The three-peat was not to be, as the two-time defending national champion Pomona-Pitzer men’s cross country team finished fifth at the NCAA Division III championships November 19 in East Lansing, Michigan.

With patches of snow on the ground, gusting winds and temperatures in the 20s, conditions were challenging. The No. 1-ranked Sagehens were knocked off by MIT, which won its first national championship. Pomona-Pitzer was led by Lucas Florsheim ’24 in 16th place and Derek Fearon ’24 in 24th as the pair earned All-American honors.

The Pomona-Pitzer women finished 11th, led by Abigail Loiselle ’23, who earned All-American honors with her 21st-place finish.

1954—2022

Emeritus Professor of Theatre Jim Taylor, who taught at Pomona for three decades before his retirement in July, passed away from complications of cancer on November 10, 2022. He was 68.

As a specialist in stage and lighting design, Taylor not only trained students in those arts but also designed the College’s departmental theatre productions. In recent years, he found great satisfaction in developing and teaching a course titled Theatre in an Age of Climate Change that introduced elementary concepts and principles of both climate change and theatre. He also was involved in Climate Change Theatre Action, an international series of readings and performances of short climate change plays, hosting events on the Pomona campus that sought to inspire climate action through artistic expression.

Together with Isabelle Rogers ’20, Taylor worked to write a play, This Is a River, set in Malaysian Borneo, where deforestation, palm oil plantations and dam construction have affected Indigenous people living along the Baram River. In 2020, Theatre Without Borders and the Pomona College Department of Theatre presented an online reading of the in-progress work that featured Southeast Asian actors living in Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia.

“Jim was an extremely kind professor and advisor, and supported me at every point,” Rogers says. “His work went far beyond lighting and set design, and I was most inspired by how he encouraged students to incorporate challenging messages, like the intersection between environmental issues and gender, into our theatrical work. I appreciated how he always pushed himself out of his comfort zone to work on new projects. It was such a pleasure to collaborate with him on This Is a River, which was in many ways a passion project from his personal experience on the EnviroLab Asia trip and his knowledge about the urgency of environmental activism. I’m committed to continuing his legacy with future work and collaboration with Indigenous Kayan groups on the play.”

Taylor also had expertise in South African theatre and theatre in the Philippines, where he was a Fulbright lecturer in 1997-98.

Before arriving at Pomona in 1991, Taylor was a professor at Grinnell College, Drake University and the University of Arkansas Little Rock. He earned an MFA in theatre design and technology from Southern Methodist University in 1979 after graduating from Colorado College in 1976.

At Pomona, students who had the opportunity to study with Taylor valued his skillful teaching, his vast knowledge and his close attention to craft, but the word they most frequently used to describe him was “kind.” 

In nominations for the Wig Award for excellence in teaching, students described Taylor as someone who saw “the light of each student and invite[d] them to the community with his kind heart,” and referred to him as the “kindest, most passionate, very talented, and brilliant professor.” One student noted that he was a source of comfort during the pandemic, teaching his classes with “a calm, gentle kindness that is so appreciated, especially when the world is so hard.” Students said they felt genuinely cared for by a professor noteworthy for his flexibility, compassionate listening and concern for their well-being as much as for their learning.

In addition to his contributions to dozens of campus productions—most recently as set designer for last April’s Scissoring in Pomona’s Allen Theatre—Taylor frequently worked in lighting design for Pasadena’s A Noise Within theatre and at various other venues and festivals over the years.

In describing the value of theatre to students, he said, “Studying theatre is a powerful synthesis of specialized knowledge and broader knowledge, which is important. You become proficient in expression in the short term, and prepared for learning and practice in the art for a lifetime.”

Born James Patrick Brennan Taylor in Denver in 1954, Taylor spent most of his childhood in Wichita, Kansas. He discovered his love for theatre and his talent for the backstage elements of the craft while at Colorado College.

Taylor is survived by his first wife, Mary (Twedt) Cantrell and their daughter Brennan Straka, whose family includes son-in-law Andrew, step-grandson Glen and grandson Malcolm. He is also survived by former wife Rosalie “Sallie” Canda Taylor and her daughter, Francesca “Cesca” Canda.

John Gingrich

John Gingrich ’91 is the office managing director for Accenture in Northern California, leading more than 5,000 people who work out of the company’s San Francisco Innovation Hub and San Jose offices. He is responsible for Accenture’s talent development and recruiting as well as growing the business and maintaining strong client relationships. He also works to deepen relationships with local community organizations, nonprofits, higher education institutions and government entities. Gingrich returned to Accenture in 2020 from Bay Area startup Humu, where he held the position of chief revenue officer. Earlier in his career he spent nearly three decades at Accenture. Gingrich is a board member and past board chair of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. He also is a director for the Elizabeth V. Sanderson Foundation, which provides animal rescue resources and land preservation grants to help protect the environment. Born in Pomona and raised in Claremont, Gingrich majored in international relations at Pomona. His wife, Christine Currie ’91, is a Pomona alumna. Their son Gus Gingrich ’24 is a current student.

Wei Hopeman

Wei Hopeman ’92 is a co-founder and managing partner of Arbor Ventures, a leading Asia-based fintech-focused venture capital firm founded in 2013. Arbor uses its global vantage point, extensive network and deep sector knowledge to identify key trends and partner closely with leading entrepreneurs to build transformational companies. Hopeman previously was managing director and head of Asia for Citi Ventures, chief China representative for Jefferies & Co. and a technology investment banker at Goldman Sachs in Silicon Valley. She currently serves on the board of directors of Booking Holdings and numerous private technology firms. After graduating from Pomona College with a major in international relations, Hopeman earned an MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Jim Valone

Jim Valone ’85 is a retired emerging markets investment professional who is actively involved in nonprofit work. From 1999 to 2021, he worked at Wellington Management, where he founded and led the firm’s emerging markets debt (EMD) effort. During his tenure, he built out a suite of EMD products, led a team of 35 professionals and grew assets under management to over $35 billion. Prior to joining Wellington, Valone was a portfolio manager at Baring Asset Management and an analyst and portfolio manager at Fidelity Management. In retirement he continues to invest in emerging markets through his private investment fund, 4747 LLC. Valone’s nonprofit work is concentrated in youth education and sustainability causes. He serves on the boards of the Wellington Foundation and Empower. Valone also is a board member of the Emerging Markets Investors Alliance, which promotes good governance and sustainable development in emerging markets. After majoring in economics at Pomona, he went on to earn an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. He and his wife, Lisa Valone ’96, live in Wayland, Massachusetts, and have two grown children.

Pomona’s newly created Institute for Inclusive Excellence will benefit from an $800,000 grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). The six-year grant is part of the HHMI Inclusive Excellence initiative, which incentivizes four-year colleges and universities to build capacity for inclusion on their own campuses, especially in the sciences. Pomona is one of 108 schools across the country that were invited to take part in HHMI’s current Inclusive Excellence 3 initiative. Most of the grant will go directly toward supporting programming through the College’s new institute, which is co-directed by Travis Brown and Professor of Biology Sharon Stranford. Pomona’s initial focus is on faculty and staff professional development in inclusive teaching and mentorship.

Travis Brown (left), Sharon Stranford (right)

Jeff Roth, an innovative finance leader with experience at top higher education institutions and the nation’s largest public library system, joined the College as vice president, chief operating officer and treasurer in September.

He previously was an associate vice president for academic planning and budgeting at UCLA, where he worked to increase transparency in allocation decisions for the $10 billion annual operating budget and developed a multi-year budget approach to strengthen the university’s finances for the future. Before joining UCLA in 2016, Roth served in a series of key leadership roles over 15 years at the New York Public Library, directing finance and strategic planning for the 92-location system, largest in the U.S. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an MBA from Rutgers Graduate School of Management.