Suffolk University Annual Alumni Meeting

Suffolk University held its annual alumni gathering for the Southern California area on Wednesday, October 11, at the Jonathan Beach Club Santa Monica. The event was hosted by Trustee Christine Garvey, Juris Doctor (JD) of Montecito; Susan Cappiello,JD Santa Barbara; and Matthew Howard,JD at JP Morgan Chase & Co. Los Angeles, with special thanks to Simone Branigan,Sr. VP Bank of America Los Angeles for securing the club.

Garvey specializes in corporate real estate and serves on the boards of Montecito Bank & Trust, Healthcare Properties, Toll Bros., and Sansum Clinic, prior to being the global head for corporate real estate for Deutsche Bank and Cisco Systems. Cappiello, living in the Santa Barbara Riviera area, practiced law for 40 years. 

Alumni attending the event were from all three of the University’s grad schools – Law, Business, and Arts & Sciences – and they graduated from 1960-2020. Attendees included David Newton MBA from Carpinteria, Caitlin Haughey MED ‘96 Associate Vice President, Advancement Engagement and Alumni Relations, Jeff Foss MPA Senior Director Philanthropic Partnerships, Barbara Kalmus MED, Uyen Le BA, Stanley Sokoloff JD and wife Susan, and myself, an alumni with an MPA. Newton, a resident of Carpinteria for 30 years, started the entrepreneur program at Westmont College, where he worked for 22 years, and is now doing weekend programs for executives at UC San Diego.

During the reception I interviewed Dean Edie Sparks of the College of Arts & Sciences about her presentation, who shared: 

“The keynote of my talk today is that Suffolk is on the rise. Things are going really well, we have increased applications, increased national rankings in the law school and business school, our alumni network is growing and energized, it’s an exciting moment to be at Suffolk. We are all passionate about the social mobility of our students, it is the thread that ties us all together and that is why I moved from the University of the Pacific in Northern California to be a Dean at Suffolk University. I grew up in Southern California and did my grad work at UCLA.” 

For the formal program, Garvey welcomed everyone and pitched for generosity in donations for the school saying, “Pay it back and pay it forward.” Next, speaking on behalf of Suffolk University President Marisa Kelly was Sparks. She presented the Suffolk “Points of Pride” statistics as of fall 2023: a record undergraduate enrollment two years in a row and the first time with over 10,000 applications; U.S. News and World Report ranked Suffolk University 65th in the U.S. out of all nationally ranked universities for social mobility, and it ranked the undergraduate business school upwards 100 spots in the recent four years; Suffolk University Law School leapt 45 spots upward in seven years in the U.S. ranking of law schools and ranked in the top 20 percent of law schools in all four legal skills categories eight years in a row; for three years in a row Suffolk University is honored with the HEED Award for Higher Education Excellence in Diversity. California alumni stats show a total of 2,124 with 923 in the Greater Los Angeles area having 244 in law, 320 in business, and 359 in arts and sciences, and work for Disney, DoorDash, Google, Activision, Deloitte, and many other top businesses, banks, and law firms. She maintained that Suffolk University is committed to remove barriers to learning and education.

The event was a great networking time for the 70 attendees.  

411: www.suffolk.edu