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2024 Alumni Awards
La Sierra University Alumni Awards 2024
La Sierra University is proud of all of its graduates, yet there are some who are especially worthy of praise. With the 2023 Alumni Awards, La Sierra University recognizes the outstanding achievements and excellence of its former students.
Alumnus of the Year
John Thomas ’88 & Kimberly Ruth Borg Thomas ’87,’94
John and Kimberly Thomas exemplify La Sierra University’s commitment to excellence and service.
John Thomas is Dean of the Tom and Vi Zapara School of Business and Bashir Hasso Professor of Entrepreneurship and Political Economy at La Sierra. After receiving a BS in zoology and chemistry from Andhra University and an MBA in marketing from the top-ranked Symbiosis business school, he worked as an auditor for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in India before coming to La Sierra, where he earned an MBA in finance and joined the business faculty in 1988.
He went on to receive MA (1998) and PhD (2002) degrees in economics and politics from Claremont Graduate University. While the average business school dean serves for three to five years, he has occupied the dean’s chair at the Zapara School since 1999. He has contributed transformatively to enhancing La Sierra’s strategic position and raise funds supporting its programs. He led efforts, in particular, to fund construction of a new building housing the Zapara School.
Located near the main entrance to the university, it serves as a striking calling card for La Sierra. He secured La Sierra’s first endowed chair. He has helped to build community within the Zapara School and to ensure that anyone entering the Zapara School building has easy access to food and drink at any time. He has built strong ties with alums and community partners. And he oversaw program and process improvements that resulted in an enrollment high of nearly 500 for the Zapara School.
He lives and breathes entrepreneurship and seeks to birth entrepreneurial passion in ZSB students and alums. As a young faculty member, he mentored the students who founded La Sierra’s Students in Free Enterprise (later Enactus) chapter. He guided successive cohorts of the chapter’s leaders as they earned international recognition for La Sierra by winning seven national and international championships in competitions showcasing their business development and community impact activities.
A cofounder of NASDAQ-listed Genelux Corporation, Professor Thomas has been a member of its board of directors since 2002. He also serves on the boards of other organizations including Icon Business Bank, ADRA International; the Small Business Development Corporation of Orange County; Loma Linda Broadcasting Network; radio station KSGN; and the TransResearch Consortium, an international think tank.
Professor Thomas is an active researcher whose byline appears on nearly twenty scholarly journal articles and book chapters. In the ZSB, he has fostered a research culture noted across the campus. His professional achievements have been recognized through awards including a Zapara Award for teaching excellence, a Leavey Award from the Freedoms Foundation, and a Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce Hero Award for Community Leadership.
Kimberly Thomas earned a bachelor’s degree in management in 1987 and an MBA in 1994 from La Sierra. Focusing during the first decade of her post-graduation life on corporate life, she worked as a financial analyst at General Dynamics and the Loma Linda University-Center for Molecular Biology and Gene Therapy and a sales representative for Chemsearch. Her extensive network has facilitated multiple ventures, including the establishment of Genelux.
Since 1996, she has deliberately focused especially on empowering and inspiring her high-achieving children (Jonathan ’19, ’20 is an ophthalmology resident; Natasha ’22, ’23 is a medical student).
As a profound believer in and product of Adventist education, she has served as a member of the Linda Academy board, as Loma Linda Academy Home and School leader, as co-chair of the committee responsible for the Loma Linda Academy Family Volunteer night, as a member of the Southeastern California Conference education board, and as a member of the La Sierra University Department of Music advisory council.
Over the course of their 34-year marriage, Kimberly and John have developed a cross-national partnership that has impacted Adventist education in multiple ways.
Honored Alumni
Dr. Alison Rice, Class of 1996, serves as chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at the University of Notre Dame where she is also the Dr. William M. Scholl Professor of French and Francophone Studies. She specializes in 20 th and 21 st -century Francophone literature and is published extensively in journals and books.
She has written three books, the latest of which is titled Worldwide Women Writers in Paris: Francophone Metronomes, published in 2021 by Oxford University Press. That same year, Liverpool University Press published a volume she edited titled Transpositions: Migration, Translation, Music which explores innovations in Francophone film, literature, theater and art. Dr. Rice holds fellowships with such noted institutions as the Kellogg Institute for International Studies.
At Notre Dame, she also serves as a faculty member in the Gender Studies program. She earned graduate degrees in French and Francophone Studies from UCLA and a diploma from the Université Paris Diderot.
We are very proud to present the College of Arts and Sciences 2024 Honored Alumnus award to Dr. Rice, in recognition of her extension achievements and impacts in her field!
Steve Hemenway is a multi-year alumnus of La Sierra, earning a master’s in school counseling degree in 2005 from School of Education, as well as degrees from La Sierra’s Divinity School and Zapara School of Business. The substantive impacts he has made through his passion for service and efforts to help his community thrive are among the reasons for his selection as our Honored Alumnus for 2024.
Mr. Hemenway’s remarkable dedication includes serving as Riverside’s Ward 7 councilmember, a post to which he was recently re-elected. Steve also serves as director of finance at the La Sierra University Church and as an adjunct university instructor.
His service extends to involvement in myriad initiatives and boards, including his work with La Sierra’s social work department to establish a program addressing and mitigating homelessness, and his efforts to establish a pro-housing organization. In 2018, Steve was awarded the Community Impact Award from the Pick Group of Young Professionals.
We are proud this evening to congratulate Steve Hemenway with the Honored Alumnus award!
Brett Walls earned degrees in business administration, marketing, and accounting at La Sierra as well as an MBA at the University of Phoenix. He serves as assistant vice president for ambulatory services at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital.
Before joining the LLUH team he was chief operating and chief financial officer of Garden Pediatrics, and before that for Tokheim Corporation and GE. He serves on the boards of Ronald McDonald House Charities and the La Loma Federal Credit Union and on the Zapara School of Business Dean’s Advisory Council. He is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Rising Stars
Jonathan Mamora, Class of 2017, has forged a fast-rising career path in the world of music as a multiaward-winning concert pianist. His talents have graced the stages of esteemed venues on four continents where he has won numerous first-place prizes including most recently the Scottish International Piano Competition and the Palm Springs International Piano Competition.
Jonathan’s relationship with La Sierra extends to his concerto debut at age 13 with the La Sierra University Orchestra. Following his Bachelor of Music degree, he earned a Master of Music from The Juilliard School and is now a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts at the Eastman School of Music in New York.
His roster of prior teachers includes La Sierra’s Dr. Elvin Rodriguez. Jonathan currently serves as the music director and organist of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Clifton Springs, New York. He uses his gifts as well to uplift others in churches, schools, and community centers.
Congratulations to Jonathan Mamora, our esteemed 2024 Rising Star awardee!
She is described in a Pacific Union Recorder article as possessing a “remarkable passion for Adventist education and a proven track record of leadership.” These are among the many qualities that inspired us to present Heidi Jorgensen, Superintendent of Education for the Nevada Utah Conference, with this year’s Rising Star award.
A 2019 School of Education graduate with an Ed.S in Educational Administration and Leadership, Dr. Jorgenson has been inspiring students and leading schools over the past 26 years upon a foundation of relationship-building and partnerships. Her extensive experience has transpired across more than four denominational conferences, most recently as a teaching principal in the Iowa Missouri Conference for six years prior to her current leadership role with the Nevada Utah Conference.
In addition to degrees from Southwestern Adventist University and Pacific Union College, Dr. Jorgenson holds an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Assessment from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Congratulations, Dr. Jorgenson!
Richard Patchett graduated from La Sierra with bachelor’s degrees in biochemistry and Spanish and an MBA in healthcare management and finance. He serves as system director of finance for the real estate strategy and operations group of Providence St. Joseph Health, a healthcare business with a workforce over 117,000 serving over 28 million patients per year.
His team manages over 1,400 capital construction projects totaling over $5 billion and maintains a real estate portfolio of over 50 million square feet valued at over $15 billion. Richard was involved in providing the key financial analysis grounding the joint venture leading to the creation of the Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center.
He oversaw the construction on behalf of Providence India of a twenty-two-storey office building in Hyderabad. Before joining Providence, he developed key models at the core of Adventist Health Castle’s winning application for the 2017 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.