Class Notes


’70s

Clark Huff BS’73 recently published the memoir Stupidity in Action: Lessons Learned in Leadership the Hard Way, recalling how a disobedient, adventurous boy learned from his mistakes and survived to become a successful adult, eventually advancing to become his company’s VP of capital and technology. The stories are not only entertaining, writes Huff, but provide plentiful examples of how not to handle a situation. 

Sam Williams BA’77 was appointed to the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System Board of Trustees. Williams has more than 25 years of experience as a chief financial officer and managing partner for Sullivan, Higdon, and Sink (now Signal Theory). He previously served as the secretary of revenue for the State of Kansas.

Jack T. Scully

Jack T. Scully MBA’73 published a new book of free-verse stories, Mianus Village. The semi-autobiographical collection tells the story of a young boy growing up in hardscrabble housing set aside for working-class WWII veterans and their families. Scully is a longtime writer of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry as well as professional papers.

’80s

Jill H. Green

Jill Hoggard Green BS’80 MS’89 PhD’95 was named one of the nation's 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives by Modern Healthcare. Hoggard Green is CEO of The Queen’s Health Systems, in Hawaii. She has more than 40 years experience in health care leadership.

Artist and educator Angela Haseltine Pozzi BS’84 created Washed Ashore, an exhibit featuring sea animal sculptures made entirely out of debris found in bodies of water. The work has been displayed at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, SeaWorld Parks in Orlando, and the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, along with small galleries, most recently at the Norfolk Botanical Garden in Virginia. Read more about Pozzi and her exhibit in our previous feature article here.

Laurie Locascio

Laurie Locascio MS’86 was nominated by President Joe Biden to lead the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Locascio has spent most of her career at NIST, joining as a bioengineering researcher in 1986 and taking on a series of senior leadership roles before leaving the agency in 2017 to serve as vice president for research at the University of Maryland.

Brooks R. Amiot BA’88 (cum laude) is recognized again in the most recent Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business, an annual guide ranking the leading law firms in the country. Amiot is managing principal of the Baltimore office of Jackson Lewis P.C. and represents employers in all aspects of labor and employment law.

Derrick O’Neill JD’89 was appointed district judge in the Fourth Judicial District in Boise by Governor Brad Little. Most recently a shareholder with Jones Williams Fuhrman Gourley, P.A., in Boise, he has three decades of litigation experience and is considered a local expert in the area of judicial foreclosures.

’90s

Tony Butterfield BS’96 PhD’07, chemical engineering associate professor, was recently honored for outstanding and innovative teaching by both the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). A faculty member at the U since 2009, Butterfield currently chairs AIChE’s Societal Impact Operating Council and is chair-elect for ASEE’s Chemical Engineering Division. He devotes considerable time to engaging LGBTQ+ students in engineering.

Andrea T. Martinez

Andrea T. Martinez BA’98 JD’01 became the Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah in March 2021. Martinez is the third woman and first Latina to hold the position and has served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for more than a decade. As an assistant U.S. attorney, Martinez was involved in the full spectrum of violent crime prosecution. She began her career at the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s office.

Kevin Dyson

Kevin Dyson BS’98—a former Utes Football and Tennessee Titans wide receiver—is the new principal of Centennial High School in Nashville. Since his NFL career, Dyson has now been a teacher, coach, and administrator at both private and public schools and earned master’s and doctoral degrees in education.

’00s

Belinda O. Saltiban

Belinda ’Otukolo Saltiban BS’00 MSW’04 PhD’12 is the new associate vice chancellor for equity, diversity, and inclusion at Vanderbilt University. ’Otukolo Saltiban was previously chief inclusion and diversity officer at Utah Valley University (UVU), where she was also a member of the President’s Cabinet, President’s Council, Women’s Council, and University Executive Council. Prior to her UVU position she was assistant dean of undergraduate studies and director of the Office for Inclusive Excellence at the U.

Andrea Martinez

Andrea Martinez JD’03 (B.A .’97, UCLA) is a criminal defense attorney with her own law office in Salt Lake City. She served nearly six years over two stints as a deputy district attorney in the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s office. She also spent more than six years as a senior associate with Utah Juvenile Defender Attorneys and almost four years as a trial attorney with the Salt Lake Legal Defender Association.

Bart Blaisdell BS’04 is the new senior vice president of Finance & Operations at Visit Salt Lake. A certified public accountant, Blaisdell was most recently CFO for Grand Canyon Scenic Airlines and has over 10 years of financial management experience, with prior roles at Ivory Homes and Intermountain Healthcare.

Taj Suleyman

Taj Suleyman BA’09 is the first director of diversity, equity, and inclusion for the City of Springfield, MO. Suleyman has spent 10 years working in community outreach and direct services for a variety of organizations in the public sector and nonprofits. Most recently, he was equity director for Dubuque Community School District in Iowa.

Kathy Bounous BS’08 was appointed general counsel for Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox. She was previously general counsel and director of appeals and legislative affairs for the Department of Workforce Services. She received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in 2014 and 2018.

Cristy Meiners BA’01, former executive producer of RadioWest, has been named KUER station manager, overseeing operations, programming, and news for the U’s NPR member station. Meiners began her journalism and public radio career as an intern in Washington, D.C., on NPR’s Arts Desk.

Drew Sanders MPA’05 is the new city manager of Cortez City, AZ. Sanders had most recently served two years as police chief in Page. A graduate of the FBI National Academy, he previously worked for the West Jordan Police Department for 27 years, retiring as a lieutenant.

James Jackson III BS’02 founded the Utah Black Chamber, which supports the economic development of the state’s Black community. Born and raised in a small Baptist “village” in Salt Lake City, Jackson says he came to the U as an introvert, but college “helped me grow out of my shell and learn how to network and connect with people.” He built new relationships through the Black Student Union, helped start the college chapter of the NAACP, and participated in a minority business scholarship program “that pushed me out of my comfort zone,” he recalls. Since its founding in 2009, the chamber has grown to about 300 members and now covers nearly the entire state. Jackson is Zions Bancorporation’s supplier diversity program manager and also a coach, speaker, and trainer with his own J3 Motivation, LLC.

’10s

Candee Wilde BA’11 is the new executive director of the Delaware Valley Environmental American Inn of Court (AIC). Wilde is an environmental attorney in the Philadelphia office of Greenberg Traurig and a former assistant solicitor in the city’s Law Department. AICs focus on enhancing the legal skills, professionalism, and ethics of members. The DVE-AIC is one of only two AICs centered on environmental law and related policy development.

Jeffry Ross JD’11 was appointed by Gov. Spencer J. Cox to the Eighth District Juvenile Court bench. Ross has most recently been affiliated with Stowell, Crayk & Bown, LLC, practicing in the areas of child welfare, juvenile delinquency, criminal defense, immigration law, and family law.

Phil Martial

Capt. Jean Philippe (“Phil”) Martial BS’12 is the new chief of veteran services for the Utah Department of Workforce Services. Martial has served 19 years in the U.S. Army, as medical logistician, human resources officer, and currently as a Company Commander for the 76th Operational Base Command.

Alexia Adair HBM’13 MMU’17 is a UIT user experience (UX) developer for USS Content Management & Usability at the U. Adair is also an opera singer and has performed in many productions in Utah. “Being a UX developer brings my career story full circle. I wanted to be an architect so I could use my creative and analytical skills in my work. I do that every day now! It was a roundabout way to get to my goal, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the journey and learned some valuable things along the way. As a singer, I study humans and what drives their decisions in order to create a richer performance. At work, I study the same things, but in this case, it’s to create a better website.”

Jake Hibbard BS’14 is the new information and sports director of Mitchell Radio Group in South Dakota, taking over play-by-play broadcasting for Mitchell High School and Dakota Wesleyan University. Following college, he moved to Wyoming to cover and broadcast high school sports. He was awarded 2020 “Best Play-by-Play” by the Wyoming Association of Broadcasters and was a finalist for the National Sports Media Association’s Wyoming Sportscaster of the Year.

Joseph Genda

Joseph Genda BS’15 is the New American and Refugee liaison for the office of Salt Lake Co. Mayor Jenny Wilson BS'88. Genda came to Utah in 2007 as a refugee from Sierra Leone. After graduating from the U, he began work with Promise South Salt Lake where he was able to work closely with immigrant and refugee communities. He is fluent in Mende and Krio.

Julie Beveridge BS’15 is an assistant athletic trainer for the Major League Soccer team LA Galaxy. She was previously head athletic trainer for the Las Vegas Lights FC. She has also worked with the Washington Spirit, FC Cincinnati, and Marshall University, and was an intern with Real Salt Lake.

Benny Hinrichs

Benny Hinrichs BS’16 recently published his fourth book, Orluvoq, a fantasy novel about a young, drug-addicted shaman who has to climb down the ice cliff at the end of the world to find her dead parents. Hinrichs is a software engineer and musician who once ate 36 slices of pizza in a sitting. But, he notes, it's not that impressive, because his friend ate 48.

Vlada Yaremenko BA’19 was promoted to business development manager at the Economic Development Corporation of Utah (EDCUtah), which she joined in 2019 as a business development analyst. She was co-chair and host of the youth planning subcommittee for the 68th UN Civil Society Conference and also served nearly three years as VP of PR and Membership for UN Women USA.

U professor of painting and drawing Al Denyer, Joshua Graham MFA’19, and Claire Taylor BFA’17 were among 20 artists whose designs were selected for a pedestrian bridge at Salt Lake City's new Three Creeks Confluence Park, where Red Butte, Emigration, and Parley’s creeks join to empty into the Jordan River. The site was transformed as a space for community gathering, recreation, education, and restored riparian habitat. Read more about the Three Creeks park in our previous feature here.

Nathan Mason MA’19 is an artist and curator of exhibits and public art for the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events. His own exhibition Improvisations was recently on view at The Dime gallery in Chicago. Mason has also been in group shows, curated numerous independent projects, and sat on exhibition committees, and he is an occasional writer, with reviews in publications such as the New Art Examiner.

Ashley Cleveland MCMP’16 is the new deputy chief of staff for Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall BS'04. Cleveland is an ecologist turned city planner and will manage some of the city’s most important initiatives and projects, as well as engage with boards, community groups, and civic organizations. Cleveland became the first Black woman city planner in Utah when she took a position in 2017 as the first Planner 1 in Millcreek. There she launched Promise, a partnership between Millcreek and the United Way of Salt Lake City aimed at mobilizing and supporting success for the city’s youth and families, with specific goals related to health, safety, economic well-being, and education. She’s also a founding member and sits on the board of directors for CurlyMe!, an organization focused on providing mentoring opportunities to help educate and empower young girls of color.

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