Santa Clara Magazine

Dr. James Barrett MBA ’77 was honored by the Tech Council of Maryland with its Lifetime Achievement Award, in March. The award is given each year to a local individual who has gone above and beyond to serve the community at large over the course of his or her career. Recipients display commitment and leadership both in the field and within their company, fostering new ideas and encouraging creativity. The recipient also demonstrates generosity and compassion, making sure their work benefits others.

Barrett is a general partner at New Enterprise Associates, one of the world's largest venture capital firms. He focuses on investing in healthcare technologies and therapeutics as a pioneering figure in the field of biotechnology, during which he worked with companies that focused on gene therapy, targeted cancer therapies, rare diseases and the first implantable glucose sensor. In 2012, Barrett was on the Forbes Midas List.

Ron Ball J.D. ’77 announced he will retire at the end of the year after 26 years of service to the City of Carlsbad. Carlsbad City Attorney Ron Ball was hired the day before the people of Carlsbad adopted the Growth Management ordinance, which became the road map for guiding development for the next 26 years and beyond. At that time, the City was less than half of its current size. Ball worked as assistant city attorney until 1991, when the City Council appointed him as its second full-time City Attorney in the City’s history.

Stephen P. Yost MBA '78 has been elected as a member of Pacific Mercantile Bancorp's Board of Directors. Yost also has been appointed as a member of the Board of Directors of the company's wholly owned banking subsidiary, Pacific Mercantile Bank. 

During the span of his 35-year career in banking, spent mostly in credit administration, Yost held the position of Regional Chief Credit Officer for Comerica Bank, where he was the Executive in charge of its Special Assets Group for the western region. Mr. Yost was the Chief Credit Officer of Imperial Bank prior to its merger with Comerica. He was also a Senior Credit Officer with First Interstate Bank and Mellon Bank, N.A. Upon his retirement in 2006, he established Kestrel Advisors, a credit risk consulting firm that focuses on the banking, financial, and legal communities. 

Jim Walker MBA ’78 joined Spigit, a social innovation software and services company, as chief financial officer and chief operating officer. He is responsible for finance, sales operations, human resources and product delivery.

Walker has more than 30 years of experience. He was a senior executive at Alara, Inc., serving as chairman of the board from 1995 to 2004, and as president and CEO from 2004 to 2011. He served as COO and CFO of AlphaSmart, Inc. and senior vice president and CFO of Diamond Multimedia Systems. Walker has also held senior executive positions at Fujitsu Computer Products and its parent company, Fujitsu America.

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.

Barbara Beard Stephan ’74, M.A. ’78 writes that she has recently assumed the position of Clinical Director at Windhorse Integrative Mental Health in San Luis Obispo, Calif. She is delighted to be working in an environment that is in line with her view of psychology—honoring humanistic and relational ideals, as well as an integrative/holistic approach to healthcare.

Randal (Randy) Peoples '78 has been appointed Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery at Stanford University. He is the Medical Director of Stanford's first out-of-state facility in Las Vegas, with St. Rose Dominican Hospitals. In addition to his general neurosurgery practice, he has a unique position working with the athletic performers of Cirque du Soleil's seven Las Vegas based shows. Randy was recently named the Las Vegas Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals "Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser of the Year," an award shared in the past by former Nevada Governor Guinn and current Las Vegas Mayor Goodman. Randy has been a Las Vegas based Neurosurgeon since 1992.

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.

Doug Cosbie ’79 has been named athletic relations associate and head football coach at Kamehameha Schools Kap'lama. Cosbie joins the Warriors with an extensive background in athletics, playing for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League for 10 years under legendary coach Tom Landry, being selected to the Pro Bowl in each season from 1983-85. He played his collegiate ball at Santa Clara University before being drafted by the Cowboys in the third round of the 1979 NFL Draft.

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.

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.