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Alumni
Class Notes
News and notes from Rice Business alumni.
1984
Anita Eisthen
Anita Eisthen is running two businesses in two locations and loves what she does. Eisthen lives in the Cincinnati-Dayton area of Ohio. She also trains and shows dogs in AKC Obedience and Rally and judges those sports. Her contact information is on the judge’s directory on the AKC website. She would love to talk to alumni who are also into dog training.
1996
Kevin Riley
Since graduation, Kevin Riley has been building, running and selling health-tech startups. He has had four successful exits, including the sale of Vlocity to Salesforce (2020), Virtical.ai to Simplify Health (2024) and Aetion to Datavant (2025). Riley also ran healthcare and life sciences for Salesforce from 2020 to 2023. In 2026, he launched an AI company, actAVA, focused on healthcare and life sciences.
1997
Steve Crower
Steve Crower celebrated 13 years as CFO, secretary and treasurer of Sage Energy Partners, a Native American-owned and operated energy infrastructure company focused on the vast resources of the Uinta Basin. Sage Energy bought out their Hong Kong investors in December 2024 to own 100% of a sophisticated salt water disposal facility located in the heart of the basin. In January 2025, Sage became the 24th Baker Hughes channel partner worldwide delivering oilfield chemicals and artificial lift equipment. In 2025 a Rice MBA Capstone team finalized a strategic plan to dominate the Uinta Basin.
Carolyn Galfione
Carolyn Galfione is celebrating her 30th year at Linscomb Wealth as a senior wealth adviser in Houston. After being recruited from the Rice MBA program in 1996 to be Linscomb’s CFO, she transitioned to working with clients through financial planning, investment management and other financial advice.
2001
Carlos Garibaldi
Carlos Garibaldi is currently executive secretary of Arpel, the association of oil, gas and renewable energy companies of Latin America and the Caribbean, based in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Manuel Sanchez
The daughter of Manuel Sanchez, Katia, will be joining the Rice Class of 2030! Sanchez is very proud that there will be a second Owl in the family.
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Whitney Wiener
Whitney Wiener just celebrated her 25th anniversary at Williams, where she is one of the managers in the Rates and Regulatory Group.
2002
Ted Dimitry
In late 2025, Ted Dimitry was interviewed by the American Oil & Gas Reporter (AOGR). The article was recently published online here.
2004
Nat Kreamer
Nat Kreamer recently finished serving as the executive chairman of AMP, which provides AI-powered robotic sortation technology, at industrial scale, to the waste industry. During his leadership, the AMP secured over $1.5 billion in revenue, raised $100 million in growth equity, and successfully recruited the current Postmaster General and former Waste Management CEO, David Steiner, as well as Republic Services COO, Tim Stuart, to the board of directors. Today, Kreamer is the founder of Fairtide Partners, which has private equity investments in category-defining companies. Fairtide is investing out of its third fund.
2008
Colin Caughran
Colin Caughran recently started a new role at Morgan Stanley after 17 years with Macquarie.
2010
Bennett Walton
Bennett Walton started his own personalized cataract, LASIK and EVO ICL practice, Bennett Walton Vision, in the Bellaire area of Houston.
2014
Celeste Barretto Milligan
Celeste Barretto Milligan is thriving in her role as deputy director of student impact at Digital Promise, serving schools and districts across the country. This year she sent her son to the High School for Law and Justice Early College, her daughter to middle school at Meyerland Performing and Visual Arts Middle School, and her middle son is preparing for his high school selection process this spring. Anaye, Milligan’s husband, launched his business in January.
2015
Daniel Lopus
Daniel Lopus was married to the love of his life, Joselyn Villalobos, on Jan. 30, 2026, in Costa Rica.
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Edgar Vargas-Castaneda
Edgar Vargas-Castaneda recently joined abip Advisors as the director of transaction advisory services, primarily serving LMM and small corporates. He is based in the Houston office. Vargas-Castaneda brings with him a decade of global M&A experience from his time at Trans-Perfect and EY-Parthenon.
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2016
Raj karan Gunukula
In 2025 Raj karan Gunukula relocated to Seattle. After seven years with Amazon, he is now working for Coinbase.
Robert Nnake
Robert Nnake is running for Fort Bend County Commissioner, Precinct 4 (Richmond, Sugar Land, Rosenberg and parts of Houston). A Fort Bend native, Nnake served on Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s senior team, leading countywide community relations and supporting residents through major emergencies, while managing complex operations and large public budgets in the nation’s third-largest county. He welcomes connections from fellow alumni.
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2017
Charlie Groover
Charlie Groover and Kathleen Groover recently purchased Texas Swim Shop at 10425 Post Oak from long-time owners Terry and Susan Matherne. Texas Swim Shop is the only Houston-based and locally owned swim shop for competitive swimming apparel and related equipment. The business was originally founded in 1972 by former Rice Professor Bob Bland and opened its first storefront in 1978.
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Jerry Peruchini
Jerry Peruchini and his spouse, Alyssa, recently celebrated a pair of professional milestones. Alyssa was promoted to vice president at The GMS Group, recognizing her leadership and continued impact with the firm. Peruchini recently transitioned from Deloitte to Bain & Company, where he is excited to begin the next chapter of his career. They marked the occasion at one of their favorite restaurants, March, and are grateful for the continued support of the Rice Business community.
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Margaret Schneider
Margaret Schneider recently started a new role as a founding value engineer at Norm Ai, a legal and compliance platform.
Valerie Walker Harris
Valerie Walker Harris enjoys cheering for their son Luke (7) and his basketball team, the Rice Owls. Their newest Owl, Vance Walker Harris, was born Dec. 13, 2024.
2018
Daniel Barvin
Daniel Barvin, the vice president of operations and patient advocacy at COYA Therapeutics, shares that COYA successfully launched its phase 2 clinical trial in ALS and has received IND approval to initiate a phase 2 trial in frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
2019
Debnil Chowdhury
Debnil Chowdhury married Diane O’Brien in a joyful Bengali Hindu–Christian fusion wedding. Though they met years after his graduation, their story began with a shared love of Rice — first kindled by Diane O‘Brien‘s photos in Rice gear beneath the Sallyport, a familiar symbol that quietly brought them together.
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Grace Grundy
Grace Grundy and Will Grundy welcomed baby Mac in Dec. 2025. Mac joins two older brothers, Hobbs (5) and Everett (3), who are smitten with their new brother.
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2020
Neil Driscol
Neil Driscol joined Sysco Corporation as a senior analyst. As an update, Driscol will be graduating this spring with an MS in data analytics from Texas A&M University. He still resides in Houston and recently joined Sysco’s Digital Transformation Team.
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Nicholas Harris
Nicholas Harris was promoted to director of investments at Humphreys Capital.
Jeff Price
Jeff Price announced the launch of LevelEstimate™, an AI-powered, first-of-its-kind, self-serve concrete leveling quote tool created by Houston-based Texas Slab Guys. Built to solve long-standing pricing opacity in a traditionally low-tech industry, LevelEstimate™ gives homeowners instant, pressure-free pricing using real job data and modern AI systems.
2021
Chris Wang
Chris Wang is the founder and CEO of Liniotech Energy Inc., a renewable energy company launched in 2022 from an idea developed during his MBA studies at Rice. The company provides scalable energy storage solutions for residential and commercial applications. Under Wang’s leadership, Liniotech Energy has reached approximately $3.5 million in annual revenue, with projected growth of $5 million by 2026.
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2022
Jacob Alpern
Jacob Alpern got engaged to his girlfriend, Amina, this past October. Alpern also received a promotion to product marketing manager at his employer, Emerson.
Jon Clark
Jon Clark spent a couple of years in investment banking before making a well-timed escape into energy finance. He is now working at a growing public energy company, where he enjoys the pace and complexity of the business. Outside of work, Clark spends most of his free time with his 5-year-old son, usually chasing him around playgrounds near Rice Military and Heights.
2024
Sameera Bhamidipati
Sameera Bhamidipati recently gave birth to a baby boy and named him Arka, Sanskrit for “the Sun,” to symbolize their love for the sun’s warmth and energy.
David Levy
David Levy was recently promoted to managing partner for Mercer Advisors, overseeing the Houston, Austin, San Antonio and New Orleans markets.
Xavaier Oliphant
Xavaier Oliphant recently celebrated a beautiful milestone: his engagement to his soon-to-be wife. Their story began during Oliphant‘s time at Rice, where the two met and quickly formed a bond that made it clear he had found someone he couldn’t imagine life without.
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2025
Alejandro Arbelaez
Shortly after graduating, Alejandro Arbelaez stepped into a new role at Chevron as senior adviser to the president for base assets and emerging countries — also serving as chief of staff. He is deeply grateful to the faculty who pushed him to grow, inspired his thinking and shaped the leader he is today.
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Patrick Garvey
Patrick Garvey accepted the position of chairman of the division of plastic surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona.
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Selah Qiu
Selah Qiu recently founded RALI, a Houston-based pickleball lifestyle brand focused on building community through accessible movement and play. Inspired by her experience at Rice Business and its entrepreneurial ecosystem, Qiu hosts local RALI Play Day events that bring together professionals.
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Clair Tracy
Rice University gathered Jan. 11 at Wiess College to honor the life of sophomore Claire Tracy, whose unexpected death in December deeply affected the campus community. The Wiess College Commons was filled with students who came together to support one another and remember a friend, teammate and classmate whose presence left a lasting mark at Rice.
A Wiess College resident and business major with plans to pursue a career in finance, Tracy was actively involved in Rice Women in Business, served on its social impact committee and was a member of the Rice Eclipse finance board. She had already completed an internship in private equity and was known among her peers for her ambition and dedication.
Tracy was also a standout student-athlete. She joined the Owls women’s soccer team as a freshman as part of a recruiting class ranked No. 32 nationally and was named to the 2024–25 American Athletic Conference All-Academic Team. Before coming to Rice, she was a four-year all-state soccer player who helped lead Brookfield Academy to a Wisconsin state championship in 2021, and she won six club state championships with SC Waukesha and Wave.
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