COMMENCEMENT
Pepperdine University
George L. Graziadio Business School
Saturday, August Tenth, Two Thousand Twenty-Four Ten Thirty in the Morning Malibu, California
Marshal JILLIAN ALDERMAN
Department Chair of Accounting, Finance, and Real Estate
Associate Professor of Accounting
Processional Pomp and Circumstance (Elgar)
Invocation
Pledge of Allegiance
National Anthem
JAMES A. DILELLIO
Professor of Decision Sciences Class of 2007
LISA D. HERZOG
Practitioner of Business Law Class of 1997, Caruso School of Law
MELANIE VENTURE Class of 2024
Presiding JAY L. BREWSTER
Provost
Student Address
RAFAEL A. BARRERO Class of 2023 Class of 2024
Presentation of Distinguished Alumnus Award
DEBORAH F. CROWN Dean
KEITH D. DORSEY Class of 2013
Commencement Address
Presentation of Candidates for Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees
Conferring of Baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees
Benediction
KEITH D. DORSEY
Managing Partner and US Practice Leader of CEO and Board Services Boyden
DEBORAH F. CROWN
JAMES A. GASH President Class of 1993, Caruso School of Law
VIRGINIA A. GREEN Practitioner of Applied Behavioral Science
(The audience will rise for the benediction and be seated during the recessional.)
Recessional Pictures at an Exhibition (Mussorgsky)
THE MISSION OF THE GRAZIADIO BUSINESS SCHOOL
The mission of the George L. Graziadio Business School is to develop values-centered leaders and advance responsible business practice through education that is entrepreneurial in spirit, ethical in focus, and global in orientation.
As a professional school growing out of the tradition of a Christian University, we seek to positively impact both society at large and the organizations and communities in which our students and graduates are members. Therefore, we affirm a higher purpose for business practice than the exclusive pursuit of shareholder wealth. We believe that successful management seeks collective good along with individual profit and is anchored in core values such as integrity, stewardship, courage, and compassion.
GEORGE L. GRAZIADIO, JR.
1919 – 2002
George L. Graziadio, Jr., benefactor and namesake of the Graziadio Business School at Pepperdine University, enjoyed a long and storied career that continues to positively impact education and enterprise. With his business partner George M. Eltinge, Mr. Graziadio founded and opened in 1963 the first Imperial Bank in Los Angeles, which became a leading financial institution with $8 billion in assets. As a partner in the Eltinge and Graziadio Development Company and other real estate firms, Mr. Graziadio also developed more than 100 shopping centers and stores in 20 states.
During his abundant life, Mr. Graziadio devoted time, leadership, and resources to a host of civic and community causes. He served as international president of the 20-30 Clubs and the World Council of Young Men’s Service Clubs, chairman of the board of trustees of the Hugh O’Brian Youth Foundation, a board member of the French Foundation of Alzheimer’s Research, and a member of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. He also served on the boards of the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and was a charter member of the National Italian American Foundation, which awarded him its Lifetime Achievement Award for Humanitarian Service.
Mr. Graziadio was the deserving recipient of many honors, including the Horatio Alger Award, the Albert Schweitzer Leadership Award, the Newcomen Society Award, the Great American Traditions Award of the B’nai B’rith Foundation, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, and an honorary doctor of laws from Pepperdine University. Other recognitions include the Marconi Award from the Sons of Italy of America, the EDDY Award from the Los Angeles Economic Development Agency, the President’s “E” Award from the US Department of Commerce, the Americanism Award and the Good Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America, the Humanitarian Award of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and the Grande Ufficiale Award in the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy.
In 1996 Mr. Graziadio and his wife, Reva, whose involvement with Pepperdine spanned many years, made a monumental gift to the University’s business school, which gained a proud new identity bearing his name. Mr. Graziadio served with distinction as the founding chair of the Graziadio Board. Today, the beautiful Villa Graziadio Executive Center on Pepperdine’s Drescher Graduate Campus stands in testament to the steadfast commitment of the couple, whose legacy endures at the Graziadio School through the active involvement of their children, Mary Lou, Alida, and Louis, and their spouses.
RAFAEL A. BARRERO
Rafael A. Barrero, a native of Bogotá, Colombia, and a first-generation immigrant to the US, learned from an early age the valuable lessons of adaptability and resilience. He is greatly committed to his family and celebrates the many intersections of his Colombian heritage and diverse American culture. During his time at Pepperdine, Mr. Barrero has been active in campus life as a member of the Latinx MBA Connection, a student ambassador, and a research assistant.
With more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry, specializing in media and entertainment, Mr. Barrero currently serves as the head of infrastructure engineering and site reliability engineering at Amazon, overseeing and collaborating with various teams to deliver premium multimedia content to millions via the Prime Video streaming platform. Prior to his work with Amazon, he served for more than a decade at the Walt Disney Company in a number of senior management roles in both software engineering and site reliability engineering.
Rafael Barrero earned his bachelor of science in management with a specialization in entrepreneurship from Pepperdine University in 2023. Today he will receive his master of business administration with a concentration in finance from the Graziadio Business School.
KEITH D. DORSEY
Keith D. Dorsey is a managing partner and US practice leader of CEO and Board Services at Boyden, a global executive search firm in 45 countries. Dr. Dorsey’s practice provides comprehensive search and consulting services to improve board governance, board refreshment, and CEO succession planning. He is also an accomplished researcher, author, advisor, and board member who is deeply passionate about promoting diversity, governance, and strategic growth within the private and public sectors. His recent research focuses on women’s pathways to securing corporate board positions, uncovering significant barriers and facilitators affecting diverse candidates. This exploration informs his upcoming book, Charting an Intentional Path Toward Corporate Board Service: Practical Guidance for Women at Every Career Stage to Secure a Seat at the Table, which synthesizes his research findings with his extensive experience in executive and board roles.
Dr. Dorsey is a National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) certified director and was honored on the 2023 NACD Directorship 100 list, which recognizes influential corporate directors and governance experts. He serves on the boards of Vimly Benefit Solutions, the Pepperdine University Graziadio Business School, and the Pacific Crest Trail Association and is the chair of the City of La Quinta’s Financial Advisory Commission.
He has more than 25 years of leadership experience in the human capital management industry. He was the senior vice president of sales at Fortune 500 company Aon and executive vice president and global head of sales at its divested company, Alight Solutions. Prior to his service at Aon, Dr. Dorsey was a senior leader at Fortune 1000 company Paychex, Inc., and served his country in the US Air Force.
Keith Dorsey received a bachelor of science in business administration from Charter Oak State College. He earned his master of business administration in the Presidents and Key Executives program at Graziadio Business School in 2013. In 2022 he completed his doctorate in organizational change and leadership at the University of Southern California.
PART-TIME PROGRAMS
Bachelor of Science in Management
Jolie Alena Colbert
Sofia Sweet Pea Davies
Ruzanna Demirchyan
Lauren Miranda Elizarraz
Matthew Thomas Mantei Essa†
Erica Fletcher✧
Charity Ann Franco
Lori Sophia Guatzozon
Cecilia Elena Orozco Jourden
Brent Yoonmo Koo
Thea Joanna Lifland Paolino†
Dominique Nicole Lott
Katarina Mendoza
Eric Christopher Neese
Amanda Anahi Perez
Deshondra Pettie
Jessica Ramos Ontiveros
Michelle Lynette Rivas
George Ibrahim Safar
Andrew Max Santamaria
Dominik Jon Severo
Kim Sherryl Smith†
Daniel Eufracio Tapia
Kaitlyn Rose Zee✧
Master of Business Administration
Brittany D. Adams
Sherwin Aghamohammad*
Xibo Akers
Hovsep Akopyan*
Grant Amerson
Monica Amin
Roline Attia✧†
Rafael Augusto Barrero✧
Michael Baudino*
Rose Bonakdarzadeh
Ashley Laverne Botty
Cody J. Brock
Vera Bunaidi
Nicole Burova
Miles James Burton
Evenor Raymundo Canales
Jared Phillip Cardiel✧
Jaime Noe Carrillo
Sierra Shannon Castaldi
Wanyan Chen✧
Hector Manuel Clark Jr.
Brittany Madison Conner
Fred Daniel Coplin✧
Diego Cornejo*
Grace Elizabeth Cornejo
Anna Lea Culliton
Celin Daniali
Karla P. Davison
Narek Davoodian
Joseph DeCleene*
Erin Lyn DeLaMater✧
Laura Elizabeth Delvis
Rushil Desai✧
Andrew Marc Di Giovanna
Martijn Vincent Doelman✧†
Maja Dogonyaro
Samuel K. Drescher
John Barry Dussik✧†
Diana El Chaar
Johannah Eichinger*
Johnny-Halo Conrad Equihua III
Miles Ersoff
Elizabeth Espinoza
Pedro Luis Esquivel
Rachel Nicole Etherington
Christopher H. Frank
Penelope Citlalith Gallardo✧
Debra Gansert
Brianda Teresa Garay Quinones
Justene Danielle Gibson
Shante Antoinette Golden-Jones
Cynthia Mayela Guzman
Hannah Alys-Marie Guzman
Toni Hancock Counts
Claudia Rocio Hanten
Devin Hartoonian*
Banafsheh Hashemi
Frederick Louis Heim Jr.✧†
Celine Elizabeth Henke
Ashley Lisseth Hernandez✧
Tara Kuhnert Hotchkis✧
Sona Hovagimyan*
Ruthie Ibarra*
AshLee Jackson
Margaret Jiang
Michael Scott Johnson
Ashpreet Kaur*
Ashley Kelly
Haziq Ur Rehman Khilji
Jasmine Minji Kim
Karen S. Kim
Hannah Elizabeth Kropf
Petrina Shin-Ni Kuo
Paul Edward Larsen
Blake Eric Lauria
Lauryn Lawton
Kien Minh Le
Chanyoung Lee
Wing Yu Lee
Richard Robin Li
Monica Krystle Little
Alicia Liu
Reynaley Tacazon Buenaventura
Madrigal
Ivan Maldonado
Richard Martin Marincic
Manuel Martin Del Campo✧
Lisa Marie Martinez
Christine Renee Mason✧
Marshall Maxwell*
Micaiah Iman Mayfield
Karla Anayanci Mena Escobar
Sana Moezzi
Adriana Z. Morales
Emilio Jesus Morales
Alfredo Moran*
Estuardo Noe Najarro
Vanessa Narvaez
Anastasia M. Newark
Brian Nguyen
Lysette Nunez*
DeJuan Lamar Oliver†
Broderick Alexander Paredes
Neel Parikh
Freddy Steven Perla
Trang M. Pham
Brianna Wynn Pinkerton
Benjamin James Post
Anise Grace Potjes†
Daniela Giselle Raudales
Arash Rohani
Kelly Caitlyn Ross
Tania Rostami*
Tara Ann Rubin
Duane Phillip Rutkowski
Mahsa Sadr
Quamrun Nessa Salam✧
Julia Alexandra Sapon
Christopher Robert Saylor†
Natalie Gabrielle Schwan
Joshua John Sciortino†
Brandi Seymour✧
Karan Shertukde
Kimberly Renea Skaggs
Cameron Isaac Stagg✧
Jack Allen Steinberg
Athena Su
Mengqiao Sun
Michael Tani
Yllise Yndya Taylor
Andrew Thomas
Hermine Torossian†
Joyce Toti
Randy Tran
Athena Ushana*
Elle Ishi Caswell Uyeda
Drew Tyler Van Roekel
Jacob Kleyn Van Zyll
Mariely Velazquez✧
Vivek K. Verma✧
Jonathan Vielma*
Priscilla Hung Vuong
Alexandra Warner*
Rashard J. Washington†
Wade Evan Washington
Zachary Watts
Antonia D. Webber
Marisa Ann West✧
Abigail Grace Whalen✧
Katie Chin Williams
Abel Yohannes
Belle Yu
Yugeng Zeng
Master of Science in Business Analytics
Shih Ting Queenie Huang
Amber Dawn Miller✧
Jaime Nunez
Master of Science in Human Resources
Jasmine Anderson
Teresita D. Capilla
Hannah Elizabeth DeCew✧
Natalie Donis
Sophia Sami Haddad
Michelle Markarian
Kiana Monique Mitchell
Daisy Navarrete Perez
Nkem Gabriella Okwechime
Ashley Marie Utu✧
Master of Science in Management and Leadership
Christina Bees*
Englesia M. Leggett
FULL-TIME PROGRAMS
Master of Business Administration
Paige Anne Fontes†
Ervin Niza Mercado†
Master
of
Ziyad Ghassan Al Habbal
Alec Michael Petersen
Anthony F. Vogt
Science in Applied Finance
Nan Liu
Sulaiman Mohammed Al-Duaylij
Matthew Boyer
Yuyue Chai
Celine El Arab
Chenrui Fan
William Michael Genovese
Amanda Lee Hinchey
Kathleen Kennedy Holihan
Anqi Huang
Zhuowei Ji
Yuzhong Li✧
Tzu Hsuang Lin
Jiyang Liu
Shurui Liu
Fengming Mo
Alexander Mrkalj✧
Kian J. Nader
Vu Hien Vuong Nguyen
Ei Ei Paing
Thanh Huyen Trang Vo✧
Jiacheng Wang
Spencer Austin Wood✧
Xinmeng Xue
Jiaxin Yuan
Yibo Zhang
Master of Science in Business
Nicole Nour Bardi
Jake Adam Bleiler
Ryan Patrick Brosnan
Anna Rebecca Christensson
Tyler Brooks Davis
Nathan Benjamin Diamond†
Nolan Hampton Harvel
Zhongming Hu
Bangxinrui Huang
Ellie Jackson*
Monika Selvia Japara✧
Antun Knez*
Briana Elizabeth Labe✧
Ke Ma
Hannah Nicole Mathisrud
Robert Carson Metscher
Tsering Namgyal
Hannah Kate Owens
Vanessa Rizo
Gabriela Rodriguez✧†
Isabelle Samara
Danielle Rene Shannon✧
Langston Sheppard
Serene Capri Solakian
Xavier Sebastian Torres
Phavin Veerasarn
Mercedes Villalobos Acosta
Melanie Clare Walkenbach✧
Connor T. Walsh†
Logan Micah Webb†
Xiaoyang Zhu
Master of Science in Business Analytics
Catherine Alexandria
Patricia Alvina
Yi Cao
Deandra Shae Carr
Ken Chen
Pingying Chen✧
Xuan Yan Chen
Xuetong Chen
Yifan Chen
Yutao Chen
Robert Gore Dean
Jiaqi Dong
Xinchang Fang
Jiajing Ge
Avi Gupta
Daniel James Hampton III✧†
Yeqingqing He✧
Keyi Hu
Lingmu Hu
Boyuan Huang
Qingchu Huang
Yongbo Huang
Qi Jin
Or Levari✧
Binke Li
Jie Li
Xin Li✧
Yourong Li
Zehua Li
Kexin Lin
Wei Tung Lin
Yutong Liu Sr.
Xin Long
Taojie Lu
Rezananta Fadil Pietruschka✧
Yan Shu
Trenton Jonathan Sikute†
Sarlota Svobodova
Jiayue Wang
Le Wang
Peilin Wang
Xindi Wei
Guoan Xie
Michael Xu
Qi Yin
Brent Roy Young†
Dawei Yuan
On Tung Yuan
Chenyu Zhang
Linfeng Zhang
Tong Zhang
Songdie Zhou
Xing Zhou
Master of Science in Global Business
Abdullah Mohammed Alawadhi
Shuo Chen*
Ao Cheng*
Gabriel John Hossick Schott
Shaoxuan Lou*
Marly Walls
Sini Wang*
Siyi Wang*
Yifan Wang*
Shuhan Xu*
Kaiyi Yuan*
Bleauregaurd Zy Urena
Master of Science in Real Estate
Tanner Barrett
Timothy Jin Choi
Garrett Francis Collett†
Martin De Chavarria Munoz✧
Nicolette Lauren Di Matteo
Brendan Jeffery Fong
Myra Christina Gordon
Jordan Maya Gudger
Neng Sari Lestari
Che-kuei Liao
Brandon Jonah Maghen
Judge James Joseph Williams
Mantian Ye
EXECUTIVE PROGRAMS
Master of Science in Organization Development
Carlen Arima*
Kristina D. Banfield
Sumner Elizabeth Byrne
Stephanie Ann Castillo
Troy James Duerr
Melanie Renee Figler
Randeep Rajwant Kaur
Alison Keppler
Megan Anne Kraus Langdon
Cecilia J. Lee†
Nikita Mathur
Nathan Isaac Maton-Parkinson
Leslie A. Mulder
Rachel Rosler
Laticia Marie Swartout
Robert David Szatkowski
Christina Watt
Karen E. Wirick†
Master of Business Administration, Executive
Hunter Bren
Natalia Gail Coyne
Luis Delgado✧
Nazanin Karamati
Britné Hackett Shoyinka
Malena Lee Worthing
Master of Business Administration, Presidents and Key Executives
Kavon Azhir
Ryan Clark Bangsund
Jane Elaine Borochoff
Douglas Bravo
Alissa A. Dodson
Pantea Duplex
Benjamin Donald Glabman
Thomas McClyde Jr.
Lance Markham McDonald†
DOCTORAL CANDIDATES BY HOODING FACULTY
Doctor of Business Administration
Dr. Levan Efremidze
BENJAMIN R. SAWYER
Intraday Price Bubbles and Their Influencing Factors: A Small- and Micro-Cap Analysis
Dr. Ann Feyerherm
MONIKA MONIQUE DOSS✧
Addressing Burnout: A Shift to the Progressive Work Model ™
Dr. Cristina Gibson
LOREAL R. JILES
The Who, What, Why, and How of Dynamic Capabilities: Elevating Value Delivery by Functional Units
CAROL AMMONS LUSK✧
The Sacred and the Secular: The Impact of Gender and Religiosity on Leadership
KEVIN HIDEKI SAKAMOTO✧
Heat Shields and Friendship Bracelets: Features That Enable Effective Employee Resource Groups
MELANIE VENTURE✧
Exploring Strategies for Social Impact in Cross-Sector Partnerships: A Multiple Case Study Approach
Dr. Nelson Granados
PRINCE ABUBAKARI
The Intersection of Cybersecurity Culture and Governance: An Exploration of Human Factors in Risk Management of Critical Infrastructure
Dr. Brian Jacobs
MARLENE AMALIA GONZALEZ
Sourcing Strategies to Mitigate the Risks of Trade Actions
Dr. John Mooney
ELIZABETH M. ADAMS✧
Leadership of Responsible AI: Employee Stakeholder
Participation in the Creation of RAI Shaping Artifacts
Dr. Cristel Russell
SHILENA BATTAN✧
Charisma and Impulsivity in the Venture Pitch Persuasion Process
YASMEEN JEHAN CONING✧
Building Brands from the Inside-Out: How Does the Collective Identification of Employees Relate to Brand Performance?
CLAUDIO LUDOVISI✧†
The Power of Organizational Purpose in Customer Engagement
MARIELA SALAS✧
Hasta la Raíz: An Exploration of Latinidad in Venture Capital
Dr. Dana Sumpter
SUSANNE KATRIN STEINER✧†
Addressing Inappropriate Polypharmacy: Investigating Perceived Facilitators and Barriers to US Pharmacists’ Ability to Recommend Deprescribing
Dr. Christopher Worley
SHRIPAL KIRIT SHAH
Exaptive Growth Strategy
*Graduate of a different term.
†Student donor
✧ Member, Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society.
Note: This is not an official graduation list.
