Alumni Notes


1980s

Lakshmi S. (Narsi) Narasimhan, PhD 1988, founded Paalam, Inc., an
Atlanta-based software services and business-process outsourcing company
in March 2003. Paalam, which means bridge in the Indian languages of Tamil
and Malayalam, helps reduce costs without compromising quality by serving
as prime contractor and the bridge between American clients and Indian
providers. A July 30, 2003, article in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
profiled Narsi and Paalam.

Narsi serves on the advisory boards of six companies. He previously has
served as a faculty member at Georgia Tech and Rutgers University. He is a
co-founder and former board member of the Georgia Indo-American Chamber of
Commerce and the founder of the Indian Professionals Network
(www.ipnatlanta.net/ipn/).

He has received several awards, including the Millennium Leadership Award
from the Federation of Indian American Associations in Chicago, and he is
a member of Atlanta's Regional Leadership Foundation.


1990s

Melvin G. Alexander, BA 1990, was named vice president and chief financial
officer of Norman (Oklahoma) Regional Hospital in November of last year. A
certified public accountant (CPA) and certified healthcare professional,
he earned an MBA from City University in Bellevue, Washington. Melvin
brings more than 12 years of healthcare management experience to his new
role. In it, he supervises the hospital's fiscal affairs and has
administrative oversight in many areas, including finance, managed care,
patient financial services and information technology. He previously
worked as chief financial officer at North Oaks Health System in Hammond,
Louisiana.


Syed (Sid) Khusro Qadeer, BS 1990, is an accountant for Coppos Film, a Los
Angeles-based company that specializes in creating commercials. He and his
wife, Farah, married in 1996. They live in Santa Clarita, California, and
Sid recently reported being enrolled in a prep course for the CPA exam.


Karla R. Barber, MS 1991, manager of eBusiness Solutions for Texas
Instruments (TI) Incorporated in Dallas, Texas, was featured in "Success
Story," a profile that appeared in the Job Center section of the July 13,
2003, Dallas Morning News. Karla has 21 years of experience at Texas
Instruments, where she has held positions in sales, marketing, operations
and information technology (IT). She currently is an IT manager in TI's
Web Services organization, responsible for developing and supporting
Internet solutions.

Karla is a 2001 graduate of the Leadership Texas program and a 2003
graduate of the Leadership America program. Both offer leadership
development guidance to women. She serves as treasurer of the Leadership
Texas Alumni Association, which was a co-sponsor of the "Positioning Women
for Corporate Boards" program at the SOM, a three-day workshop, May 17 to
19, jointly organized by The Leadership Center at UTD and SOM's Institute
for Excellence in Corporate Governance.

A computer science undergraduate of the University of Vermont, Karla
serves that alma mater on its School of Engineering Dean's Advisory Board.
And locally, she serves on the board of Jacob's Ladder, a nonprofit
focused on providing economically and/or educationally disadvantaged
adults with the basic support and interpersonal skills necessary for
moving toward economic self-sufficiency.

She is married and the mother of three sons ages 14, 11 and 10.


Stephen D. Thomas, MS 1993, was appointed in November 2003 as executive
director of a new state agency in Texas overseeing homebuilding standards
and a dispute resolution process for builders and homeowners. A veteran in
state government, Stephen now heads the Austin-based Texas Residential
Construction Commission, which came into being last September. The
nine-member commission is responsible for registering all homebuilders,
overseeing the state-sponsored inspection and dispute resolution process,
preparing building standards and warranties, and more.

Stephen previously worked more than 18 years in various state agencies,
including the Texas Department of Banking and the Texas Department of
Transportation. Most recently, he had served as senior deputy director of
administration and constituent services in the Office of the Governor,
which included responsibilities as chief financial officer and director of
human resources. He manages the day-to-day operations of the new
commission and enforces its policies and rules.


Sam Gilliland, EMBA 1994, appointed president and chief executive officer
of Sabre Holdings Corporation in December of last year, was featured in
"Sharpening up at Sabre" an article on the front page of the business
section in the February 19, 2004, Dallas Morning News. The article
discussed Sam's new role at the travel-commerce company and company
strategy in light of the expiration in January of most federal regulations
affecting central reservation systems.

Sam had previously served as executive vice president of Sabre, which is
based in Southlake, Texas, and retails travel products as well as provides
technology solutions to the travel industry.

In assuming his new role, Sam, who started at Sabre as a software
developer in 1988, also was elected a director of the S&P 500 company.
Prior to being named CEO, he was president and CEO of Travelocity, Sabre's
company that specializes in online travel products and services. His other
Sabre Holdings leadership responsibilities have included service as chief
marketing officer, group president of the company's Airline Solutions
business, and senior vice president and general manager of Sabre Business
Travel Solutions, a business-to-business e-commerce unit.

Moving into the top spot at the publicly traded company, Sam said, "It's
an honor and a privilege to work with so many talented people across our
businesses. Through the past several years, I've been very fortunate in my
career to have worked in a company where the management style allowed
people to move around the organization to learn and grow."

The promotion came soon after The School of Management honored Sam last
fall as a 2003 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. A member of the
inaugural class of the Executive MBA Program, he was recognized for his
career success and continued work with the school. He currently lends his
expertise as a member of SOM's Advisory Council.


Roxsane Diane Richardson, BS 1994, reported that while earning her Texas
real estate license, she was working at DFW airport and preparing to
relocate to the Stevens Point, Wisconsin, area--about a four-hour drive
north of Chicago--for its 24-hour daycare and extended family environment.
Roxsane's son, Justin, was born July 1, 2003.


Brad Almond, MA 1995, is currently employed by ZixCorp in Dallas, Texas,
where he is vice president of investor relations and of mergers and
acquisitions. ZixCorp is a publicly traded global company specializing in
securing communication systems and delivering electronic prescribing tools
for the healthcare industry. Brad recently returned from Japan, where he
was president of Entrust Japan and managing director of Entrust Asia and
Latin America. Entrust, headquartered in Dallas, is an Internet security
provider that serves major financial institutions, government agencies and
large enterprises.


Vishal Goenka, MBA 1998, MS 1999, is a senior technical manager in the
testing team for All Distance (All-D) services for AT&T Consumer Services
in Morristown, New Jersey. He is married to Dr. Anamika Goenka, who is
currently doing a first-year residency program at St. Barnabas Hospital in
New York City. They live in Fort Lee, New Jersey.


Christophe S. Hanckowiak, MBA and MS 1998, is director of information
systems (IS) for Socata Aircraft, Inc. based in South Florida. The company
is the U.S. headquarters for EADS Socata, which offers a complete line of
training, touring and business aircraft. Christophe is responsible for the
overall IS strategy of the company as well as the day-to-day IS
operations. He was married to Joanne Froelich in May.


Ellen Magnis, MBA 1998, was promoted in October 2003 to vice president of
the American Stroke Association, a division of the American Heart
Association, which is based in Dallas, Texas. The promotion moves her onto
the corporate management team, and her area of focus is running the stroke
association.


2000s

Barbara Anderson, EMBA 2001, became a Strategic Business Unit executive
for Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) in Dallas, Texas, in December 2003.
In her new role, Barbara is responsible for developing, building and
managing client relationships for the company, which specializes in
providing business and IT-outsourcing solutions to commercial and
government clients. Prior to joining ACS, she worked for Perot Systems for
10 years in numerous leadership roles for various internal and external
delivery organizations. Most recently, she was the program director for
Corporate Performance.


Jenny Hamner, MBA 2001, was profiled in an October 2003 story in the Allen
(Texas) American for her work in organizing a charity art auction for the
Allen Rotary Club. A then-new club member, she said she threw herself into
the event because she believed in Rotary's efforts to provide local
scholarships. After the auction, she moved on to working with the Allen
Chamber of Commerce on "Celebrate Allen!" an effort to benefit local
community groups.

A longtime Allen resident who graduated from Allen High School, Jenny
moved her career there, too, when she became a State Farm insurance agent
last May. She previously worked for a recruiting firm.

Jenny says that her MBA from UTD has had a tremendous impact on her
career. In her work, she says, "I've applied many of the principles that I
learned from my classes, especially Dr. Bass's marketing [course]." She
adds that the many group projects required by her degree program "gave me
exposure to lots of different work styles. Those experiences have helped
me develop the skills to run a successful business as well as make a
contribution to my community through civic organizations."


Matthew E. Noggle, MBA 2002, works as an Oracle Applications financial
analyst for Dallas-based Essilor of America, Inc., a leading manufacturer
and distributor in the United States of optical lenses. Matthew lives in
Plano, Texas, and in his spare time likes to exercise to stay fit. He also
reports that he is now pursuing a second master's degree in accounting and
information management at UTD.


Steven H. Shiller, MBA 2002, works in Dallas for Real Time Resolutions, a
distressed-loan servicing and collection agency, as Internet technology
(IT) team leader. His responsibilities include managing and executing IT
projects, and ensuring that the company's technology aligns with its
strategy and operations. He carries out his work with a team of four other
networking and software specialists. In his spare time, Steven likes to
play soccer and travel. His hobbies include gardening and spending time
with his wife of two years, Stephanie, in their Far North Dallas home.


Dawn Strauss, MBA 2002, obtained her real estate license last July and
began working with Keller Williams of Plano, Texas, as a realtor in
August. "I do residential real estate and specialize in the Dallas, Plano,
Frisco, McKinney, Allen and Richardson area," she reports. In conjunction
with her work, she has completed a 12-week Leadership in Real Estate
course.


Nicolas Abella, MBA 2003, became the director of cardiology and radiology
services at St. Mary's Medical Center in San Francisco last August. A
Philippines native who has become an American citizen, Nicolas was working
as a special procedures nurse at Zale Lipshy University Hospital in Dallas
when then-respiratory therapist Butch Trego, MBA 2001, introduced him to
the Executive MBA Program at The UTD School of Management.

Just as he was earning his degree, Nicolas says, St. Mary's underwent a
major administrative overhaul and "brought me in because of my energy and
my MBA." He describes the job as "an accelerated opportunity from bedside
manner to administrative leadership," and he says "my experience and
knowledge are put to the test to improve the business and operating budget
of my departments."

Located at the edge of Golden Gate Park, St. Mary's is a 147-year-old
not-for-profit community hospital and medical teaching center. The 431-bed
hospital is part of Catholic Healthcare West.


Kim Vance, MBA 2003, and her husband, Glenn, welcomed their first child,
son Noah Tanner Vance, into their Dallas home last June 30. In addition to
a baby, Kim also gave birth to a new business, OneStopBlinds.com, an
Internet retailer of window coverings.



OBITUARY

Joseph Edwin Alexander, an honor student scheduled to receive his Bachelor
of Business Administration (BBA) degree in May, died December 8, 2003,
after a heart attack.

"He was loved by so many students who went to school with him; it was
amazing," his widow, Rhonda Alexander, recalled recently. Also an SOM
student, Rhonda is slated to earn her BBA in December.

Joseph, 53, had served as systems analyst, administrator and architect for
companies such as GTE Health Systems, Aware Personnel Services, S2
Incorporated and Litton Enterprise Solutions. He was a principal in
Alexander Diversified, Inc., a computer consultancy, based in Plano,
Texas, and he had written three technical books on database design with
his son, Geoffrey.

Rhonda said she and her husband had returned to school two years ago after
the economic downturn in the telecom industry.

An officer and lifetime member of the International Key Golden Honor
Society and Sigma Alpha Lambda, Joseph also was active in the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He also was a master Mason
and endowed member at Tarrant Lodge No. 942.

Rhonda said Joseph was looking forward to the birth of their first
grandchild, a boy, this summer. Other survivors include sons Joseph and
Geoffrey, daughter, Mischele, and his parents Dorothy and Joseph Alexander
Sr.

Send memorial donations to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, P.O. Box
50, Memphis, Tennessee 38101-9929; Shriners Hospitals for Children, Office
of Development, International Shrine Headquarters, 2900 Rocky Point Drive,
Tampa, FL 33607-1460; or to the SPCA of Texas, P.O. Box 660412, Dallas, TX
75266-9586.