Notes from the Class of 2003

On March 3, 2015, Shaun Flaherty (Thtr) and his wife Kyra Lewandowski (Thtr’07) welcomed a baby girl, Petal Jane Flaherty. They live in Chicago.

Urban planner Gunnar Hand (Plan, PolSci) was selected to participate in Next City’s Vanguard 2015, a gathering of top U.S. urban innovators under 40. He works for the architectural firm BNIM and is on the boards of the Kansas City Public Schools, Metropolitan Energy Center and Regional Transit Alliance, all in greater Kansas City. Gunnar also played a key role in the KC Streetcar Starter Line planning effort led by his firm.

Marketing agency Fingerpaint welcomed Nick McDowell (Engl) to its creative team last fall. Nick previously worked as a senior copywriter for Palio+Ignite and for Grey Healthcare Group.

Denison University in Granville, Ohio, granted tenure to Cheryl McFarren (PhdThtr), who has worked in the university’s theater department since 2009. She teaches acting, with an emphasis on the performance of heightened language. She is a member of the Actors Equity Association and has performed with the Creede Repertory Theatre in Colorado, the Bread Loaf Acting Ensemble in Vermont and Short North Stage in Ohio.

This June Scott Pertel (Comm) joined Holiday Fenoglio Fowler, which provides financial services to the commercial real estate industry, as managing director in San Francisco. He concentrates on office and industrial transactions, including sale leasebacks and net lease sales. He also sits on the board of Boys Hope Girls Hope, CREATE San Francisco and the Stillwater Foundation.

Mechanical engineer Peter Alspach (MCivEngr) was promoted to principal at Arup, where he’s worked since 2001. Peter leads the sustainability, mechanical and plumbing teams in the Seattle office and is the global skills leader for environmental and building physics. He has worked on more than 150 projects at Arup and is a specialist in the design of low-energy buildings.

Arnstein & Lehr partner Kevin H. Morse (Hist) was chosen to participate in the fifth annual Next Generation Program of the National Conference of Bankruptcy Judges. He represents various clients, from Chapter 7 financial trustees to financial institutions and large Chapter 11 debtors. Kevin previously served a one-year term as the judicial law clerk in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.

CEO and founder of Deep Ellum Brewing Co. John Reardon (Fin) was awarded the 2015 EY Entrepreneur of the Year in the Southwest region for entrepreneurial excellence in the emerging consumer category. The three-year-old company has grown from two employees to more than 30, and in the last year saw beer sales rise from 12,500 barrels to 35,000 barrels. Five hundred restaurants and retail locations carry Deep Ellum’s 50 different beers. Zack Fickey (Comm’02) serves as the company’s events and sponsorships coordinator.

Former CU basketball player Kate Fagan (Comm) is now lead writer for espnW, an ESPN website for women who love sports. She also has written about LGBTQ issues in sports and has been published in ESPN the Magazine, ESPN.com, the Philadelphia Inquirer and many other smaller publications including the Boulder Daily Camera, which launched her career. Last year she published her first book, Reappearing Act.

In December, Nicholas Kant (Jour; Law’06) represented the state of New Jersey in a $2 million settlement with Accutest Laboratories to resolve allegations that it strayed from federal and state requirements for the extraction and testing of certain compounds and submitted false claims to the state and its agencies for payment. This was the largest non-Medicaid-related False Claims Act settlement in New Jersey history.

Dylan Kletter (Psych) was elevated to partner at the Hartford, Conn., branch of the law firm Brown Rudnick LLP. He represents clients across the country in a range of litigation matters, focusing on private equity and venture capital firms and their portfolio companies. He also works with strategic acquirers concerning failed mergers and acquisitions, securities fraud, contract disputes, ear-outs, post-closing adjustments, escrow disputes, customer and supplier disputes and environmental issues.

Since graduation, Jacob Loskutoff (Comm) has found his niche in the world of sports television as a videographer, editor and producer. Last summer he won his first Emmy Award for Multi-Cam Videography for his work on a documentary for Fox Sports. You can follow Jake on Instagram @JakeLoskutoff.

Scott Pertel (Comm) was elected president of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the commercial real estate development association NAIOP for a one-year term. Scott oversees chapter finances and eight committees that manage day-to-day activities. He also represents the chapter’s 560 members and 52 sponsors.

Former Buffs football cornerback and nine-year NFL star Donald Strickland (MechEngr) joined the Mechanical Engineering Strategic Advisory Board at CU-Boulder. In 2007 he founded Visionary Moments, a San Francisco-based business that makes multimedia display cases. He says his mechanical engineering degree from CU-Boulder was instrumental in helping him design and bring his products to life. He also initiated the Donald Strickland Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to steering young people toward a successful future through education and sports.

After working in communications for more than a decade, Gwendoline Van Doosselaere (Anth, ArtHist; MJour’07) is now executive director for Ecology in Classrooms & Outdoors, an elementary school that connects students with the natural world, in Portland, Ore.

One of the most impressive women’s cross-country and track stars in CU Boulder’s history, Sara Gorton Slattery (Econ; MEdu’05) will be inducted into the CU Athletic Hall of Fame Nov. 17. Sara was the first CU woman to earn All-America honors as a freshman after finishing eighth in an NCAA meet. She is married to former CU distance runner Steve Slattery (Econ’02).

As a past graduate student studying German at CU Boulder and craft beer lover, it is no surprise that Jason Wiedmaier (MGer) was hired as Broken Compass Brewing’s newest brewer. Jason will be an essential part of the Breckenridge, Colo., brewery’s expansion, which he hopes will be complete by the end of 2017. Jason was previously head brewer at Lone Tree Brewing in Lone Tree, Colo.

Last November Ian Weintraub (Comm) was named vice president of marketing for Limelight Media, a Los Angeles-based entertainment marketing firm. He heads the company’s New York office. Ian has worked with A-list talent such as Sylvester Stallone and developed successful engagement programs for Samsung, TaylorMade-Adidas, Motorola and Lexus.

Jessica Feinstein (EPOBio) was named principal of law firm Jackson Lewis P.C.’s Omaha, Neb., office. She represents U.S. and multinational companies in employment-based immigration. Jessica speaks nationally on immigration matters and has presented to the American Immigration Lawyers Association at its annual conference.

Last fall Jennie Hornbeck Schmaltz (Psych) won the Milken Family Foundation’s $25,000 Milken Educator Award. Jennie received it during a surprise all-school assembly at Elkhart Elementary in Aurora, Colo., where she teaches third grade. Around Elkhart, Jennie is known for both her literacy teaching skills and for raising the school’s teacher retention rate.