Alumni Association

List of 22 members.

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  Lori MacPherson 

  President

  1985

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  Lori MacPherson was raised in Pasadena and attended local public elementary schools from K-8 before entering Poly in 9th grade and graduating in 1985. She received a Bachelor of Arts in French Literature from Pomona College and was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, which allowed her to move to Paris in 1989 to teach while pursuing further studies at the Sorbonne. Lori began a 23-year career with The Walt Disney Company in 1991. She was most recently the executive vice president of global product management for the Walt Disney Studios. Since leaving Disney in 2014, Lori has continued to advise private clients on media and entertainment strategies and practices while increasing her involvement in the local Pasadena community. She currently serves as president of the Polytechnic School Alumni Board and sits on the Board of Trustees. Lori is married to Keith Rawlinson and they have two sons who are also Poly alumni, Liam Rawlinson ’18 and Aidan Rawlinson ’20.
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  Antonio Anderson 

  1985

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  Anton is the principal of Productivity Consulting, with over 30 years of technology and design experience. He has been a featured speaker at industry trade shows and private seminars since 1990, presenting solutions geared toward small-to-medium businesses and early-stage startups. Anton is a Southern California native and grew up in the Pasadena area. During his youth, he showed a distinct lean toward technology, working as a student volunteer for the 1984 L.A. Olympics as a part of their technology staff. Anton is a graduate from Dartmouth College, with a combined degree in computer science and visual arts. There, he worked as a student consultant for the Computer Resource Center, which provided support for an 8,000+ user networked campus. In late 1989, he returned to Los Angeles to found the consultancy, building upon a client base he had been developing since 1986. Anton continues to actively participate in Dartmouth alumni organizations, and is a past president of the Dartmouth Club of Los Angeles.
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  Kathryn Antonsson 

  2011

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  Katie is a writer and museum professional living in Los Angeles. After leaving Poly, she studied journalism until she found her way into the museum communications world. She currently works at the Hammer Museum in Westwood.
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  Robynn Brathwaite 

  1994

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  Robynn graduated from Poly in 1994 and received her Bachelor of Arts in Law Jurisprudence and Social Thought from Amherst College and Juris Doctorate from the University of Chicago. After practicing corporate law in New York and Los Angeles for several years, she decided to pursue a career in legal recruiting. Robynn also co-manages the Kwame Brathwaite Archive, where she oversees the preservation of the archive as well as collaborative projects in line with the themes in the artist’s work, namely activism, fashion, and music. Robynn is a co-chair of the Poly Alumni Board DEI committee and serves on the board of directors of Lineage Dance. Robynn and her husband Kwame have three children, Jackson, Carter, and Kennedy, who all attend Poly.
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  Pradip Chandrasoma 

  2005

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  Pra graduated from Poly in 2005. After college at Stanford, Pra taught high school chemistry and physics for a few years before studying law at the University of Virginia. Pra began his legal career in private practice at Latham & Watkins here in Los Angeles, then moved in-house. Last year, he helped guide ice cream brand Halo Top Creamery to an acquisition by Wells Enterprises. He currently works in the legal department at BEN, an entertainment marketing agency wholly owned by Bill Gates. In his spare time, he loves exploring the Los Angeles food scene (to the extent that it's open), spending time with his delightful nieces and nephews (three of whom—Clara, Lana, and Adrian—are current Poly students), and hanging out with his wife Kelsey and his mini Australian Shepherd puppy, Kobe.
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  John Coogan 

  2007

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  John is an entrepreneur focused on healthcare and consumer products. His first company, Soylent, sells nutritionally complete meal replacement products and his second company, Lucy, sells improved smoking cessation aids to help end cigarette use. He studied economics at Northeastern University and now lives in Pasadena with his wife and two Newfoundland dogs.
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  Daniel Cunningham 

  1991

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  Dan is a clinical psychologist practicing privately in Pasadena. He provides part-time therapy services to a local intensive outpatient program designed for people with severe, persistent mental health disorders. For the past 12 years, Dan has been involved, to varying degrees, with the Pasadena Mental Health Advisory Committee connecting some of the underserved community with mental health services and providing de-escalation training to first responders. Dan’s daughter, Abby, is in the Class of ‘29 at Poly and loves it.
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  Giancarlo DiMassa 

  Chair, Nominating Committee

  1992

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  Giancarlo enjoys his work on the Alumni Board and learning about the inspiring accomplishments of Poly students and alumni. He has a Poly seventh grader of his own. When not cheering on the Poly panthers, Giancarlo works as an emergency physician in a local ER where he cares for under-resourced patients without regular access to care in L.A. County.
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  Marisa Echeverria 

  Co-chair, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee

  1996

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  Marisa is an actor, director, and producer, and has appeared in various TV, film, and theatre work from Los Angeles to New York City. She's a current Poly parent and co-chair of the Alumni Board DEI Committee.
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  Richard Kim 

  Chair, Philanthropy Committee

  1998

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  Richard serves as the chief investment officer and managing partner for IMEDRA Investment Partners, a multi-strategy fund whose investments span commercial real estate, public equities, private equity and venture capital, asset-backed lending, and alternative investments. After graduating from Poly in 1998, Richard received his bachelor's degree summa cum laude from Harvard College in computer science while being elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He attained his M.D. from UC San Francisco and then worked in New York as an investment analyst for QVT Financial, where he focused on the healthcare, pharmaceutical, and life sciences sectors. Richard currently serves on the board of directors of Mimeo, a digital printing technology company, as well as the IMEDRA Family Foundation. He was thrilled to join the Poly Alumni Board in 2018. Richard and his wife, Judy, live in Pasadena with their three children and enjoy actively supporting charitable organizations serving the Pasadena community.
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  Cindy Lam 

  2002

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  Cindy is a classical pianist who performs regularly with renowned musicians from the Los Angeles area. Pre-pandemic career highlights include an 18-city concert tour of China in 2019. Cindy founded and runs a piano studio that specializes in providing classical music training through a progressive pedagogical approach of active engagement that honors the whole student. Her studio, which happily counts many Poly families on its roster, has been recognized for its excellence and innovation in teaching by Angela Duckworth, author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. Cindy graduated from Poly in 2002, having previously attended Rosemead public schools from grades K-11. She received a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from USC’s Thornton School of Music, including additional extensive study in music education and pedagogy. Currently, Cindy lives in Pasadena with her two fluffy huskies, Koa and Axel, and daydreams of touring with an indie or punk rock band one day.
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  Ankarino Lara 

  Chair, Student and Campus Outreach Committee

  1993

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  After graduating, Ankarino pursued degrees in archæology and social anthropology, excavating Mayan temples, deciphering hieroglyphics, and cataloging museum antiquities. At the turn of the century, he moved to San Francisco with three Poly classmates and worked in technical product development for CNET Networks and the Yahoo! Entertainment Division. In 2008 he left corporate life for good and founded Thismoment: a start-up specializing in combining user-generated content with brand-owned initiatives, powering dynamic engagement between companies and their customers online. When not grinding a laptop, you can find him building LEGOs, playing video games, eating tacos, and surfing with his family. Ankarino currently has three children at Poly, is a room parent, and teaches Dungeons & Dragons for the lower after-school program.
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  Caitlin Latta 

  2007

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  Caitlin is the associate director of admission at Denison University. She has spent the last several years working in higher education at several institutions across the country. In the summers, she acts as an assistant director at Jameson Ranch Camp, a children's summer camp in the Southern Sierras. She currently lives in Pasadena with her fiancé and their chickens.
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  Katharine Onderdonk 

  1993

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  Katrina is the director of talent management for development and institute relations at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) where she specializes in executive search, employee engagement, individual coaching, and team building. Katrina has over 15 years of executive search and leadership experience in both corporate and non-profits settings. Prior to joining Caltech, she was a search consultant with S. Benjamins & Company, and began her career at Banc of America Securities and Gap Inc. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley and is very active in the Los Angeles community having served on boards of several non-profits.
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  Jennifer Rho 

  2000

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  Jenny is an attorney in the Los Angeles office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where she focuses on representing clients in their intellectual property licensing and litigation matters. Her cases have involved high-tech and medical technologies such as consumer electronics, communications, defense, video game, and social networking technologies. Jenny received her Juris Doctorate from the University of Chicago Law School in 2007. During law school, she was a member of the University of Chicago Law Review and the Chicago Journal of International Law, as well as a Research Assistant for Cass Sunstein and Douglas Lichtman. She graduated with honors from the University of California, Berkeley in 2004, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy of Industrial Societies. Jenny is active in promoting and supporting diversity efforts in STEM, including by supporting the Girls Who Code and ChIPs organizations.
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  Elisa Rodriguez 

  Co-chair, Poly Network Committee

  2001

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  Elisa has spent the bulk of her career working in financial services. Most recently Elisa was a vice president at Goldman Sach Investment Management Division, working with a team to manage over $2 billion in investment assets. Prior to her role at Goldman Sachs, Elisa was a relationship manager for Wells Fargo in the commercial banking division where her team provided lending services to corporations. She received her MBA from UCLA Anderson as a Consortium Fellowship recipient and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania in Economics with a minor in Latin American Studies. While at the University of Pennsylvania, Elisa studied abroad in the Dominican Republic and served on the advisory board of La Casa Latina. Elisa grew up in Pasadena and was a "lifer" at Polytechnic School. Elisa's daughter, Anna ‘32 is also a Poly Panther.
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  Jethro Rothe-Kushel 

  1999

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  Some stories lead to tragedy while others lead to transformation. Jethro has spent 20 years studying what stories make the greatest impact in transforming human lives. After graduating from Poly and Dartmouth, he started his career studying stories of people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles. A series of documentaries he produced led him to work with Mark Ridley-Thomas, who with the help of voters in L.A. County, raised $3 billion to fight homelessness and has provided permanent homes for 23,692 Angelenos. He has produced 24 movies and television series, the Oscars, and was elected as the youngest vice president of the Producers Guild of America where he has represented 8,700 top producers of film, television, and digital content. His work also helped convince Star Wars creator George Lucas to invest $1 billion in bringing the first museum of narrative art to Los Angeles in 2021.
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  Sarah Schoellkopf 

  1992

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  Dr. Sarah A. Schoellkopf teaches Spanish language and literature. She received B.A. from Connecticut College in 1997, including completing her CISLA project in Buenos Aires, Argentina with Las Madres de la Plaza de Mayo. She completed her Fulbright in 1998 with the same organization. After finishing her M.A. in 2002 and Ph.D. in Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California, Berkeley in 2008, she taught in the Bay Area. Sarah has been a lecturer at U.C. Berkeley, Contra Costa College, and Diablo Valley College, a language teacher and foreign travel coordinator at St. Matthew’s Episcopal School, and a language teacher at St. Veronica's Catholic School where she currently works. Originally from the Los Angeles area and a Polytechnic lifer, Sarah has lived all over the world. Her academic research focuses on gender, human rights, and memory in Argentina. She has presented globally on her work on Las Madres and human rights issues in Latin America.
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  Natalie Stone 

  2003

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  Natalie Stone is the manager of sales operations for Parasoft Corporation in Monrovia, California. Natalie graduated from University of California, Berkeley with honors before earning her doctorate in biochemistry from the California Institute of Technology. Prior to joining Parasoft, she worked for Guggenheim Partners as an equity analyst in their Santa Monica offices. She lives in Hancock Park with her husband David, a fellow Poly alum, and their two children, Benton and Ella.
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  Amit Sura 

  2000

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  Amit is currently a pediatric radiologist at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Along with his clinical duties, he also is the fellowship program director. He has a keen interest in medical education with teaching responsibilities at KECK School of Medicine of USC as well as international aid providing medical services in Malawi and Haiti. As an alumni board member, he is hoping to make an impact as a member of the diversity, equity, and inclusion subcommittee.
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  Emily Williams 

  1986

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  Emily is the senior policy deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who represents the Second District. In her role, she shapes justice and human services policy for the largest County in the nation. Emily also operates a consultancy, Emily Presents, through which she delivers training on communications, diversity, equity, leadership development, and related subjects. Prior to joining the county, Emily worked for The Princeton Review, the Feminist Majority Foundation, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), and the City of Los Angeles. Emily earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from UCLA and an M.P.P. from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, where she was recognized as Alumna of the Year in 2005 and currently serves as a senior fellow. She resides in Westwood with her partner of 10 years, Dr. Randall A. Scharlach (’85), and is the sister of Pasadena City Councilmember-elect Felicia Williams (’90).
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  Alexander Wyman 

  2005

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  Alex graduated from Poly in 2005 and went on to attend Princeton University and the University of Virginia School of Law. He now works as an assistant United States attorney at the United States Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, where he prosecutes federal white collar crimes. Alex currently lives in Pasadena with his wife Lindsey and their three young daughters Annabelle, Madleyn, and Lily.