1971
Jay Snow (BS, Industrial Engineering) has retired after a 43-year career in industrial environmental work. He most recently managed the Hudson River Superfund Project in Fort Edward, New York.
1976
Arden Sanders (MA, Linguistics) and Joy Sanders (MA, Linguistics) teach at the Dallas International University, formerly the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics. Arden was the academic dean for six years and now teaches Bible translation. Joy teaches articulatory and acoustic phonetics.
1977
Ron Welch (BS, Geology) retired after 39 years as a geologist, banker, and tax examiner. He volunteers at several charities, including as a coordinator in AARP’s free tax preparation program.
1980
Kelly Brett Roberts (BBA, Management) was profiled in D CEO magazine’s November issue. The article focused on her career in fuel supply and as founder of 30-year-old Ricochet Fuel Distributors.
“Proud to have gotten my bachelor’s degree from UTA. It’s a pleasure to be part of such strong and ever-growing global alumni.”
—Farrukh Hanif
(’04 BS, Information Systems) CEO, Defqon Digital
1981
Debbie McDonald Messemer (BBA, Management Information Systems) was named a sales associate with RE/MAX DFW Associates in Flower Mound, Texas. He is retired from Tarrant County, where he was chief information officer.
1981
Diana Ault (BBA, Accounting) was appointed to the board of directors for two companies, Carbon and Allogene Therapeutics Inc. Carbon is a hardware, software, and molecular science company. Allogene is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing allogeneic therapies for cancer. She served as the managing partner of KPMG’s Bay Area and Northwest region until her retirement in September 2018.
1982
Jacqualyn Fouse (BBA, ’84 MS, Economics; ’12 PhD, Business Administration/Finance) has been appointed new chief executive officer for the Massachusetts-based oncology specialist Agios Pharmaceuticals. Previously, she was president and chief operating officer of Celgene.
Debra Goulding (BA, English) is site coordinator of the Cleburne Christian Women’s Job Corps.
1983
Sandy Martin (BBA, Accounting) has joined Dennard Lascar Investor Relations as managing director of the company’s new Fort Worth office. She is a certified public accountant with more than 25 years of executive management and investor relations experience.
1984
Lynden Tennison (BS) was named executive vice president and chief strategy officer for Union Pacific.
1986
Tim de Noble (BS, Architecture) was recognized by DesignIntelligence as among the Top 25 Most Admired Educators in Architecture, Interiors, and Landscape Architecture for 2019. He is a professor and dean of the College of Architecture, Planning, and Design at Kansas State University.
Karen Pickard (BSN, Nursing) was reappointed to the Texas Advisory Council on Emergency Medical Services by Gov. Greg Abbott. She is a registered nurse, paramedic, and a faculty member for the EMS program at Navarro College in Waxahachie, Texas.
1987
Andrew Mack (MCIRP, City and Regional Planning) has been hired as the city planner for Park Rapids, Minnesota.
1988
Michael Diver(BS, ’97 MS, Industrial Engineering) was appointed director for the miniature hit-to-kill program at Lockheed Martin.
Andrew Pryor (BA, Human Resources) has been named by the International Business Awards as the Gold Winner for International Human Resources Executive of the Year. He is senior vice president of human resources of ECi Software Solutions. Pryor serves on the advisory board of directors for UTA’s College of Business MBA programs.
Teresa White (BBA, Information Systems), the first woman and African-American president of Aflac, is the founder of Bold Moves, a Girls Inc. program designed to inspire another generation of girls to reach their full potential.
1990
Pamela Holland Obiomon (BS, Electrical Engineering) has been named dean of the Roy G. Perry College of Engineering at Prairie View A&M University. She joined the university in 2003 as a professor of electrical and microelectronic engineering and served as department chair since 2013.
1991
Joseph Medici (BA, Journalism) has been named director of airport services for the Draughon-Miller Central Texas Regional Airport for the city of Temple, Texas. Previously, he served as the deputy director for Flint, Michigan’s Bishop International Airport.
Skip Ogle (BS, Architecture, ’99 MCIRP, City and Regional Planning) was elected chair of the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce. He is the director of community relations for Suddenlink and the owner of Skip Ogle Homes LLC, a small residential construction business serving the Tyler, Texas, area.
Mark Schwartz (MS, Biomedical Engineering), a 25-year veteran of cardiovascular device development, has joined BioCardia as vice president of clinical affairs. Previously, he was with EBR Systems and The Sorin Group. He holds more than 15 patents.
1992
Joel Ivy (BS, Electrical Engineering), Lakeland Electric general manager, was named president of the Florida Municipal Electric Association board of directors. He started his career as a power company bill collector and a lineman.
Laurie Leenhouts (BA, Criminology and Criminal Justice; ’98 MPA, Public Administration) was named Texas division president of the North American Title Co. in Dallas, Texas.
Rich Stoglin (MPA, Public Administration) was appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott to the Texas State Board of Examiners of Marriage and Family Therapists. He is CEO of The Stoglin Group in Arlington, Texas.
The World Bank has appointed Jingdong Hua (’93 MBA, Finance) vice president and treasurer. In his new role, Hua is responsible for the World Bank’s $200 billion debt portfolio, an asset portfolio of nearly $200 billion managed for the World Bank Group, and 65 clients including central banks, pension funds, and sovereign wealth funds.
1993
Jingdong Hua (MBA, Finance) is the new vice president and treasurer of the World Bank. Previously, he was vice president and treasurer at IFC, a sister organization of the World Bank.
1994
Julie Butticarlo (BBA, Marketing) is a director at Westmount Realty Capital, a commercial real estate development and investment management company based in Dallas, Texas. Previously, she was the senior asset manager at World Class Capital Group.
Michael Long (MS, Real Estate) was promoted to senior vice president of residential operations at Curry Real Estate Services, in the Kansas City, Missouri, area.
Feyi Obamehinti (BS, Microbiology) was appointed to the Texas Diabetes Council by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. She is the managing director for Ravir LLC, an educational consulting and technical firm.
Zephyrinus Okonkwo (PhD, Mathematics) was named interim dean of Albany State University’s College of Arts and Sciences in New York. He is a professor of mathematics and is the director of the ASU Center for Undergraduate Research.
1995
Jerry Haag (PhD, Finance) has been named to the board of the Christian Alliance for Orphans. He serves as president and CEO of Florida Baptist Children’s Homes and One More Child, a foster care and family crises prevention agency headquartered in Lakeland, Florida.
1998
Chandra Dhandapani (MS, Information Systems) was appointed to the board of directors of On Deck.
2000
Beth Looney (MPA, Accounting) was named a partner with BDO USA, an accounting and consulting firm. Previously, she was an assurance director in BDO USA’s Fort Worth, Texas, office.
2001
Sushil Sharma (MS, Computer Science and Engineering) was named chief product officer of LendingTree.
2002
Sarah Hagan (BBA, Accounting) has been named chief financial officer for ECi Software Solutions, a business management software and services company in Fort Worth, Texas.
Heather Reynolds (MSSW, Social Work) joined the Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities at the University of Notre Dame as its inaugural managing director. She served as president and CEO at Catholic Charities Fort Worth for 14 years.
2004
Kapil Mani Dixit (BFA, Art) a well-known artist in Kathmandu, Nepal, has an exhibit at Afactory Studio Museum of Arts in Irving, Texas. Facing Reality features 30 large-scale paintings of the human body.
2006
Dian Cuellar Ruud (PhD, Social Work) has been named to the board of the Texas ACLU. She is a clinical social worker at the University of Texas Counseling and Mental Health Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
“Bright minds come here from all countries. If you are looking for excellence in science and engineering education at an affordable price, you must check UTA.”
—Darrell Goss
(’81 BS, Mechanical Engineering) Licensed Professional Engineer
2007
Paul Moreno (BBA, International Business/Spanish) was named senior loan officer at North Carolina’s Live Oak Bank in Wilmington, North Carolina.
2008
Maher Maso (MBA, Business Management; ’09 MBA, Executive Business Administration) joined Ryan, a Dallas, Texas-based global tax services and software provider, as a principal in the firm’s credits and incentives practice. He is the former mayor of Frisco, Texas.
2009
Tim Harkrider (MEd, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies), Willis school district superintendent, was one of five finalists for the Texas Association of School Boards’ 2018 Superintendent of the Year award.
Psychiatrist Nicholas Ray (BS, Biology) has joined Carris Health’s Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar, Minnesota. He specializes in addiction issues and post-traumatic stress disorder.
2010
Chris Andrews (MPA, Accounting) has been named chief information officer for Pei Wei Asian Kitchen. He previously served as vice president of information technology.
E. Ramon Cavazos (MArch, Architecture) was featured as a rising star by Healthcare Design. Cavazos is vice president, senior designer, and business development practice leader at HKS Inc. in Dallas, Texas.
A.J. Fawver (MPA, Public Administration) is the city of Lubbock, Texas’ new director of planning. She previously served as director of planning for the city of Amarillo, Texas.
Justin Pruitt (MPA, Public Administration) has been named the city of Lubbock, Texas’ new business development director. Pruitt has been an assistant city attorney with the city since 2015.
2011
Amy Jarvis (BA, Architecture; ’13 MArch) has been promoted to an associate at Spacesmith, a New York City-based architecture firm. A registered disaster-relief building evaluator, Jarvis was named one of Interior Design magazine’s Top 100 Rising Giants.
2012
Alumni artists Kerry Butcher (BFA, Studio Art/Photography) and Fabiola Valenzuela (’15 BFA, Painting) have work in the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth’s Modern Billings exhibit. The outdoor art is displayed on billboards along Jacksboro Highway in and west of Fort Worth, Texas.
Jose Landeros (MPA, Public Administration) has been named El Paso County’s new planning and development director. He has more than 15 years of public policy and economic development research experience.
Teresa Rodriguez (MArch, Architecture) is managing director of LPA, an integrated design firm in Dallas, Texas.
2013
Brittni McGill (MSN, Nursing Administration) has been appointed chief nursing officer for the Norman, Oklahoma, Regional Health System. She is a nationally certified critical care nurse.
2015
Tracy Casey (MSN, Family Nurse Practitioner) has joined Christus Trinity Clinic-Gladewater.
Jesica McEachern (MPA, Public Administration) has been hired as an assistant city manager in Lubbock, Texas. She will oversee the departments of public works, engineering, and development services.
“Word is getting out: UTA is a world-class university.”
—Geoffrey Kemp
(’88 BS, Architecture) President, GJK Consulting LLC
2016
David Dunn (BA, Broadcasting) has joined the editorial staffs of The Midlothian Mirror and Waxahachie Daily Light. He was the film critic for The Shorthorn.
2017
Linah Mohammad (BA, Broadcasting/Journalism/Political Science) has joined The Washington Post as an assistant producer for Post Reports, the paper’s daily podcast. Previously, she worked for NPR’s All Things Considered.
Corrine del Perugia-Stoddart (MSN, Family Nurse Practitioner), an advanced practice registered nurse, joined the family medicine team of Cheshire Medical Center in Keene, New Hampshire.
Renee Yan (BA, Journalism) is a reporter covering Grapevine, Colleyville, and Southlake, Texas, for Community Impact Newspaper.
2018
Ali Adil (PhD, Urban Planning and Public Policy) is a research associate with Texas Energy Poverty Institute, where he works toward alleviating energy poverty challenges in Texas.
Eric Hess (MFA, Glass Art) won third place in the Stanislav Libenský Award competition for “Fragile,” a glass-sculpted fetus encased in a 1-foot-square ice cube. He was the only U.S. artist among the 30 finalists in the international competition held in the Czech Republic.
Myriam Igoufe (PhD, Urban Planning and Public Policy) has joined the Dallas Housing Authority (DHA) as director of housing services for DHA’s Housing Choice Voucher program. Dr. Igoufe is a recipient of the Dwight David Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Transportation for the past two years and serves on the Equity sub-committee and Technical Advisory team for Smart Growth Dallas.
Jimil Shah (PhD, Mechanical Engineering) is the recipient of the 2018 ASME Electronic and Photonic Packaging Division Student Engineer of the Year Award. He is a postdoctoral research associate in the Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems, which is an Industry/University Cooperative Research Center funded by the National Science Foundation.
