Department of Economics: Alum News

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Class of 1999

Cesar E. Alvarez has successfully completed his first year at Norwest Financial as a credit manager. Due to his success at Norwest, he will soon be promoted to branch assistant manager. His goal is to become a branch manager and therefore manage a $4 to $5 million branch by the summer of next year. (2000)

Shaun Beaudette is working for Raytheon as a manager of Applications & Systems within Information Technology. He primarily focuses on support of Enterprise Resource Planning systems. He is currently living in Hermosa Beach. (2007)

Matt Beving is still living and working in Los Angeles. He recently moved in with his fiance, Erica. They share an overpriced and undersized apartment in Westwood. Matt has just logged his 3rd year at Decision One Mortgage in Woodland Hills as their Lead Underwriter. During Labor Day weekend, he caught up with Shaun Beaudette, Michael Hellerslien & Brenden Freisen at Brenden's wedding in Cleveland. (2006)

Erin Briney is entering the second year of her MBA at the University of Washington in Seattle. Erin spent the past five years teaching and working with community nonprofits and plans to pursue a career in nonprofit management after graduation. (2005)

Sara Bushey is currently pursuing her Master's degree in Environmental Management at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies in Connecticut. She focuses on private investment in the environment as well as ecosystem markets, such as the carbon market. (2007)

Matt Crawford is still working for the City of Los Angeles. He is working his way up the promotional ladder, and is now the Budget Analyst for the Animal Services Department and the Ethics Commission. (2001)

Brendon Friesen married Meghan McArdle '02 this year over Labor Day weekend in Cleveland, Ohio. Other Oxy econ grads made it out for the big party, including Mike Hellerslien '99, Shaun Beaudette '99, and Matt Beving '99.
    Brendon continues his law practice with Mansour Gavin (www.mggmlpa.com) in downtown Cleveland. He focuses primarily on civil litigation in the areas of intellectual property (trademark and copyright) and business. (2006)

Yvonne (Viera) Garcia currently works for a hospital management company in Pasadena, CA. She is a senior financial analyst within the IT organization. In June 2001, Yvonne and her husband purchased a home in the San Fernando Valley. She is hoping to enroll in an MBA program by Fall 2002. (2001)

Lisa Han is currently working at KPMG Peat Marwick as a Consultant in Orange County. (2000)

Michael Hellerslien is working for Toyota, everyday. He is helping Toyota to understand the competitive climate of the automotive finance and insurance market, which includes understanding the challenges presented as a result of e-commerce. Michael has written a business plan, which is sure to be funded. To the best of his knowledge, Michael has not sired any children. (2000)

After law school, Allison Hooper moved back to Seattle (along with the many other Oxy people) to get her LL.M. in taxation at the University of Washington. For the past year she has been working for Deloitte specializing in international corporate tax.. (2004)

Jon Lanning is beginning his fifth--and hopefully final--year in pursuit of a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan. His research currently focuses on labor market discrimination and racial inequalities in wages and hiring. If all goes well he will be on the academic job market in October, one step closer to successfully and permanently avoiding the "real world"... (2005)

Damian Lau worked in Los Angeles for 3 months at a start-up internet company called PeopleSupport.com and with great timing got out of there as the ship began to sink. Now he's working in Inside Sales at a eCRM software company in Seattle called Primus. He's had a chance to travel for 2 months to Asia and will be going to Europe for a few weeks later this summer. Enjoying life to the fullest. (2000)

Laurie (Zane) Manley has moved back to Los Angeles after spending two years working in Hawaii. She now works for a property management company in downtown Los Angeles and is enjoying married life in San Gabriel. (2005)

Ed Saavedra has recently graduated from the University of Southern California with a Masters in Accounting and will begin working as an auditor for Deloitte & Touche (Orange County Office) in the fall. (2000)

Talia Starkey works as Proposal Manager for Tetra Tech, Inc., an engineering and science consulting firm based in Pasadena, CA. She lives and trains for long-distance running events in beautiful Altadena, CA. (2005)

Tadashi Takazawa has successfully passed his first kidney stone and is currently on sabbatical from his tenured internship. He plans to spend his time discussing the spill over effect of the tobacco trial verdict on the Yellow Peeps market. (2000)

Justin Tran has been working as a senior finance associate at Community Partners, a non-profit located in downtown Los Angeles after a year and a half. During the workday, Justin daydreams about his weekends. (2001)