Class Correspondent

Robyn Diaz was named chief legal officer and senior vice president at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She joined the hospital in 2010 and became its deputy general counsel in 2012. Sarah Abrahams, the director of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission’s Office of Health Coordination and Consumer Services, was appointed to Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s Early Childhood Intervention Advisory Committee. Sarah chairs the Jewish Community Association’s Tikkun Austin program. Sharon Abramo­witz recently published her first book, “Searching for Normal in the Wake of the Liberian War.” Alexander Heckler was named co-chair of the governors’ cabinet for the Democratic Governors Association. He has served on the organization’s board for the past five years and was treasurer in 2010. For the second year, Alex and his family supported the Alexander P. Heckler Family/Gov. Ann Richards Summer Political Internship Program at Brandeis. Alex initiated the program in recognition of the important role that Richards, Brandeis and his political internships played in his life. Keith Berman works for DirecTV, where he manages communications for the company’s nationwide field network. His wife, Jayne, gave birth to their second son, Sam, in November 2013. Sam rounds out a family that includes 3-year-old brother Max. Warner N. Macklin III serves on the board of directors for the Pennsylvania Minority Business Development Authority. Nicole Werther and husband Dan Lev, PhD’04, welcomed Adam Robert on May 5, 2014. He joins big sister Olivia. Susan (Wodiska) Kusel is the librarian at Temple Rodef Shalom in Falls Church, Va. She and her husband have two sons. She was elected to the 2015 Caldecott Medal selection committee. Danielle Raskin Mayes and her husband, Edgar, welcomed their third child, Landen Paul Mayes, on Dec. 17, 2013. His joyous older siblings are Madeline, 9, and Dylan, 2. David Seigal is executive chef at the Lobster Place and Cull & Pistol oyster bar in NYC. After joining the Norwegian Seafood Council’s board, he spent a week in Norway learning about its fishing industry. Adam Greenwald was appointed deputy executive director of the Soldiers Project, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization that provides free, unlimited and confidential mental-health counseling to post-9/11 veterans and their families. Adam reports that he and the kids are doing well. In the past year, Melanie Kiely was proposed to at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro; married Jay Naillon in a ceremony on Crystal Mountain in Washington state; was promoted to senior corporate counsel at T-Mobile; gave birth to Jaxen Xavier Kiely Naillon, a healthy baby boy full of giggles and smiles; and purchased a beautiful home in Fall City, Wash., where she lives with Jay, Jaxen, stepsons Alex and Austin, and Labrador retriever Denali.

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