Alumni Class Notes

  • Dinesh Kalwani ’01 has been appointed Chief People Officer at Brinks Home, effective July 19, 2021. His background in business process optimization, data analytics, and developing scalable sales strategies will help the company continue to create profitable accounts and retain customers for life. For the past year, Kalwani oversaw Sales Operations for the company, during which time he optimized the organizational structure; improved the experience for employees, vendors, and authorized sales partners; and oversaw the implementation of Brinks Home’s data hub. Before joining the company in June 2020, Kalwani was Vice President of Business Intelligence and Systems at Omnitracs LLC, where he had numerous responsibilities, including leading sales operations, solutions engineering, strategic programs, and customer support. He has also worked in strategy and management roles at US Foods, Barcodes Inc., ZS Associates, and McKinsey & Company.

  • Edward Chung ’01 has been appointed Chief Financial Officer at Convoso, a developer and provider of contact center software solutions. Before joining Convoso, he served as CFO at Pathmatics. He has also served in finance and operations leadership roles at Los Angeles tech startups and as an investment banker working with clients in technology and media.

  • Maliha Jilani ’97, Partner at Heidrick & Struggles in the United Arab Emirates, recently spoke with Muna Abusulayman, Co-Founder of Niya and member of Gucci’s Global Equity Board, about how diversity and inclusion are evolving at the leadership level in the Middle East region. The discussion was part of “WIN Talk,” a diversity and inclusion talk show hosted by the Women’s Inclusion Network at the management consulting firm.

  • Pierre Sorée ’93 has been promoted to Wealth Manager at Redwood Wealth Management.

  • Shawn Edwards ’94 is the new Chief Financial Officer at Planet DDS, the nation’s leading provider of cloud-based dental practice management and imaging solutions. Shawn comes to Planet DDS with vast experience as a SaaS CFO, having led finance, accounting, and HR teams for large private equity-sponsored software companies for nearly a decade. Before joining Planet DDS, Shawn partnered with CEOs and leadership teams to accelerate growth and maximize value for diversified middle market companies specializing in software and IT. With over 15 years of private equity and M&A experience, Shawn has participated in over 10 M&A transactions, making him an invaluable addition to the leadership team at Planet DDS. He resides with his family in Newport Beach, CA.

  • Joe Thibodeau ’00 (Darden ’08) has been named Chief Operating Officer at software development company BTI360. In his new role, Thibodeau will orchestrate operations company-wide and drive strategic planning. Before joining BTI360 in 2016, he spent nearly a decade with billion-dollar brands in the commercial technology/internet and government contracting industries.

  • Josh Anton ’14, Founder of X-Mode, a provider of location data for the retail, real estate, and financial markets, has rebranded the firm as Outlogic, and has been acquired by Atlanta-based IP intelligence company Digital Envoy (owned by Landmark Media). Anton, who served as CEO of X-Mode for three years, will now take on the position of Chief Strategy Officer for Digital Envoy, where his company will provide Digital Envoy with high-quality, consent-based location data to further enhance its offerings in fraud prevention, VPN/IP proxy, and digital rights management solutions. According to Digital Envoy, the Outlogic parent company shares a mission with Anton’s newly renamed business: to focus on enriching their clients’ decision making and innovation by providing the world’s most valuable IP and location intelligence, while preserving the safety and privacy of consumers. Anton showed the beneficial use of location tech in 2020, when anonymized data collected from college students on spring break helped to track the spread of the coronavirus through mapping technology visualization.

  • Lazetta Rainey Braxton, MBA, CFP® ’95, Founder and CEO of Lazetta & Associates and Co-CEO of 2050 Wealth Partners, has been ranked second among the top 10 on the Investopedia 100 list of the Most Influential Advisors of 2021 for her outstanding leadership in the financial services industry. This recognition marks the third straight year that she was named to the same list, with prior wins in 2019 and 2020. Braxton is one of only 1,490 Black Certified Financial Planner™ professionals in the United States. The Investopedia 100 celebrates financial advisors who are making significant contributions to critical conversations about financial literacy, investing strategies, life-stage planning, and wealth management. With more than 100,000 independent financial advisors in the U.S., the Investopedia 100 spotlights the country’s most engaged, influential, and educational advisors. Braxton is well-known for her commitment to support diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the financial planning profession and for her signature phrase, “Doing the Work,” which provides actionable ways for corporations to implement strategic and holistic changes within their workplace cultures.

  • Adam B. Bergman CFA® ’96 has been promoted to serve as Co-Portfolio Manager of the Equity Income strategy at Sterling Capital.

  • Yvette Butler ’87, President, SVB Private Bank & Wealth Management, has joined Voya Financial Inc.’s board of directors. She will serve on the compensation and benefits committee; the nominating and governance committee; and the risk, investment, and finance committee. Prior to joining SVB in June 2018, Butler served as Executive Vice President of Capital One Investing since April 2013. Before joining Capital One, she was Managing Director for Wells Fargo Advisors, heading up the direct business teams, including WFA Solutions and WellsTrade. Butler also previously led investor marketing for E*Trade and, at Merrill Lynch, launched the firm’s financial advisory center, which later became Merrill Edge. Butler’s early career included roles at Charles Schwab and McKinsey & Company. Butler was named to the Washingtonian’s prestigious list of Most Powerful Women in Washington in 2017 and was named to Savoy magazine’s 100 Most Influential Blacks in Corporate America in 2020. She is a board member and treasurer of the Washington Area Women’s Foundation.

  • Jeff Edell ’79 is CEO of MeWe, a privacy-focused social network that runs no advertising. He is also joining MeWe’s board of directors. Edell has previously held senior-level roles at companies including Chairman of Intermix Media, former parent of MySpace; CEO of Soundelux Entertainment Group; CFO of Cinedigm; and President/COO of DIC Entertainment. Most recently, he was President/CFO of WTG Enterprises, an entertainment licensing firm. He’s a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Television Academy, and the Producers Guild of America (PGA). He also once worked as an entertainment CPA at KPMG.

  • Jeff Green ’88 is CEO of Lupl, the open industry platform for legal matters.

  • Bryan Myers ’09 assumed the role of CEO of [solidcore], effective April 19, 2021. Myers joined [solidcore] in 2017 after serving as the VP of Finance, Strategy, and Development at Sweetgreen. In September 2019, he was promoted to President of [solidcore]. Myers is responsible for growing the company’s physical presence and creating revenue growth in studios within the existing studio portfolio, and overall increased its profit margin by 420 bps year over year. He also leads the company’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion task force, a key priority for the company. Myers was also a guest on the “Train with the Best Podcast,” Episode 163, May 31, 2021.

  • Ishaan Khosla ’14, is a Founding Partner at Huddle, an accelerator that engages with ventures through various stages, from minimum viable product to growth. Khosla was featured in a June 1, 2021, Auto Futures’ article titled “India’s First Electric Vehicle Accelerator Programme–How Huddle is Backing the EV Ecosystem,” which discusses how the Gurgaon-based company joined hands with venture capital firm growX ventures in 2019 to create an electric vehicles acceleration program, the first of its kind in India.

  • Addy Awofisayo ’07, Content Partnerships Lead, Google Sub-Saharan Africa, was a panelist in the 2021 Stanford Africa Business Forum, which took place May 15-16. Awofisayo joined Filmmaker Kemi Adetiba and Journalist Keturah King, who moderated the panel, to discuss opportunities and challenges in the entertainment industry across the continent. Awofisayo ​also participated in an insightful conversation about the business of YouTube and the creator economy with YouTube female Creators Amina Yonis Ph.D., Dimma Umeh, Mitchelle Adagala, naledi monamodi, and Vanessa Kanbi at the AMAKA Studio’s Our World Festival May 2-4.

  • Troy Ford ’07 has been named Vice President of Finance for California-based Digital Motors, an online sales platform for automotive dealerships and manufacturers. Most recently, Ford served as Vice President of Corporate Finance for Superior Industries, a publicly traded tier 1 automotive supplier. Prior to Superior Industries, he held roles in both technology and financial firms, including Sorenson Capital Partners, VMWare, and Wells Fargo Securities.

     

  • Alexandra Yeung ’07 and Matt O’Neill ’99 recently led a group of UVA and Commerce alums in Hong Kong in a beach cleanup as part of the Cavaliers Care Initiative with the UVA Club of Hong Kong. “The weather was perfect, and the beach had plenty of litter for us,” says Matt. “Most importantly, we filled 13 LARGE garbage bags with plastic, (never-ending) Styrofoam pieces, food containers, fishing nets, 30+ flip-flops, and much more.” (Photo, left to right: Shivin Agarwal ‘16, Stella Ahn (A&S ’12), Alexandra Yeung ‘07, Alvis Ko (Architecture ’09), Ivy Wong ‘05, Matt O’Neill ’99, Michelle Morris (Engineering ’96), Bruce Morris (Engineering ’91), colleagues of Ko)

  • Michael Wisler (M.S. in MIT ’10) has been named to Forbes’ CIO Next 2021 List. The newly launched annual list recognized Wisler, a Buffalo, NY-based Chief Information Officer with M&T Bank, for his contribution to his company and the area’s tech ecosystem in the form of a 250,000-square-foot Tech Hub in the downtown area of the city known as its innovation corridor.

  • Charles Campbell (M.S. in MIT ’06) recently accepted an offer as a Senior Engineering Manager at Target.

  • Alice Tomdio (M.S. in Accounting ’09) is Head of Finance at Paystack in Lagos, Nigeria. She discussed what it takes to fund Africa’s growth post-COVID during a panel session at the 2021 Georgetown Africa Business Conference, on March 13.

  • Tom Wilson ’81, Head of Global Talent Acquisition at Invesco, McIntire Advisory Board member, and Board Chair Emeritus at Lime Connect, has had a leadership award named in his honor: the Tom Wilson Leadership in Disability Award. Says Lime Connect President/CEO Susan Lang, “Without Tom’s support, there would be no Lime Connect. He understood the immense talent that people with disabilities possess, and also fully realized Lime’s value proposition. His decision to establish Merrill Lynch as Lime’s first partner led the way for other global corporations to follow, and we will forever be grateful to Tom for his vision, leadership, and commitment to the professional development of high potential individuals with disabilities.”