David DiBenedetto (SDM’80) of Pembroke, Mass., was one of 13 Local Heroes honored for volunteer work by the South Shore Community Action Council in Plymouth, Mass., last March. He was one of a group of South Shore dentists who provided Head Start children with free dental exams.

Martha Reed (SED’80) of Pittsburgh, Pa., is pleased to announce that her latest book, Nantucket Mystery: The Nature of the Grave, won an honorable mention from the 2006 Independent Publisher Book Awards for Mid-Atlantic Best Regional Fiction. Visit her Web site at www.marthareed.com, or e-mail her at info@marthareed.com.

Stephen Shepard (COM’80) of Brooklyn, N.Y., and his wife, Lisa, announce the birth of their second daughter, Marni Hannah, on April 22, 2006. Marni’s big sister, Stella, is two years old. Stephen would love to hear from BU buddies at sshepard@vastindustries.com.

Steven J. Tripp (LAW’80) of Westfield, N.J., was named a Super Lawyer by Law & Politics magazine. Super Lawyers consists of the top 5 percent of outstanding attorneys in each state, representing a range of practice areas, firm sizes, and geographic locations. Steven is a shareholder of the firm Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.A. in Woodbridge, N.J. He is the vice chair of the board of directors of the land use section of the New Jersey State Bar Association.

Richard J. Bortnick (COM’81) of Gladwyne, Pa., was a presenter at the 2006 Professional Liability Underwriting Society Mid-Atlantic Chapter Educational Seminar The Not-for-Profit Life: Life Is Not So Simple for Not-for-Profits Today. He also spoke at the European Insurance Forum 2006, Insurance Markets in an Uncertain World, in Dublin, Ireland, last March. (??) He works in the West Conshohocken, Pa., office of Cozen O’Connor in the insurance litigation department.

Barbara L. Mandell (LAW’81) of Beverly Hills, Mich., is a member of the intellectual property practice group at the Dykema law firm. Her practice focuses on the litigation of intellectual property disputes.

Nancy D. (Rich) Wiseman (COM’81) of Merrimac, Mass., will receive the Dale Richmond Award at the American Academy of Pediatrics annual meeting in October for her achievements in the field of child development. Nancy is the founder and president of First Signs, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating professionals and parents about early identification and intervention of children with autism and other developmental disorders. She is the author of Could It Be Autism? A Parent’s Guide to the First Signs and Next Steps (Random House, 2006), and she has been interviewed in many publications and on a variety of television programs, including Today. E-mail Nancy at nwiseman@firstsigns.org.

Nicholas Jordan (CAS’82) of London, England, is head of investment and banking affairs for Deutsche Bank in Russia. He will continue to work in London and carry out the functions of vice chairman of global corporate finance for Europe. Nicholas has worked for Deutsche Bank since 1996.

Joseph Massey (GSM’82) of Rye, N.H., is vice president of engineering at Certeon in Burlington, Mass. Before joining Certeon, Joe was chief of software operations at Workframe, Inc., and a business unit manager for Rocket Software.

Blaine Parker (COM’82) of Los Angeles, Calif., won $5,000 in the Radio Mercury Awards competition in New York on June 8. The Radio Mercury Awards recognize excellence in radio advertising. Blaine is a creative director for Salem Los Angeles and is the writer and voice talent on Marvin, which can be heard online at www.radiomercuryawards.com. E-mail him at blaine@getthatvoice.com.

Tony Scudellari (COM’82) of Los Angeles, Calif., is the vice president of television music creative for Sony Pictures Television, overseeing the hiring of composers and music supervisors for all Sony’s television movies, miniseries, episodic series, game shows, and reality shows.

Shari (Resnicoff) Chappell (COM’84) and Paul Chappell (COM’85) of Brooklyn, N.Y., have two children, ages 16 and 14. Shari is the production editing manager at Cambridge University Press in New York. E-mail her at schappel@optonline.net.

Priscilla S. Dasse (SPH’84) of Wellesley, Mass., has been appointed to the 2006 Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, the highest level of recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can receive. Priscilla is senior vice president of performance improvement at Cambridge Health Alliance.

Elayne Robertson Demby (CAS’84) of Weston, Conn., published The RIA’s Compliance Solution Book (Bloomberg Press, 2006). An attorney by training, she has worked as a freelance legal and financial journalist for the past 12 years. She lives with her husband, Glenn, and two children, Evan and Charlotte.

Vernon Parrish (ENG’84) of Arlington, Va., is a senior systems engineer in the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C. E-mail him at vernon.parrish@navy.mil.

Thomas Smith (SON’85) of New York, N.Y., is the chief nursing officer and senior vice president of patient care services at Cambridge Health Alliance. Previously he worked at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York for 10 years, most recently as chief nursing officer.

Joseph Zaks (LAW’85,’89) of Naples, Fla., an attorney with the law firm Roetzel & Andress, was named one of the 2006 Florida Super Lawyers by Law and Politics magazine. The designation recognizes lawyers who have attained a high degree of professional achievement and peer recognition.

Kenneth S. Butensky (CAS’86, CGS’84) of Philadelphia, Pa., and his wife announce the birth of their daughter, Julia Ling. E-mail Ken at ken.butensky@phila.gov.

Pat McHale (MET’86) of Ashland, Mass., is senior vice president of worldwide support services for MRO Software, Inc. Pat has been with the company for 16 years and now oversees more than 100 customer service employees located throughout the world.

Ross Romeo (GRS’87) of Elgin, Ariz., recently retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel and founded Double R Heart Ranch, a safe haven for neglected and abused horses. Visit www.rrheartranch.com for more information or e-mail Ross at ross@rrheartranch.com.

Tom Strubel (SMG’87) of Atlantic Beach, Fla., is president and founder of Black Diamond APS, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in business integration and project management for mergers and acquisitions. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, and son, Max. E-mail Tom at tstrubel@comcast.net.

Michael Angelo Castellana (SSW’88) of San Diego, Calif., has developed an intensive group psychotherapy model for active-duty Marines with combat stress from the Iraq War. He recently presented his model, approved for use throughout the U.S. Marine Corps, to East Coast mental health professionals who treat returning combat veterans for post-traumatic stress disorder. He is currently working with Marine Corps Iraq War veterans at Camp Pendleton, north of San Diego.

Rick Cook (COM’88) of Farmington, N.Y., published his first book, a short novel titled Tenure (PublishAmerica, 2006). He is an associate professor at Finger Lakes Community College in Canandaigua, N.Y.

Nick Kanieff (SMG’88) of Wayland, Mass., left corporate America after 15 years to become a life coach. Individuals and businesses retain him to help them make the most of their potential, achieve their goals, and eliminate stress. Check out Nick’s coaching Web site at www.chooselovenotfear.com.

Sharon (Fanto) Smith (COM’88) of Lafayette, Calif., is living in the Bay Area with her husband, Brian, and one-year-old son, Emerson. She is the general sales manager for KICU-TV. Sharon writes that she “would love to hear from Scrubba, Lauren, Chloe, Jeff, David Venancio, and classmates” at sharonf99@yahoo.com.

Cheryl L. Tarash (COM’88) of Durham, N.C., is a licensed clinical social worker at Jewish Family Services of Durham–Chapel Hill. She specializes in geriatric social work.

Katrina Hayday Wester (SHA’88) of Strafford, Pa., and her husband, Brian, had their third child, Rebecca, on February 8, 2006. Katrina is the founder and CEO of Grandparents Magazine, a publication for grandparents and their grandchildren. E-mail her at katrina@grandparentsmagazine.net.
 
Alberto Cardelle (SPH’89) of Stroudsburg, Pa., is the interim associate provost for academic affairs at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. He is an associate professor of health at the university and chair of the health department.

Randi Kaye (COM’89) of Atlanta, Ga., is an anchor-correspondent at CNN. She travels the country doing stories that air primarily on Anderson Cooper 360. Randi writes, “My professors at COM never told me broadcasting would be this much fun!” E-mail her at randi.kaye@cnn.com.

George Kliavkoff (COM’89) of Seattle, Wash., received Sports Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 award this past March, which recognizes the 40 most influential sports business executives under age 40. George is executive vice president of MLB Advanced Media, running the wireless, PC Internet, and IPTV licensing businesses for Major League Baseball.

Lisa Orkin-Passloff (SAR’89) of Sharon, Mass., married Robert Passloff on August 28, 2005, at Temple Israel in Sharon. After honeymooning in Costa Rica for two weeks and visiting the Arena Volcano and the rain forest, she returned to “real life,” she writes, providing occupational therapy home-care services at VNA Carenetwork and teaching yoga. E-mail her at LBO4YOGA@aol.com.

Laura Packer (UNI’89) of Malden, Mass., is a professional storyteller, a communications consultant, and “a proud UNI graduate boldly taking her BU folklore degree where no degree has gone before.” She participated in the Pan-Massachusetts Challenge, a two-day bike ride to benefit the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. E-mail Laura at laura.serena@mindspring.com.

Rebecca (Wilcox) Pierce (SED’89) of New Hartford, Conn., and her husband, John, announce the birth of their second daughter, Meghan Catherine, on August 31, 2005. Contact Rebecca through the Boston University alumni Web site www.bu.edu/alumni.

Eric J. Sax (MED’89) of Lincoln, Mass., recently established the Imaging Institute, a diagnostic imaging business with two offices in the Providence, R.I., area. In June of 2005, he was elected president of the Massachusetts Radiological Society, the local chapter of the American College of Radiology. He lives with his wife, Julia, and three children, Eric Stephen, Alessandra Julia, and Leah Elizabeth, in Lincoln and Scituate, Mass. E-mail him at radejs@massmed.org.