News, by Graduating Year

Norval Hadley (G49), named to George Fox’s list of 125 most noteworthy and significant people during its 125th anniversary observance, is sharing his life’s story in a new book, Going the Extra Mile: Adventures with God in Seventy-Five Countries, published in July by Barclay Press. At 91, he is the only surviving member of the famed Four Flats Quartet, a group formed in the late 1940s that, in 1956, became the World Vision Quartet that sang around the world for 15 years. The quartet appeared with Billy Graham, performed on national (ABC) radio, and led two evangelistic tours of Asia. He remained with World Vision for 28 years. He also served as director of World Vision Relief and as director of Prayer Ministries. In 1971, he was named superintendent of Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends, serving from 1971 to 1979. Later, he administered Friends outreach work in more than seven countries as executive director of Friends Mission. He also led New Call to Peacemaking, a national cooperative movement.

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Darwin (Cub) Grimm (G57, MA67), at 85, is winning sports awards. Last summer at the Montana Senior Olympics, he competed in nine events over seven hours, taking eight first-place finishes and setting five meet records. During the summer he competed in three meets, winning 21 gold medals in three states. A strength and fitness coach for more than 60 years, he has competed in senior adult track and field competitions for more than 25 years, specializing in sprinting and jumping events. A retired Nazarene pastor who lives in Sheridan, Oregon, he’s also published a book, Life is Relationship, and has created a card program called “Keys to Athletic Success” to help others enjoy an abundant life.

Floyd Weitzel (G57) continues leadership in a group he began 37 years ago in Eugene, Oregon, last fall leading two bird-watching walks in the area. The organization, Birds of Oregon and General Science, is the outgrowth of his classes, Birding for Seniors, first offered through the science department at Lane Community College in 1982 and renamed its current moniker 10 years later. Weitzel taught science classes at George Fox from 1958 to 1965, then began teaching at Lane Community for 26 years, ending in 1992.

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Kent Thornburg (G67) is the 2018 recipient of the national March of Dimes Agnes Higgins Award, presented in White Plains, New York, in July of 2018. It was awarded for his “pioneering research and education that has changed the way scientists view maternal-fetal nutrition and the risk of chronic disease later in life.” His work demonstrates and explains why babies born prematurely, at low birthweight or with intrauterine growth retardation are at greater risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis and other late-onset diseases. It is the 42nd award for Thornburg, who has been at Oregon Health & Science University since 1975. He is the M. Lowell Edwards Chair of Cardiovascular Research at OHSU’s Knight Cardiovascular Institute, a professor of medicine at the OHSU School of Medicine, and director of both the OHSU Bob and Charleee Moore Institute for Nutrition & Wellness and the Center for Developmental Health in the Knight Cardiovascular Institute.

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Glenn Ludtke (G71) was a grand marshal for the 2018 Junteenth Celebration parade in Fayette, Missouri. He moved there in July of 2017 after a music career in Portland. The annual event in the city of about 3,000 is sponsored by the St. Paul United Methodist Church and is a celebration of the abolition of slavery. Ludtke taught music in Portland public schools for 24 years, until 2004, at the elementary, middle and high school levels. He also served as a music curriculum specialist for five years and as an arts curriculum specialist for four years. In Fayette, he is a docent at the Ashby-Hodge Art Gallery, pianist at the St. Paul Church, plays for services at St. Mary’s Episcopal and St. Joseph Catholic churches, and is a member of the Fayette Arts Festival board.

Peggy (Stands) Fowler (G73) was back on campus in February as part of the university’s Industry Insiders series, speaking to students and guests in an evening presentation. She earned high praise from the state when she was presented an Oregon History Makers Medal by the Oregon Historical Society in 2015. Fowler began a career with Portland General Electric, Oregon’s largest utility, the year after she graduated, and climbed its management ladder until she became the CEO from 2000 to 2009, when she stepped down after 35 years with the company. She is credited with being a “glass ceiling breaker” and was one of Oregon’s most admired executives, named in 2005 as the Most Admired CEO. She served as a member of the George Fox Board of Trustees from 1991 to 2006.

Geoff Proehl (G73) in June completes a 25-year tenure at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, retiring from his role as a professor, director and advisor in the theatre arts department. His entire professional career has been at UPS, with the exception of six years (1988-94) on faculty at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. He has published several books and articles, including Coming Home Again: American Family Drama and the Figure of The Prodigal and (with three others) Toward a Dramaturgical Sensibility: Landscape and Journey. In 2016, he received the G.E. Lessing Award for Career Achievement, awarded by his North American theatre-arts peers in the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas organization.

Kati (Burman) Voth (G75) is in two positions at Friends organizations in Newberg. She is a bookkeeper with Barclay Press and also works three mornings a week as bookkeeper with the Newberg Friends Church. Barclay Press serves Friends through the publication of books, pamphlets, curriculum and periodicals.

Dan Dunn (G77) had his own special day, April 7, when his church, North Coast Family Fellowship in Seaside, Oregon, staged Dan Dunn Day in two services. The retirement event was held to “celebrate the legacy of Dan Dunn and all he’s done,” according to the church’s Facebook post. He also was featured in an article in the city’s Seaside Signal newspaper. He has been with the church for 22 years, 15 of those in children and family ministries and the last five as pastor of shepherding and counseling. Before his arrival at the church, affiliated with the Conservative Baptist Church, he was a youth minister for more than 20 years in Phoenix and Glendale, Arizona.

Tom Hewitt (G77) has hung up his microphone after 20 years as play-by-play broadcaster for Portland State University football and basketball games, and has ended his own golf show that aired on various Portland radio stations for 27 years. He’s now golfing on his own schedule after moving to Sun Lakes, Arizona, with Cheryl (Wacker) Hewitt (G78). The “Voice of the Vikings” also was a teacher and coach, coaching basketball for 41 years at the college and high school levels and teaching for 32 years in the Portland School District, retiring in 2011. He broadcast 224 consecutive football games, more than 500 basketball games, and in all more than 800 events at PSU.

Linda Byrd (G78) has joined Wycliffe Bible Translators and is a curriculum writer and program leader with Refuge 139, a day camp-style program designed to meet the emotional and spiritual needs of missionary children. Since 2016, she’s been affiliated with Wycliffe’s JAARS program and is based in Newberg. She writes biblically based thematic program materials and travels to various locations worldwide to help conduct the program, so far to Cameroon three times, Malaysia twice and Ethiopia once, with a trip planned this fall to Germany. Her career has included service with Pioneer Clubs, directing Oregon’s Camp Cherith, teaching as an outdoor school field instructor, working for Global Outreach Group for five years ministering with Christian Camping International, and leading Creation Celebration training in the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Croatia.

Bev (Ankeny) Chapman (n79) started in August as the director of advancement at Greenleaf Friends Academy in Idaho. Beginning in 2001, she and her husband, Wayne Chapman (G75, MA86), were involved in Christian camping ministry at Twin Rocks Friends Camp in Oregon and Quaker Hill Camp in Idaho. She previously was guest services director at both camps. Prior to that, they were Northwest Yearly Meeting missionaries in Peru and Bolivia. Greenleaf Academy is a private Christian school with just over 200 students in grades one through 12.

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Wes Friesen (G80), although retired, continues to be active in teaching and advising. He is founder and president of Solomon Training & Development, which specializes in training related to leadership, management and building teams. Since 2012, he has also been an adjunct professor at George Fox, teaching organization theory and management in the Adult Degree Program. Until 2017, for nearly 37 years, he was with Portland General Electric, managing billing, credit and payment functions within customer service.

Jim Le Shana (G81) is the new superintendent of the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends, heading 41 Quaker churches in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. The sponsoring body of the university, it is headquartered in Newberg adjacent to campus. His father, David, was president of George Fox from 1969 to 1982. The new superintendent was selected after a national search. Since 2012, he had been vice president of academics and director of the master of arts in transformational leadership program at Barclay College in Haviland, Kansas. For more than 30 years he was pastor of Rose Drive Friends Church in Yorba Linda, California. He helped found and has served as chairman of the Friends Center, a seminary program for Friends leaders at Azusa Pacific Haggard Graduate School of Theology in California. He also has served on the George Fox University Board of Trustees since 2004.

David LaBounty (n82) is about to begin his seventh year as superintendent of the Warden School District in Central Washington, near where he grew up in Moses Lake. He moved to the position after 12 years with the Bethel School District, near Seattle, where he was principal of Challenger High School, an alternative school. Previously, he was a YMCA leader in Downey, California. This followed a career in pro baseball after being drafted by the Kansas City Royals and playing for teams owned by the Pittsburgh Pirates and Seattle Mariners. A pitcher, he played for minor league teams on the southeastern coast, in the Mexican League, and with Bellingham of the Pacific Coast League. 

Janelle (Dealy) Nordyke (G82, MBA16) is now with the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends Church, headquartered in Newberg, as director of finance. She began in July after a brief stint with the Newberg Friends Church as bookkeeper. A CPA, she worked at the NWYM before, as a bookkeeper in the 1980s. More recently, she was a contract accountant with Union Gospel Mission in Salem, Oregon, after nearly 12 years with the city of Newberg as finance director, ending in 2014.

David Wilkinson (G82) has opened MassageWORKS, a rehabilitative bodywork center, in a historic building in downtown Albany, Oregon. He has been working with body mechanics through coaching, athletic training and massage therapy for more than 35 years and is a certified medical massage practitioner who trains other therapists in rehabilitative massage through an apprentice program and seminar course. He is the inventor of a water immersion massage table for therapy. He has been accepted to work on rotation as part of the medical team at one of the U.S. Olympic training centers, preparing athletes for the 2020 Olympics.

Wade Witherspoon (G82, EdD07) has both a new work transition and a new government position. In January, he became director of education for the Transportation Intermediaries Association, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, and he is a new member of the city council of Lafayette, Oregon, where he lives. He was elected in the November election by residents of the city of 3,750 and is now serving as council president. It’s a return to government leadership for Witherspoon, who, while living in Newberg, was a member of its city council for a four-year term ending in 2013. In his new professional position he works from home and telecommutes, with trips to the Washington, D.C., area as needed. His job is with a nonprofit organization that is the voice of transportation intermediaries to shippers, carriers and government officials. In the four years prior, Witherspoon was director of education and training with TranStrategy Partners Inc. in Vancouver, Washington. He also continues as president of his own company, LifeCo, founded 10 years ago to help individuals and organizations maximize their potential through life, executive and management coaching, and youth leadership training. He is a former George Fox baseball coach (1983-85).

Sheri (Hagen) Dejmal (G84) is children’s ministries director for the Community Evangelical Free Church in Susanville, California, serving in that capacity for 19 years after previously serving in volunteer positions for nine years. She also teaches piano and flute to students in the Honey Lake Valley area. 

Paul Davis (G85) is a national account manager with the Bose Corporation, based in Minneapolis, which designs, develops and sells audio equipment and systems. Working with the company since 2011, he previously was with Cisco Systems for 13 years, the last 10 as a senior account manager working with two of its top retail accounts, Best Buy and Target.

Kathy (King) Watson (G85, MA14) has moved from board member to employee at Friendsview Retirement Community in Newberg, where she is director of health services, overseeing the Beals Health Center and residential care floors. She started in April of 2018, leaving her own independent business providing organizational development, strategic planning, fund development and interim executive services to nonprofit organizations. Until 2017, for 13 years, she was with Providence Newberg Medical Center as program coordinator for seven years and program manager for six. Her involvement included management of the Newberg community outreach program, Faith in Action, a coalition connecting volunteers with those with special needs.

Becca (Smith) Whitham (G85) received the 2018 Spur Award for the “Best Western Romance Novel” from Western Writers of America. She received the honor in June of 2018 in Billings, Montana, along with her coauthor Gina Wellborn. The book, The Promise Bride, is the first in a three-book series and the eighth of her 11 currently published works. She is an independent writing and editing professional living in Fort Lee, Virginia, where her husband, Nathan Whitham (G85), is a chaplain in the U.S. Army. She was a paralegal before concentrating exclusively on writing. She had her first book contract in 2014. Before becoming a chaplain in his mid-40s, Nathan was a police officer, prison chaplain and pastor.

Cindy (Mortier) Helvie (MA86) and Mike Helvie (MA86) are in their third year as missionaries with Habitat for Missions in Nepal, but overall have been in missionary service for 26 years. They co-serve as dean of students at Himalayan Graduate School of Theology, where 40 to 50 students are working on their master of divinity degrees, all in ministerial positions already. Both also teach courses there and at Ebenezer Bible College, the oldest Bible college in Nepal. In addition, they are member care facilitators for a diverse team of missionaries, with 17 adults from their mid-20s to early-60s and 13 children. 

Stephen James (G86) is an orthopedic spine surgery specialist in Cumming, Georgia, in practice for 22 years. He graduated from Western University of Health Sciences/College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific in 1991. He specializes in minimally invasive orthopedic spine surgery and has performed more than 8,000 spine procedures. Previously, he served on the faculty of the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in New York for four years before moving to the Atlanta area. He travels across the nation to provide training to other surgeons interested in learning his surgical techniques. 

Gerald Oliver (G88, MA05) started in November as an agent with Kerry Oliver State Farm Insurance in Eugene, Oregon. Previously, he represented several insurance companies through his own Secure Insurance Group in Albany, Oregon, working with senior citizens preparing for retirement and advising on life and health planning and expenses.

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Pat Casey (G90) made national headlines in September, announcing his retirement from a legendary baseball coaching career. The announcement came just weeks after he led Oregon State University to the NCAA national championship, the third title of his OSU career. He has coached 31 years – 24 at Oregon State, where he was 900-458-6, and seven at George Fox (1988-94), where he went 171-113-1, won six conference titles and three NAIA District 2 titles. Under Casey, Oregon State won five Pac-12 championships and made six trips to the College World Series. Five times he was named National College Baseball Coach of the Year. Casey remains at Oregon State as senior associate athletic director and has the option to return to coach after the 2019 season.   

Peter Coulson (ADP90) is a senior research analyst with the Idaho Department of Corrections in Twin Falls, in that role since 2011. But he is probably better known outside the office. He’s been featured on television news (KITV in Boise, in February of 2018) and is a conference speaker, most recently in April in Idaho Falls at the East Idaho Professional Development Day conference. There, he talked on respect, responsibility, resilience and reason. On TV, he was featured as a youth basketball referee who passes out Lifesavers candy to kids and parents in the stands, with the goal of helping children make wise choices. He relies on his experiences and background of being born in Austria, left in an orphanage, being adopted and growing up in the U.S., and understanding firsthand about bridging racial and cultural divides and building healthy relationships.

Nicole (Miller) Hyatt (G90) is now a special education instructional facilitator for the Newberg School District. She is in her third year in the position but has been with the district since 1994 as a special education teacher, most recently at Joan Austin Elementary from 2005 to 2016. She currently works with six elementary schools, providing professional development for groups of teachers as well as one-on-one coaching to help them better assist students receiving special education services.

Gregg Koskela (G90) is now communications and community relations coordinator with the Newberg School District, his third title in two years. He started with the district in 2017 as executive assistant to the superintendent. He became coordinator of board and community relations 10 months later, and last August he gained his current position when the district office was reorganized. The new position allows him to be in schools and the community more often.

Shawna (Shankle) Wilcher (n92), already director of youth ministries with Oregon City Church of the Nazarene, is now lead coordinator and ministry leader for the Celebrate Recovery program at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility for Women in Wilsonville, Oregon. The Celebrate Recovery program aims to help those in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, sex addiction, eating disorders and sexual abuse.

Christine (Deboy) Drazan (G93) is a member of the Oregon House of Representatives, taking office in January after being elected in the fall general election. A Republican, she won nearly 60 percent of the vote. A resident of Oregon City, she represents House District 39 that includes much of the area in Clackamas County. It’s a return to the legislature for Drazan, who, in the 1990s and 2000s, was a top staffer to Republican leaders and was chief of staff to the house majority leader and speaker of the house. Professionally, she has served for seven years as executive director of the Cultural Advocacy Coalition, a statewide nonprofit that supports the preservation of Oregon’s history and culture. She also has served on the Clackamas County Planning Commission and the Canby, Oregon, School District budget committee.

Rolf Potts (G93) has another new book in circulation: Souvenir debuted in March 2018, part of an Object Lessons series by Bloomsbury about the hidden lives of ordinary things. His book blends reportage, memoir, anthropology and cultural criticism to explore the 4,000-year history of travel souvenirs. He also has started a new podcast, Deviate with Rolf Potts, that began in November 2017 and has surpassed a quarter of a million downloads. It features off-topic conversations with a wide range of experts, public figures and interesting people. Potts has reported from more than 60 countries for the likes of National Geographic, The New Yorker, Slate.com, The New York Times Magazine, Sports Illustrated, National Public Radio and the Travel Channel. 

Jennifer (Swanborough) Hricik (G94) is leadership gift specialist with Northwestern Michigan College, a 5,000-student community college in Traverse City. She started in 2016 after just over 10 years as project manager for marketing solutions and director of client services with Credo, a higher education consulting firm in Whitsett, North Carolina. From 1994 to 2003, she was associate director of undergraduate admissions at George Fox.

Lyn (Sanstrum) Lindbergh (G94) is the founder and president of her new startup business, Couch to Active, established in 2016. Her book, Couch to Active: The Missing Link That Takes You From Sedentary to Active, was released in August, and in November it received a finalist position in the 15th annual Best Book Awards competition, sponsored by American Book Fest. The book is intended to offer a guide that works readers through behavior change and self-advocacy skills to a more active life. With 20 years of corporate management experience, she is now a certified personal trainer, group fitness instructor and certified Pilates instructor living in Bainbridge Island, Washington.

Chad Madron (G95) has two professional careers: performer and project analyst. By day he is with the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, while on evenings and weekends he is booked on stage with ComedySportz, both in Portland. As project analyst he handles coordination, analysis and administrative support for the power division of the council, a U.S. Congress-created interstate compact giving the Northwest a greater voice in how energy is planned and managed along with preservation of natural resources, especially fish and wildlife. He has been in the position since 2013 after nearly two years with the Bonneville Power Administration as a project specialist (contractor) for strategic planning. He has been with ComedySportz since 2016, performing main-stage shows Friday and Saturday evenings up to three times a month. He also occasionally performs in long-form improv or other themed shows in the 10 p.m. “After Hours” productions.

Tammy O’Doherty (G95), after serving in the position from 2006 to 2017, is back in her same role as program coordinator for George Fox’s Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology. Previously, she was an administrative assistant for the university’s undergraduate psychology and writing/literature departments from 2001 to 2005.

Tricia (Gates) Brown (G96, MA97) had two essays published in February: “Sin is About Not Knowing Who We Are” in a Christian Century blog and “More Similar Than Different” in Oregon Humanities magazine. Calling herself an “everyday theologian,” she is a resident of Nehalem, Oregon, where she is a writer, garden designer and pastoral counselor. With a PhD from the University of St. Andrews, Scotland (2000), she currently is a postulant for ordination in the Episcopal Diocese of Oregon.

Jim Domen (G96) has founded and is president of Church United, a pastoral network of 500 ministers in California committed to change the culture of communities in California and to “equip pastors as culture-changers” by sending them to Washington, D.C., and Sacramento for annual “Awakening Tours.” A May 2018 event in Sacramento drew 120 pastors. He says his mission is to “transform California for Christ.” An ordained pastor, he spent six years at California Family Council, an affiliate of Focus on the Family, and from 2011 to 2014 he was a leader with Multisport Ministries, a national men’s athletic ministry. He started Church United, headquartered in Newport Beach, in 2016. Domen says he left a homosexual lifestyle after realizing his true identity is not based on sexuality, but based on his life as a Christian husband, father and ministry leader. He was the subject of a lengthy New York Times article June 20, 2018, that started, “If you want to understand American politics today . . . you need to know Jim Domen.”

Leah (Taylor) Gomes (G96, MAT98) is now an enrollment counselor for George Fox’s Adult Degree Program. Previously, she was a third-grade teacher at Newby Elementary School in McMinnville, Oregon, for three years and, from 2009 to 2014, she was a student teacher supervisor at Linfield College in McMinnville. In addition to being a George Fox graduate, she has another strong tie to campus. Her father, Craig Taylor (G74), was an employee for 43 years, including serving as director of athletics from 1988 until his retirement two years ago.

Diane (Marr) Longmire (G96) is an adult and elder team leader with Central Washington Comprehensive Healthcare in Walla Walla, Washington, a private nonprofit organization with services for behavioral health and substance use disorder. In her position for nearly five years, she supervises a team of therapists, case managers, peer counselors, chemical dependency professionals and day support staff in an outpatient setting. She previously was clinical lead for the intake unit with the Department of Human Services in the same city.

Mindy (Fox) Mickelson (G96), a track and cross country runner while a student, is back on campus, still involved in sports as the new compliance officer and office manager in the athletics department. She started in July of 2018 after working as a training administrative assistant at Metro in Portland for a year and, for six years, with A-dec in Newberg in several administrative positions. She has a strong connection with George Fox. It’s the name of her grandfather, great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather. Her husband, Steve Mickelson (G95), is sales director with the Port of Vancouver USA in Vancouver, Washington. He has been in that position for five years after working more than 13 years as a marine business development manager with the Port of Portland. They live in Sherwood, Oregon.

Wendy Brown (ADP97) is now in Benson, North Carolina, where she is an independent mentor, consultant and facilitator of the FASCETS neurobehavioral model, training parents, caregivers, educators and community members to work with those coping with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and other brain-based disabilities. She has a strong interest after adopting four children with brain-based disabilities and finding no support. In November, she became a certified trainer with the nonprofit Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Consultation, Education and Training Services organization. The previous four years she worked with the Idaho Child Welfare Research and Training Center, supported by the social work department at Eastern Washington University in Cheney.

Brian Heinze (G97, MAT98) and Susanna (Christie) Heinze (G98) are both teaching at Skagit Valley Community College in Mount Vernon, Washington. She started in 2006 in biological sciences, and he began three years later in mathematics. She is currently division chair for sciences. Her popular YouTube channel with hand-drawn diagrams of complex science topics is recognized as one of “11 Amazing Biology YouTube Channels That Will Have You Gripped” on interestingengineering.com. It is described as “fun and informative,” as “very easy to listen to” and with an “easily digestible style.” She received a master’s degree in physiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2000.

Mark Hovee (PsyD97) is a clinical psychologist with STG International at a detention center for illegal immigrants in Arizona. A resident of Marana, Arizona, he started working in the state in 2016 at the Chinle Comprehensive Healthcare Facility, an Indian Health Service operation. Previously, he was a clinical psychologist with the West Virginia National Guard for more than two years, followed by a half-year (2015) as a clinical psychologist in Qatar as a medical faculty associate with George Washington University. His autobiographical memoir, Wayward Soldier: A Reserve Psychologist’s Memoir and Analysis During the Second American-Iraqi War, was shared as part of the 2018 Guadalajara International Book Fair in November. A follow-up and more comprehensive book, Clarion Summons: Essays of a Reserve Psychologist During the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, is planned for release this year.

Chad Krober (G97, MBA04) and Megan (Dye) Krober (G98) have launched Ambleside of the Willamette Valley Christian School in Newberg. Started in 2017 and located in the Newberg Friends Church, Ambleside, serving kindergarten through eighth grade, opened with 27 students. The school is one of only 16 in the U.S. – and the only one west of Colorado – that offers a curriculum based on education theories of Charlotte Mason of Ambleside, England. She is the school’s principal. He is production sales manager with Academy Mortgage Corporation in Wilsonville, Oregon, in that position since 2016 after five and a half years as a mortgage consultant with Guild Mortgage Company in Wilsonville.

Jon Rubesh (G97) and Sharla (Rhoades) Rubesh (G99) are back in the United States after more than 12 years on the mission field in Chiang Mai, Thailand, serving with The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM). They now live in Trout Lake, Washington, where she is a stay-at-home mom and he is a human resource director for CORD Ministries International, a missionary-sending organization.

Gabriel Silva (ADP97) is small business services coordinator with the Oregon Business Development Department, known as “Business Oregon”. In the role for 12 years, he is a member of the department’s business finance team, responsible for working with service providers and small business development centers statewide and connecting consultants with small business owners. He manages the Small Business Development Center Network, the Government Contact Assistance Program and the GROW Oregon program contracts. Previously, he was also employed in state government, from 2004 to 2008 serving as equal opportunity officer with the Oregon Employment Department.

Letha Tawney (G97) has become the highest-ranking state official among George Fox alumni. On May, 22, 2018, after nomination by Gov. Kate Brown, she was confirmed by the Oregon State Senate as a member of the three-person Oregon Public Utility Commission. Tawney says she is thrilled to be asked to serve as a regulator and play a new role in the state’s transition to affordable clean energy. The commission regulates Oregon’s investor-owned electric, natural gas and telephone utilities and select water companies. Tawney had been director of utility innovation and the Polsky Chair for Renewable Energy with the World Resources Institute, headquartered in Washington, D.C., starting in 2009. The last five years she led the WRI’s electricity initiative in the U.S., developing new business and regulatory models for companies in the power sector. Previously, she was a policy analyst for Emerald Arc Consulting for two years. She has a master’s degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (2008).

Todd Zalk (ADP97, MBA07), after nearly nine years with Wells Fargo Bank, is now vice president for commercial lending and business banking with SELCO Community Credit Union’s commercial and business banking division. He is in the company’s Portland (Forest Park) branch, one of 15 branches in Oregon. He focuses on financing owner-occupied and investor commercial real estate in Oregon and Washington. With Wells Fargo he held four positions during his tenure, the most recent as vice president relationship manager III for a year after nearly seven years in commercial lending and business banking. 

Eloise Hockett (MEd98, EdD06) is heading a nonprofit, faith-based organization, Marafiki, helping equip and promote sustainability through missions projects in Africa. The focus recently has been in the village of Muliro in western Kenya, near the Uganda border. As president of the board of Marafiki (the Swahili word for “friends”), Hockett also travels to the site to help directly with education and healthcare needs. Founded in 2006 and based in Newberg, Marafiki currently emphasizes help with professional development of teachers, health assessments and health education in schools, educational support for girls, sanitary supplies for girls, and support for women’s economic development. It raises funds through direct donations and through fundraising events. Hockett has been an education professor at George Fox since 1998 and is currently co-chair of the School of Education and chair of undergraduate teacher education.

Julie (Walker) Huckestein (ADP98), president of Chemeketa Community College, has announced her retirement, effective June 30. She was named to head the 12,500-student Salem, Oregon, college in 2014. She has worked in community colleges for more than 32 years, including 18 at Chemeketa, where she was vice president and CFO before being selected president. She started as assistant to the chief financial officer and director of business services, in that role for 10 years before being promoted to CFO in 2011. As president, she is credited with establishing programs in robotics, anesthesiology technology, bilingual education and diesel technology, along with reviving the music program and securing funding for an agricultural complex and construction of a new women’s softball field. Previously, she was at Linn-Benton Community College, based in Albany, Oregon, for 14 years, ending as director of budget and finance.

Aaron Marshall (G98), who started at the Santa Barbara Zoo in California six years ago this June, is now its chief operating officer. He assumed the position in December after starting as director of education in 2013. He is working on capacity building, strategy, succession and organizational development while leading education, human resources, membership, operations, retail and volunteer programs. In addition, he has completed a PhD in experiential education, received from the University of Edinburgh.

Gail (Ruyle) Muller (ADP98, MBA00), after six years with the Tillamook Creamery as corporate recruiter and training administrator, is now in the Portland area. She is recruiting and staffing director with HR Answers, Inc. of Tigard, Oregon. For company clients she facilitates candidate recruitment, screening and placement of individuals for interim, part-time or full-time positions. For two years, until 2017, she was a member of the Northwest Oregon Workforce Board, addressing employment and economic issues in a five-county area.

Cari (Hogan) Nimeth (G98) completed a master’s degree in theological studies in 2017 at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, a suburb of Denver, where she lives. She is in her fifth year as a curriculum writer/editor with the Christian Education Department of the Salvation Army. She writes and edits teen leadership and discipleship material used by the Salvation Army across the nation.

Jamie Ridley-Klucken (G98) has joined the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a safety evaluator. She is with the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Office of Surveillance and Epidemiology, Division of Phamacovigilance. She started in August, working in Silver Spring, Maryland, while living in Leesburg, Virginia. In her position she assesses safety-related issues for marketed drug and therapeutic biologic products, leading to various regulatory actions and communications for safe use of the products. She left Shenandoah University in Fairfax, Virginia, where she had been for six years as assistant and later associate professor of pharmacy practice. She also volunteers at the Loudoun Free Clinic, which helps low-income people and the uninsured in Leesburg.

Heather Umstead-Hines (G98) is regulatory exam coordinator with Seterus in Beaverton, Oregon. She moved into the auditor coordinator position in July. The large national mortgage service company in January was purchased from IBM. She started with IBM in 2006 in a customer service role, then moved to support desk/senior specialist, to project coordinator in 2012 and to business controls tester in 2016.

Cherie Buckner-Webb (ADP99) in November’s general election was elected to a third three-year term in the Idaho State Senate. First elected in 2012 after two years as a state representative, she represents Idaho District 19 in north Boise. She won by a 75 percent margin to represent about 40,000 residents. A fifth-generation Idahoan and first African American to be elected to the Idaho senate, Buckner-Webb, a Democrat, currently serves on the senate’s education, state affairs and transportation committees. The founder (2007) and principal owner of Sojourner Coaching, she also sang Amazing Grace at the Jan. 4, 2019, inauguration of Idaho Gov. Brad Little on the steps of the state capitol in Boise. 

Dan Foster (G99, MBA04) in April was promoted to vice president and principal coach at Building Champions, Inc. He had been executive coach since joining the Lake Oswego, Oregon, business in 2011. The firm works with leaders, managers and business professionals to intentionally build their business and lives through helping them increase their influence, make better decisions and achieve the results they desire. Previously, he was manager and principal broker with Prudential Northwest Properties in Newberg and Sherwood for eight years. He also has planted a new home-based church, Saturate, in Newberg, meeting without a designated church structure and focused on missional community groups and outreach.

Jane (Seale) Gramenz (G99, MAT01) and Paul Gramenz (G02) have moved to Cave Creek, Arizona, where she continues her work as a dyslexia specialist and advocate in private practice and he is a physician. A former elementary school teacher, she opened her own business, Ms. Jane’s Tutoring & Dyslexia Services, in 2015. In 2017, she achieved Advanced Certified Dyslexia Tutor recognition. He now is an emergency medicine physician with North Valley Emergency Specialists at Banner Thunderbird Medical Center in Glendale, Arizona. They moved in 2017 from Salem, Oregon, where he was department chief and medical director of Salem Emergency Physicians Service at Salem Hospital. He started in Salem in 2009 following an emergency medical residency at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. 

Aaron Haynes (G99) in October was inducted into the Hood River Valley (Oregon) High School athletics Hall of Fame, honoring his cross country achievements. He now is a first-grade teacher at May Street Elementary in Hood River, Oregon. He also is head coach of a combined Hood River Valley Middle School and Wy’east Middle School coed cross country team.

Lida Herburger (ADP99), with Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon, for nearly 20 years, is now dean of student success. She previously was director of student success for nearly three years, ending in 2016, when she became director for an outreach center in Cottage Grove, Oregon, providing credit and non-credit educational support services. Previously, she was management coordinator for engaging students and student success.

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Sarri (Tate) Gibson (G00) this last year was visiting assistant professor of education at George Fox. It was a return to campus after she taught on an adjunct basis from 2013 to 2015. She also was a visiting professor (2017-18) at nearby Linfield College, where she was an adjunct professor starting in 2012.

Jonathan Rickey (G00) in July started as director of athletics for the Arizona network of Great Hearts Academies in the Phoenix area. It has 22 academies that teach a core classical liberal arts curriculum, with 98 percent of students going on to college. This follows his serving 10 years as director of athletics with Glendale (Arizona) Preparatory Academy. Previously, he was a teacher and assistant principal at Imagine Schools in Surprise, Arizona, for three years after being an ACCLAIM Academy teacher for four years.

Susan Rieke-Smith (MAT00) is the new superintendent of the Tigard-Tualatin (Oregon) School District. She started in July, moving from heading Springfield (Oregon) Public Schools, where she had been for four years, the last three as superintendent following positions as assistant, then interim superintendent. Previously, she was with the Salem-Keizer (Oregon) School District for five years as a principal and the last three years as director of instructional services. In 2011, she was named Oregon Middle School Principal of the Year by the Confederation of Oregon School Administrators and the Oregon Association of Secondary School Administrators. At Tigard-Tualatin, Oregon’s ninth-largest school district, she guides 1,140 employees and 12,800 students in 17 schools.

Keith Schneider (G00) is back on campus as assistant director of campus recreation in the new Hadlock Student Center. It follows three years of managing operations at Nike’s Rock Gym in Beaverton, Oregon. Since 2015, he also has run Beyond the Wall Climbing, a rock-climbing business he cofounded in 2015. He previously was at George Fox as director of housing from 2011 to 2015 and as an area coordinator the four years prior. His experience also includes time (2004-07) at Warner Pacific University, where he was director of leadership development and student programs.

Jason Brown (G01) is in West Chester, Ohio, where he is manager of the analytical chemistry department at Q Laboratories. He started in October, moving after just over three years as quality control lab supervisor with Fujimi Corporation in Tualatin, Oregon. He now is responsible for day-to-day operation of the chemistry lab, including sample flow-through, analyst training and compliance to industry standards. Q Laboratories provides microbiology, analytical chemistry and research and development services to companies in the food, pet food and dietary supplement industries.

Drew Coleman (G01) and Marisa (Merritt) Coleman (G01) work together in his role as team lead of the Drew Coleman Team under Hasson Company Realtors in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The 12-member team is one of the top producers in the Portland area. He has been with Hasson for 18 years. In December, he became president of the Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors. The same organization named him Broker of the Year in 2015. Since 2017, she has been marketing and events coordinator with the Coleman team. She also is in her second year as communications manager for West Hills Christian School in Portland, crafting a consistent branding and voice for the school. 

Nathan Goff (G01) is cofounder and chief technology officer of ClearlyRated, founded in 2003 and now with 33 employees in Portland. It changed its name this year from Inavero after the launch of ClearlyRated, an online directory that empowers buyers of business services to search for providers in their area based on independently validated client ratings and testimonials. It works with business-to-business service providers to maximize the value of their client experience surveys. Goff, since 2008, manages the product strategy ad development at the company. 

Shannon (Vandehey) Buckmaster (G02) is the new CEO of the Chehalem Valley Chamber of Commerce in Newberg. Named in June of 2018, she now guides the 400-member organization promoting area business and tourism. Her background includes adjunct teaching at George Fox (she has a master’s degree in divinity from Yale), business sales and leadership, and public motivational speaking, including raising awareness of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse recovery. In December, she was the speaker for George Fox’s midyear commencement ceremony for 160 graduates.

Candyce (Kintner) Farthing (G02, MEd07) is now superintendent of Legacy Traditional Schools in Nevada, a network of three K-8 public, tuition-free charter schools. She leads educational growth and direction for campuses in North Valley (Las Vegas), Cadence and a new campus opening this fall in southwest Las Vegas. The Legacy system has 18,500 students in 16 schools in Arizona and Nevada. Farthing moved from Coral Academy of Science, a K-12 charter school program with classes in Las Vegas and Reno. She started as chief academic officer in 2015 and was in that position for a year before assuming the role of chief operating officer. Previously, she was executive director of Oregon Connections Academy, Oregon’s largest tuition-free virtual public school. He was in that role for a year after joining the academy seven years earlier as a teacher for eighth-grade language arts and later serving as principal of the school’s kindergarten through eighth grades. 

Anne-Renee (Stewart) Gumley (G02) released her newest book in April: Shiny Things: Mothering on Purpose in a World of Distractions. She also has coauthored and cohosted a website and podcast designed to bring hope and encouragement to mothers. This is in addition to being a stay-at-home mom and working part time with her family’s Special Events Party Store in Wasilla, Alaska, which she owns with her husband, Andrew Gumley (G02). In February, he participated in the Iron Dog snow machine race in Alaska, billed as the “world’s longest, toughest snowmobile race.”   

Travis Melvin (G02) in September joined KPD Insurance in Springfield, Oregon, as workers compensation adviser/risk management consultant/commercial insurance agent. He moved from a position as surgical sales consultant and territory sales manager with Steelhead Surgical in Eugene, Oregon. Previously, he started CrossFit Revival in Eugene in 2010.

Derric Shannon (ADP02, MBA07) in December reached Navigators Club’s gold-level status for sales in his position with Expedia CruiseShipCenters. He has been in the travel business for four years and lives in Meridian, Idaho. In 2018, after 28 years, he ended his career in business development, marketing and public relations through his own DJ Shannon Enterprises company. In addition, starting in 1985, he was involved in motor sports, first as car owner/driver for eight years, then continuing in media and public relations work with NASCAR in a variety of positions until 2018.   

Randy Trani (MEd02, EdD09) is superintendent of the Corbett (Oregon) School District, now in his 15th year in the district, where he formerly was a principal for five years of Corbett Middle School, where he was named Oregon Middle School Principal of the Year. Previously, until 2005, he was a science teacher for five years in the Newberg School District. He is the author of two books on education: Fallacies in Education: Why Schools Are Mired in Mediocrity and Built to Fail: Structural Deficiencies and Student Failure.

Helena (Telfer) Christiansen (G03) and Keith Christiansen (G03) are living in Lyle, Washington, while he works nearby at Insitu Group, Inc., a subsidiary of Boeing, in Everett, Washington. He is an aircraft systems engineer, starting in 2013.

Angie (Frank) Taibbi (G03) graduated from George Fox with a degree in health and human performance. Now she is back on campus as a leader in the program. She began July 1, 2018, as program director of the athletic training education program, also serving as the clinical education coordinator and assistant professor. Prior to her arrival, she was director of rehabilitation and lead physical therapist for three and a half years with Infinity Rehab in Newberg. Before that, she was an acute care physical therapist with Salem Health from 2006 to 2014. She received a doctor of physical therapy degree from Arizona School of Health Sciences in 2006.

Aimee (Peterson) Hovis (G04, MBA08) in July became business manager for the South Wasco County (Oregon) School District. Located in Maupin, it encompasses 600,000 acres and has 226 students in a grade school and junior/senior high school. She lives in Tygh Valley.

Brian Ogle (G04), in a complete career change, has switched from his original work as a computer programmer to being a dentist. In June of 2018 he took over Chehalem Dental in Newberg, purchasing the 38-year-old business where he was once a patient while a student. He was encouraged to become a dentist by the dentist from whom he bought the practice. After graduating from dental school at Oregon Health & Science University in 2015, he practiced in several different clinics serving low-income areas in rural Oregon.

Pamela Ferris (ADP05) in 2018 received Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation and in November started as a financial advisor trainee with the Edward Jones Company in Yelm, Washington. She previously was with State Farm Insurance for more than 12 years, moving up through various positions to end as team manager for training the last three years after being a claims team manager for a year. 

Elisabeth (Mehl) Greene (G05) in February was honored with the world premiere of her new opera, Hajar, which won the third annual Opera Composition Contest sponsored by the Maryland Opera Studio and Artist Partner Program, created to support the cultivation and performance of new work. She wrote both music and libretto. The opera retells the Jewish and Islamic stories of Hagar/Hajar, casting her as a contemporary Syrian refugee mother trying to reach safety in America with her young son. Greene, who lives in Ranson, West Virginia, is visiting researcher at the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. With a doctorate from the University of Maryland, where she has taught since 2005, she also is a self-employed composer.

Christina Aleckson (MBA06) in April was named one of Portland Business Journal’s 2019 Women of Influence in a ceremony featuring Oregon Governor Kate Brown. Prior to that, in October, she was awarded 2018 Woman of the Year honors by the national Women in Insurance & Financial Services organization. Aleckson is founder, CEO and a financial advisor at Single Point Financial Advisors in Beaverton, Oregon. Founded in 2007, the organization helps individuals and businesses identify goals and work toward those goals through long-term investments.

Christopher Ball (ADP06) is division controller with Campbell’s Snacks, in his second year. He oversees four manufacturing facilities of the Snyder’s-Lance Division of the company, based at its Charlotte, North Carolina, headquarters. He was with the Snyder’s-Lance company for seven years, including two years as Charlotte Bakery Plant controller. Snyder’s-Lance was purchased by the Campbell Soup Company in 2018 and was integrated with Pepperidge Farm into the new Campbell’s Snacks division.

Chad Clark (G06) has joined the faculty of John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, as assistant professor of music. He directs choirs and teaches choral technique at the school of 2,200. After graduating from George Fox, he spent two years at Lithuania Christian College as a residence hall director. He then came back to the United States to earn a master of music education degree from Arizona State University in 2010 and taught music at the high school level in Denver for five years. Most recently, he was at the University of Iowa studying for a doctorate and teaching in the music education department. He received his PhD this year.

Ken Cook (G06) and his business, Prepared Marketing, were featured in a Newberg Graphic story headlined, “A Unique Approach to Marketing.” It describes the firm as “not your typical marketing firm” because it uses adaptive marketing, considering business growth concepts such as finance, acquisition costs, profit and loss statements. The business specializes in analytical marketing, according to Cook. Established in 2012, it has four employees and recently doubled its space to create its own video recording studio. Previously, he was the director of marketing with Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry in Nampa, Idaho, for nearly 12 years.

Kevin Kopple (G06) was recently featured in a podcast of “The Dugout,” a weekly interview series of baseball coaches and personalities involved in the college baseball recruiting process. Others in the series have included spokesmen from Princeton, Oberlin and the University of California, Davis. Kopple is in his 13th year with the Bruins, currently serving as assistant coach, recruiting coordinator and director of game management. He has a master’s degree in sports management from the United States Sports Academy in 2015.

Terra Mattson (MA06) has authored InCourage: Raising Daughters Rooted in Grace, a 222-page book released in September by her own business, Living Wholehearted. Established in 2011 with her husband and located in Tualatin, Oregon, it is dedicated to helping leaders live with integrity. It offers professional counseling and supervision, consulting, workshops and ongoing retreats. She is a clinical director, a licensed marriage and family therapist, a counselor and a retreat speaker nationwide. In 2014, she helped found Courageous Girls, an organization with a curriculum to support gatherings of young girls and their mothers who have intentional and biblical conversations. 

Kim Newman (MAT06) is the new program director at the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust, chosen last July. She connected with the foundation, headquartered in Vancouver, Washington, through eight years of participating in programs offered by and working with its science programs. She was a Partners in Science grantee – a program she will now direct – and then program coach while teaching life science the last six years at Camas (Washington) High School, where she also served as its Magnet Internship coordinator. Previously, for nine years, until 2012, she was a teacher with Portland Christian Schools. The Murdock Chartitable Trust provides grants to organizations in five states in the Pacific Northwest. Since its inception it has awarded more than 6,400 grants totaling in excess of $951 million.

Patrick Shuckerow (G06, MEd10) in July became the new principal of Forest Hills Elementary School in Lake Oswego, Oregon. He is guiding a 450-student, kindergarten- through sixth-grade school with 38 staff. He previously had been with the Sherwood (Oregon) School District as instruction and data coordinator for three years. He was lead facilitator for the Sherwood Equity Team, a 30-member strategic planning group charged with increasing accessibility for underserved students. He began his teaching career as a third-grade teacher.

John Van Cleef (ADP06) in September was named executive director of the Community Resource Center in Encinitas, California. It is a nonprofit agency fighting hunger, homelessness and domestic violence in North County San Diego. He left a position as director of Palomar Health in Escondido, California, where he had been for just over four years. Previously, he was with the YMCA of San Diego for nearly a year as executive manager after nearly 21 years with the Salvation Army as an executive director in California, Oregon and Nevada.

Melissa Vigil (MBA06), who started with Northwest Community Credit Union in Eugene, Oregon, seven years ago, is now its CEO. She was named to the position in 2017 after serving nearly four years as chief strategy officer/chief administrative officer. Previously, she started as human resources director in 2012. She worked before in three human resources positions in Corvallis and Albany, Oregon.

Aaron Bear (MA07) in October became director of major gift funding and planned giving for Mission Aviation Fellowship in Nampa, Idaho. It’s a change from his previous position as director of the MAF Foundation. The Christian nonprofit group provides aviation communications and learning technology services to more than 1,000 Christian and humanitarian agencies and isolated missionaries and indigenous villagers in remote areas. He has been with the organization since 2006 after serving four years as children’s pastor with the Mountain Home (Idaho) Assembly of God Church. He also is an adjunct professor with George Fox, teaching the course Christian Faith and Thought online since 2013.

Jeffrey Bilbro (G07) is associate professor of English at Spring Arbor University in Michigan, where he has taught since 2012 after receiving a PhD in English from Baylor University in Texas. He is a frequent author and, in the fall, released Virtues of Renewal: Wendell Berry’s Sustainable Forms. It follows his book Wendell Berry and Higher Education: Cultivating Virtues of Place, coauthored with Jack Baker. Berry is an American novelist, poet, environmental activist and cultural critic. Bilbro also is editor of the Front Porch Republic, a conservative, communitarian, localist blog.

Bryan Donohue (G07) was named 2018 All-West Coast League Coach of the Year for his managing (for his third year) of the Kelowna, British Columbia, Falcons baseball team. The collegiate summer league has 11 teams in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. It’s one of two coaching positions for Donohue. During the school year, he is head coach of the Mt. Hood Community College Saints in Portland, a position he has occupied since 2008. Playing for the Bruins, he was an All-Northwest Conference first baseman and a second-team All-West Region selection during his two seasons. As a senior, he was named a second-team All-American by D3baseball.com. He still holds George Fox’s all-time career batting average record at .435. 

Spencer McAuliffe (n07) was featured in a Feb. 20, 2019, article in the Peninsula Clarion newspaper (Kenai, Alaska) as he played the eccentric title character in a production of Willy Wonka by the Kenai Performers community theatrical group. McAuliffe has been performing for nearly 20 years with nearly two dozen shows under his belt. By day, since 2017, he works with Soldotna Professional Pharmacy.

James Fishback (ADP07) is an attorney with AltusLaw, a law firm in Portland that provides legal representation to small and mid-sized companies through litigation, transaction and regulatory compliance matters. He is in his sixth year with the company while also teaching as an adjunct faculty member in technology and management at George Fox. He received his law degree in 2016 from Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland.

Kathi (Newton) Gatlin (G07, MEd12, MA16) is in her third year as spiritual director and spiritual formation group facilitator with Boldly Loved Ministries, which she founded in 2016. She says it is a “means to create space to walk alongside others in their own spiritual journey and share ways of understanding God anew through contemplative prayer and teaching.” It offers courses, direction meetings and retreats, usually at North Valley Friends Church in Newberg. Previously, she was with George Fox University for nine years, as a senior enrollment counselor for five years, ending in 2014, after nearly four years as a first-year seminar instructor.

Debbie Geyer (ADP07) is the 2018 recipient of the James B. Weatherby Award, given for her service to the Idaho City Clerks, Treasurers and Finance Officers Association. The organization presented the award in September. She has worked for the City of Caldwell, Idaho, for nearly 18 years, the last 14 as city clerk. She started work with the city, where she grew up, in the planning and zoning department. Geyer is former president of the association. She has been involved in several other organizations and currently chairs the Caldwell Youth Master Plan Committee. 

Michelle Livingston-Dickson (G07, MAT08) is in Sydney, Australia, where she provides relief teaching for two schools – a casual teacher in a variety of subjects at St. Andrew’s Cathedral (Episcopal) School and high school teacher in visual arts with the New South Wales Department of Education. She has done both since 2014. Previously, for two years, she was program coordinator with the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities’ Australia Studies Centre.

Tim Nelson (G07) in June begins his 13th year with Delap LLP, one of Portland’s largest accounting firms, headquartered in Lake Oswego, Oregon. A certified public accountant, he started with the firm as tax senior, advanced to tax manager in 2013 and in 2016 was promoted to senior tax manager. He works primarily with pass-through entities, C corporations and individual tax compliance, with an emphasis on state and local tax compliance. 

Jeremy Baker (G08) uses his computer science degree as a software engineer with Act-On Software, Inc. in Beaverton, Oregon. He is in his seventh year after nearly four years with Epiq Systems, also in Beaverton, where he also was a software engineer his last two years.

Peter Jackman (G08) is a senior engineer at the Center for Aircraft Structural Life Extension at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is in his 10th year, involved in failure analysis of more than 700 aircraft parts in support of Boeing, Lockheed and Northrop aircraft tear-down programs. He also is in his sixth year as a volunteer with Kids Hope USA, mentoring a child each week.

Amanda Swanson (G08) is trafficking intervention coordinator with the Oregon Department of Justice and Attorney General in Salem, Oregon. She began in 2015 and works with counties statewide to build their response to commercial sex exploitation of children. Previously, for five years, she was with the Sexual Assault Resource Center as a commercial sex exploitation of children development and resource manager.

James Wolfer (G08) has two careers going. In January of 2018, he started as financial crimes consultant with Fargo Bank in Portland. This uses his master’s degree in criminal justice criminology received in 2012 from the University of Cincinnati and follows two years as an investigator with SAIF Corporation, then a year as a police officer with the Grand Ronde (Oregon) Police Department. While a police officer, he made a wooden flag to donate to the department. He posted a photo on Facebook and soon other police officers, firefighters and veterans were requesting the large flags. That has led to his second career, in 2017, establishing Valhalla Wood Forge in Newberg. A year later, he began designing his own custom, high-quality and individually designed wedding rings created of wood and metal, each hand turned and polished. Rustic wood furniture is now being added.

Adrian Bucur (MDiv09), after two years as associate pastor, in June of 2018 became lead pastor for Journey Community Church in Camas, Washington. This follows eight years as a chaplain, most recently at PeaceHealth Southwest Washington Medical Center.

Luke Fletcher (G09) completed his three-year residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston last summer and now is in Portland on a three-year hematology/oncology fellowship at Oregon Health & Science University. He received his MD degree in 2015 from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. His wife, Andrea (Dooley) Fletcher (G09), is a full-time mom, leading a small group for doctor wives.

Emily Hodgin Forbes (G09) is a plant-based nutritionist and educator operating her own business, Love & Plants, in Newberg, started in 2015. She offers cooking classes, meal planning, nutrition coaching, grocery store tours, group workshops and personal chef services. With a certificate in plant-based nutrition from Cornell University, received in 2013, she also draws from her background of nearly two years as a healthy eating specialist at Whole Foods and her travels to 28 countries worldwide seeking healthy meals. She visits George Fox several times a year to perform cooking demonstrations as part of the university’s Nutrition Matters program.

Stefan Lagielski (n09) last fall became the new head coach of the boys’ tennis program at Prairie High School, his alma mater, in the Battle Ground (Washington) School District. He also is an assistant tennis pro at the Vancouver (Washington) Tennis Center where he learned to play growing up. Previously, he was a coach at various academies near Austin, Texas.

Jasmine (Ah Choy) Langeliers (G09, MA12) is a counselor at Sherwood (Oregon) High School, starting in the position in 2017 after five years as a counselor at Sprague High School in Salem, Oregon. She is one of five school counselors at the school of 1,700 and is one of two counselors for the 2019 senior class.

LeAnn (Dolly-Powell) Naillon (ADP09) is a global strengths evangelist with Soar, a national organization that helps individuals and organizations develop innate strengths and maximize uniqueness. She is based in Boise and connects Soar with executives, individuals, entrepreneurs, HR professionals, nonprofits and faith groups. She started in October after more than three years with Gallup as a certified strengths coach and five years as a consultant and international exchanges coordinator with the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Center at the University of Montana.

Stephen Pick (G09) in July became the new executive director of the Journey Theater Arts Group in Vancouver, Washington, where he performed as a student when it was called Christian Youth Theater. The nonprofit group offers classes and camps for youth 6-18 and produces 12 musicals each year. Pick is responsible for everything from set and lighting design to managing business accounts and fundraising. In 2011, he and fellow alumus Caleb Thurston (G10, MAT15) founded Valley Repertory Theatre in Newberg, producing four shows a year for four years. Last year, Pick received a master’s degree in directing and arts administration from Boston University.

Ian Reynoso (MAT09) is the new head football coach at Glencoe High School in Hillsboro, Oregon, moving up in the fall from an assistant position as defensive line coach. He has been with the school of 1,600 students since 2014 as an art teacher and also boys’ and girls’ track coach. Previously, he was with Tualatin (Oregon) High School for five years as a football and wrestling coach and art teacher.

Anna (Moreshead) Schmitt (G09) is assistant dean of students at Boise State University, in that position since 2015 after nearly two years as impact scholars coordinator working with former foster youth attending the university. She received a master’s degree in social work from Boise State in 2013.

Megan (Servoss) Stanaland (G09) is in her second year as an educational assistant with the Central Point (Oregon) School District. This follows more than eight years as program director - talent with the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Rogue Valley in Grants Pass, Oregon.

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Lauren (Kewley) Creel (G10) in August became program administrator for City of Hope in Duarte, California. She started in 2016 as administrative program coordinator with the nonprofit clinical research, medical treatment and medical education organization. Previously, she was an administrative intern at University of California San Diego Health while earning a master’s degree in social work from San Diego State and a second master’s degree in public health from California State University in 2016.

Jasmine Holliday-Hairgrove (G10) is a self-employed Licensed Clinical Social Worker living in Kyle, Texas, actively involved in serving the needs of underserved patients in two counties. This spring she taught Family Medicine and Community Healthcare, an introduction to citizenship and community service, at Baylor University Family Health Center. She has a master’s degree from the Baylor School of Social Work.

Janelle Holmboe (MBA10) is now vice president for enrollment and dean of admissions at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. She started in July and is responsible for developing and implementing the college’s financial aid, marketing and enrollment management strategies. She moved from a position as vice president for enrollment at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, North Carolina, where she had been for nearly four years. Earlier, she was dean of admissions at American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts, for just over two years, following just over six years at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, as associate director of graduate admissions. 

Christina (Voigt) LeBlanc (G10) is in Brooklyn, New York, while working with World Vision as a peace-building advocacy specialist, in that position for nearly three years. She started with World Vision as a peace-building advocacy coordinator, beginning in 2014, shortly after receiving a master of arts degree in international development from Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. She is jointly working with the Advocacy and Justice for Children team, focused on bringing World Vision’s field experience in peace building to influence the New York policy agenda, promoting grassroots youth peace building at the United Nations.

John Regier (MA10) in February became director of graduate, adult degree and international admissions for George Fox. He moved into his new role after a year as associate director of graduate and adult degree admissions, also serving as an admissions counselor for the university’s Portland Seminary. He joined the seminary full time in 2014 as associate director of masters programs after five years as a part-time online facilitator and educational technologist. He is currently pursuing a doctor of education degree at George Fox.

Aimee (Timmons) Reman (G10) is a counselor/case manager with St. Mary’s Home for Boys in Beaverton, Oregon. She started in 2017. Founded as an orphanage, St. Mary’s now offers residential treatment and services to at-risk boys ages 10 to 17 who are emotionally disturbed and behaviorally delinquent.

Tina Roberts (MBA10) is the assistant principal for Napoleon Junior High in Napoleon, Ohio, named in June of 2018. Previously, she was a Title I reading teacher in Lima (Ohio) City Schools for four years.

Michele Rosato (ADP10) is an accounting analyst with OEG Inc. in Portland. She is in her eighth year with the electrical contracting firm after being with FluorEnterprises in Hillsboro, Oregon, for seven years as an administrative assistant. She and her husband are trained marriage coaches for Marriage Team.

Chris Schuller (MBA10) is in his second year as a R&D program/project engineer/manager at HCL America / Becton Dickson in Sandy, Utah. Previously, for nearly two years, he was with GE Healthcare as lead supplier quality engineer. HCL is a global technology company that helps enterprises reimagine their businesses for the digital age. Becton Dickson is a global medical technology company, and HCL provides information technology and software services.

Natalie (Gould) Tomko (G10) is in her third year as digital marketing manager with eG Innovations in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her responsibilities include website performance, increasing rankings and leads, link building, traffic growth, email marketing and social media. The company provides IT performance monitoring, diagnosis and reporting solutions for its clients. Previously, starting in 2013, she was in Austin, Texas, with Advice Interactive Group as vice president for content management.

Tyler Walker (ADP10) is now a physician with the U.S. Army. In June 2018 he began residency at Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia, following his May graduation from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. He is an Army captain on active duty during his three-year residency, followed by a four-year service commitment. His specialty is family medicine. He and his wife, Amanda Walker (G09), have four children and live in Grovetown, Georgia.

Jennifer Bell (G11) has accepted a position in London with her company, Janrain, based in Portland. She is a technical consultant, with the customer profile and identity management software company since 2016. Earlier, she was with InsideTrack in Portland as a success coach for nearly four years.

Kevin Brown (G11) and Laura (Minthorne) Brown (G11) live and work in Hillsboro, Oregon, where he is an English language development teacher at Glencoe High School. He started in 2016 after receiving a master’s degree in teaching. His teaching career started at Millard South High School in Omaha, Nebraska, then West Linn-Wilsonville public schools. Laura received a doctorate in occupational therapy in 2017 from Creighton University and practices with the Northwest Regional Education Service District in Hillsboro (her primary position, serving 12 schools) and is contracted part time with Forward Stride in Beaverton, Oregon, a nonprofit comprised of therapists and volunteers using horse-centered therapies to help enrich lives. 

Kara (Betzer) Cones (G11) is administrative assistant and media specialist with Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Lake Oswego, Oregon. She started in 2016 after nearly three years as assistant director of KinderCare Education in Lake Oswego.

Shaun Davis (ADP11, PsyD17) in October joined Cornerstone Clinical Service, with offices in Milwaukie and Tigard, Oregon, as a licensed psychologist. The group of 23 Christian psychologists specializes in work with children, adolescents and families. Previously, she was a psychologist resident with Providence Medical Group in Sherwood, Oregon.

Kyler Dougherty (G11) and Nicole (Johnson) Dougherty (G11) won a 2018 Top Shelf award for design excellence given by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association at its November conference in Tennessee. They designed the cover of the book Bible Infographics for Kids, released by Harvest House Publishers in Eugene, Oregon. They have been with the firm as graphic designers since 2013, doing product creation and art direction as well as planning and running marketing campaigns. The company has a list of 1,200 titles and has sold 100 million books worldwide, all affirming biblical values and helping readers grow spiritually. 

Aubrey Ferguson (G11) started in August as assistant labor and travel coordinator with WorldStage, Inc. in Tustin, California, an events services, audio-visual, lighting and events staging firm. Previously, she was in travel services positions with the television series Yellowstone, Horizon Scripted Television, Inc., and XOJET, a private charter jet company.

Kimberly (Newton) Hergert (G11) has returned to campus. In September she again became costume shop manager for George Fox theatrical productions, resuming a position she previously held from 2012 to 2016 and during the 2009-10 academic year. She also was the shop’s seamstress from 2007 to 2011. In all, she has done costume design for more than a dozen productions. Her experience also includes time with Valley Repertory Theatre in Newberg and with Theatre Vergo, Pacer Drama and After School Productions. 

Cristina Juarez (MAT11) and Mario Juarez (ADP14, MAT17) live in Newberg while teaching in nearby cities. She teaches third grade at Bridgeport Elementary in the Tigard/Tualatin School District, starting in 2012 after a corporate career with Cigna and HealthNet. He started teaching in 2015 and is a fourth-grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary in Woodburn, Oregon, after assisting the principal in a mentoring program for students. That followed employment with the U.S. Army Reserve and with FedEx. They are involved in English Language Development with Esperanza Iglesias en Cristo, a Spanish-speaking church in Tualatin, a branch of Horizon Christian Church.

Thomas King (MBA11) was reunited with his birth family after 64 years, including a sister in Oregon and aunts and uncles in Washington. They celebrated Thanksgiving together last year for the first time. Last fall, he also became a managing partner with ES3, LLC, an emergency operations, planning and support firm in Bothell, Washington. Previously, for six years, he was planning section chief EMG with Seattle Seafair.

Peter Martin (n11) in July of 2018 became a financial adviser with Northwestern Mutual in Salem, Oregon, moving from a position as a benefits consultant with Aflac.

Luke Neff (MAT11, EdD15), who has been serving as director of instructional technology with the Newberg School District since 2014, has added a new role this year as director of strategic partnerships. He already had moved his office to Newberg High School so he could assume librarian duties. In addition, he oversees grant development and acquisitions and public/private partnerships for the district. He began with the district in 2011 teaching humanities at the high school following a year at Chehalem Valley Middle School. 

Vivi Caleffi Prichard (MBA11) in November became the new diversity and equity officer with Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Oregon. She had been the college’s Title IX officer since 2015, responsible for leading efforts toward gender equity in education. She held several human resources positions where diversity and equity were a component after joining Chemeketa in 2008.

Mary Puntenney (G11) in September started Family Connections Therapy in San Diego, where she is a licensed marriage and family therapist, licensed professional clinical counselor and registered play therapist. The two-partner practice offers therapeutic services to children and youth through 18 and their families. She previously was a mental health therapist with Family Health Centers of San Diego for two years, and prior to that was with Community Research Foundation for more than three years as a child, youth and family clinician. She earned a master’s degree in clinical psychology, marriage and family therapy at Azusa Pacific University in 2014.

Kaitlin (Christiansen) Wade (G11) is an early childhood special education teacher with the David Douglas School District in Portland. She started in 2015 following completion of a master’s degree in special education at the University of Oregon.

Breanna (Nix) Bogar (G12) is student records coordinator at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences. She has been at the osteopathic medicine school in Yakima, Washington, since 2015 and moved to her new position a year later. Previously, she was at Life Pacific College in San Dimas, California, where she held positions in the registrar’s office for nearly three years, ending as assistant registrar. She also is a health fitness coach and assists her husband in his work as youth pastor at West Valley Foursquare Church.

Nancie Carmichael (MA12) in October released The Unexpected Power of Home (Why We Need It More Than Ever), her 10th book. The veteran author and her husband founded and own Deep River Books in Sisters, Oregon. Together they have authored 15 books. They also were founding publishers of Good Family Magazines, which included Christian Parenting Today, Virtue and Parents of Teenagers magazines. Deep River Books is designed to mentor new, emerging and/or relatively unknown authors with the intent of helping with marketing, sales and distribution. Books it publishes are available to more than 30,000 wholesalers, retailers and booksellers nationally. Her spring talk on the topic of her latest book drew 200 women in Bend, Oregon.

Amanda (Winkelman) Howard (G12) started the new school year last fall as director of marketing for Westside Christian High School in Tigard, Oregon. She left a position as project manager with Dunthorpe Marketing Group in Portland, where she had been for about a year and a half after more than two years as marketing coordinator and producer with Pivot Group in Portland. Westside has just over 200 students.

Cinthia Manuel (MBA12) is in her second year with Portland Leadership Foundation, starting as director of internships and in 2018 moving to director of workforce initiatives. Earlier, for more than three years, she was with Oregon Health Co-Op, serving as web, marketing and communications strategist. Portland Leadership Foundation is a nonprofit with the purpose of strengthening and developing leadership for the spiritual and social renewal of the area. In May of 2018 she received Linfield College’s Alumni Service Award. 

Randy Rabehl (MBA12) in January was promoted to chief financial officer with TitleOne Exchange Co. in Boise, moving up from his previous position as senior vice president and controller. A CPA, he has been with the firm for 15 years after earlier being an escrow manager for 10 years with First American Title Company in Portland.

Roy Abdun-Nur (G13) is back in the Northwest after four years on the East Coast, where he earned a master of fine arts degree in interior design from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2015, then worked for two years as a junior interior designer with KSA Interiors in Richmond, Virginia. He moved back to Portland to work as an interior designer with LRS Architects, Inc. in 2017 before joining Mahlum, an architectural and interior design firm, as an interior designer in the spring of 2018.

Della Anderson (G13) received a master’s degree in Christian ethics from Yale Divinity School in 2017 and now is in Texas, where she is a sixth-grade social studies teacher with the Bastrop Independent School District. She started in August after being a garden and yoga teacher at Trulove Montessori in Austin. 

Christopher Benjamin (G13) is one of three candidates to become the next director of the Klamath Symphony Orchestra in Klamath Falls, Oregon. In November he conducted the symphony in its fall concert. In 2016, he started as director of choirs at Henley (Oregon) high and middle schools, and he also teaches at his studio, Higher Heights Vocal Studio, in Klamath Falls. In addition, he coaches wrestling and track at Henley schools and is youth pastor, worship leader and pastoral assistant at Consumed by the Harvest Family Worship Center.

Jessi (Fink) Freitag (G13) and Daniel Freitag (G14) have both changed employment positions, but still live in Wood Village, Oregon. He is now senior financial analyst with Adidas in Portland, moving up from a role as marketing financial analyst that he started in 2016. She has now left Adidas, where she was assistant manager in marketing operations for just over two years. Since January she has been marketing and operations manager with Liv Foods, Inc., a startup company in Salem, Oregon, that produces organic superfood energy bars. As a senior at George Fox, her business capstone project was a company that made and sold desserts and candy in the Bruin Den on campus. Now, her career has come full circle. Since February, the university’s food service provider, Bon Appetit, has been selling LivBars on campus.

Carly Halverson (G13) in 2018 received a master’s degree in higher education and student affairs from the University of Portland and in the fall joined Gonzaga University as residence hall director. While studying at Portland she was an assistant hall director for two years. This followed nearly two and a half years as key partner concierge with Evanta, a Portland professional training and coaching company.

Hayley Delle (G14) is in her second year as administrative assistant at Caravan Coffee in Newberg. The Fair Trade Coffee firm, with 12 employees, is an outgrowth of the founding of the Coffee Cottage, long familiar to George Fox students and employees. Previously, for two years, she was manager of Social Goods Market and Newberg Wine Lockers in downtown Newberg.

Christine (Jordan) Dolan (G14) and Willy Dolan (G14) live in Gresham, Oregon, while she is a second-grade teacher at Verne Duncan Elementary School in Happy Valley, Oregon, part of the North Clackamas School District. He is a graduate admissions counselor at Concordia University in Portland, in that position since early 2018 while working on an MAT in music teacher education. He left a position of nearly two years with Spirit Media as director of digital marketing.

Erin (Hento) Gima-Derrow (G14) is an athletic trainer with Work-Fit in Everett, Washington, working along with her husband. They both received master of science degrees in movement and leisure science in 2016 from the University of Idaho and started work in Everett shortly thereafter. The company works with industrial employees for accident prevention and fitness.

Norbert Haukenfrers (DMin14) is the new incumbent parish priest at St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Okotoks, Alberta, Canada. He started in September after serving just over 11 years as priest and rector at St. David’s Anglican Church in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Kevin Mills (MEd14) has moved from principal of West Linn (Oregon) High School to become vice principal of Lake Oswego (Oregon) Junior High. He started in July, leaving the West Linn-Wilsonville School District after 10 years. He started as an advanced math teacher in 2008, later became athletic director for one year, then was named assistant principal. In his new role he is being aided by assistant principal Jeff Giberson (MAT02), who started in 2016 after being with the Beaverton (Oregon) School District since 2004, including five years as student supervisor at Barnes Elementary and two years as student supervisor at Westview High School. 

Unique (Cramer-Buck) Page (MA14), after three years as an adjunct professor, started in the fall as director of the Individual and Family Matters Counseling Clinic at George Fox. A licensed professional counselor in Oregon and a therapist with a private practice since 2016, she worked the previous year as an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Counseling at Multnomah University in Portland. She was a resident therapist at the Saint Child maternity home in Beaverton, Oregon, from 2015 to 2017.

Tim Porter (EdD14) this summer moves from the South Umpqua (Oregon) School District to become the new superintendent of the Scappoose (Oregon) School District. He has been head of the 1,500-student district for the last three years after two years as director of technology and student achievement at South Lane (Oregon) School District and five years as curriculum director with the Sweet Home (Oregon) School District. Earlier, he had 11 years of classroom teaching experience in math and science. Scappoose has 2,500 students in five traditional schools and two charter schools.

David Shin (G14) is a financial representative with Country Financial in Tualatin, Oregon. In that position since shortly after graduation, he helps clients with retirement services and insurance products. He also is a member of the board of directors of Union Gospel Mission in Portland.

Sterling Smith (G14) and Jessica (Rivera) Smith (G16) have both changed jobs but continue to live in Portland. In December, he became fleet manager with J.B. Hunt, managing truck drivers and overseeing their safety, compliance, pay and dispatches. He left a position as accountant/office manager with Clive Coffee, held for just over a year. In February, she moved from volunteer coordinator to communications coordinator with the Portland Leadership Foundation’s Embrace Oregon initiative, where she has been on staff since July of 2017. It connects community members with vulnerable children and families in partnership with the Oregon Department of Human Services. Portland Leadership Foundation’s CEO is Ben Sand (MDiv10), in that position since 2008.

Joe Armstrong (MBA15) is the new additive manufacturing manager with Nike Air Manufacturing Innovation in Beaverton, Oregon. He started the position last fall after serving as tooling supervisor for the previous two years when he joined the global firm. Previously, he was with Blount International, Inc. in Portland for more than five years, the last year as manufacturing supervisor.

Javier Gutierrez Baltazar (G15) is a juvenile probation officer with the Marion County Juvenile Department in Salem, Oregon, now in his second year. Previously, for nearly four years, he was a business and employment specialist for WorkSource Oregon, part of the Oregon Employment Department, where he assisted job seekers with employment resources and skill development.

Tim Dandini (ADP15) is in his first year as commercial property manager with Wall to Wall Stone Corp in Vancouver, Washington. The company is a manufacturer and distributor of natural stone and quartz. Previously, he was project manager with Natural Stone Designs in Tualatin, Oregon, for more than three years after working in foreman and superintendent positions on construction projects for several Portland-area firms.

Desiree Fisher (EdS15) is principal of 1,140-student Lakeridge High School in the Lake Oswego (Oregon) School District. She joined the district in 2004, most recently serving as assistant principal at Lakeridge for two years before her current position started in July. Previously, she was a teacher, school counselor and dean of students. 

Jacob Flaherty (n15) is completing his third year with Lange Estate Winery in Dundee, Oregon. He started in direct sales and since July has been in both sales and marketing. Earlier, for two years, he was an associate with World Financial Group in Portland. 

Andrew Hammerquist (G15) is now an urgent care athletic trainer with Saint Alphonsus Medical Group in Boise, Idaho. He started that position in May of 2018 after joining SAMG as an athletic trainer in 2016. Previously, he was with Therapeutic Associates Physical Therapy in Nampa, Idaho.

Scott Hewetson (ADP15), a recent finalist for the City of St. Helens’ (Oregon) chief of police, is in his 22nd year with the Hillsboro, Oregon, Police Department. He is a detective lieutenant overseeing the general assignment of detectives and youth services units as well as domestic violence and crime analysis teams, with 27 employees in all. He also is threat assessment team coordinator. In addition, he has his own part-time business, The Hewetson Group, which provides pre-employment background investigations, executive vetting services and administrative/HR investigations. 

Ofelia McMenamy (ADP15) is a senior case manager with Multnomah County (Oregon) Aging, Disability and Veterans Services, screening for and determining eligibility for public services. Now in her second year, she previously was with nearby Clackamas County for nearly 11 years, the last eight as a bilingual community corrections technician. She returns to Multnomah County after previously working there for more than nine years, the last five as a civil deputy sheriff. She received a master’s degree in communication from The Johns Hopkins University in May of 2018.

Jordan Moody (G15, MAT17) has returned to the George Fox campus as a student accounts specialist, joining the student accounts office in May of 2018. He previously was a substitute teacher in the North Clackamas (Oregon) School District for a year.

Jami (Roos) Morris (G15) has returned to her alma mater, Sprague High School in Salem, Oregon, as girls’ basketball coach. As a senior there she led the state in scoring at the Class 6A level. Prior to her return, she was assistant girls’ basketball coach for two years at Blanchet Catholic High School in Salem, helping the team win the Oregon state 3A championship her first year and reaching third place the next year. As a point guard for George Fox she helped the Bruins reach the NCAA Division III Final Four in her freshman and senior seasons.

Haley (Bellows) Toms (G15) is the new athletic director at Three Rivers Christian School in Longview, Washington. She started last August after two years as a domestic violence legal advocate at Emergency Support Shelter in Longview. She’s now using her background as a three-sport athlete in high school. Three Rivers has 630 students in elementary, middle, and high schools on three campuses. Toms continues as owner of the Eff Cancer Movement, a small business started in 2014 to help her pay medical bills as she went through treatment for cancer. The company continues to donate a portion of apparel sales to cancer patients.

Mackenzie (Green) Wroblewski (MAT17) is teaching English language arts for third through eighth grades at Timber Ridge School in Albany, Oregon.

Marina Alcala-Medel (G16) has joined George Fox’s Office of Advancement as a gifts and data specialist, working in that position since August of 2018. Previously, she was an engineering intern with Engineering Ministries International, working in the Nicaragua office, and with Hoffman Construction Company in Portland. As a student, she worked two years in the advancement office as a research and data assistant. 

Andrew Bergh (G16) is a music teacher at Tillamook (Oregon) junior high and high schools, where he has more than 200 students involved in the choir program. He started the fall after graduation. He is also a member of the Male Ensemble Northwest, a professional men’s chorus comprised of music directors from Oregon, Washington and Idaho. In December, he directed the Tillamook Community Chorus in a Christmas pageant, performing to a full house at the Tillamook United Methodist Church. 

Ashley (Mitton) Borror (G16) and Brenn Borror (G17) are in Fullerton, California, where he is creative director with Convene and she is a doctoral student in clinical psychology and a teaching assistant at Biola University, where she received a master of arts degree in psychology in 2018. Convene has a mission of connecting, equipping and inspiring Christian CEOs and business owners to grow exceptional businesses and become higher-impact leaders to honor God. Brenn directs and implements digital marketing strategies, designs print materials, and designs and maintains the company website. He also oversees social media and email marketing. Previously, he was a web designer at George Fox for over a year, ending in 2017.

Derek Brown (EdD16) is now director of teaching and learning with the Newberg School District. In August he transitioned from director of data and assessment, which he started in 2017. He also is responsible for federal programs and assessment in his new position. Previously, he was a manager with the Oregon Department of Education for nearly seven years. 

Linda Dibble (MA16) is in line to become the head of the Mennonite Church USA. In March she was approved as moderator-elect, to serve a two-year term beginning this July, then would step up to moderator for the 2022-2023 biennium. The denomination has about 70,000 members in 65 congregations. She was approved by the church’s executive board, then affirmed at a constituency leaders council meeting in March. Final approval is needed at the Mennonite church’s national convention in July in Kansas City, Missouri. She is a chaplain and member of the Mennonite Church USA Executive Board, is on the pastoral leadership team for the Pacific Northwest Mennonite conference, and chairs the Albany (Oregon) Mennonite Church leadership team. She and her husband manage a five-acre Christmas tree farm in the Albany area, where she also has grown and sold vegetables. Previously, she was in the accounting field for 20 years. 

Catherine Gutierrez (ADP16) is facilities and human resources coordinator with Vtech in Beaverton, Oregon, starting her third year in that role. She started in 2016 with the firm that designs, manufactures and distributes corded and cordless telephones and electronic learning toys. In October, she received an MBA from Pacific University.

Jenna Holmes (G16) is back at George Fox as a specialist in media production services. She did similar work for the university from August 2017 to January 2018, then again from December 2018 to April, when she assumed her current position. She also worked in the department as a student from 2013 until graduation. On the side, she has her own business, Jenna Holmes Photography, started in 2014.

Michael Iwai (ADP16) in December received an MBA from Northwest Christian University in Eugene, Oregon, and is seeking to become an adjunct instructor in business and criminal justice courses at a Christian university. He is a lieutenant with the Oregon State Police, in his 23rd year. He is station commander in Salem, in his third year, after nearly eight years as a sergeant, also serving for six years as drug recognition expert state coordinator. He started in law enforcement as a military police officer with the U.S. Army, serving for five years.

Ashley (Geissler) Lackey (G16) and Ryan Lackey (G16) are back in Newberg, where he spent the 2018-19 academic year as an adjunct instructor at George Fox teaching writing. He also taught at Warner Pacific University in Portland and Clark College in Vancouver, Washington. She is a pharmacy assistant with Costco in Wilsonville, Oregon. He received a master of arts degree in English language and literature from Oregon State University in 2018. This fall they will move to California, where he will enter the University of California, Berkeley PhD program in English.

Leisha Leyson (ADP16) in August was promoted from human resources administrative assistant to human resources specialist in the Channels and Harbors Project of the Operations Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Portland. She has worked in the Portland District for four years.

David Linton (MBA16) has been named a senior associate in structural engineering with Mackenzie in Portland. The firm is involved in architectural and interior design; structural, civil and traffic engineering; and land use and transportation planning. With the company since 2012, Linton is a project engineer and manager and recently led seismic upgrades of several fire facilities. He has had articles published on how wood-framed structures function under the impact of a tsunami. Previously, he was a structural designer with APT Engineering in Corvallis, Oregon, for two years.

Mitzi Martinez (G16) is a career and academic planning coach with George Fox University’s IDEA Center, which helps students transition from college to the job market. She began last fall after receiving a master’s degree in college counseling and student development from Azusa Pacific University in 2018. She also worked the previous year as a graduate assistant in the student programming and activities department at Biola University.

Cassie Pauley (G16) in October was promoted from social media coordinator to social media and pubic relations manager with Evelyn & Bobbie, a Portland-based women’s clothing retailer. She supervises web influencer and campaign events, writes social media copy, and assists in managing paid social promotion and reporting. Previously, since 2016, she was a freelance social media manager and copywriter.

Candace Pelt (EdD16) in August was named assistant superintendent for student services with the Oregon Department of Education in Salem. She left the Newberg School District, where she had been special programs director for five years. In her new role she oversees food service, transportation and special education for state schools. Previously, she was involved in Newberg’s programs in English language learning, migrant services, alternative education, special education and federal title programs.

Wonsil Sayson (G16) is a registered nurse at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland. She started in August of 2017. She also is in her fourth year as a volunteer with Good News Community Health Center, a faith- and community-based nonprofit organization serving the Rockwood and East Multnomah County areas of Portland.

Kelsey Vaughn (G16), after two and a half years as development associate and membership coordinator with the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon, started in October as development associate with Youth Music Project in West Linn, Oregon. It is a nonprofit music school in Clackamas County with more than 3,000 students.

Mike White (MBA16) divides his time in four career areas. He is director of operations and president of High School Options in Salem, Oregon, a three-year-old nonprofit that has the goal of inspiring students, bridging the gap between higher education and career outcomes. He is an adjunct business instructor and small business adviser at Chemeketa Community College and also a speaker, mentor and trainer (in his third year) with The John Maxwell Team in Portland, helping participants improve leadership abilities. Finally, he is founder and owner of Best Damn BBQ Sauce, started in 2018.

Emylina (Burunov) Boettcher (G17) and Mark Boettcher (G18) live in Portland. She is marketing director with Ambassador Wealth Management, a financial planning company in Vancouver, Washington, starting in that position in April of 2018. He is an electrical engineer with Landis Consulting, an engineering services firm with offices in Salem and Lake Oswego, Oregon, starting in May of 2018. He provides design and drawing development for systems involving industrial, health care, education and commercial projects. Her company was founded by her father, Petr Burunov (ADP06), in 2009. He is president of the firm that helps in planning for estates, income tax and retirement, and management for assets and portfolios, legacy and charitable giving.

McKenzie (Schaffer) Hamburg (G17) in December became business development pursuit coordinator with WE Communications, moving from her previous position of assistant account executive, held for nine months. She is based in Bellevue, Washington, headquarters for the firm founded in 1983 as Waggener Edstrom Communications, a public relations firm associated with its largest client, Microsoft. 

Corey Jensen (MBA17) is in San Francisco where he is a marketing assistant with Informa, a worldwide publishing and events company. He started in February of 2018 after moving from a recruiter position with Apex Life Sciences, also in the San Francisco area.

Kylie (Weatherford) Koch (G17) and John Koch (G17) are in Nampa, Idaho, while she is branch office administrator with Edward Jones in Boise and he is working part time while going to school in a physical therapy license program.

Robert Mitchell (G17) is now a police officer with the City of Newberg. He started as an intern with the city in March of 2017 and as an officer in April of 2018. In August he graduated after 16 weeks of training with the Oregon Public Safety Academy in Salem, Oregon. The speaker for the graduation ceremony was Chris Skinner (MBA10), chief of the Eugene (Oregon) Police Department.

Lauren (Gilham) Morikawa (G17) and Michael Morikawa (G17) live in Newberg, where she is a wobbler (children 12 to 24 months) teacher at Play and Learn Daycare. She started soon after graduation. She also is currently enrolled at George Fox, studying for a master’s degree in school counseling. He is with Andrew Physical Therapy in McMinnville, Oregon, as an athletic trainer. It has two locations and specializes in orthopedic and sports rehabilitation.

Brennan Rains (G17) is back on campus as a financial aid counselor. He started in November after a year and a half as a management trainee for Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Tigard, Oregon.

Mckenna (Martin) Tillotson (G17) has left her position as affinity marketing coordinator for George Fox University, taking a new position as a project coordinator with Pivot, a marketing and advertising agency founded in Tigard, Oregon, in 2004.

Craig Tinline (MBA17) has been promoted from senior associate to principal consultant with Mercer in Portland. He has been with the international human resources consulting firm since 2007, starting as associate and holding the senior associate position for eight years. He develops global benefit strategies and leads a number of global teams.

Nikolas Tripp (G17) in September was promoted to lead software engineer from software developer with Access Solutions in Portland. He started with the company in 2016. It provides foreign material exclusion for the power generation industry.

Hunter Bomar (G18) in February joined the staff of the Keizertimes newspaper, a weekly with a distribution of 3,500 in Keizer, Oregon. He is covering the city of 35,000 near Salem as community reporter, with emphases on events and local businesses. He also is a specialist in the Oregon Army National Guard, in his fifth year.

Dawn Boyd (ADP18) in April was announced as the new executive director of the Sisters (Oregon) Outdoor Quilt Show, an annual July event that is internationally recognized as the world’s largest outdoor quilt show. More than 1,300 quilts representing fiber artists from around the world are displayed for a single day, with more than 10,000 visitors each year from all 50 states and more than two dozen countries. Three full-time staff and hundreds of volunteers organize the free event. She has moved to Sisters from Grants Pass, Oregon.

Bobbi (Luper) Chamberlain (ADP18) is with Oregon Health & Science University as project manager for Research Administration. She is responsible for day-to-day operations of projects and budgets for large logistics-based projects. She has been with OHSU since 2002, starting as office manager/executive assistant.

Charan Cline (EdD18) this summer will complete seven years as superintendent of the 1,200-student, three-school Yamhill-Carlton (Oregon) School District. Previously, for just over two years, he held simultaneous half-time positions as superintendent of the North Douglas School District in Drain, Oregon, and as assistant superintendent of the Douglas Education Service District serving the entire county. Earlier, he was director of student achievement for two years for the Douglas ESD, coordinating services for 14,000 students in 13 school districts. 

Lindsey (Doran) Coates (G18) has stayed on campus as assistant director of George Fox’s annual giving program. As a student she was a phonathon caller and supervisor for two years, also working for two years as a special projects facilitator for Doran Automotive in Newberg.

Robert Day (ADP18) made news headlines in March as he announced his retirement, effective May 1, completing one year as deputy police chief for the City of Portland, the second-highest in command in a department that has approximately 1,000 full-time officers, 100 reserves, 50 cadets and 300 civilian positions. He was the first to fill the new position created with the hiring of a new police chief a year ago. He reports he would like to continue in consulting work, lecturing or teaching in the field of public safety and criminal justice.

Kelsey Dody (G18) is a software development engineer with Clearwater Analytics in Boise. She previously was a software development intern with the company the summer before being hired full time. It provides automated investment accounting, performance, compliance and risk reporting for financial firms, companies and governments.

Nicholas Felt (G18) has started his career as a software design engineer with Tektronix in Beaverton, Oregon, where he interned as a software quality engineer the summer before his senior year. The company creates and manufactures testing and measuring equipment.

Tanya Gore (MA18) has established her own business, Tanya Gore Counseling, in West Linn, Oregon, opened in May of 2018. As a marriage and family therapist she specializes in assisting couples, families, individuals and adolescents. 

Jesse Hawkins (G18) started in August as a hardware design engineer with Tektronix in Beaverton, Oregon.

Seth Hoiland (G18) is ticket sales account manager for the Portland Trail Blazers professional basketball team at the Rose Quarter in Portland. He started in June of 2018.

Joab Logan (G18) is back in his hometown of Sandpoint, Idaho, where in March he opened (with a partner) Monarch Marketing. He is using his degree in marketing to offer local businesses the opportunity to grow their online presence by monitoring, tracking and projecting consumer behavior. 

Ethan Moss (G18) is using his degree in computer science as a systems administrator in George Fox’s institutional technology department. He was a programmer in the department for four years as a student before accepting a full-time role in August.

Evan Rickards (G18) has joined Westlake Consultants as a CAD designer. He is with the civil team, helping with subdivision drafting and preliminary research for proposed projects. The Tigard, Oregon, firm provides consulting engineering, surveying services and land use planning.

Jaydee Romick (DPT18) in February joined Apex Performance Wellness Rehab in Tigard, Oregon, to lead its rehab division as well as treating a range of sports injuries and chronic pain. Her previous clinical settings included a stint at Nike. She lectures in the Portland area on nutrition, corporate wellness and how to live a healthier lifestyle.

Ekaterina Seledkov (G18) has started her career as a financial aid counselor at Warner Pacific University. She started in June of 2018 at the Portland school with about 400 undergrads and 1,100 students.

Britta Stewart (G18) is using her history degree in a very direct way near her alma mater. She is museum manager for the historic Hoover Minthorn House Museum, just a block from campus. She started just after graduation after serving nearly two years as an intern while still in school. On campus she was an assistant in the archives for her last two years. The Hoover Minthorn House, built in 1881, is the oldest house still standing in Newberg, and is the former home of 31st U.S. President Herbert Hoover.

Dominique Thibault (G18) is a marketing coordinator with the Americas Regional Marketing Team of Milestone Systems in Beaverton, Oregon. It supports the open platform community with IP video management software (VMS).

Jake Thiessen (G18) has joined the George Fox University marketing communications office as a content specialist, responsible for creating social media and video content for the university. He started in January and is using his degree in cinematic arts and his experience as a student working in the department as a content producer.

Emily (Olson) Warila (G18) and Noah Warila (G18) live in Beaverton, Oregon, near his work as electrical engineer with Corbin Consulting Engineers. Using his degree in that field, he started shortly after graduation and is involved with industrial power systems with emphasis on data centers and their support buildings. She is a registered nurse, employed by the Salem-Keizer (Oregon) School District. She works in three elementary schools and one middle school, responsible for providing care for students’ day-to-day needs, case management for medically complex students, and health-related training and education for school staff.

Austin Wischhoefer (G18) in January started as a project engineer with Charter Mechanical Contractors in Sherwood, Oregon. The employee-owned company is a provider of mechanical and process piping services in the Northwest. Since graduation he had been with Energy Performance Engineering in Newberg as a project manager. 

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