Department of Economics: Alum News

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Class of 2000

Neal Aissa has been living and working in New York City since graduation. After five apartments and various roommates he is now re-living the Mamma House days from Oxy, rooming again with Keely Smith ('01) and "Lil" Sarah Shanok ('01) in Brooklyn. He spent almost five years in publishing at Time Inc. During this time he earned his MBA part-time in Finance, Marketing, and Entertainment & Media Technologies from NYU Stern. Neal is now the Manager of Industry Analysis for Magna Global, the media negotiating and research unit of the Interpublic Group of Companies. (2006)
Web-page = http://www.myspace.com/nealaissa

Christina Burbank is living in Los Angeles and working as the Supervisor of Licensing at Viacom Consumer Products, the licensing group for Paramount Pictures. In her job, she has learned more about Star Trek than she cares to know. If anyone wants to learn about the long history between the Romulans and Klingons or about the Vulcan Bill of Rights, please feel free to contact her. (2003, cburbank@mindspring.com)

Danny Carmona is in Houston, Texas, training for Teach for America. He'll be there for five weeks during the Summer, group teaching a second grade, special education class at Red Elementary. (2000)

Dan Davis spent his first six months following graduation on a farm on the South Island of New Zealand before moving back to the SF Bay Area. He has just finished his first year as an Account Executive at Fisher Investments, a Bay Area Money Management firm. He will soon be living with a couple other firm employees (including Doug Regner '02) on the Peninsula just south of San Francisco and so far he's thoroughly enjoying both career and life. (2002)

Eli Engle has moved to Long Beach, CA with Sean Miller '00 and is currently working for Tax and Financial Group in Newport Beach, CA. (2000)

Curtis Gee is currently working in Hollywood on the walk of fame as the Technology Director for Exploretalent.com and also doing work as a property manager. Doing some consulting work for the Oxy Bio department and living in Eagle Rock. (2004)

BJ Grant has moved to New York where he is a foot soldier in the investment banking group at Morgan Stanley. Although only having recently begun his position, he has decided that you just can't beat college. (2000)

Katie (Holford) Lopez continues to live in Pasadena with her husband Alberto Lopez (class of 1999) and in August they celebrated their 3rd wedding anniversary. Katie still works at Northrop Grumman and has held several positions with the company in Human Resources. She is currently the Corporate Manager of Talent Management leading the succession planning/talent review processes and VP searches across the corporation. Alberto is an immigration attorney for a law firm based in Sherman Oaks. (2006)

Jaclyn (Howard) Khitikian Jaclyn ('00) and Matthew ('99) Khitikian celebrated the birth of their daughter, Sorsha Marie on April 1st, 2005; just one day after finishing their move to a new home in Glendale, CA. Jaclyn continues to work for Intellikey Labs in Burbank as an Archivist. (2005)

Kirk Kaminsky is presently working as an investment banker for Lehman Brothers in San Francisco. After almost a year of all work and no play, he is spending his spare time giving back to mother nature by volunteering at PREA (The Preservance of Rare and Exotic Animals). He is mostly focused on the resurgence of the Hawk species because as he puts it, "Hawks simply bring me happiness and I feel everyone should have the opportunity to be around the fascinating bird on a regular basis". (2001)

Jennifer Kwok is managing editor for Canon Communications, a multimedia firm headquartered in Santa Monica. (2006)

After having a very short summer break Matt Larson began work as a Merchandise Executive Trainee at Robinsons-May. Matt had wished to travel to Europe originally, but those plans fell through as he began work in North Hollywood in late June. He is currently living in Hermosa Beach and will most likely be moving to the Hollywood area as he is predicting that the long commute is going to tire him out soon and force him to move closer to his work. (2000)

Mikkel Louie is working for Fidelity Investments in Bellevue, WA and plans to return home to the Bay Area sometime this fall at the San Francisco Investors Center. (2001)

Conor McNamara is starting his second year as an analyst with Lehman Brothers Investment Banking. Because of the slow markets, Conor has had more free-time to pursue his career as a professional golfer. Conor lives with Kirk Kaminsky (c/o 2000), but doesn't see him very often, as Kirk spends most of his free time volunteering at a local bird shelter. (2001)

Matt Mihm continues to teach near Oxy and stays connected with the Oxy gossip via his tenants at his Armadale house. (2006)

Sean Miller has fought through his first year as a financial analyst with the Financial Analysis group of Toyota Financial Services. Having been hired into a special rotational program, Sean will rotate to the Competitive Intelligence division of the Strategic Planning department at the end of July '01. In his spare time, Sean continues to pursue his education with courses from UCLA Extension. (2001)

Brian Reich is moving to England where he will attend graduate school to study the effect of the fork and knife on early Byzantine Empire. (2001)

Charlotte Rich: Hello all!! Charlotte is living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she just started her second year of law school. She spent the summer studying abroad and traveling in Central Mexico. The semester is packed with interesting classes, an externship at the Children's Court, and travel plans to see Oxy friends. (2004)

This last year has held quite a few changes for Jennifer Sakurada. She continues to work in the film industry, currently employed by Crystal Sky Worldwide as the Director of Operations. However, in March of 2006, she dove into career #2 in the music industry creating her company, Jen X Entertainment. Over the last year and a half she has continued to build her name in the music scene, managing 2 rock bands (Tattooed Millionaires and Crash Avenue) and having produced, booked and promoted numerous shows throughout Los Angeles. She also is working with the UK based charity, CLIVEAID, which recently branched out into LA and will be putting on a huge benefit concert at The Forum in October 2007. Jennifer just moved out of Hollywood, where she had lived since graduating from Oxy, trading in the scene for a taste of serenity in the canyon of Topanga. (2007)

Arman Sertyan is working in business development for a Pasadena firm that is run by primarily Oxy rugby players and other oxy alums, who have teamed up with Cal Techy software developers and are planning to take over the world some time in the next couple of years... (2001)

Fernando H. Shahbaznia moved in September of 2001 to work at Landmark College in Putney, Vermont. He initially began his work for the College as Director of Alumni Relations & Annual Giving. In March of this year he was asked to take on the role of Associate Vice President for Institutional Advancement. During his free time you will find him riding his road bike throughout the rolling hills of the Green Mountain State. (2002)

Robin Strauss is currently working in the accounting department at HSI Productions and will begin studying for her Masters in Communications Management at USC's Annenberg School in August. (2002)

Ha Thai recently left her Public Relations position with Burson-Marsteller in San Francisco and joined UBS PaineWebber in San Jose as a Financial Advisor. She lives in the East Bay with her boyfriend and commutes to LA on a regular basis to visit family and friends. (2002)

Caroline van Oosterom graduated from USC law in May and took the California Bar exam in July. She spent August traveling throughout China with her fiance Mark Reyes (Oxy Class of 98), and her parents. The highlight of the trip was climbing to the highest point of the Great Wall and cruising down the Yangtzee River. (2005)

Stephen Vitalich was relieved to be a part of the transaction that sent Arthur Andersen professionals in the Pacific Northwest area to KPMG. He passed the Washington State CPA exam in November '01. (2002)