Class Notes

Patriotpost.us ran a profile of Harold Fritz ’75 in August. Fritz is a Medal of Honor recipient for his actions in the Vietnam War and had a 27-year career in the armed services. In 2024, the Peoria County (IL) Veterans Assistance Commission was renamed in his honor.

Lou Bezich ’76 has a new book out: Saving Men from Themselves: 20 Proven Tactics with a New Approach to Living Healthy for Men Over 50. Bezich is a men’s health advocate who also works as a health care executive. He lives in New Jersey and is a senior vice president and chief administrative officer with Cooper University Health Care.

Robert Macchia ’83 recently retired after more than 35 years as a trial attorney in New York. Macchia defended personal injury, property damage and commercial contract matters.

Daniel S. Rutishauser MBA ’00 was named senior vice president and relationship manager for BankUnited’s commercial real estate division in Tampa. The news was announced in July on the South Florida Business & Wealth magazine website. According to the story, Rutishauser is also board president of NOMAD Art Bus, a nonprofit that delivers arts programming to underserved communities.

Chalet Comellas ’01 is a Nashville-based new media artist and educator with work that was chosen to be part of a Nashville International Airport (BNA) seasonal art installation called “Flying Solo.” Her paintings “AI Love Songs for Chatbots” were on display on the lower level of BNA through Jan. 5. Pieces selected for “Flying Solo” aim to give travelers a sense of Nashville’s arts scene.

In September, Thais Pepe MBA ’04 was named the vice president of originations at Churchill Stateside Group, a real estate and renewable energy financial services company, in Clearwater. According to an announcement of her hire, Pepe has more than 20 years of experience in affordable housing finance and development.

Cristina Kaminis ’06 is a New Orleans-based vocalist who recently released a full-length album titled Temperance, featuring “Mexican elements, Brazilian vibes, folk feelings, spiritual songs, guitar shredding ranchera, ’80s power ballad buildups, French torch song gone country, and a sad-girl blues,” according to a story on Nola.com in July. The story also said: “The album opener “Left Your Shirt” — about the cruelty of an ex-lover leaving behind their shirt — was written for a college class.”

Cameron Diehl ’07 is a vice president and private wealth adviser with Raymond James. According to the Tampa Bay Business Journal, he has consistently been rated as the No. 1 Raymond James financial adviser in the country for his cohort of advisers. He was recently named to TBBJ’s 2025 40 Under 40 list.

In August, Krista Fitzpatrick MBA ’07 joined Water Tower Research, an investor relations firm, as director of digital events and services. According to an announcement of her hiring, she leads the firm's multimedia channels and initiatives, including conferences, industry symposiums, fireside chats, podcasts and social media.

Carina (Homann) Santa Maria ’07, an elected trustee in Arlington Heights Village, IL, has announced her candidacy for Illinois State Senate.

Kathryn L. Bostick ’08 is the Tampa office managing partner with Crowe, one of the largest accounting firms in the state. She was named to the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 list in September.

Kristen (Benoit) McCall ’08 was named to the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 list in October. She is the West Florida president of AdventHealth Foundation. TBBJ conducted an interview with McCall, in which she shared lessons from her career. “Success hinges on the connections we foster and how we present ourselves to others. … People are ultimately drawn to those who are friendly, approachable, and demonstrate a strong work ethic,” she told the outlet.

Chris Persaud ’09 is the new vice president of emerging technologies at Maximus, a government technology services partner. News of his promotion was announced on ExecutiveBiz.com in October.

Kasey Sheffer MBA ’09  is the vice president of marketing and own brands at Giant Eagle Inc., a supermarket chain with stores in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana and Maryland.

Randall Daugustinis ’10 was appointed in September to serve as a judge on the seventh judicial circuit court of Florida. She had been an assistant state attorney for the fourth judicial circuit since 2020. The news was announced on the governor’s website.

Zachary Zelawski ’10 is vice president at Metalico, a scrap metal processor, and lives in Clarence Center, NY. Zelawski is pictured with his son, Asher, daughter, Lochlyn, and wife, Cassie.

Jake Halusic ’11 was named to the Florida Business Observer’s 40 Under 40 Class of 2025. He is the founder and CEO of Trofeo, a Microsoft consulting partner that was honored at the Tampa Bay Inno Awards in November.

Katie Piperata MBA ’11 was appointed the new vice president of senior living at SafeSpace Global Corporation. According to a news release from July, she will lead the company's national strategy and market growth for senior living, helping communities leverage AI-powered video intelligence to proactively address elopements, improve care outcomes and enhance operational performance.

Riley Walker ’11 is founder/CEO of ryco.io, a company that was recognized at the Tampa Bay Inno Awards in November. According to a profile by the Tampa Bay Business Journal, the company “pairs teachers with top technologists to design innovative, personalized, and practical curricula that integrate into existing systems.”

Tamara Austin ’12 plays the character Paula in the newly released movie What We Hide, which was filmed entirely in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

Brian Nathan ’12 is vice president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers local 915 and was the first Democrat to file for the Senate District 14 special election, according to a report on the Florida Politics website in August.

Ilias Savakis ’12 was recently promoted to senior state and local tax manager at Crowe LLP, an accounting firm in Tampa.

Briana Zupko ’12 started a new job in the office of statewide prosecution at the Florida Attorney General’s Office. Zupko was also recently honored with the 2025 Hillsborough County Bar Association’s Young Lawyer’s Division Outstanding Young Government Lawyer Award.

Jasmine Jenkins ’13, MBA ’17 spoke at TEDx Bayshore Blvd. in October. Her talk, titled “Why is being a ‘good’ mom so hard?” discusses the silent pressures experienced by mothers. It was chosen as a TEDx Editor’s Pick.

Miles Parks ’13 is a new co-host for the NPR Politics Podcast. In addition to hosting the podcast, Parks will continue his work reporting for the Washington Desk, where he focuses on voting and election security.

James Belluscio ’14 is the new women’s volleyball coach at Cerro Coso Community College in Ridgecrest, CA.

Rebecca Crose ’14 is senior manager of developer relations at Roblox. She was a featured speaker at the Tampa Animation Festival held on campus in November.

John Davis Jr. MFA ’14, a teacher of English and creative writing at Jesuit High School in Tampa and an acclaimed poet, published his first middle-grades novel, Vidge Floyd and the Secret Frequencies, in November. It is a suspenseful coming-of-age story that follows a neurodivergent teenager in small-town Florida as he seeks adventure using his police scanner and CB radio. When he learns more than he should from the airwaves, conflicts and lessons soon follow.

Merary Eden ’14, MBA ’16 joined HSM in the Cayman Islands as an associate attorney in both the property and corporate and commercial practices.

Logan Grubb ’15 is a family medicine physician at Memorial Care on Koke Mill in Springfield, IL. She joined the clinic in September.

Bari (Markowitz) Marder ’15 owns, with her mother, The Rebecca Collection, a gift shop in Bernardsville, NJ. They and the shop were recently featured in a small-business spotlight on tapinto.net.

Kelsie Chisholm ’16, M.S. ’17 was promoted in July to senior manager at PwC Cayman Islands, a firm that provides quality assurance, advisory, tax and legal services to international, regional and local businesses and government organizations. According to an announcement of her promotion, Chisholm volunteers to mentor young professionals in finance.

Eshita Gupta MBA ’16 is a lead product manager in enterprise analytics and infrastructure at Apple in Cupertino, CA, a position she has held since 2021. She recently authored an article for Built In and has been featured in HackerNoon and The Hans India. She was a speaker at the Global AI Summit 2025, in India, in November.

Jaime Noland M.S. ’16 was hired as corporate controller at Lykes Bros. According to an announcement of her hiring on the Tampa Bay Business Journal website in September, she was recently recognized as one of CBIZ Inc.’s 2025 Women to Watch.

Ben Bloom ’18, M.S. ’19 was promoted to manager in the audit and accounting department of Ellin & Tucker, an accounting and business consulting firm in Maryland. The news was announced in August.

Francisco Oller Garcia MBA ’18 was promoted to manager of solutions engineering at RevSure. The Tampa Bay Business Journal shared the news in November.

Dan Holahan ’18 is head of community for VC Platform, which was recognized at the Tampa Bay Inno Awards in November. VC Platform is the world’s largest nonprofit association for venture capital platform professionals. According to the Tampa Bay Business Journal, Holahan brings VC Platform resources to Embarc Collective, where he teaches business leaders and founders about successful business tactics and leadership.

Aislinn Sroczynski ’18 got engaged to her longtime partner, Adam Freund, in September. Freund proposed where they first met,  The Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington, at the Dave Matthews Band’s annual three-day concert over Labor Day weekend.

Shannon Sweeney ’18, MBA ’19 is a regional talent specialist in the human resources department at Marsh McLennan Agency. She is an avid triathlete and endurance cyclist who in 2024 won the Lincoln Gap “queen of the mountain” title in the Vermont Gran Fondo, a 109-mile race with 10,000 feet of climbing and more than 500 competitors from around the world. The Lincoln Gap has an average gradient of 17%, with a maximum gradient of 24% and is considered among the steepest climbs in the world, according to Global Cycling Network.

Larry Washington ’18 is the director of solid waste and environmental program management for the city of Tampa. He was recently included in the Tampa Bay Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 list of exceptional business professionals. The TBBJ asked him about lessons he’s learned in his career. He said, “The most valuable lesson that I've learned thus far is, ‘listening is more powerful than speaking.’”

Casey Bauer ’19 and Michael Joyce ’20 are collaborators on the YouTube series Spoke Stories, where Joyce interviews community leaders from across the Tampa Bay area while riding bikes across town. Bauer appeared on the kickoff episode to take viewers through his morning commute, which he bikes every day. The series is a joint effort between EMOTO Supply Co., an e-bike retailer founded by Joyce, and Tampa Downtown Partnership, where Bauer is the planning and research manager, along with That’s So Tampa and Pedal Power Promoters.

Elizabeth “Izzy” Sanders ’19 is the owner of Izzy’s Barkin’ Bandanas, a custom embroidery and dog bandana boutique in St. Louis, MO. She hand-makes all items and was recently included in the Best of Missouri Market, a fall tradition at Missouri Botanical Garden that features select vendors from across the state.

Pedro Tonietto ’19, M.S. ’22 is CEO and chief investment officer of Wealth Warden Partners, an investment management firm which, according to a story in October by Tampa Bay Business & Wealth, is expanding its Tampa headquarters, an initiative led by Tonietto.

Paul Venghaus M.S. ’19 recently opened his third coffee shop, Retro House, located in Ybor City. Along with a full coffee and tea bar, Retro House offers several pastry varieties and authentic Chinese dim sum.