1960s
Texas A&M AgriLife Research physiologist Ron Randel (’65 Ani. Sci.) has retired after 45 years of beef cattle research and teaching.
Dennis Hefner (’69 MA, ‘72 PhD Econ.) has been named interim president of the State University of New York (SUNY) at Fredonia. Hefner had served as president of SUNY Fredonia from 1997 until his retirement in 2012.
Yakima County Commissioner Mike Leita (’69 Mktg.) will retire at the end of the year, a year before his term is up. He was elected to four-year terms in 2005, 2009, 2013, and 2017.
1970s
Kevin Heimbigner (’71 Acc., ’73 Ed.) has been inducted into the Washington State Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame.
Margie J. Reese (’71 Speech & Hearing Sci.) won the Selina Roberts Ottum Award at the Americans for the Arts 2019 Annual Convention in Minneapolis.
Registered dietitian nutritionist Terri J. Raymond (’71 Home Econ.) is the 2019–2020 president of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
William “Bill” Hyslop (’73 Poli. Sci.) has been sworn in as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington. He held the same role from 1991 to 1993 and served as president of the Washington State Bar Association from 2015 to 2016.
Seahawks Vice President of Community Outreach Mike Flood (’74 Ed.) was inducted into the Pacific Northwest Football Hall of Fame.
Connie Kravas (’74 PhD Ed.) has retired as senior vice president for university advancement from the University of Washington. From 1981 to 1999, she directed WSU’s development efforts, including a comprehensive fundraising campaign which raised $275 million. Kravas was named a WSU “Woman of the Year” in 1996, and received the WSU Alumni Achievement Award in 1997. She received the 2019 E. Burr Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
Avino Silver & Gold Mines Ltd. has appointed Ronald Andrews (’77 Hort.) to its board of directors.
PS Business Parks has elected Stephen W. Wilson (’79 Acc.) to its board of directors.
1980s
Dan Peterson (’82 Hist.) was recently named vice president for development at the University of Washington. He also serves as president of the UW Foundation, leading UW’s $5 Billion campaign.
Dave Wilson (’84 Hotel & Rest. Mgmt.), founder and owner of Destination Temecula Wine Tours and Experiences, recently celebrated the company’s twenty-fifth anniversary.
Protagonist Therapeutics, Inc. has appointed Don Kalkofen (’85 Acc.) as chief financial officer.
Tim Nichols (’86 Ag., ’93 MCE Adult Ed.) is the new dean of the Davidson Honors College at the University of Montana.
John Steach (’86 Chem. Eng., ’05 MBA, ’11 EdD) has been named CEO of the Center for Educational Effectiveness. Steach has 23 years of experience in public education.
Gregg Harper (’87 Hotel & Rest. Mgmt.) is the new general manager at the Woodlands Resort in Houston, Texas.
Kristin Bail (’88 Geol.) is the new supervisor for the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.
Darrin Belton (’88 Hort.) is the new business development director at Stemilt Ag Services. He’s also a board member of the Washington Apple Education Foundation, the Yakima County Horticultural Pest and Disease Board, and the Zillah School District.
1990s
Georgette Reed (’90 Comm., ’91 Sport Mgmt.) is being inducted into the Regina Sports Hall of Fame. She competed in the Olympics, Pan American Games, Commonwealth Games, Francophone Games, and World Masters Games, and was a throws coach for athletes who represented Canada at various international events.
Linda Fineman (’92 DVM) is the new CEO of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.
Darr Kirk (’92 Crim. Jus.) is Kelso’s new police chief. He began his 26-year career with the Kelso Police Department in 1993 and has served in nearly every law enforcement role in the department.
Andrea Luoma (’92 MA Comm., ’99 PhD Higher Ed. Admin.) has been selected as top organizational consultant of the year by the International Association of Top Professionals.
Cape Powers (’93 Civ. Eng.) is the new director for the Peoria Arizona Water Services Department, where he oversees more than 90 employees and a $38 million budget.
Rhode Island Office of Revenue Analysis Chief Paul Dion (‘94 PhD Econ.) has been named to the New England Public Policy Center advisory board.
Mereté Hotel Management has selected Terry Goldman (’94 Hotel & Rest. Mgmt.) as vice president of operations, overseeing 16 hotels as well as two hotel projects in development.
Former South Kitsap High School teacher and coach Dave Goodwin (’94 History, Ed., Soc. St.) has returned to the school as its new principal.
Angela Jones (’94 English, Ed.) is the new CEO at Washington STEM.
Cloud5 Communications has hired Tara Dean (’95 Biol.) as director of business development.
Paul Barrett (’96 Sport Mgmt.) is the full-time assistant coach for throwing events at Chadron State College. He retired from coaching at the University of Wyoming in 2017 after 23 seasons as the throws coach and associate head coach, with stints at the University of Kentucky and the University of Colorado in between.
Moses Lake High School has hired Liz Bigger (’96 Busi.) as head girls’ soccer coach. She’s also employed as a trooper and K-9 handler and instructor with the Washington State Patrol.
After 14 years in marketing at the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center, Erin Gurtel (’97 Comm.) is now the fair director. Gurtel replaces Rich Hartzell (’71 Ani. Sci.), who worked at the fair for 13 years, spending 8 as director.
Aqua Metals appointed Feng Han (’97 PhD Crop Sci.) as its vice president of licensing and pricing.
Registered nurse Tamara Powers (’97 Nursing) has joined Sutter Davis Hospital as chief nurse executive.
Robert Brueggeman (’98 Genetics & Cell Biol., ’04 MS, ’09 PhD Crop Sci.) is WSU’s new R.A. Nilan Endowed Chair in Barley Research and Education.
2000s
Bill Wisneski (’00 MA Comm.) won three Pacific Southwest Emmy Awards for his new documentary Shattered Dreams, which examines sex trafficking in America. His last film, Shadow of Drought: Southern California’s Looming Water Crisis, was recently broadcast nationally on PBS.
Nathan Moulton (’02 Busi.) was named to the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development’s 40 under 40 list for 2019. He’s a member of the Confederated Tribes of Colville Indian Reservation and serves as executive director of the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe in Yakutat, Alaska.
Wes Henricksen (’03 Busi.) has been promoted to associate professor of law at Barry University in Orlando, Florida.
Joel Francik (’04 Mgmt. Info. Sys.) has been chosen as the new principal at Central Elementary School in the Ferndale School District.
Former WSU and NFL quarterback Ryan Leaf (’05 Hum.) has been hired by ESPN as a college football analyst. Leaf will call games mostly on ESPN2 and ESPNU. He worked for Pac-12 Networks last season and has been cohosting a show on SiriusXM’s Pac-12 channel.
Joshua Hargrove (’06 Hosp. Busi. Mgmt.) is the new general manager of Prince Waikiki.
Meagan Lowery (’06 Soc. Sci.) is the finance and information services director for the city of Battle Ground.
Nicole Brouillard (’07 Soc. Sci.) is the new head women’s volleyball coach at the University of Antelope Valley.
Jade Redinger (’08 Comm.) is joining KUTV, the CBS affiliate in Salt Lake City, Utah. She previously worked at KAPP-KVEW in Yakima and Tri-Cities as well as KNDU in Tri-Cities and KHQ in Spokane.
2010s
Connor Ames (’10 Neurosci.) has joined Dentistry Northwest in Port Hadlock.
Avimanyu Datta (’11 PhD Busi.) is the new director of the George R. and Martha Means Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Illinois State University.
Johnston Architects has hired Kieran McGuire (’11 Arch.).
Hawai‘i Community College Chancellor Rachel Solemsaas (’11 EdD) is among 15 people selected for the Omidyar Fellows Program for mid-career leaders.
Lynnwood High School has hired Casey Tucker (’11 Sport Mgmt.) as its new boys’ varsity basketball coach.
Moffat County United Way in Craig, Colorado, has hired Genevieve Yazzie (’11 Fine Arts) as the new community impact coordinator.
Eric Foss (’13 Civ. Eng.) is an engineer intern at Allied Engineering Services.
Samuel Sanchez (’13 Civ. Eng.) recently joined the Lochsa Engineering Idaho team.
Miller Nash Graham & Dunn has hired Eric Robertson (’14 Fin.) as a benefits attorney.
SRG Partnership hired Marianeth Becerril Pedraza (’16, ’17 MA Arch.) as a designer.
Abel Saba (’17 Nursing) held free medical clinics and distributed two tons of rice to people in need in his native Burkina Faso over the summer. Saba and David Oni (’19 PhD Nursing) worked with volunteers from Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Burkina Faso, along with a local physician, to treat 2,000 people in a week.
After an internship covering the state legislature for The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Ryan Blake (’19 Comm.) is now covering politics and education at the Times-News in Twin Falls, Idaho.
Jennifer Power (’19 Comm.) has joined the Wake Up Montana ABC FOX Montana team in Missoula, Montana.