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The Class of 2005
This summer, ten alumni began three-year terms on CAA's Board of Directors.
Mary Ruth Carleton '70, M.J. '77, was born in Sacramento and grew up in Sutter Creek. She arrived at Berkeley in time to become "immune to tear gas" and found the campus an exciting place--inside and outside the classroom. A political science major, she remembers "huge debates" in class, taking part in demonstrations, the conflict over People's Park, and the reaction to the killings at Kent State. After earning a master's in journalism at Berkeley, she was a television reporter and anchor for 15 years, winning the UPI Investigative Reporting Award, a Los Angeles Press Club Reporting Award for feature reporting, and an Emmy as the lead reporter of a plane crash in Los Angeles. A decade ago she switched careers to fundraising, and is now assistant vice president of advancement for the University of San Francisco. On the Board, she hopes to use her fundraising skills for scholarships and also wants to get more alumni involved in the Association. "I'm excited by my new position at CAA, which is an especially interesting organization because it's one of the nation's few independent alumni associations," she says.
When Darek DeFreece '93 left his small home town of Red Bluff to come to Berkeley, he was at the top of his class and "president of everything," and earned a number of scholarships. But he found things at Cal a bit different. "I had the highest SAT scores in my high school, but the lowest on my dormitory floor," he says. "I dogpaddled at Cal before learning to swim. That's what the competition forces you to do." His Class's unofficial motto was: "We survived" (the '89 earthquake, a fraternity fire, the hostage-taking at Henry's, and the Oakland Hills fire). He was president of his Class, co-director of Cal-in-Sacramento, and director of the Cal in Berkeley internship program and won the Kenneth Priestley Award for Outstanding Student Leadership. After a law degree at Boston College, he pursued a career in financial services, most recently as a securities and investment management attorney for Barclays Global Investors. President of the UC Gay and Lesbian Alumni Association, he wants to revitalize membership in that group and, on the Board, to concentrate on the strategic growth of alumni membership and services.
Born in Durango, Mexico, Jose Joel Garcia, Boalt '73, moved with his parents to Tehachapi when he was 4. He applied to Cal and three other UC schools and was accepted by all, but chose UCSB for undergraduate work before coming to Berkeley for law school. At Cal, he became involved with the community; did draft counseling; and dropped out of Boalt for a year as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War. He first became involved in health issues while in law school, and was a founder of La Clinica de la Raza, now a $24-million nonprofit organization. Currently a health administrator, attorney, and educator, he has spent 13 years as a faculty member at Berkeley (in health policy, law, and ethics) and is a member of numerous national, state, and local boards of directors, primarily in healthcare. Of his election to the Board, he says, "I love the CAA. I think there's a lot more we can help the campus to accomplish, including keeping the doors open to everybody with the drive to take on the challenge of Cal." He is especially interested in the CAA's Achievement Award Program.
Anne Gates '81 was born in Palo Alto, where her father worked for the Ames Research Center; her mother has just retired after ten years as a consultant to the School of Education at Cal. Anne, who majored in math at Berkeley, says: "The high quality of my education at Cal gave me a strong foundation for my diversified career." After a master's degree at Columbia University in operations research, she worked for Bell Labs and AT&T before spending three years as an investment banker on Wall Street. She worked in business development for PepsiCo, with stops in New York and London, before arriving at Disney in 1991. She is currently executive vice president and chief financial officer for Disney Consumer Products, based in Los Angeles. She joined a CAA alumni club while living in London and is pleased to be able to reconnect with the campus. On the Board, she hopes to get involved with the scholarship programs--the Achievement Award Program in particular--"to make sure other people can benefit from a Cal education like I did."
Mary McKenna '69 was born up north in Corning, and grew up in Orland. The first in her family to attend college, she says: "I knew Cal was fantastic, and I just really wanted to come here." A German major who then went into engineering, she spent a year abroad studying in Gottingen, Germany. As a student, she has fond memories of sitting outside Doe or Moffitt or by Strawberry Creek, "studying and listening to the Campanile. It doesn't get any better than that!" Now a software engineering manager at EPRI, she became involved with Cal Parents when her son, who just graduated, came to Berkeley. "I encourage every parent to get involved," she says. "It relaxes the parents. They get to know the campus today and stop worrying--and that helps the children!" She has been president of the UC Club of Santa Clara County, a participant at UC Day in Sacramento, and an interviewer for the CAA's Achievement Award Program. On the Board, she plans to continue working with students--"It keeps you young"--and also with alumni clubs.
Nancy Lubich McKinney '82 was born and raised in San Francisco. An Alumni Scholar on campus, she was a member of the Honor Students' Society, the Order of the Golden Bear, and Phi Chi Theta business fraternity. A former senior vice president at Bank of America in San Francisco, she now works as an independent consultant. "I came from a high school of only 40 students, and people warned me that Cal would be overwhelming," Nancy says. "But I discovered there's a place for everyone on campus; you just have to find it." Nancy found her niche at Stern Hall, where she lived all four years at Berkeley. "It was a fabulous experience. I learned about leadership and about life." Currently president of its alumni club, she points out that Stern Hall will celebrate its 60th anniversary during Homecoming Weekend this fall. She also is past president of the Haas Alumni Network, which has 28,000 members worldwide, and served as a designated director from Haas to the CAA from 2000 to 2002. On the Board, she'd like to help modernize and centralize clubs, which she calls "the lifeblood of the Association," and create partnerships between the CAA and other campus alumni organizations.
Joan Parker '63 was born in Los Angeles and grew up in San Marino. All of her relatives went to USC, but she wanted to get away from all that and thought Cal would be a nice alternative. "I just loved Berkeley," she says. "It was a good fit for me, and I chose to stay here the rest of my life." A physical education major, following graduation she taught high school for a year, then came back for a master's in physical education. A stellar college athlete in tennis, basketball, and badminton, she coached here for 13 years (tennis, volleyball, basketball, badminton, and softball), while also teaching physical education classes. In 1976, when the Department of Women's Athletics was founded, she became its assistant athletic director, then associate director. When the men's and women's departments merged in 1991, she became executive director of Bear Backers until retiring just last year. "It's been incredible to see how far women's sports has come since I arrived here in 1959," she says. On the Board, she hopes to become involved with clubs and in development.
June Parsons '46 was born in Sacramento and moved with her family to Berkeley in early childhood. She has been here ever since. Her older brother went to Stanford. "The night I told him I had chosen Cal over Stanford, we had a full-blown argument," she recalls, "but the day I graduated, he was there to capture it on film." She entered Berkeley in 1942 and finished in three years, as was the custom during World War II (no summer vacations, three semesters a year). "It was a different time here because of the war," she says. "We rolled bandages for the Red Cross, entertained servicemen at sorority houses"--she was active in Phi Mu--"and wrote letters to former students serving overseas." At Cal she was in Panile and the Prytanean Society and served as chair of orientations for new students. She worked for Pacific Telephone Company until her marriage in 1954. Since 1956, she has been chair of the reunion for her Class, which celebrated its 55th reunion last year. She believes the CAA should help inform students about the Association: "That's the best way to get them to join when they graduate."
Gary Sapiro '73 was born in San Francisco and raised in Los Angeles. His grandfather graduated from Cal in 1914 and his father did so in the War '47 Class. "Both were Cal zealots," he says, "and they passed along their passion to me." When he arrived here, Gary remembers seeing the National Guard posted on rooftops. "I was fairly apolitical at the time, but it was an incredible time to be on campus." Academically, he says, "I just loved Cal and flourished in my major, history, with its excellent faculty." He was also a member of Sigma Nu. He earned a graduate degree at USC in public administration, specializing in organizational psychology. He has spent 15 years in human resources management, and is principal and managing director of Torchana, Mastrov & Sapiro, Inc. On the Board, he wants to use his professional skills "to make sure that our educational program and tools are modern and useful for helping alumni to develop options for their career plans"--something he helped implement while serving on the board of the Haas Business Alumni from 1994 to 1998.
Susan Wilcox '80 was born and raised in France, and also lived in Germany and Belgium before coming to Cal. "My sister was at Stanford and kind of regretted her decision, sensing that Berkeley was a more exciting place," she says. "When I visited Cal, I really fell for it." She majored in French literature and took modern dance classes. One of her fondest memories is of "running through the campus barefoot on a rainy day, while the Campanile was playing 'Raindrops keep falling on my head'--a surreal moment!" She is executive director of development for the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at...USC. As a volunteer, she founded Cinema Grand, a nonprofit organization to expand audiences at a historic movie theater in San Pedro. She has been involved in CAA through the South Bay Alumni Club, which serves Palos Verdes and San Pedro. She has spent time at the Lair for tennis weeks and looks forward to working with the Lair during her Board term. "I'm also very interested in understanding the membership operation and helping to expand CAA's membership."
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