Notes from the Class of 1993

NFL veteran Deon Figures (Soc’93) was inducted into the 2014 CU Athletic Hall of Fame. As a Buff, he was an All-American Defensive Player of the Year in 1992 and won the Jim Thorpe Award. The Pittsburgh Steelers selected him as a first-round draft pick in the 1993 NFL draft.

What would it be like for ten present-day people to be transported into the dinosaur age? Check out Geoff Jones’ (Engl) book, The Dinosaur Four. Geoff received inspiration for his book after visiting the University of Colorado Natural History Museum.

Free time is rare for Esther Manheimer (Anth), mayor of Asheville, N.C. She’s also a mother of three and works as a commercial litigation attorney at Van Winkle Law Firm. As mayor, she is a proponent of affordable housing in and of growing the city’s economy.

Michele Anderson (PolSci; Law’97) was promoted to associate director in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s corporate finance division. She previously served as chief of the division’s mergers and acquisitions office. She has been with the SEC since 1998.

In October, Adam Walsh (Fin, Psych) joined the Boston office of the firm Stifel Financial Corp. as managing director and senior analyst. He serves on the healthcare research team’s biotechnology sector.

Last year Burt Rashbaum (MEngl) wrote The Ones That I Know, a novel about loss among a group of baby boomers, and a volume of his poetry was published, Blue Pedals. He also is the author of a novel about Alzheimer’s disease, Tear for My Mother, and a volume of short fiction, Becoming an American. Burt worked for CU from 1976 to 2007

Brian Watson (RelEst) is founder and CEO of Northstar Commercial Partners, a commercial real estate company in Denver. The company has turned its focus to converting vacant properties and other structures into charter schools. The company was featured in the Wall Street Journal in October 2015.

Commander John Plumb (MPhys; PhDAeroEngr’03) is running for Congress in New York’s 23rd district. He was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy and spent more than six years on active duty, with almost three years on the fast attack submarine USS San Juan. He has since worked in the Senate, the Pentagon and the White House. John received the Arctic Service Ribbon for spending more than 28 days north of the Arctic Circle. John is still in the Navy reserves, serving as commanding officer for the Maritime Operations Center reserve detachment.

Lyn Schenbeck (DMus) is retiring after more than 40 years as an educator. In 2013, she was named the Coweta County Teacher of the Year. In addition to teaching, Lyn has performed as a singer and conductor throughout the U.S. and Europe. She has also been an active member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the organization known for the Grammy Awards, for 25 years.

Jason Wyrick (MechEngr) was promoted to senior vice president of digital platforms at American cable and satellite television network Starz. He lives in Englewood, Colo.

Veteran TV producer Josh Bingham (Comm) will serve as senior vice president for Critical Labs, a new program that will give 10 millennial producers the resources to develop new unscripted projects for traditional media, digital and over-the-top platforms. Josh lives in greater Los Angeles.

In 2014 Clint Folsom (Bus) was elected mayor of Superior, Colo., and has entered the second half of his four-year term. Clint owns Folsom & Company Real Estate and manages several rental properties in Boulder that are leased to CU students. During his time at CU, Clint was a member of the 1988 Presidents Leadership Class and is still an active supporter of the program. Clint and his wife, Leslie, have two children who attend schools in Superior.

Boulder County-based real estate brokerage, Blazer Real Estate, LLC, owned by broker Ken Wiseman (Mktg), calls itself Boulder’s first “dog-friendly” brokerage and will be donating 5 percent of all sales commissions to an animal charity of the customer’s choice. This is Ken’s third real estate brokerage. He recently moved back to Boulder with his wife, Shannon, and four dogs after spending five years in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Brad Montgomery Anderson (Eur, Fren) and the University of Oklahoma Press won the Bloomfield Book Award for 2017 for Brad’s book Cherokee Reference Grammar. The book is the first major reference work on the Cherokee in more than 35 years.

Sara McCabe (Anth, Econ) produced the feature documentary 3 Hikers, the story of three Americans imprisoned in Iran and their families’ fight to rescue them. The film involves scholar Noam Chomsky, political expert Gary Sick, boxer Muhammad Ali and actor Sean Penn. Sara and husband Eugenio live in California with their son, Ronan.

Valerie Arnold (Engl; MA’97; Law’00), a broker with Windermere Real Estate in Fort Collins, Colo., was recently named a trustee of the Poudre River Public Library District and to the transportation board for the City of Fort Collins. Valerie also was selected for Leadership Fort Collins, a program that educates participants on the needs of the community and strengthens leadership skills.

Nashvillebased Correct Care Solutions, a public healthcare organization, named Juan Perez (Acct) chief financial officer.

New Mexico native Michael L. Connor (Law), former deputy secretary of the Department of the Interior, joined Boston-based law firm WilmerHale. He focuses on environmental compliance, natural resources and Native American law. While not an enrolled member of the Taos Pueblo tribe that his grandfather was part of, Michael is considered the first person of American Indian ancestry to hold one of the Interior Department’s top two posts.

Serial entrepreneur, inventor and search-and-rescue volunteer Steve Jewett (Geog) is founder of Clean Trails, creator of National CleanUp Day. He is the U.S. host of World CleanUp Day, which this year is Sept. 15. Steve has climbed all of Colorado’s fourteeners, plus Denali and Aconcagua. On Sept. 15, he encourages alumni to join 380 million others in removing litter or trash in their neighborhood, park, trail, river, lake, open space or favorite mountain peak. “Our goal is elimination of trash/litter to enjoy clean spaces, rivers and oceans,” he writes.