Class Notes
January 2006
Send your updates to dbusler@mail.utexas.edu.
Ph.D. Program
Class of 1997
Dr. Junmo Kim has added a fourth child (and second son) to
his family and has published a book titled Globalization and Industrial
Development.
Class of 2002
Jackie Fickel has moved to California to accept a position
as Associate Investigator, Center for the Study of Healthcare Provider Behavior,
within the Veteran’s Administration Health Services Research and Development
Department in Sepulveda, California.
Class of 2005
Thanks to Professor Chandler Stolp for information about Carlos
Moreno, who has accepted a job as Professor in the Department of Politics
and Public Affairs at the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores
del Occidente (ITESO) in Guadalajara, Mexico. He is also working with colleagues
in the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) in
Mexico City on a consulting project for the Mexican government on the institutional
development of Mexican municipalities.
M.P.Aff. Program
Class of 1977
Steven Clyburn is a Senior Manager with Grant Thornton, LLP.
Grant Thornton is the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International, one
of the six global accounting, tax and business advisory organizations. Grant
Thornton’s Global Public Sector, based in Alexandria, Virginia, is a global
management consulting business with the mission of providing responsive and
innovative financial performance management and systems solutions to governments.
Class of 1980
Mark Zion is the Executive Director of the Texas Public Power
Association in Austin.
Class of 1981
David J. Berteau chaired the Committee on Manufacturing Trends
in Printed Circuit Technology, under the National Research Council. The committee
released its report, "Linkages,"
in December 2005. (Visitors must sign in to download the free pdf file; personal
information disappears at the end of the browser session). David also will teach
at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University this spring, substituting for Monty
Meigs, who returns to the Pentagon for one year to tackle the IED problem (Improvised
Explosive Device) via a course called "Defense Challenges in a New Century."
In addition, David writes an occasional column in Government Security News.
The most recent is "Draft
Infrastructure Plan Falls Short on All Counts”, which appears on page
23.
Congratulations to Rush Russell, who has begun his new job
as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the Center on Addiction
and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. (see
related story)
Class of 1982
Mike Reyna is back in Sacramento, serving as the Executive
Director of Consumer Attorneys of California.
Rick Hall is a Field Representative for the American Center
for International Labor solidarity, AFL-CIO, in Washington.
Class of 1983
Paula Thiede and her husband Wakie Martin
have left the glitz and glamour of Rome to join the U.S. Embassy in Tirana,
Albania. Paula’s been studying Albanian and will assume the duties of
Political-Economic Counselor.
Another traveler to exotic destinations, John Bartle has been
appointed as a part-time research fellow at the Center for Public Administration
at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, P.R. China. The appointment runs until
May 2008. He has also taken on responsibilities as Chair of ASPA’s Association
for Budgeting and Financial Management.
Mike Sullivan is the Assistant Attorney General, Health and
Education Division, for the State of Connecticut.
Alan Rutter left the Federal Railroad Administration a year
and a half ago to become Deputy Executive Director of The North Texas Tollway
Authority; in April, he was promoted to Executive Director.
Class of 1985
Andrea Kane is the Senior Director of Policy and Partnerships
at the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy in Washington, D.C.
Class of 1987
Karen Safer is the Development Manager of the Montgomery Housing
Partnership in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Class of 1988
Norm Johns is a Water Resources Scientist with the National
Wildlife Federation in Austin.
Classes of 1989 and 1990
Clark and Kathy Talkington have excellent news: “If
you have not heard: yes, it is true. We are now Swiss; well, sort of. Clark
took a job with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe in Geneva,
and we moved to Switzerland in late August. We have actually settled in a village
on the outskirts of Nyon, the largest town between Geneva and Lausanne, and
we all commute in every day on the incredibly punctual, clean and efficient
train and bus system.”
Class of 1990
Ellen Averyt works at Market Strategies in Livonia, Michigan,
as Study Director.
Gaylon Morris has left the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention after 14 years and moved to Collegeville, Pennsylvania, where he
is employed with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals as the Senior Director for Public Policy.
“In this new capacity, I am still working on health policy issues, just
in the private sector. It has been a challenging transition and has stretched
me on several fronts. Luckily, I continue to work with my former colleagues
in both the federal government and various health-related organizations and
associations. Before leaving Atlanta, I did manage to complete a second graduate
degree, a Master of Arts in Literature from Georgia State University in January
2005.” He’s enjoyed catching up with Mary Kandray-Gelenser,
who lives “just down the road.”
Class of 1991
David Worzala “was elected to the Dane County Board
of Supervisors in April 2004. Dane County has a population of 450,000 and a
budget of $400 million. As a Supervisor, I sit on the Health and Human Needs
Committee (over 50% of the budget), the Environmental Council, and the Cultural
Affairs Committee. I am enjoying it immensely and feel like I’m contributing
positively to public discourse and governance.”
Class of 1992
Rene Dechaine has returned to active duty in the Air Force
and has been in Korea since July of 2004. “I am working directly with
the Republic of Korea Ministry of National Defense on various information sharing
arrangements and find the Korean people to be gracious and quite fun. We have
just returned from a vacation in Sidney, Australia, and plan to hit Beijing
for the holidays.”
Class of 1994
Kim Smith has accepted a position within her present company,
BAE Systems, which has mandated a move to Nashua, New Hampshire. “The
operating group in which my Austin-based business unit operates is headquartered
in Nashua, and the job I have accepted is in the management of the operating
group.”
After seven years, Chris Kennedy has left Deloitte Consulting
to join a new consulting venture, part of a local sector technology firm, Periscope
Holdings, Inc., in Austin.
Class of 1995
Jon Coifman, “after more than 15 years in DC (interrupted
by my time in Austin) accepted a promotion to the New York City headquarters
of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), where I am now head of media
relations and deputy chief of our overall communications operation. I joined
NRDC in Washington in 2001 and have done consulting projects with the organization
since 1996. Spanning broadcast, print, and digital media, my beat includes everything
from technical legal and economic communications to advertising to working with
a small stable full of environmentally minded Hollywood celebs. Most important,
it’s a chance to reshape strategy and tactics of a major, multi-faced
organization at a time when the political and cultural context in which we operate
is undergoing major changes.”
Class of 1996
Mark Berte is heading up the effort to get the Class of 1996
back to Austin for its 10th year reunion in February. In his spare time, he’s
directing a statewide election campaign in Alabama to work on replacing the
state’s constitution. One of the troublesome aspects of the Alabama Constitution
is that “it just happens to be the longest constitution in the entire
world, having been amended 772 times! (No typo there.)”
Irene Perez Law is the Associate Director of Habitat for Humanity
of Colorado.
Regina Deleonardis Heise wanted to “send the news that
I have moved from the DC area to Kansas City, MO! I am the new Director of the
Department of Commerce’s Export Assistance center. I have moved out here
with my husband and son, and we are still adjusting, but I am enjoying a much-reduced
commute and a slower pace. And we are both happy to be back in the Midwest.”
Sam Archer has left Capital Metro to join Hindsite Austin.
Class of 1997
Burt Edwards is the Associate Director for Editorial Communications
for the National Environmental Trust in Washington.
Jan Bargen is an Energy Industry Analyst with FERC in Washington
and has recruited one of LBJ’s newest graduates, Eli Massey (Class
of 2005), to join her.
Class of 1998
Congratulations to Sarah Wheat, who has been promoted to Executive
Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Texas.
Laura Uribarri is working in Austin for the El Paso Electric
Company.
Class of 1999
Jennifer Esterline is Assistant Director of Corporate and
Foundation Relations for the Office of the UT Vice President for Development.
Class of 2000
Vladimir Edmondson has moved to Houston to accept a position
as Program Manager for Institutional Policies at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Mike Collins, too, has deserted us. He’s joined Jobs
for the Future in Boston, where he works diligently to increase the numbers
of low-income and minority families who attain post-secondary credentials.
From an article
in The Houston Chronicle: “Given her passion for fighting for
underdogs and their causes, Alison Brock’s friends often
tell her that she’s an idealist—and sometimes they don’t mean
it as a compliment. . . . Those opinions were likely reinforced when she accepted
a job with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. As director of the Prison
and Jail Accountability Project, Brock will oversee the civil rights organization’s
litigation and legislative arm-twisting aimed at improving the treatment of
the 151,000 people incarcerated in Texas.”
Class of 2001
Mark Rincón is the Cultural and Press Attaché
at the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem. “With a steady stream of high-level
visitors and the ongoing Israeli disengagement from Gaza, we have no shortage
of work.”
Angela Garcia has been “promoted to Manager of the Office
the Court Information’s Judicial Information Department, which collects,
analyzes, and publishes information related to court activities throughout Texas.”
Class of 2002
Sarah Fox Ozkan works in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights
and Labor in the U.S. Department of State.
Jessica Kingpetcharat has joined Pure Austin Fitness as Manager/Director
of Group Exercise.
“After three years with the Lewin Group, a health care policy consulting
firm just outside Washington, DC, I (Jed Perry) have decided
to make the move back to the Hill. I will be the Senior Health Legislative Assistant
for Congresswoman Diana DeGette from Denver, CO. For those
of you in the DC area, my office is located in 1527 Longworth House Office Building.”
Drew Scheberle is Vice President of Education and Workforce
for the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce.
Class of 2003
Monica Martinez is a Policy Analyst working in the area of
accountability and reform in the Office of Mayor Hickenlooper
of Denver.
Kudos to Lisa Owens, recently promoted to Executive Director
of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Texas.
Class of 2004
Sarah Looney has left the LBJ School Ray Marshall Center for
the Study of Human Resources to lend her considerable talent to the U.S. Peace
Corps.
Francisco (“Paco”) Campos-Ortiz has returned to
the States to enroll in Brown University’s doctoral program in economics.
Class of 2005
Rachel Bambanek is a Presidential Management Fellow in the
U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Vocational and Adult Education.
Adventurer and class activist Joe Laufer has joined forces
with our LBJ Polish colony and landed a job in New Zealand. In November he was
hired as a project officer with the Wellington City Council. In his new job,
Laufer works for the Council’s Policy and Strategy Units and will be focusing
on issues related to increasing public participation in the policy process.
He writes, “New Zealand is great, although I’m looking forward for
the summer (January/February) to finally arrive so it won’t rain so much
and I can start exploring the country.”
Adam Lenert and Kristi Katsanis have joined
Jennie Kerr at BearingPoint, Inc., in Alexandria, Virginia.
Amy Larsen has accepted a position in local government with
the City of West Des Moines, Iowa.
Kevin Beck is the Foundation and Government Relations Manager
for the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago.
Joe Siedlecki is devoting his legendary intellect to the Office
of Management and Budget in Washington.
Doug Whitworth works with a number of LBJers in the Austin
City Auditor’s Office, where he is evaluating Austin energy programs.
Gabriel Tiffany has headed west to join the California Department
of Finance in Sacramento.
Eli Massey has joined Jan Bargen at the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, where he is an Energy Industry Analyst with the
Office of Markets, Tariffs and Rates.
We miss you all . . .
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