
  • Kenneth Ian BA ’92 took some time off after retiring from the Navy. He now works at the Department of Justice. 
  • Frederick Joyce BA ’80, recently retired as chief communications and cybersecurity counsel for the U.S. Coast Guard. He previously chaired the Telecom Law Group at Venable LLP law firm. Frederick is currently living in Mount Vernon, VA with his wife, Judy, and kids. 
  • Pam Lawrence BA ’76, is very happily retired from a career in Healthcare Strategy and Administration and remains connected to GW through the National Council of Arts and Sciences and as a board member of the Medical Faculty Associates.
  • Bill Lutz BA ’85, has been happily married for twenty-three years with two great college-age kids, one boy and one girl. They live in Southern California as Bill is an assistant general counsel for Starr Insurance Holdings. 

  • Lorenzo Marchetti BA ’19, is finishing up his Master of Arts in International Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies while working at the Center for Constitutional Studies and Democratic Development in Bologna. 

  • Brianna Massey BA ’20, is working at Veracity Media in Washington, DC as a digital advertising strategist. 

  • John McCullough BA ’81, is a principal in a Swiss firm providing technology to producers of plasma-based medicines. These include albumin and intravenous gamma globulin in developing countries and Hemarus Plasma LLC in South Florida, which operates commercial plasma centers. 

  • Max McGowen BA ’11, is the development operations manager at Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a public charity based in Mountain View, CA, which connects donors with local priorities and helps them to craft strategies to achieve their philanthropic goals. 

  • Nate Morris (BA ‘03) was named a Fulbright Specialist Scholar by the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. He will serve a three-year term. 

  • Brooke Ochsner BA 13, is currently obtaining her MBA at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. She looks to continue pursuing market research in the healthcare field. 

  • Michael Orenstein BA ’79, has been a practicing AV rated State and Federal criminal defense attorney for the past thirty-six years. Michael is a proud father of Jared Orenstein, a sophomore in the Elliott School of International Affairs. 

  • Akshay Parikh BA ’19, is an associate client advisor with Bessemer Trust, a private wealth management company. In this role, he works on a team that provides customized estate planning, investment management, and tax strategies to high net worth families. 

  • Justin Prinstein BA ’06, is currently an international scouting supervisor for the Cincinnati Reds and is the founder of International Stars Baseball, a non-profit organization offering free baseball and mentorship to inner-city youth. 

  • Michael Purzycki BA ’08, has worked as a contract editor for the Department of Labor and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He has been published in Arc Digital, Charged Affairs, Divergent Options, and Merion West. 

  • Jason Rabbino BA ’90, has been a faculty member of Villanova University since 2016. Earlier in his career, Jason served as a Navy pilot for nine years before working as a consultant with McKinsey, followed by senior executive roles with Aramark, Tyco, Brambles, and Towne Park, a leading hospitality services company. 

  • Patrick Realiza BA ’11, was appointed as co-chair of the Peace and Security Committee of the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area (UNA-NCA) in January 2020. 

  • Bernardo Reis BA ’19, works as an outreach associate for ActBlue now, managing relationships with democratic campaigns across the south. #Bluewave #NewSouth 

  • Dave Richardson PhD ’18, has been named chair of the Political Science Department at the United States Naval Academy. 

  • Jose Roman BA ’20, is a financial analyst with Citibank in New York City. He works alongside the Treasury and Trade Solutions sector in the financial institution, creating and analyzing solutions for clients and businesses that conduct trade with the Bank. 

  • Sean Ruddy BA ’20, is currently pursuing a Master of Public Policy at the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration at The George Washington University. 

  • Mikel Schwab BS ’81, is currently a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice and serves as the civil chief for the Districts of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific. GW inspired his lifetime of inquiry and adventure! 

  • Leleta Serafim BA ’73, continues to write and will be publishing the fourth book in her Greek Island Mystery series this winter with Coffeetown Press. She is also at work on her second children’s book. The first book, Molly Saw A Bear, came out in June. 

  •  Julie Silvebrook BA ’09, joined the team of iCivics (www.icivics.org) as their senior director of partnerships and constitutional scholar in residence. 

  • Fred Simkin BA ’90, became the President of the GW Alumni Association of the UK, after the Club was officially formed in early 2019. The club has held virtual events this year to keep the members involved and included. Let’s see what ‘21 brings us!! 

  • Colleen Fisher Simons BA ’08, is the regional director for the Pacific South network in the U.S. Department of Commerce. In this role, she manages ten U.S. Export Assistance Centers with a staff of thirty trade specialists in California, Nevada, and Hawaii. 

  • David Steiner BS ’91, is the treasurer for a congressional candidate. 

  • Selena Strandberg BA ’11, is the founder of KnowYourVote.io, a non-partisan political information site that aggregates data on candidates and issues. KnowYourVote is making a buzz with young voters and is partnering with companies like Barry’s, Outdoor Voices, and Glossier. 

  • Michelle Tanney BA ’06, is an attorney at BakerHostetler in New York City where she practices litigation and regulatory enforcement. She is married to Nick, with whom she shares a daughter, Madison. 

  • Adam Weisler BA ’90, was announced as the new library trustee for The Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Read more in the online newsletter. 

  • Kevin Werner BA 82, lives in La Jolla, California with his beautiful spouse and a hyper-neurotic border collie. Between travel adventures, he advises companies in connection with M&A transactions and works with both for profit and non-profit corporate boards.