Winter / Spring 2024 Class Notes

Michael R. Houston, JD, recently was reappointed as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at real estate and agribusiness company Tejon Ranch. Previously he had held those positions at the company for almost five years beginning in 2016. He left Tejon Ranch in 2021 to join the Southern California Association of Governments, where he served as chief counsel and director of Legal Services for the nation’s largest metropolitan planning agency. He rejoined the company on Aug. 21, 2023.

Doug Jennings, BA, of Austin, Texas, was appointed July 24 as general counsel of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. He is the chief counsel for the agency, which is responsible for licensing and regulating a broad range of occupations, businesses, facilities and equipment in Texas.

Amanda Martin Vincent, BMus, of Baton Rouge, La., writes that her company Studyville, an education resource for parents offering private education through their microschool and extensive tutoring services, ACT prep classes and college admissions counseling, was awarded designation as one of America’s Top Small Businesses from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in September. The awards ceremony was Oct. 19 in Washington, D.C.

Chad A. Caldwell, BS, of New Orleans is CEO of software company FastGem. He and FastGem were recently featured on the cover of CIOReview as one of the top 10 most promising customer relationship management companies to watch in 2023.

Josh DeTillio, MBA, of Lutz, Fla., published Healthy You, Healthy Team, Healthy Company: How to Implement an Employee Wellness Program in Your Organization (Lioncrest) in August. He is the chief administrative officer at Gulf Coast Medical Center and an adjunct professor at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Alex Shoor, BA, is running for an open seat on the City Council in San Jose, Calif. The primary election occurs in March 2024. Read more at alexshoor.com.

Jacob Grier, BA, of Portland, Ore., had a collection of essays, originally published in Slate, Reason, Liberal Currents, Arc Digital and Exponents, on nicotine and tobacco policy published as a collection titled The New Prohibition: The Dangerous Politics of Tobacco Control. It is available on Amazon.

Jonathan H. Kim, MD, of Atlanta received funding from the National Institutes of Health to study early cardiac dysfunction and sleep apnea in collegiate football players. In addition, he started a three-year term as chair of the American College of Cardiology's Sports and Exercise Cardiology Section.

Chris Mann, BMus, of Van Nuys, Calif., released his latest parody in June. “Daddy Hero,” a parody of Taylor Swift’s “Anti-hero,” can be seen on YouTube.

Jarrod Reich, JD, has been teaching legal writing and evidence, as well as coaching the Moot Court Team, at the University of Miami School of Law in Florida since July 2020. He coauthored the fourth edition of Thinking Like a Writer: A Lawyer’s Guide to Effective Writing and Editing, in 2021 (Practising Law Institute). In October 2022, he and Kent Halkett, JD’81, spoke on mental health challenges in law at Vanderbilt Law School as part of Wellness Week.

John Young Shik Concklin, BMus, recently was appointed the 10th music director of the Spartanburg Philharmonic. He concurrently serves as music director of the Hendersonville Symphony Orchestra and conductor with the Atlanta Music Project.

Krystal Grant Folkestad, BMus, of Richmond, Va., had the world premiere of her composition Good Black Dirt in Sublime Black Hands for flute, clarinet and bassoon presented in May 2023 by the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia. The piece was inspired by the composer visiting, volunteering and planting in the community gardens led by Duron Chavis’ organization Happily Natural. She writes, “Shoveling steaming mounds of compost, listening to interwoven choruses of birds, braiding vines of blackberries and meditating on murals of Adinkra symbols and people of color fueled this composition.”

Katie Gallerani Herrington, BS, MS’08, PhD’14, and Dana Verner, MD’04, celebrated the five-year anniversary of their multidisciplinary mental health practice Green Hills Family Psych in Nashville. They are grateful for fellow Vanderbilt alumni who are also practitioners at Green Hills Family Psych, including Jenn Stewart, BS’11, MEd’12, MS’15, PhD’20; Rebekah Travis, BA’05; Dana Hipp, BS’06, MD’13; and Jessica Douglas, who completed her residency and fellowship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Megan Alavi Meacham, BA, of Silver Spring, Md., was selected as a 2023 finalist in management excellence for the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medal or “Sammies,” considered the Oscars of federal service, along with two colleagues for the implementation and management of a nationwide initiative to address substance use disorder in rural communities. Additionally, her Rural Communities Opioid Response Program Team made it to the top 12 in the People’s Choice Award.

Dabney Wilkerson, BS, MSN’07, of Honolulu, Hawaii, and her husband, Carlton Wilkerson, announce the birth of identical twin boys in June 2023. Bruce Dubard and James Beck join sisters Sawyer Anne and Cora Jane.

Gene Back, BMus, of Los Angeles composed the music for Randall Park’s directorial debut feature Shortcomings released Aug. 4 through Sony Pictures Classics.

Tom McCurdy, BE, took command of U.S. Navy Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron Four (HSC-4) on June 22, 2023, in Coronado, Calif. In attendance were his spouse, Katie McCurdy, BE’07, and Vanderbilt alums, Navy ROTC classmates and friends CDR Luke Oakley, BE, Drew Arnold, BS, Joe Goodell, BA, Niels Hauff, BE, James McAdams, BA, Jackson Morgan, BS, LCDR Austin Petersen, BE’12.

Chris Friedman, MTS, joined law firm Husch Blackwell as a partner in its Financial Services and Capital Markets business unit. A resident of Nashville, he is based in the firm’s virtual Link office.

Monique Moultrie, MA, PhD’10, received a $250,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to develop a digital and physical archive highlighting Black women religious leaders’ contributions to religious communities and activism in the United States. She is co-principal investigator with Rosetta Ross for The Garden Initiative for Black Women’s Religious Activism. The website launched in March 2023: blackwomensreligiousactivism.org.

Doan Phuong Nguyen, BA, had her debut middle grade novel, Mèo and Bé, published by Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books, May 23, 2023. Booklist said in its review, “This moving debut novel, based in part on the experiences of members of Nguyen's family, features well-developed characters, vivid depictions of wartime Vietnam, and a sense of everyday life for ordinary Vietnamese people during this period.”

Milton Ochieng, MD, and his brother, Frederick Ochieng, MD’10, co-founders of the Lwala Hospital in western Kenya, recently received support  for their maternal child health work from Bruce Springsteen. See Springsteen’s appeal on Vimeo by searching “Lwala Community Hospital Endowment.”

Megan Hines, BA, of Jackson, Miss., spoke at a meeting of the Natchez Historical Society in March, where she gave a preview of a fall exhibit by Natchez native Noah Saterstrom at Mississippi Museum of Art. She is a postdoctoral fellow of art history at the Mississippi Museum of Art and Millsaps College.

Ellie Durham Reynolds, BA, MA’10, recently was named the inaugural head of communications and brand engagement for the new Smithsonian American Women's History Museum in Washington, D.C.

Ed Rottmann, MBA, former chief operating officer of Stowers Machinery Corp., launched Chroma Energy Group, a renewable energy company focused on full-service solar engineering, procurement and construction, in April. The launch of Chroma Energy Group was precipitated by the acquisition of Knoxville-based Efficient Energy of Tennessee. Chroma Energy Group is headquartered in Knoxville.