Distinguished Alumni 2011

Randy Clark (Ed.D. '05)

Mr. Clark began his agricultural career as vice president of marketing and production for Bolthouse Farms. In 1993 he developed the then-new baby carrot product, which has become one of the produce industry’s recent successes. He has gone on to serve as CEO at several produce companies, including Mike Yarosek and Sons; Golden Valley Produce; and Fruit Patch, Inc., the largest tree-fruit supplier in the United States.Randy E. Clark is the chief executive officer of Border Foods, Inc. Located in Deming, New Mexico, Border Foods is the “largest green chile company in the world,” also processing jalapeno peppers, tomatillos, enchilada sauces, and salsa for individual, food service, and bulk applications. During his tenure at Border Foods, which he assumed during its bankruptcy, he has transformed the enterprise into a highly successful company.

Mr. Clark currently teaches at Wilberforce University in Ohio, one of the oldest historically African American colleges in the United States. He has served as professor of accounting at Master’s College and has held a variety of teaching positions in leadership, marketing, and accounting. He also serves as a consultant, advising client firms on capital resource options and mergers and acquisitions.

Mr. Clark was a board member and project manager for the nonprofit organization Athletes in Action from 2003 to 2006, where he managed capital improvements and building of athletic fields. He has also been a board member and one of the three founding members of The Refuge Center, a nonprofit counseling center for underprivileged children and young adults.

Mr. Clark received his bachelor’s degree from Cedarville College; his master’s degree in accounting in 1977 from Kent State University, attaining CPA licensure in 1978; and his Ed.D. in organizational leadership from the Pepperdine Graduate School of Education and Psychology in 2005. He is also a GSEP Board of Visitors member. Randy Clark resides in Deming, New Mexico.

Dennis W. Lowe ('75, MA '77)

In 1994 he proposed the center, which he directed after its successful launch in 1996. During his directorship from 1996 to 2008, he and his wife, Seaver College professor Dr. Emily Scott-Lowe, conducted over 150 marriage and family presentations and seminars at locations on the main Malibu campus, around the country, and internationally.Dennis W. Lowe is a licensed psychologist, a licensed marriage and family therapist, and a professor of psychology at the Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology; and he holds the M. Norvel and Helen Young Endowed Chair in Family Life. He has been on the Pepperdine faculty for 28 years and has taught various classes at Seaver College, the Graduate School of Education and Psychology, and the School of Law. One of Dr. Lowe’s achievements at the University was the creation of the Center for the Family sheltered at the Graduate School.

During his tenure, the center secured a generous endowment and was named the Pat and Shirley Boone Center for the Family. Dr. Lowe held a Luckman Teaching Fellowship from 1996 to 2001. He served with his wife Emily as visiting faculty in the undergraduate international programs, both at the in Florence, Italy, and in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Dr. Lowe is a recipient of the Christian Service Award from the Associated Women for Pepperdine, the 2008 Distinguished Family Ministry Award from the Boone Center, and the John Trent Servant Leadership Award from the Association of Marriage and Family Ministries. Dr. Lowe received his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in psychology from Pepperdine University. He earned his Ph.D. in marriage and family therapy from Florida State University. Dr. Lowe was a member of the inaugural class that attended the newly opened Malibu Campus program in fall 1972. Dennis Lowe resides in Malibu, California, with his wife Emily.

Emily J. Scott-Lowe ('76)  

Emily J. Scott-Lowe is a licensed clinical social worker, a psychotherapist, and a visiting assistant professor of social work at Seaver College. Dr. Scott-Lowe teaches courses on developmental psychology and social work, as well as the undergraduate first-year (freshman) seminar on healthy relationships. She is the director of the minor in social work at Seaver College.

From 1984 to 2004, Dr. Scott-Lowe was a psychotherapist and administrator for the Student Counseling Center on the Malibu campus. Dr. Scott-Lowe has served as visiting faculty in the undergraduate international programs at both the campus in Florence, Italy, and at the campus in Buenos Aires, Argentina, alongside her husband Dr. Dennis Lowe, professor of psychology at the Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology.

Dr. Scott-Lowe has worked closely with her husband in creating at the University a robust co-curriculum for the development of healthy relationships. She has taught the first-year seminar on interpersonal relationship for three years and developed a course for married students at the Pepperdine University School of Law. Other presentations by Dr. Scott-Lowe have included numerous Seaver convocations on undergraduate relationship building skills, as well as graduate-level seminars specifically targeted to married students and their spouses on how to keep marriages strong during the graduate school degree-seeking process. Dr. Scott-Lowe received the Boone Center for the Family’s 2008 Distinguished Family Ministry Award and the Associated Women for Pepperdine’s 2010 Christian Service Award.

Dr. Scott-Lowe received her bachelor of arts degree from Pepperdine University. She received her master of science in social work from the University of Tennessee and her Ph.D. from Florida State University. Dr. Scott-Lowe was a member of the inaugural class that attended the newly opened Malibu Campus program in fall 1972.

Emily Scott-Lowe resides in Malibu, California, with her husband Dennis.

Jason Pates ('95, MPP '99)

Prior to his current position, Mr. Pates held the title of account associate for ChannelAdvisor Corporation, an electronic commerce startup in North Carolina, where he managed a comparison shopping engine account strategy. He was previously a financial consultant with Citi Smith Barney and a consultant at both Booz Allen & Hamilton and Accenture, as well as an economist at the U.S. Department of Treasury.Jason H. Pates is a manager of customer business transformation at the voice technology group at Cisco Systems, Inc. Cisco Systems is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, whose networking hardware, software, and services provide increased productivity and communications for individuals, education, business, and government. In his current role, Mr. Pates serves on a global team that identifies, quantifies, and demonstrates the business value of Cisco’s unified communications solutions. He is responsible for a clientele of large manufacturing, energy, and high-technology enterprises, such as General Motors, Pacific Gas and Electric, MGM Resorts, and Symantec Corporation. At Cisco’s North Carolina facility in Triangle Park, Mr. Pates’ duties include extensive analysis in building business cases for collaborations of multinational enterprises, and in conducting total cost of ownership assessments.

Mr. Pates serves as president of the finance board at the North Raleigh Church of Christ in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is a member and former president of the Pepperdine Alumni Association’s Carolina Waves chapter, in addition to serving as current president of the Washington, D.C. Waves alumni chapter.

Mr. Pates is a double graduate of Pepperdine University, earning his Bachelor of Arts in economics from Seaver College in 1995, and his Master of Public Policy from the School of Public Policy in 1999.

Jason Pates resides in Wake Forest, North Carolina, with his wife Olena O. Kozlova-Pates, who is also a graduate of the School of Public Policy, Class of 1999.

Olena Kozlova-Pates (MPP '99)

Ms. Kozlova-Pates came to the Futures Group in 2008. In her current role, she is responsible for pre-proposal discussions of new projects with business development partners and the establishment of processes and controls to establish legal and tax compliance within the countries in which Futures works. One of her recent accomplishments was coordinating corporate restructuring efforts in various jurisdictions worldwide and the execution of tactical plans for local compliance. Olena O. Kozlova-Pates is the international governance and compliance manager of the Futures Group. Founded in 1971, the Futures Group, located in Durham, North Carolina, is an international development firm known for its evidence-based, integrated approach to improving the health and well- being of people worldwide. Futures Group employs 450 people in 20 country offices in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas; and its projects include policy development and advocacy in such program areas as population and family planning, infectious diseases, and gender.

Prior to her current position, Ms. Kozlova-Pates served for nearly a decade at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. Her last position was senior program officer for the Eurasia Division where her work included managing NDI’s work in the Ukraine during the Orange Revolution of 2004, leading U.S. secretary of state Madeleine Albright and others in political assessment and election observation visits throughout Eurasia, and managing democratic development programs in Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus, and other Eurasian countries.

Ms. Kozlova-Pates received her Bachelor of Arts in English, magna cum laude, from York College and her Master of Public Policy, with a dual specialization in international relations and economics, from the School of Public Policy in 1999.

Olena Kozlova-Pates resides in Wake Forest, North Carolina, with her husband Jason H. Pates, who is also a graduate of the School of Public Policy, Class of 1999.

Erin Rank (MA '89)

Since taking the helm of HFH GLA in 1998, Ms. Rank has presided over many achievements including: the establishment of Hollywood for Habitat for Humanity, a partnership with individuals in the entertainment industry who bring high-profile recognition to HFH GLA’s mission; the naming of HFH GLA the affiliate with the “Most Homes Built in a Region” and winner of the first Clarence Jordan Award for Creativity and Innovation by Habitat for Humanity International; the formation of the “Power Women, Power Tools affiliate”; the opening of two home improvement stores; and most recently a federal award of over $33 million to build and rehabilitate homes in the cities of Long Beach, South Gate, and Lynwood. Erin G. Rank is the president and chief executive officer for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles (HFH GLA). The Southern California nonprofit services 112 cities and unincorporated areas in Los Angeles County, providing affordable homeownership programs that serve families and individuals earning 30 to 80 percent of the median family income. Since 1990, HFH GLA has built or rehabilitated more than 350 houses in neighborhoods all across Los Angeles County. Ms. Rank has served the Habitat for Humanity organization for more than 12 years and is dedicated to their mission of making housing a global priority. She serves on the Habitat for Humanity International U.S. Council which oversees policy making for all U.S. affiliates.

Ms. Rank serves as a member of Leadership Long Beach, which promotes ethical leadership and diversity within the Long Beach community, and she is a board member of Housing for California.

Ms. Rank received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia and her master’s degree in counseling psychology from the Pepperdine Graduate School of Education and Psychology.

Erin Rank resides in Seal Beach, California, with her husband Wallace.

James M. Rishwain, Jr. (JD '84)

His many notable achievements within his real estate practice include serving as lead counsel for SBE Entertainment/SBE Hotel Group in a variety of investment and development projects. He conducted the financing and ongoing equity investment negotiations of the Beverly Hills Le Meridien Hotel in Los Angeles and secured the $800 million acquisition and financing and multi-billion dollar redevelopment of the Sahara Hotel and Casino for SBE Hotel Group. He was also lead counsel to the Los Angeles Unified School District on a nearly $1 billion project of ongoing public improvement. James M. “Jim” Rishwain, Jr., also served as the firm chair of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, an international, full-service law firm with strengths in energy, financial services, real estate, and technology. Pillsbury offices are located on the West, East, and Gulf Coasts of the United States; London, U.K.; Tokyo, Japan; and Shanghai, China. As firm chair, his primary responsibility was to execute the firm’s strategic plan and policies established by the Pillsbury board. He was the board’s key adviser, the top executive in the Pillsbury leadership, and its chief visionary, decision- maker, and communicator. Today, he is the Chair Emeritus/Partner in a highly successful real estate practice.

Mr. Rishwain was named to Who’s Who in L.A. Law by the Los Angeles Business Journal and was California Lawyer’s 2005 Attorney of the Year. The Daily Journal named him to their Managing Partner A-List. He is consistently ranked among the Best Lawyers in America.

Mr. Rishwain received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his J.D., cum laude, from Pepperdine University School of Law. He established the Pillsbury Scholarship at the School of Law in 2010.

James Rishwain resides in Los Angeles, California.

Robin L. Washington (MBA '95)

In addition to a MBA from Pepperdine University, Washington holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of MIPS Technologies, Inc. and the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose.Ms. Washington joined Gilead as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in May 2008. In this role, she oversees Gilead’s worldwide Finance and Investor Relations functions. Prior to joining Gilead, Washington served as Chief Financial Officer of Hyperion Solutions, an enterprise software company that was acquired by Oracle Corporation in March 2007. Washington also spent nearly 10 years at PeopleSoft, a provider of enterprise application software, most recently in the role of Senior Vice President and Corporate Controller. She previously was a Director of Finance for Tandem Computers, an Accounting Analyst for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and a Senior Auditor for Deloitte & Touche.

Gilead Sciences is a bio-pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes innovative therapeutics in areas of unmet medical need. The company’s mission is to advance the care of patients suffering from life-threatening diseases worldwide. Headquartered in Foster City, California, Gilead has operations in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.