Class Notes

Susan Fricke (Mktg) wrote a children’s book about compound interest, Pluter & the Spectacular Spaceship. She writes her idea for the book came when she discovered that compound interest, one key driver of wealth, was elusive to many people. She hopes the book “encourages even just a few kids to start thinking about their financial future.” She lives in New York, New York. 

At the 20th Annual APEX Awards ceremony in February, Dan Mackin (ElCompEngr) — CEO of cybersecurity and technology advisory company Rule4 — was awarded the Colorado Technology Association’s CEO of the Year. 

David Thul (Geol) is co-founder and CEO of Geolumina, which creates intuitive AI with geologic insight. His company was selected to be a part of the Equinor & Techstars Energy Accelerator program, which provides resources and mentors to support startup businesses. 

As a lead writer for Google Hardware, Julie Dyer Vree (Jour) takes on branding, content strategy and creative initiatives under the Pixel and Nest brands. She also spends her time mentoring girls interested in STEM, creative industries or both, and volunteering at hospitals with her certified therapy dog named Snax. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, daughter and beloved French bulldog.

Julia Rhine (Class) was promoted to shareholder in Brownstein’s Denver office in January 2021. As a member of the firm’s Energy & Natural Resources Department, Julia helps her clients traverse Colorado’s oil and gas landscape.

Rajesh Bagchi (DBA) was named the R.B. Pamplin Professor of Marketing by the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors in July 2020. The American Marketing Association ranks Rajesh among the top 20 marketing scholars worldwide, based on publications in marketing’s top journals during the past decade.

For the past 10 years Greg Butler (Acct) and Brian Fisher (Mktg) have successfully run their business, This is a Clue Trivia. They and their employees are found at about 40 bars a week across Colorado and Texas, and are continuing to grow. 

Sustainability coordinator and head bartender is the unique title Dane Dostert (EnvSt) carries at Maui Tropical Plantation, a restaurant, coffee roaster, retail and agricultural business located on the western side of the Hawaiian island. One day he might be working on the craft cocktail menu, and the next designing a new compost system, but for Dane it’s all another day in paradise.

Disney director Jeff Gipson’s (Arch) latest project was a virtual reality short film titled Myth: A Frozen Tale, based in the Frozen universe. He was also the director of the award-winning Disney short Cycles. 

David Palmer (PolSci) is the founder of both the Joan Rose Foundation and Good Threads Needle Point. In the first semester of his senior year at CU, David studied abroad in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. This trip inspired him to create his foundation in 2010, which helps impoverished children receive access to food, schooling and medical care. Good Threads was created to employ the children’s mothers, who had few work opportunities. Their work has been featured on CNN.

Rajesh Bagchi (PhDBus) was named head of the marketing department at Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business. After graduating, Rajesh began teaching at Virginia Tech in 2008. He focuses his research on the psychological processes that underlie decision-making in consumers and managers.

Kate Mishara (Jour) is a school leader at Wyatt Academy, a K-5Title I elementary school in the Denver Five Points neighborhood. “My work at Wyatt has transformed us from a school to a hub of community resources and an institution of learning,” Kate wrote. “At our school, we deeply believe in meeting the basic needs of our scholars and families.” To help provide for student and family needs, the school has built an all-natural food pantry, a no-cost clothing shop and a family computer lab. It will soon add a washing machine and dryer to the community resource center.

Therese Vinal (Jour) is the in-game video host for the San Francisco Giants. Her work includes interviewing current and former players, as well as special guests, for video features shown during home games.

Benjamin Kramer (Fin’08) joined the Fort Collins-based law firm Gast Johnson & Muffly as a shareholder. He joined the firm in 2015 and focuses on business, real estate and estate planning matters. He is co-chair of the firm’s pro bono program and president of the Young Lawyers Division of the Larimer County Bar Association.

Rick Thomas (PolSci’08) was promoted to shareholder at the law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck. He is a member of the firm’s real estate department in its Denver headquarters, and he represents developers, buyers and sellers of a variety of properties, including senior living facilities, shopping centers, golf courses, medical office buildings and hospitals.

Maria O’Malley (PhDEngl’08) co-authored the book Beyond 1776: Globalizing the Cultures of the American Revolution. Maria is an associate professor at the University of Nebraska, Kearney, where she specializes in colonial and early American literature, multicultural and transnational literature, poetry and Emily Dickinson.

Carlin Karr (Comm) drinks wine for a living: She's wine director for the Boulder restaurants Frasca Food and Wine and Pizzeria Locale and Denver restaurant Tavernetta. She was named one of this year’s “Sommeliers of the Year” by Food & Wine magazine, and was featured in an article titled “Liquid Diet: Sommelier Carlin Karr Crushes LaCroix and Tastes 50 Wines Before Dinner Service.” Carlin lives in Boulder with her husband, Adam, and their dog, Coche.

Ted Vardell (Comm) and his brother Tommy Vardell, former NFL fullback, started the Boulder- based nonprofit called Brotherbird Foundation in 2016 to encourage youth to explore art, music and sports. The organization has hosted programs at the Temple Grandin School of Autism, Denver School of the Deaf, Malley Elementary, OUR Center of Longmont, Columbine Spanish Immersion Elementary and Mountain Children’s Foster Home.

After graduating from CU Margot Hensler Phelps (Astro) worked at Caltech, helping install the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in Hanford, Wash., and Livingston, La. During her time on the team (three members of whom won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics), she patented an optics cleaning process. She then completed her doctorate in gravitational  wave research at the University of Glasgow. In March she will begin a post-doc position at the Albert Einstein Gravitational Wave Institute in Hanford, Germany.