Graduate Alumni Profiles
Name: Wei Gao
Title: Technical Advisor to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos
Employer: Amazon
Degree: MSIS
Graduation year: 2001
Wei Gao is Vice President, Technical Advisor to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
In her 13-plus years at Amazon, she has launched products and run projects in eCommerce, Kindle and Supply Chain technologies. Most recently, she led the Forecasting and Strategic Planning...
Name: Jason Griffey
Title: Director of Strategic Initiatives
Employer: National Information Standards Organization (NISO)
Degree: MSLS
Graduation year: 2004
Jason Griffey (MSLS '04) is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at the National Information Standards Organization (NISO). He works to identify new areas of the information ecosystem where standards expertise is useful and needed, and leads several ongoing...
Name: Gerald Holmes
Title: Reference Librarian and Diversity Coordinator for University Libraries
Employer: UNC-Greensboro
Degree: MSLS
Graduation year: 1985
Through his work at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNC-G), his service to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his involvement with professional library organizations, Gerald Holmes (MSLS '85) has encouraged individuals from...
Name: Jeanne Harris
Title: James Simons Elementary School Library Media Specialist
Employer: Charleston County School District
Degree: MSLS
Graduation year: 2016
What was your educational and professional background before coming to SILS?
Before coming to SILS my only background was in English Literature, my bachelor's degree focus. I had never had a job of any kind, but I was anxious to start working. I knew I wanted...
Name: Kevin Lanning
Title: Chief Information Security Officer
Employer: University of North Carolina System
Degree: MSIS
Graduation year: 2007
What was your educational and professional background before coming to SILS?
After graduation from UNC-Chapel Hill with a BA in the 1980s, I moved to California where I was a risk manager for an insurance company for many years. I served two years in the U.S...
Name: Karin Michel
Title: Youth & Family Experiences Manager
Employer: Chapel Hill Public Library
Degree: MSLS
Graduation year: 1998
What was your educational and professional background before coming to SILS?
I came straight from an undergraduate program at Virginia Tech, where I double majored in Spanish and International Studies.
How has your career progressed since you graduated SILS?...
Name: Elizabeth Porter
Title: School Librarian
Employer: Carrboro Elementary School
Degree: MSLS
Graduation year: 2015
What was your educational and professional background before coming to SILS?
After receiving my BA in French from Oberlin College in 2011, I moved to North Carolina and began working as a Teacher Assistant in a first grade class at Glenwood Elementary School...
Name: Yukiko Sakai
Title: Associate Professor
Employer: Keio University
Degree: MSIS
Graduation year: 2001
What was your educational and professional background before coming to SILS?
Since graduating from Keio University in Tokyo, Japan, with a B.A. in library science, I had been working for the university mainly as a medical librarian already for over 15 years....
Name: David Gallin-Parisi
Title: School Librarian
Employer: St. Anthony Catholic High School
Degree: MSIS
Graduation year: 2011
What was your educational and professional background before coming to SILS?
I have a BFA in Studio Art, focusing on Sculpture and BA in English, focusing on Creative Writing. I worked as the Education Coordinator at a small contemporary art museum in...
Name: Sofía Becerra-Licha
Title: Lead Archivist
Employer: Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Degree: MSLS
Graduation year: 2012
Sofia Becerra-Licha (MSLS ’12) became lead archivist at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., in April 2019. The Kennedy Center created the position to help organize and preserve its historical holdings in preparation for its...
Name: Kate Moran
Title: UX Specialist
Employer: Nielsen Norman Group
Degree: BSIS, MSIS
Graduation year: 2015
How has your career progressed since you graduated SILS?
I was fortunate to begin my career while working on my bachelor's and master's degrees - through internships while earning my BSIS, and by studying part-time while earning my MSIS. Balancing work and...
Name: Jennifer Hill
Title: Distance Education Librarian/Electronic Resources Manager
Employer: Johns Hopkins University
Degree: MSLS
Graduation year: 2008
What was your educational and professional background before coming to SILS?
I went directly to SILS after graduating with my Bachelors in English and a concentration in Secondary Education. I had planned to become a middle school librarian, but I found a...
Name: Page Laubheimer
Title: User Experience Specialist
Employer: Nielsen Norman Group
Degree: MSLS
Graduation year: 2012
What was your educational and professional background before coming to SILS?
I had earned a BA a few years prior, and was relatively under-employed, working in paraprofessional jobs that were fairly rote and were not especially intellectually challenging....
Name: Siobhan Loendorf
Title: Assistant Director
Employer: Catawba County Library
Degree: MSLS
Graduation year: 2009
What was your educational and professional background before coming to SILS?
Prior to going to SILS, I had completed a BA in French Education K-12 with a minor in Russian. However, instead of teaching I found a job working in customer service for...
Name: Marian Fragola
Title: Director, Program Planning & Outreach
Employer: NCSU Libraries
Degree: MSLS
Graduation year: 2008
What was your educational and professional background before coming to SILS?
BA in English; marketing and development; fundraising consulting.
How has your career progressed since you graduated SILS?
Attained professional jobs with high-level responsibilities...
Name: Oak Ritchie
Title: Customer Support Specialist
Employer: Pathagility
Degree: MSIS
Graduation year: 2015
What was your educational and professional background before coming to SILS?
I had gotten my BA in Media Arts from USC - Columbia. I was a documentary filmmaker and blogger, working on projects for local to international clients.
How has your career...
Name: Casey Rawson
Title: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Project READY
Employer: UNC Chapel Hill SILS
Degree: MSLS, PhD
Graduation year: 2011
What was your educational and professional background before coming to SILS?
Before coming to SILS for my MSLS, I was a middle school science teacher. I have an MAT in Middle Grades Education from the University of Louisville and a BS in Biology from Duke...
Name: Matt Poland
Title: Instructor/PhD Student
Employer: University of Washington
Degree: MSIS
Graduation year: 2016
What was your educational and professional background before coming to SILS?
My background is in English literature, especially British literature and print culture.
In your current employment, what are your job duties and responsibilities?
I am a doctoral...
