USD Magazine Spring 2026

2010s

2020s

HIV Humanitarian Service Award from SOMOSLOUD (the Latino Outreach and Understanding Division of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation).

resilience through baseball. Esquivel is also entering his 23rd year as an athlete manager and is currently working toward becoming a Certified Mental Performance Consultant to further enhance the support he provides to athletes.

Megan Jauregui Eccles ’11 (BA) recently published her debut novel, Sing the Night , with Grand Central Publishing. The novel, inspired by The Phantom of the Opera , tells the story of musicians competing for a role as the King’s Mage. Sing the Night was released on March 10. Amanda Ledford ’19 (MA) married Arthur Ledford in October, and also recently began a new position with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA). After working with local nonprofits for nearly 15 years, she’ll serve as manager of Philanthropy Events & Donor Engagement with SDZWA. She’s excited about the new role and the opportunity to help donors and guests build great new memories.

Kim (Intagliata) Danielson ’99 (BA) published her debut memoir, Piece by Piece: A Life Remembered through Things Lost in January. This book offers a unique and fresh take on loss through the lens of stolen objects. After a home burglary stripped her of precious keepsakes and heirlooms, she was also robbed of tangible connections to her history and physical reminders of loved ones who had died. Perfect for anyone who has ever lost something of meaningful value, Piece by Piece provides solace, a new perspective on material possessions and a practical template for preserving a legacy with or without artifacts. 2000s

Elijah Johnson ’26 (BA) and his wife Donatella Johnson ’25 (BBA) are working to make democracy more accessible through SafeBallot, their blockchain-based digital voting platform. The company recently brought civic engagement to life at Encanto Elementary School in San Diego, hosting a digital mock election for more than 100 students, who used SafeBallot’s platform to vote for which class would win a pizza party. The Johnsons have also met with members of Congress and received endorsements from mayors across San Diego

Erin Block ’01 (BA) , an alumna of the Knauss School of Business, has been promoted to director of data and analytics at The National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), the largest global not-for-profit music trade organization. NAMM represents companies in more than 100 countries. Block will oversee this critical new department at NAMM.

County to advance voting accessibility and trust in elections.

Brett Weichbrod ’01 (BBA) is proud to announce that Channel Wealth, a boutique financial planning and wealth management firm for which he is a partner, has surpassed $1 billion in client assets. To support the firm’s growth, it recently expanded to a new, larger office space in its home base of Santa Barbara, California.

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Guillermina Esquivel ’00 (BA) recently co-authored a bilingual children’s book Nelly at Bat , inspired by the story of former MLB player Nelson Cruz and centered on confidence, perseverance and

Class notes may be edited for length and clarity. Engagements, pregnancies, email addresses and phone numbers cannot be published.

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