Inventing a New HR Playbook

If talent is destiny these days, Shristi Kauffman (EMBA ’19) has her hand on the scales as the senior director of compensation at CoStar Group. Leading compensation for more than 5,000 global employees comes on the heels of her time at Darden as a student in the Global Executive MBA and more than a decade taking a startup from pre-seed to acquisition by a Fortune 5 company.

Kauffman ran the gamut of HR roles during her time in startup life. “The startup mentality is that you roll up your sleeves and do what needs to get done,” she said. Ultimately, she found that focusing on employee compensation satisfied her desire to have a meaningful impact on people’s lives while flexing her own talent with data.

Kauffman’s perspective also aligns with recent pushes for using transparency to improve equity in compensation. “We are headed in the right direction, but there is a lot more work to be done,” she said.

Kauffman described her time at Darden as transformative. “Having grown up in Nepal, my parents always ingrained in me the importance of education. And yet, I kept finding reasons why the time wasn’t right to pull myself out of the workforce to get an MBA that I always knew I wanted. Pulling the trigger and going to Darden is one of the best decisions I made in my life.”

She observed that what many students carry forward is more profound than the hard skills they’re initially seeking: things like an open mind, the ability to tackle tough problems, comfort with not knowing all the answers and self-confidence. “I think you come out a better person at the end of the program. Maybe you had it in you all along, and Darden simply gave you the tools to dig a little deeper and bring out the best version of yourself,” she said.

On the heels of the birth of her second daughter last year and returning from maternity leave, Kauffman is more determined than ever to achieve her career aspirations.

“I have a very strong motivation with my girls to give them a strong female presence to be proud of; to show them that you don’t have to choose between being a mother and being a business leader.”

At CoStar Group, being an HR leader amid the Great Resignation has been challenging but also a moment of great opportunity. “Who would have imagined HR leaders having to navigate COVID and the return-tothe-office initiative? It’s a concept that didn’t even exist before.” Things are changing wildly in compensation, too, as hiring and retaining talent has become an urgent priority.

“It’s been a really fulfilling time to be an HR leader, to get to work on some really nuanced, never-before-seen issues and to get creative in terms of handling it, because there is no playbook.”

— Molly Mitchell

birthday alongside Joseph Cwiklinski and his family.

2018

Collin Bauer; Kali McFarland; Lauren Hansen collin.bauer@gmail.com kalimcfarland12@gmail.com lehansen23@gmail.com

Enis and Xiran Chen welcomed their second daughter, Beren, early this year. She rushed to this world four weeks ahead of schedule on Valentine’s Day night, but everything has been fine. They are in the west suburb of Massachusetts now and hope to see you if you are in town.

Kelly and Mick Denner welcomed their son, Jack (Darden class of 2048), in May 2022. Charlotte (Darden ’46) and dog Duncan (Darden ’18) are very proud of their new little brother! The Denners are still in southern California and look forward to the April ’23 reunion.

David Baum married Alexandra Ruggiero in July near their home in the Finger Lakes region of New York. They are very thankful to Chrissie Ezzell, who connected the couple when Dave moved to Corning, New York, after graduation, and to Ryan Bottini for arranging that first meet-up.

Quick life update from Agatha and Oluwatunmise Osinubi: They got married on 24 September in Puglia, Italy.

2018 Emba

Adam Doyle; Chris Schenkkan; Laura Pettus adamdoyle0369@gmail.com cms4v@hotmail.com lmpettus1276@gmail.com

The Class of 2018 EMBA is excited to celebrate their fifth Darden Reunion in Charlottesville on 28–30 April. We hope you are making plans to come back to Darden for the celebrations. Reunion registration will launch in February, so be sure to look out for updates. Brian Kohler, 5th Reunion giving chair, has been hard at work recruiting classmates to serve alongside him on the reunion committee. If you would like to join, email ReunionGiving@darden.virginia.edu. We look forward to seeing you all this spring at Darden!

2019

Email your Class Notes updates to alumni@darden.virginia.edu.

2019 Emba

Terrell Fuller; Charlotte Gage terrell.fuller@gmail.com charlotte.jean.gage@gmail.com

Katrin Kempiners welcomed a darling baby boy into her family, Jackson Bear, born 27 April.

David Black and Heather Townsend, founders of Even Health, a mental health company serving military and healthcare professionals, celebrated its second year in business August 2019. The team now totals close to 20 staff, including Megan Berry as VP, Design.

Colin Hood and his wife, Ashley, welcomed their son, Grant Harrison Hood, on 3 September 2022.

Shristi Kauffman and her husband, Ryan, welcomed their second daughter, Riya Beth Kauffman, on 29 May 2022.

Skip Calvert was promoted to vice president of company operations at Five Guys, the Virginia-based fast-casual restaurant chain.

Chris Flock started a new position as senior manager, partner relations at the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD). In this role, Chris will focus on corporate development and cultivating strategic partnerships.

Boyd Brown sold Lexington Solutions Group’s government contracts to Castellum Inc., and is now Castellum’s senior VP for the National Capital Region.

Eusebio “EZ” Pires now leads the efforts in Technology Marketing & Business Development for Rutgers University Tech Transfer Office with a focus on Alliance Management and partnering with industry to invest in Rutgers assets

David Waidelich recently joined Feed More as their chief collaboration and program officer Feed More delivered over 40 million pounds of food to over 200,000 central Virginians who face food insecurity in 2022. In his new role, David oversees partnerships with Feed More’s 280-member food pantry network, Meals on Wheels, school programs and healthcare systems. He is also working on a strategy for their Food Bank of the Future. If anyone is interested in getting involved in any capacity, please reach out!

Bradley Intrater was recently promoted to compliance vice president for Truist Securities.

John Fontaine accepted a new business development role with Liquid Robotics, a Boeing Company focusing on delivering Unmanned Surface Vehicles for defense and environmental customers across the globe. Additionally, his local family-run personal gym business —Newtown Fitness Club, founded in summer 2020 — recently celebrated its 1,200th customer, its seventh location opening (four in C’ville, three in Staunton, Virginia), and over 10,000 hours of distraction-free workouts.

2020

Jordan Hart jchart92@gmail.com

Alexander and Gretchen Spencer moved to Scituate, Massachusetts, in December 2021 and were thrilled to welcome their son

Theodore (Teddy) to their family in April 2022. Alexander is a director at Toast, leading the go-to-market strategy for the sales team. He is continuing the love of fishing he developed while at Darden, trading the Virginia brook trout for striped bass. Gretchen is a director at Fidelity, working on internal consulting initiatives. In her free time, she enjoys gardening and any excuse to get outside.

Alexandra Moss welcomed son Conor Moss on 26 March 2022.

Christopher Skinner, along with wife Cameron and son Finnegan, almost 3 years old, continue to enjoy life in London, U.K., where Christopher is working for L.E.K. Consulting. When not working or playing with Finn, Christopher continues to take in live opera voraciously, and the entire family has enjoyed travels back to the U.S. for skiing and visiting family in Charlottesville, as well as to France, Spain and Portugal on the European continent. They look forward to an exciting year with Finn beginning nursery, more travel (Austria, Antigua and a few others) on the horizon, and more opportunities to meet family in Charlottesville and beyond.

Newlyweds Meg (Lyons) Mahoney and Stuart Mahoney were married on 9 April 2022 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

2020 Emba

Karen Henneberger

Karen.Henneberger@gmail.com

Thanks to everyone who came out for our long-awaited reunion. It was wonderful to see so many classmates together again. In addition to finally celebrating our graduation on-Grounds at Darden, several of our classmates reported additional noteworthy events: Catherine and Alex Muirhead tied the knot in Cambridge, U.K., in November 2021.

In January 2022, Pat Clancey was appointed president and CEO of IDEMIA National Security Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of IDEMIA, the global leader in identity management and biometrics. Congratulations Pat!

Natalie Cucchiara and Brenton Fisk, who first met during LR1 and got engaged on-Grounds during a post-graduation visit in November 2020, were married on 4 June 2022 on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, surrounded by family and friends, including several other Darden EMBA ’20 alumni.

2021

alumni@darden.virginia.edu

Phil Gurney and spouse Ashley moved to Lemoore, California, in March and welcomed their second son, Emmett, in July.

Robert and Amanda Gex welcomed a new baby boy, George Gex (Class of 2046).

2021 Emba

Email your Class Notes updates to alumni@darden.virginia.edu.

2022

Mary W. Richardson; William Kelly; Amanda Wear; Adam Sadiq mwrichardson21@gmail.com williamhigginsonkelly@gmail.com acwear1@gmail.com syadsadiq@gmail.com

The Class of 2022 is excited to celebrate their first Darden Reunion in Charlottesville on 28–30 April. We hope you are making plans to come back to Darden for the celebrations. Reunion registration will launch in February, so be sure to look out for updates. Mary Winston Richardson, William Kelly, Amanda Wear and Adam Sadiq, first reunion giving co-chairs, look forward to seeing you all this spring at Darden!

2022 Emba

Stephen Beaudoin; Michelle Cobb; Will Payne stephenbeaudoin1@gmail.com michelle_turek@yahoo.com whpayne2@gmail.com

The Class of 2022 EMBA is excited to celebrate their first Darden Reunion in Charlottesville on 28–30 April. We hope you are making plans to come back to Darden for the celebrations. Reunion registration will launch in February, so be sure to look out for updates. Stephen Beaudoin, Michelle Cobb and Will Payne, first reunion giving co-chairs, look forward to seeing you all this spring at Darden!

MSBA/DBA/PhD/TEP

alumni@darden.virignia.edu

Colin Jones (TEP ’81): “Still getting older, one day at a time. I am completely retired, but active in both my church and Masonic Lodge.

“I experienced a ‘fatal’ heart attack in 1983, but it just was not my time despite the efforts of the military hospital in Hawaii. I subsequently consulted and worked for the Hawaii State as the energy recovery administrator. Lots of interesting stories about that experience.

“I was elected a Life Fellow of the IEEE in 2007 and am also a Life Fellow of the Marine Technology Society. Moved here to Gainesville, Florida, with my wife in 2006 to be closer to the children and other family.

Raymond Michelini (TEP ’87): “Greetings, given it’s the 35th anniversary of my TEP ’87 program experience, thought I’d take advantage of the invite to provide some input for your consideration:

“As a young major program manager/ captain in the Navy at the time I attended TEP, I found the UVA Darden program very informative and enlightening, particularly in the area of ethics. They taught us to think ‘out-of-the-box.’ The many management ‘takeaways’ served me very well during my remaining 7 years in the Navy and my following 13 years in industry until I fully retired in December 2006.