Notes from the Class of 1993

Chris Connor (MechEngr’93) celebrated his 30th year in the semiconductor business as director of the Intel 3 and Intel 4 reliability programs, which helped enable Intel’s first chiplet architecture with the company’s Core Ultra processors and Intel’s biggest architecture change in over 40 years. He chaired the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers International Reliability Physics Symposium — a premiere conference for engineers and scientists to present new and original work in the area of microelectronics reliability — held in Monterey, California, and serves as chair of the board. He writes that he also celebrates 30 years without drinking alcohol.

The Pew Charitable Trusts’ named Matthew Milios (Jour’93) vice president for communications in January, where he leads digital strategy and content creation. Matthew has 25 years of experience in content production and has led creative projects at for-profit, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. He started his career as a director of photography before working in video and multimedia production for NBC News Digital and Microsoft. 

Author and screenwriter, Heather Hach Hearne (Advert’93) released her first adult novel, The Trouble with Drowning, in October. The book is a psychological thriller about mental health. Heather was a screenwriter on the movies Freaky Friday and What to Expect When You’re Expecting. She also was a librettist for Legally Blonde The Musical, which was nominated for a Tony award. 

In July, Peter Lindstrom (Engl, Soc’93) was named the vice president of academic affairs and provost at the Community College of Denver (CCD). In this position, Peter oversees all educational affairs and activities. Prior to accepting this promotion, Peter worked at CCD to increase student participation for minority students in STEM programs. He has also worked to improve online student success rates by 10 percent over three years. He lives in Denver. 

Global law firm Mayer Brown appointed Joanna Horsnail (Advert’93) to managing partner of its Chicago office. Joanna’s practice focuses on design and construction, public and project finance, and government transactions. Outside of the firm, she is on the board of directors for the Cabrini Green Legal Aid Board and the Misericordia Women’s Board.

Julie Crea Dunbar (Geog’93) is the editorial manager for ABC-CLIO, a publishing company specializing in academic reference works and periodicals. Her book, Exploring World History Through Geography: From the Cradle of Civilization to a Globalized World, was published in September. Her sons, Grant Dunbar (AeroEngr’19; MS’19) and Joseph Dunbar (ApMath, ElCompEngr’21; MS’23), are also Forever Buffs. Julie lives in Erie, Colorado.

Margaret Hart (MFA’93) is a professor in the art department at the University of Massachusetts Boston. This October, Boston’s Kingston Gallery featured an exhibition of Margaret’s work, along with guest artists, that focuses on climate change through the lens of social and climate justice. Visit margarethartart.com to see her work.

Boulder to Birmingham, an Emmylou Harris tribute band created by singer and songwriter Tricia Parish (Psych’93), features a blend of country and western music with instruments including the electric guitar, fiddle, pedal steel guitar, bass, vocals and percussion. While battling stage 4 breast cancer, Tricia continues to perform music with Boulder to Birmingham. She also released an original album in 2010. To find a live performance or to learn more, find Tricia Parish Music and @BouldertoBirmingham on Facebook. Tricia lives in Manitou Springs, Colorado.

Drawing from her childhood, her time at CU and her career as a women’s empowerment and communications speaker and coach, Eliza Vancort (PolSci) wrote her book, A Woman’s Guide to Claiming Space. Eliza is founder of The Actor’s Workshop of Ithaca, a Cook House Fellow at Cornell University, an advisory board member of the Performing Arts for Social Change, a Diversity Crew partner and a member of Govern for America’s League of Innovators. In 2018, Eliza gave a TEDx talk, “Women, Power and Revolutionizing Speech,” in which she shared her personal story while offering tools for meaningful personal and social change.

Frances Tourtelot (Advert) and Allison Langeler Hastey (Soc’04) recently celebrated six years of owning Merritt+Grace, a Denver-based marketing agency. They write that they use their combined 35+ years of marketing expertise, which started while they were students at CU, to serve a variety of clients, including the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment, former office of Governor John Hickenlooper and Cirque du Soleil.

Faegre Drinker partner Heather Carson Perkins (Acct; Law’98) has been elected to the governing committee of the American Bar Association Forum of Franchising. She also co-presented at the 42nd Annual Forum on Franchising and served a three-year term as editor-in-chief of the forum publication The Franchise Lawyer and associate editor of The Franchise Law Journal.

With over 20 years of experience representing clients, Cynthia Hegarty (PolSci) has been hired as legal counsel for Winthrop and Weinstine. She is also the chair of the Minnesota State Bar Association’s Bankruptcy Law section.

In 2020, Kenneth (Ken) Frenchman (Mktg) joined several colleagues to launch their own law firm, Cohen Ziffer Frenchman & McKenna. The firm plans to continue representing a client base of Fortune 500 companies, hedge funds and private equity firms.

Tom Swett (Engl, Hist; Law’99) was awarded one of the 2019 faculty awards at the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, a Boulder-based nonprofit. Since 2006, Tom has given more than 65 seminars to lawyers on everything from trial and deposition skills to child advocacy. He lives in Louisville, Colorado.

In September, Chad Scates (CompSci) of Erie, Colorado, was named senior vice president of engineering at FreeWave Technologies. He has more than 20 years of technology engineering experience. 

The Rubenstein brothers, Brett (EPOBio) and Scott (Engl’95), both recently celebrated 20 years in their respective fields. Brett is an educator and current science department chair at the Fountain Valley School of Colorado in Colorado Springs. Scott is a lawyer based out of Cincinnati, Ohio. He was an assistant prosecutor for Hamilton County before taking over their father’s criminal defense practice. 

The Pueblo County Chapter of the Colorado Teacher Awards honored Yvette Padilla Teschner (Jour, Mus) as a 2019 Colorado Teacher of the Year. Yvette has been an elementary music school teacher in Pueblo for 16 years.

Andy Rice (Bus) is parks and recreation director for Alamosa, Colo. He writes that Ture Nycum (Mktg’90) and Ken Sherbenou (Econ, PolSci’02;  MPA’06) are also parks and recreation leaders, in Fruita and Grand Junction,Colo., respectively, and all three serve on the legislative affairs committee of the Colorado Parks and Recreation Association.

T. Jeffrey Fitzgerald (Math) was named to BTI Consulting Group’s 2019 Client Service All-Stars list. Jeffrey is recognized for his work as shareholder in the firm’s healthcare litigation and disputes practice in Denver.

Kent Holsinger (Psych) was named in the Denver Business Journal and Colorado Farm Bureau’s Who’s Who in Agriculture lists in 2019. He was also in the journal’s Who’s Who in Energy in 2019. Kent founded Denver-based Holsinger Law, LLC in 2006, which specializes in land, wildlife and water law.