University at Buffalo School of Management

Alumni Spotlight: Lab coats and business suits Ben Farbowitz, BS '09, CPA, was named director of finance at Lev, a commercial real estate financing platform. 2010s Kimberly Meier-Dehr, BS '07, MBA '10, was named global planning and allocation senior manager – retail at Mars. Ryan Linden, BS '11, joined Lorimer Ven- tures as a limited partner and was promoted to se- nior product man- ager at MURAL, a collaborative intelligence company. Brooke Swensen, MBA '11, was named vice president – direct to retail at Kerry Group, a leading taste and nutrition company. Laura Berrady, EMBA '07, joined Fidelis Care as senior director of health care trans- formation. Mark Umstead, MBA '07, was promoted to senior process improvement leader at Moog. James Wahl, MBA '07, joined Bionical Emas, a clinical research organization, as senior vice president of business develop- ment for clinical development. Keith Wright, BS '01, PMBA '07, was promoted to chief financial officer at Ever- West Real Estate Investors. Chanel David, PMBA '16, always wanted to be a scientist. While other girls played with baby dolls, she gravitated toward microscopes. Later, after seeing how cocoa beans became delicious chocolate in Hershey, Pennsylvania, David found her calling. She would become a food scientist. "Food connects people — it's part of your heritage and your identity," she says. After earning her bachelor's in chemical engineering, David joined Rich Products as the first engineer in its research and development department. One day, she might have been developing a new topping flavor, while the next, she was studying fat crystallization and heat transfer rates to improve product performance and shelf life. Eventually, David set her sights on becoming the head of R&D — and enrolled in the School of Management to help her get there. Her hard work paid off in March 2022, when David was named manager of research and development at StarKist Co., which provides trusted, healthy protein products in the United States. David leads a team of food scientists to develop new products and optimize the production process. "It's an exciting time to be on the StarKist team," she says. "It's a company that is more than 100 years old, and product innovation is a priority and driving force." Spring 2023 Buffalo Business 27 Emily Mazur, MBA '12, launched her business, Revitalize Home Organization LLC, in Buffalo. Ben Pearce, BS '05, PMBA '13, was promoted to director of health care and life sciences industry strategy at Sales- force. Brian Urbanczyk, PMBA '13, was promoted to manager, tech program management/soware testing at Fisher-Price. Anthony Zoratti, PMBA '13, was named Cisco sales director at D&H Distributing. Jeff Beacham, BS '12, MBA '14, was promoted to local sales manager at WGRZ-TV. Ashley Moreira, PMBA '14, was promoted to vice president of customer support at Columbus McKinnon. Girish Sundaram, MBA '14, was promoted to director of product analytics at athenahealth. Dipin Vidyadharan, MBA '14, was promoted to principal program manager at Microso. Victoria (Lojacono) DiVirgilio, BS/ MBA '15, joined the Jackson Labo- ratory, a biomedi- cal research insti- tute, as manager of cybersecurity awareness and communications. Berrady Wahl Wright Meier-Dehr Linden Mazur Pearce Zoratti Beacham Vidyadharan DiVirgilio

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