Career Day 2023

By Katie Sigeti ’06, philanthropy manager, alumni programs
Alumni return to campus to share their experiences in the working world.
Career Day has been a time-honored LJCDS tradition since 1984. For nearly 40 years, Upper School students have had the opportunity to learn about the paths of the Torreys who came before them and gain valuable insights as they consider what paths they may want to follow in college and into the workforce. 

This year, seven outstanding alumni from a variety of professions returned to campus as Career Day speakers in late February. Sean Hofman ’05, Cassie Mogilner Holmes ’98, Lindsay Kroener ’00, Brynne Kuntz ’12, Alex Rhodes ’12, Nic Risser ’01 and Sarah Wulfeck ’97 shared an overview of their career paths at an Upper School assembly before hosting breakout sessions with the senior class. 

Sean Hofman ’05
Training Program Manager, YouTube Trust & Safety at Google

Sean Hofman ’05 is the training program manager for YouTube Trust & Safety at Google and currently lives in San Francisco.
 
Sean attended Haverford College in Philadelphia, PA, where he majored in anthropology. After college, he returned to LJCDS as an assistant teacher in fourth grade. He was also an assistant baseball coach for Coach Edman.
 
After LJCDS, Sean moved to Japan as an English teacher for the Japanese Exchange and Teaching program. He met his wife in Japan, and they returned to her hometown of San Francisco, where Sean changed career paths from teaching to corporate learning and development.

He first joined Google’s People Development team as a program coordinator for their engineering manager development programs. Sean’s tech background includes managing engineer onboarding at Uber, building learning programs that support content moderation at Facebook, and overseeing the onboarding program for all new test drivers of Waymo vehicles, a self-driving car company. As a training program manager at YouTube, Sean builds learning programs for agents that monitor YouTube videos to keep the platform safe from violence, hate speech and many other forms of potential harm.
 
 
Cassie Mogilner Holmes ’98
Professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management
Expert on Time and Happiness

Cassie Mogilner Holmes ’98 is a professor at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, an award-winning teacher and researcher on time and happiness, and a Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most.
 
Happier Hour was selected as an Amazon Best Book of 2022, and Holmes’s academic research has been widely published in lead academic journals. The course that she developed and now teaches, Applying the Science of Happiness to Life Design, is among UCLA’s most popular for MBAs and Executive MBAs alike.
 
Before joining UCLA, Cassie was a tenured faculty member at Wharton, and she has a Ph.D. from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and a bachelor’s from Columbia.


Lindsay Kroener ’00, M.D.
Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility Specialist, Assistant Clinical Professor at UCLA Geffen School of Medicine

Lindsay Kroener ’00 is an assistant clinical professor at UCLA Geffen School of Medicine with a clinical practice focusing on general infertility and pregnancy loss and has specific interests in oncofertility, gender-diverse fertility care, fertility related-genetics and long-term outcomes from assisted reproductive technology (ART). 
 
Lindsay also serves as the associate program director for the UCLA REI fellowship program and is very involved in medical student, resident and fellow education, as well as in clinical research.
 
She was a lifer at LJCDS. She graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelor’s in psychology and earned an M.D. from the USC Keck School of Medicine. She completed both her residency in obstetrics and gynecology as well as her fellowship in reproductive endocrinology and infertility at UCLA. 
 
Fun fact: Her husband Danny Kurz ’00 was her senior prom date at LJCDS!
 

Brynne Kuntz ’12
Creative Manager at AEG

Brynne Kuntz ’12 is a creative manager at AEG and currently lives in Los Angeles.
 
Brynne attended Southern Methodist University, majoring in creative advertising and public relations and a minor in graphic design.
 
Upon graduating, she moved back to California to begin a career in the music industry, starting as an administrative assistant at a Hard Rock festival production company. 
 
Brynne has been at AEG Global Partnerships for the last five years, growing from an assistant to a creative manager. She manages all creatives (design, copywriting, video editing, etc.) to pitch and support sponsors across AEG’s global portfolio of sports, music and entertainment real estate. She has worked on deals for Coachella, Stagecoach, the LA Kings, the LA Galaxy, Crypto.com Arena (formerly STAPLES Center), The O2 in London, and many other live entertainment properties.
 
Alex Rhodes ’12
Licensed Clinical Social Worker

Alex Lee Rhodes ’12 (they/them) is a trans-non-binary queer therapist primarily working with LGBTQ teens and young adults in Los Angeles, CA. 

Alex graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a bachelor’s in women, gender and sexuality studies and UCLA with a master’s in social welfare (MSW). 

After graduating, Alex worked with the homeless population in Santa Monica, providing individual therapy and case management services at a local social services agency. 

They became licensed as a clinical social worker (LCSW) in 2020 and transitioned into private practice that same year. 

Alex is also the director of youth engagement for the GLSEN LA chapter board and facilitates professional development training for educators and administrators around the country. 


Nic Risser ’01
Vice President at Bersot Capital Management

Nic Risser ’01 joined Bersot Capital Management in 2014 as a portfolio associate, assisting with the investment management and planning for Bersot Capital clients. He has become well-versed in the different types of accounts managed by the firm, including trusts, retirement accounts and donor-advised charitable funds. Nic left Bersot Capital from 2019 to 2021, returning as vice president.
 
Nic has a bachelor’s in finance from the University of Arizona in Tucson and is a Certified Financial Planner.

His career path has always been dedicated to finance/investment management despite the Great Recession of 2008. His first job was at the Bank of New York Mellon, where his first day was March 17, 2008 (the day JP Morgan bought Bear Stearns for $2/share). There were mass layoffs across the financial industry, and he worked at a few different firms (Charles Schwab Investment Management, Wells Fargo Securities). 

Nic currently manages investment portfolios for wealthy individuals and families with a boutique registered investment advisor in Tiburon, CA.     


Sarah Wulfeck ’97
Principal Imagineer (Story Lead) at AI Character Studio, Walt Disney Imagineering

Sarah Wulfeck ’97 is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and has held various professional experiences in the entertainment industry, including performing video game character voices for SEGA's Sonic The Hedgehog series.
 
Sarah has worked in creative and development positions at tech startups in NYC and San Francisco and served as the national producer and first-ever social media strategist for CBS News.
 
Currently, Sarah works at The Walt Disney Company as the creative lead for a new studio called the AI Character Studio in the Imagineering group. Her unique role at the company was created around her specialized experience and background.

Sarah develops, designs, writes and directs performances for AI character personalities and immersive entertainment experiences. Most recently, she was the creator and lead writer (and voice) of a new Star Wars droid, D3-O9, currently chatting with passengers aboard the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser Experience.

Sarah holds a BFA in screenwriting and playwriting from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and a master’s in journalism and mass communication, also from NYU. Her daughter, Willow, is a current kindergartener at LJCDS.
Back

La Jolla Country Day School

9490 Genesee Avenue
La Jolla, CA 92037
858-453-3440

© 2024 La Jolla Country Day School 

Privacy Policy

COVID-19 Prevention Plan

Country Day Connection Newsletter