Class Notes

New York City resident Dorie Hagler (Film, PolSci’90) is producer of the documentary 8x10, a film about solitary confinement. For seven years, Dorie documented the re-entry of Johnny Perez into society. Johnny spent 13 years in prison, including three in solitary confinement, and is now dedicated to ending the practice of solitary confinement. Dorie called upon her former Baker Hall resident advisor and friend Kevin Corke (Jour’88; MA’02) to help advise her on the film. Learn more at eightx10.com.

Mark Solomon (MElEngr’91) was named president of intellectual property law firm Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds. He specializes in intellectual property rights and has won various awards for his work. He also served as president and founding co-chair of the Boston Patent Lab Association. He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Right at Home, an in-home senior care company, elected Margaret Haynes (MBA’91) as CEO. With 25 years of experience, Margaret will continue to grow the company through job creation and expansion. She lives in Bellevue, Nebraska.

This spring, Jennifer Alsever (Jour’94) published her fifth young-adult fiction book, Burying Eva Flores. The novel, which takes place in Paonia, Colorado, depicts a war between two teen girls that spins out of control when one of them discovers an ability to write her own future. Jennifer, a resident of Eagle, Colorado, is a freelance writer and has contributed to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Fortune, Inc., Wired and others. In 2016, she published the Trinity Forest Series, a young adult trilogy, and, in 2020, Extraordinary Lies, a young-adult novel about psychic testing at Stanford Research Institute in the 1970s.

Solar physicist Martin Snow (PhDAstroPhys’95) became the first SARCHI research chair at the Space Weather Centre of South Africa (SANSA) in Hermanus, South Africa, in 2021. Martin researches ultraviolet solar spectral irradiance and serves as an investigator and instrument scientist for space missions. He was also a part of the Solar-Stellar Irradiance Comparison Experiment (SOLSTICE).

Keith Soriano (Mgmt’00) was named regional director for the Professional Golfers’ Association of America (PGA). Keith oversees the Mountain and Midwest Region — including Colorado and 11 other states in the region — which serves more than 3,000 PGA members and associates. He received his MBA from Louisiana State University.

Scott Martinez (Econ, IntlAf’00) was named Top Latino Lawyer by Latino Leaders magazine. He is a business and government law attorney and managing partner of his Denver firm, Martinez and Partners. 

In August, Maria Coady (PhDEdu’01) will join the North Carolina State College of Education as the inaugural Goodnight Distinguished Professor of Educational Equity. Prior, Maria worked at the University of Florida’s College of Education as the Irving and Rose Fein Endowed Professor of Education and professor of English speakers of other languages (ESOL) and bilingual education. Maria focuses on literacy and language development for rural multilingual students.

Executive producer of Colorado Public Radio’s Audio Innovations Studio, Brad Turner (Jour, Mus’02), contributed to the podcast “Music Blocks,” which won the “Best Podcast for Kids” Ambie award. “Music Blocks,” geared for middle and high schoolers, explores how songwriters and composers express emotion through sound. 

Freelance writer and editor Heather Mundt (MJour’02) published her first book, Colorado Family Outdoor Adventure, in May. The book details more than 60 destination options, sorted geographically and with rankings of difficulty and age-appropriateness. Her two sons are featured throughout the book. Heather thanks Doug Cosper, her favorite CU journalism professor, in her book’s acknowledgments section.

Attorney Payal Salsburg (MCompSci’03) received the 2022 community service award from the Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts. An attorney at the Boston law firm Laredo & Smith, Payal focuses her practice in the areas of business litigation, corporate advice and counsel and white-collar criminal defense.

CU Boulder’s study abroad program brought Heather Corinne Cumming (Hum’03) from Norwich, England, to the U.S. Peace Corps, where she served as a volunteer from 2004 to 2006 in Zambia. She founded her own organization in 2009 that serves remote villages in rural Zambia, rural Sierra Leone and formerly the border point of Ethio-South Sudan with water wells, clean and sustainable water year-round and simple irrigation systems. She is looking to begin a project site in North Sudan or Mali. Learn more about her work at ssaap.org or email her at ssaapafrica@gmail.com.

Cerno, a lighting business, was started by Bret Englander (Jour’04) — resident of Laguna Beach, California — and two of his childhood friends. Cerno products are inspired by nature and manufactured in California. Bret serves as the company’s director of sales and marketing.

After working as a contractor for Amazon Web Services, ​​Lauren Glendenning (Jour’05) joined the company full time in January as global communications manager on the employer brand team. Prior, Lauren was director of content and communications for PowerPublish, a small content marketing startup. She also worked at Swift Communications for more than 13 years, with roles including content marketing director, editor-in-chief at The Aspen Times, editorial projects manager at Colorado Mountain News Media and senior reporter and assistant managing editor at the Vail Daily.

On March 7 founder and CEO of Urban Golf Performance (UGP) Mackenzie “Mac” Todd (Psych’08) announced his partnership with golfer Collin Morikawa, who, in May, was No. 3 in the Official World Golf Ranking. Drawing from his own experiences during his golf career, Mac founded his company to help golfers of all abilities improve and nourish their love of golf. UGP currently has a staff of 50 employees and four locations across California. Mac resides in Carmel Valley, California, with his wife and three children.

After obtaining his license to practice psychology in New York and New Jersey in 2021, Steve Pappalardo (Psych’08) is working with children, adolescents and adults as a clinical neuropsychologist and psychologist. Steve earned his doctorate degree in clinical psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University and later completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology.

HBO Max cast Christopher Maller (Advert’08) of Denver for its new series Swiping Across America. The show started filming in Boulder in April and will culminate in Honolulu.

Red Bull’s “Wakeboards & Waterslides,” directed by Jonny Zeller (Film ex’09), won a Gold Telly Award, which recognizes exemplary work across television. Jonny also second-unit directed Deadly Illusions, which was a global hit on Netflix. He directs campaigns for big name brands like Google, AT&T and Toyota. Jonny credits the CU film school for teaching him about avant-garde filmmaking and fostering his artistic sensibilities.

Andrew Keesee (Film’09) is vice president of the Boulder-based venture capital firm Trailhead Capital, which invests in endeavors related to regenerative food and agriculture. Mark Lewis (MBA’11) and William “Tripp” Wall (Phil’97) serve as managing partners at the firm.

Courtney Claghorn (Mgmt’09) and Sam Offit (Econ’09) married on March 2 at the Malliouhana Resort on Anguilla, a Caribbean island. The couple met at CU. Sam lived in the Cheyenne Arapaho residence hall, the same that Courtney’s mom, Colleen DalSanto Ryan (Fin’78), lived in 30 years prior. The couple started a business more than 10 years ago, Sugared + Bronzed, which is now the nation’s largest sugaring and airbrush tanning business. The company received its first round of investment funding in early 2020.