Do you have an accomplishment or announcement to share? Have you and fellow alumni recently gathered to celebrate a holiday, vacation or a personal milestone? Did you get married, start a new job or have a baby?
Help us share your exciting news with your classmates! Use this form to submit your class note announcement for the next edition of Drexel Magazine — even better if you include photos!
60s
Stewart M. Weintraub, BS business administration ’68, has been named to the 2025 Pennsylvania Super Lawyers list. Weintraub is the chair of the firm’s State and Local Tax (SALT) practice. With more than 50 years of experience, he helps clients plan and structure transactions to minimize state and local tax obligations.
70s
Lynne Culter, BS humanities and communications ’72, is stepping down as president of the Women’s Opportunities Resource Center (WORC), which she founded 32 years ago. Under her leadership, WORC financed more than 1,000 loans to some of the Philadelphia area’s smallest businesses.
Nick Howley, BS mechanical engineering ’75, Trustee, is the founder of The Howley Foundation, which gifted $2.1 million to Holy Ghost Preparatory School. The donation, the largest in the history of the institution, will provide scholarships to four students annually in each of the four high school grades at the Bensalem all-boys school over a 10-year period. The foundation focuses its giving in Cleveland and Philadelphia, supporting around 1,200 high school students in and around those cities.
80s
Martin Belisario, BS mechanical engineering ’85, was recognized by The Legal Intelligencer in the 2025 Pennsylvania Legal Awards. He has been named a Lifetime Achievement Award honoree.
Michael Coren, BS electrical engineering ’89, is proud to announce that his son, Samuel Coren (pictured here with his father), has entered the College of Medicine Class of 2029. Sam is a third-generation Dragon; in addition to his father, his grandfather Richard Coren was a Drexel professor from 1965-2000.
Charles David Dern, BS mechanical engineering ’85, was ordained as permanent deacon for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on June 14 in the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. Dern recently retired as an applications engineer with ATS Scientific Products and currently serves as an adjunct faculty member in the School of Theological Studies at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary.
Emily Squires Levine, MBA ’89, has a new exhibit at the Courtyard by Marriott Philadelphia from July 15 to Nov. 4, 2025. In the exhibition, called Growing Towards the Sun, Levine will display her work that uses layers of polymer clay to create patterned canes that are then sliced into the components that make up her work.
Peter Quinn, MD ’81, received the American society of Temporomandibular Joint Surgeons lifetime achievement award.
90s
Terry Lynn Bernardo, MBA ’91, was profiled in the Sullivan County Democrat about her passion for ice skating and her career in local politics. After a few elections she became the first female chair of the Ulster County, New York, legislature.
Joseph Dude, MBA ’98, chief financial officer at PurpleLab, was named among the 2025 Philadelphia Business Journal Corporate Leadership Award honorees. When Dude joined the company, PurpleLab reported $2.7 million in annual revenue. Today, the company exceeds $44.3 million in annual earnings.
Jennifer Ingraffea, BS marketing ’97, chief product and merchandising officer of The North Face, was ranked 15th among the Top 50 women leaders of Oregon for 2025 by the Women We Admire online publication.
Julia Levy, BS psychology ’93, head of talent acquisition at AutoZone, was ranked 16th among the Top 50 women leaders of Memphis for 2025 by the Women We Admire online publication.
Stacy Lewin, MD ’94, was inducted into the Arthur L. Johnson Alumni Association class of 2025. Lewin is an obstetric anesthesiologist and has taken on major teaching and clinical responsibilities at the University of Pennsylvania.
Amy P. Murtha, MD ’92, was honored with the EJI Physicians award, an award given to those in the New Jersey medical community who show excellence, innovation and dedication in health care.
Jim Muscarella, BS chemical engineering ’94, a Plymouth Whitemarsh High School teacher, was honored with the Citadel of Learning Award from the Citadel Credit Union after nearly 30 years in the district spent developing programs in STEM and EDI (entrepreneurship, design and innovation) to enable his students to thrive.
Vitai Ratanakorn, MS finance ’96, was approved by Thailand’s Cabinet to take over as the next central bank governor. The appointment of Ratanakorn was subject to royal approval before he started a five-year term on Oct. 1. Some analysts expect his appointment to improve the working relationship of the central bank and the Pheu Thai party-led government.
00s
Paul F. Huberty, MBA ’02, was named one of 12 fellows in the Rockefeller Foundation’s inaugural U.S. Big Bets Fellowship program. Huberty will focus on strengthening indigenous economies by disrupting the status quo to increase access to capital, support investments that create jobs, and increase wages and foster small business development in Wind River.
Jonas Lamb, MS library and information Science ’08, was promoted to professor of library science at the University of Alaska Southeast. Lamb’s debut poetry collection What Turtle Blood Tastes Like was published by Finishing Line Press on Sept. 12.
Colleen Wolfe, BA communication ’08, an NFL Network anchor, joined an all-female lineup on the new show “Women’s Sports Now.” She was also profiled in an article in the Philadelphia Business Journal highlighting her career in sports media, including her co-op at local sports talk radio station WIP and the rise of media coverage of women’s sports.
10s
Jaime Arroyo, MBA ’16, won the Lancaster Democratic mayoral primary election. Arroyo serves as vice president of Lancaster City Council and has served on City Council since first being elected in 2019.
Daniella Mashaw Brown, MBA ’15, was honored with the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Distinguished Alumni Award.
Erica Deuso, BS biological sciences ’03, MBA ’12, won Downingtown’s Democratic mayoral primary election, becoming the first openly transgender mayor in Pennsylvania. Deuso works in personnel and process quality management at Johnson & Johnson.
Evan Ehlers, BA entrepreneurship & innovation ’19, founder and CEO of Sharing Excess, was named one of Philadelphia Business Journal’s 2025 40 Under 40 honorees. Driven by a passion for addressing food insecurity, Ehlers founded Sharing Excess in 2018. Sharing Excess has rescued some 85 million pounds of food and served some 3 million people.
Krystal Kane, JD ’13, was recognized in the Philadelphia Business Journal in its 2025 Business in Pride series, highlighting individuals and companies advancing and supporting the region’s LGBTQ+ community.
Jessica Labella Kitan, JD ’17, has been elevated to partner in the family law department at the Fox Rothschild Philadelphia office.
Jackie Malcolm Bailey, EdD, BS marketing ’97, vice chancellor of information technology for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System, was featured in EDUCAUSE’s podcast “EDUCAUSE Shop Talk.” In the episode titled Designing for Institutional Resilience in a Changing World, Bailey discussed how higher education leaders can support higher education values by building systems, teams and cultures that support institutional resilience in a changing world. She has over 20 years of distinctive higher ed experience and has been a leader both at the campus and system levels.
An Nguyen, PhD biomedical engineering ’14, director of STEM and robotics at Camden Catholic High School, was selected as one of four outstanding New Jersey secondary school teachers to be honored at Princeton Commencement. The selection committee recognizes educators whose imprint on students lasts far beyond their time in the classroom.
Heather Rose, JD ’11, contributed pieces from her private collection to Kurt Vonnegut Jr. as a Visual Artist, the latest exhibition at Drexel’s Paul Peck Alumni Center Gallery. Rose commissioned nine monumental banners of Vonnegut drawings to hang in the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Parkway Central branch.
Ashley Smith, BS photography ’11, was featured in a gallery exhibition called Object Memory. The show is designed to feature how these artists collect, mend and revise objects — some inherited from family members, others left behind by strangers — to explore how the things we inherit can become objects of myth, shaping our understanding of the past, each other and ourselves.
Jasmin Smith, JD ’16, chief public defender for Snyder County, Pennsylvania, was featured in a Yahoo! News article that highlights her journey from Philadelphia to rural Pennsylvania, her early interest in criminal law, and her journey to becoming a public defender.
James Starks, MS construction management ’18, cert. sustainable green construction ’19, was inducted into the 2025 Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame on June 11, 2025. Starks played seven seasons in the NFL. He ran 2,506 yards and scored 15 total touchdowns, winning a Super Bowl championship with the Packers as a rookie.
Theodore T. Speedy, BS civil engineering ’10, joined Gawthrop Greenwood, PC law firm in May 2025 as a municipal law and ligation attorney.
Nathaniel K. Tayoun, BS architectural engineering ’10, BS civil engineering ’10, was named one of Philadelphia Business Journal’s 2025 40 Under 40 honorees. Tayoun has helped grow Caritas into a $70 million company and led its acquisition of construction management firm Rendell Associates.
Erin Truesdell, MS digital media ’15, is using funding from the National Institutes of Health to lead the development of an innovative multiuser virtual reality platform at NJIT’s Ying Wu College of Computing to help cancer patients and caregivers prepare for life-threatening emergencies such as febrile neutropenia.
Andrew Vail, BS biological sciences ’17, was promoted to senior director of clinical development at Dermatology Partners, the region’s premier privately owned and physician-led dermatology practice.
Victoria Wilson, BS entertainment and arts management ’19, was named Philadelphia Magazine’s 2025 Luminary Leader.
20s
Gizelle A. Batomalaque, PhD environmental science ’20, senior research analyst at the Marine Biodiversity Resources and Information Systems, was elected secretary of the Association of Systematic Biologists of the Philippines (ASBP) at the International Symposium and 42nd Annual Meeting of the ASBP.
Haili Bruckner, BS fashion sesign ’25, a Charles Evan’s Scholarship recipient and 2025 BCI Brands x FSF Scholar winner, was invited to collaborate with designer Colm Dillane of KidSuper and one of her garments was featured in his Paris runway show. This opportunity emerged from a studio visit organized by the Fashion Scholarship Fund for its scholarship recipients, during which Bruckner presented her senior thesis project, which focused on developing her own bio-leather.
Paige DeAngelo, BA communication ’23, was recognized as a finalist for the 2025 Rad Awards in the Entrepreneur of the Year category. DeAngelo is the founder of Aer Cosmetics mascara company.
Yassine Elkahloun, BS finance ’24, West Chester United soccer player, scored the lone goal of the match on July 10 against Electric City Shock of Scranton, advancing the team to the National Premier Soccer League conference final.
Hayley Estrella, MS Drexel Pathway to Medical School ’24, was recognized among the 2025 Robert A. Winn Clinical Investigator Pathway Program (Winn CIPP) Cohort 4 awardees. Winn CIPP is a prestigious six-week summer program designed to ignite a passion for community-engaged research among highly talented medical students. Winn CIPP students are mentored at leading clinical and translational research sites across the country, learning about the power of a community-centered research-based approach.
Jessica Huber, BS mechanical engineering ’22, is a US Air Force veteran and entrepreneur who runs an adaptive equipment company called Apache Adaptive Solutions. She and her partner are launching new ventures in Costa Rica, where they run a small coffee bean farm and Airbnb.
Ryan Nickerson, MS sport coaching leadership ’21, head coach of Billerica Memorial High School (BMHS), was named Coach of the Year by The Sun, a Massachusetts publication, and was named to its 2025 Boys Lacrosse All-Star Team. This was Nickerson’s fifth season as head coach. His prior roles include being an elementary school teacher, assistant soccer coach at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and assistant soccer and basketball coach at BMHS.
Connor Schmidt, BS business analytics ’21, won the Western Pennsylvania Golf Association’s 122nd open championship. This was Schmidt’s first triumph as a professional.
Donovan Smalls, EdD educational leadership & management ’19, school principal certification ’22, is the author of the Amazon best-selling book “Beyond the Classroom: Helping Aspiring School Leaders Navigate Interpersonal & Organizational Complexities for Greater Instructional Impact.” Smalls currently serves as an assistant principal, educational consultant, school leadership coach and the chairperson of administration for the New Jersey Affiliate, National Alliance of Black School Educators.
Amari Williams, BS communication ’24, was drafted into the NBA by the Boston Celtics after being chosen as the 46th draft pick overall.
Veda Wooley, JD ’20, deputy attorney general, was featured in a segment called Spreading the Love on CBS News Philadelphia highlighting her achievements and the support from her father Dave Wooley, a former entertainment industry executive and current Wilmington University professor. Wooley has passed both the Nevada and Delaware bar exams, earned multiple degrees and is paving the way for others all while raising a son and mentoring the next generation of changemakers. In addition to working as a deputy attorney general, she also teaches at Wilmington University and is preparing for the Pennsylvania Bar Exam.
