Northwestern University Alumni

Keller received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. She employed her degree as a caseworker for the Cook County Department of Public Aid before transitioning to the private sector as a trust administrator at Continental Bank. Keller received a JD from Loyola University Chicago in 1977 and began her legal career as an associate at McLaughlin & Irvin, a boutique employment law firm in California. Subsequently, she was senior counsel for litigation and employment law at Pacific Enterprises, a Fortune 500 company. Keller taught business law to undergraduate and MBA students at California State University Northridge and Los Angeles and at Pepperdine University. She also lectured on the US legal system to visiting Chinese business owners and government officials.

Keller has been a member of the Alumni Club of Los Angeles, an officer of the Alumni Club of Orange County, and a member of the Class of 1968 reunion committees. She currently serves on the Northwestern University Leadership Circle Los Angeles Regional Board. Keller and her husband, David Auchterlonie, have been football season ticket holders for 30 years. They are pursuing their bucket list goal of watching Northwestern play in every Big Ten stadium.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern, Kullavanijaya worked as a project engineer at General Motors Electro-Motive Division. His subsequent work in investment banking for Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and Salomon Smith Barney (Citigroup Global Markets) in the US and Asia-Pacific involved capital markets and mergers and acquisitions across different sectors but predominantly focused on financial services and technology. He also cofounded a private equity and advisory firm focused on US community banks before moving into sustainability and investment management where he focused on sustainability in real assets and private equity.

Kullavanijaya has served and continues to serve on boards of public and private companies in the US and Asia, spanning various industries. He is also an adviser in venture investments and technologies, building on his experience in these sectors as well as in governance and strategy. Kullavanijaya is a member of the Pacific Pension and Investment Institute and is a frequent speaker at education and industry events.

Kullavanijaya earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the McCormick School of Engineering, where he was a Murphy Scholar, and his master of management (business administration) from the Kellogg School of Management. At Northwestern, he has served on the McCormick Advisory Council since 2012 and lectures at McCormick in NUvention courses and at Kellogg in impact investing.

A first-generation college student, Bernal-Vega chose the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications because of her passion for writing and the desire to put herself in more challenging situations. After graduating from Medill, she earned her MBA from Florida International University and worked at public relations and wealth management firms in Miami before launching CANVAS.

She and husband Ernesto—a fellow Cuban American and Miami native whom she met as a first-year student at Northwestern—are the proud parents of two Northwestern alumni, Michael ’23 and Matthew ’25.

Mlsna is a graduate of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, and studied at the Kellogg School of Management’s executive education program. She has been featured for her leadership in multiple management books and authored widely published articles on high-performing boards. She has remained deeply involved with Northwestern through various organizations and committees, including serving as co-chair of nearly all of her class reunions. In 2004, Mlsna was honored with the NAA Service to Northwestern Award.

Mlsna has served on several other boards, including the Promotion Marketing Association (as chair), the Association of Corporate Counsel Chicago, and the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana. She serves on the board of the Girl Scouts of Gulfcoast Florida and is president of the Northwestern Club of Southwest Florida, where she and her husband Timothy ’74 JD are active members. They have three adult children, two of whom are Northwestern alumni.

Merritt earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications and a master’s degree in communications from California State University Northridge. She is a veteran of corporate marketing and communications, having worked to advance the positioning of Fortune 500 companies and nonprofits in the automotive, telecommunications, media and entertainment, energy, health care, and child welfare arenas. Merritt has been part of a number of disruptive technologies and product innovations, including Saturn, GM’s electric vehicle, the early stages of BellSouth’s internet service, and over-the-top video.

Merritt has served as a big sister with Cool Girls, an Atlanta-based mentoring program, and as a board member for both the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta and the National Urban League of New Orleans. She is a 2011 graduate of Leadership Atlanta and Midtown Leadership Atlanta and was recognized by the Network Journal as one of the top 25 influential Black women in business in 2015.

Katzenmeyer earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. Prior to joining the Field Museum, Katzenmeyer was senior vice president for external affairs at the Adler Planetarium and chief development officer at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. He also held development positions at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the American Bar Association, and Northwestern University. His professional leadership was recognized in 2012 with the Benjamin Franklin Award, an honor presented by the Association of Fundraising Professionals in Chicago. He is a member of the American Alliance of Museums Board of Directors and current board chair of the Association of Midwest Museums.

In 2015, Katzenmeyer was named the inaugural chair of NU Loyal, the University’s giving society that recognizes donors who give three or more years consecutively. Since graduating in 1985, he has volunteered for every reunion committee. He has also served on the board of the NU Club of Chicago, University Sesquicentennial Committee, Northwestern Annual Fund’s Executive Committee, Northwestern’s Delta Tau Delta fraternity house board, and the Donor Recognition Task Force.

Since moving to Indianapolis, Kroot has performed various volunteer roles for her children’s schools and at several nonprofit organizations. She is a former board member and vice president of the Indianapolis Tennis and Education Foundation.

In 2022, Kroot came back to a sport she loved in her youth, returning to the show ring as a nationally competitive equestrian. She shows Arabian and half-Arabian horses in the English saddle seat discipline. She received 12 national top 10 awards and earned two reserve national championships, one in 1982 and one 40 years later in 2022.

Kroot was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 1987 and graduated from the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences with a degree in political science in 1988. Her extracurricular activities included membership in Kappa Alpha Theta women’s fraternity and serving as makeup artist for the Waa-Mu Show. Kroot subsequently attended the University of Chicago Law School, earning her JD in 1991.

Kroot has volunteered for many years for the Northwestern Alumni Association, primarily by interviewing Northwestern University student applicants through the Alumni Admission Council. She and her husband, Barry Kroot ’88, a graduate of the School of Education and Social Policy, are members of the Northwestern University Leadership Circle and proud supporters of the Wildcat Fund.

Kroot’s proudest accomplishment is her family, composed of three biological sons and four South Sudanese young men whom the Kroot family has raised since 2011. Together with her husband and all of her sons, Kroot is a founding member of an organization that facilitates aid, family placement, and educational opportunities in the United States for imperiled South Sudanese youth.

Arain moved to Boston to earn a master’s degree in education with a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion, then spent several years as a classroom teacher. Following the birth of her two daughters, Arain combined her skills as a management consultant with her experience in education to lead a multi-year initiative in her daughters’ public school system to rebuild the community after a leadership change. Currently, Arain is working with an independent school in Boston to create a more inclusive culture by restructuring the parent-school partnership. She also serves on the board of her town’s public library.

All three of Arain’s siblings, along with her two sisters-in-law, attended Northwestern University. While at Northwestern, Arain served as the president of the Muslim Cultural Students Association. Combining her love for the University with her passion for building a more equitable society, Arain supports scholarships and fellowships to make a Northwestern education accessible to outstanding undergraduates and is a Northwestern University Leadership Circle member.

Hochkammer received her bachelor of science in education from Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy. She is a former board member of the American Red Cross of Detroit, the Heat and Warmth Fund, and the Junior League of Birmingham (Michigan). She also is a former committee member of the Village Club in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Hochkammer is a third-generation Northwestern alumna. Her husband and daughter also graduated from the University. Hochkammer is a former Alumni Admissions Council volunteer and has hosted several new student send-offs. She is a member of the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law’s Dean’s Circle for her support of the Motion to Lead Campaign. In 2013, Hochkammer and her husband, William, endowed the William O. and Marcia A. Hochkammer Scholarship for law students with demonstrated financial need.

For 15 years, Evans worked at Dayton’s Travel Service in Minneapolis. Following that, she went to law school and worked as an employment lawyer for Briggs and Morgan in the Twin Cities and later for the Pillsbury Company in Minneapolis.

Evans graduated with a bachelor of arts in psychology from the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. In the ’70s and ’80s, Evans interviewed prospective Northwestern students in the Twin Cities. She was a member of We Will. The Campaign for Northwestern. and hosted a fundraising event at her home. Evans met her husband at Northwestern and was married for 50 years. She has a daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter.

Prior to joining AlixPartners, Lavelle was an executive vice president at the PNC Financial Services Group. In that role, she led origination and structuring activities of the financial services advisory and banking platform. Her teams covered clients in the asset management, insurance, and leasing industries. During her career in finance, Lavelle also has been employed in the capital markets and investment banking divisions at Morgan Stanley, Citi Securities, and RBS/Greenwich Capital.

Lavelle served as treasurer of the Northwestern Alumni Association’s Board of Directors from 2016 to 2018 and acted as an officer liaison to the Alumni Giving Committee. She also interviewed prospective students as an Alumni Admission Council volunteer.

During Morey’s tenure as general manager, Houston compiled a 640–400 (.615) record, the second-best of any NBA team during that span. Among executives with at least 1,000 games of experience, Morey’s record is top 5 in league history, alongside the likes of R.C. Buford and Jerry West.

Prior to joining the Rockets, Morey served three years as senior vice president of operations for the Boston Celtics. Originally from Ohio, Morey earned his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern and his MBA from MIT, where he serves as the co-chair of the school’s annual Sports Analytics Conference.

Morey is a 2015 NAA Alumni Merit Award recipient and a past Alumni Admission Council volunteer. He was a member of his 15th Reunion committee and is a former member of the NU Club of Houston.

Previously, she worked as a vice president at Merrill Lynch Capital Market in institutional sales for the Southwest region. She facilitated IPO roadshows, delivered research analysis, and offered stock ideas to large institutional clients throughout the region. She also worked as an equity trader at Oppenheimer Capital, initiating and executing trades on the NYSE and Nasdaq exchanges.

Wander is a Northwestern University Leadership Circle member, Wison Society member, and a board member of the NU Club of Dallas/Ft. Worth. Wander, who graduated from the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, was a walk-on swimmer at Northwestern for two years. She has been married to Northwestern alumnus John Wander ’89 for 30 years and has twin daughters, Jamie and Kristen.

Later in his career, Gotera was director of business development at Maverick Engineering and director of corporate growth and development at Evonik. He currently is retired.

Gotera has been involved with both industry and community organizations, serving on the boards of Houston’s Instituto Argentino del Petroleo y Gas, the LaSalle Language Academy, and the Cinco Ranch High School Band Boosters. He also has dedicated time to Rebuilding Together Home Repairs Crews, the MS Society 150 Support Team, and the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators. In addition to his engineering degree from Northwestern, Gotera holds an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Gotera maintains ties to the Northwestern family via his affiliations with the NU Club of Houston. He also has served as director of both the Alumni Admissions Council and the NUMBALUMS. Gotera was born in Cuba and now lives in Katy, Texas, with his wife, Carmen. His son, Daniel, is a 2006 Medill graduate.

Kilty earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the McCormick School of Engineering and went on to receive an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Kilty’s corporate career focused on operations, including time at Abbott Laboratories, several startups, and Visa Inc., where he was responsible for multiple global client service departments with teams across the Americas, Asia, and Europe.

After Kilty and his husband, Stoddard Lambertson, relocated to Seattle in 2018, Kilty joined the capital campaign committee to fund and build a new amphitheater in Seattle’s Volunteer Park. He also provided pro-bono analysis to the Seattle Art Museum to grow future memberships by attracting and retaining younger members.

Kilty is the current president of the NU Club of Seattle, which was awarded the 2024 NU Club of the Year. Kilty and his husband are passionate about family, travel, their two dogs, and DIY projects. Recently, they completed remodeling their new home.