Alumni Updates

1970s

David R. Wallace (’77, WW) was inducted into the Arkansas Aviation Hall of Fame on Nov. 17, 2016. A former Arkansas state representative, Wallace (R-Leachville) was elected as an Arkansas state senator, also in November.

1980s

Jon Slangerup (’81, WW), a member of the Embry-Riddle Board of Trustees, is now chairman and chief executive officer of Mxi® Technologies, an aviation maintenance management software company.

1990s

Susie Latvala (’91, PC) is a 767 captain with FedEx based in Hong Kong. She and her husband of 25 years, Jeff Parker, who is retired from the Federal Aviation Administration, have moved to Hong Kong with their black lab mix named Boodha. Previously, Latvala was based in Anchorage, Alaska, and was a captain on the MD-11.

2000s

Mark Peeples (’02, WW) received the Ivan D. Livi Aviation Maintenance Educator of the Year award from the Aviation Technician Education Council. He is director of Wayne Community College’s Aviation Systems Technology program in Goldsboro, N.C.

2010s

Carl Newman (’11, WW), who is CEO of the Jackson Municipal Airport Authority in Jackson, Miss., was appointed by President Barack Obama to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council.

Ryan I. Carlson (’16, WW) was named to the CivilianJobs.com 2016 Top 40 under 40 Military list, as published in Military Transition News. Carlson is a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps and a tactical mishap investigator for Headquarters Marine Corps Safety Division.

Family News

Rob Knizner (’06, DB) took his daughter Madelyn, 4, to the 2016 EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis., where she showed her Eagle pride (see photo). Knizner is assistant vice president at XL Catlin Insurance–Aviation, in Chicago, Ill.

Marriages/Engagements

Chris Freeman (’13, DB) and Landyn Scudder (’12, DB) were married on Oct. 8, 2016, in Norfolk, Va. A number of Embry-Riddle alumni attended the ceremony, as did Hurricane Matthew. “The storm ended up hitting Norfolk with the worst conditions at the exact start time of our wedding,” Scudder says. “It was an elegantly disastrous day with a series of unfortunate events, but it made for a forever memorable wedding day and something that we will always cherish.” Freeman is a first officer at Republic Airlines based at Washington-Reagan National Airport; Scudder is a certified air traffic controller at the Norfolk Tower/TRACON. Both Freeman and Scudder played tennis for Embry-Riddle. Freeman was a member of the NAIA National Championship team in 2013 and won a national championship (men’s singles) in 2011. The couple reside in Virginia Beach.

Other

Trevis “TJ” Matheus (’11, PC), pictured, and Dom Metcalf (’11, PC) published The Way South, a blog that highlights the duo’s motorcycle trip from the United States to Ushuaia, Argentina, which is the southernmost city in the world. The Prescott Campus alumni will complete the trip over the course of three years. Watch for updates in future issues of Lift.