Class Notes
From publications to businesses to world travels…
See what’s happening in the lives of CGS alums, and submit your class note here.
1950s
George Lilly (’54, COM’56) is semiretired. His sons, Kevin (Questrom’90,’97, COM’97) and Brian (COM’89), run the family company, Lilly Broadcasting. A good deal of his time is spent with the SJL Family Foundation which, among other enterprises, supports the Santa Barbara, Calif., and Kotor, Montenegro, sister city program.
1960s
Ken Beaton (’61) is working on a second book about Nevada Vietnam veteran stories for an untitled second book with his coauthor, Steve Ranson. The book will be similar to their first book, Legacies of the Silver State: Nevada Goes to War (BookBaby, 2020), which features 71 World War II veteran stories. All the proceeds from the first book—$24,000—have been given to Honor Flight Nevada, which flies and pays for the veterans’ expenses to visit Washington, D.C., to see the Changing of the Guard at Arlington National Cemetery. Ken is also searching for an experienced script writer to produce a script for a movie inspired by a true WWII love story about a US Army nurse and a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot. He writes that such a movie will “go well with at least one glass of wine and a box of tissues.”
T. David Gill (’61, CAS’65) hopes CGS will offer current students the opportunity to realize their abilities and talents as it did for him. He writes, “I couldn’t have gotten off to a better start from a weak high school performance than at CGS—[then] known as the Junior College.”
Richard Fardy (’63, Wheelock’65) retired from teaching after 49 years at Wilmington High School in Wilmington, Mass. He is bandmaster of the Aleppo Shriners Brass Band and organist at St. Elizabeth’s Church in Wilmington. His favorite and most inspiring professor at CGS was Charles P. Fogg, and he writes that he has “many great memories of CGS (when it was CBS on Boylston Street by Copley Square).”
Joanna Weinstein Chodes (’66, Wheelock’68) first worked as an elementary school teacher and then ran a family business in Beacon Hill and Back Bay involving commercial and residential property. One of her three children went to BU School of Law. She has three grandchildren and is enjoying retired life on Cape Cod and in Maine.
Steve Robinson (’66, CFA’69) completed an audio documentary series, No Regrets: The Music and Spirit of Billie Holiday, in 2022. The series featured 13 one-hour episodes. He was recently commissioned to produce five one-hour radio programs on the music of Valentin Silvestrov, a Ukrainian composer now living as a refugee in Berlin. It will be called Valentin Silvestrov: A Composer’s Journey and will be made available to US radio stations in September 2023. He also has an ongoing series on YouTube, The Architects of Music. He moved to Massachusetts last year after 20 years in Chicago as the general manager of the classical and folk music radio station WFMT and the WFMT Radio Network.
Sue William Silverman’s (’66, COM’68) memoir-in-essays, How to Survive Death and Other Inconveniences (University of Nebraska Press, 2020), won the Gold Star in the Foreword Reviews INDIE Book of the Year Awards as well as the Clara Johnson Award for Women’s Literature sponsored by the Jane’s Stories Press Foundation. This is her seventh book.
Ed Westerman (’66, COM’68) writes, “Better late than never—I spent 31 days in New Zealand and Australia [in the fall of 2022]. This had been at the top of my bucket list for years, even though I have traveled abroad to Europe and Asia a number of times on business before retiring. This was a trip of a lifetime, and I was thrilled to find that NZ was in fact, a garden of Eden.”
Mary Boyson Barnes (’67, CAS’69) retired 11 years ago from working in development at Dartmouth College and is now living in New London, N.H., adjacent to Pleasant Lake. After college, she had many different careers—professional photographer, design assistant, real estate agent. Ultimately, she coordinated seminars for development officers. She still skis (Mount Sunapee) and enjoys living close enough to Boston to visit frequently.
Tom Damigella (’67, CAS’70, SSW’72) became president of Boston’s North End Historical Society last year. He writes, “The North End is where my family first took their first steps into America in 1912 from Sicily. It has always been a part of my Italian heritage and a part of my own life for the last 55 years. In time, it is our goal to establish a museum to help us keep telling this amazing American story.”
Randy Miller (’67, Questrom’69) is completing his 20th year as diplomatic consul to the Republic of Lithuania.
John A. Barry (’68) finally got to see his painting on display on the fourth floor of the CGS building. He created the piece by applying paint with a BMX bike. He writes, “I have since developed a new form of painting, called P5 for pellet-precipitated propellant painting process. I arrange canvases in my ‘pigmilion’ (pigment pavilion), suspend a can of aerosol paint as a ‘stalactite’ in the pigmilion, and shoot the can with a pellet rifle. The compressed paint explodes from the can, coating the object(s) being painted with a stochastic spatter pattern.”
James Hagler (’69, CAS’71,’83) writes, “I look back on my time at CGS as the most educationally formative years of my life. Thank you, BU, for a classical liberal education, which made my life so much richer. Many of my classmates were like brothers and sisters to me. I live near Chicago and continue to practice law.”
Lisa Shubow (’69, Wheelock’71) taught adaptive physical education in Baltimore for 42 years. She was very involved with the Special Olympics and is retired with five grandchildren.
Bruce Robinson (’71, COM’73) is executive producer of a documentary film in preproduction, Plunderer, to be released in early 2024 on ARTE, PB, WNET, and at certain film festivals around the world.
1970s
Olivia Unger Raynor (’73, Sargent’75) is director emerita of the UCLA Tarjan Center, a federally designated Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities. She was recently appointed to the California Arts Council by Governor Gavin Newsom. She is proud to also serve on the advisory board of VoteRiders, and is a policy consultant to state agencies and nonprofits. In her “retirement,” she has become an avid hiker in Southern California, where she lives.
Mary Ellen McKenna Charlton (’75, Sargent’77) is continuing with her business, Ataxia Balance Crutches. Evidence-based research around the product is being conducted at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in Worcester, Mass. More information is available at balancecrutch.com. She writes, “People are so happy to use these crutches versus a walker, especially young adults.”
Merrill Chaus (’75, SON’77) is an instructor for health assessment at Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and volunteers as a team coordinator for Operation Rainbow, a nonprofit that provides free pediatric orthopedic surgery to children in the developing world. She writes, “Over the past 20 years I’ve had the privilege to meet and work with wonderful people in Haiti, Uganda, Liberia, and Central America. As retirement nears, I will be moving to Boulder, Colo., to be closer to family and marvel at the majestic Rocky Mountains.”
Diane Kilgore (’75) runs the publication She the People News and interviewed Boston icon and Hollywood fashion guru Yolanda Cellucci at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass.
Ginny Sandler Berg (’76) recently retired after 25 years as a speech-language pathologist for Palm Beach County Public Schools.
Daniel Beck (’77, CAS’79, Questrom’89) has a BA, an MBA, and an MSW but says his two years at (then called) CBS were the most enriching of his academic life. He is a private practice social worker in Brookline, Mass., and until recently was on the faculty of the Boston University School of Social Work. He married later in life, so while his peers are retiring, he is busy with two children ages 6 and 10.
Robert Sabat (’77) has been living in New York City since 1981. He worked at the Wall Street Journal and magazines including GQ, Interview, and SmartMoney, and is currently an editor at Barron’s.
Montse Florensa (’78, Sargent’80) recently retired from a long career in management for various rehabilitation companies and is enjoying traveling. She writes, “During my career, I lived in Fort Worth, Tex., Los Angeles, Calif., and Sarasota, Fla. I have been in sunny Florida since 1992 and will likely not move again unless I win the lottery and can buy a second home in Europe. I have very fond memories of my years at BU.”
1980s
Maria De Cristoforo (’81, COM’83) has been promoted to director of education for Barbizon Modeling.
Joshua Pollack (’83, Questrom’85) writes, “I loved the program at CBS because I was definitely not ready for college. I am still talking about our Capstone project. Married with two kids, living in Fair Lawn, N.J. Loved going to BU hockey games. Was the football mascot for two years. Longtime animal rescue volunteer.”
Jennifer Poteet’s (’83) poetry manuscript “What Comes Back” was a finalist for the Laura Boss Narrative Poetry Award. She has also been nominated for the Nina Riggs Poetry Prize.
Ruth Krumbhaar (’87, CAS’90) received a master’s in counseling psychology at the University of San Francisco in 2006 after working in public relations and marketing for many years. She has a private practice (welltherapysf.com) in San Francisco offering psychotherapy to individuals and couples all over California.
James M. Rucker (’88, Questrom’89) successfully financed and developed two significant workforce housing developments at RII. The first was a 318-unit workforce housing development in New Mexico, where he played a crucial role in securing the necessary financing and overseeing the development process. The project provided much-needed affordable housing to the local community. He also oversaw the funding and development of a 336-unit workforce housing development in Huntsville, Ala., which provided housing for local workers in high-demand industries. His expertise in real estate finance and development, combined with his deep understanding of the local markets, was critical to the success of both projects. The RII is looking to secure 25- and 50-unit single-family development sites across the Midwest and the South region. They look to use tax credits where possible toward building energy-efficient homes that will save on utility costs and be weather-resistant.
Kathy Smith (’88, Pardee’91) is volunteering in her neighborhood to help bring affordable housing to individuals, families, and seniors. She writes, “Many moderate- to low-income individuals must make difficult choices when they are housing-cost burdened. It is a long journey, however; by producing quality affordable housing in the community, it is hoped that people will derive long-term economic benefits.”
Joseph Yudin (’88, CAS’90) received a PhD in Israel studies from the University of Haifa in Israel in 2022. He published his first book, The Protestant Settlers of Israel: Missionaries, Millenarians, and the African Hebrew Israelites (Rowman & Littlefield, 2023). He also owns and runs the company Touring Israel Luxury Private Tours.
1990s
Sandra (Portmann) Trach (’90, Wheelock’92) is assistant superintendent for teaching and learning in Wellesley Public Schools.
Tony Lopez-Isa (’94, COM’96) is executive producer for Fox 5 in San Diego, Calif.
Zafeiris Haitidis (’95, COM’96) is a British-Greek director, filmmaker, producer, writer, and photographer with more than 29 years in the media and entertainment industries and with experience in film, documentary, TV, and theater. He is a US O-1 Visa beneficiary for “Extraordinary Ability/Achievement as a director,” verified by the Directors Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. His body of work as a director includes multimedia theater performances, fashion, dance, music videos, TV cultural shows, educational programs, web series, documentaries, as well as award-winning short films, which have been shown in international film festivals and have been released theatrically. As a director-cinematographer, his collaborations include media companies such as Netflix, National Geographic Studios, BBC, Arte, National Film Board of Canada, and VICE Greece. He is the creator of the extensive interactive web documentary, Greek Chronicle Project: Footage Archive, which chronicles the Greek socioeconomic crisis and the refugee crisis between 2011 and 2016. In July 2022, Zafeiris became cofounder and CEO of AnthroPhos (“Mankind’s Light”), a New York–based production company whose mission is to preserve the Hellenic cultural legacy and to create original content of global appeal aimed to captivate and cultivate international audiences. Zafeiris is developing several media and entertainment projects, including his debut feature film, a WWII-inspired survival adventure and psychological thriller. Visit anthrophos.com for more information.
Clare Beckwith (’96, COM’98) is cofounder of the UK gynecologic cancer charity The Lady Garden. In April, she ran a 5k with her daughters Tatum and Amber for a charity run in Hyde Park, which raised £64,550 for the organization.
Lindsay Hyland (Kennedy) (’99, Wheelock’01) spent one year teaching in Boston and then three years teaching elementary school in London, England, after graduating from BU. When she moved back to New York City, she spent 10 years teaching middle school math. She received a master’s degree in special education and is teaching in an academic, career, and essential skills program for students with intellectual disabilities in a New York City public school. Outside of teaching, she is the New York state representative for the Sibling Leadership Network. The network provides siblings of individuals with disabilities resources, information, support, and tools to advocate with their brothers and sisters. She is married and living in Staten Island, N.Y., and has two daughters, Keira and Fiona.
2000s
Adam Marks (’00, COM’03) is the community coordinator for the Healthy Kids Running Series in Jamaica Plain, a five-week running series in the fall and spring for kids through high school. The series is a great opportunity to introduce young kids to the joys of running, he writes. To connect with Adam, email hkrsjamaicaplain@gmail.com.
Francis Racioppi (’01, COM’03) is creator and host of The Jedburgh Podcast, which has recorded more than 125 episodes to date. Francis writes, “In the fall of 2022 we launched our mobile podcast studio from the back of a 1944 Dodge WC-51 Army truck used by the 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment at the close of WWII and fully refurbished for a Sunday drive. I’ve covered the 2022 New York City Veterans Day Parade from the red carpet and the 2023 GORUCK Games, and am planning for the 2023 CrossFit Games this summer. Our WC-51 led American soldiers and is now the medium for today’s most impactful leaders to share their stories of success, failure, and the road to elite performance, no matter the challenge.”
Leah Johnson (’03, CAS’05) published her first book, Finding Fantastic Joy: How Building a Self-Advocacy Campaign Led Me Out of Darkness (Modern Wisdom Press, 2022).
Lauren Rose (Nolan) Musto (’03, COM’05) was appointed vice president, corporate communications, for Codexis, Inc., a leading enzyme engineering company, overseeing its corporate branding, media relations, internal communications, and social media. Lauren joins the company fresh off the $1.9 billion acquisition of Sierra Oncology by GSK.
Jenna Livingston (’04, COM’06) created and authored Disaster Recipes in 2021, a pandemic cookbook inspired by all the meals people made at home when they weren’t allowed to leave it, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to No Kid Hungry. The cookbook has 47 sweet and savory specialties that helped people survive the pandemic. The recipes were crafted by friends, strangers, and colleagues around the globe. Jenna started @DisasterRecipes on Instagram, with the intention of turning the best recipes into a cookbook. People could get a copy of the book by donating any amount via GoFundMe. Within only a year, Jenna hit her goal, and the cookbook raised more than $10,000 for No Kid Hungry, which equals more than 100,000 meals.
Jeff Christenbury (’05, COM’07) is director of marketing and communications at the Out-of-Door Academy, a preK–12 independent school in Sarasota, Fla., after more than 12 years working a variety of roles at his high school alma mater in Maine. After nearly 40 New England winters, Jeff is enjoying the sunshine.
Alejandro Garcia Amaya (’05, Questrom’07) is cofounder of AnswerBite, which helps marketing teams repurpose content by automatically converting recorded conversations into shareable video shorts with copy in one click. He is also the founder of Techstars Alumni, a group of venture-backed founders who went through Techstars. He is the host and creator of two podcasts, FindingHere and GettingThere, with a growing audience of more than 55,000 professionals. He and his brothers invest in YCombinator-vetted tech founders taking on opportunities in Latin America through their fund NiloVentures.com. Once a year, through LatinxTechLeaders.org, they bring together leading/influential Latinx tech leaders in the US to exchange perspectives, explore opportunities, and empower the next generation of minority tech founders to continue strengthening and expanding the US economy. Alejandro is also cofounder of InterMinds, a leading marketplace connecting attraction centers with interactive attractions, getting the opportunity to work with more than 130 Fortune 500 clients along with the leading property developers around the globe.
Shwetika Baijal (’07, UNI’09) was named one of Washingtonian Magazine’s Top 500 Most Influential People in Policy in Washington, D.C., for 2023. She was recognized for her work leading the implementation of Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s 2022 electoral strategy, overseeing a record-breaking $50 million program to place abortion access and reproductive rights at the center of voters’ minds.
Jonathan Melloul (’07, Questrom’09) owns and operates a career college focusing on training adult learners for careers in the beauty and wellness industry.
Adanta Ahanonu (’08, Questrom’10) lives in Oakland, Calif., and is the chief program officer at COOP Careers. COOP Careers is a national nonprofit focused on overcoming underemployment for recent first-generation college graduates through peer connections and digital skills. Learn more at coopcareers.org. Adanta recently earned a master’s degree in nonprofit leadership from the University of Pennsylvania.
Brian Rios (’08, COM’10) recently won the COM Redstone Film Festival’s Alumni Short Film award for the film Lili.
2010s
Jonathan Donald (’10, CAS’13, Pardee’13) is leading transformation change and human performance at Deloitte.
Sara (Shilling) Carr (’11, Sargent’13) is a social worker and works as a family therapist at a community mental health agency in Durham, N.C. She has been working toward her goal of doing more creative writing this year—an interest that was so generously fostered by Professor Tyler during her time at CGS, she writes. Go Terriers!
Kyle Czarnecki (’11, Questrom’13) invented HOOKS!, a popular multiplayer tabletop ring toss game that is now played and known all across the world. After an impromptu video post to Instagram and TikTok in 2021, the game gained interest from millions overnight, including notable mentions from ESPN, Elon Musk, and others. He built a company around it known as Craggy Games, which is run by a small team of three that includes his wife Tabitha (Hatch) Czarnecki (CFA’13).
Taylor Aube (’12, COM’14) is the marketing communications manager for a global engineering company that creates advanced ceramic components for a variety of industries such as medical, aerospace, textiles, oil and gas, automotive, semiconductor, and space development.
Amanda Kobner (’14, Sargent’16) owns and operates a private speech-language pathology clinic in Baltimore, Md.
Elisa Cifiello (’18, CAS’20, Pardee’20) is working in climate finance and social inclusion at the United Nations at the International Fund for Agricultural Development in Rome, Italy. She has developed a dashboard that is now being used across the entire institution to track progress for corporate commitments on climate finance targets and for commitments made for social inclusion themes at the project design stage. Elisa also worked at the European Central Bank for one year, where she focused on data management projects and supervising banking policies on climate risk. Elisa is a part-time master’s student in sustainable finance at the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and hopes to continue her career path in the area of climate finance and sustainable development.
2020s
Nicole Bray (’20, COM’22) marked one year of working in enrollment marketing at BU’s Graduate School of Arts & Sciences in July 2023. She is also taking graduate classes in BU’s Metropolitan College MS in global marketing management program.
Natalie Seara (’20, COM’22) is finishing her first year of graduate school at NYU and is enjoying exploring New York City.
Susan Chen (’23, COM’25) is grateful that she was able to travel to Mexico and London last year. During the summer of 2023, she is interning at the nonprofit program Legal Outreach and hopes to travel and attend concerts.
Caroline Cincotta (’23, Wheelock’25) is studying education and human development at BU Wheelock. She hopes to eventually get a master’s degree and teach early childhood special education. She works at a childcare center and writes that the children inspire her every day. Her hope is to teach children that they are worthy and exceptional.
Camila Olivo (’23, CAS’25) writes that she is grateful for her past two years at CGS. Following her study abroad semester in London, she conducted undergraduate research with Professor Michael Holm in the CGS social sciences department for all of her sophomore year. She has also been revising a publication that is soon to be published on CGS’ Palimpsest, an online publication that highlights outstanding undergraduate writing. She is the incoming vice president of the Boston University Catholic Center and the incoming secretary of Phi Alpha Delta (prelaw fraternity). She plans to transition into the College of Arts & Sciences in the fall to pursue a double major in international relations and philosophy while remaining on the prelaw track. She is interning at Catholic Charities of Central Florida this summer, assisting the immigration legal services and comprehensive refugee services departments.