Jordan Hollander

October 25, 2022
Jordan Hollander, '16 LLM Gaming Law and Regulation, was promoted to the position of assistant section chief, Casino Licensing Bureau at the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. He was also recently named as an inaugural member of the Emerging Leaders of Gaming (ELG) alumni advisory board, a leadership development program organized by The Innovation Group. Hollander was selected as an ELG 40 Under 40 honoree for 2018-2019.

Amber Overholser, PhD

October 25, 2022
Amber Overholser, '16 PhD Public Affairs, was recently promoted to the title of associate professor at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, Arkansas.  

Matt Engle

October 25, 2022
Matt Engle, ’91 BS Business Management, was recently named vice president of Insurance Office of America (IOA), voted in as a shareholder, and his Las Vegas’ branch was awarded the "Small Branch of the Year." IOA has 60 insurance offices across the U.S. and U.K.

Brian Kasper

October 25, 2022
Brian Kasper, '05 BS Elementary Education, was appointed as outdoor learning coordinator at Tashkent International School in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He has taught in Kuwait, Vietnam, Mozambique, China, and Uzbekistan over the last 13 years.

Cheryl Lyons

October 25, 2022
Cheryl L. Lyons, '93 BA Sociology, earned her Doctor of Education in higher education and student affairs from Ohio State University (OSU) on May 8, 2022. Lyons discovered her passion for working with college students serving as a resident assistant at UNLV during her undergraduate career. She currently serves as the director of disability services at OSU. 

Jenn Oshiro Rivers

October 25, 2022
Jenn Oshiro Rivers, ’05 BS Hospitality Management and ’08 M.Ed. Educational Leadership, is now the alumni engagement and event manager for the UNLV College of Education. She supports the dean and various departmental efforts that engage with the college’s 23,000 alumni across the globe. She also works with the education chapter of the UNLV Alumni Association and serves as the president of the hospitality chapter, where she was able to assist with Rebels Restaurant Week, which supported alumni-owned businesses and collected donations for UNLV Food Pantry. She also serves as the chair of the Chapters and Clubs Committee of the Alumni Situation. At home, she enjoys to garden and, along with her husband, is a craft beer aficionado.

Dennis Schebetta

October 24, 2022
Dennis Schebetta, '98 BA Theatre, is an assistant professor of acting and directing at Skidmore College and co-author (with John Basil) of Building a Performance: An Actor's Guide to Rehearsal, published by Rowman and Littlefield. He holds an MFA in theatre pedagogy from Virginia Commonwealth University and trained in the two-year Meisner program. He has directed productions off-off Broadway at Ensemble Studio Theatre, 29th Street Rep, and Brass Tacks Theatre. His plays have been produced off-off Broadway, regionally and internationally. The short romantic comedy screenplay MY DATE WITH ADAM won the Steeltown Entertainment Film Factory Competition and premiered at The Three Rivers Film Festival in November. The film won Best Comedy Short in the High Desert Film Festival and has been an official selection of New Filmmakers LA, New Filmmakers NYC, The Boston Sci-Fi Film Festival, The Phoenix International Film Festival, 4th Annual Robot Film Festival, Landlocked Film Festival, and the Sci-Fi London Film Festival. Recent stage acting credits include productions with Saratoga Shakespeare Co., Northeast Theater Ensemble, Pittsburgh Playhouse, and  Off the Wall Theater. Film credits include My Date with Adam, ​Mulligan, Before the 4th, Abduction, All-Sight, Monongahela, Black Kerchief, Roses are Red, and The Dark Knight Rises. He lives in Saratoga Springs with his wife, daughter, and two rescue dogs. He enjoys playing the harmonica and guitar, running, and golf.  

Alberto Pirozzini

October 24, 2022
Alberto Pirozzini, '96 BA Hotel Administration, is managing director of Splendido, the legendary luxury hotel in Portofino, Italy. Pirozzini joins the Splendido team after three years as area general manager for Pellicano Hotels. He brings over 25 years' experience working in luxury hospitality. He started his career with Four Seasons and continued with The Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis Hotels, and Resorts and Salvatore Ferragamo Group. In addition, he's held many management positions working in the United States, the Bahamas, Cayman Islands, and Italy.

Tim Lafferty

October 24, 2022
Tim Lafferty, '75 BS Hotel Administration, has had a long career, beginning in 1973 with Del Webb's Sahara Hotel and various positions with Summa Corp.'s Sands Hotel, Beverly Hills Hotel Corp., Flamingo Hilton, and The Showroom at the Venetian. More recently, he has been an industry consultant, joined the Baskow Talent Agency, and the Las Vegas Speakers Bureau as director of sales, based in Las Vegas. He has been married 48 years to Donna, a professional water media artist and signature artist with the Nevada Watercolor Society. Hobbies include fly fishing, which has taken him to Montana, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, and most recently tarpon fishing in Key West, Florida. He also enjoys archeological and historical travel and visiting national parks.

Jessica Cohen

October 24, 2022
Jessica Cohen, '10 MS Accounting, is a Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Financial Advisor. She was recently recognized on the 2022 Forbes "Best-in-State Next-Generation Wealth Advisors" list, which recognizes the nation’s top 1,000 next-generation wealth managers. She joined The Cohen Group in 2014 and works alongside her father, Gary. She notes that the diversity in their age assists the firm in effectively communicating and building lasting relationships with clients from every generation. In addition to this recognition, she was also named to Forbes' “Best-In-State Wealth Advisors,” and "America’s Top Women Wealth Advisors Best-in-State” in 2022. 

Dawn Starrett

October 24, 2022
Dawn Starrett, '80 BS Biology and '85 M.Ed. Counseling and Educational Foundations, was a college instructor at UNLV for 15 years and for Baker College Online for 25 years. She was also a scientist/manager in support of the NNSS for 35 years. She is a licensed board certified behavior analyst who has worked with autistic children and their families since 2021. She also has a Ph.D. in psychology from Alliant International University. Starrett is a widow with two children and has plans to retire at "70-ish." Her hobbies include swimming, gardening, quilting, baking, traveling, and hanging out in a family cabin at Mt. Charleston.

Jesse Oakley III

October 24, 2022
Jesse Oakley III, '99 BS Civil Engineering, was elected to the Board of Directors of Toastmasters International, the world’s leading organization devoted to communication and leadership skills development. He has held a number of leadership positions since joining the organization in 2002 and has attained the Distinguished Toastmaster designation. Oakley is an associate engineer at the Nevada Department of Transportation, where he has worked for 22 years. He supervises associate engineers and engineering technicians, prioritizes daily workloads, delegates and directs activities to assigned staff, leads trainings, evaluates employees, and performs field inspections for all staff and employees. He was a part of the first graduating class of the State of Nevada Management Academy and received the Six-Sigma Green Belt Certification from the Management and Strategy Institute. He volunteers with the American Red Cross of Nevada.