1970s

Zita Arocha, English and Spanish ’74 and MA ’76, published a memoir, “Guajira, the Cuba Girl” (Inlandia Books; 2024). She is a project consultant for immigration at The Poynter Institute for Media Studies Inc. in St. Petersburg and professor emerita at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Edward J. Page, Criminology ’78, Life Member, received the 2023 Professionalism Award from the Hillsborough County Bar Association’s Professionalism Committee. He is a shareholder with Carlton Fields Tampa office.

1970s

Rodney L. Arroyo, Political Science ’80, was selected as an American Institute of Certified Planners Fellow. He is a partner emeritus with planning firm Giffels Webster and owner of Rod Arroyo Photography.

Bob Clark, MBA ’80, Life Member, was inducted into the Florida Transportation Builders Association Inc. Hall of Fame. He is president of Tampa Steel Erecting Co.

Peter F. Estrada, History ’83, was selected to serve on Florida’s statewide Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee. Estrada is a judge for the 10th Judicial Circuit Court, which includes Polk, Hardee and Highlands (Florida) counties.

Ann Duncan Inman, Finance ‘87, was promoted to chief operating officer at Savills North America in Arlington, Virginia, a subsidiary of Savills commercial real estate brokerage firm. She was previously chief strategy officer and chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at the company.

Diane (Graham) Lewis, Marketing ’85, joined AVI-SPL as a buyer. She was previously an assistant buyer for BMR Holdings LLC.

Dr. Gail McDonald-Chang, Biology ’89 and MPH ’00, Life Member, was made a fellow in the Pierre Fauchard Academy. She is a dentist at Tomlinson Dental in Tampa and a dentist volunteer with the Homeless Empowerment Program.

1990s

Evan P. Bennett, History ’95 and MA ’98, published “Tampa Bay: The Story of an Estuary and Its People,” (University Press of Florida; 2024). He is an associate professor of history at Florida Atlantic University.

Holly Donaldson, MBA ’98 and MA Economics ’07, was recognized by the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors as one of 16 Women to Know in the financial advisory profession. She is a Certified Financial Planner with Holly Donaldson Financial Planning LLC in Seminole, Florida.

Lisa Hess, Accounting ’96 and MBA ’02, joined HFA Architecture + Engineering as chief financial officer. She was previously CFO at Mackie Wolf Zientz & Mann, PC, in Dallas.

Craig Lane, MBA ’91, was appointed president of Dynamaxx Health Inc., a subsidiary of Full Alliance Group Inc. He was previously managing partner for SurgCap Funding in Tampa.

Troy Powell, Accounting ’94, was promoted to vice president, project director and shareholder at Creative Contractors Inc., where he leads the company’s new Lakeland, Florida, office. Powell has been with the Clearwater, Florida-based company for 18 years.

Tiffany Moore Russell, Political Science ’96, was installed as the 2024-25 president of the Florida Court Clerks and Comptroller’s Association. She is the Orange County (Florida) Clerk of Courts.

Charles “Chuck” Vilardi, Elementary Education ’93 and MEd ’97, received the 2024 Dean’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the USF College of Education. He is the principal of Diplomat Elementary School in Cape Coral, Florida, where he has worked for the school district for more than 30 years.

2000s

Veon (Watson) Brewster, Mass Communications ’08, appeared on ABC-TV’s “Shark Tank” to pitch “the world’s first smart baby bottle monitor,” Veba. She is the 
CEO and company’s co-founder, with husband Sean.

Heather Duncan, PhD Curriculum and Instruction ’09, was named dean of the College of Education at St. Petersburg College. She was previously the college’s associate dean.

Keri Fogle, MA Exceptional Student Education ’08 and PhD ’14, received the 2024 Spirit of Partnership Alumni Award from the USF College of Education. An associate professor of special education at the University of West Florida, she is a former journalist who switched careers after her son was diagnosed with a learning disability.

Paul Gargagliano, Accounting ’04, joined Revolent Capital Solutions in Tampa as chief financial officer. He was previously enterprise chief financial officer for The Facilities Group.

Glen Gilzean, Biomedical Sciences ’05 and MS Entrepreneurship in Applied Technology ’09, Life Member, was appointed Orange County Supervisor of Elections. He was previously president and CEO of the Central Florida Urban League.

Bret McCabe, Psychology ’00, Life Member, received the 2024 Emerging Leaders Award from New York’s Subcontractors Trade Association. He is a partner at Forchelli Deegan Terrana LLP construction law firm in Uniondale, New York.



 

Jillaina Menth, Biology ’04 and MBA ’12, joined Kerecis regenerative therapy specialists in Las Vegas as a territory sales representative. She was previously a director at Healogics Inc.

​​​​​​​Saleem Musallam, Marketing ’04, Life Member, joined the Florida Medical Manufacturers Consortium board of directors. He is the founder and CEO of Excite Medical, which brings new medical devices to market.

Dr. Rachel Pyngolil, Biomedical Sciences ’08, MSMS ’09, MPH ’14 and MD ’14, has joined Holy Cross Medical Group in Broward County, Florida. Board-certified in internal medicine, she previously worked with Citrus Health Network Inc. in West Kendall, Florida.

Brooke Sargeant, Biology ’00, has joined Fox Rothschild as a partner in the intellectual property department. She was previously a partner at Seed IP Law Group.

Craig Simon, Marketing ’06 and MBA ’08, joined First Internet Bank as a vice president and senior business development officer on the bank’s Small Business Administration team. He was previously a vice president at Pilot Bank.

Andy Taylor, Political Science ’09, Life Member, received the 2024 Tourism Ambassador of the Year award from Experience Florida’s Sports Coast. He is the regional affairs manager for Tampa Electric.

Jyotika Virmani, PhD Marine Science ’05, was included in Forbes magazine’s 2024 50 Over 50 list of groundbreaking women aged 50 and up. The executive director of the Schmidt Ocean Institute was also selected this year as a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s Ocean Studies Board.

2010s

Michael Calzadilla, Physics ’15, was selected for the NASA Hubble Fellowship Program. He will research “A Multiwavelength View of the Evolving Baryon Cycle in Galaxy Clusters” at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. He is an astrophysics doctoral candidate at MIT.

Manouchka Castor, Management, ’17 and MBA ’18, joined Cintas as a key account manager in Tampa. She was previously a branch manager for Enterprise Holdings.

Darrell Clark, Sociology ’10, Life Member, has joined the University of Louisville in Kentucky as vice president for human resources. He previously served as the associate vice president for people and culture at Ball State University.

Anthony Gaenzle, Marketing ’10 and MS ’12, joined Synapse in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as vice president of strategy and content. He was previously CEO of Gaenzle Marketing.

Maria Garzon, Finance and Management ’19, has joined Goldman Sachs in Miami as a private wealth management associate. She was previously a private wealth management senior analyst for the company in London.

Simone King, MS Marketing ’15, joined Wells Fargo as a bank teller in Dallas. She was previously an advisor at Warby Parker.

Pete Kirtland, DBA ’19, joined PCS Retirement LLC as head of corporate business development. He was previously CEO of Aspire Financial Services.

Dakota (Whaley) Kiss, Accounting ’17 and MBA ’20, was promoted to senior project management office (PMO) analyst and administrator at FCCI Insurance Group in the Tampa Bay area, where she was previously a PMO analyst.

Megan Krieger, MBA ’17, was promoted to principal customer success manager at 
Rapid7 in Jacksonville, Florida, where she was previously an enterprise customer success manager.

Jessie Leite, Global Business ’18 and MBA ’19, was promoted to vice president for financial planning and analysis at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

José Martinez, Management Information Systems ’12, was promoted to lead software engineer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He was previously a senior software engineer.

Spencer Montgomery, Communication ’11, Life Member, has been appointed managing director of the Northwestern Mutual Clearwater (Florida) office. Montgomery has been with Northwestern Mutual since 2018 and is an Alumni Association board member.

Diego Ortiz, Finance ’13, was promoted to controller for liquid strategies at DigitalBridge in Boca Raton, Florida, where he was previously an accounting manager.
 

Maithilee Pagay, Finance ’18, was promoted to associate at Santander Corporate & Investment Banking in London. She was previously an analyst at the firm.

David J. Redman, PhD Music Education ’16, Life Member, was invited to conduct a 150-voice chorus accompanied by the New England Philharmonic orchestra at Carnegie Hall in New York City in May 2025. He is the artistic director/conductor for Bel Canto Singers of Daytona Beach, Florida, and retired director of choral activities at Spruce Creek High School in Port Orange, Florida.

Alvaro Ruiz, Finance ’13, joined Eyzenberg & Company in Austin, Texas, as a real estate capital advisor. He was previously a project finance analyst at Citi.

Lindsay (Berstling) Shultz, International Business ’14, Life Member, joined Holmes Murphy in Muscatine, Iowa, as the growth and development business partner. She was previously a learning and development manager at HNI Workplace Furnishings Cisco

Malpartida Smith, MBA ’17, has joined Mbanq digital banking solutions in Seattle as the head of credit union partnerships. He is an adjunct professor at Seattle University.

Lenny Steinberg, Management ’10, has joined Oregon Hillel at the University of Oregon as executive director and CEO. He was previously a regional director for Alpha Epsilon Pi.

Mosheh Vann, Marketing ’19, was promoted to senior director of business development at Gartner emerging technology in Fort Myers, Florida, where he was previously a business development director.

Rachana Vidhi, PhD Chemical Engineering, ’14, has been inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame. She is director of technical sales at NextEra Analytics.

Yan Wang, PhD Curriculum and Instruction ’18, received the 2024 Young Educator Alumni Award from the USF College of Education. She is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Lowell, where her research focuses on developing and applying statistical modeling to analyze large-scale data.

Emma Wolgast, Marketing ’19 and MBA ’21, was promoted to growth marketing manager at Thuma bedroom furniture company, where she was previously a performance marketing specialist.

Aleksandra Yakhkind, MD ’15, has published “The Perfect Doctor — forty voices on the imperfect pursuit of an ideal,” (Pager Publications Inc.; 2024), a collection of essays by medical professionals. Yakhkind is an assistant professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Tufts University School of Medicine.

2020s

Nandini Agarwal, Accounting and Finance ’20, was promoted to principal at ff Venture Capital in New York City. She was previously a senior associate at the firm.

Brandon Jaijairam, Health Sciences ’20 and MA Physical Education ’22, has joined the University of Miami Women’s Basketball program as video coordinator. He was previously video coordinator and coordinator of basketball operations at USF.  

Daniel Jones, MLIS ’23, was named the 2024 Outstanding New Librarian by the Florida Library Association. He works for the Miami-Dade Public Library System.

Isabella Nicodeme, Criminology ’24, was selected for the inaugural class of Florida Council of 100’s Robert L. Ward 2024 fellowship. Participants are proven researchers, analysts, communicators and leaders. She plans to pursue a law degree.

Emma Rebman, Management ’23, was promoted to assistant branch manager at Enterprise Mobility in Tampa, where she was previously a management assistant. She is also the founder and CEO of Tiny’s Truffles.
 

Alexis Roberson, Mass Communications ’22, was elected president of the Young People Department, 11th Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, where she will lead AME church youth in Florida and the Bahamas. She serves as a Florida House legislative aide.

Sean Schrader, Management ’22 and MBA ’24, was selected for the inaugural class of Florida Council of 100’s Robert L. Ward fellowship. Participants are proven researchers, analysts, communicators and leaders.

Ashley Tormey, Finance ’22, has joined Fisher Investments as an investment counselor. She was previously a client relationship manager at E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley.

Madison Vail, Accounting and Finance ’22, was promoted to senior accountant at Crete United in Tampa, where she was previously a staff accountant.

Shelby Weininger, Public Relations and Advertising ’21, was promoted to brand manager and account executive at ChappellRoberts public relations in Tampa, where she was previously a brand coordinator.