ClassNotes

Peter David '75, MBA '76 was named regional general manager for Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania at Pronto Software. Previously he held a variety of sales and marketing roles at various companies including HP and Getronics.

Donna Hooper D'Anza '75 has been named sales associate at David Lyng Real Estate in Capitola, Calif.

Grace Chan MBA '75 has joined the corporate team at MerchantCircle as director of merchant monetization. Prior to MerchantCircle, Chan was sr. manager, channel strategy and product marketing at Yahoo!, and worked various positions at Intel. 

Michael Canning MBA '75 has joined Multigig in Scotts Valley, Calif., as Chief Executive Officer. Cannig was president and Chief Executive Officer of SiRF Technology. 

Ronald Campbell ’75 is a reporter for The Orange County Register. He got his start in journalism at Santa Clara where he edited the student newspaper. Since then, he’s won the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, as well as awards from the National Education Writers and Investigative Reporters and Editors.

Tony Caldwell '75 has been selected as the new Executive Director of Kitsap County Consolidated Housing Authority. Caldwell is currently the chief administrative and operations officer of the Housing Authority of Monterey County. 

Freshman Dorm: Dunne

Paige Cabral '71, MBA '75 writes, "Married 33 years to my bride Allison. Three great college grad kids; Lauren - Sonoma State, Patrick - Ohio State, and Tony - Sacramento State. Still living and working in the Bay Area for Abbott Medical Optics."

Thomas Brooks M.S. '75 writes: "From Los Gatos to Vermont to New Mexico, now back to Connecticut. Survived Hurricane Sandy then a record nor'easter. What's left? Retired and repotted."

Tommy Bonfigli '75 coached the Cardinal Newman High School boys' basketball team to a perfect regular season this year. The team was named No. 1 in the Empire high school boys' large-school basketball rankings.

Ted C. Bleckstein '75 has published DIAGNOSIS: 'Deception': The Darker Side of a Trusted Profession. It is available in paperback and hardcover. It is dedicated to helping you, the patient, take ‘control’ of your dental and oral health care.  To empower you with the indispensable confidence to follow your ‘common sense’ and be able to say: “Wait a minute . . .”

Experience a provocative 'journey' into an area previously reserved for: ‘Doctors Only’ and, unlock the secrets which will challenge the proverbial ‘status quo’ embraced by most health care professionals.

As a potential patient, you must look upon the practice of modern dentistry as comprising more than just simple ‘drill and fill’ dental care; as this is the work of a technician. The dental profession is composed of educated doctors who have ‘supposedly’ been trained to provide their patients with comprehensive oral health care; the question facing the public is whether these dentists do, in fact, provide this level of responsible care for their patients. And, if they don’t, how can you tell and, what can you do about it.
 

Gary Bertuccelli '75 was recently promoted to Lead Social Worker at Hospice of the Valley. Gary provides emotional support to patients transitioning to hospice life, and assists caregivers on a day-to-day basis.

Ken Barna '75 was honored Nationally by The American Baseball Coaches Association for "A Quarter Century of Leadership and Devotion to Baseball" in 2009. The former high school, college, and minor league manager and coach, helped lead Canon/McMillan High School in Pennsylvania to the 4A State Baseball Championship last year.

Don Barich '75 is a candidate for the U.S. Congress in 2010 representing the 15th District of California encompassing Santa Clara, West San Jose, Los Gatos, Milpitas and parts of Gilroy.

Debbie (Evans) Baker B.S. '75, MA '85 wishes to announce that daughter Julie Baker received her MBA from Santa Clara in June 2009. Subsequently, she married Ryan Broms at the Mission Church on Oct. 3, 2009. In addition, Debbie and her husband, Paul were blessed with their first grandchild, Logan Swirsding on Jan. 22, 2009. His parents are Debbie and Paul's older daughter, Katie, and her husband, Dave. Debbie lives in Los Altos, Calif., and is a volunteer with Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County working with the clients of the Refugee Resettlement Program and has had a Bhutanese family and an Iraqi woman living with her and her husband within the last couple of years. Life is great!

James Baker ’75, J.D. '80, veteran ERISA litigator, has joined Baker & McKenzie as a partner in the San Francisco/Palo Alto office, adding 30 years of experience in the entire spectrum of employee benefit and executive compensation matters.

Described by Chambers USA as “an ERISA legend on the West Coast,” Mr. Baker’s practice focuses on ERISA litigation and the counseling of employers on ERISA, employee benefit and executive compensation issues. Among Mr. Baker’s most notable cases, he was the lead attorney in five ERISA stock drop class action cases resulting in consecutive client victories using five different legal theories: In re First American Corp. ERISA Litigation, (C.D. Cal. 2009); In re Dell ERISA Litigation, (W.D. Tex. 2008); Spivey v. The Southern Company, (N.D. Ga. 2006); In re Administrative Committee ERISA Litigation, (N.D. Cal. 2005); and Ogden v. Americredit Corp., (N.D. Tex. 2005). He also regularly represents clients in federal district and appellate courts across the country.

“We are very pleased that Jim has joined Baker & McKenzie,” said Rick Hammett, Chair of the firm’s North American Compensation and Employment Law Practice Group. “Jim is widely regarded as one of the top ERISA litigators in the U.S., and he joins a strong ERISA litigation practice at our firm.  I know our clients will value his significant experience and insight, particularly in ‘stock drop’ cases, which continue to be an issue for many companies.”

“Jim is a great addition to our San Francisco/Palo Alto Office,” said Shane Byrne, Managing Partner of the firm’s San Francisco and Palo Alto offices.  “His impressive experience and credentials enhance our strong employment law practice, and increase the range of services we can offer clients in California and beyond.”

“I’m excited to join Baker & McKenzie,” said Mr. Baker.  “Baker & McKenzie has one of the preeminent global employment practices, and its impressive depth and international reach are terrific complements to my practice.”

Mr. Baker has been repeatedly cited as one of the top employment law and ERISA litigation lawyers in the U.S.  Best Lawyers in America named Mr. Baker as the 2012 “ERISA Litigation Lawyer of the Year” for San Francisco, and the National Law Journal has honored him as one of the nation's 40 best ERISA attorneys.  Recognized in Chambers USA every year since 2007, the leading directory noted in 2011 that he has been “handling very prominent cases and producing work of the highest quality.” In addition, he’s been listed in other legal directories as a leading attorney nationally for ERISA litigation, including the Legal 500 US (2008–2011), The Best Lawyers in America (2009–2012), and Northern California Super Lawyers (2005–2011). He was inducted into the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel as a Fellow in 2011.

Mr. Baker is co-chair of the American Bar Association’s ERISA and Pension Litigation Subcommittee of the Committee on Business and Corporate Litigation. Since 2006 he has been the primary author and Editor of the “ERISA Litigation” chapter for the ABA’s Annual “Developments in Business and Corporate Law” treatise. He is the Contributing Editor of the Benefits Law Journal. He also serves as a mediator on ERISA cases for the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Eastern districts of California. In addition, he is a volunteer attorney for the AIDS Legal Referral Panel.

Mr. Baker previously practiced at Winston & Strawn.  He received his B.A. in 1975 and his J.D. in 1980 from Santa Clara University. He received his L.L.M. in Tax from Georgetown University in 1983.

Daniel T. Zorn ’76 is director of finance and technology services at Cal State University San Marcos.     

Lynne Yates-Carter ’72, J.D. ’76 is celebrating her 30th year as a certified specialist. She is a litigator and also serves as an expert witness on family law issues.

Patricia Williams '76 moved from Ohio to Oregon. She is enjoying 36 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, with two more on the way. She is serving as secretary to Amici d' Italia, an Italian cultural organization.

Jeff Tarzwell '76 if CFO for Redwood City Electric. His wife Bridget '75, MBA '76 is busy building her printing business in Sacramento.

Freshman Dorm: McLaughlin

Robert Strunck '76 writes: "I am retiring from the Cook County Office of the Public Defender on July 31 to enter Private Practice, specializing in, what else, Criminal Defense. It has been quite a ride from representing an individual who currently sits atop the standings for the most murder convictions in the history of the State of Illinois to the Abolition of the Death Penalty, with 2 victories in Triple Murder cases thrown in for good measure. I spent the last 22 years of a 30 year stretch in the Murder Task Force....I have seen and heard it all. George Giacomini would have made a great Judge."

Patrice (Mueller) Stork '76 welcomes her first grandbaby, Caitlin.  Her daughter is also an '09 SCU graduate.

Freshman Dorm: Walsh

Mimi Sherman-Braatz '76 writes: "Since 1984, I've been running my own advertising and marketing company, Mimi Braatz & Associates. My husband, Skip, is a commercial RE broker and we have two 'kids'. Biggest news -- our daughter Lauren and her husband just had a baby boy named Max on 2/19/11. Our son Mark is head of Operations and Sales & Marketing for a Bay Area tech start-up, Etology, Inc. We live in the Willow Glen neighborhood of SJ."

Steven Schumann '76 writes: "Back to managing the work at SLOCO Data & Printing after visiting Cabo San Lucas for 11 days. Adjusting to two adult children now back living at home with us parents. Maybe I should ship them off to Santa Clara!"

Florian Rothbrust ’76 writes: "We are expecting our second grandchild in December 2012."