Class Notes

David Plati (Jour) will reach his 40th year working full time at CU on Jan. 9, 2023, all spent in the sports information department. He will be semi-retiring in 2023 to transition into the role of athletic historian for the university.

Vaughn Morrison (Jour) joined The Associated Press in 2014 as head of U.S. video production. He started his career with 17 years at CNN and has managed several digital media startups, earning three news and documentary Emmys along the way. Vaughn lives in Kensington, Maryland, with his wife, Cathryn, and has two grown children and a granddaughter. Vaughn also lays down some crazy funk jams on his bass guitar.

Vaughn Morrison (Jour'82) joined the Associated Press in 2014 as head of U.S. video production. He started his career with 17 years at CNN and has managed several digital media startups, being awarded three news and documentary Emmys along the way. Vaughn lives in Kensington, Maryland, with his wife Cathryn and has two grown children plus a granddaughter. Vaughn also lays down some crazy funk jams on his electric bass guitar.

Neill Woelk (Jour) joined CUBuffs.com as its contributing editor in 2015 after three decades as a sports reporter, columnist and sports editor at the Daily Camera. He and his wife, Sue, live in Frederick.

Jenny Herring (Jour) works in institutional client relations at Wilshire Consulting. Based in Broomfield, she writes proposals for institutional investors including large pension plans, university endowments and corporations. Previously, Jenny spent much of her career providing public relations and marketing for financial services companies.

David Plati (Jour), longtime CU Boulder associate athletic director/sports information director, was honored in January with the Football Writers Association of America’s Lifetime Achievement award. David, who has been with the athletic department at CU since he was a freshman in 1978 (and worked there full time since he graduated), will also be inducted into the national College Sports Information Directors of America Hall of Fame in June. He has worked on the game-day statistics crew with the Denver Broncos for 39 seasons, is an official scorer for the Colorado Rockies and is on the game week PR staffs for the Rose Bowl and College Football Playoff championship game.

Marsha Piccone (Jour, Law’85) is a partner with Fox Rothschild LLP and was named a top appellate lawyer for 2018 by 5280 magazine. She and her husband, David, have two sons, one of whom is a freshman in the CU Boulder College of Engineering and Applied Science. 

Shannon Lukens (Jour) is the award-winning news director for all seven radio stations in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. She can be heard daily on the radio and as a sports announcer for events across Colorado. As president of Lukens Mountain Media, she manages social media for clients. Shannon and her husband, Jeff, have three children, two of whom are CU Boulder alumni.

Steve Getzug (Jour) spent 15 years as a journalist in Colorado, Wyoming and California before becoming a corporate communications executive at AECOM, a global infrastructure firm based in Los Angeles. He manages CEO and strategic communications activities while occasionally daydreaming about moving back to Boulder.

Kurt Ludlow (Jour) is the morning news anchor for WSYX-TV/WTTE-TV, the ABC/Fox affiliate in Columbus, Ohio. Kurt previously worked as a reporter and news anchor in Duluth, Minnesota, and Portland, Oregon. He’s won numerous Emmy and Associated Press awards as well as an Edward R. Murrow Award. Kurt received a Juris Doctor from Capital University. He is married to Laura and is the father of twin daughters.

Erik Leidal (Jour) is an Emmy award-winning freelance network camera operator. He has traveled the world covering major sporting events, including the Olympics, multiple Super Bowls, 32 years of college football (including some of the games at CU), over 100 major professional golf tournaments and more. He lives in Avon, Connecticut, with his wife and two daughters.

Doug Hochstadt (Jour) is the senior vice president of revenue and yield management for Disney-ABC. He is also the head of box office for Pantomonium Productions, a nonprofit theater company whose mission is to reach underserved children and families. He lives in New York City with his wife, Katherine, and daughter, Ella.

Peter DeLuca (Advert) is the senior vice president of brand communications and acquisition at T-Mobile in Seattle, Washington. Previously, Peter was the chief marketing officer for Banana Republic and worked at Charles Schwab in various senior marketing leadership roles. His son Chris is following his father's footsteps on campus this fall. 

Van Woodcock (Advert) is the senior vice president of global sourcing, logistics and trade in the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products division of The Walt Disney Co. Van has been with the company for 17 years and lives in Pasadena, California.

Tracy Lehr (Jour) won a Pacific Southwest Chapter Emmy for her human interest story “ASL Interpreters Relay Crucial Information During Disasters.” Tracy has worked for KEYT-KCOY and KKFX, an ABC/CBS and Fox11 affiliate in Santa Barbara, California, for two decades. She is the evening weekend news anchor and an evening live reporter during the week. She recently won a Golden Mike for a story called “Chaplains Answer the Call.”

Holly Gauntt (Jour) is the news director at Denver7. She started her career at KUSA in Denver and then KCNC, and spent 27 years in newsrooms in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Baltimore and Seattle before returning to Denver. She has covered the 9/11 attacks, President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, the D.C. sniper attacks and the bombing of the federal building Oklahoma City. She has won numerous Emmy and Edward R. Murrow awards, including the national award for overall excellence in Washington, D.C., and Seattle, and at Denver7.

Neal Scarbrough (Jour) is an award-winning journalist, content creator and multimedia executive who has delivered a diversity of revenue-generating franchises across print, digital and broadcast. He is vice president and executive editor for Fox Sports. In this capacity, Neal has editorial oversight of FS1’s studio programming and serves as the daily talent coach for Fox Sports’ on-air personalities. He and his wife, Michelle, live in Los Angeles.

Karen Reid (Jour; MJour’90) was named chair of the 2018–19 Foundation Fundraising Committee for the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). As president and founder of Kaber Communications, she engages workforces through ambassador and volunteer programs that enrich organizational culture and maximize community impact. Karen and her husband, Charlie (PhDMechEngr’89), live in Dallas. 

Joanne Bischmann (Comm) retired in January from Harley-Davidson after nearly three decades with the company, most recently as the company’s vice president and chief communications officer, as well as president of the Harley-Davidson Foundation. In December, she was inducted into the PRWeek Hall of Fame. Joanne lives in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, with her husband, Rob, and four sons. 

Jay Rothman (Jour) is the vice president of production at ESPN, where he's the lead producer of Monday Night Football. Last fall, he invited four CMCI seniors–Changler Gould (Jour, PolSci'18), Tessa Diestel (Jour'18), Rachel Robinson (Jour'18) and Ashley Ben-Porat (Jour'18)–to Kansas City, Missouri, to go behind the scenes at a live Monday Night Football production.