Santa Clara Magazine

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.

Jenny (Merk) Krenek '86 writes: "I have been married to Jeff Krenek '87 for 17 years. We have four children; Alex and Maddy, 15, Leah, 13, and Peter, 11 (hopefully some future Broncos in the bunch). We lived in the Bay Area for many years but have called Portland home for the past 14. I'm a stay at home mom, which of course means I'm not home much, mostly driving between schools, sports, and activities. Pleasant surprise to find several Bronco families at our local elementary. There's an instant connection with fellow Santa Clara grads. Looking forward to catching up at the 25th reunion!"

Sean M. Kneafsey J.D. ’86 is married with three children: Conor (12), Dillon (10), and Colin (6). Sean owns his own business and intellectual property law firm in Los Angeles, Kneafsey & Friend LLP.

Freshman Dorm: Swig

Tom Kenny '86 writes: "I have been married for 16 years to my lovely wife, Julie, and we have three boys, Joe (age 14), Jake (12), and Ryan (8). We have made our home in "The OC" and are constantly on the move with lots of baseball, football and lacrosse games. Generally, when we get a weekend off, we head to Big Bear Lake for skiing or wakeboarding...sometimes we even run into the Fraher family up there and catch up on the good old SCU days. I have been with the same commercial real estate finance firm (Dwyer-Curlett)for 18 years as Executive VP."

Richard M. Kelly '86, Principal for the Kelly Litigation Group, has been recognized by Cambridge's Who's Who for demonstrating dedication, leadership and excellence in legal services.

Freshman Dorm: Swig

Allison Joss '86 writes: "I have been married to my husband Jon for almost 21 years. We have four boys: Alex, 19, a freshman at Tulane, Andy, 17, a senior and soon to be at the University of Washington, Jason, 15, and Justin, 13. Hopefully there is a Bronco in our future. I often tell them how much they would love it. We live in Orinda, CA."

Freshman Dorm: Walsh

Leanne D. Ingram '86 writes: "A year ago I married my first love from high school. We went back to Hawaii and got married on the beach where we used to hang out. I have 3 kids, my husband has 5, and we have one grandbaby boy. My daughters are: Julia (14), Natalie (13) and my son is Jonathan (11). My son has profound autism. He does not talk and has severe behavioral issues of headbanging and punching himself in the head. I have dedicated myself to learning more about autism and other developmental disabilities. I am midway through receiving my master's in special education and have taught in the classroom as well as job coached young adults with disabilities. We recently moved to upstate NY, where my son is in a residential school, but we see him regularly. My husband, Daniel Ingram, is a retired Navy man (23 years served), now teaches ROTC in high school."

Laura Grimes '86 has just accepted a position as lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Dayton. She recently published the first book in English on medieval theologian and mystic Gertrud of Helfta: Wisdom's Friends: Gertrud of Helfta's Conversational Theology (VDM Verlag, 2009).

Derek Granath MBA '86 is vice president of marketing of ConSentry Networks.

Freshman Dorm: Swig

Heidi Finan '86 writes: "After reading up on many of my classmates I have to ask, Is it just my imagination or did the class of '86 produce lots of twins? I have been married 18+ years and I too have twin 13-year-old boys now in 7th grade. When I am not checking homework or driving the boys to sports or scouting events, I spend my time volunteering with a women's collective philanthropy group, 100 Women Charitable Foundation. I am looking forward to reconnecting with all my classmates at the reunion in the fall."

Hans Peter Faye IV '78, MBA '86 was promoted to senior vice president/agribusiness lending manager at First Northern Bank.

A fourth-generation Californian whose family is still involved in agriculture, Faye has more than 22 years of business lending and management experience, nine years of it at First Northern.

He holds both a bachelor's degree in commerce and a master's from Santa Clara University. He is also a graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School, which is affiliated with the Graduate School of Management at the University of Washington.

Active in the community, Faye is a board member and past president of the Woodland Memorial Hospital Foundation; member and founding director of the Woodland Sunrise Rotary Club; and former Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 131. Faye and his wife live in Davis.

Suzy (Kruse) Farnworth '86 has recently accepted a position as a Chef Instructor at the International Culinary School at The Art Institute of California-San Francisco. She teaches part time to students earning either their AA or BA degree. She has her own private culinary consulting business, where among other things, she teaches alot of children's cooking classes. Her 13 year old daughter, Amy, is now skilled enough to be able to be an assistant in many of her classes. Her twin 10 year old sons, Sam and Scott, are on their way to "not having to do dishes once they are in college." They figure they will do the cooking—and the roommates will do the dishes!

Freshman Dorm: Swig

Norm Dorais '86 writes: "My wife, Kathleen (Day) '86, and I have three kids, 13, 11, and 9. We're enjoying having them all in one school for the last year; our eldest will be moving on to high school in the fall. We live in San Carlos, Calif."

Freshman Dorm: Dunne

John Del Santo '86 (still) works for Accenture in San Francisco where he is the Financial Services Managing Director. He and wife Maureen '87 are busy raising 3 future Broncos -- Maddie, Jack and Colin. The family lives in Hillsborough, CA.

Roland de Milleret MBA '86 has been appointed one of the managing directors of the Consulting and Valuation service of the HVS office in New York.  deMilleret joined HVS in 1999 and has evolved into the firm's premier expert on the New York City marketplace.  He is an adjunct professor at New York University and recently earned his MAI designation from the Appraisal Institute. 

Jil Dalesandro J.D. '86 has been elected 2009 President of the Santa Clara County Bar Association. She assumed office in January. In November 2008, Ms. Dalesandro founded her own law and mediation firm in Santa Clara, specializing in business litigation, and employment law. She has been a mediator since 1995.

Freshman Dorm: Swig

Moya and Pete Collins '86 and their four daughters, Sara (13), Monica (11), Charlotte (9) and Katherine (7), moved to San Marino four years ago after a five year 'tour' of Boise and Seattle. Pete worked for Albertson's in Boise and then Nordstrom in Seattle. He is now working for True Religion Brand Jeans near Los Angeles. They enjoyed joining the Santa Clara 'network' along the road and reconnecting with many old friends upon their return to the Pasadena area.

Jeff Chistianson '86, M.S. '95 writes: "Working with the Piken Company in commercial real estate. Main office is in Studio City. Involved in leasing of general retail and office throughout Los Angeles area. I've been living in LA since 1996. I also work for Braemar Country Club in Tarzana coaching 'kids' of all ages. I've twice been a member of the Braemar 5.0 National Teams -- we keep getting beat in the Semis. Occasionally I see old SCU tennis teammates and former players... I think as we're aging; we remember winning more often."

Kenton D. Chow '86, MBA '96 has joined Wine.com, the nation's No. 1 online wine retailer, as Chief Financial Officer. In this newly created position, Chow will oversee the finance functions, business development, mergers and acquisitions and investor relations. Chow brings more than 25 years of experience in high growth public and privately held companies. Prior to joining Wine.com, he was the Chief Financial Officer at a number of high technology companies in Silicon Valley, including Aurora Networks, Catena Networks and Cobalt Networks. His experience includes leading a successful IPO, mergers and acquisitions, including Sun Microsystems' $2 billion acquisition of Cobalt Networks, and over $350 million raised in multiple equity and debt financings. He also held senior financial management positions at Sun Microsystems, Symantec, Bay Networks and PriceWaterhouseCoopers. (Chow holds a M.B.A. and B.S. in Finance from Santa Clara University. He is a certified public accountant in California and also served on the Advisory Board for the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University.

Freshman Dorm: Swig

Sharon Carlson '86 writes: "Let's see... I've been married for 22 years to Dave, whom I met senior year at the CA Jaycees office in San Jose (where I worked during my 4 years at SCU). We have 3 kids -- Matt (20), Lauren (18), and Chad (15). I am a CPA and currently working for an aerospace fastener manufacturer (that's "fancy" for bolts). I also have a small tax practice, residual from my days at Arthur Andersen (the pre-Enron glory days, of course!).  I enjoy videography and editing in my spare time. I am a Gleek and an uberfan of How I Met Your Mother, DWTS, and Idol."

Robert Buechel J.D. '86 joined the Sedgwick LLP insurance practice group as a partner. With 25 years of experience, Buechel represents both U.S. and non-U.S. insurers and reinsurers in transactional, corporate and regulatory matters as well as dispute management and resolution. In addition to being a seasoned advisor to primary and excess insurance and reinsurance market participants, Buechel is a knowledgeable resource on offshore and alternative risk transfer markets, runoff strategies, captive insurers, risk retention and purchasing groups, program business, structured insurance transactions and excess and surplus lines. He previously worked in Bermuda for the past 10 years, most recently at Imagine Group Holdings Limited as in-house general counsel and secretary. He also managed the legal and company secretarial affairs of the entire group including its subsidiaries in England, Ireland, Luxembourg, Gibraltar and Barbados among other jurisdictions.

Freshman Dorm: Swig

Steve Bland '86 writes: "After experimentation working as an intern on Capitol Hill, I wandered into a career in advertising after graduating with my degree in History. Spent the next 17 years working at Chiat/Day in LA, SF and NY. In 2005, I changed things up and left the corporate world, spent the summer in Paris and went on an on-line dating binge. Fortunately, I got married in 2007 to my wife Connie. We had three day wedding event in Pittsburgh (and, a few Broncos showed up!). For the last year, I've been running my advertising business off a movie studio lot. I'm still married. I live in Pasadena."

Megan Billinger Howarth '86 writes: "Just celebrated my 21st wedding anniversary with Brent. We have two boys -- Beau, a senior at Bellarmine, and Blake, a freshman at Saint Francis. We have been in the bay area since graduation and currently live in Los Gatos. Spent some time working for HP in Human Resources after school, but left to stay home and raise the kids. Now I combine household management (kids, pets, husband), high school committees, sports schedules, and a part-time interior decorating business. Never a dull moment!!"

Freshman Dorm: Swig

Amy (Williams) Bick '86 writes, "I have been married 22 years. We have 3 children, boy/girl twins in 7th grade and a third grade daughter. Having long since retired from a career in sales, I am now chauffeur, chef, laundress, house manager, volunteer, dog walker, etc. We live in Hillsborough, CA."

Freshman Dorm: Swig

Eric Berghoff '86, MBA '89, writes: "My wife (Madeline Desmond '87), my three children (Kayla, Garrett, and Tessie), and I have resided in the Sacramento area for the past 20+ years. My oldest daughter, Kayla, graduates with a theater arts degree from Santa Clara this year. Seeing her grow up as a Bronco has been incredibly exciting and gratifying for me. For the last 10 years, I've enjoyed an excellent professional experience in finance at Intel in Folsom, Calif. For several years, I also moonlighted as a mobile disc jockey, emceeing several hundred events until my 'retirement' in 2005. In short, life since SCU has been very rewarding and enriching."