Pepperdine Magazine Vol. 12, Iss. 3 (Fall 2020)

Volume 12 Issue 3 Fall 2020

Moments

THE SHOW MUST GO ON As signature University events such as commencement and Founder’s Day moved to a digital format, Pepperdine continued to bring bits of University life into people’s homes during the coronavirus pandemic.

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Contents

F E AT U R E S

12 Outstanding Alumni in Healthcare Selected from a diverse group of healthcare professionals, 34 Waves are reimagining patient care beyond traditional methods, challenging industry norms, and shifting strategies in an industry that continues to evolve

22 Justice for All In her new role as the first executive director of the newly established Los Angeles Department of Civil and Human Rights, Capri Maddox (JD ’01) will work to ensure that all Angelenos live free of discrimination

28 Capital Gains Students and alumni of the Washington, DC Global Internship Program share how the COVID-19 pandemic shaped their experiences in the nation’s capital

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V O LU M E 1 2 | I S S U E 3 | FA L L 2 0 2 0 Pepperdine Magazine editor

Gareen Darakjian

senior designer

Courtney Gero

writers

Sara Bunch Amanda Pisani Jakie Rodriguez (MS ’13)

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graphic designers

Mallory Bockwoldt (’16)

Danae Doub

photographer

Ron Hall (’79)

copy editor

Amanda Pisani

production manager

Jill McWilliams

Published by the Office of Public Affairs Matt Midura (’97, MA ’05)

SPOTLIGHT

Associate Vice President for Integrated Marketing Communications

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Reduced to Tiers

Leveling the Playing Field

Alumni professionals explore the reality of, and solutions for, the inequities in health and the tiered healthcare system experienced by people of color

A new hiring initiative in college athletics seeks to strengthen representation across college campuses

Nate Ethell (’08, MBA ’13) Director of Communications and Brand Development Keith Lungwitz Creative Director Allen Haren (’97, MA ’07) Director of Digital Media Ed Wheeler (’97, MA ’99) Senior Director of Operations

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Mauricio Acevedo

A Culture of Giving

Director of Digital Marketing

During this generation’s most financially trying times, current students and young alumni continue the timeless tradition of giving back to Pepperdine

Pepperdine Magazine is the feature magazine for Pepperdine University and its growing community of alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends. It is published three times per year by the University’s Public Affairs division and is produced with guidance from an advisory board representing a cross section of the University community.

7 Campus Notes 9 Headlines

36 Snapshot 48 The Cut

ADVERTISING Each issue of Pepperdine Magazine contains a limited number of half- or full-page advertising opportunities for University departments and initiatives. To learn more about advertising, contact magazine@pepperdine.edu.

Manage your subscription to Pepperdine Magazine: magazine.pepperdine.edu/subscription Send letters to the editor and other queries: magazine@pepperdine.edu All material is copyrighted ©2020 by Pepperdine University, Malibu, California 90263.

Pepperdine is affiliated with Churches of Christ, of

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PA2009932

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which the University’s founder, George Pepperdine, was a lifelong member.

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Editor’s Letter As I write this letter, I am struck by the realization that 180 days have passed since the beginning of our new normal. This number— colloquially used to signify a complete change of direction—couldn’t be more symbolic as we consider the significant ways our lives have changed course since the start of the pandemic.

To date, COVID-19 has killed more than one million people worldwide. Schoolyards are no longer buzzing with curious minds and stimulating activities. Workplaces have gone dark, and workers are struggling to survive.

Families have been isolated and kept apart for months. Houses of worship have gone silent.

Travelers have been grounded. It almost feels as though time has stopped, and planning for anything beyond tomorrow seems futile. As our perspective narrows under the weight of despair, how do we find our gratitude in this season of thanks? How can we forge ahead when the light at the end of the tunnel loses its luster?

Gratitude is more than just a phrase written on a greeting card or a rustic wooden sign perched on your mantel. It is widely known to create connection and empathy, two valuable resources that can be lifelines during extraordinary times. In fact, research says exercising gratitude is one of the best ways to cope in times of crisis and can even increase a person’s resilience and boost their immune system.

At Pepperdine, we have so much to be grateful for, and we hope this issue of Pepperdine Magazine compels you to slow down and consider the gift of belonging to a dynamic group devoted to innovation and service.

In the fall issue, we give thanks to the healthcare professionals who have suited up and sacrificed for the challenge of a lifetime. We salute the leaders who are demanding and implementing change in divided communities. We acknowledge the spiritual sages who are guiding us through our darkest days as they grapple with supporting their communities and themselves during difficult times. We recognize the students and administrators who are raising their voices to create inclusive spaces for the next generation of Waves.

I am personally grateful for the ways in which our diverse and dedicated collective has opened my eyes to the causes that people around me are fighting for every day. These stories are carefully curated to inspire readers to consider the viewpoints and values that are permeating our culture. I am grateful that you have accepted an invitation to inquiry that may challenge what you believe but will ultimately encourage you to think deeply about what matters to you and your extended community. Thank you for being a part of this learning journey.

GAREEN DARAKJIAN editor

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Photo: Joseph Ramli (‘17)

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Campus Notes PEPPERDINE PEOPLE

Chalak Richards (JD ’12) The Caruso School of Law’s first assistant dean of student life, diversity, and belonging wants to transform the legal profession After practicing law for a few years, Chalak Richards returned to the law school in 2018 as assistant dean of career development. Her passion for inclusivity resulted in her appointment in the new position where she will oversee the full student life experience, ensuring that all students are welcomed into a community that values and celebrates diversity and leading initiatives that care for each student’s well-being.

To generate interaction in the law school community during the pandemic, she’s initiated a number of online discussion series, such as the Reimagining Justice Series. Along with alumni and faculty, Richards tries to feature current students in leading roles in every event, so that they might meaningfully and deeply engage with one another outside the classroom.

Richards sees the array of human diversity, like the flowers in a bouquet, as an expression of divinity. “Flowers don’t all look the same. We don’t say the tulip has to be exactly like the rose and exactly like the lily. We celebrate them and put them together in bouquets and admire the beauty they bring to the table. We recognize that they have different purposes. That’s how God made them.”

Richards’ grandparents left their families in Jamaica and moved to Canada to build a better life. “I live every day wanting to make them proud.

I see myself as walking on the visions of what they thought their family could be, of why they made the choice to leave everything they were familiar with and go to a better place.”

In addition to her role with the law school, Richards serves as chair of the University Diversity Council, which seeks to enhance practices related to the recruitment, retention, and promotion of a diverse community at Pepperdine and consults on diversity climate issues as they arise.

In August 2020 Richards was appointed to serve a four-year term on the State Bar of California Council on Access and Fairness in its efforts to strengthen its diversity goals, which include retention, career advancement, judicial diversity, and the pipeline to the legal profession.

Clean Bill of Health

3,092 ft. 166 of PLEXIGLASS installed on campuses

1,862 gal. of HAND SANITIZER distributed or stored

CLASSROOMS equipped with

HYBRID LECTURECAPTURE TECHNOLOGY

1.5 million DISINFECTANT WIPES ACQUIRED

APPROX.

APPROX.

Eagerly anticipating the day that students, faculty, and staff will return to learning and living on campus, the University has invested in a variety of health and safety measures to outfit its campuses with protective equipment.

35,000

FACE COVERINGS ACQUIRED

COVID-1 9 SIGNS P -RELATED RINTED

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Campus Notes SOUND BITES Explore a collection of some of the most notable moments from recent events held across the University.

C H AT T E R Although closed to the public, Pepperdine’s 13th annual Waves of Flags display commemorated the lives lost in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, with both a physical display and virtual reality tour.

“I challenge each and every one of us to muster the courage it takes to create a community of belonging, the courage to reach out and love each other through differences and disagreements, and through difficulties and disappointments, because that’s when the power to love is real.”

KATHY BARTON

Jim Gash (JD ’93), President and Chief Executive Officer, Pepperdine University

Praying for all those families and the brave and selfless first responders who gave their lives to help others.

EVENT: 82nd Annual Founder’s Day

“I encourage people to pick up the phone and call someone, to actually hear their voice and have that human connection. . . . There are still ways to use digital technology to bring us together, and [we can continue to] find ways to have human connection.”

Sharon Kopp, Chief Business Officer, PTK Capital Cofounder and Chief Operating Officer, Category41 EVENT: Navigating an Uncertain Future in Digital Media: Emerging Technologies Webinar

STEVEN MOCK (’03) 9/11 happened when I was in my sophomore year at Pepperdine.

Once our class graduated, I joined the army as soon as I could, and I’m still in. Rest assured, I’ll never forget.

“If you make city data easily accessible and consumable by anyone . . . companies will build products around it, and you can generate economic activity from that in your community. Data is the source for economic expansion in your community.”

@LILUB13 And this is one of the many reasons I love my school.

Jonathan Reichental, Chief Executive Officer, Human Future Author, Smart Cities for Dummies EVENT: Smart Cities: History and Technology Webinar

DID

YOU KNOW

On September 9, 2020, 214 worshippers gathered online during the Jericho Challenge: Prayer and Action for Racial Healing to pray and share Pepperdine’s plans for inclusion and belonging.

“9/11 was a defining moment for our nation and our military. The days ahead were different but filled with purpose and belonging. Thousands of young men and women would yet again answer their nation’s call to service, just as they continue to do today.”

Eric Leshinsky, Director, Student Veteran Affairs, Pepperdine University EVENT: 9/11 Memorial Service

FROM THE ARCHIVES Pepperdine University president M. Norvel Young introduces donors Charles Payson (second from left) and George Elkins to then governor Ronald Reagan and Nancy Reagan while Pat Boone (far left) looks on during the Birth of a College dinner held on February 9, 1970. Governor Reagan was the keynote speaker of the event that revealed plans for Pepperdine’s Malibu campus.

The event, which was held at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, California, was such a success that guests filled out an overflow ballroom at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Courtesy of Pepperdine Libraries Special Collections and Archives

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Headlines

Rick Marrs to Conclude Tenure as Pepperdine University Provost in 2021 Rick R. Marrs, who has served Pepperdine University as provost and chief academic officer since 2014, will conclude his tenure at the close of the 2020–2021 academic year. At the end of his service as provost, and following a yearlong sabbatical, Marrs will return to the faculty of the Seaver College Religion and Philosophy Division, where he began his tenure in 1987 and served as the Blanche E. Seaver Professor of Religion from 2001 to 2006.

“Rick Marrs’ leadership and vision as provost of the University and, previously, as dean of Seaver College, have made an indelible mark on the reputation and excellence of Pepperdine University,” said president Jim Gash. “His heroic investment in Pepperdine of his time, talent, heart, and passion for educating young leaders cannot be overstated. His wisdom, compassion, and experience have assisted me greatly in the past year, and I am deeply grateful that he will continue to serve in the months ahead as we finalize and launch our new University strategic plan. I thank him for his venerable years of service as provost and wish him well as he returns to his first love of teaching and scholarship at Pepperdine.”

Marrs began his tenure as provost of Pepperdine University on August 1, 2014. As chief academic officer, he has been responsible for the administration, coordination, and development of all academic activities and functions of the University, including issues of academic planning, program development, assessment, and the advancement of scholarship. Among his many contributions to Pepperdine’s academic enterprise, he led the search and hiring for the current deans of all five schools, each of which has increased its academic quality and reputation, and 258 full-time faculty have been hired during his time as provost.

“I have worked closely with Provost Marrs for more than 15 years, and he has always led by example,” said Lee Kats, vice provost of Pepperdine University and Frank R. Seaver Chair in Natural Science at Seaver College. “He cares passionately about teaching, research, and Pepperdine. I have always admired his optimism, his wisdom, his integrity, and his ability to articulate the important role of Christian higher education within the academy.”

Prior to becoming provost, Marrs served as the dean of Seaver College for six years, where he helped develop and implement the successful “Growing Seaver” initiative. Under his guidance, Seaver College saw historic increases in applications, expansion of academic programs, and enrichment of student life on campus. As a member of the faculty, Marrs was and continues to be regarded as an exceptional scholar of the Old Testament and the literature of the ancient Near East with knowledge of Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac, Phoenician, and Ugaritic, and in the study of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

“I have loved serving as provost of Pepperdine University,” said Marrs. “This role has given me the opportunity to enable and empower faculty to realize their academic goals and initiatives and to do my part in advancing the academic quality of a Pepperdine education.

However, I am now looking forward to returning to my first love—my own academic career as a faculty member at Seaver College. I look forward to working more closely with my colleagues in the Religion and Philosophy Division following my sabbatical.”

In preparation for Marrs’ transition, Pepperdine has begun a nationwide search to identify his successor and engaged an executive search firm as well as an internal search committee.

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Headlines Pepperdine Celebrates Founder’s Day 2020 Online On August 26, 2020, Pepperdine faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends gathered for a virtual Founder’s Day celebration via Livestream to commemorate the launch of the 2020–2021 academic year.

The ceremony began with a message from provost Rick R. Marrs, who celebrated founder George Pepperdine’s dream of Christian higher education and the purpose-driven servant leaders it has helped create and will create for generations to come. A tradition honored at each year’s event, newly appointed members of the Board of Regents Virginia Milstead (JD ’04), a prominent Los Angeles

ཁ Watch Founder’s Day 2020:

commercial litigation attorney, and Eric Johnson, the mayor of Dallas, read Pepperdine’s dedicatory address, which was first delivered at the dedication of George Pepperdine College on September 21, 1937.

Following an invocation by Pepperdine chancellor Sara Young Jackson (’74), president Jim Gash (JD ’93) shared how George Pepperdine’s words and actions continue to affirm the University’s vision and purpose 83 years later and reinforced the University’s commitment to fostering resilience, nurturing a culture of reconciliation and unity, and cultivating a community of belonging.

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Caruso School of Law Dean Paul L. Caron Makes Gift to Provide Relief for Students in Need Paul L. Caron, Duane and Kelly Roberts Dean of the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, and his wife, Courtney, made a $125,000 gift to help endow the Student Emergency Fund at Caruso Law. “Courtney and I have been moved by the difficulties faced by so many of our students during the pandemic. We were inspired by the recent news of Danielle Conway, dean of Penn State Dickinson Law, who made a $125,000 gift to her student emergency fund,” said Dean Caron. “We are enormously grateful for the opportunity to serve in these roles at Pepperdine and believe it is only right for us to try to live out the University’s commitment to Matthew 10:8, ‘Freely ye have received, freely give.’ We are especially pleased that our gift will help endow the Student Emergency Fund started by Alex Caruso (JD ’17) and Caelan Rottman (’14, JD ’18) when they were students.”

President Jim Gash (JD ’93), who expressed gratitude to the Caron family for their contribution, shared, “This generous and substantial gift from Paul and Courtney continues to demonstrate their outstanding and selfless dedication to our students.”

This is the second major gift the Carons have made to help students at Caruso Law in the past year. In November 2019, they were the first to make a $50,000 gift to the “50 for 50” scholarship campaign, which was created as part of the school’s 50th anniversary celebration.

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Roslyn Satchel Awarded Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center Fellowship On July 14, 2020, the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University announced Roslyn Satchel, Blanche E. Seaver Professor of Communication, as one of the center’s 2020–2021 fellowship recipients. The fellowship connects recipients to the center’s interdisciplinary scholar community to study how cyberspace interacts with society.

With the support of the fellowship, Satchel—whose research focuses on intimate partner violence, particularly in communities of faith as well as diversity and intersectionality in media, religion, and law—will study the influence of technology and media on resisting and/or reporting intimate partner violence. She will also analyze the COVID-19 pandemic policies and the resulting domestic abuse increases from such policies.

“During a moment in time when people worldwide are rising together to demand justice—racial, climate, economic, LGBTQIA+, gender, disability, immigrant, and beyond—it is our privilege to welcome such a dazzling chorus of voices to the center,” said Rebecca Tabasky, Berkman Klein Center’s director of community.

Pepperdine University Libraries Features Ebook Display on Racial Justice and Inequality To support learning around issues of racial justice and inequality, Pepperdine University Libraries has on display more than 100 ebooks featuring a range of titles available to current Pepperdine students, faculty, and staff.

Updated frequently, select current titles include The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehesi Coates, The Vanishing Half

by Brit Bennett, and Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business

Re-create Race in the Twenty-First Century by Dorothy Roberts.

“This excellent compilation of ebooks in support of racial justice and anti-racism is one facet of the libraries’ diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative,” said Mark Roosa, dean of Pepperdine Libraries. “We look forward to Pepperdine Libraries continuing this important work.”

Caruso School of Law Clinical Education Program Receives Funding to Continue Immigration and Asylum Project The Caruso School of Law has received generous funding to support rising 2L and 3L students interested in representing clients seeking asylum and humane immigration in the United States.

The project is a partnership with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA).

“The generous funding for stipends has been critical to the Caruso School of Law’s efforts to respond to rising needs for immigration and asylum advocacy in recent years,” said Jeffrey R. Baker, clinical professor of law and assistant dean of clinical education and global programs at the law school. “The stipends empower students to gain experience and expertise in these critical areas of law, and they expand our partner lawyers’ ability to represent vulnerable clients. Immigrants and people seeking asylum in the US have profound need for able legal representation, and our students and partners at LAFLA are rising to the moment.”

Since 2018, 10 students have benefited from the stipend-funded positions. The renewed funding will provide many more students with opportunities to advance access to justice for clients, expand and improve LAFLA’s capacity to meet this critical need, provide invaluable experiences in the field, and advance students’ professional development and expertise in this practice area.

Under the expert supervision and leadership of LAFLA senior attorney Brigit Alvarez, law students will work with clients applying for asylum, those intent on keeping their lawful permanent residency, domestic violence victims seeking protection under the Violence Against Women Act, families seeking to obtain status under the U visa as victims of violent crime, and survivors of human trafficking.

Students will work directly with clients performing client intakes, drafting legal briefs and motions, and appearing in court as co-counsel.

Ellie Monobe Named Head Coach of Women’s Swimming and Diving Pepperdine Athletics named Ellie Monobe as the fourth full-time head coach in the history of women’s swimming and diving at Pepperdine. Monobe was previously the associate head coach at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

“Ellie brings incredible experiences, both as a studentathlete and as an accomplished coach, to her new role in leading our women’s swim and dive program,” said Steve Potts (JD ’82), director of athletics. “Her commitments to the overall development of each of the young women on our team and to building a strong team culture of trust and respect were the major factors in our decision.”

Monobe takes over a Pepperdine program that has earned two consecutive second-place finishes at the Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Conference Championships, matching the best results in school history, and has sent nine swimmers to the National Invitational Championships the past two seasons.

“I’d like to thank Steve Potts, president Jim Gash, and the senior athletic staff for entrusting me with this incredible opportunity to lead the Pepperdine women’s swimming and diving program,” Monobe said. “I am honored and excited to bring my passion for swimming and to build upon the Pepperdine legacy. With the academic and athletic prestige that Pepperdine offers, I look forward to building upon the student-athlete experience and collaborating with these strong women.”

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Features

T

his year, in the midst of perhaps the biggest global health challenge people all over the world will experience in their lifetimes, we have collectively witnessed the countless contributions of healthcare professionals who not only care deeply about the health and well-being of their communities, but also dedicate their time and resources to ensure it.

These individuals have sacrificed their safety for the greater good, demonstrated their dedication to supporting the most vulnerable, and used their skill to innovate in their fields long before today’s public health crisis became a global issue.

From physicians and first responders to nurses and caretakers to biotech leaders, public health advisors, and mental wellness warriors, inspiring Pepperdine alumni are imagining patient care beyond traditional methods, challenging industry norms, and shifting strategies in an industry that continues to evolve. Selected from a diverse group of Pepperdine healthcare professionals who were nominated by their friends, family, and peers, discover how these Waves approach the meaning of healthcare and the role they play in redefining how it will have an impact on generations to come.

See each honoree’s full responses: pepperdine.edu/outstanding-alumni-in-healthcare Excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.

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Ryan Arnold (’98)

Steven C. Bilt (MBA ’01, PKE 106)

Emergency Medicine Physician

Cottage Health System

Ryan Arnold took a nontraditional path to medicine, transitioning during his junior year at Pepperdine from considering a future in marine biology to one focused on healthcare. After graduating from Pepperdine, Arnold completed a master’s program at Boston University and went on to receive his medical degree from Loma Linda University, completing his speciality training in emergency medicine at Cooper University Hospital. He continued to work in academic medicine and developed a clinical research program addressing the care of critically ill patients with sepsis in the emergency department. More than 10 years ago, Arnold developed the Resuscitation Science Internship program for premedical students at Pepperdine, incorporating students in ongoing clinical trial efforts within the emergency department and providing them with real-world exposure to clinical medicine in acute care settings.

Challenge to Lesson

I work in a field in which providers are unfortunately exposed to death on a regular basis, and I will never forget the first patient that I had who died despite our efforts to save them. While I was still in training and grappling with the science of the patient’s illness and death, my interaction and counseling of the patient’s family members after their loss showed me how important it was to be there for them at their worst hour and to never forget the lives that are touched, in so many ways, through our care.

Martha Molina Bernadett (MBA ’01, PKE 105) Chief Executive Officer and Board Chair

The Molina Foundation

Martha Molina Bernadett’s career has evolved from direct patient care as a family physician in a rural town to leading research, innovation, and digital transformation at a Fortune 500 health plan. The experience of caring directly for the poorest and most vulnerable patients and their families helped her to identify issues that needed to be addressed to improve the health of individuals and communities. Her work later as a health plan executive allowed her to address these issues on a policy level. That included work with major nonprofits and agencies, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Governors Association, and First5.

Along the way Bernadett became involved with philanthropic and humanitarian efforts focused on youth and families, including the founding of a national nonprofit dedicated to reducing disparities in access to education and health. Her professional work went hand in hand with efforts to address the root problems of illiteracy and lack of numeracy and basic math skills that prevent many people from understanding and following instructions necessary to care for themselves or their families. She has worked with Plain Language initiatives addressing doctor-patient communication in English and more than 20 languages and consulted for health systems, hospitals, and municipalities that struggled with the challenges of caring for limited-English speaking, economically diverse populations.

Chief Executive Officer

Smile Brands, Inc.

What does this recognition mean to you?

Being recognized by Pepperdine, given its history of deep purpose, is truly touching.

To me, the most important part of my role is creating access to care for people who otherwise may not or could not have it. I very much appreciate Pepperdine for taking note of our progress in that regard.

Success Story

I began on the financial side, but I was always in the healthcare arena.

I had a chance to take over a small dental turnaround coming from the chief financial officer position just as I was beginning the Pepperdine PKE program. The timing was auspicious as the program gave me the opportunity and guidance to dig into every aspect of the business and effect change in its trajectory.

Challenge to Lesson

Our current COVID-19 crisis and social unrest have provided unlimited lessons. Chief among them are to always bring people along on the journey and to always continue moving forward no matter how difficult and halting the steps may become.

Jeffrey Brookman (’72) Physician

Southern Nevada Veterans Administration Healthcare Growing up in the row houses of South Philadelphia, Jeffrey Brookman lived in a close-knit community of Italian residents with sprinklings of Jewish families like his. At the age of 10, Brookman observed doctors making house calls to visit his ailing grandmother and was in awe of the comfort and reassurance they gave her beyond prescriptions and medical procedures.

After years of successful medical practice, Brookman joined the United States Navy Reserve and was assigned to the Marine Corps. When the Marines were sent to Somalia for Operation Restore Hope, Brookman joined the humanitarian medical mission where he led teams of doctors, nurses, and corpsmen who had limited medical supplies to treat people ravaged by disease and starvation, most of whom had never seen a doctor in their lifetimes. Brookman also led the Marine Corps medical team in Iraq following the September 11 attacks.

“Today, when I have a difficult case to work with in my spinal cord clinic or when treating a difficult diagnosis, I thank God for the wherewithal we have in our country to treat patients and the amazing facilities we have to work in. I remind myself every day, sometimes every hour, that being a doctor for me is not a job or a career—it is a mission and a ministry.”

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Features

Thema Bryant-Davis (MDiv ’16)

Lori Cardle (MBA ’13)

Professor of Psychology

Valley Presbyterian Hospital

Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology After completing her graduate degree in psychology at Duke University and master of divinity at Pepperdine, Bryant-Davis used her passion and expertise to serve as a bridge between communities of faith and mental health professionals. Throughout her career, she has represented the American Psychological Association to the United Nations, been honored by the California Psychological Association as Scholar of the Year, and been recognized by the Institute of Violence, Abuse, and Trauma for her work mentoring emerging trauma psychologists.

This summer Bryant-Davis was awarded the International Psychology Award for her contributions to the psychology of women across the globe, especially her work with women in Africa and the African diaspora. Bryant-Davis also launched the mental health podcast, Homecoming, which focuses on the healing journey back home to our authentic, sacred selves.

Success Story

My road to success was built on my willingness to move through doors that were opened through my curiosity and tenacity and supported by my bosses and mentors.

What was your first job?

I worked a newspaper route when I was nine.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

I think and have been told I would make a good lawyer. I would also like to attempt something creative, like flower arranging.

What is your mantra or favorite quote?

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” —Will Durant

What is one of your favorite hobbies?

I enjoy being active outdoors and hanging out with my husband and dog.

Katherine Niederer Cahill (’03) Medical Director of Asthma Clinical Research and Assistant Professor of Medicine

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

During her fellowship in allergy and immunology, Katherine Cahill developed a research interest in adult-onset asthma, investigating the innate immune mechanisms that drive airway inflammation. Employing translational research techniques, she now investigates how a variety of drugs, repurposed for asthma care, reduce airway inflammation.

After five years on the faculty at Harvard Medical School, Cahill was recruited to Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center as the medical director of clinical asthma research.

While in Boston, Cahill and her husband learned about medical mission trips to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and the medical challenges the communities there face. The revelations laid the foundations for the Addis Clinic, now a 503c nonprofit that addresses healthcare inequity and the limited healthcare resources in the developing world with a focus on telemedicine and training healthcare workers to improve the quality of care for patients in low-resource settings around the world.

How has Pepperdine played a role in your success?

The research experience I gained in the laboratory of Jay Brewster and the resulting publication opened doors to medical school, residency, and even fellowship interviews. It was where I first experienced the joy and excitement of a novel research finding and honed a desire to perform patient-focused research.

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William Dougherty (’92) Chief Information Security Officer

Omada Health, Inc.

Challenge to Lesson

I’ve worked for some great companies, but prior to Omada, none of them had a truly world-changing mission. Omada was founded to tackle one of the biggest challenges in healthcare: the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes. It’s a population health problem that can only be addressed at scale by the types of digital health solutions we have built. Having a clear, meaningful mission and a strong, inclusive culture are core to our success and growth.

What’s next for you?

I intend to continue focusing on digital health, and specifically working with my company and our partners to fundamentally improve how health information is protected. Healthcare is the single-most breached industry, and those lapses in security create a significant barrier to people receiving the best care possible. I intend to be part of the solution.

What is your mantra or favorite quote?

“Aut inveniam viam aut faciam,” which translates to “I shall find a way or make one.”

What is one of your favorite hobbies?

Photography. At Pepperdine, I worked all four years on the Graphic.

Nicole Durden (MPP ’07)

Shawn Farrokhi (’00)

Chief Operating Officer

Facility Research Director

SonoSim, Inc.

At Pelagique, a startup incubator initially focused on innovating military medical education, Nicole Durden and her team identified scalable ways to train military physicians on lessons learned from Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. That led to the commercialization of the SonoSim Ultrasound Training Solution, a laptop-based integrated ultrasound training platform that aimed to provide an “anytimeanywhere” solution for comprehensive ultrasound training.

Now, after almost 10 years at SonoSim, Durden’s team creates educational opportunities for healthcare providers around the world, developing novel products that change the way physicians, residents, and students learn. SonoSim supports the healthcare community by providing ultrasound education and training, particularly as bedside ultrasound has proven to be an extremely useful tool in assessing clinical complications from COVID-19.

Challenge to Lesson

Becoming a chief operating officer at 36 years old is a journey that has taught me many valuable lessons, such as the importance of self-advocacy and of pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone.

To my female colleagues: don’t ever be afraid to be the only woman in the room.

Department of Defense, Veterans Administration Extremity Trauma and Amputation Center of Excellence Success Story

The direct link between success and education was instilled in me from an early age by my parents. Education helped me view the world differently and refined my values and goals for success, and it all started here at Pepperdine. With every educational opportunity (one undergraduate and three graduate degrees), a new door opened up for me and the path to success became clearer. The culmination of these experiences has led me to my current job as a clinical scientist dedicated to improving the quality of life for our service members and veterans with limb injury and amputation. For me, the job is a dream come true. There is no better feeling than helping those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the very freedom that we enjoy every day.

What’s next for you?

My goals for the future are to continue to lean in and lift up those around me so that we can continue to make a difference together.

Moving forward, my goals also include training the next generation of physical therapists to become indispensable members of the healthcare community dedicated to helping others in need.

Michael M. Edelstein (MBA ’88)

David Feinberg (MBA ’02, PKE 107)

Retired Radiologist and Nuclear Medicine Physician

Google Health

Michael Edelstein was the first interventional radiologist in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles and the first to perform many state-of-theart noninvasive procedures. Edelstein is a fellow of the American College of Radiology and American College of Nuclear Medicine and has worked extensively with many professional organizations, including the Radiological Society of North America, California Medical Society, and California Radiological Society, among others.

As an educator, Edelstein has served as a faculty member at Hospital Universitario de Cartagena, the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.

He has taught residents and fellows at Wadsworth Veterans Hospital, the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, and Olive View-UCLA Medical Center and lectured on the business of radiology at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He has also mentored students at the Graziadio Business School for many years, served as a member of its board, and established and chaired the school’s Los Angeles alumni chapter following his graduation.

Vice President Success Story

My path started at home with parents that instilled important values of learning, integrity, hard work, and having an open heart. I was drawn to medicine because it combined science and human connection. Ultimately, a career as a child and adolescent psychiatrist allowed me to help children and their families improve their trajectories when mental illness struck. As I transitioned to various leadership roles, I remained focused on making sure that those of us in healthcare explain things in ways that patients and families can understand. I have continued to work to make sure that the care that is delivered is safe, accessible, equitable, high quality, culturally sensitive, and most of all, compassionate. When people come to Google for information, our goal is to make sure they get authoritative information and are able to take the next needed step to improve their health and the health of their loved ones.

How has Pepperdine played a role in your success?

Pepperdine taught me how to be present. I learned that I needed to stop dreaming about the next job. I learned that my “dream job” was the one that I was doing.

In 2015 Edelstein experienced a cerebrovascular accident, an event he is chronicling in his book, A Doctor’s Journey Through Strokeland.

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Features

Thomas A. Fessler (JD ’83)

Paul Giboney (’92)

Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel

Associate Chief Medical Officer

VSP Global

Los Angeles County Department of Health Services

What does this recognition mean to you?

What does this recognition mean to you?

This recognition reinforces my decision to join VSP Global in 2006 and enter the healthcare industry for the first time in my professional career of more than 25 years.

Success Story

My road to success involved taking career risks, such as accepting a foreign assignment, learning a second language, pursuing a nonlegal business role, and working in a different industry. There is no substitute for experience.

Challenge to Lesson

Learn to be humble and act as a steward to the stakeholders you serve, represent, or lead.

What was your first job?

At age 14, I worked after school as a stock boy at a small shoe store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Pepperdine has contributed to the growth of many amazing healthcare leaders over the years because the University emphasizes the importance of Christian service lived out in every aspect of our lives—in our careers, in our churches, in our families, and in our communities—both locally and globally. The field of healthcare in particular provides Pepperdine alumni the opportunity to serve in some of the most significant moments of people’s lives. That is our sacred duty and honor.

How has Pepperdine played a role in your success?

I benefited from the training and mentorship of some great Pepperdine professors like Dwayne Simmons (’80), Steve Davis, and Lee Kats, who invested in me both academically and personally. They, along with others, prepared me both intellectually and morally for the rigors of medical school and subsequent training.

What is your mantra or favorite quote?

“My concern is not whether God is on my side, but whether I am on God’s side, for God is always right.” —Abraham Lincoln

John Figueroa (MBA ’97)

Jean Hartley (’16)

Founder and Chief Executive Officer

Neonatal Intensive Care Nurse

Carepathrx

What does this recognition mean to you?

Serving in healthcare in the year of the COVID-19 pandemic forced our company to enhance our services to deliver critically needed medications to people outside of typical healthcare locations. We modified our technology, resources, and people to connect with patients directly and to provide healthcare services at their home or through telemedicine/telepharmacy. This honor really is recognition for the amazing job my team performed in this time of crisis.

Success Story

I have been in the healthcare industry for more than 30 years and began my journey to finding optimal and seamless avenues to improve patient outcomes despite the sometimes cumbersome business of healthcare. I recently started a new company, Carepathrx, focused on developing the first-ever end-to-end comprehensive pharmacy solution within the hospital and entire health system pharmacy supply chain. Our company empowers the hospital and health system to provide direct pharmacy needs in areas like specialty, infusion, and chronic illness medications directly to the patient’s home once they leave the hospital care setting. In our first year of operation, we have increased the quality of care for patients, reduced cost in the system, and improved the financial health of the hospital.

How has Pepperdine played a role in your success?

I have tremendous regard for the University and have continued my involvement through the years as a longtime board member of the Graziadio Business School, guest lecturer, and founder/moderator of the Future of Healthcare Symposium.

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The Johns Hopkins Hospital Challenge to Lesson

In my two years as a neonatal intensive care unit nurse, I have witnessed much heartbreak and suffering through my patients and their families. Nurses are afforded the beautiful opportunity to meet families in the midst of what may be their darkest days. I think our human response is sometimes to refrain from fully exposing ourselves to the painful situations of other people, but, alongside caretakers everywhere, I’ve explored the alternative—jumping into the chaos and fear and doubt and horror of it all with people I’ve just met and trusting that God will meet us there.

What’s next for you?

I’d like to explore nursing abroad, mostly to see how other countries and cultures approach end-of-life care for neonates with terminal diagnoses. I want families who are faced with these impossible decisions to feel supported in every way, and I’ve got a lot to learn to get there. One day I’d like to be a palliative care advocate and speak to audiences about how we can improve these unique situations to provide the very best care to our youngest people in their final days and moments.

David Hebert (JD ’82)

Timothy B. Jang (’95)

Chief Executive Officer

Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine

American Association of Nurse Practitioners Following his graduation from the Caruso School of Law, David Hebert found himself on Capitol Hill. Serving as a legislative director for a member of Congress, healthcare issues became part of his growing portfolio. Throughout his career, Hebert focused on the intersection of healthcare and policy as a healthcare lobbyist and, later, the director of government affairs for the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists and head of its Washington office.

Years later, Hebert became the chief of staff of House majority whip Roy Blunt, which gave him a front-row seat to the development of healthcare policy. Hebert was on the House floor during the early morning hours when Medicare Part D was passed by the House.

He later worked as a healthcare lobbyist handling both legislative and regulatory issues as part of the firm’s healthcare practice, as senior vice president for government affairs at the American Health Care Association, and as CEO for the American College of Nurse Practitioners (ACNP). A few weeks into the job, the ACNP was approached by the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) to merge. Several months later the merger was completed, and Hebert became the CEO of the new combined organization in 2013. Since then he has worked to expand the public persona of the nation’s largest organization representing America’s nurse practitioners and led the development of the new AANP headquarters in Austin, Texas.

Harbor-UCLA Medical Center Challenge to Lesson

I’ve learned that despite the advances of science and the best technology, people still need God and the sense of mystery that comes from being known by the one who made the world and sustains life through the chaos.

What’s next for you?

I’ve been working with the Christian Medical and Dental Association to create guidelines for churches during the current COVID-19 pandemic and am part of a multicenter study looking at COVID-19 in patients presenting to the emergency department. I hope to continue serving at the intersection of faith, science, and medicine to both serve God and mankind. I was going to serve Muslim refugees displaced by violence in the Middle East, but my trip got cancelled due to COVID-19, so I hope I can do that in 2021.

What historical or modern-day leader do you admire and why?

Kent Brantly. As a Christian doctor, he served ebola patients in West Africa. Then, when he contracted ebola, he refused treatment so that it could be given to others first. He reminds me of the best in Christianity and medicine because he knows how to serve others and didn’t allow fear or the temptation for self-protection to keep the treatment from going where it was needed the most.

Nancy C. Hunter (MBA ’06)

Elan Javanfard (MA ’13)

Head of Commercial

Division Director of Residential and Substance Use Services

Bluebird Bio GmbH

Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services

How has Pepperdine played a role in your success?

Pepperdine played a foundational role not only through the education itself, the experiences, inspiration, and values I took with me, but also through the alumni I count as close friends. I’ve been working in an international environment for nine years, with six of those years in Switzerland. Studying abroad in the United Kingdom and China gave me the opportunity to put my global MBA into practice.

I remember a Pepperdine professor encouraging me to “actively choose the type of person you want to be in business” during a conversation about executive choices and behavior in high-pressure situations. Ultimately, leadership and living a life guided by your core values and ethics is both meaningful and fulfilling on a personal and professional level.

What’s next for you?

Challenges remain for women in business. The next generation needs access to tools and conversations earlier than they were made available to me. I recently started a scholarship for high school women going into STEM fields, with an added emphasis on women’s studies and women’s literature. It has been a great pleasure to recently award a young woman from my hometown in Montana with the first scholarship.

Challenge to Lesson

The most challenging time in my career is the present. With all the adjustments needed to provide clinical care during the COVID-19 pandemic, there are two lessons that I am continuing to learn: how to be flexible with change and resilient during difficult times. COVID-19 took away many of our natural coping skills. The only constant is change, and proactively responding to change will shape our future.

What’s next for you?

My continued goal is to reduce the stigma of mental illness, particularly within my personal cultural groups, Jewish and Iranian.

Longer term, my goal is to support the creation of specialized clinics for these populations in ways that continue to reduce stigma and provide culturally competent care. Furthermore, because Los Angeles County suffers tremendously from a lack of residential mental health services for the most acute and chronic populations, I hope to continue to support the struggle of homelessness by advocating for more funding and parity for safe living treatment environments for everyone.

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Features

Joy Jones (MBA ’18, PKE 139)

Anahita Kia (JD ’02, MA ’12)

Chief Executive Officer and Founder

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Clinical Supervisor, Adjunct Professor of Psychology

Whole Village Health

What does this recognition mean to you?

My job as a physician has taken on new meaning in light of the current pandemic.

I have realized the great honor, and risk, involved in this work. This year has been particularly harrowing as the vast majority of my patients reside on the fringes of society. They are those who are experiencing homelessness, ex-convicts, the mentally ill, the traumatized, and the chronically ill. The current destabilization we are all feeling seems to be more pronounced in these communities.

Although it can be emotionally taxing work, there is nothing else I would rather do.

Who has helped you achieve success in your career?

When I consider the contributors to my success, I think of a medical school janitor who would allow me to work in the lab after closing hours. I think of my patients whose struggles with HIV and meth addiction remind me that we are all fighting unseen battles and to extend the grace to myself. I think of the many people that came before me, who looked just like me and had similar dreams, but were never allowed to manifest them. I am a composite of all of these individuals, and many more.

What’s next for you?

My focus is building Whole Village Health, a global wellness firm that uses technology, art, social media, and health education to address wellness and health-equity issues in vulnerable communities. I am currently broadening my reach by pivoting into more telemedicine and investing in cutting-edge methods that can be used to infuse healing into everyday life.

Bounmany Kyle Keojampa (’01) Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon

Keojampa MD Facial Plastic Surgery

After the completion of his surgical training in otolaryngology, head and neck surgery, and facial plastic surgery at Boston University School of Medicine, Bounmany Kyle Keojampa served as a clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School and clinical assistant professor of surgery at Boston University School of Medicine for five years. He also served as the surgical team leader on an annual international humanitarian medical mission with the Lao Rehabilitation Foundation to provide surgical care and training for cleft lip and palate and facial reconstructive surgery in rural Laos.

Keojampa’s current practice focus is craniofacial plastic surgery, treating patients with facial deformities, facial gender surgery, and reconstructive surgery after facial trauma.

How has Pepperdine played a role in your success?

My experience with Pepperdine’s international program in Catacamas, Honduras, helped to foster my career in medicine. I experienced firsthand a humanitarian medical mission. I was able to study medical Spanish and volunteered at medical clinics to provide healthcare to the local population. My experience in Honduras has stuck with me and is one of the reasons for my continued involvement with international humanitarian medical missions today.

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Private Practice of Anahita Kia and Pepperdine University

Anahita Kia began her professional career as an attorney, practicing law for eight years in the areas of criminal law, litigation, and entertainment.

Having grown up in a creative and musical family, she stayed connected to her artistic roots and spent much of her time painting and writing songs and, later, selling her artwork, publishing albums, and licensing her songs for television and film. Even while in law school, Kia knew that she was deeply interested in studying psychology and, after years in the legal field, ultimately decided to pursue a new career. Nine years later, Kia is a practicing licensed marriage and family therapist and continues to create art and produce music.

Harnessing both her legal and creative backgrounds, she treats attorneys, medical professionals, and business professionals, as well as artists, musicians, and innovators experiencing such issues as anxiety, panic, addiction, depression, trauma, and work-specific problems, such as burnout, bullying, and sexual harassment. Because of her interest in working with trauma survivors, she became a certified counselor for survivors of domestic violence, as well as a certified counselor for survivors of sexual assault.

Brandon Lee (’09) Chief of Emergency Medicine/ Emergency Physician

United States Army and Southern California Permanente Medical Group Brandon Lee enlisted in the United States army in 2006 and as a combat medic during Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2006 to 2007. In Iraq, Lee discovered his passion for emergency medicine and started working toward his dream of becoming an emergency physician. He resumed his education at Pepperdine at the conclusion of his deployment and completed his medical degree in New York and residency through the Army in Tacoma, Washington, and Augusta, Georgia, in 2018. He currently serves in the army as the chief of emergency medicine at Weed Army Community Hospital in Fort Irwin, California. His most recent deployment was as an emergency physician for the Army Field Hospital and Special Forces Ground Surgical Team in Syria, Jordan, and Iraq in 2019.

How has Pepperdine played a role in your success?

Pepperdine provided me with a high-quality education and instilled in me a passion to serve the community through programs such as Project Serve where I participated in the Guatemala medical mission trip. This trip also fostered my passion to pursue medicine as a career.

Beth Lopez (MBA ’13) Director of Ambulatory Care Services

Kaiser Permanente Success Story

I started my nursing career as a new graduate in an adult oncology unit where cancer patients receive diagnostics and treatment. I learned how difficult it is to lose a loved one. I mastered the ability to give a meaningful hug and learned the importance of listening. I moved to gastroenterology, a specialty devoted to diagnosing and treating disorders affecting the digestive system.

I saw firsthand the importance of colon cancer screening and how a 30-minute colonoscopy saves lives by identifying and removing polyps before they become cancerous. I moved to a level-1 trauma center and cared for those who sustained injuries in car accidents, gunshot wounds, and multiple stab wounds. I was in awe of the powerful bond police officers have with their partners, seeing their dedication when they wake up from an unconscious state and ask before anything else, “Is my partner okay?” Most importantly, I discovered unquestionable teamwork during acute lifesaving measures. Eventually, I went into management where I have been able to share my experiences with others. I enjoy teaching and mentoring and watching staff grow in their competence and confidence.

How has Pepperdine played a role in your success?

Pepperdine’s executive MBA program exposed me to real entrepreneurs who, like me, did not work in the corporate world. I had exceptional professors who taught me a new way of thinking, outside the sometimes algorithmic healthcare field box. The program gave me the skill set to invent and patent (currently patent pending) a microbe scanning device that will scan hands and, in some cases, auto-open doors once hands are deemed clean.

Carl McKnight (PsyD ’00) Clinical Psychologist

United States Department of Veterans Affairs What does this recognition mean to you?

Resilience and optimism are critical traits for navigating the bumpy road to success.

Ben Texter (’06)

Kati Morton (’06, MA ’09) Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and YouTube Creator

Happyable Inc.

Success Story

While earning my master’s degree at Pepperdine, I worked at a local eating disorder clinic and realized just how misunderstood mental illnesses were. I decided to use YouTube to share my knowledge about eating disorders and their treatment with the world so that more people could understand it. The video content I created expanded as my audience grew. For the past eight years, I have dedicated my time and education to helping break down the stigma associated with mental illness and encouraging those suffering to reach out and get help. Our community grows every day, and we recently surpassed one million subscribers.

What historical or modern-day leader do you admire and why?

Jocelyn Bell Burnell, an Irish astrophysicist who discovered the pulsar star. Even though she didn’t receive the credit at the time, she kept doing what she loved.

It is an unexpected honor that acknowledges the many individuals and institutions who have helped me along the way. It is also an affirmation of never giving up and following your destiny, no matter where it leads.

Who has helped you achieve success in your career?

My dissertation advisor, David Foy, was instrumental. As an expert in the field of traumatic stress and one of the original authors of the PTSD diagnosis, his mentorship provided the groundwork for successfully working with a variety of underserved populations experiencing trauma.

What is your mantra or favorite quote?

“Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved.”

—Gabriel Marcel

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Features

Kori D. Novak (MBA ’00)

Ben Texter (’06)

Chief Executive Officer

Cofounder

Toiyabe Indian Health Project

Following a stint in the field of health insurance, which informed her sense of how and why things work on the payor side of healthcare, Kori Novak worked with elders and in hospice, caring for both the living and the dying. After completing her PhD, where she concentrated on aging and dying in prison, she focused her advocacy on prison hospice programs. During her postdoctoral work at the Stanford School of Medicine, she focused on ethnogeriatrics in the prison population for many years until she returned home to care for her own dying mother.

After her mother’s passing, Novak continued her advocacy for underserved groups as the CEO of health and human services for the Karuk Tribe in Northern California. She later moved into her current role to serve as the CEO for the Toiyabe Indian Health Project in Eastern California to enhance healthcare delivery to indigenous populations.

What’s next for you?

I would like to do more speaking on the power of hospice and how we can overcome the fear of dying through empathy. I am working on books around those subjects, and I want to start a national conversation about aging and dying. But, most of all, I want to fulfill what God has planned for me.

Dee Anna Smith (’86) Chief Executive Officer

Sarah Cannon

Dee Anna Smith is the CEO of Sarah Cannon, the Cancer Institute of HCA Healthcare. Since 2006 she has been unifying a workforce of specialists across the US and UK who are actively changing the way cancer care is delivered to hundreds of thousands of patients annually. By focusing on advancing cancer treatments, Smith’s organization has contributed to the research efforts of more than 80 percent of the approved cancer therapies over the past 10 years.

Guided by her faith, Smith has always had a passion for helping those in need. In 2017 she was recognized by Nashville-based Operation Andrew as a Rodgers Award recipient for her commitment to creating connections and removing barriers within faith communities. In 2013 she was named a Health Care Hero by the Nashville Business Journal and received the Heroes of Business Award from Lipscomb University. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and American Society of Clinical Oncology, serves on the Nashville Health Care Council, and is board chair of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. In August 2019 Smith became the first Pepperdine graduate and woman to be named chair of the Pepperdine Board of Regents.

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Digital Health Strategies Success Story

I started my career working for a startup that imported electric cars from China. We were the first company to import a streetlegal Chinese vehicle that was allowed on US roads. While that path didn’t ultimately work out for me, I learned that I love working in complex, highly regulated industries. I also learned to love taking risks and embraced my own entrepreneurial spirit during my days working at the electric car company. Resilience and optimism are critical traits for navigating the bumpy road to success.

Challenge to Lesson

When my dad was in his final days, I learned that humor can get me through the toughest and most challenging times. I now use humor intentionally to get me through hard times, both professionally and personally.

Who has helped you achieve success in your career?

My mom and dad have been so supportive of all of the risks I’ve taken. My uncle has also had a big impact on my life. He started one of the largest publicly traded hospital corporations in America without a college degree.

Amy Towner (MBA ’18, PKE 139) Chief Executive Officer

Health Care Foundation for Ventura County What does this recognition mean to you?

I am fortunate to have cofounded a public benefit nonprofit corporation that leverages public and private investments to enhance and augment the public safety net healthcare system. This recognition means that I am simply reflecting the amazing people around me—county employees and leadership, my board of directors, our community, the Larraine Segil Exceptional Women Awardees, and the members of my Pepperdine family who embody mission-centered servant leadership.

How has Pepperdine played a role in your success?

Education is a gift that can never be taken away from you. A Pepperdine education is delivered by accomplished businesspeople who foster building Best for the World leaders. My education has provided me with a board of directors for life—a network of Pepperdine brothers and sisters in education who support, nurture, and cultivate positive growth in the world.

Jerrod D. Writt (’01)

Andrew Weathers (‘98, MPP ’00) Contracts Management Unit Chief, World Trade Center Health Program

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention What does this recognition mean to you?

This honor goes to all of the individuals in healthcare who work tirelessly to assure frontline healthcare workers have what they need to provide the best care to every individual. It is for the people I work with in the World Trade Center Health Program who serve the 100,000 individuals who live with the physical and mental health effects of 9/11 every day. It is for my fellow Pepperdine graduates who are instrumental in creating innovative ways of doing healthcare in a COVID-19 world.

Challenge to Lesson

In 2011 I traveled several times to different regions of Africa as well as Central and South America. My wife, Helen, spent most of that year in Afghanistan as a forensic science officer for the US military. We were blessed to have family and friends help with our children while we were both away, but a looming health problem and the logistics of arranging care became more burdensome than I could bear. I needed to change the direction I was going and leave something I truly loved or risk my long-term health and ability to support my family. It was only through the grace of God that I found an email sitting in front of me one morning about a position with the World Trade Center Health Program. It was a chance for me to join a small group of people to serve a population very near to my heart. I had to learn that sometimes you have to step away from things you really love for your own wellbeing. If you place your trust in God, those next steps for you can be even more rewarding.

Family Medicine Physician

The Permanente Medical Group Success Story

I spent my time after graduation working in a hospital lab as well as a local pharmacy as I prepared to apply to medical school. Like I did while I was at Pepperdine, I did my best to serve the underserved during that time. These experiences allowed me to get into the PRIME-LC program at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine and subsequently the Paul Merage School of Business. Throughout my graduate education, I tried to make service the foundation of everything I did. I was lucky enough to train in East Los Angeles at White Memorial Medical Center where I continued to work with the underserved Latino community. I now work for the Permanente Medical Group as a family medicine physician in the Salud en Español clinic in downtown Sacramento. I work as an outpatient clinic physician, as a hospitalist, and as an adjunct clinical professor for the Greater Sacramento Valley Family Medicine Residency.

Who has helped you achieve success in your career?

Michael Feltner was the first professor at Pepperdine that made me think that I could do whatever I wanted to. He congratulated my successes and challenged me to do better. Laurie Nelson was also very supportive and instrumental in my admission into medical school. More than anything, the support of my mom and dad and my two brothers has been pivotal in my success. The lessons I learned at home set me on the path for success, and Pepperdine helped me continue down that road.

Lance L. Yuen (MBA ’87) Asia-Pacific President, Bayer Consumer Health

Bayer Healthcare LLC

What does this recognition mean to you?

Being an honoree recognizes not only myself but everyone who is passionate about contributing to better healthcare.

Lance L. Yuen (MBA ’87)

The campaign is a great way to highlight how important good health is to our lives and how people can make a difference in a variety of ways. Being an honoree recognizes not only myself but everyone who is passionate about contributing to better healthcare. I’m proud as an honoree to represent my colleagues and partners who work hard every day striving to make the vision of a healthy world for all a reality.

Challenge to Lesson

That persistence can overcome challenges is something I learned while transitioning from Pepperdine into my professional career. As graduation approached I tried repeatedly to get interviewed by a wellrespected company. I wrote and called them over many months but received only rejection letters. Finally, a new counselor to Pepperdine (who had experience working with this company’s recruiters) helped me contact someone at the company who was impressed by my determination and included me in their recruiting process at a nearby school. This was the break I needed, and starting my career with this company opened up many professional opportunities.

What is one of your favorite hobbies?

I like to golf. I enjoy being outside in nature and appreciate the exercise of playing the game. Golf also encourages me to try new things to keep learning and improving. Most of all, playing with my friends and family makes the time special and the stories priceless.

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JUSTICE for

ALL In her new role as the first executive director of the newly established Los Angeles Department of Civil and Human Rights, Capri Maddox (JD ’01) will work to ensure that all Angelenos live free of discrimination

BY GAREEN DARAKJIAN

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Features

IN FEBRUARY OF THIS YEAR, Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti appointed Capri Maddox, former senior advisor to city attorney Mike Feuer, to be the first executive director of the Los Angeles Department of Civil and Human Rights. Under Maddox’s leadership, the department—the first of its kind—is tasked with protecting anyone who lives, works in, or visits the City of Los Angeles from discrimination. The department will investigate complaints of discrimination and initiate remedial action against those who deny equal treatment to individuals in private employment, housing, education, or commercial settings—the areas that the department oversees.

Maddox, an attorney who has served the City of Los Angeles for almost two decades, previously led the L.A. Board of Public Works, created the city’s foster care diversion program, and was the executive director of partnerships for the Los Angeles Unified School District. In her new role, Maddox will combine her lifelong passion for justice and desire to protect the rights of all individuals to strengthen the city’s response to inequality and build new partnerships to protect Angelenos from injustice. Here, she shares her outlook on the department’s greatest goals and challenges and the ways in which she hopes to make an impact on the city’s diverse population.

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How did this role come about and what do you hope to achieve in your new position?

When this role was initially considered, the City of Los Angeles was responding to a number of reported incidents of discrimination that caught the attention of activist groups such as the Los Angeles Black Worker Center and the UCLA Labor Center.

These groups were interested in representation to assist and accelerate the justice process for individuals who were wronged, particularly in the areas of commerce, employment, education, and housing. We have the ability to bring fines of up to $250,000 against people who violate these civil rights, particularly for aggressive violations that involve violence or harassment.

These resources offer vital protections for L.A.’s Black and brown workers, women, immigrants, disabled persons, those who identify as LGBTQ, and diverse ethnic and religious groups who have the power to represent the city’s rich diversity in the workplace.

My ultimate goal is to address systemic racism and bias in the areas over which we have jurisdiction and to collaborate with the Commission on Civil Rights, Commission on the Status of Women, the Human Relations Commission, and the Office of Racial Equity on partnerships to combat hate crimes and level the playing field for people from all backgrounds in the City of Los Angeles.

With the support of our City Council and law enforcement partners, we seek to immediately reduce the number of hate occurrences in Los Angeles. All groups are experiencing increased levels of hate crimes. From the onset of the COVID pandemic, hate incidents soared against the Asian-Pacific Islander communities by 100 percent.

Since 2016 incidents of hate against persons perceived to be immigrants soared. Racial rants against Black people are caught on social media frequently. Anti-Semitic hate related offenses reached a 40-year high in 2019, essentially the highest numbers since the Anti-Defamation League has been tracking these stats. We are Los Angeles, the City of Angels, and we are better than this.

We are also focused on addressing discriminatory practices through legal remedies. When anti-bias training and racial harmony events aren’t enough, we need punitive tools in our fight for justice. Finally, we want to create more upward mobility options for underserved communities. For example, with Mayor Garcetti we’ll be seeking commitments from major corporations to hire, promote, and retain a diverse workforce through an inclusion and pay-equity lens.

I am particularly excited that we will be PARTNERING with the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at the CARUSO SCHOOL OF LAW to help with this effort by providing mediation services to RESIDENTS IN NEED in Los Angeles.

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What are some of the most pressing issues you and your team hope to address in the near term?

Can you talk about a discriminatory practice that has had negative consequences on underrepresented communities in Los Angeles?

One such practice is discriminatory mortgage lending—being denied a loan because of race, ethnic origin, sex, or religion, which could impact a family’s generational wealth and economic trajectory for decades. These practices limit the ZIP codes in which people are able to purchase a home.

They limit the school districts where their children attend school. They force people into living in areas with poor air quality due to surrounding businesses and facilities. Why? Because they turned in a mortgage application wearing the skin that God gave them. For example, Latino and Black families pay over half a billion dollars in mortgage costs compared to their white counterparts with the same credit score. Unfortunately, in America, your skin color speaks before you do.

Which aspects of your role excite you most?

Hate is prevalent in America—and that hurts—but I think more people are seeing just how destructive it is to our communities. I’m excited that we are taking the lead on bringing awareness to marginalized and often mistreated communities in Los Angeles. I couldn’t be more excited about taking part in the civil rights commission that focuses on discrimination enforcement to address issues brought to us by citizens, from complaint to resolution.

I am particularly excited that we will be partnering with the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at the Caruso School of Law to help with this effort by providing mediation services to residents in need in Los Angeles. I am also proud to implement plans for significant outreach and community engagement across the city, especially our antidiscrimination and hate-crime prevention efforts through bias-awareness training.

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Features You said in a recent interview, “If we don’t fix racism now, we will never fix it.” Why is this moment so important and why is it different from other moments or movements in history?

Mayor Garcetti has said that we can either make this moment or we can miss it. I feel that at this time, we all know what is going on in America. We see it on social media.

We have access to a 24-hour news cycle.

Diverse groups are speaking out against the injustices they face on a daily basis, and I think racism has the spotlight right now.

When I was a kid hearing about the civil rights movement, I thought I had missed the moment. I thought the movement ended with the stories from the ’60s. If we had known then what we know now, I think we would have done more to aggressively fight racism and discrimination. And, we would have likely found opportunities to groom more people to be civil rights leaders.

As with the crisis we face with climate change, if we don’t address racism in this country now, we will experience greater storms. In this instance, the storms will come in the forms of community unrest and racial incidents that will happen more frequently and with more intensity. I truly believe that if we let this moment pass, we will miss it. If we don’t do something about it now, it sends a message to those that want to divide our country that hate wins. It also sends a message to the person that has been victimized by discriminatory practices that they don’t matter. Not taking advantage of this moment will expose many generations to pain and cause irreversible harm to communities of color and unrepresented people. It will discourage individuals from advocating for their communities and engaging in productive dialogue and participating on essential task forces.

Everyone is at the table now, but we need to work together in this space because we are not sure when this moment, when we have the ability to address the inequities that plague this country, will come again.

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One of your passions throughout both your personal and professional life has been promoting upward mobility initiatives. You are the face of your undergraduate alma mater’s upward mobility program. Why is this initiative so important to you?

Upward mobility programs at colleges and universities help more people reach the middle class and beyond after they graduate. As the Civil and Human Rights Department focuses on promoting racial equity and leveling the playing field in one of the most diverse cities in the nation, one of our goals as part of our equity and empowerment initiative is to create more upward mobility programming across the city. These programs act as a pipeline for underrepresented students to become the next generation of leaders. They make higher education more accessible for low-income students. I’m so proud to be the face of Cal State L.A.’s upward mobility program. These types of programs enable individuals from certain economic circumstances to not only reach college, but also prepare for their careers.

Students receive targeted resources to help them find high-income-earning potential jobs, like careers in law, STEM, and other fields. They are provided opportunities to enhance their financial literacy skills, prepare for homeownership opportunities, or explore options to become entrepreneurs.

Many students and applicants also experience a huge cultural shift when applying to college, and the individuals that come from certain communities have to overcome the hurdles of what they might hear or experience at home. For example, when colleges and universities recruit first-generation students, they are also recruiting their families. Many families in immigrant communities are reluctant to accept the idea of their child moving away from home for college. Our upward mobility programming also supports the families of those applying to or attending college. As part of the racial equity initiatives announced by Mayor Garcetti this year, we are partnering with different organizations to execute upward mobility events and bring substantial differences in the quality of life to all residents.

In your role you also serve as the chief of COVID Response Equity.

Can you discuss how this role addresses the disproportionate COVID-19 death rate within underserved communities?

When we think about COVID-19, or any policy issue, through an equity lens, we must first think about the tools we have and how we distribute these resources. Now, we are putting these services in areas where we are seeing the highest number of cases and disproportionately high death rates. If communities of color are exhibiting higher rates of infection and death, how are we making sure they are getting tested? If they are not getting tested, what are some of the barriers to testing? We begin to examine how people access important information and gather knowledge about the coronavirus. Is it social media? Is there a digital divide at play? Would flyers be more effective? Should we consider communicating with these communities through local press? Thinking about where and how we will reach targeted populations is extremely important to us.

Your ZIP code or census tract number should not dictate whether or not you survive this pandemic.

Moving forward we will look more closely at some of these barriers, including language. We have already executed targeted campaigns to share COVID-19 testing options in various languages, making sure information was disseminated in print and addressed any language barriers. We have targeted low-income areas where residents have specific needs that aren’t always considered. Most testing facilities have drive-up access, but what about those individuals who don’t have a car or a driver’s license? So, we implemented a walk-up testing service that accepts any form of identification, which city staff has managed successfully. We placed pop-up testing clinics in areas saturated with housing developments to serve those individuals directly. These communities often have multiple families living in a single-family unit, so to tell a COVID-positive patient to isolate at home takes on a different form. We need to make sure people have the information and the tools to navigate what to do after testing positive as well, ensuring they have a toolkit such as food, PPE, and other basic resources. In addition, we are seeking resources to provide medical supplies such as a thermometer and pulse oximeters to families in need.

in this space because we are not sure when THIS MOMENT, when we have the ability to ADDRESS THE INJUSTICES THAT PLAGUE THIS COUNTRY, will come again.

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Everyone is at the table now, but WE NEED TO WORK TOGETHER

What does it mean to you as an Angeleno and as a woman of color to be leading this charge?

I feel a sense of responsibility to represent the best of our community in all that we do. I have felt that throughout most of my career, but I feel it more significantly now because so many people are counting on us. They know that I know that they are counting on me. In my previous roles I think I could have flown under the radar, but this is a defining moment. I knew that taking on this role was going to be a heavy responsibility, and the decision to accept the position weighed heavily on me. I couldn’t say no because there were so many people that had so much less than I had and did so much more to serve others. To have my community, particularly the Los Angeles Black Worker Center, the UCLA Labor Center, and Mayor Garcetti, ask me to take this on and to not stand up when the world was falling down would bring immense shame to all that I represent.

I am proud to be who I am as an African American woman, but I want to be very clear that I do not represent only one group of people. I am going to use this position to support all communities. While much of the attention right now is, rightfully, focused on the Black community in this country, it is not the only population that faces discrimination. This job grants me the honor of also standing up for the transgender, Jewish, Asian-Pacific Islander, Muslim, and disabled communities. I know what it feels like to be mistreated and to be “othered” with every breath in my body, and I want to make sure that we right some wrongs and level the playing field. Most of all, I hope with all my heart that we can protect all members of the mosaic that we call Los Angeles.

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Features

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and Eurasian Affairs in Washington, DC, she had no idea she would be part of the University’s first-ever all-women team of interns at the United States Department of State.

“Women are making their way into diplomacy from the ground up,” Borjas says.

“Strong women like [world leaders] Jacinda Ardern, Sheikh Hasina, Angela Merkel, and Tsai Ing-wen demonstrate that women in diplomacy are proactive, considerate, and collaborative. The impressive diversity at the Department of State showed me how people from different backgrounds bring their best traits to diplomatic relations.”

Assigned to work with the Balkan states—a group of European nations located along the Balkan Peninsula that includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia—the former international and French studies major collaborated with her colleagues to track the progress of COVID-19 in the Balkan region by evaluating local school and road closures, hospital saturation, and infection rates.

Each morning, after receiving diplomatic cables about the most recent COVID-19 data from various embassies in the Balkans, the multilingual Borjas would gather and store all the information to be shared with the Department of State. Based on the collected data, Borjas notes that from the initial stages of the pandemic, many countries in the Balkans shuttered schools, canceled flights, closed international borders, involved their militaries in enforcing public health measures, and provided their citizens with infographics that explained how to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

“In certain countries, people were expected to adhere to strict curfew laws or could only leave their homes with one other person,” Borjas says.

For Borjas and her fellow Department of State interns who were granted a high security clearance, receiving daily information about

the severity of the pandemic had unexpected positive results. Their close work with regional disease rates and outcomes normalized the influx of information they were receiving about the pandemic and eased their sensitivity to the shocking headlines that were worrying the masses in other countries, namely the United States. The daily briefings Borjas received also allowed her to inform her family and friends back home about the progression of the coronavirus pandemic and prepared her for a potential encounter with the disease.

Although the pandemic forced her internship to end early, Borjas’ time living and working in the nation’s capital illustrated the vast social and political impact of tactful diplomacy. While assigned projects that were directly related to the pandemic, her work also required strong relationshipbuilding skills—a strength that she associates directly with her Pepperdine experience.

The hands-on internship program allows students to “learn by doing and connecting,” and these internships are often the first opportunity for students to develop relationships with highly accomplished professionals who are eager to provide them with advice and references for future jobs and internships.

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C D , n to e g n i s h ow t h a W e h h r e i t r e f a h o i sh ped t n m m a u a r h al g s d o r n C l a hip P I a s t t i M n p s e a E n c d r D u s e ’ t N t n S al In o A i t P a Glob I D - 1 9 in the n C O Veriences When CAROLINA BORJAS (’20) accepted an opportunity to exp contribute to foreign policy projects at the Bureau of Europe

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“Students quickly realize that most of the best opportunities in the world come from building relationships with others and having accomplished mentors or colleagues who can advocate for them,” says Brian Swarts (’01), director of the Seaver College Washington, DC international program, whose previous decade-long career in global humanitarianism led him to serve in Central America, East Africa, Haiti, India, the Philippines, and, eventually, Washington, DC. In the highly educated, globally connected, and politically influential offices of DC, Swarts says being a “mission fit” is a critical component of the DC Program staff selection process. Pepperdine’s vast alumni network extends to government agencies like the United States Agency for International Development, an initiative previously spearheaded by its former chief innovation officer, alumna Alexis Bonnell (’99).

By matching Pepperdine students with professional mentors—many of whom were once Capitol Hill

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The program creates space

for students to reflect on their passions, strengths, and goals while challenging them to think deeply about purpose and success.

— Brian Swarts (’01)

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and White House interns—inviting them to take part in alumni networking dinners and panel discussions, and offering fellowship opportunities at organizations such as the Fulbright Program, the Peace Corps, and Teach For America, students typically return to Malibu with a renewed sense of confidence to navigate the professional world. According to Swarts, one of the most notable benefits of the internship program is giving students opportunities to experience the fulfillment of working for a greater purpose.

“The program creates space for students to reflect on their passions, strengths, and goals while challenging them to think deeply about purpose and success,” he says.

“Pepperdine has an impressive presence and reputation in DC, particularly in sectors like foreign policy, economics, consulting, global development, public policy, and law. DC is a great place for professionals with a strong sense of purpose, and that is part of the DNA at Pepperdine.”

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✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ Brianna Beiler (’19), a program support specialist at USAID’s Office of Engagement and Communications in the US Global Development Lab, previously interned for two years as a Seaver College student both in person and later virtually at that same office, where she now remotely supports international development initiatives through communications work, creative and organizational input, and administrative assignments. This year Beiler managed 10 USAID interns, five of whom were fellow Waves.

“Pepperdine has an increasingly solid reputation at USAID, which has become greatly enhanced by the fabulous work of our interns this past summer. I have heard the highest praise for Pepperdine interns from my USAID colleagues and leadership team,” says Beiler, Pepperdine’s first recipient of the University’s Charles Hall Award for Excellence in Global Citizenry and the first alumna to serve as a global fellow.

As fate would have it, the coronavirus pandemic helped the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, native make the decision to serve at USAID because the Fulbright scholarship she was awarded after graduation to teach English in South Korea was suspended prematurely due to its onset. After studying abroad in Argentina,

serving as an international programs resident advisor, participating in Model United Nations, and working for the Pepperdine Volunteer Center and its Jumpstart Program, Beiler felt properly equipped with the professional experience and global mindset to begin a career in international development and humanitarian aid.

“We need more thoughtful, engaged, driven, compassionate, and servant-hearted professionals working in all spheres of humanitarian aid, and Pepperdine students reliably fit that description,” she says. “The work isn’t always glamorous, but the people who really make a difference are humble and do whatever it takes to fill a need and serve the community.”

Describing her college experience as transformative, Beiler believes that Pepperdine’s mission is fundamental to any career, especially in public service. “Pepperdine taught me to think critically and constantly seek ways to serve and lift others up,” she says. “That’s where I learned how to juggle competing priorities and push through challenges with a growth mindset and a hunger to always learn and improve.”

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✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ An elderly Vietnam veteran with a debilitating respiratory illness and desperation in his voice called a congressperson’s office one morning, anxiously asking why he hadn’t received his monthly Social Security check. The octogenarian relied on that $1,500 a month to pay all his bills, from groceries to basic utilities to the roof over his head, and was suddenly struck with fear about what would become of him without those critical funds.

On the other end of the line was Christopher Nicolalde, a current junior at Seaver College who completed an internship at the House of Representatives where he was responsible for addressing constituent concerns on behalf of a congressperson. After documenting the veteran’s request and promising to do whatever he could to help, Nicolalde contacted the director of constituent services and explained the urgency of the situation. Within two weeks, the veteran’s Social Security benefits had been successfully reinstated.

“I’ll never know why his claim was initially denied or how his benefits were eventually restored, but what I do know is that a veteran of this

country—a man who selflessly served others for many years—was now able to get the help he needed,” Nicolalde says. “The fact that I could play a role, no matter how seemingly minor, in another person’s life through a simple phone call left an impression and proved that a positive chain of events can begin with me.”

Although Nicolalde’s internship at the House of Representatives ended before the coronavirus shutdown, his office received countless phone calls related to COVID-19, most of which were related to how the American government planned to keep people safe from the threat of this potentially fatal disease.

“To be responsible and transparent, we could never provide medical advice,” Nicolalde recalls, adding that doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals were often called upon to offer government employees advice, direction, and caution to share with constituents. Otherwise, callers were typically directed to the Department

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of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Department of Veterans Affairs in order to receive the most accurate medical information.

Although the international business major ended his internship earlier than expected, Nicolalde dedicated hours to compiling reports on critical policy updates, conducting supplemental research for legislative staff, and helping craft policy to potentially improve the lives of millions of Americans.

This experience exposed him to the genuine concerns and problems that so many Americans face each day, like searching for missing relatives or the possibility of losing their homes.

“Our Christian mission at Pepperdine is to be of service and remember that those who are suffering must not be ignored.

The time I spent on Capitol Hill strengthened my resolve to serve others so that they may live better lives,” Nicolalde shares, adding that he was deeply impacted by the way distressed constituents confided in him in hopes of receiving some kind of assistance. “As much as we may romanticize American politics and government, we have to remember that we serve the people first and foremost. Knowing you can make a real and tangible difference in the lives of those around you is the greatest gift we have, and working on Capitol Hill empowers you to do exactly that.”

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Knowing you can make a real and tangible difference in the lives of those around you is the greatest gift we have, and working on Capitol Hill empowers you to do exactly that.

— Christopher Nicolalde

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Snapshot

Come PRAY The Bible offers countless examples of God’s people crying out in joy, sorrow, gratitude, and suffering. These instances of God listening to the prayers of faithful people remind us that we don’t have to be anyone other than who we are in our most vulnerable moments to approach God. God is always listening. There is no right or wrong way to start the conversation. God just wants to hear from us exactly as we are in whatever season we find ourselves. Shared by University chaplain Sara Barton and assistant chaplain Lauren Begert (MA ’15), these prayer practices serve to inspire us to connect more deeply with the active life of God whether at the beginning of our prayer life or seeking new methods of praying.

Find more practices and resources to help guide you on your faith journey on the Practicing Faith website: P E P P E R D I N E . E D U / P R ACT I C I N G - FA I T H

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SIMPLE PRAYER

B R E AT H P R A Y E R

When you want to give thanks or are in need of help

When you need God to intervene

The two most common prayers found throughout the Bible are “help” and “thank you.” In a simple prayer, you can talk with God about what you need help with or what you are grateful for.

• “God, please help me. Be with me in this inexplicable pain and loneliness.

You say you are with me, but you feel so far away. Be near me, Lord.”

• “God, it is difficult to know what to do in the face of injustice and oppression. Teach me, Lord, how to be your ambassador of peace and your servant of justice.”

• “God, you are so kind and faithful! Thank you for your faithful provision in the health and life of my family and friends. I am in awe of your goodness and your mercy. Thank you, God.”

Breath prayer is an ancient prayer practice dating back to at least the sixth century. It’s a good example of “praying without ceasing,” as the apostle Paul encouraged us to do, and it has the potential to become as natural as breathing. It’s malleable, as the words of the prayer can be easily adjusted to the prayer of your heart. You may choose to say the prayer aloud or silently, and it can be practiced when you are quiet and still, or even while you are doing other things.

• Breathe in and say, “Oh Lord, my God.” • Breathe out and say, “I need you. Make a way.”

EXAMEN PRAYER

P R A Y E R O F CO N F E S S I O N

When you are in need of discernment

When you need to reconcile

Examen prayer helps us identify patterns and rhythms in our life and makes us more aware of God’s presence with us throughout each day.

STEP 1: Create space to pay attention to your soul • Pray: “God, I want to see my life through your eyes. I pray for the grace to see and to understand. Amen.”

STEP 2: Review your day with God • Review the events and activities in which you participated and people you saw. Pay special attention to any emotions or experiences that brought joy, fear, shame, sorrow, or elation. Reflect on a time in the day when your feelings were especially intense. Ask the Holy Spirit, “What do my strong feelings mean?”

• Other questions you might want to ask are: “Where did I miss the mark?

What do I need to confess? What bothered me? Where have I been hurt?”

• “Lord, I confess that I _____. When I _____, I know it grieved the Spirit and that it was not reflective of your desire for my life. I repent of this sin and ask for your forgiveness. In light of my heart of repentance, I ask you, God, for your guidance in how I can respond differently next time. Lord, please give me creative eyes to reimagine a new way. Thank you, Lord, that you are a kind and forgiving God. Help me to accept your forgiveness for the sins I have confessed. Thank you for the blood of Jesus, which atones for the sins of humanity. May I reject the shame that may desire to follow me as I commit to continuing to walk in your light.”

STEP 3: Rest and recommit yourself to God’s will • Pay attention to the feelings that surface as you look ahead to the next day.

Record these and pray through them.

• Ask God, “What’s one thing I should do in the day ahead?” Write your reflections down or simply make a mental note.

• As you close this last step, take a few moments to rest in God’s grace for you.

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Spotlight

R

E D

UCED T

O

T I E R S Alumni professionals explore the reality of, and solutions for, the inequities in health and the tiered healthcare system experienced by people of color

BY A M A N D A P I S A N I

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Fall 2020

Perched on the table in a tissue-thin gown, waiting for the doctor to enter, do you wonder if he will really see you?

F

or people of color, particularly women, this is not an uncommon experience. “We meet with so many women who are not heard and not seen.

They feel like they’re not taken seriously,” says Talitha Phillips (’00). The clientele of Claris Health, of which Phillips is CEO, is predominantly women of color seeking maternal and gynecological care in Los Angeles. Phillips’ nonprofit facility offers a different experience—a beautiful, comforting environment where the providers know their patients and their patients’ concerns.

Findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that the breadth and depth of inequities in US healthcare are significant. On the basis of a number of quality measures, such as person-centered care and effective treatment, the CDC’s most recent National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report states that Black and Native American populations receive worse care than whites for about 40 percent of quality measures.

Hispanic people receive worse care than whites for about 35 percent of quality measures. According to the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Action Network, “Despite having similar incidence rates to white women, African American women are 42 percent more likely to die from [breast cancer].”

Craig Garner (JD ’95), a healthcare attorney and general counsel to a Los Angeles-area hospital, notes that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was supposed to level the playing field so that everyone in the country could enjoy good quality healthcare. In some respects, he says, it is working.

“People have a better understanding of the options available and what their rights are as a patient,” he says.

But the ACA did not eliminate the “tiered system of care” in the US. Goran Dragolovic (’03, MBA ’04), CEO of Women’s Health, a firm that supports the business functions of women’s healthcare providers, explains that the tiers of health insurance (such as commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid) essentially ration access to care on the basis of the cost to the purchaser.

Limited access to care impacts health outcomes, and in the world of women’s maternal health and infants’ health, the resulting disparities are staggering. In the US, says Dragolovic, “Black mothers are three to four times more likely than their non-Hispanic white counterparts to die in childbirth. Black women are 30 percent more likely to die from cervical cancer than their white counterparts; Black babies are twice as likely to die before their first birthdays than white babies.” These numbers, he says, predate the arrival of COVID-19.

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Spotlight The pandemic has shown just how critical the social determinants of health are to a community’s well-being. An increased risk for contracting COVID-19, according to the CDC, stems from discrimination in housing, healthcare, education, and finances, a lack of insurance, and the likelihood of being employed in essential work settings, such as factories, farms, grocery stores, and healthcare facilities. Thus people of color are particularly susceptible to the virus. In early July the New York Times reported that “Black and Latino people have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus in a widespread manner that spans the country, throughout hundreds of counties in urban, suburban and rural areas, and across all age groups.”

Dragolovic observes that the virus has also exacerbated the challenges people of color face in maintaining their health because so many have lost their jobs due to the pandemic and have been severely affected by the concomitant loss of insurance coverage. Phillips says that many of her clients of color are stressed just from the messaging that they and their families are at high risk of contracting the virus. In a July article posted by Advisory Board, a healthcare research firm that provides hospital and health system executives with valuable data and insights, the authors note that many maternal care providers changed their practices with the start of the pandemic, limiting prenatal care visits and relying more on virtual checkups.

While Phillips’ Claris Health never shut its doors, her office started getting calls from many women relating that their doctor would not see them. “Women were told not to go to their routine prenatal visits,” she says. “A woman can become high risk very quickly, and if she is not being seen regularly, a change in her condition can be missed.”

Because such complaints came from women who

Truly equitable care will mean that women of color no longer have the feeling of being dismissed when they visit the doctor.

—TALITHA PHILLIPS (’00)

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Fall 2020

were not the facilities’ patients, Phillips could not offer to care for them. “We empathized and tried to really push people to call their doctor and insist that they need to be seen and need to be heard.”

Such disempowerment is distressing; Phillips says it confirms for them that “their voices don’t matter.”

Virtual checkups, offered by some healthcare facilities, have been a boon to providers and patients seeking to limit their exposure, but they’re also another form of the tiered system of care in the United States. Phillips points out that telehealth appointments assume that an individual has access to Wi-Fi and a smartphone or computer. Garner concurs, “Not everyone can sit down with their family doctor on their computer or iPad.” The social support that many women of color traditionally rely on in their maternal care has also been a victim of the pandemic. The loss of social connectedness and support has been recognized by the CDC as an unintended negative impact of social distancing; Advisory Board authors noted that limiting the number of people in the delivery room (to diminish exposure to the virus) “can lead to worsened outcomes for Black patients in particular.” Phillips is passionate about the importance of a support network for women of color. A doula herself, she admits to being “slightly biased,” but explains, “doulas or other advocates have been proven to be of great benefit to Black and African American women,” and she expressed great concern that because of the pandemic, they were going to appointments alone and delivering babies without their partners and supporters. Phillips laments that this will only create a greater disparity in the quality of care.

At least one step in diminishing the inequities in health and healthcare in the US is underway with a congressional initiative that calls for research on the public health impacts of structural racism and coordinating the science and practice of dismantling systemic discrimination in the provision of healthcare.

The fact that we still have a good segment of society that doesn’t have basic health insurance is unacceptable.

The initiative notes that among our current system’s failings is equitable access to care, and Dragolovic contends that eliminating the obstacles to access is the most critical component of relief.

“The fact that we still have a good segment of society that doesn’t have basic health insurance is unacceptable,” he says. “My hope and prayer is that we will, as a nation, make a commitment that anybody who is living in this country has unfettered access to basic healthcare. Once we have that as a foundation, then we can talk about how to deliver the care.”

In addition to equal access, Phillips espouses the need for more “relational” care. She notes that one positive outcome of the pandemic is that medical care providers are seeing the benefits of having fewer patients in their offices, which means that they can in turn spend more time with each one.

“We cannot care for people like they’re machines,” she says. Her agency is committed to getting to know the human being that is each patient, and she relates that the patients’ emotional

—GORAN DRAGOLOVIC (’03, MBA ’04)

and spiritual health are, when appropriate, part of the care her practitioners offer. Truly equitable care will mean that women of color no longer have the feeling of being dismissed when they visit the doctor. The question of “will the doctor really see me?” will no longer be a part of their experience.

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Spotlight

A Culture of

GIVING During this generation’s most financially trying times, current students and young alumni continue the timeless tradition of giving back to Pepperdine

By Sara Bunch

In 1972 the first class of students to attend Pepperdine’s Malibu campus were the beneficiaries of communal generosity, as gifts from industry leaders and philanthropists like Henry and Virginia Braun, Margaret Brock, Leonard Firestone, Odell McConnell, George Page, Rosemary Raitt, Flora Thornton, and John Tyler—among many others—embraced and endorsed the University’s vision for developing the next generation of leaders.

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One of these philanthropists was Blanche Ebert Seaver, who, upon her husband’s death in 1966, presented George Pepperdine College with a gift that enabled the school’s historic move from South Los Angeles to Malibu where the Frank R. Seaver College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences was established in the couple’s honor. Over the years, Seaver and her estate have continued to give to Pepperdine through the Blanche Ebert Seaver Endowment Trust, the Frank R. Seaver Trust, the Seaver Institute, and the Seaver Paragraph V Trust.

“The history of fundraising is truly based on relationships and

donors believing in a life-changing mission,” says Claudia Arnold Preston, Pepperdine’s senior vice chancellor for donor relations, who has served Pepperdine in various capacities since 1976. “The University’s earliest donors had no direct reason to give to Pepperdine other than their trust in our leadership team, support for our mission, and belief that we were educating young people with a moral compass,” she continues. “They knew our graduates entered the world understanding the difference between being just financially successful and actively investing in their faith, community, and country.”

Students celebrate the future impact of their contributions to Pepperdine Fund’s Give2Pepp event.

Over the next five decades, the University grew in student and faculty population size, offering dozens of new degrees and certifications and expanding into multiple national and international campuses. The fruit born of those early gifts became evident as alumni advanced in competitive careers and made significant impacts on their communities.

Today, more young people are participating in the worthy endeavor of causedriven philanthropy. This shift, according to “The Next Generation of American Giving,” a study conducted by software company Blackbaud which serves the social good community, also points to data that indicates Millennials—individuals born between the years of 1981 and 1996—are more likely than other generations to give.

College students, especially, are carrying on the tradition of investing in the idea and impact of higher education, a cause that facilitates societal change and creates advancements that better humankind.

College-age individuals are also reframing the narrative

that young people are too economically burdened to be involved in charitable giving.

Based on research conducted by the Pepperdine Fund, a University-wide resource for scholarships and financial aid, while earlier generations tend to support operating costs at organizations with which they are affiliated, current students and young alumni are interested in seeing the impact of their contributions by giving to specific causes that are meaningful to them, like Pepperdine’s athletic teams, study-abroad programs, or the theatre department.

“It’s important to meet people where they are during these times and to cultivate an environment of gratitude upon giving,” shares Brandon Easley, copresident of the Student Philanthropy Council, a group launched in 2014 by the Pepperdine Fund comprising about 20 Seaver College students who educate their peers on the concept of giving.

In Easley’s experience, most students are deeply involved in at least one component of campus life that they consider worthy of giving back to, so when fundraisers are

connected to individualized ways of giving back, many enjoy getting involved.

“Giving back to higher education presents a multitude of opportunities for us at Pepperdine, like getting involved in campus activities, studying abroad, and engaging with your academic division—all of which are a result of fundraising on and off campus,” Easley says. “If we want these opportunities to continue to be available for future Waves, then students will have some interest in giving back.”

While charitable giving has historically funded tangible items on campuses, Pepperdine Fund staff explain that today’s potential donors have a greater understanding that true philanthropy analyzes the bigger picture and that small, participatory gifts have the potential to vastly influence social impact.

“Millennials are giving at higher rates than older generations because they feel a responsibility to create change and are optimistic that they can make a difference through collective action,” says Allissa Thompson, assistant director of the Pepperdine Fund.

PEPPERDINE FUND STUDENT DONORS

Source: The Pepperdine Fund

741 FY12

1,163

1,202

FY13

FY14

1,455

1,579

FY15

FY16

2,233 FY17

2,377 FY18

2,828 FY19

2,750 1,827 FY20

FY21

Millennials are giving at higher rates than older generations because they feel a responsibility to create change and are optimistic that they can make a difference through collective action.

—Allissa

Thompson

The number of students who give to Pepperdine during the University’s August-to-July fiscal year has increased consistently over the last nine years, with the exception of FY20 due to the coronavirus pandemic and the cancellation of Give2Pepp last March.

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Spotlight

SEAVER COLLEGE PERCENT OF CLASS GIVING BY CLASS YEAR Source: The Pepperdine Fund

7.14% | ’11 7.89% | ’12 10.02% | ’13 12.05% | ’14 14.95% | ’15 20.70% | ’16 24.25% | ’17 25.98% | ’18 22.02% | ’19 Since 2011 the giving percentage of each Seaver College graduating class has increased consistently with the exception of FY19 due to the Woolsey Fire and Borderline Shooting which occurred during the same week in November 2018.

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According to a 2018 study conducted by the Millennial Impact Project that analyzed how Millennials engage with causes and social issues, younger generations view giving to nonprofits as a way to bring about change to systems that are no longer serving populations in need.

While student giving has increased significantly through the Student Philanthropy Council, Thompson notes, “Giving is a habit, and if students learn and subsequently create that habit, they will carry it with them as alumni, and often throughout their lives.”

Digitizing the giving process has also been a boon to philanthropy among young people, and accepting gifts through accessible online platforms such as Pepperdine’s dedicated crowdfunding website and the mobile payment service Venmo has been critical to appealing to students who are digital natives. “Millennials aren’t pulling out their checkbooks and searching for postage stamps,” says Pepperdine Fund director Cynthia Ware.

Millennials have also grown up with maximum exposure to the issues they care about due to smartphones and social media.

“Their generosity is often a result of an emotional response of peers supporting the same causes that they find meaningful,” Ware says.

Increasing a university’s alumni giving rate is key in increasing the value of the degree earned, according to various annual college rankings data and surveys, namely those released by the U.S. News & World Report.

Engaging students in philanthropy during their college years cultivates in young people a lifelong desire to give back, especially to those causes that inspire affinity. During Ware’s 10 years of service to Pepperdine, the two-time Pepperdine parent has witnessed an exponential increase in student donor count across all five Pepperdine schools every year, from about 100 to about 1,000 students, with 70 percent of donations being made through Venmo.

Cofounded by Ware in 2017, Give2Pepp, the University’s annual day of giving, has further expanded the joy of giving, as students and alumni from all over the world are able to participate in giving to their Pepperdine passions during a 37-hour period, in celebration of George Pepperdine College’s 1937 founding. With the exception of the 2020 event, which coincided with the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States and the closure of Pepperdine’s campuses, the number of donors who participate in Give2Pepp has increased annually.

“It’s not how much is given, but how many gifts we receive,” Ware says. “Donors are not born. They are nourished. The goal of student giving is for them to associate giving with becoming stakeholders in their passion zones and making a positive change in the world when they become alumni. Having their voices be heard in areas they care most about empowers them to become leaders.”

Charlotte Lang, copresident of the Student Philanthropy Council and a member of the Pepperdine Ambassadors Council, says that as Pepperdine becomes a home away from home throughout the most transformative years of their lives, students become more engaged in philanthropy when they know the impact of their gift and believe in the cause. “We encourage giving directly to the passion that has contributed most tremendously to their college experience,” she says.

As the coronavirus pandemic has created unfavorable circumstances for philanthropy, Lang notes that her team has carefully and methodically approached individuals about giving to causes that directly serve those who have been impacted by this particularly devastating season. “Perhaps now, more than ever,” she says, “it is important to help those who are suffering and to lower barriers to entering or continuing their education journey.”

Learn more about giving at Pepperdine: pepperdine.edu/giving

SEASONS MAY CHANGE.

OUR COMMITMENT TO STUDENTS REMAINS THE SAME. “Pepperdine gave me the most transformative four years of my life, which would not have been possible without scholarships that were made available through the generosity of those who continue to freely give to the University. I received an experience that continues to help me grow into a better person, and I love giving back so Pepperdine can continue to create opportunities for more Waves to also freely receive, just like I did!”

Daniel Kibuuka (’18), School of Public Policy Student

By joining a Century Club YOU can: Provide scholarships for more top-tier students

Facilitate innovative programs and research to help students achieve their full potential

Help Pepperdine maintain its ranking as one of the top 50 universities in America

Give every year. MAKE A DIFFERENCE every day.

JOIN THE

CLUB TODAY

Sustaining: $100 | Silver: $250 | Gold: $500 | Platinum: $750

Spotlight

LEVELING the Playing Field A new hiring initiative in college athletics seeks to strengthen representation across college campuses

By Jakie Rodriguez (MS ’13)

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With the shot clock winding down to zero at the seventh game of the 1969 NBA Finals, William “Bill” Russell walked off the court having clinched his 11th and final championship. Fifty-one years after his final NBA appearance, Russell, a lifelong advocate for social justice and a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, continues to impact the sport by championing leadership of color in college athletics.

Named in honor of the basketball legend, himself a two-time National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion, the West Coast Conference’s (WCC) newly enacted “Russell Rule” is a diversity hiring initiative—part of the organization’s series of steps to promote equitable opportunities in higher education sport administration and coaching.

In their official statement, the WCC states that the new rule “requires each member institution to include a member of a traditionally underrepresented community in the pool of final candidates for every athletic director, senior administrator, head coach, and full-time assistant coach position in the athletic department.” With the implementation of the Russell Rule, the WCC becomes the first NCAA Division I conference to establish a conference-wide diversity hiring initiative. The WCC, composed of 10 private universities including Pepperdine, hopes that its initiative will inspire other leagues around the nation.

“We’ve already seen that there are other Division I athletic conferences in the country that have requested information about the Russell Rule from our conference,” says Steve Potts (JD ’82), Pepperdine’s director of athletics. “It won’t be long before we start seeing other conferences around the country start to adopt this as well.”

Created in response to the racial reckoning and the momentum sparked by Black Lives Matter protests across the country, the approval process for the hiring initiative was fast-tracked, Potts shares. For student-athletes like Jayda Ruffus-Milner, a Seaver College junior, psychology major, and women’s basketball guard, initiatives like the Russell Rule couldn’t have come sooner and will be instrumental in creating lasting change.

In order to become open-minded like we want to be, we

can’t just sit on the sidelines and say

we support this or that minority. We can’t truly say that unless we can talk with them, play with them, be coached by them—that’s where the real

change is

going to happen.”

— JAYDA RUFFUS - MILNER

“In order to become openminded like we want to be, we can’t just sit on the sidelines and say we support this or that minority,” she says. “We can’t truly say that unless we can talk with them, play with them, be coached by them—that’s where the real change is going to happen.”

Lorenzo Romar While the hiring commitment seeks to increase diversity within sports administration, Lorenzo Romar, head coach of Pepperdine’s men’s basketball team, expresses that the initiative does not promote a handout.

Rather it makes sure the most qualified candidate gets the job.

“I don’t think anyone is asking for favors. This initiative creates an equal opportunity environment for the best to be hired,” Romar says. “It’s about the realistic, objective opportunity for people of color to get a legitimate chance to compete for these positions without bias.”

Comprising one of the most diverse groups on campus, Pepperdine’s student-athlete population of nearly 300 gathered over the summer break for an open discussion on racism in America. Hosted by the student-led Waves Leadership Council, former and current students, as well as coaches, shared their experiences of how systemic racism has impacted their lives.

Prior to attending Pepperdine, Ruffus-Milner had never had a Black instructor. It wasn’t until the summer after her freshman year that she realized how much representation in leadership matters.

“When you are in a system where you only see white individuals in positions of power, you implicitly believe that those roles are not meant for you,” she shares. “You can’t really see yourself in a position until you see someone of a similar background in it.”

While new to the WCC, a similar hiring commitment was enacted in 2003 for the National Football League. Regarded as the “Rooney Rule,” it requires teams to interview ethnically diverse, minority candidates for head coach positions. Despite the Rooney Rule being in place for 17 years, there are only three head coaches of color in the league.

Hopeful that the Russell Rule will result in greater diversity on campus, Romar believes that the current social climate will help keep WCC institutions accountable and make the new rule a greater success. “There seems to be more momentum among different cultures, different ethnic groups,” Romar shares. “There’s more unity in trying to make something happen.”

Although it remains to be seen how many diversity hirings will occur as a result of the newly established commitment, the WCC will generate racial and gender report cards for each of its institutions and publish the data annually. Regular transparency keeps Ruffus-Milner optimistic that the initiative will bring about lasting change to the Pepperdine campus.

“What we do now, what we do today, and what we do this year will set a precedent for future students,” Ruffus-Milner says.

“We have to start it for them. We have to pull that weight and show that our university is willing to take these matters seriously and willing to change for the better.”

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The Cut

The “Smartist” Something my mentor, Greg Hartle, has said over and over again is that your temporary circumstances don’t have to become your permanent reality.

The more you invest in perpetuating the permanence of your current circumstances, the more it becomes your reality. For example, if you run out of money, that’s a circumstance.

But when you say you’re poor, that’s an identity. This kind of thinking ultimately limits what is possible in our lives.

The Former Presidential Candidate After interviewing more than one thousand guests on his podcast, The Unmistakable Creative, Srinivas Rao (MBA ’09) has received an unlikely education from both bank robbers and billionaires. Driven by an insatiable curiosity for what makes human beings tick, Rao’s interviews uncover his deep desire to share with his community of thinkers the secrets to living more meaningful, impactful, and joyful lives. Here, he reveals what he’s learned from his most memorable guests.

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Andrew Yang gave me a better understanding of the reality of the country we live in. If you live in a major city, you don’t actually see what this country is like. People are angry. Their jobs have been taken away from them because of automation, and we don’t have systems in place to help these people recover. People have lost everything they have and can’t figure out how to get back on their feet. That is a far more real representation of America than anything we get to see from Silicon Valley.

The Psychologist Gillian Sandstrom talked about the idea of belonging to a human collective. She shared a story about having a conversation with someone on the subway, which sparked her research on the psychology behind talking to strangers.

The paradox of technology is that it has connected and isolated us at the same time. When we become isolated, we lose empathy. Making connections and building communities are ultimately about empathy and service. It’s about what you can bring to the table for other people.

The Creator of the Bullet Journal Method Ryder Carroll explained that our goals are often handed to us by other people. When we allow that to happen, we don’t understand what makes a goal meaningful. We don’t understand why we want something. We just know we want it. We don’t think about what it’s going to do for us. When you don’t understand the essence of your goal, you end up setting ambitions that don’t have meaningful parameters.

The Former Inmate Prison is a fascinating underworld that we want to know so much about without ever having to experience it.

When you look at the criminal justice system and talk to people who have been incarcerated or have worked as prosecutors, you begin to see the systemic structures in place that have given people major disadvantages in life. Andy Dixon grew up in an environment where he was raised up on his uncle’s shoulders for beating someone up. That reinforces in a child the idea that violence is the key to receiving love. He first shot someone at the age of 12 and spent 27 years in Tennessee prisons after high school. Many people just can’t get out of those circumstances.

The Coauthor of the Daily Stoic When we achieve a certain level of success, we think the next level after that will finally make us feel whole and complete. On an individual level, that thinking drives accomplishment. It’s the type of motivation that encourages senators to run for president. But on the aggregate level, it creates false horizons. Such achievers reach the next step and realize it doesn’t lead to the everlasting happiness they thought it would.

Ryan Holiday shared that the key is finding the balance between fulfillment and ambition, which is easier said than done in a world that celebrates status.

THESE WAVES HAVE CONTINUED TO RISE YEAR AFTER YEAR. Since the University‘s founding in 1937, YOU, our faithful supporters, have provided vital financial resources to ensure Pepperdine’s continued leadership in Christian higher education. We are deeply grateful for your generous support.

In particular, we honor our longest-standing donors reaching consecutive milestone years of support, whose steadfast commitment is the cornerstone of our University.

68 YEARS

25 YEARS

Mary Jo Lass (’51)

45 YEARS Sheila and Tom Bost

Lorraine (’60) and Jim (’57) Brinton

Ronald F. Phillips

40 YEARS Harry Caldwell (JD ’76)

Diane Reilly (’58)

Gary (MBA ’81) and Patti Yomantas

35 YEARS James Cokas (’54) Diana Hiatt-Michael Caroline L. (’64, MA ’71) and Gail E. (’66, MA ’74) Hopkins

Marla and Kenneth (MBA ’85) Knas Emily Scott-Lowe (’76)

30 YEARS John Baker Margaret Barfield Deborah (’87) and Eric (’86) Beyer Kathy and Lou Colombano Rachel F. and Richard Cupp (’83) Lucia Dean Happy and John (’83, JD ’88) Garacochea Michelle (JD ’89) and Mark (JD ’88) Hiepler Jennine and David (MBA ’83) Kidd Karen and Craig (MBA ’80) Kinsman

Corinne (’87) and Hung (’87, MA ’03) Le Sharon (’76) and Cary (’76) Mitchell Rosebud and Eddie (’66) Ngo Daryl Fisher-Ogden and Gregory Ogden Anne and John Payne Jackie and Bob Sutton Carrie (’87) and Andrew (’85, MS ’89) Wall Wendie (’85) and Ziegfred (MS ’83, EdD ’88) Young

Diane and Noel Applebaum Jo and Robert Barbera Shelley and Richard Bayer Brett Bridgman (’94) Rita and Dale (’64) Brown Joy and Jack Coe Susan and Jim Cowen Jennifer (’93) and Derek D’Alessandro

Diana (’58) and Eldon (’59) Gottschalk Glen A. Holden Douglas Kmiec Morag and Joe Knapp Edna (MDR ’98) and Carlton (MBA ’01) Powell Mary Alice Reed Betty A. Richli (JD ’77)

Jenny (’76) and Fred Ricker Jeanette (’77) and Daniel (’78, MA ’81) Rodriguez Kevin D. Steele (’81) Kanet and James Thomas Penny and James White Jan (’10) and Timothy Willis Lynne and Jerome (MBA ’78) Zamarin

20 YEARS Christa (’99) and Michael (’97) Backstrom Janice and Jack (’80) Evans Angelita Feinstein Agnes and Rick (MBA ’09, PKE 121) Gibson Liz and Keith (JD ’97) Hinkle Barbara and Scott (MS ’95) Kloetzke

Miriam Lacey Mary and Lory (’80, JD ’83) Lallande Bonnie and John (’82) Larson Patty and Eff Martin Shevaun Neupert (’98) Heather (’89) and Phil (’88, JD ’92) Phillips Wendy and Scott (JD ’78) Racine

Marie (’81) and Paul (’83) Reim Claire and Kenneth (’57) Rice Linda and Lee (JD ’77) Rubin Lia Skidmore Patty (’87, MBA ’93) and Brad (’88) Starkey Dorothy Straus

15 YEARS Andrew Fall (MBA ’77) Dolores (MS ’80) and Jim (’58) Gibson Evelyn and Harold (’70, MBA ’72) Johnson Petra and Jon Klane

Together, we will travel many more miles—and reach new milestones— on our path to preparing values-centered, purpose-driven leaders.

Leslie and Spencer Lehman Margaret Locarnini (’86) Anna Matteucci (’85) Robyn and Robert (’95) McCrea Marian Moyher (’77)

Lois and Ervin (’51) Regehr Diane and David (MBA ’82) Shin Marti and Robert (MBA ’79) Silva Karen Weiss

GIVE EVERY YEAR. YOUR MILESTONE

A W A I T S. GIVE.PEPPERDINE.EDU If your name does not appear above, you may not be in a milestone year this year. Call 310.506.4579 for more information.

PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY 24255 Pacific Coast Highway Malibu, CA 90263-4138

Saluting u O r

HEROES of

ft

To our heroes of healing, we offer our deepest respect and gratitude.

In this time of great need, when the stakes are so high and the risks so grave, the many dedicated healthcare professionals among P E P P E R D I N E ’ S A LU M N I CO M M U N I TY do not waver in their commitment to serve.

We are grateful for their compassion as caregivers, their wisdom as care providers, their courage in the face of profound adversity, and their innovation as they seek solutions to an enduring crisis.