Class Notes

Frank Gilbert, LA87, TI90, HA90, is a project executive with Erdman, based in Madison, Wis., where he manages consulting, planning, design and construction projects for health-care and senior living facilities. Previously, he was with Proliance Surgeons for more than 14 years. Gilbert also operates his own company, H.O.P.E. Healthcare Consulting, working in the areas of health-care operations, facilities and real estate development.

Chuck Munson, BU88, GB95, GB98, ­co-authored the 14th edition of a textbook, Operations Management: Sustainability and Supply Chain Management (Pearson, January 2022).

Jeffrey Woodruff, LA90, completed a ­master’s degree in architecture at ­the ­University of ­Colorado and an ­apprenticeship with Harry Teague Architects in Basalt. ­Woodruff launched Cloud Hill Design in ­Snowmass, Colo., which focuses on a healthy built environment and biodiversity, with both the shelter and the land complementing mountain living and nature.

Lauren H. Kerstein, LA93, SW95, has earned plaudits for her latest picture book, Home for A While (Magination Press, February 2021), which offers a realistic depiction of a child ­entering a foster home. The book, ­illustrated by Natalia Moore, was nominated for the 2022–23 South Carolina Book Awards, a division of the South Carolina Association of School Librarians. The book is also included on Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices 2022, the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s annual best-of-the-year list.

Chris Kunard, EN93, EN93, was promoted to senior director, open innovation customer collaboration, at Illumina. His team works with a strategic set of Illumina’s customers, helping them achieve novel end-to-end solutions in the genomic space using next-generation sequencing instruments and bioinformatics tools. An example of this work was ­recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine in collaboration with Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, where Kunard lives with his wife, Amanda.

Virginia Wasiuk Lay, LW93, in November was appointed judge for Division 16 of the 21st ­Judicial Circuit in St. Louis County by Gov. Mike Parson. Lay previously served as an associate judge for the 21st Judicial Circuit.

Beronda L. Montgomery, LA94, began her appointment as vice president for academic affairs and dean of Grinnell College July 1. Previously, Montgomerywas a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Michigan State University, East ­Lansing, as well as in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. She also served as assistant vice president for research and innovation at the university.

Darla Hedrick Quinn, EMBA94, wrote Letters from Sadie: Letters Written by Sadie Claire (Marcum) Montgomery from the Norton, Kansas, Tuberculosis Sanatorium, 1932–1933 (Westbow Press, November 2021). The book — which shares the feelings of faith, separation, fear and love that a wife and mother ­experienced while suffering from a debilitating illness — is based on a collection of photographs and letters that Quinn’s grandmother, a resident at Norton State Tuberculosis ­Sanatorium, wrote to Quinn’s mother’s family during her stay at the facility.

Nina Nin-Yuen Wang, LA94, was nominated by President Joe Biden to be U.S. district judge for the District of Colorado. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, she is scheduled to fill an ­occupancy ­occurring on July 15, 2022. Wang has been a U.S. magistrate judge for the District of Colorado since 2015. From 2008–15, she was a partner at Faegre Baker Daniels LLP.

Michelle Landau Brooks, LA95, was awarded an honorary doctorate from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion’s Zelikow School of Jewish Nonprofit Management. Brooks has spent much of her career working for organizations in the St. Louis Jewish ­community and has been an active board member of the National Council of Jewish Women St. Louis.