Gamma Xi Bob Pisano Recognized as 2009 “Outstanding Alumnus”

In August the College of Social Sciences recognized Bob Pisano, a brother of Theta Chi Gamma Xi who graduated from San Jose State in 1965, as their outstanding alumnus for 2009. The award is the highest honor given to an alumnus of the College of Social Sciences, intended to recognize someone for outstanding professional achievement.

The recognition was based on Bob’s decades of leadership and success in the motion picture industry. He is currently the chief operating officer of the Motion Picture Association of America, and during his career he has served as national executive director and CEO of the Screen Actors Guild and vice-chairman of Metro Goldwyn Mayer.

In addition to voicing his appreciation for the award, Bob spoke about issues affecting the motion picture and music business today, primarily in the area of intellectual property and piracy.

Here’s the Spartan Daily article about his recognition. Congratulations, Bob!

Bill Brown; 69-75

Bill lives in Demorest, Georgia. You can reconnect with him in Facebook.

Family
Mary Jane (wife); Emily & Abby (daughters)

Career
College Professor, School of Education, Piedmont College

What do you do for fun?
Tennis; family; tending to 10 acres – gardening and grapes; community involvement; Knights of Columbus

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Brodie Greer; Larry Stonebarger

Kevin Mapes, 88-93

Kevin still lives in the bay area.

Family
Married Michelle Keller on New Year’s Eve 1995.  First date was her AO-Pi Pledge Dance.  They have a 7 yr old daughter, Saira; 3 yr old Son, Justin; and a newborn son, Brian.

Career
Aerospace Engineer.  Satellite design and Missle Defense.  Last job was Flight Software Manager

What do you do for fun?
Bike, soccer, basketball and Turkey bowl.

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Larry Larson, Mike Pardini, Pat Horton, Jim Beers, Rob Ashe, Gary Zandstra and Marc Archidiacano but mostly I hang with the family.

Comments:
I suggest someone throw a party and invite me because I am a lot of fun.

Lance Wright, 86-93

Lance lives in Watford, Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom.
He’s in Facebook and LinkedIn

Family
1 Son, Leon

Career
I run a Sales and Marketing Consultancy

What do you do for fun?
Pub, Karaoke, Computing, Comedy

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Mike Leong, Warren Schwartz, Mark Atkinson

Mike Rodsater, 62-67

Mike lives in Long Beach, CA
Family
I’ve been married to my wife, Chris for 31 years; have three wonderful and beautiful daughters; a terrific grandson, and  soon to be, in Jan ‘09 a new and also wonderful grandaughter.

Career
Currently I am a consultant with K&R Negotiations where I do negotiation training and negotiation opportunity planning.  Prior to this, I spent 30 years in the technology space, starting with IBM, Nynex, wireless industry as well as the software industry.  For most of that time, ran sales organizations from small to large.

What do you do for fun?
Travel, play golf, snow and water ski, ride motorcycles, usually up for just about anything

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
After starting my career in LA,  we have moved around quite a bit living in Big Bear Lake, CA, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, and now back to Long Beach. I have lost touch with most Gamma Xi’s so I’m really looking forward to the 60’s reunion next June in Reno.

Rob Thorson, 87-91

Rob lives in Citrus Heights, CA.

Family
I married my college sweetheart, Karen, in 1993, and we have two boys, Nathan (8) and Trevor (5).

Career
I am working with Scott Jensen at his advertising agency as his media director.  We have been working together for the past four years.

What do you do for fun?
In my free time, I enjoy camping, wakeboarding, snowboarding, and coaching my boys sports teams.  I have been coaching baseball and soccer for the past few years, and I am going to begin coaching basketball in the near future.

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
I am still in contact with Scott Jensen, Steve Pyle, Dan Neumann, Ron Henares, Alex Alanis, Geno Ivaldi, and Dave Anderson.  I recently ran into Peter Hubacz at dinner, and I hope to see him more frequently.

Comments:
I appreciate all of the time and effort that Greg Barr puts into Theta Chi.  I look forward to and enjoy reading his emails very much.  While I only live about three hours from San Jose, I find it difficult to make the time to get back down to any of the fraternity functions, but I plan on making a greater effort in the near future.

Ron Smith, 64-67

Ron lives in Santa Barbara.

Family
Twice married …twice divorced which makes me an O’fer …Have been hanging with Joyce for 14 years
Daughter named Allison 3 grandkids Gianna 4 / Jack 2 / Kevin Patrick 4 months ..Dog named Jave ‘ The Mutt ‘ and a cat named Molly ‘ Motorhead ‘

Career
History teacher in San Jose California
for 30 years

What do you do for fun?
Mtn Bike …play guitar / mandolin and Bouzouki…watch sports ….play with grandkids …swim …eat too much

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
A bunch of guys from the 60’s as you will see in the next frame

Comments:
I am helping set up a huge re-union of all active members from 60 – 69 in Reno Nevada in June and would like to put out the word to anyone who is in the era to E mail me at smithistry@aol.com so I can pass on the information.    A lot of guys are missing and / or we have no info on their whereabouts.

Marcus Kong, 89

Marcus lives in Fremont, CA. You can reconnect with him in Facebook and LinkedIn.

Family
My wife Kim (SJSU Chi Omega) and I got married in 1998.  We have 1 daughter, Kayla, who was born in June 2007.

Career
I’m the manager for technical support at Xythos Software.  We make a document management product.

What do you do for fun?
Spending time with my family, catching up with friends, golf, Facebook

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Most often it’s Eric Almgren, Dave Yonemitsu, Mel Brown, Steve Pyle (at least once a year and before April 15) and now a bunch of guys on Facebook.

Vern Perry, 53-56

Vern lives in Lakeview, Massachusetts.
Career
Retired Investment Banker

What do you do for fun?
Fly Fish

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Many

Comments:
Support the local chapter annually or it will eventually disappear. Leave a little legacy every year!

Anthony Sargenti, 2003-

Anthony isn’t sure what year he graduated, exactly, but he lives in Firenze, Italy.

He’s in Facebook if you want to reconnect with him and has online photo albums at http://picasaweb.google.com/PvellaPvlchraEst and http://picasaweb.google.com/Jerseynumber53

Family
Just me.

Career
I’m a bum, namely that consists of studying and walking the earth.  Currently I’m stuck in Italy

What do you do for fun?
The above mentioned.  Besides that I love to question authority, religion, government, and critical thinking.

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
A lot.

Roger Poe, 53-55

Roger lives in Fremont.

Family
Wife, Liz (Hart), Delta Gamma, Class of 1961 and daughters, Tracy and Kelly.

Career
Retired (1992) as a Subcontract Administrator with Lockheed Missiles & Space Co.

What do you do for fun?
Travel, trout fish, play golf.

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Tom (Termite) McClelland, Pete Silva, Jay Silva

Rod Diridon, 88-93

Rod lives in Santa Clara.

Family
Fiancee

Career
City Clerk and Auditor

What do you do for fun?
Race cars.  Work on political campaigns.  Eat, drink and be merry.

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Dave Martz, Steve Pyle, Ian Champeny, Alex Alanis, Steve Vargas, Don Cecil, a couple of others

SOCIAL NETWORKING: The Cinebar … wait, that was 15 years ago.  I’ve moved up in the world to the Normandy House Lounge.

Comments:
Man, I miss you guys!

Mike Yaghmai, 94-98

Mike lives in San Jose, CA

You can find me on both Facebook and LinkedIn. My LinkedIn profile can be found on www.mikeyaghmai.com.

Family
I got married to my wife, Leyla Hedayat, back in 2003, while I was living in Chicago. We have two kids, daughter Eleka was born in 2005, and my son, Cameron, was born in 2007. Yeah…we’re busy!

Career
After SJSU, I headed to Chicago to attend law school. After that, I got my first job at a large law firm in Chicago. Several years later, I found a nice gig with a firm in Palo Alto and made the move. After a few more years, I jumped ship and moved to an in-house position at eBay. Here, I am one the lead attorney in charge of the company and it’s subsidiaries’ branding and advertising clearance and other intellectual property issues. Just what I imagined I would be doing while we did the 100 club in the kitchen at old 123 S. 11th!

What do you do for fun?
Not much time to do anything but to manage work and the family. When I get some extra time, I try to get in some hockey. I play in an adult hockey league at the SJ Ice Center.

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
A handfull. I work with Mike Lee at eBay. I also keep in touch with Hamid, Jojo Albayalde and sometimes see others, like Alex Chavarria… who doesn’t?

Comments:
I love giving free legal advice on my day off… NOT!

Dave Coburn, 91-95

Family
I was married in 1995 (Wife’s maiden name was Rosey Arreola – seriously…) and I have a 9 year old son.  I met my wife through Dodie Rios – I am sure that some of you guys remember her…

Career
I am a contract CFO for several different companies, and I own a custom cabinet shop / granite shop.

What do you do for fun?
When I have time, I enjoy hanging out with friends and family (BBQ, watching UFC fights, playing Texas Hold’em, etc..).  I went to my first SJSU game recently and had alot of fun.  I will definitely be going to more games in the future.

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Alot – thanks to Greg Barr’s recommendation to join Facebook.

Social Networking
I am on both Facebook and LinkedIn.  Type in my name and you will find me.

Ned Laugharn, 94-96

Family
Married Jennifer in July 1998.  Have 2 boys, Mitchell, born in October 2001 & Nicholas, born in June 2005.  We moved to Houston, TX in early 2006 and decided to come back to San Jose in March 2008.  It’s so good to be home!

Career
Regional IT Manager for Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

What do you do for fun?
When I’m not busy with family activities, I play golf (poorly), watch lots of sports, throw parties and hang out with friends as much as possible.

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Too many to name!  See my Facebook profile for most of them.  If you haven’t joined the Facebook revolution, I highly recommend it for reconnecting.

Comments:
Go Spartans!

Social Networking

Look me up on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Jason Wilkinson, 00-05

Career
I am the HR Assistant at Wyse Technology here in San Jose.

What do you do for fun?
Many things…including traveling, sports watching, playing, wagering, etc. Also, in my spare time I like to read books that make you think “outside the box” in regards to karma, cash flow, and any other subject that wakes me out of my slumber.

Look me up on Facebook.

Todd Bartz, 95-98

Todd lives in San Jose.

Career
I am an Environmental Health and Safety Consultant working for EORM, Inc. headquartered in downtown San Jose

What do you do for fun?
Travel, play basketball, work on cars

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Greg Bar, Ned Laugharn, Pat Horton, etc.

Social Networking
Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1381734857&ref=profile
Linkedin, http://www.linkedin.com/pub/6/86/b1

Al Saunders Addresses National Convention

In case you didn’t know, Gamma Xi alumnus Al Saunders (currently offensive coordinator for the Rams, previously of the Redskins and Chiefs) addressed the Theta Chi National Convention in Indianapolis this past July. It’s good stuff!

Part One:

Part Two:

Mike Taylor, ‘85-’90

Mike lives in San Jose, CA.

Family
I met Jan In 1988 and little has change since. In 2008 I have the same wife, house and even the same phone number.

Career
Founder and CEO of Waterdogs Corporation

What do you do for fun?
flying, diving, gardening
somethings never change

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
About 25 brothers from mid 80s, including but not limited to
John Blenio, Briam Smith, Brett Scott.
Anyone see Kevin Delaney?

Comments:
I still use my THETA mini fridge, that I paid Randy Kardos $60 for, under my work bench to chill cokes and beers. $60= 22 years…what a deal.

Ray Mason, ‘52-’56

Ray lives in Kelseyville, CA.

Family
One Daughter
Single (divorced)

Career
– Manager, Aviation Fuels, Phillips 66
– Pilot CFI rated

What do you do for fun?
Play tennis 3 times a week, and occasionally fly.

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Tom Barton and late Hank Ramp who was best man at my wedding.

Tom “Termite” McClelland, ‘53-’59

PLEDGED: 1953
GRADUATED: 1954 and 1959 (grad)

Roseville, CA 95747

Web Site: mcclellandfamily.com, Son’s family webpage

Family
Wife Gretchen, 2nd marriage, since 1976.
Four grown offspring: 3 boys, a gal

Career
Advertising and PR, still handling some PR clients. Also taught journalism at Sacramento City College. Worked one season in WFL in Honolulu.

What do you do for fun?
Hack away at golf, travel, Kiwanis,etc.

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
I was best man for Roger Poe and Bill Harvey. Rich Hill was my best man. Others:
Mo Stevens, Jim Mart, Ed Thibon, Bob Crider,and dozens of others via e-mail, including Terry Murphy, Pete Silva, Tom Barton, Vern Perry, Bill Boggie. Hope I don’t offend anyone by leaving them off list.

Comments:
Still love the brotherhood. Like the involvement and enthusiasm of current alumni group. I helped plan big reunion of 50s & 60s in September of ‘07.

Aaron Riche, ‘94

Family
Met my wife Allison at an Alpha Phi serenade in Fall ‘95. We’ve been together for almost 13 years now and married for 7 years. We have two beautiful daughters, Summer who is 3 and Brooklyn who is 3 months.

Career
I work for XO Communications as an Enterprise Account Executive. (Tech Sales)

What do you do for fun?
Watching football, going to Tahoe, working out, golfing…

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Quite a few, and now thanks to Facebook I have re-connected with a lot more.

70’s Alumni at Homecoming 2008

Thanks to Mark McKinstry for sending along these pics of him and his boys from the 70’s enjoying SJSU’s 2008 Homecoming. If you’ve got pics of you and YOUR boys having a good time, please send ‘em my way!

Thomas Safley, ‘74-’78

Family
I have been married to Donna since 1980.
I have two adult children, Erin (26) and Brandon (23).
I also have three grandchildren, Natalie (age 7), Sean (age 5), and Sam (age 2)!

Career
I work in hospital administration as a Chief Financial Officer. I am starting a new job in Lewiston, ID on 12/1/08.

What do you do for fun?
I like to golf, travel, read, and I still collect comic books!

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Mark McKinstry, Bob Bergen, Brad Healy, Jesse Reuter, Joe Indelicato.

Dick Conzelmann, ‘51-’55

Family
Wife Shirley (Gamma Phi Beta) 53 years in January
Four Children: Diana, Kirk, Sandy, Heidi
Seven Grandchildren 4 guys, 3 gals

Career
36 years Administator for public Parks and Recreation for Cities and Districts in California

What do you do for fun?
Golf, reading, travel, work on cabin in the Redwoods.
Involvement with Community Association

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
Tom McClelland,Bob Banfield

Comments:
Had a fun time at the 08 reunion!l

Jeff Realini, ‘85-’90

SOCIAL NETWORKING: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1646910247

Family
Wife: Monica Son: Keith (14) Daughters:Soreya (9) & Isabella (5)

Career
Financial Analyst with Robert Half International, Running for City Council in Patterson (2008)

What do you do for fun?
Take care of my garden

Calvin Wang, 02-05

SOCIAL NETWORKING: in facebook

Career
District Service and Parts Manager for Toyota Motor Sales

What do you do for fun?
Snowboard, workout, running, biking, drinking, hanging out, and driving

Comments:
I’m the new Chapter Advisor.

Micah Harrel, 86-89

SOCIAL NETWORKING: Facebook; LinkedIn

Family
Wife-Kaye; Michaela, age 6 and Benjamin, age 4

Career
Still at JH Technologies after 15 years, now as part owner.

What do you do for fun?
Soccer, Waterskiing

What Gamma Xi’s are you still in touch with?
more and more every day

More Info About All ’60s Reunion June 2009

Brothers, what has happened to your wingmen? Come to Reno and see the ones who can still fog a mirror! The big TC party will be at Steve Brennan’s house on Saturday, June 27^th. We are reserving a block of rooms at a hotel from Thursday 6/25 through Saturday 6/27. The hotel is just a short walk to Brennan’s house overlooking the Truckee River in Reno.

Reno is hosting Brewfest that weekend. You can buy a bottomless mug for a few bucks – and refill it with suds from micro-breweries.

More details later. For now mark your calendars, and pass the word to brothers who were actives in the SJSC house during the 1960’s. Please register your interest in participation by calling Ron Smith at (775) 230-0642 or emailing him at smithistry(at)aol(dot)com.

Quinn Honore; 89-96

Quinn lives in Manteca, CA with his wife Melinda, and two children; Dominic (11) and Natasha (8). He works as a firefighter, and says he’s recently gotten back in touch with a whole bunch of pledge bro’s and other Gamma Xi’s through Facebook.

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