USD Magazine Fall 2015

for the North Central Region in 2015. He is also the artistic director of the jewelbox opera company, Really Spicy Opera. BONNIE ANN DOWD (EdD) was a tenured faculty member at Palomar College when she entered the SOLES Leadership program. Three years after completing her EdD, she moved into an executive administration position at the college as one of four vice presidents. After 22 years with Palomar College, Bonnie accepted a position as the executive vice chancellor of the San Diego Com- munity College District. She was awarded emeritus professor status by the Palomar College Faculty Academic Senate and currently serves as a part-time faculty mem- ber in the doctorate leadership program at San Diego State Univer- sity. Bonnie also received the Walter Star Robie Award in 2014 for out- standing career achievements and exemplary service as a chief business official, and was named the 2015 Chief Financial Officer of the Year by the San Diego Business Journal . JOHN DZIDA (BA) is a vice presi- dent with the Bank of San Francisco, which provides banking services to small- and medium-size businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area. GEORGINA MIRANDA (BBA) launched a new company, Altitude Seven (www.Altitude-Seven.com), after climbing Mount Everest in 2013. The company is an e-com- merce marketplace that offers stylish and functional women’s outdoor and adventure travel apparel and gear that does not compromise performance. “At the end of the day, we want to share the gift of adventure with other women, as I know firsthand how transformative it can be. We also have a commitment as a company to improve the lives of women through the support of our non- profit partners,” Georgina says. TYSON SMITH (BA) writes, “It’s been a busy couple of years! I graduated from Golden Gate University School of Law in 2013 and I passed the California bar exam in 2014.” Tyson reports that he and his wife, Kara, were married in 2013 and they welcomed their daughter, Lucy Jean, in 2014. The family lives in Marin County, Calif.,

DANIEL BROWN

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MATT LEIGH ’10 (BS/BA) received an MFA in recording arts and technology from Middle Tennessee State University in 2013. He was recently hired as the studio manager and head engineer at The Tracking Room, a world-class recording studio in Nashville, Tenn., which serves a diverse list of clients ranging from Vince Gill to Barbara Streisand to U2 to James Taylor (www.thetrackingroomstudio.com). Matt recently spent six weeks working with Taylor Swift and Firefly Entertain- ment as they rehearsed and prepared for Swift’s upcoming concert tour.

and Tyson works for the Veterans Affairs hospital in San Francisco.

ROBERTO FIERRO (BA) was promoted to principal at D&P Creative Strategies, a government relations firm in Washington, D.C. MELISSA KUDO (BA) and her husband welcomed their first child, Shane Masaaki Herrera, on Nov. 22, 2014. RYAN MANDELL (BA) and his wife, Meghan (Burke) ’04, live in University Place, Wash., with their three sons, Noah, 4; Ezekiel, 2; and Micah, 6 months. Ryan is a regional manager for B&R Auto Wrecking and Meghan is a stay- at-home mom. CASEY O’NEILL (BA) is a federal prosecutor with the United States Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Fraud Section, in Wash- ington, D.C. Previously, he was with the United States Attorney’s

Office for the Northern District of California and also served with the global law firm Shearman & Sterling in New York, in a clerkship for District Court Judge Nelson S. Roman in the Southern District of New York, and as a war crimes prosecutor in East Africa with the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. ALISON RODBERG (BA) is an architectural production coordina- tor at Ware Malcomb in Irvine, Calif. CASEY SANFILIPPO (BA) reports the following: “Still living the dream in sunny San Diego with my hus- band, Vito, and two sons: Luca, 9, and Giovanni, 5.” DAMIEN SCHIFF (JD) has a new position as counsel at Alston & Bird’s Environment, Land Use & Natural Resources Group.

[ 2 0 0 4 ] JULIE (TOMKA) BITTNER (BA) was promoted to partner at the Gonzalez, Saggio & Harlan law firm in 2015. She has been with the firm since 2009 and has experi- ence in the defense of discrimina- tion, harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination claims brought at the administrative level, as well as in state and federal court. She also counsels clients on employment policies and procedures, and pro- vides training for management and employees on workplace diversity and other employment law issues. DOUGLAS BURTON (BA) is working to help homeless veterans in San Diego County and is also working toward a marriage and family therapy license.

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