VISITING SAN DIEGO

Bartell Hotels

University of San Diego has formed a partnership with Bartell Hotels. Richard Bartell, a School of Law alumnus, has opened the doors of his eight premier hotels to the USD community. The USD–Bartell Hotels partnership means you receive a special rate when you book your stay at one of the conveniently located Bartell Hotels in San Diego. A portion of the room cost comes back to USD to support student scholarships, promote university events and marketing efforts and create community awareness about the partnership.

To take advantage of these special rates and USD family amenities, visit bartellhotels.com/ usdpartnership or call 800.345.9995 to book your stay at any of the Bartell Hotels.

ROBERT JONES (BS/BA) writes, “I started a company that helps clients build income streams outside their day jobs by leveraging the power of online marketplaces such as Amazon and Walmart.”

PATRICIA RANGEL-PEREZ (MA) writes, “I was promoted this year to lead/supervisor at my place of employment.”

[2008]

JOAN BAUMGARDNER (BA) writes, “My husband, Brett, and I welcomed our first daughter, Brooke, in 2021, and are expecting our second daughter in 2023. We recently moved to Grass Valley, California, for more space and peace and quiet.”

CLAUDIA LLAMAS (BA) is working as a mental health clinician.

[2009]

NADIA ANWAR (BBA) says she has two boys, 6-year-old Rehan and 3-year-old Ammar. “Just started a new job six months ago with an international law firm, based in their New York office, but they have a San Diego office as well. Hope to be back in San Diego soon for a visit!”

CHELSEA SORICH (MA) is an elementary school counselor in San Diego’s North County.

2010s

[2010]

BRIDGET HARRISON (JD) married Avery Harrison ’11 (JD) in April of 2014. The couple lives in north Tustin with their two sons.

[2011]

KATIE (LEPORE) BALATBAT (BACC), ’11 (MS), ’16 (JD) married Richard Balatbat at the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park. Katie is an estate planning and tax attorney in San Diego and Richard is an engineer.

KRISTAL MORRELLO (MA) reports that after she finished her master’s degree in counseling, specializing in clinical mental health, she returned home to Las Vegas. There, she worked several years in the counseling field providing counseling and working for juvenile parole. That experience led her to decide to specialize in a career working with kids. “I decided to go back to school in 2019; I’m in my final year of my EdS degree to become a school psychologist. I’m looking forward to meeting other alumni, especially those in the school system!”

SHAYLA (HOHEISEL) PERRIER (BA) recently had her second baby and has more than 120,000 subscribers on her motherhood YouTube channel, Hey Shayla .

ROBERT RISCHE (JD) is serving as legislative director and counsel to U.S. Representative James R. Baird of Indiana.

ELIZABETH TRESP (JD), ’14 (LLM) was recently selected as Super Lawyers Rising Star for the sixth year in a row (20182023), in addition to numerous other accolades as an attorney and business owner. She is the principal attorney at Tresp Law, APC and Tresp, Day & Associates, Inc. She practices in the areas of estate planning, international and domestic asset protection, trust and probate litigation, probate administration and trust administration. She adds, “Just 45 years young, I am a mother of three who, in my mid-30s, embarked on a second career. After obtaining my Juris Doctor and an LLM in Taxation from the USD School of Law, I opened my own estate planning and litigation law firm with offices in Solana Beach and Pacific Beach.” In the years that followed, she grew Tresp Law, APC from a solo practice to a multimillion-dollar annual law firm with more than 20 employees and thousands of clients throughout the U.S. and abroad. In 2019, she acquired the nationally recognized asset protection law firm of Day & Associates, Inc., which has operated continuously and successfully in Solana Beach, California, since 1992. Today, she is the owner and principal attorney of both firms and owns two businesses in Wyoming, as well as holding extensive real estate investments from coast to coast. “USD School of Law gave me the skills and knowledge to go forward, conquer and pursue my dreams,” she says. “With all the connections and relationships made, I can integrate my professional and personal networks together.

[2012]

COLETTE CUSTIN BEVARD (BA) got married in October of 2022 in Chicago “among the company of dear friends and family.” She also celebrated her first year as director of information technology at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

MICHELLE HEMESATH (JD) writes that in 2022, she opened a firm with her partner, Ikuta Hemesath LLP. “We focus on plaintiff medical malpractice. Over the first six months of our practice, we have secured over $11 million in settlements.”

DIANNE McCAFFERTY (MSN) has relocated back to San Diego County to work as a clinical informatics specialist at Sharp Grossmont Hospital.

[2013]

SOFIA LOPEZ BACTOL (BA) writes, “Mar Bactol ’13 (BBA) and I are overjoyed to announce that we are married! We celebrated our marriage in Seattle on July 2, 2022, surrounded by many of our USD friends. We are forever grateful to USD for bringing us together 10 years ago. We currently live in Seattle where I serve as the director of diversity, equity and inclusion at a local high school.”

BIANCA BRUNO (BA) recently joined the trade publication, Beer Business Daily, as an editor, where she covers the ins and outs of the beer business, including litigation, legislation and lobbying efforts. She landed the role after working for more than six years as the San Diego reporter and podcast host for national legal news outlet, Courthouse News

LUKE LAUER (BA) writes, “I started my own digital marketing agency in 2021!”

[2014]

SHEENA BISH TANG (BBA) married fellow alumnus Robert Tang ’15 (BBA) in October of 2018. The couple met at USD in 2011.

COURTNEY (OCHI) NORIEGA (BA), ’21 (MEd) writes that she married Andrew Noriega ’14

(BAcc) ’15 (MAcc) on July 9, 2022, at Founders Chapel. “We met as first-years back in 2010 at USD in a community group led by our resident minister in the Valley. We were joined by many of our USD classmates and an ‘Olé’ chant ensued after a group photo.”

AFARIN DADKHAH TEHRANI (MA) has been working in human rights advocacy and humanitarian operations since graduating from USD.

[2015]

RON MCCULLOUGH (MBA) says “I am currently the CSO of Intrigue Health, a disrupter in the diagnostics as a service space. Additionally, I serve as chief of a scientific advisory board for a stealth health care start-up as well as various consulting roles in health care.”

[2016]

ERIN KUMAGAI (BACC) recently got married to a fellow USD alumnus.

MIA (MCGOVERN) O’NEILL (BA) provided this update: “I met my (now) husband at USD in 2012. Ten years later, we’re married, have a baby boy, and just bought our first house together! So thankful to USD for bringing us together!”

TORRI SHERLIN (JD) was recently promoted to shareholder at Baron and Budd P.C.

ANDREW THOMPSON (JD) joined the law firm of Dunn DeSantis Walt & Kendrick as partner of the firm in January 2023. A fifth-generation San Diego attorney — starting with his great-great-grandfather, Adam Thompson, in 1905 — Thompson continues his family’s legacy and joined the business group of Dunn DeSantis Walt & Kendrick in 2016. His practice is focused on mergers and acquisitions, start-ups, general corporate governance and contract negotiation, as well as other business and real estate transactions. Having started and run his own small businesses prior to becoming an attorney, Thompson is uniquely qualified to guide clients through their start-up legal planning and structuring, growth, maintenance and longterm exit strategies.

HUSANI WHITLOCK (MA) is a school counselor with the Poway Unified School District.

[2017]

ALEXIS (DACHS) COUCH (BA) married Gary Couch ’17 (BS/BA) in September of 2022 in Santa Barbara, California. The couple started dating in 2015 while students at USD and since then have continued to love living in San Diego.

JOCELINE NAVARRO (BA) reports that she “got married in September at Founder’s Hall surrounded by family, friends and USD alumni!”

[2018]

INDIRA GALVEZ (BA) is a senior strategy associate at EMC Research.

CRYSTAL GAMACHE (JD) writes, “Just got a job at Gonzaga as a law professor.”

MIRANDA MAHER (BA) received her Master of Science in industrial-organizational psychology from Illinois State University in 2020.

“I currently work on a team of I-O psychologists at a large food distribution company, U.S. Foods, where we design and implement talent programs for 30,000+ employees,” she writes.

ROSS MARTIN (BBA) was recently transferred to a software engineer position at his current employer without having a computer science degree. He adds, “My daughter, River, was born on April 14, 2022.”

JUSTIN SHIELDS (JD) provided this update: “I recently completed the second of two guest lectures for USD Professor Ralph Folsom’s international business transactions class. The lectures discuss the application of the Section 301 China Tariffs and Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Tariffs, along with how various customs programs offer businesses opportunities to mitigate the tariff impacts. This is the third year I have delivered these lectures. I am currently a senior global trade Advisor with Ernst & Young, LLP located outside of Washington, D.C.”

CELINE SINGLETARY (BBA) writes, “I’m currently doing my MBA at USD!”

KYRA THRUSH (BA) reports that she finished her PhD in computational biology and bioinformatics and moved back to San Diego.

[2019]

DeZELL LATHON (BA) is finishing an MFA at Loyola Marymount University for directing and creative producing for film and television. He writes that he’s, “also working full-time on a Netflix film apart of the production office.”

2020s

[2020]

TYLER ARDEN (BBA) was recently promoted to associate on BlackRock’s Retirement Marketing team and moved to San Francisco.

ILA FOSKETT (BBA) is a recent Newport Beach resident working remotely in tech for a growing ecommerce software company based in Irvine, California. “Brand marketing is my niche and working from home definitely has its perks,” she writes.

MELANIE PACKER (BBA) provided this update: “I joined the JP Morgan Chase firm in 2022 as part of the company’s financial technology/advertising/offers and shopping team. Since I graduated, I have had three beautiful babies. I have two 1-year-olds (boy/girl twins), and a 2-year-old daughter. I got married in the summer 2021 to my wonderful husband and I plan on going back to school for an MBA in the spring of 2024.”

MICHAEL R. RUIZ (MA) reports, “I’m currently the lead planner for the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center based out of Honolulu. Our mission is to train all joint forces including foreign countries in an archipelago environment. More than 6,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines will take part in this 10 - day exercise, which will span all the Hawaiian Islands. My job is to synchronize all stakeholders to produce a safe training event. I have worked for U.S. Army Pacific since graduating from USD.”

[2021]

OLIVIA HAYS (BA) is a firstyear student in the Doctorate of Occupational Therapy program at Colorado State University.

JAVIER LUNA (MBA) is working at Eurofins Discovery as a global project manager.

SHUSHANNA TEVANYAN (MA) writes, “I took a monitoring and evaluation course at the Kroc School of Peace Studies, which — together with the professor's encouragement and support — has greatly influenced my career choice. When I returned to my home country of Armenia in 2021, I got a job in the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs as monitoring and evaluation expert. A year later, I was promoted to advisor for coordinating monitoring and evaluation functions. I actively participate in the monitoring and evaluations of programs and projects in the social protection sphere and also collaborate with international development partners in the areas of data collection, analysis and strategy development. At the same time, the Social and Cultural Narratives Lab (an Armenian NGO) has trusted me with the responsibility of being the manager of a project about women and war. I coordinated publishing four booklets on the role of women during and after war, as well as airing eight podcast episodes featuring activist women, including peacebuilders and diplomats.”

[2022]

DANIEL ALVAREZ (MBA) writes, “I graduated from the MBA program in January of 2022, got married at USD on Sept. 23, 2022, and got a new job that same month. Big year!”

BLAKE BEASLEY (BA) recently started working for the NFL Network’s headquarters in Inglewood as a production assistant.

DANIEL ALVAREZ MENDOZA (MBA) got married in October 2022 at USD.

JAREK MORGAN (BA) has accepted his first position as a development coordinator.

JEREMY RUETH (BBA) accepted an offer to join Epic Systems in Madison, Wisconsin, as a project manager and began the position in April 2023.