Class Notes

Mark I. Haynes Jr., MBA ’10, was engaged to Paige Lundy in November 2024. Haynes is a senior assistant vice president at Wells Fargo.

Katherine Rainbolt Woller, AB ’09, wrote Calling It Off, Memoir of an Almost Bride (Landon Hail Press, January 2025). An “almost bride” herself, Woller, uses her hard-fought growth, honest reflection and ultimately flawed human experience to highlight the realities of what it’s like to not just call off a wedding, but to choose yourself when you’ve reached a daunting crossroads. Woller is a marketing consultant who specializes in helping mission-driven businesses and nonprofits enhance success and expand community impact.

Thom Wall, AB ’09, received the American Youth Circus Organization’s Innovation in Education Award in October 2024. The award is for his contribution to publishing, documentation and critique within the circus community through his company Modern Vaudeville Press (MVP) and its publications. The small company adheres to academic standards, and MVP’s titles are being used as course materials at professional circus schools internationally. When not performing his show on cruise ships, Wall gives lectures on circus history, consults for nonprofits and writes books on juggling.

Cole Randle, AB ’09, joined Heart Aerospace, the Swedish electric commercial aircraft startup, as head of strategic engagement. A corporate affairs professional and lawyer, Randle previously served on President Joe Biden’s advance team, traveling globally to execute the president’s official external affairs. Randle will be based between Heart’s U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles and corporate offices in Stockholm and New York. The company’s first prototype, the HX-1, debuted in September 2024 and is scheduled to fly in the second quarter of this year.

AJ Ford, BS ’09, was appointed chief executive officer at Engineered Tissue Solutions, a medical device company dedicated to advancing wound healing with its innovative bioactive glass technology. Ford previously held senior leadership roles in sales management and product management at Medline Industries in advanced wound care and tissue regeneration.

Greg Knott, PhD ’07, was named associate vice president for development and alumni affairs at Quinnipiac University. Knott previously served as associate vice president of advancement at the University of Connecticut Foundation, where he led significant fundraising efforts and managed major gift activities. He also has worked in advancement at Bradley University and Saint Louis University.

Tyler Survant, AB ’06, received a 2024–25 Fulbright U.S. Scholar award to conduct applied architectural research in Nepal. Rapid development in the Himalayas risks being environmentally unsustainable and culturally erosive. Survant’s research, “Conscientious Construction in Urbanizing Nepal,” aims to compare the methods of the country’s contemporary construction sector with its rich architectural traditions and proposes models for merging local knowledge with principles of modern building science. Survant is an assistant teaching professor in the College of Arts & Architecture at Montana State University.

Shannon Puopolo, AB ’05, a stockholder and hiring chairperson at Henderson Franklin, was recently sworn in as president of the Southwest Florida Bankruptcy Professionals Association. The appointment highlights her dedication to bankruptcy law, creditor’s rights and business litigation, as well as her leadership within the Southwest Florida legal community. She was also named to Florida Trend Magazine’s Notable Women Leaders in Law for 2024.

Florencia (Smith) Robertson, MSOT ’04, penned Unexpected: A Novel of Change and Friendship (Writeway Publishing, September 2024). The fictional novel finds a 40-plus-year-old woman at the door of a career-changing promotion, but an unexpected pregnancy shatters her confidence. A poor start to nursing her baby lands her in a lactation support group where she acquires unexpected friends — and a foe — in her totally changed life. The book is available on Amazon and the ebook through Kindle.

Sam Hirst, AB ’04, wrote Against the Liberal Order: The Soviet Union, Turkey, and Statist Internationalism, 1919-1939 (Oxford University Press, June 2024). The book grew directly out of his studies in history and Russian at WashU. Hirst is an assistant professor of international relations at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey.