UNLV Class Notes are printed in every issue of UNLV Magazine. Alumni can submit to Class Notes using the online form.
1970s
Patsy Neely, '72 BS Education, is a consultant for Regarding Learning New Mexico, an educational organization. She has two children and four grandchildren. Her hobbies include writing, art, photography, travel, dance, and hiking. She lives in Ruidoso.
Paul Carpino, '74 BS Hotel Administration, is a UNLV career counselor and the author of Now, Launch Your Career, a book of advice letters from leaders such as Donald Trump, Manolo Blahnik, Mario Batali, and Danny Gans.
Ken Fong, '78 BS Business Administration, joined the board of directors of Nevada Pacific Bank, one of only two new banks approved by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. during 2008. He is a general partner and manager of Fong and Associates, which owns and manages shopping centers and offices. He is active with the College of Business Alumni Association Board.
1980s
Richard Schneider, '83 BS Engineering, is executive vice president of product strategy for International Game Technology. He joined the company in 2003 and has served as president of IGT Systems and executive vice president of service-based gaming. Previously, he worked for Acres Gaming and United Coin Machine.
Steve Sepersky, '83 BS Business Administration, is the North American distribution sales manager for SiliconSystems, an advanced storage technology company. He and his wife, Susan, have a daughter, Serena. He enjoys golf, baseball, and gardening. The family lives in La Quinta, Calif.
Jacklyn Shaw, '83, Master of Education, taught business training at Afghanistan's Kabul University for two years in its core and gifted programs. She markets a number of items, including her Afghan Time board game, through her website, dynamiqs.biz. Her hobbies include choir and dance exercise. She lives in Seal Beach, Calif.
Tammy Snoddy, '83 BA Criminal Justice, is coordinator of public safety programs at Broward College Institute of Public Safety. Her hobbies include riding her bicycle and quilting. She lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
1990s
Jennifer Bonilla, '91 BS Hotel Administration, was named to the "Top 100 Under 50 Executives" list in 2008 by Diversity MBA Magazine. She is president of the West region of Pitney Bowes Management Services and has been with the company more than eight years. Previously, she spent 10 years with ARAMARK Corp. Her hobbies include Harley touring on her 2003 Road King and spending time with her dogs. Married with two daughters, she lives in Lisle, Ill.
Paul Carron, '93 BA Communication Studies, is an Emmy-winning news producer for CBS News in Los Angeles where he has worked for 10 years. He previously worked for KVBC and KVVU in Las Vegas. He lives in Glendale.
David Porter, '93 BS Hotel Administration, is general manager for the new, hip Starwood Aloft Portland Airport at Cascade Station in Oregon. Previously, he served as the director of sales for the Mark Spencer Hotel in Portland. In December he married Mary Pat at the Maui Sheraton in Hawaii. They live in Camas, Wash.
Steven DiMascio, '94 BS Business Administration, is a senior accountant at Sullivan & Co. He works with manufacturing and distribution clients and is responsible for diversified accounting and auditing assignments. He also participates in planning client engagements and preparing financial statements. He previously worked as a trader on the Boston Stock Exchange. He lives in Cranston, R.I.
Angel De Fazio, '96 BS Athletic Training, is president of the National Encephalopathy Foundation. She interacts with people who have been injured by environmental toxicants and with activists trying to reduce people's exposure to chemicals. She discovered an anticoagulant drug precursor in a fragrance and submitted a petition to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to have it removed from retail shelves, seized at customs, and reclassified as a drug. She currently is working with the Clark County School District to implement effective pest management alternatives.
Hilary McClain, '94 BS Hotel Administration, is vice president of internal talent for MGM Mirage. She began work at the MGM Grand in the human resources department following graduation and returned to the company's Primm Valley Casino Resort in 2002. In the interim, she worked for Station Casinos and Harrahs. She and her husband have four children.
Linda Scheller, '96 BA Psychology, is a human resources manager with Shift4 Corp., a developer of enterprise payment solutions in Summerlin. She is the proud mother of a 6-year-old son, Cole.
Michael Dub?, '96 BS Hotel Administration, is general manager at the Sheraton Denver Tech Center. He and his wife, Natalie, have two children, Ryan, 3, and Keira, 2.
Jung Hoon Lee, '97 MS Hotel Administration, is pursuing a doctoral degree in hospitality management at Kansas State University. Previously, he was a front office manager for a Hilton hotel in New Jersey; general manager of a Tony Roma's in Korea; and director of human resources and of international development for Sun@Food, which owns 60 restaurants. He lives in Manhattan, Kan.
A. Michael Vermy, '97 BA Romance Languages, is an adjunct professor of French and Spanish at Pepperdine University. He earned his Ph.D. in romance linguistics and literature from UCLA. He lives in Los Angeles.
Dan E. Madsen, '98 BA Criminal Justice, is an area scout for the Boston Red Sox. His hobbies include golfing and traveling. His wife, Tara Warthen Madsen, '96 Bachelor of Music, '99 Master of Music, is a part-time choral music teacher in Lake Elsinore, Calif. Her hobbies include sewing, traveling, and scrapbooking. The couple has two sons, Luke Russel, 2, and Cade James, 9 months. The family lives in Murrieta, Calif.
Valerie Miller, '98 BA Communication Studies, was recognized as Outstanding Journalist for a Weekly Newspaper by the Nevada Press Association for 2008. She also won a second-place award for Best Business Feature and an honorable mention for Best Investigative or In-Depth Story or Series. She is a reporter for the Las Vegas Business Press.
Serena S. Mull, '98 BS Biology, is a dentist working in a nonprofit clinic in McMinnville, Ore. A graduate of the School of Dentistry at Oregon Health & Science University, her hobbies include historical research, fitness, travel, photography, art, and swimming. She lives in Portland and says she loves the rain.
2000s
Amy Canepa Donahue, '00 BS Hotel Administration, is a portfolio manager for United Liquors in Boston. After 10 years in restaurants, she now works for a liquor distributor representing the Diageo and Moet-Hennessy High End Spirit portfolios. She married Mark Donahue in September.
Kathryn Goetz, '00 BA Communication Studies, is attending nursing school. Running is her hobby. She and her husband of one year live in Buffalo, N.Y.
Christian Gonzalez, '00 BS Hotel Administration, works at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. He joined Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts in 2001, spending five years at the resort in Punta Mita, Mexico, as sales manager and later transferring to California to do pre-opening sales for the Westlake Village hotel. He lives in Los Angeles.
Ryan Waite, '00 BS Education, received a master of science degree in history from Utah State University in 2007. He teaches government and history at Ogden High School in Ogden, Utah. He lives in Roy.
Aaron Ward, '00 BS Electrical Engineering, joined Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox, an intellectual property law firm in Washington, D.C. A graduate of the UCLA School of Law, he previously worked as a patent examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and as a registered patent agent prosecuting domestic and international patent applications in electrical, computer, and mechanical engineering.
Rebecca Farrah Kimbrough, '01 BA Education, is working toward her doctoral degree in educational administration at the University of Minnesota. She earned a master of arts degree in educational leadership from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She lives in Eagan, Minn.
Gina Madsen, '01 BS Business Administration, '07 JD and MBA, opened her own law firm in Las Vegas. She practices corporate law, providing outsourced general counsel services to small businesses. She married her college sweetheart, Nick Madsen, '02 BA Criminal Justice, in 2002. She says they have six "four-legged children."
Brett Hughett, '03 BS Hotel Administration, is property manager of Oakwood Worldwide's flagship property in Marina del Rey, Calif. The 597-unit multifamily property offers corporate housing and conventional apartments. He has been with the company four years, most recently managing Oakwood's property in San Jose.
John L. Mendez, '03 BS Business Administration, co-authored an article on entrepreneurial business with his MBA graduate school professors Charles Vance and David Choi of Loyola Marymount University and Kevin Groves of Pepperdine University. Titled "An Examination of the Nonlinear Thinking Style Stereotype of Successful Entrepreneurs," it was recently published in the Journal of Enterprising Culture.
Kathleen Pearce, '03 BS Secondary Education, teaches high school earth science and anatomy. While she enjoys sewing and skiing, she says her 1-year-old son is her biggest hobby. She lives in Evergreen, Colo.
Shelly G. Klingensmith, '04 BS Human Service Counseling, is a pastor for Emmanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Stuttgart, Kan., a town of 36 people who have to drive 90 miles to Kearney, Neb., to reach the nearest Target. She was ordained a minister in Las Vegas in June after earning a master's degree in divinity from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, in May.
Jaime Wright, '04 BS Hotel Administration, is the events manager for the Spokane Guilds' School & Neuromuscular Center, which treats infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities. She recently earned her MBA degree. She lives in Spokane Valley, Wash.
Jason Michaels, '05 MBA, is a board-certified dermatologist and medical director of Aspire Cosmetic MedCenter. His charity endeavors include Smiling Soles, which provides shoes and dental supplies to children who cannot afford them. He sits on the board of Sight for Life, a nonprofit organization serving patients who are unable to afford the vision treatment they need. His hobbies include biking and painting portraits.
Megan Rice, '05 BA Hotel Administration, is the housekeeping training manager at Wynn Las Vegas. After UNLV, she worked as a management trainee at Four Seasons Boston and was promoted to assistant manager at Four Seasons Miami.
Tessa Riess, '05 BA Communication Studies, is corporate marketing manager for Bridgepoint Education. She also handles public relations for the PAST Foundation, which is mapping the shipwreck Menemon Sanford. The paddle steamer sank near Key Largo in 1862. PAST is a national nonprofit organization that promotes partnerships between anthropologists and educators. Her hobbies include beach volleyball and volunteering. She lives in San Diego.
Pj Perez, '07 BA Journalism and Media Studies, manages websites for the Las Vegas Valley Water District, writes for a variety of publications, and runs a network of news and music blogs. As a freelance journalist, he has written for Rolling Stone, Art + Living, 944, Six Degrees, CityLife, and Las Vegas Weekly. He and his girlfriend have two Pekingese dogs.
Margarita Vidal, '07 BS Business Administration, '08 MS Accounting, is a staff auditor for Ernst & Young.
Deaths
Chris "Flash" Richardson, who played basketball for UNLV from 1998 to 2000, died in his sleep in Sasebo, Japan, in December. A fitness promotion major at UNLV, he played at the Thomas & Mack again last November, scoring 15 points during the Alumni/Legends game. At the time of his death, Richardson was participating in the Harlem Globetrotters' annual holiday tour of U.S. military bases in Asia. A resident of Las Vegas, he is survived by his mother and his children.
Frederick Preston, sociology professor, died March 30. A faculty member since 1973, he served as department chair twice and as graduate coordinator. His projects included studies of the homeless and of older gamblers in Las Vegas. In 1994 he was named outstanding faculty member for the College of Liberal Arts by UNLV's student government. His family has requested that any memorial donations be sent to the UNLV Foundation for the Dr. Frederick W. Preston Sociology Graduate Fellowship fund.
