LM - Life Member

'50s

Fred S. Ball BS'55 was recently named "Communicator of the Year" by the Small Business Administration of the United States. He writes, produces, and hosts the "Speaking on Business" program on 10 Utah and six Idaho radio stations. He has been heard twice daily on Utah radio for the past 21 years. Ball is senior vice president of Zions Bank and formerly served for 25 years as president and CEO of the Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce.

'60s

Stephen K. Harmon BS'69 PhD'73 has been appointed director of patient and family health education and manager of associated health and interprofessional training at the Veterans Administration Salt Lake City Health Care System. Harmon is a faculty member in the U's Department of Family and Preventive Medicine and is a certified national faculty member with the Bayer Institute for Health Care Communication, an independent nonprofit corporation dedicated to enhancing the quality of health care by improving clinician-patient communication. Harmon was recently recognized by the Veterans Health Administration for his teaching and leadership in interprofessional clinical practice.

'70s

Michael E. Cromar BS'73 was honored by Computerworld magazine as one of the world's 100 premier IT leaders for 2002. His classification as "strategist" also contributed to his being honored by the Equipment Leasing Association of America with its 2002 Technology Award for IBM Global Financing's e-business strategy. He is vice president of business transformation for IBM's global financing unit and is a member of IBM Business Transformation Executive Council. Prior to joining IBM, Cromar, a CPA, was CFO for GATX Capital, a global asset finance company based in San Francisco.  

Robert P. Lunt JD'75 has joined the Salt Lake office of Van Cott, Bagley, Cornwall & McCarthy in its business section, where he focuses his practice in the areas of taxation and commercial transactions. Lunt received his master of law degree in 1976 from New York University.  

Richard D. Smith PhD'75 , chief scientist and a Battelle Fellow at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., where he has worked since 1976, has received the 2003 American Chemical Society's award in analytical chemistry. Smith's accomplishments include numerous developments involving integrating work in two analytical disciplines: separation science and mass spectrometry. An adjunct faculty member in the chemistry department at Washington State University and an affiliate faculty member in the chemistry department at the University of Idaho, Smith has authored or co-authored more than 470 publications and 16 patents and is on the Institute for Scientific Information's list of most cited chemists.

Randy Danielsen BS'78 has been awarded the Breitman-Dorn Research Fellowship from the National Physician Assistant Foundation. Danielsen is an associate professor and chair of the Arizona School of Health Sciences Department of Physician Assistant Studies and is a doctoral candidate in higher education at the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has served on the Arizona Joint Board on the Regulation of Physician Assistants and has held numerous positions in the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA). He was named the AAPA Outstanding Physician Assistant of the Year in 1993, and filled three terms as president of the Arizona State Association of Physician Assistants. Danielsen also served 28 years in the U.S. Air Force and Army National Guard, retiring in 1998 with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Michael L. James BS'78 , Navy captain, recently assumed command of Commander Fleet Activities, Sasebo, Japan. Previously, he served as commanding officer of the guided missile cruiser USS Mahan , in Norfolk, Va., and engineer officer aboard the guided missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay , in San Diego, Calif. James has received a number of personal awards, campaign ribbons, and medals, including two Meritorious Service medals, three Navy and Marine Corps commendation medals, and the Navy and Marine Corps achievement medal.

Wendi Egbert ex'79 is an account manager at the Salt Lake City-based advertising, public relations, and design firm, The Orton Group. She has had previous marketing experience at Utah Power & Light and KTFX television, and has expertise in agency and broadcast advertising, as well as in retail, automotive, and utility advertising and public relations. Egbert is working to complete her communication degree at the U.

'80s

Steve Robbins MS'80 PhD'83 has been promoted to assistant vice president of research with ACT in Iowa City, Iowa, where he is responsible for directing the applied research area, including career transitions, educational and social research, and program evaluation and institutional research departments. Robbins has been instrumental in the preparation of ACT's DISCOVER career planning program for the Internet and for development of a non-cognitive battery for college enrollment management. He previously served as professor and chair of the psychology department at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. He and his wife, Anne Leserman MSW'81, have two children.

Deneen Rhode MFA'82 is an instructor of health and physical education at Monroe Community College, Rochester, N.Y. She earned her M.A. degree in somatic therapies from the State University of New York, Brockport, and a B.S. degree in massage therapy from New York Institute of Massage.

Robert McConkie BS'83 MS'87 MS'88 served on the faculty in the Department of Economics and Business at Bethany College, W.Va., for the 2002-03 school year. He previously taught at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, and at Brigham Young University. McConkie also worked with 3D Manufacturing; Novell, Inc.; Neways, Inc.; PriceWaterhouseCoopers; Alliance Capital Funding; and Delphi Financial Services. He earned his Ph.D. degree in finance from Florida State University.

Kelly Spratlin Mittleman BA'88 , a stay-at-home mother of two in Newtown, Conn., was one of six finalists on NBC's "Today's Superstars," chosen from a field of more than 4,000 on the "Today" show. Her husband, Craig Mittleman BS'86 MD'90 , videotaped her winning performance as she sang and danced around her kitchen holding her 10-month-old son. While she was a student at the U, Mittleman sang with a pop band, and now sings with a jazz band made up of attorneys, a surgeon, and an investment manager, which changed its name to "Kelly and the Boys" following Mittleman's NBC success. Craig Mittleman is director of the emergency room at Waterbury Hospital in Connecticut.

Mark Johannessen BS'85 was recently elected to the board of directors of the 28,000-member Financial Planning Association (FPA). He is a senior planner with Sullivan, Bruyette, Speros & Blayney, Inc. and an adjunct professor of financial planning at Florida Institute of Technology. Johannessen was previously chapter president of the national capital chapter of FPA, and has served on FPA's Chapter Leadership Resource Council, its Government Relations Committee, and as a facilitator for its regional workshops for chapter leaders. He is also a member of the board of the Washington, D.C. U of U alumni chapter and is president of the Catholic Business Network of Montgomery County. AM

Paul F. Brown BA'89 has been appointed vice president, deputy general counsel, and assistant corporate secretary of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA). He was formerly a partner with Kirkland & Ellis, where his practice centered on general commercial litigation, antitrust counseling, intellectual property, corporate governance, and employment law. He had worked as outside counsel to BCBSA on various matters since 1994. He will now manage the day-to-day operations of a legal department of 16 attorneys. Brown earned his J.D. degree at Northwestern University School of Law and resides in Wilmette, Ill.

'90s

Scott Vincent BS'91 MS'93 MPh'94 and Florence Vincent BS'95 will complete their law studies at the end of the current academic year at the University of Toledo in Ohio. They plan to take the state bar exam in Michigan, where they hope to practice.  LM

Neil H. Ashdown BA'93 MPA'97 , a member of the Young Alumni Association Board of Directors, is deputy director of the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget for the State of Utah. He has written a book, The Impact of Banking Policy on Trade and Global Stability (See Bookshelf.). Ashdown also teaches in the Master of Public Administration program at the U. AM  

James Balent MS'93 has been appointed regional manager for Celerity Digital Broadband Test, a division of L-3 Communications Corp., where he is responsible for channel sales to and through the other L-3 Communications divisions. Celerity Systems specializes in creating cost-effective digital broadband test equipment. He was previously employed by National Instruments as business development manager and product marketing manager. Balent resides in Austin, Texas.

Matthew W. MacRitchie BS'93 has been named business development manager for Gilbane Building Company's midwest region, where he directs sales and marketing activities in the higher education, K-12, and federal/public markets. MacRitchie was previously vice president of Chicago-based Horn Design Architects and was director of development with Contracting Resources, Inc. He is a board member of the Commercial Real Estate Organization. MacRitchie lives with his wife, Jennifer, and their daughter in Chicago.  

Jeffrey A. Weiss PhD'94 recently received the Y.C. Fung Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for productive research in biosolid mechanics. The award recognizes a young investigator who is committed to pursuing research in bioengineering and has made significant contributions to that field. Weiss is an assistant professor of bioengineering and an adjunct assistant professor of orthopedics at the U. He has co-authored over 30 original research articles in scientific journals and two book chapters.

Micquelle Corry BA'87 and Matthew George BS'94 have founded a new company in Salt Lake City--POW! Creative Services. Corry has 15 years of experience in marketing, advertising, copywriting, graphic design, and event planning, and George has 10 years in copywriting, marketing, and advertising. Together they plan to provide a combination of strategy and creative solutions to clients.

Prabasaj Paul PhD'95 has been appointed to a full-time faculty position as assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Denison University in Granville, Ohio. He previously served as a visiting assistant professor in physics at Colgate University. Paul earned his master's degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, India.

Joseph L. Leauanae BS'97 MBA'99 is only the second CPA in Utah to have been named both an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) by the American Society of Appraisers and the Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) designation from the American Institute of CPAs. With these credentials, he is recognized and given expert status by a variety of U.S. and international courts and governmental agencies. Leauanae is a supervisor with RGL Forensic Accountants & Consultants in Salt Lake City, where he is responsible for business valuations, investigative accounting assignments, and economic loss quantification cases.  

Seamus Barry BA'98 was recently hired as an assistant state's attorney for Dorchester County in Cambridge, Mass. He studied law at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. AM

Jed K. Burton BA'99 has joined the law firm of Parsons Behle & Latimer where he will practice real property law. Burton worked previously for a real estate brokerage and for appraisal and development companies before earning his law degree from Brigham Young University's J. Reuben Clark School of Law, which awarded him the Faculty Award for Meritorious Achievement and Distinguished Service. AM    

'00s

Megan K. Crawford BS'01 , Coast Guard seaman, is a recent honors graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Recruit Training Center in Cape May, N.J. The eight-week training course includes classroom academics, practical instruction on military customs and courtesies, seamanship skills, first aid, firefighting, water safety, and marksmanship. The program emphasizes physical fitness, health, and wellness. Crawford joins 36,000 men and women who are ready for worldwide assignment with the Coast Guard.