Miracle Encounter

Mike Jeresaty ’85 and Doug Coupe ’92 pose with music hall of famer Smokey Robinson at a celebrity charity golf tournament last October.

The tournament, Denny & Mark’s Pro-Am Jam, is hosted by Denny Hamlin, a NASCAR driver and team owner, and Mark Bryan, a founding member and lead guitarist of Hootie & the Blowfish.

Jeresaty and Coupe live on Daniel Island, located in Charleston, where the tournament takes place, and Coupe serves on the advisory board for the event, which has raised more than $2.3 million for various charities in its 10 years.

As for Robinson, age 83, the Motown great has had a golf handicap in the teens for many years.

1990

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARY

Joanne Walton joannewalton2003@yahoo.com

Joyce Bareikis El Kouarti now works as communications lead in the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement….John Bitar is one of four new trustees at Felician Univ. in Rutherford, N.J. John is a partner at the Windels, Marx, Lane & Mittendorf law firm, handling corporate and securities, financial transactions, public finance and not-forprofit, and COVID-19 response and resources, among other sectors. He earned a JD from Rutgers Law. John and Roberta Desjardins Bitar ’92 live in Chatham, N.J., and have three sons….Vice provost and dean of admissions at the Univ. of Pennsylvania, Whitney Blanchard Soule discussed the university and her work with The Philadelphia Inquirer. A focus of the Q&A was her goal of bringing “clarity, simplification, and equity to Penn’s application process.” For example, she cited Penn’s participation in a Common Application pilot project that encourages applicants to detail how they take on family and household responsibilities — “signaling that we value the commitment of these responsibilities,” she said.…Ismael Carreras has changed jobs. After more than four years as chief data strategist in the president’s office at the Univ. of Massachusetts, he’s now the inaugural associate dean for strategic analysis in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard Univ., helping to “integrate and analyze data to inform strategic decision making at the FAS. I will also get to see more of my four-year roommate at Bates, Christopher Sokolowski, a conservator in Special Collections at the Harvard Library.”

1991

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS SECRETARY

Katie Tibbetts Gates kathryntgates@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT

John Ducker jducker1@yahoo.com

Pam Batchelder Johnson attended a January Bates presentation in Charlotte, N.C., where she lives. The event featured Allen Delong, senior associate dean for Purposeful Work, and Cary Gemmer ’07, senior leadership gift officer. “It was great to catch up on what is happening on campus, and I enjoyed showing off the city,” says Pam. “We had a lively gathering of about 15 local Batesies, ranging from graduates from the 1970s to a member of the Class of 2022.”... After diplomatic assignments to the United Arab Emirates and the Bahamas, Jon Custis started a new position at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi….John Ducker writes from Portland, Ore.: “I was volunteering with my family at the Potluck in the Park for feeding the needy, and struck up a conversation with another volunteering family. It wasn’t long before we figured out our Bobcat connection — great to meet you and your family, Bethany Dozier ’93!”...Brendan Gillis and Jill moved to a “new condo in the complex we have lived in for nearly 20 years,” he reports. “We went from a second-floor, two-bedroom unit to a first-floor, three-bedroom unit. It took us almost 20 years to move 400 feet.” They will celebrate their 20th anniversary this year, and Brendan’s business, Gillis Accounting Services, is in its 11th year. “The boss is a really great guy.”...Aaron Humphrey shared that he and Trish Shepard ’95 have gigs as part-time ramp agents for SkyWest Airlines at Aspen/Pitkin County Airport (ASE), in Colorado. “We move more than 300,000 bags through ASE annually for Delta and United,” he says. “It’s very glamorous.” Handling luggage is a big part of the job, but their duties also include operating the cart used to pump out airplane septic tanks. “I don’t think our Bates degrees were a contributing factor in getting hired; being able to breathe without conscious thought is a significant criterion for employment and anything else is considered a bonus.”...Debbie Parrott was profiled by the trade-show industry newspaper Exhibit City News in December. She is CEO of Highmark TechSystems of Fort Wayne, Ind., purveyors of innovative exhibit systems. Highmark’s roots lie in her father’s business, ICON Exhibits, but Debbie’s long and winding road home after Bates provided ample relevant experience along the way. “I inherited my parents’ work ethic and their commitment to excellence, which I also apply to my work outside of Highmark,” she said. She serves on the board of directors and the Paralympic Board of Advisors at Turnstone Center for Children and Adults with Disabilities. She and Erik Johnson ’90 live in Fort Wayne.

1992

Reunion 2027, June 11–13 executive committee Ami Berger ami_berger@hotmail.com

Kristin Bierly Magendantz kmagendantz@comcast.net

Kristen Downs Bruno Kris10DBruno@gmail.com

Roland Davis roldav92@gmail.com

Peter Friedman peter.friedman@alum.dartmouth.org

Leyla Morrissey Bader leyla.bader@gmail.com

Jeff Mutterperl jeffmutterperl@gmail.com

Heather Balser became town manager of Kennebunk, Maine, in February. Her municipal government experience includes 16 years in Louisville, Colo., where her tenure included nearly four years as city manager. Now back in Maine, “I’m excited to walk the beach as often as I can. I haven’t done that in a long time,” she told the Portland Press Herald, adding, “I am really excited to get to know the community.”...This from Al Bruno: “With the kids both out of the house and at college this year, Kristen Downs Bruno and I are fully adapted to being empty-nesters. We gleefully attend numerous music and sporting events, and compete at local trivia nights with friends. Look us up if you are in the New Haven area.”...Philip Clark joined Nouryon, a worldwide supplier of specialty chemicals, as senior vice president and chief technology officer in December. He oversees global technology and innovation strategies, as well as research capability development, at the Amsterdambased company. Philip joined Nouryon from 3M, where he was vice president and technical director for the automotive and aerospace solutions division. He and Christine live in the Philadelphia area….Lisa Genova, a neuroscientist and writer whose novel Still Alice was adapted for a major film, offers online TED courses. In a promo for “How to boost your brain + memory,” she describes three types of forgetting that are typically normal, and one that deserves a closer look — the sudden inability to perform routine tasks. “Just as you do with your heart health or reproductive health,” she counsels, “I encourage you to be in conversation with your doctor about your memory and realize you have a lot of agency over your brain health.”...Bill Guidera came to PrizePicks, North America’s largest independent daily fantasy sports platform, in January as senior vice president of government affairs. He previously held related roles with Netflix, 21st Century Fox, News Corp, and Microsoft. He and Aimee Rogstad Guidera live in Long Lake, Minn., and have two daughters….Mike Lieber reports that things “are a little quieter in our suburban Chicago house these days as our twins are off at college, including Sarah Lieber ’26 at Bates and her twin brother, Evan, in Los Angeles.” That leaves Mike and Rebecca with just one child, Reece, under their roof….Erin Lydon was the subject of a Q&A blog with Ladderworks, whose publications empower children to become social entrepreneurs. A resident of Liberty Lake, Wash., Erin runs Poker Power, an organization that teaches women to play poker as a source of skills for success in business, finance, and life. “Our mission is to teach a million girls and women how to stack their skills, negotiate, and take calculated risks by gamifying key leadership lessons,” Erin told her interviewer. “No gambling is permitted. No real money transacts.”

1993

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS SECRETARY

Lisa Bousquet lisaannbousquet@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Mike Charland mfc@wilkinsinvest.com

Jason Hanley jason.hanley@wexinc.com

Kyle O’Bryan was one of eight 2022 inductees into Maine’s Midcoast Sports Hall of Fame. A 1989 graduate of Lincoln Academy, in Newcastle, he won varsity letters for three years in soccer, basketball, and baseball there — and captained all three teams as a senior. An outstanding goalie in soccer, he helped lead the team to a state Class B championship in 1987. In basketball, Kyle was a top scorer for the team, which won the 1989 state Class B championship. (He also played varsity hoops at Bates.) Kyle works at the Boston office of law firm Mullen & McGourty....Evan Silverman left Roku in January to join the esteemed food media company America’s Test Kitchen as chief operating officer. Previously he served as COO of This Old House Ventures, parent company of the popular TV show, and ran that entity’s business operations after its purchase by Roku.

1994

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Courtney Landau Fleisher courtney.fleisher@gmail.com

Jonathan Lewis jlewjlew@mac.com media outlet: Greenville News headline: The cost of unity takeaway: Historical systemic racism roots its way into 21st century urban redevelopment

U.S. Rep. Ben Cline assured people attending an October candidates’ forum that he often “crosses the aisle” for discussions with his Democratic counterparts in the House — and is rewarded with “strange looks” from fellow Republicans, reported the Daily News-Record of Harrisonburg, Va. He also advocated for U.S. energy independence, robust funding for law enforcement, and a bettersecured border with Mexico. In 2018, Cline succeeded mentor Bob Goodlatte ’74 in representing Virginia’s 6th District…Physics major Amy Laurence benefited from Arctic experience amassed by geology major Kim Marsella when they camped and skied cross-country in the Adirondacks as temperatures dropped to an overnight low of minus 20 degrees. “So much fun reconnecting!

Ken Kolb ’98, a Furman University professor of sociology, joined an investigative team of academics and journalists who reported on how urban redevelopment in Greenville, S.C., is forcing families out of historically Black neighborhoods.

Published in the Greenville News, their six-part series, “The Cost of Unity,” documents gentrification and racial displacement in Greenville and “the staggering loss of Black residents from a city with one of the highest racial economic disparities in the Southeast,” the reporters say.

The author of Retail Inequality: Reframing the Food Desert Debate, Kolb contributed an opinion piece about his research, explaining how “Greenville’s neighborhoods today are still shaped by the legacy of racist real-estate practices of the past,” such as racially restrictive covenants that were “written into property deeds going back to the early 1900s [and] forbade the sale of homes to non-white buyers.”

Erica Suter ’98

1995

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Jason Verner jcv@nbgroup.com

Deb Nowak Verner debverner@gmail.com media outlet: WYPR Public Radio headline:

Adnan Syed attorney Erica Suter on justice and the Innocence Project takeaway:

Attorney Erica Suter ’98 has been in the national media for her role in helping to overturn the murder conviction of Adnan Syed, a case that gained attention through the podcast Serial and the HBO documentary The Case Against Adnan Syed.

Last October, prosecutors in Baltimore dismissed charges against Syed, who had been convicted and imprisoned in 2000 for the murder of Hae Min Lee. (The case is now under appeal.) Suter is Syed’s lawyer and director of the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Baltimore School of Law.

To understand how difficult it is to get a case back into court to be reconsidered, one must understand the U.S. criminal legal system, Suter told WYPR Public Radio.

“It worships at the altar of finality. Once somebody is convicted, once somebody is in the clutches of our criminal legal system, it is damn near impossible to pull them back out again. In this field of innocence work, far more cases are lost than won because it is so difficult.”

Christian Gullette received a Bread Loaf writing scholarship in 2022. A poet and translator, his work has appeared or is forthcoming in The American Poetry Review, The Yale Review, Kenyon Review, New England Review, Northwest Review, and Los Angeles Review. Christian is the editor-in-chief of The Cortland Review and lives in San Francisco with his husband, Michael….Nisha Koshy “was overjoyed to reunite with Beth Lurvey Bounds, Bayne Gibby and Ing Voosen Frick in Austin during the winter to celebrate turning 50. And I’ll be excited to see them again in September for my wedding to Mark Cunningham in Ogunquit, Maine!” Nisha adds, “My daughter Sophia Cocchiarella ’26 has joined me as a Batesie and a Merimander.”...Laike Stewart enjoyed Reunion 2022, which embraced classes whose inperson gatherings, including Laike’s, were pushed back by the pandemic. She says, “It was great to see classmates and the campus, which is almost unrecognizable.” Also during the summer, she got together in Winchester, Mass., “with some wonderful souls” — Tim Mills, Phil Pettis, Jason and Deb Nowak Verner, Ellen Sampson Moore, and Edmund “Joey” and Carolyn “Bunny” Kavanagh Gaither. Laike “couldn’t ask for a better group of kind, loving, and supportive people in my life,” she says.

1996

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS PRESIDENTS Ayesha Farag ayesha.farag@gmail.com

Jay Lowe jameslowemaine@yahoo.com

Tom Keller is “a psychotherapist and a licensed alcohol and drug counselor in Minneapolis. I enjoy walks around lakes, travel, visits with family and friends, and also, of course, my two cats who have managed to get me through the pandemic single-pawedly.”

1997

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS SECRETARIES

Todd Zinn tmzinn@hotmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT

Stuart Abelson sabelson@oraclinical.com

“The best squash in the world is played outside of the United

States,” the Finger Lakes Times opined in January, and credited Pat Cosquer’s prowess in international recruitment as vital to the squash program at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Pat became head coach at those schools in 2019, after 11 years in that role at Bates. “It’s a blessing to give the gift of diversity to HWS,” Cosquer told the paper. “In order to compete and be a stronger team, it behooves us to go across our borders to find talent.”…Heather Davies Bernard and Durel still love living in Austin, Texas. Heather was elected chair of the board of trustees of the International School of Texas. Their sons, Jack and Sawyer, attend that International Baccalaureate World School....Director of California’s San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden since 2019, Chenda Lor was profiled last fall by the Estero Bay News Her successes at the garden include establishing land-use and operational agreements with San Luis Obispo County, creating an education center, and dramatically expanding both staff and the governance structure. “This job merged my career goals, community service advocacy, and a reason to get up and love going to work every day,” she said. One of her four children is Zander Rolph ’20…. Sam Martin, Kelly Hennessy, and their three sons still live in Andover, Mass., but have changed houses. “We now have a pool, which the kids love.” Sam adds, “My oldest son, Ben, now attends Central Catholic High School” in Lawrence. “His English teacher and track coach is Joe Welch ’94.”…J. Carl Maxwell joined the Association of American Publishers as vice president for public policy. Collectively, AAP’s members publish millions of peer-reviewed research articles a year across a breadth of disciplines. Carl previously spent 19 years with the American Chemical Society, most recently managing government affairs. He and Chelsea live in the D.C. area.…Mary Richter was sorry to miss her 25th Reunion, “but was glad to see Lauren Cardonsky Gretina a lot this past year.” Mary and Dina Barker just spent their third winter in Florida. “Thanks to my work becoming largely remote, I am able to escape the Hudson Valley winters for the beach.”...A children’s book by Matt Tavares, the subject of Bates Magazine’s Fall 2022 cover story, was one of 27 titles temporarily withheld for scrutiny by a Florida school district. Henry Aaron’s Dream, which depicts how baseball great Hank Aaron overcame segregation as a teenage athlete in Jacksonville, made news when it came under review by Duval County Public Schools. Media reported that the district sought to determine whether the books ran afoul of

Florida’s so-called Stop Woke Law, but the school district said it also needed to establish appropriate age levels and inschool placements for the books (i.e., libraries vs. media centers). The book was ultimately cleared for student use....Brian Walsh joined the Hyannis, Mass., bank Cape Cod 5 as a mortgage officer in September. A resident of Yarmouth Port, he previously worked as a senior loan officer and loan consultant for local mortgage companies.

1998

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS COMMITTEE

Doug Beers douglas.beers@gmail.com

Liam Clarke ldlc639@gmail.com

Rob Curtis robcurtis@eatonvance.com

Renee Leduc rleducclarke@gmail.com

Tyler Munoz tylermunoz@gmail.com

Renee Leduc received the American Meteorological Society’s Kenneth Spengler Award in January 2022. Presented virtually, the award recognized Renee’s contributions to the weather, water, and climate community and the linkages she has built among the government, private, and academic sectors. Better still, a year later she was recognized for the same award again — this time in person — at the 103rd Annual Meeting of the AMS. “This was extra-special recognition,” Renee writes from Alexandria, Va., “as I’m celebrating 10 years of owning my own weather and climate policy consultancy, Narayan Strategy, in 2023.”

1999

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS SECRETARY

Jenn Lemkin Bouchard jennifer_bouchard@hotmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENT

Jamie Ascenzo Trickett jamie.trickett@gmail.com

Sidelines, a magazine “for horse people, about horse people,” profiled Alexandra Cherubini in September. A horse person whose family business is the development of technically advanced medical products, Alexandra combined both interests to launch EquiFit, whose innovations make riding healthier and more comfortable.

“I have been so fortunate, I’m not sure where to begin!” she told the magazine. “I’ve had the privilege of meeting and working with the most incredible people and horses. EquiFit has taken me all over the world.”...Olga Demin Lambert has been appointed dean of the College of Liberal

Arts at Benedictine Univ. in Lisle, Ill. Prior to the appointment, Olga taught languages and literature at Benedictine for 14 years. She and Philippe live in Lisle….Kate Hine Smith and Corey have “enjoyed seeing our daughter Maddie Smith ’26 find her place at Bates this year! Funny to see how much has changed, but good to know some traditions are still going strong.”...Brian Kuser reports that his and Tracy Fantle’s family farm was added to the National Register of Historic Places and its state-level equivalent — making Fernbrook Farms eligible for state grants to restore its historic buildings, of which the oldest dates back to 1760. Located in Chesterfield, N.J., “the farm is shared with many and used to educate both young and old about food, the beauty of nature, and sustainable farming....Jenn Lemkin Bouchard’s debut novel, 2021’s First Course, was slated for release in audiobook form in May. TouchPoint Press will publish her second novel, Palms on the Cape, this year....Matt Sonne sent one of the many responses to the Sun Journal’s call for memories of the Lewiston bar The Cage, which went dark after 54 years. Matt was pranked by Chase House buddies who recommended La Cage as a place to treat his grandparents and their friend to lunch. “I escorted this trio of 80-year-olds into a dark, low-ceiling, windowless bar and realized — I’d been had!” Matt added, “My grandfather loved reliving the episode.” The newspaper noted the “deep connection to Bates College, especially among the series of owners, who all appear to have been alums or have a direct Bates connection.” Matt and Kristin McGovern have three children, including Olivia Sonne ’27, and live in Bethesda, Md…. Ryad Yousuf is the first native of Bangladesh to be named a partner at Goldman Sachs. Co-head of emerging market sales for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Ryad joined the financial giant in 2011, following seven years at Deutsche Bank. He, Dagny Kimberly, and their children live in London.

2000

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS SECRETARY

Cynthia Link cynthiafriedalink@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Jenn Glassman Jacobs jenniferellenjacobs@gmail.com

Megan Shelley mhshelley@aol.com

Courtney Elf Rowe and Ethan Rowe ’98 are performing more music now that pandemic restrictions are receding, she writes. She plays flute, Ethan is a jazz pianist, and both sing

bates.edu/professional-development

Find Career Growth At Any Stage With Alumni

Professional Development

Career

Milky Way

With some help from Hannah Sessions ’99 and Greg Bernhardt ’99, Bates students got to have their cheese and eat it too in the fall semester course “Living in a Microbial World.”

Taught by Lori Banks, assistant professor of biology, the course invited students to explore the microbial world by looking at two different cheeses made by Banks and two colleagues, Beth Malachowsky, a research technician, and Amy McDonough, an assistant in instruction.

The course got cheesier in October with a visit by Sessions and Bernhardt, who own and operate Blue Ledge Farm, a goat dairy and cheesemaking operation in Leicester, Vt.

In addition to bringing samples from Blue Ledge, the couple, who are parents of two Bates students, explained their work, such as which goat breeds best suit which types of farming.

The couple are also painters, creating works that depict the animal and natural life that gives purpose to their day-to-day existence. Most recently, Sessions turned her artistry toward a children’s picture book, writing and illustrating Rosalyn Thought She Was a Goat, based on the real story of a Blue Ledge lamb who grew up thinking she was a goat.

In life, said Bernhardt, “you have to make something you love. It’s sort of like writing a paper for a professor; if you don’t love it, they won’t either.” with choral groups. “In other news, while our jobs and home remain the same, we are adjusting to being parents of two teenagers now that our younger, Madeleine, has turned 13. Our older daughter Julia has entered the exciting-yet-terrifying phase of learning to drive. Only one car has been totaled in the process of parent-guided driving lessons so far.”...Michael Kitces, head of planning strategy for Buckingham Wealth Partners and manager of a popular blog for financial advisers, returned to the podcast The Long View in August for a wide-ranging interview that touched on his very busy career. How does he keep all those plates spinning? “It’s essentially taking control of your own calendar to say, ‘Here’s where I’m going to focus the time…And here’s where I’m not spending the time.’”...Anne Linder has joined ZVMLaw, a boutique law firm in Ann Arbor, Mich. She specializes in outside general-counsel support for businesses across the country. “I hope to see beloved Bates friends in the Northeast when working out of the NYC office!” she writes.

2001

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS SECRETARY

Noah Petro npetro@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Jodi Winterton Cobb jodimcobb@gmail.com

Kate Hagstrom Lepore khlepore@gmail.com

This from Jen Crawford: “After eight years of having the honor of belonging to the Bates Alumni Council, including two as vice president and two as president, my term ends in June. However, I am very proud to have been selected as the new vice president of the College Key.”...February’s Down East magazine ran a Q&A with Jaime DeSimone, chief curator at the landmark Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine. The interview followed the museum’s reopening after a comprehensive overhaul of its permanent-collection exhibitions. Previously employed at the Portland Museum of Art, Jaime was asked what drew her to the Farnsworth. “I love Maine, and I believe there’s something special happening (at the Farnsworth) that has informed and directed American art in a way that not many places have,” she said....John Payne of Westerly, R.I., has been reelected to the board of directors at Wood River Health, which serves parts of Rhode Island and Connecticut. An attorney, he served on the board 2010–2019. He holds a JD from Penn’s Dickinson School of Law and an MBA from the Univ. of Rhode Island’s College of Business.…

Craig Morgan Teicher’s “Birthday Poem” appeared in the Aug. 15 New Yorker. Ostensibly about a pet dog, it concludes:

“The leash has been recording / her every turn, and her territory / which was the whole wide yard, is diminishing. / Bewildered, suddenly stuck, she’s me.”

2002

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS SECRETARY

Stephanie Eby steph.eby@gmail.com

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Jay Surdukowski jsurdukowski@sulloway.com

Drew Weymouth weymouthd@gmail.com

2003

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Kirstin Boehm kirstincboehm@gmail.com

Melissa Yanagi melissayanagi@gmail.com

2004

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Eduardo Crespo eduardo.crespo.r@gmail.com

Tanya Schwartz tanya.schwartz@gmail.com

Nicole Brown Jones has become a partner at Bradley Arant Boult Cummings, a national law firm based in Birmingham, Ala. A member of the firm’s banking and financial services and litigation practice groups, she focuses on defending claims and advising financial institutions on compliance with state and federal regulations.

A political science major at Bates, Nicole earned a JD from the Univ. of Mississippi School of Law….Mike Lopez is associate editor of the Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports and senior director of football data and analytics at the National Football League. He talked with STATtr@k, a site for statisticians new to the field, about the career path that led him to success as a sports statistician — from his Bates math major to high school coaching and teaching to four years as an assistant professor at Skidmore. “Between the public speaking, subject-specific expertise in football, ability to teach and work with other researchers, technical/coding skills, and, most importantly, evolution of the sports world,” he said, “the stars aligned.”

2005

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Kathryn Duvall duvall.kathryn@gmail.com

Melissa Geissler melissa.geissler@gmail.com

James Kenly became executive director of the Vail Symposium, a nonprofit educational institution, at the beginning of 2023. James brings diverse nonprofit and events-related experience to the 50-year-old symposium, most recently at Walking Mountains Science Center. He, Kristen Johnson Kenly, and their children live in Eagle-Vail…. Megan Richardson Day joined the board of directors of the Belfast (Maine) Area Chamber of Commerce in January. Megan manages communications and public affairs at Waldo County General Hospital and has more than a decade of experience in the field. A lifelong Waldo County resident, she lives in Belmont.

2006

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Chelsea Cook chelsea.m.cook@gmail.com

Katie Nolan knolan06@gmail.com

Johnny Ritzo johnnyritzo@gmail.com

John Phelan has joined the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency as an information specialist. Previously a consultant to that organization, he works in the cybersecurity division “alongside a phenomenal team in Workforce Operations.”...

Oliver Wolf was promoted from vice president to partner at DCI Group, a global public affairs firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. Oli has been with DCI for 16 years and now manages international and domestic public affairs campaigns focused on environmental and energy policy, trade, technology, tax, financial services, and development issues. Prior to joining DCI, he worked on Republican political campaigns and on the staff of Maine’s senior U.S. senator, Susan Collins. “I’m grateful the management committee has decided to continue to invest in me as an employee, a colleague, and now a partner,” Oli said in an announcement of the appointment. He lives with Lisa and children Zachary and Bridget in Chevy Chase, Md.

2007

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Keith Kearney kdkearney@gmail.com

Rakhshan Zahid rakhshan.zahid@gmail.com

Emily Cohen-Shikora was promoted to senior lecturer in psychological and brain sciences at Washington Univ. in St. Louis, and in September received the university’s Excellence in Teaching Award….Allison Marshall D’Ascenzo and John D’Ascenzo welcomed Heidi MacGregor D’Ascenzo to their family in November. “Her big sister, Isla, is loving her new role and the two girls are having lots of fun together.”...Sarah Sprague Katan took part last year in storytelling sessions presented by the Ancram (N.Y.) Opera House. Sarah’s story connects her love of maps “to how I relate to my young son, who is autistic,” she explains. Proprietor of the outdoor education and guide business Whale of a Trail Adventures, Sarah made her storytelling debut in June, and shared the opera house stage in November with Kitty Kiefer ’73.

2008

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Liz Murphy elizabeth.jayne.m@gmail.com

Alie Egelson alisonrose.schwartz@gmail.com media outlet:

Nick Bauer has joined XGenomes, a startup in Cambridge, Mass., that uses super-resolution microscopy to advance DNA sequencing. Nick earned a doctorate in biomedical research at Emory Univ….Anna Bernhard continues to direct the Stanley G. Wold Visual Resource Center and Library at Colorado State Univ. She helped curate Off the Shelf, an exhibition on book arts presented last fall at the university’s Gregory Allicar Museum of Art. In 2021, she cofounded the Center for Artists’ Books and Inclusive Narratives at the university, and teaches a course on the subject. Anna lives in Fort Collins with her husband, Peter, and their two children….Natasha D’Souza and Ashley Serrao welcomed their daughter, Sydney Amelia Serrao, in December. The family lives in Brooklyn….Tim McCall and Charlotte Hogan welcomed their son, Clark, in October. They live in Mount Tabor, N.J.

The Washington Post headline:

“Environmental racism” and the mysterious cars rusting in D.C. woods takeaway:

Where you see trash accumulate sends a message

Finding an old car rusting in the woods isn’t incredibly unusual. But its location does send a message, says Nathan Harrington ’05, executive director of Ward 8 Woods Conservancy in Washington, D.C.

Ward 8 is a historically Black neighborhood with more than 500 acres of forest that Harrington’s grassroots nonprofit is working to rejuvenate and enhance.

In the case of a junk car in the woods of Ward 8, the message is “deliberate inaction on the part of the agencies that control that land,” Harrington told The Washington Post. The inaction smacks of environmental racism, experts say, the idea that a predominantly Black neighborhood is unworthy of proper stewardship.

“They don’t have cars in the woods of Rock Creek Park,” Harrington said, referencing the national park that’s adjacent to wealthy D.C. neighborhoods. “I don’t see why we should.”

Marshall Hatch ’10

2009

Reunion 2024, June 7–9 CLASS PRESIDENTS

Tim Gay timothy.s.gay@gmail.com

Arsalan Suhail arsalansuhail@gmail.com media outlet: Block Club Chicago headline:

Marshall Hatch ’10 speaks to the Olin concert hall audience after a Jan. 15 screening of the documentary All These Sons, which features Hatch’s work in Chicago.

Sankofa Wellness Village on West Side wins $10 million prize takeaway: A focus on opportunity helps achieve the goal of redemption

Marshall Hatch Jr. ’10, co-founder and executive director of the MAAFA Redemption Project in Chicago’s West Garfield Park neighborhood, talked with media outlets about a $10 million community development grant to launch Sankofa Wellness Village.

The $50 million project will include a wellness center, housing, health and fitness facilities, daycare, credit union, the MAAFA Center for Arts & Activism, an entrepreneurship incubation hub, and a community grocer initiative.

“West Garfield Park has been the stepchild of the city for far too long,” said Hatch, who is among the community leaders of the project. “But I like to refer to this as a renaissance of West Garfield Park and the West Side. This is a movement.”

The neighborhood “has a lot of challenges, but also has a lot of opportunities,” he added. “This is about restoration, this is about redemption.”

Tom Bowden has been named president of Rockledge Regional Medical Center in Rockledge, Fla. He had served as chief administrative officer and, previously, as the hospital’s COO. Tom joined parent company Steward Health Care in 2014 at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston, and progressively took on leadership roles as Steward expanded beyond Massachusetts. “Every day reaffirms this career was the right choice,” Tom told Florida Today. He, Charlotte Coulter Bowden, and their children live in Melbourne….A board member at Maine’s Mitchell Institute, Paul Suitter told a September fundraising gala that the financial-aid provider changed his life. A Mitchell Scholar and 2005 gradute of Southern Aroostook Community High School, Paul went on to graduate from Bates and from Harvard Law, and is now an assistant attorney general for the state of Maine. “Never could I have imagined for myself a future that would involve college, pursuing and earning an advanced degree, and having the opportunity to help other first-generation college students aim higher and find their paths,” Paul said, according to the Maine Sunday Telegram. (On staff at Mitchell, meanwhile, are Brand and Communications Director Marc Glass ’88 and President and CEO Jared Cash ’04.)

2010

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Brianna Bakow brianna.bakow@gmail.com

Tiel Duncan vantielelizabeth.duncan@gmail. com

An attorney at the D.C. law firm Shook, Hardy & Bacon, Alex Garnick was recognized by the online news magazine LGBTQ Nation as one of 70 notable transgender people to know. His practice focuses on defending pharmaceutical and medical-device companies in liability litigation, and he runs a practice within his firm’s pro bono program to provide name and gender-marker changes for low-income transgender clients. Alex earned a law degree at the Univ. of Maryland’s Francis King Carey School of Law, in Baltimore….Rachel Kurzius joined The Washington Post as inaugural reporter for “The Home You Own,” a line of coverage designed to explore questions “big, small, and existential” about maintaining a home. Recipient of a regional Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative journalism, Rachel is known as a host and reporter for WAMU and for the local news and culture site DCist She lives in D.C. with husband Jason Flory and cats Bucatini and Tortellini….Andrew Livingston joined Camden National Wealth Management in November as a senior wealth adviser in the firm’s office in Portland, Maine. Outside of work, he serves on the board of directors for the Alfond Youth and Community Center; sits on the state treasurer’s Trust Fund Advisory Committee; and is treasurer of the Frank J. Gaziano Memorial Offensive and Defensive Lineman Awards….Anthony Phillips was elected to Philadelphia’s City Council, representing the 9th Council District. Asked by The Philadelphia Citizen what he considered Philly’s most pressing issues, he replied: “Crime. Hope. And a spirit that says we can get this done.…We have to stop acting like many of these problems are not chronic and bedeviling issues for generations.” Anthony co-founded Philly’s Youth Action advocacy organization when he was 14.

2011

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Theodore Sutherland theodoresutherland89@gmail.com

Patrick Williams Patw.williams@gmail.com

U.S. Congressman Jared Golden, who represents Maine’s 2nd District, organized a letter also signed by two Democratic and two GOP colleagues urging President Biden to supply F-16 warplanes to Ukraine.

2012

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Mikey Pasek mikeypasek@gmail.com

Sangita Murali sangitamurali12@gmail.com

Nuclearelectrica, Romania’s sole producer of electricity from nuclear power, has appointed Cosmin Ghita to a second term as the utility’s CEO. The renewal will take him to 2027. Previously he was an adviser to the prime minister of Romania on energy security and energy policy. During his time at Nuclearelectrica, Cosmin has focused on strategic investment projects that by 2031 will both double the utility’s capacity and Romania’s total CO2–free energy production….A civil litigation attorney in Austin, Texas, Nicholas Shadowen focuses on national and international antitrust and human rights litigation. He has represented Mexican families whose petition to an international human rights group sought to hold the U.S. government accountable for the deaths of their loved ones at the hands of Border Patrol agents, and has represented the Mexican government in a lawsuit against U.S. firearm manufacturers, claiming that the companies actively facilitate the supply of weapons to powerful drug cartels in Mexico.

2013

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Megan Murphy megan.a.murphy3@gmail.com

Ryan Sonberg rsonberg9@gmail.com

Previously a teacher of English and history at Carrabassett Valley Academy, Lucas Milliken was appointed head coach of the Nordic skiing program at Mount Abram High School in Strong, Maine, in December. He was a three-year captain of the Nordic team at Bates. “I’m really excited to have Lucas taking over,” Merit “Buzz” Bean, who co-coached the team for 39 years with his wife, Sally Bean, told the Central Maine Morning Sentinel

Charley Stern has joined the performing arts faculty at Proctor Academy, a private coeducational day and boarding school in Andover, N.H.

2014

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Milly Aroko mildredaroko@gmail.com

Hally Bert hallybert@gmail.com

Catherine Elkhattaby Strauch and Nour are enjoying the parenting of baby boy Burhan. “Burhan is an Arabic name that means ‘proof of a higher power’ or a precious gift,” Catherine writes. “He is that indeed!”...“After six years of brain research and an exciting defense,” Marisha Manahova received a doctorate in cognitive neuroscience at the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging in Nijmegen, Netherlands. Yet, she reports, “I have pivoted in my career and started a business, Marisha Manahova Coaching. I help people design the life they want by setting priorities, following through with their intentions, and gaining insight into what makes them feel alive and fulfilled.”

’14

West Meets East

During a 1,300-mile road trip, Noah Sleeper ’14 rang in 2023 in West Texas with Andrew Carranco ’14. “We hadn’t seen each other for three years, so it was a lot of fun catching up,” says Sleeper. Visits along the way included the roadside sculpture Prada Marfa, Seminole Canyon State Park, and a replica of Judge Roy Bean’s courthouse and saloon. “Yes, it’s the same building.”

Carranco came to Bates from Laredo, Texas, on the Mexican border; Sleeper from Portland, Maine.

“I saw more windmills and tumbleweed than I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Sleeper. “To this Mainer, West Texas might as well be Mars — endless open desert that terminates abruptly in the looming Sierra Madres.”

2015

Reunion 2025, June 6–8

CLASS PRESIDENTS

James Brissenden brissendenja@gmail.com

Ben Smiley bensmiley32@gmail.com

Eric Adamson, a project manager for Northern Europe at the Atlantic Council & Swedish Defense Association, in Stockholm, was one of three co-authors of a council report suggesting a role for Sweden and Finland as they join NATO. They suggested that NATO should use those countries’ accession to help convince aggressors that hostilities against Northern Europe simply can’t succeed — in other words, to create a so-called deterrence-by-denial “bubble” over the region….In October, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America jointly profiled Rachel Lippin-Foster and her mother, Ruth Lippin, who are both social workers who treat anxiety and related disorders. Ruth’s work struck a young Rachel as something “that was fun, interesting, proactive, and made a difference in people’s lives,” she said. She treats anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder at Cognitive and Behavioral Consultants in White Plains, N.Y.

2016

Reunion 2026, June 12–14

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Andre Brittis-Tannenbaum andrebt44@gmail.com

Sally Ryerson sallyryerson@gmail.com

Mary Deneen began a four-year term as judge of the Greater Windsor Probate Court in Connecticut in January….Alex Subocz and a former football teammate at Northampton High caught the eye of the Daily Hampshire Gazette last fall when the two friends, who are now coaches at different Bay State high schools, were about to compete in a game. Alex, at Smith Vocational, essentially “taught Dan McCarthy how to be a football player” in high school. Now the tables have turned. With longer coaching experience, Belchertown High coach McCarthy often finds himself advising Alex. “A lot of the little things that actually are big things that I didn’t know about,” said the latter. “He’s helped open the world up to me.”...

In September, Grace Wright joined the board of directors of the Blueberry Hill Outdoor Center in Vermont’s Moosalamoo National Recreation Area.

Grace also earned a master’s in international and global studies, along with a certificate in nonprofit management, from the Univ. of Oregon. An intern at the NGO Mercy Corps, she performs policy analysis and proposal development research for the organization’s Asia Regional Program.

2017

Reunion 2027, June 11–13

CLASS PRESIDENTS

Jessie Garson jgarson4@gmail.com

Matthew Baker mattdbaker13@gmail.com

William James Browns Jr. and Kimberly NiCole Harris were married late last July, culminating an engagement that The New York Times described in August. They met through a Facebook dating group — just in the nick of time, as both “had become almost disillusioned with the online dating world” — and hit it off on their first date, in 2019. “I finally was with somebody who showed me that they’re intellectual, they can laugh and joke, and they can have fun,” William told the paper. He teaches science at Providence St. Mel School, in Chicago, and Kimberly is a trust and estate planning associate at Perkins Coie.…Tara Humphries is serving as transitional media outlet:

The Reckoning headline: takeaway:

Can a Black queer couple survive in an ’80s-inspired horror flick?

The sexuality of a movie’s leading couple isn’t always its story line

In an interview with The Reckoning, filmmaker Isaiah Rice ’15 explains how the seed of inspiration was planted at Bates for his short horror film, He’s Watching You.

Rice, a dance and politics major at Bates, recalls telling his Bates film professor how “anytime you see a Black queer man on film in a relationship, his partner is always white. And I remember voicing this to him, and he was like, ‘Okay, so clearly this bothers you. What are you doing to change it?’”

In He’s Watching You, the two leads are “Black queer men in a relationship,” but the focus of the story “is not centered around their sexuality,” Rice says.

While many films that have queer characters and story lines “seem to focus on the trauma of coming out of the closet, hiding your sexuality from society, or at times being oversexualized,” in He’s Watching You, like many other horror films, the couple is just “in the wrong place at the wrong time.” minister at the Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church in Portland, Maine….Nisha Naik is a registered nurse at the Edward M. Kennedy Community Health Center in Worcester, Mass. And she’s earning a doctorate in nursing practice on the psychiatric–mental health, nurse-practitioner track in the Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing, UMass Chan Medical School, where she became a registered nurse through the Graduate Entry Pathway program. The GEP year allowed her to provide substantial care to an aunt dying of cancer, Nisha told the university communications office. Though difficult, the experience “really solidified for me how necessary it is to have good nurses and empathetic nurses out there.”... Leah Spingarn, a third-year student at Northeastern Univ. School of Law, is working as a legal intern at GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders. She preceded law school with two years in the professional development and training department at Ropes & Gray, and later took part in a judicial co-op under the supervision of the Hon. Hélène Kazanjian. Hoping to support people in the fight for systemic change, Leah views the intersection of law and policy as the place to effectively pursue equitable rights and opportunity.

2018

Reunion 2023, June 9–11

CLASS PRESIDENTS

John Thayer john.robert.thayer@gmail.com

Jake Shapiro shapirojacob6@gmail.com

Alisa Amador contributed an essay to a September issue of the Boston Globe Magazine featuring perspectives from Latinx Bostonians. The musician, whose song “Milonga accidental” won last year’s NPR Tiny Desk Contest, explained how for her, both music and Boston can be places where the disparate “boxes” of identity don’t matter. “The music industry is full of boundaries, red tape, and gatekeepers, but music itself is free of all of that,” she wrote. “Like Boston, music is a home for me and my family.”…In a January Portland Press Herald op-ed, Kiernan MajerusCollins decried two aspects of Maine democracy: the absence of ranked-choice voting in state elections and the selection of constitutional officers by the Legislature. With the GOP opposing ranked choice and Democrats against popular election of state officers, “the two reforms should be packaged together into one constitutional amendment.” Each party would win on one issue and lose on one, but “Maine’s democracy comes out ahead on both.”...

Mats Terwiesch competed on the U.S. team at the 2022 World Rowing Championships, in Prague, the first iteration of the event since the pandemic began. Mats rowed with the Riverside Boat Club in lightweight men’s quadruple scull events, coming in fifth overall. As a senior captain at Bates, he rowed for the first varsity eight at the National Invitational Rowing Championships where the Bobcats won the gold, winning the 2018 NESCAC Championship….

Amelia Wilhelm was featured in a National Institute of General Medical Sciences blog showcasing the institute’s Medical Scientist Training Program. The dual-degree program helps prepare participants for careers integrating clinical practice and rigorous research. Amelia is in her second year at the Univ. of Washington School of Medicine, in Seattle, but will earn a doctorate in immunology before finishing med school. “Being able to ground your research in questions coming directly from your patients and their families is...a huge part of why I’m interested in becoming a clinician-scientist,” she said.

2019

Reunion 2024, June 7–9

Harry Meadows harry.meadows4@gmail.com

Cara Starnbach cara@carastarnbach.com

Caroline Barnes is in a doctoral program in classical archaeology at the Univ. of British Columbia. A scholar of Late Bronze Age architecture, she focuses on Cypriot building practices and masonry techniques. She’s currently studying so-called ashlar masonry, the use of large rectilinear blocks whose visible faces, at least, “have been worked toward a flat surface,” she told the blog Peopling the Past in September. Aiming to better understand the workers who built ashlar structures, as opposed to the affluent people who owned them, Caroline is “developing an architectural energetics project that will estimate the time and energy” needed to construct such buildings in Cyprus….Lily Kip is working toward an MFA at the Univ. of Montana. Originally from the Bay State, her journey from Lewiston to Missoula was roundabout and rich in adventure — including finding a new passion for art-making during the pandemic and taking a three-month road trip to Big Sky Country with her boyfriend.

“I wanted to go to school somewhere I would want to live, and Missoula was a town I wanted to live in the most,”