ClassNotes

Colleen Kannaday '89 was appointed president of Advocate BroMenn Medical Center, Normal, and Advocate Eureka Hospital, Eureka. Kannaday has nearly 20 years of experience as a health care executive. She served most recently as president of St. Francis Hospital and Health Center, Blue Island, and led a stabilization strategy for the 410-bed hospital, which had an operating budget of $170 million, 1,400 associates and 350 physicians. She also served as vice president of operations and interim president at Saint Eugene Community Hospital in Dillon, S.C., and worked at Good Samaritan Regional Hospital in Mt. Vernon.

Denny Huebner ’89 and family (wife, Susan; son, Brian, 19; and daughter, Anna, 13) returned to the Bay Area from Nakuru, Kenya, after serving as missionaries for three years with Rohi Children Organization. They are now adjusting to the reverse culture shock of life in Livermore, Calif. and looking for jobs and/or new ministry opportunities.

Timothy S. Heher '84, MBA '89 was appointed vice president of finance at ZONARE Medical Systems, Inc., a developer of high-end ultrasound solutions.

Heher brings to ZONARE more than 25 years of experience in key financial positions within the medical industry, both in ultrasound and healthcare IT.  Heher brings direct senior level experience in reducing costs and improving administrative and operational efficiencies at leading organizations, such as Allocade, Siemens and Acuson. At ZONARE, he will direct the company's overall financial operations, including financial planning and analysis, cash management and financial statement preparation.

Prior, Heher was the CFO at Allocade, Inc. in Menlo Park, and was responsible for all the finance and accounting activities and key in securing significant funding from VCs. His ultrasound experience includes over 16 years at Siemens Medical Solutions' Ultrasound Division and Acuson for where he assumed responsibilities as director of finance overseeing supply chain management, service, sales, and service & marketing

Charm (Barber) Hartland '89 is a Senior Manager, Strategic Planning & Operations, Cisco Systems and just celebrated her 16th anniversary with the company. Charm lives in San Jose with her husband Andrew and sons Connor and Tyler.

Chrissy (Spencer) Hardcastle '89 is teaching her 15th year of English/AP Literature at Central High School-East Campus in Fresno, Calif. She and her husband Randy reside in Clovis with their daughters Kali (a junior at St. Mary's college-yes, she is a Gael), Meagan (a senior at SJM HS), and Hayden (a very active 2-year old). She appreciates the inspiration she received from her SCU professors.

Jens Gordon '89 was named the new coach of the Salinas High School boys basketball team. He becomes just the third varsity boys basketball coach at Salinas High in 65 years. 

Gordon, who earned a full-ride basketball scholarship to SCU, was an undrafted free agent for the San Antonio Spurs in 1989. After breaking his ankle, he went on to play basketball professionally in Europe and Japan for 19 years.  

In 2006 he returned to the Salinas area and earned his teaching credential at Cal State University-Monterey Bay. Last year he coached the Salinas High JV girls team to an 18-4 record.

Mark Delsman MBA '89 has been appointed the new vice president of engineering at Pliant Technology.

Robert Colaizzi ’89 has joined Atlona, a global manufacturer of cutting-edge digital connectivity solutions, as the CFO. Colaizzi brings more than 20 years of experience building world-class accounting, finance, and operational teams to Atlona. He has extensive global experience in optimizing operations and driving revenue and profitability by successfully developing and executing financial and operational strategies. Colaizzi holds a B.S. in economics from Santa Clara University and an M.B.A. in finance from the College of Notre Dame. Atlona supplies an extensive range of high-quality products—from cables, splitters, and extenders to distribution amplifiers, converters, switchers, and more—to a diverse client base spanning the consumer electronics, home theater, computing, retail, systems integration, professional A/V, broadcast, entertainment, medical digital imaging, and digital signage markets.

Kathy Thielke Chen '89 and husband Pete welcomed a baby girl, Leilani Marina Chen, on December 12, 2008. The Chens continue to reside in Palo Alto, CA where Kathy is the owner of Just a Party Girl, an event planning and wedding coordination service business.

Kathy Thielke Chen '89 and husband Pete welcomed a baby girl, Leilani Marina Chen, on December 12, 2008. The Chens continue to reside in Palo Alto, Calif., where Kathy is the owner of Just a Party Girl, an event planning and wedding coordination service business.

Malcolm J. Carruthers '94 was appointed manager of customer support for Comtech Xicom Technology Inc. in Santa Clara. Earlier this year he presented a paper at the IVEC/IVESC Conference titled "The More Things Change, the More They Stay The Same," a retrospective and prospective look at the vacuum tube industry. Comtech Xicom Technology is a world leader in satellite communications (satcom) amplifiers, some of which will be used to transmit the 2012 London Olympics to countries around the world.

Troy Buckley '89 is the baseball coach at Long Beach State University.

Freshman Dorm: Swig

Eric Berghoff '86, MBA '89, writes: "My wife (Madeline Desmond '87), my three children (Kayla, Garrett, and Tessie), and I have resided in the Sacramento area for the past 20+ years. My oldest daughter, Kayla, graduates with a theater arts degree from Santa Clara this year. Seeing her grow up as a Bronco has been incredibly exciting and gratifying for me. For the last 10 years, I've enjoyed an excellent professional experience in finance at Intel in Folsom, Calif. For several years, I also moonlighted as a mobile disc jockey, emceeing several hundred events until my 'retirement' in 2005. In short, life since SCU has been very rewarding and enriching."

Zareh Baghdasarian M.S. '89 recently became CEO of 15desks, a new startup focused on the education market.  He was co-founder of Monterey Networks, which was sold to Cisco Syetems in 1999, and has been an active angel investor in Southern California.