Weddings, births and gatherings
Dominique Pesco ’14, ’19 and Scott Taylor ’15 are engaged. The couple is currently celebrating their eighth year together and plan to marry on May 21, 2022, with seven Rider alumni in the bridal party.
Steven Santos ’17, ’20 and Angela Del Collo ’18, ’19 were engaged on Dec. 21, 2020, while returning to New Jersey for the holidays. They met during a Residence Hall Association meeting in 2015 and are planning on a January 2023 wedding.
Sophie Harper ’16 and Elena Martinez ’20 are engaged. Harper and Martinez met in 2013 at Rider’s Spectrum Pride Alliance. After losing touch over the years, they reconnected in 2016 and have been together since early 2017. On Jan. 9, Martinez proposed to Harper at a vineyard in northern New Jersey. On Jan. 16, Harper proposed to Martinez back where they met on Rider’s campus. The couple is forever grateful for Rider University. They look forward to their wedding in the spring of 2022.
Hunter Morgen ’16 proposed to Cora Mandy on the National Mall during a picnic, something the couple always talked about doing. They met in 2016 in Trump Tower working on the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump. Soon after they met, they moved to Washington, D.C., where they had an incredible experience working at the highest levels of the U.S. government.
RahQuan King ’19 celebrated the birth of his son Kyrie King on Dec. 15, 2020.
Michelle Nick ’14 and Bill Bundenthal are engaged. Nick received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a minor in health administration from Rider University. She is currently working at ADP TotalSource as a human resources business partner. A 2022 wedding is planned.
Roger Alvarado ’03 and Lindsay (Walter) Alvarado ’06, ’09 welcomed a new addition to their family, Abigail, on Dec. 14, 2020. The couple resides in Ewing, N.J., and has another daughter Annabel, age 3. Roger is currently a vice president at Merrill Lynch Bank of America. Lindsay is a career advisor and adjunct instructor within the Norm Brodsky College of Business at Rider University.
Marie McGarr ’15 and Nick Rapisarda ’15, ’16 were engaged on Aug. 8, 2020. McGarr, a sister of Alpha Xi Delta, and Rapisarda, a brother of Sigma Phi Epsilon, first became friends in 2013. The couple began dating in 2016 and hope to marry in 2022.
’60s
Dominick Karp ’64 sends his best wishes to all Broncs past and present, especially those who knew him at Rider. After graduating with a bachelor’s in management, he was drafted into the Army. He served a tour of duty in Vietnam with the 25th Infantry Division. After being discharged in 1966, he had a management position with the W T Grant retail company until June 1973. He then began his career as an internal revenue agent with the Internal Revenue Service auditing corporations. “I was glad I had my Rider education because it prepared me well for my IRS employment. I have fond memories of my days on the Rider campus and of my multitude of experiences performing IRS examinations,” he says. Karp retired from the IRS in January 2005 and remains healthy and happy in New Hope, Pa.
Alvin Hower ’65, ’68 published the book No Greater Service in August 2020. The memoir explores his service as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines from 1969-74.
Maggie Kline ’66, ’69 celebrated the release of her third book, Brain-Changing Strategies to Trauma-Proof Our Schools: A Heart-Centered Movement for Wiring Well-Being, by presenting it at the Harvard/MIT/Johns Hopkins Joint Virtual Conference on Learning and the Brain in November. Published by Penguin/Random House, the book provides tools to identify and reverse trauma-driven behaviors so students feel supported and safe. Kline is a
family therapist, trauma specialist, school psychologist and former teacher. She studied secretarial science and distributive education at Rider.
Dr. Richard R. Young ’68 published the book Intermodal Maritime Security: Supply Chain Risk Mitigation. The book is a collection of chapters authored by leaders in the fields of maritime operations, insurance and physical security, cyber threats, port operations and global supply chains. Young is a retired distinguished professor of supply chain management at the School of Business Administration at Penn State’s Capital College.
’70s
Bill Mate ’71 was elected president of the Jupiter-Tequesta-Hobe Sound Realtors Association. The association is a division of the Miami Realtors Association, the largest local realtor association in the U.S. Mate is also a member of Miami’s corporate board and is a director of the Florida Realtors Association and the National Realtors Association.
Michael Bruno ’75 was named to the advisory board of Gaind Capital Partners. He received a bachelor’s in elementary education from Rider and a master’s in human resource administration from Columbia University. He currently serves as the CEO and founder of New Directions for Grads (ND4G), a progressive executive search and advisory services firm.
Cheryl Mihal ’78 created an e-commerce platform called You’re Special to help consumers maintain a happy and healthy lifestyle from their own home. The initiative grew out of the efforts of her company Sew Special, which expanded to assist the health care community by providing access to PPE at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Sew Special provides hotels, restaurants, nonprofits and other organizations with personalized logo merchandise. Cheryl majored in sociology and psychology at Rider, where she met her husband, James Mihal ’78, who majored in management and organizational behavior. They met while working as bartenders at the Pub and were married in 1982.
’80s
Charlene Vogt-Gerbig ’83 recently completed a year of study, discourse and collaboration in the New Jersey Education Association’s Teacher Leader Academy. She and her colleagues are among the first in New Jersey to earn the teacher leadership endorsement.
Al Altomari ’86 was named the No. 9 top biotech CEO of 2021 on a list compiled by the Healthcare Technology Report. He is the chairman and chief executive officer of Agile Therapeutics. He has more than 39 years of pharmaceutical experience and also currently serves on the boards of directors for several organizations, including TASK (Trenton Area Soup Kitchen), Insmed, Inc., and Baudax Bio, Inc. Altomari received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance from Drexel University and a Master of Business Administration from Rider.
Maryann T. Mannen ’84, ’93 was named the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Marathon Petroleum Corp. in January. Marathon operates the nation’s largest refining system. Mannen received a bachelor’s in accounting and a master’s in business administration from Rider.
Linda Corbacho Trapani ’88 graduated from Florida Institute of Technology with a Master of Arts in Professional Behavior Analysis and passed the certification examination to become a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). She works for the Barnegat Township School District as a behaviorist in the preschool program. Her husband, Santo Trapani ’88, recently started up a general contracting business, RMA Improvements, LLC, after working in the cosmetology education field for many years. The couple has three grown children and lives in Forked River, N.J.
’90s
Michael Tucker ’92 was named director of business development of Maplewood Senior Living in Princeton, N.J. Maplewood at Princeton offers assisted living, memory care and short-term care options to the greater Princeton area. Tucker graduated from Rider with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.
Gregory M. Smith ’93 was promoted to president of commercial banking of Peapack-Gladstone Bank. His previous roles include working as a group sales executive for the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions for Capital One and senior regional vice president for Summit Bank. Smith received a bachelor’s from Fairleigh Dickinson University and a master’s in business administration from Rider.
Richard Torres ’93 became a member of the Kean University Board of Trustees. A senior attorney in the real estate industry group at Goodwin Procter LLP, he received a bachelor’s from Rider and a law degree from Cornell. John Mittler ’97 has started doing voiceover recording at home focusing on audiobook narration. He now has four audiobooks available on several major platforms including Amazon and iTunes, with more in the works.
Heidi (Kenschaft) Vass ’98 and Emma Grace (Dunbar) Roche ’09, graduates of Westminster Choir College, recently created the new classical sacred quartet, Seraphour. The all-female quartet is on a mission to spread light and hope while cathedrals and concert halls are silent this year.
Jessica Battaglia ’99 was named the new in-house corporate counsel of Larken Associates, an integrated real estate company. Battaglia is admitted to practice law in New Jersey and the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. She received a law degree from Seton Hall University School of Law and a bachelor’s in political science and English literature from Rider. Craig Carpenito ’96 joined King & Spalding LLP as a partner in the firm’s special matters and government investigations practice group in its New York office. He previously served as the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, overseeing all federal criminal prosecutions and civil matters in New Jersey.
’00s
Michael Amoroso ’00 was promoted to chief executive officer of Abeona Therapeutics, a leader in gene and cell therapy. Amoroso received a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from Rider and an Executive Master of Business Administration in Management from the Stern School of Business, New York University.
Peter P. Pfreundschuh ’00 was appointed chief financial officer of Frequency Therapeutics, Inc., effective Dec. 1, 2020. A certified public accountant, he received a bachelor’s in accounting from Rutgers and a master’s in business administration from Rider.
Shawn Scannell ’01 was named teacher of the year for Absegami High School in Galloway Township, N.J. Scannell is a certified special education teacher. He graduated from Absegami and returned in 2003 to teach full time. Scannell earned a bachelor’s in journalism from Rider.
Harold Laudien ’03 planned an ambitious running challenge for himself this spring. In April, he ran a 267-mile virtual race put on by AdventureCORPS. In May, he ran 100 miles, from Key Largo to Key West in Florida, in the Keys 100 Ultra marathon and also completed an Ironman competition in Tulsa, Okla. The recent races continue Laudien’s efforts to raise awareness and money for Team PHenomenal Hope, a nonprofit that assists people diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, an incurable disease of the heart and lungs that leaves people short of breath, fatigued and in pain. Laudien is the founder of Mercer Wealth Management, a firm dedicated to serving those who have traditionally been undervalued or underserved in personal finance.
Dr. Jason Dungee ’05 was appointed an assistant professor of music and director of choral activities in the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Department of Music.
Jessica (Kopetsky) Morello ’05, ’08 was recently appointed director of COVID and risk management for the Children’s Home Society of New Jersey. The organization has offices throughout New Jersey and is headquartered in Trenton and Toms River, N.J.
Rob Morello ’05 was recently promoted to partner at the law firm of Hoagland, Longo, Moran, Dunst & Doukas. He is a certified civil trial attorney. The firm has offices in New Brunswick, Red Bank and Hammonton, N.J.
Cathleen Palace ’06 successfully defended her dissertation, “The Awareness and Impact of Action Logic for Post-Conventional Women: A Phenomenological Study,” in December 2020. She now holds a Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership from Stockton University. In addition, Cathleen and Michael Palace ’05 welcomed their second son, Rhys Aiden Palace, in August 2020.
Dr. J.D. Burnett ’07, a graduate of Westminster Choir College, was named artistic director of Orpheus Chamber Singers, a professional 24-voice mixed adult choir. The position is effective Jan. 1, 2022. Burnett
is currently associate professor of music at the University of Georgia and is the founding artistic director of Kinnara, Atlanta’s premier professional choral ensemble.
Michael DeTuro ’08 was named the new superintendent of Mahwah Public Schools in March. He was previously the district’s director of curriculum and instruction. DeTuro received a bachelor’s from Albright College, a master’s from Rider and a doctorate from Seton Hall. Douglas Ferguson ’09 was named a partner in Eisenberg, Gold & Agrawal, P.C., a growing Cherry Hill, N.J., law firm. He received a bachelor’s in political science from Rider and is also a graduate of Widener University School of Law.
Rick Sando ’09, who studied behavioral neuroscience at Rider, is beginning his first year as an assistant professor of pharmacology at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. In 2014, Sando received a doctorate from The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego, Calif., where he studied synaptic plasticity in the mammalian brain. His postdoctoral studies took place in the laboratory of Nobel laureate Thomas Südhof at Stanford University where he continued his research on the brain’s neural circuitry.
’10s
Richard “Ricky” Hutton ’11 was appointed the director of The Carson Chamber Singers. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Music and Philosophy from Loyola University and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Westminster Choir College.
Steve Spinner ’12 was appointed chief development officer of the Indiana region of the American Red Cross in February. He is now in his ninth year with the organization. Spinner is responsible for personally raising nearly $30 million in support of national and statewide programs. He received a bachelor’s in business administration from Rider.
Eric Marion ’14 recently passed the Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) exam. The ChFC program prepares professionals to meet the advanced financial planning needs of individuals, small business owners and others.
Petra Gaskins ’15 was named the new chief of staff for Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker, who represents New Jersey’s 16th district. Her previous roles include serving as the director of outreach and programming for Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman and an aid to Gov. Phil Murphy.
Samantha Ricchiuti ’15 was hired as the business development coordinator, a newly created position at the book marketing firm Smith Publicity. Ricchiuti received a bachelor’s in musical theatre from Rider.
Melissa Cunningham ’17 graduated from Rutgers-Camden with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She will be working at Cooper University Hospital in Camden in the neuro-orthopaedics unit.