Microsoft man

Satya Nadella, MBA’97, was named Microsoft’s new CEO on February 4. Nadella, who has master’s degrees in computer science and business administration, has worked at Microsoft since 1992 and was head of the company’s Cloud and Enterprise Group before his promotion to CEO. “Satya is a proven leader with hard-core engineering skills, business vision, and the ability to bring people together,” said Microsoft founder Bill Gates in a press release.

Securing futures

In January Carmen Heredia-Lopez, IMBA’97, was named chief investment officer of the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund. Previously director of investments, Heredia-Lopez is now responsible for managing the fund’s nearly $10 billion investment portfolio. She also serves on the boards of the Robert A. Toigo Foundation, from which she received the Leading by Example Award in 2013; the CFA Society of Chicago; the National Society of Hispanic MBAs; and the Alternative Investments Forum.

A press-ing appointment

This winter Phillip T. Walzak, AB’99, joined New York City mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration as press secretary. Walzak previously served as senior communications adviser for de Blasio’s campaign. Before that, he led Wisconsin communications for President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, served as director of strategic communications at the US Department of Homeland Security, and worked on Tammy Baldwin’s successful US Senate run in Wisconsin.

The right stuff

Director Philip Kaufman’s (AB’58) 1983 film The Right Stuff has been added to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry. Adapted from Tom Wolfe’s novel of the same title and starring Sam Shepard and Scott Glenn, The Right Stuff depicts the space program as sparking both national pride and media-fueled hero worship. Kaufman’s film becomes one of 625 preserved in the National Film Registry on the basis of their cultural, historic, or aesthetic qualities.

The business of bishop-elect

On November 30 Melissa M. Skelton, MBA’89, was elected bishop of Vancouver’s Anglican New Westminster diocese. She is the first woman and first US citizen to be granted the post. Ordained in 1993 while working as a brand manager at Procter and Gamble, Skelton is the rector at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Seattle, where her congregation has doubled in size since she arrived in 2005. She was to be ordained and installed as Westminster’s ninth bishop on March 1.

An appealing courtship

On December 24 state representative Christopher Lewis Garrett, JD’00, was appointed to the Oregon Court of Appeals by Governor John Kitzhaber. Garrett, a Democrat who was elected to the state house in 2008, worked as a lawyer for New York’s Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and clerked for Judge Dennis Jacobs of the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals before returning to Oregon to practice business law at Portland’s Perkins Coie.

Entertainment news

Former SportsIllustrated.com managing editor Matt Bean, AB’00, became editor of Entertainment Weekly on February 10. Bean worked for eight years at Rodale publishing prior to joining Sports Illustrated, where traffic rose to record levels during his tenure, and he led digital initiatives including the live daily talk show SI Now.