ClassNotes

Paul Hoen ’84 received the Director's Guild award for his children's show Let It Shine on the Disney Channel. This is Mr. Hoen's sixth DGA Award nomination. He won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Program in 2007 for Jump In and was previously nominated in this category in 2000 for the Even Stevens episode "Take My Sister? Please," in 2004 for Searching for David's Heart, in 2008 for Cheetah Girls: One World and in 2010 for Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam.

Bob Reid MBA '84 has been admitted to the PhD program in business at Oklahoma State University.

Michael Dillon J.D. ’84 was appointed general counsel of Adobe Systems Incorporated. Dillon comes to the company with 25 years of corporate legal experience, much of it in the technology industry. Before signing on with Adobe, he was general counsel at Silver Spring Networks, a networking solutions provider. He also spent 14 years in the legal department of Sun Microsystems, including a stint as general counsel, prior to its acquisition by Oracle Corporation. He took a few years’ break from Sun to serve ONI Systems Corp., an optical networking company, as it was being launched.

Rick Martig '84 was appointed CFO of Nexenta Systems. Most recently, Martig served as the vice president of File & Content at Hitachi Data Systems, following the company's acquisition of BlueArc in September 2011.

Martig has 26 years of senior leadership, finance, and accounting experience in the public and private sectors. Prior to joining Nexenta Systems, Martig served as BlueArc's chief financial officer where he managed the finance, human resources, and IT departments. Prior to BlueArc, Martig was CFO at Genesis Microchip, and he spent 12 years at Xilinx, where he was responsible for managing a global organization of 80+ in Asia, Europe, and California. 

Tom Squeri '82, J.D. '85, longtime vice president and general counsel of Granite Rock Co., was named as the company's president and CEO. Squeri worked for two private law firms in the San Franciso Bay Area that specialized in construction litigation prior to joining Graniterock: San Francisco's Pettit and Martin, where he became a partner in 1993, and the San Jose office of Coudert Brothers.

Susan Mauriello J.D. ’85 of Aptos, has been appointed to the California Board of State and Community Corrections by Gov. Jerry Brown ’59. Mauriello has been the county administrative officer for Santa Cruz County since 1989.

Brent Jones '85 was inducted to the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame on May 23.

Jones, who grew up in the Bay Area, was picked by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1987 draft, but he was traded to the 49ers before playing a game for the Steelers and spent his entire 11-year career in red and gold. He made the Pro Bowl four times and won three Super Bowls with San Francisco.

Read the full article in the San Francisco Examiner.

Omar Habbas J.D. ’85, the managing partner at Habbas & Associates law firm in San Jose, has been nominated for the 2012 San Jose Best of Business Award. Mr. Habbas earned this nomination through the outstanding legal prowess he demonstrated while representing clients in personal injury cases. 

Heidi Gansert ’85 has joined the University of Nevada, Reno as special assistant to the president for external affairs. Said university president Marc Johnson, "Heidi will serve as a catalyst for opportunities and partnerships that will result in productive outcomes for Nevada. She will help connect the expertise of our faculty and resources of the University to result in solutions. The University's connection to economic development will be a priority, and Heidi has worked closely with economic development agencies throughout the state."

Barbara Esquivel '85 has returned to Northern California and is living in Roseville having accepted the Assistant Vice President of Workers' Compensation Claims with York Risk Services Group. Barbara was most recently Claims Manager at Keenan & Associates in Torrance, Calif. Her daughter Courtney now lives in San Diego and works for Gallagher Bassett, and her son Nathan lives in Lakewood and works for New York & Co.

David Drummond ’85, Google’s chief legal officer, will speak at the SCU law school commencement on May 25. 

Helen Elizabeth Williams J.D. ’86 was appointed by Gov. Gerry Brown ’59 to a judgeship in the Santa Clara Superior Court. Williams, of Santa Cruz, has worked as an appellate court attorney at the State of California Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District since 2004, frequently serving in the lead position. She served as an attorney at Robinson and Wood Inc. from 2001 to 2004, at Olimpia Whelan and Lively from 1999 to 2001 and at Williams and Williams from 1987 to 1999. Williams is certified as an appellate specialist by the California State Bar. She earned a Juris Doctorate degree from Santa Clara University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Douglas K. Southard. Williams is a Democrat.

Lori Pegg J.D. ’86 has been named Lori Pegg acting county counsel by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, making her the county's chief legal adviser. The veteran government lawyer, age 50, has been a deputy in the county counsel's office, which has about 60 lawyers. She previously worked for a number of law firms, specializing in labor, education and government law.

Tina (Hughes) Nelson '86, M.A. '98 and Thomas—the adoption of their daughter, Antonia (Toni) Rose Nelson, on May 18, 2011. The family resides in Willow Glen/San Jose, Calif. Tina is currently the school library coordinator with the San Mateo County Office of Education while Tom is a senior system engineer with Lockheed Martin.

Matthew C. McGlynn '83, J.D. '86 is now serving as a judge on the Superior Court of Tehama County.

Jack D. Kuehler ’54, MSEE ’86  was selected as a School of Engineering Centennial Award recipient for his many contributions to the field of engineering and for leading by example, furthering not only the engineering profession, but the School of Engineering at Santa Clara as well. Kuehler worked his way up from the position of associate engineer at IBM’s San Jose Research Laboratory in 1958 to become president of the international giant in 1989. In industry and here at SCU, Kuehler was revered for his leadership, intelligence, warmth, and mentoring.  Over the years, he was named a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, IEEE Fellow, Santa Clara University Trustee, and School of Engineering Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient. He was a dogged promoter of innovation and creativity in the technical arena as a means for ensuring national security and technological competitiveness for the United States. As such, he and his wife, Carmen, created a research fund allowing promising SCU engineering undergraduates to join faculty in summer research.

Wally G. Badley '86 and wife Elizabeth welcomed their fifth child, a baby boy, Silas Boone, on September 14, 2012. Silas joins sister Kate (14) and brothers Alan (12), Lincoln (9), and Nathaniel (5). The family lives in Everett, WA.

Garrett S. Yee '87 was recently promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Army Reserve. Garrett, who just returned from a year-long deployment to Afghanistan, lives in Fremont with his wife, Maria and their three children.

Michael Williams ’87 and his wife Heidi Huhn adopted their eight year-old son Justin on November 16. They live in Alameda, Calif. and have two children from Michael's first marriage, Eli (21) and Hannah (18).

Freshman Dorm: Swig

Anne Weldon ’87 received her teaching credential from UC Berkeley in 1988 in K-8 education with endorsements in English, French. She taught Language Arts/Social Studies at Sequoia Middle School in Pleasant Hill, Calif. for two years before moving to the Northwest. She substitute taught in Seattle and Gig Harbor and worked as a tour guide in Alaska before joining World Teach where she taught English at the University of Loja in Ecuador for one year and stayed an extra year living in Vilcambamba, Ecuador in the Southern Highlands of the Andes. She returned to Gig Harbor where she taught Spanish at Peninsula High School for 4 years before moving to Olympia, Wash.—the land of water, mountains, rainforests, volcanos, where she now resides with her two children, Allie-18 and Casey-13. This will be her 12th year teaching Spanish at Nova Middle School, a private school for gifted and talented students.

Kathleen (Mitchell) Simpson ’87, M.A. ’90 married Robert Simpson on October 2, 2010, at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Pleasanton, CA. Kathy and Bob were second-grade friends and classmates in Pleasanton. They currently reside in Brentwood, Calif. SCU alums in attendance were bridesmaid Christine Fierro ’88, Wes Bliven ’88, Brendan Lewis ’88, Michelle Matsumoto ’88, Diane Zilliotto ’88, John Scardamaglia J.D. ’09, and Jim Mitchell ’83.

Shannon Potts ’87, the coordinator of assessment in the Santa Clara Unified School District for the last seven years, is La Entrada Middle School's new principal. Her earlier work in the Santa Clara district office included a stint as the instructional, materials, library and technology specialist at the middle school and high school levels, according to a press release issued by the district. Ms. Potts, who has also taught first and sixth grades, has technology and bilingual credentials, according to the district. She served as a summer principal at both the middle school and high school levels for several years, working closely with the Stanford Teacher Education Program, or STEP, the district said. She received her bachelor's degrees in history and Spanish from Santa Clara University and her master of arts degree in educational leadership from San Jose State University.

Kim Olson '87 lives with her husband, Jim Beit, and their three daughters in Bronxville, New York. She is a principal in advisory practice at Deloitte. She works in the intersection of risk management and regulation, primarily serving bank and investment bank clients. She specializes in assisting clients to implement Dodd Frank reforms, Federal Reserve stress testing requirements and capital adequacy standards, and risk and control governance structures.