Santa Clara Magazine

Greg Meacham ’78 wrote that he's been promoted to account manager in the division AF Solutions, Cardiac Rhythm Device Management, for Medtronic.

Nancy (Gerlach) Lee ’78 recently celebrated 30 years of marriage to husband LTC Anthony Lee M.S. ’86. They have three grown children—Jessica, 29, Michael, 26, and Stephanie, 22—and in October 2012 they were blessed with their first grandchild, Autumn Jade. They live in White Lake, Mi.

Freshman Dorm: Day Student/Off Campus

Phil Iatomase ’78 spent more than 20 years in the semiconductor business in Supply Chain Management and as an Information Technology professional. In 1997 he co-founded Ariba, a pioneering business-to-business Internet commerce software company.  He writes, "We took the company public in 1999 and at the peak of the market in 2000 had a higher market capitalization than General Motors and employed more than 2,300 people around the world. I left Ariba in 2001 and have spent the last 12 years as a high-tech retiree. Most of my time is spent volunteering/fundraising for various causes I beleive in—particularly education. I have been married to JoAnn Cardinale for 29 years and we have one daughter Marina Iatomase ’14, a junior finance major at SCU."

Jeff Ferriell J.D '78 has taken over as director of Capital University Law School's Academic Support Program, and also teaches contracts, bankruptcy, and commercial law. The third edition of his law school hornbook, Understanding Bankruptcy (with co-author Ted Janger of Brooklyn Law School), was published this spring by LexisNexis. He is currently working on the third edition of Understanding Contracts and continues to serve as a member of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, from Ohio.

Mario Cordero J.D. ’78 has been designated the new chairman of the nation's most powerful maritime governing body, the Federal Maritime Commission, by President Barack Obama. A former Long Beach harbor commissioner, Cordero has practiced law for 30 years, including as a workers' compensation defense attorney. He was on the Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners for about seven years before heading to the federal commission in 2011.

Steve Bennett J.D. ’78 writes that he has joined the Portland, Ore., law firm Farleigh Wada Witt (FWW). Bennett was a partner of the Portland law firm Powers, McCulloch & Bennett, LLP, which merged with FWW effective January 1, 2013. He continues to focus his practice in the areas of business and estate planning.

John L. Ocampo ’79 was selected as a School of Engineering Centennial Award recipient for his support of the School of Engineering’s Center for Nanostructures and for his contributions to the semiconductor and communications industries, furthering not only the engineering profession, but the School as well. In 1985, Ocampo co-founded Sirenza Microdevices, a supplier of radio frequency semiconductors and related components for the commercial communications, consumer, and aerospace, defense, and homeland security equipment markets. While leading Sirenza through a successful IPO and eventual sale to RF Micro Devices, Ocampo served at various times in a number of key roles, including president and CEO, CTO, and Chairman. He is now co-founder and president of Gaas Labs, a private equity fund providing financial support and operational expertise to companies in the communications, semiconductor, and related industries. He is renowned for his entrepreneurial, operational, and technological expertise, as well as his generosity. Ocampo is a champion of the Center for Nanostructures, by funding it to promote interdisciplinary research and education through partnerships with other universities, industry, and government, while positioning Santa Clara University as a national center of innovation in nanostructures research.

Kate Leonard MBA '79, a partner at Hutchinson and Bloodgood LLP, a certified public accounting and consulting firm, was appointed as honorary consul general of Japan in San Diego. This appointment was recognized by the U.S. Department of State, and her duties began July 2012. 

Leonard received her M.B.A. from SCU in 1979, and upon obtaining her California CPA license, she moved to Osaka, Japan, where she was the only American CPA with Asahi Kaikeisha, Japan's largest audit corporation. Moving back to the United States in 1985, she continued to interact with the Japanese business community by becoming chair of the Japan Society of San Diego and Tijuana and maintaining her membership in the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan.

Leonard has worked with other international organizations, including facilitating and participating in Trade Missions to Japan with the World Trade Center San Diego.

James S. Greene MBA ‘79 was appointed to Umpqua Holdings Corporation’s the board of directors.

Michael J. Bowler ’79 writes, "My novel, A Matter of Time, which is set on the Santa Clara Campus in the year 1986, is a Silver Medal Award Winner in the 2012 Reader's Favorite Book Competition. I'll be traveling to Miami in November to accept the award and promote my book (and Santa Clara!)."

L. Michael Bogert ’79, former regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 10 office in Seattle and counselor to the secretary of the Department of the Interior, has joined Parsons Behle & Latimer’s Boise office as a shareholder. Bogert joins a team of more than 20 environmental law attorneys and will lead the firm’s environmental law practice in Idaho.

William F. Abrams J.D. ’79 was hired by Atlanta-based King & Spalding LLP for its IP practice, the Atlanta-based firm said in a statement. Abrams joins from Boston’s Bingham McCutchen LLP, where he was the former co-chair of the IP practice group. He has handled patent, copyright, trademark and trade secrets disputes for technology companies. He has an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and a law degree from the University of Santa Clara.

Jeffrey H. Cooper MBA ’80 was appointed chief financial officer at KaloBios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Cooper has more than 25 years of experience in the life sciences industry and was previously senior vice president and CFO of BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc.

Charles "Chuck" Berger MBA ’80 is the new president and CEO of Extreme Networks, a tech company. He's also been elected to the board of directors.

Berger is joining Extreme Networks following the successful sale of ParAccel, a privately held software analytics company to Actian. He is an established CEO and director with 30 years of experience in the technology sector, including extensive P&L, general management, marketing and financing experience in high growth, large and mid-sized companies. Prior to ParAccel, Berger served as the CEO of DVDPlay, Nuance Communications, Vicinity Corporation, AdForce, and Radius. He has also held executive positions in sales, marketing and finance at Apple and Sun Microsystems.

Jeanine D. Tucker ’78, J.D. ’81 is the new court executive officer with the Tuolumne County Superior Court. Tucker had worked for the Stanislaus County Superior Court since 1991. She most recently served as the operations manager for eight years, managing a staff of about 140 employees.

Kirk M. Sanfilippo '81 retired to Roseburg, Oregon, in May of 2010 with his wife, Jody. In June, 2012, he came out of retirement and was hired as the Chief of Police for the City of Sutherlin, Oregon. Kirk and Jody still reside in Douglas County, Oregon.

Darryl Page '81 was named division president of international personal and business insurance at ACE Group. In this role, he will lead ACE's personal lines and small and mid-size commercial insurance operations in Asia Pacific and Japan, Latin America, and Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He will be based in Basking Ridge, N.J.

With nearly 30 years of insurance industry experience, Page was most recently with Fireman's Fund in the U.S., where he served for four years as president of personal insurance. Prior, he spent 25 years at Allstate in several senior leadership roles, including vice president of product operations, and vice president of western market operating committee.

Dr. Rich Mounce ’81, a full-time private-practice endodontist in Rapid City, S.D., writes that MounceEndo LLC is marketing American-made nickel titanium in both a Controlled Memory and standard nickel titanium variety. The MounceFile line has an extensive array of tapers, tip sizes, and pack assortments. MounceEndo LLC is also a fully authorized dealer for Mani, Inc. Dental products of Japan featuring premium quality stainless steel hand files and burs, and reciprocating hand piece attachments from W&H of Austria.

Nancy (Levandowski) Keller ’81 and Steven Keller was the first couple married at Denny's Chapel in Las Vegas on April 3. "As passionate Denny’s fans for more than 35 years, my husband and I couldn’t think of a more fun and exciting way to tie the knot than at Denny’s Vegas location in the very heart of the restaurant,” said Levandowski, director of ISU Dining for Iowa State University.

James Houghton ’81 was profiled in the Aug. 10 Huffington Post article “Signature Theatre: A Crown Jewel in New York's Off-Broadway Scene.” The article talks about Houghton’s new theater complex in New York, which opens in late August with Heartless, a play by Sam Shepard.

Carol Dempsey '81 remarried Walter Frey on June 24, 2012, in Tiburon, Calif. Carol resides in Manteca with her husband and works for Woodside Homes.

Robert Freeman ’81, a Los Altos High School Teacher, will be honored with the Palo Alto Kiwanis Club's first Angel Award later this month for his work with One Dollar for Life, the nonprofit organization he founded.

The Angel Award was created to celebrate an individual or organization who mentors and impacts children in the community and throughout the world.

Freeman founded the nonprofit because he was frustrated with "teenagers' sense of impotence in being able to make a difference in the world." So, he made a model by which anyone, by donating a dollar, could participate and change the world -- provided everyone did so.

Through One Dollar, Freeman is working to get children in developing countries complete access to food, education and health care by providing transportation to schools, educated teachers and necessary nutrients. In five years, One Dollar has raised approximately $209,000 from middle and high school students and has completed numerous projects including sending 250 tennis shoes to students in Malawi and buying 20 piglets to save 20 Nepalese girls from being sold into slavery.

Read the full story in the Palo Alto Online News.

Edythe M. De Marco '81 has been nationally recognized among the top advisors in Rhode Island by Barron's magazine in its annual "America's Top 1,000 Advisors: State-by-State" list, published in February. Advisors considered for Barron's "America's Top 1,000 Advisors: State-by-State" ranking have a minimum of seven years' financial services experience and have been employed at their current firm for at least one year. Numerous quantitative and qualitative measures (including assets managed, revenue produced and quality of practice) determine the financial advisor rankings.

"We believe Edythe's inclusion on the list is highly merited and underscores her commitment to developing strong relationships with clients. Barron's recognition of so many Merrill Lynch advisors on its annual list confirms our commitment to providing clients with outstanding talent and top-quality service to help them achieve their financial goals," said Gary Hernandez, Managing Director of the Merrill Lynch office in Providence. Ms. De Marco resides in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and has been a part of Merrill Lynch's Providence office for 31 years.

Deirdre A. Cherry '81, has relocated to New York City as a director with Merrill Lynch providing structured lending expertise for the Northeast Private Banking & Investment Group.