Classnotes

Let your class mates know what you are up to. We welcome your news, including career changes, family life, awards, milestones and achievements for inclusion in Classnotes.

To submit to Classnotes, please email Alumni Relations with your name, date of birth (not for publication), course, year completed, and your note. Classnotes will remain on the website for three months.

Jump to your year: 1960s-1980s   1990s   2000s

1960s-1980s

Russell Tait (BSc(Hons) 1977)
Russell was recently appointed Chief Environmental Scientist for ExxonMobil, the largest publicly held integrated oil and gas company in the world. He has been based in the US since 1996. His new role covers environmental, socioeconomic and regulatory management for ExxonMobil's global upstream operations in more than 30 countries.

Ken Fehily (BEc 1980)
Ken has been appointed Deputy Chairperson of the newly-created Urban Renewal Authority Victoria. Ken is a director of Fehily Advisory and a taxation specialist. He is a former partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers and Arthur Anderson. He has also advised a number of Victorian state departments and agencies including the Department of Treasury and Finance, Major Projects Victoria and the Office of Housing.

Geoff Merrett (BA(Hons) 1977, DipEd 1978)
After graduation Geoff worked as a secondary school teacher for seven years. He practised as a Baptist Minister for three years and went on to complete a Bachelor of Theology from Whitely College (University of Melbourne). In 1990 he worked as a school Chaplain in Kerang and in 1996 started teaching history, geography and religious studies at Caulfield Grammar School in Wheelers Hill. He is married to Diane and has three daughters.

Michael Holcroft (BEc 1988, LLB 1989)
Michael has been named the new President of the Law Institute of Victoria.

John Whelen (MA, 1977, PhD, 2006)
John has had his doctoral thesis published by Routledge. The book Boys and their Schooling. The Experience of Becoming Someone Else became the basis of a paper given in September at the annual Oxford Ethnography and Education Conference. John continues to teach in the Monash Faculty of Education.

1990s

Stan Krpan (BEc 1991, LLB 1992, LLM(CrimJust&Litig) 2006)
Stan has recently been appointed CEO of Sustainability Victoria, a statutory authority responsible for delivering government waste, resource efficiency and sustainability programs. He previously held the position of General Manager Governance at the organisation, overseeing finance, legal, risk and management of Victoria’s Sustainability Fund.

Craig Rosenberg (BA(Hons) 1990, LLB 1991)
Craig is a screenwriter and director living in Los Angeles. He has just finished production on his most recent film Flight 7500. Craig wrote the screenplay for the film, which is being directed by Japanese director Takashi Shimizu. His other writing credits include films After the Sunset and The Uninvited and television series 'Lost'. He also directed Hotel De Love and Half Light.

Lachlan Strahan (PhD Arts 1993)
Dr Strahan has been Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian High Commission in New Delhi since February 2009. He joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1993 and has previously served overseas as Second Secretary at the Embassy in Bonn and Counsellor (Political) at the Embassy in Seoul. In Canberra, he was Assistant Secretary of South and West Asia Branch, Assistant Secretary of Images of Australia Branch, Director of the China Economic Section and Director of the Chemical and Biological Disarmament Section.

Chris Centra (BBus 1996)
Chris was recently awarded the prestigious Australasian Association of Convenience Stores Peter Jowett Industry Award. He was recognised for his insight and strong business plan with solid ideas to generate greater sales, community profile and profits for convenience stores. As the winner of this award, Chris recently represented Australia in the Global Convenience Industry Achievement Awards at The NACS Show in Chicago.

John Raciti (BA(Craft) 1997)
John Raciti has been awarded an Ambassadorship by the International Human Rights Commission.

2000s

Cinthia Koeksal (BBusCom 2003)
Cinthia was born and raised in Malaysia but has since moved to Germany where she works as a Business English Trainer and author. Her first novel The Scarlet Omen will be released in June 2012. The book portrays the symbiotic relationship between Western advancements and Eastern superstitions where teenagers are able to discuss ghosts and demons with the same enthusiasm with which they compare their latest iPad apps.

David Verrelli (BE(Chem)(Hons) 2000, BA 2000)
After completing his double degree, David took a six-month placement in Germany before returning to Melbourne to work for an engineering consultancy on water supply, later moving on to hydrology (water flow). He then studid for a PhD at The University of Melbourne. Since completing his PhD, David has been working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at CSIRO, researching bubble-particle interactions in industrial floatation processes.

Sachin Tomar (BE(Mech)(Hons) 2004)
After graduating from Monash, Sachin returned to Kuwait to work in his family's business GFS General Trading & Contracting Co WLL. He started off as a project engineer before moving to the position of project manager in 2008. In 2010, he was appointed director of the company.  He now sits on the board of five companies in Kuwait and one in India and he is the Managing Partner at two of these companies.

Nicolina Lademann (BSc 2002, DipLang 2002, BA(Hons) 2003, LLB 2007)
Nicolina has recently been elected to the board of directors of the Northern Football League. She is the first female to serve on the board since the league's inception in 1922.

Catherine Duc (BBus Systems 2000)
Catherine was recently nominated in the Hollywood Music in Media Awards' New Age/Ambient category.  The event was held at the Hollywood and Highland/Kodak Theater Complex.

Brad Roberts (BBCom 2004)
Brad is currently in Helsinki, Finland on a two year global assignment with Cargotec Corporation, where he is Senior Manager for HR Development. He is currently working on implementing strategic account management globally and establishing the academy as a corporate university.