Notes from the Class of 1991

Dan Mackin (ElEngr’08) and Trent Hein (CompSci’91) launched their Boulderbased company Rule4 on Sept. 17. They also wrote the 5th edition of the Unix and Linux System Administration Handbook, published in August 2017.

Laura Barber (Art) writes she recently landed her “dream job.” She is the new San Francisco Bay Area and Northern Nevada sales consultant for Boonsupply. com, an online shopping and fundraiser platform launched by Serena & Lily co-founder Lily Kanter. “If either shopping or giving to a worthy cause makes you happy, can it get any better than shopping and supporting your favorite cause at the same time?” she wrote.

Suzanne DiBianca (Comm), executive vice president of corporate relations and chief philanthropy officer at cloud computing company Salesforce, accepted the Distinguished Citizen Award from the Commonwealth Club at its annual awards ceremony in San Francisco, in Salesforce’s honor. Suzanne leads corporate giving, community relations and sustainability efforts. She was named one of Inside Philanthropy’s 50 “Most Powerful Women in Philanthropy” and is a member of the San Francisco Business Times’ “Most Influential Women in the Bay Area” Business Hall of Fame.

In March, María Sepúlveda (IntlAf) was named vice president of community and government partnerships at Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver. In her new role, María will lead Habitat Metro Denver’s advocacy program, managing the government grants and contracts team and advancing its community development strategy.

Sabine Kortals (Fin,Mus; MJour’96) married Malte Stein on July 6 near Hamburg, Germany. Sabine is a freelance writer based out of Hamburg and Denver.

The Colorado Technology Association awarded Trent Hein (CompSci) with its 2019 Colorado Entrepreneur Excellence APEX Award for entrepreneurial leadership in a Colorado tech company. Along with Dan Mackin (ElEngr’08), Trent is co-CEO of information and technology services company Rule4, his third successful Boulder-based tech venture.

In an effort to reinvent eyeglasses, Philip Staehelin (Econ, IntlAf) created DOT Glasses. Using a revolutionary design that snaps together, the glasses can be sold to customers for as little as $3 a pair. The company aspires to make eyeglasses accessible to everyone globally. Philip lives in the Czech Republic. Read more.

Doctor Ken Starr (MCDBio) of Los Osos, California, serves on the staff of three local hospitals. He founded his own clinic in 2012, which administers the compounds NAD+ and Nicotinamide Riboside, which were featured in the Winter Coloradan’s “The Anti-Aging Pill” as potential compounds to slow human aging. He wrote, “They truly are a game-changer.”

In his debut novel The Reincarnation Papers Eric Maikranz (Rus), of Creatives,” a campaign to help raise awareness and stop misinformation. The UN selected all 14 to feature. Selva also wrote “The Need to Report Carbon Emissions Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic,” an article for Cointelegraph. She is also a contributing expert to The Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change, the world’s first climate change museum.

Adventurer Katie Writer (Geog) of Talkeetna, Alaska, is a pilot, journalist and photographer. Her latest piece, “General Aviation’s Role in Studying Climate,” will appear in the October issue of the AOPA Pilot magazine. See her photography, oil and acrylic art at katiewritergallery.com. 

Kim Dvorchak (WomSt) is executive director of the National Association of Counsel for Children, a Denver-based nonprofit dedicated to legal advocacy for children across the country.

Last August, Michelle Ray (Arch) was named workplace studio leader for SmithGroup’s Phoenix, Arizona, office. Her work will include building design teams to solve the complex challenges presented by mixed-use projects. Michelle is also the co-founder and co-chair of Arizona Kids Build, an award-winning student mentoring program aimed at teaching elementary school students how the built environment affects both their well-being and the world around us.

In the Bay Area, Jean Walsh (Hist) was elected director of Alameda-Contra Costa Transit, the bus operator of the East Bay in California. Jean writes that she ran against a 20-year incumbent and won with 76% of the vote. In her new role, she will be representing more than 285,000 residents.

Katie Writer (Geog) has been pursuing her journalism career documenting climate change in Alaska. Her recent art and photography show River Shadows and Bushwheels was on display at The Hanger in Talkeetna, Alaska, through February 2021. 

After receiving his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute, Albert Flynn DeSilver (Art) became an internationally published poet, memoirist, novelist and nonfiction writer. He has created the Mindful Authors Accelerator, a wisdom school for creative writers. “There are so many ways CU helped shape my transformation, and it’s one ofthe many reasons I keep connected to Colorado,” he writes.

This spring, the CU Boulder College of Music recognized Leenya Rideout (Mus) as a distinguished alumnus of the college. Leenya has lived in New York City for the past 25 years. In 1997, she played violin, sang, danced and acted in the Broadway show Cabaret. She also wrote her own musical, Wild Abandon, about herself and her mom, which was shown off-Broadway in New York in 2018. “I feel like art can do so much right now for the world,” she told the music college. “The world needs a lot of healing and a lot of bringing people together.”

Right at Home, an in-home senior care company, elected Margaret Haynes (MBA’91) as CEO. With 25 years of experience, Margaret will continue to grow the company through job creation and expansion. She lives in Bellevue, Nebraska.

Mark Solomon (MElEngr’91) was named president of intellectual property law firm Hamilton Brook Smith Reynolds. He specializes in intellectual property rights and has won various awards for his work. He also served as president and founding co-chair of the Boston Patent Lab Association. He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Margaret Haynes (MBA’91) has been announced as Right At Home’s CEO. Haynes has more than 25 years of senior management experience, including a decade on the leadership team at Right at Home — eight of which were spent as the COO. Right at Home, a leading in-home senior care brand, has over 650 franchise locations in the U.S. and seven other countries. Margaret previously served as senior vice president of financial services at First Data Corporation. She lives in Bellevue, Nebraska.

Hong Kong resident Dana Magenau (Chin’91) is the vice president of commercial and corporate partnerships at the Kai Tak Sports Park, a more than 70-acre mega complex that includes a 50,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof, a 10,000-seat indoor sports arena, a public sports ground and 600,000 square feet of retail. Dana’s colleague and fellow Buff, Meg McWilliam (ArtHist, EnvDes’05, MArch’07), associate principal architect at Populous based out of Los Angeles, is the lead architect of the main stadium. Kai Tak Sports Park will be Hong Kong’s largest sports and entertainment structure. The raising of the over 6,000-ton roof trusses was recently celebrated with a traditional Bai Sun Ceremony.