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DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI CLASS of 2023
AMELIA (Hoban) RUSSELL
Class of 2000 |
Following her graduation with the Inaugural Senior class of Neuqua Valley in 2000, Amy received her BSN from University of Illinois and MSN from Walden University. Her community involvement includes the American Heart Association Stroke Committee Chair (Las Vegas) where she was instrumental in writing legislation for stroke destination protocols. Her healthcare expertise and leadership skills are now an asset as a Medical Advisory Board Member for Pinellas County EMS. Amy also sits on the advisory boards for several academic institutions and universities in West Florida.
Her career with HCA Healthcare started in Las Vegas, NV at Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center as an emergency department and trauma RN. She quickly progressed through many leadership roles in the ER, neuroscience, and inpatient care units where she was chosen to be a part of the HCA’s corporate Executive Development Program. From there she he was promoted to St. David’s Medical Center in Austin, TX, Associate Chief Nursing Officer where the hospital earned the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
She was then selected for her first Chief Nursing Officer role at Heart Hospital of Austin, followed by Southern Hills Hospital in Las Vegas. Amy led the team at Southern Hills Hospital to successfully reduced nursing turnover, decrease hospital acquired infections, and elevate patient experience scores to the top quartile. She is now the CNO at Largo Medical Center in Florida where she successfully led the team to launch the ECMO and heart transplant programs during the COVID pandemic.
Amy is blessed to be raising her 2 beautiful daughters Mary Grace (6) and Charlotte (2), as well as her blind chocolate lab Tucker (10). She could not do all of this without the support of her loving husband, Peter. In her free time Amy enjoys hanging out with her family, eating good food that she doesn’t have to cook, and traveling!
Her career with HCA Healthcare started in Las Vegas, NV at Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center as an emergency department and trauma RN. She quickly progressed through many leadership roles in the ER, neuroscience, and inpatient care units where she was chosen to be a part of the HCA’s corporate Executive Development Program. From there she he was promoted to St. David’s Medical Center in Austin, TX, Associate Chief Nursing Officer where the hospital earned the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
She was then selected for her first Chief Nursing Officer role at Heart Hospital of Austin, followed by Southern Hills Hospital in Las Vegas. Amy led the team at Southern Hills Hospital to successfully reduced nursing turnover, decrease hospital acquired infections, and elevate patient experience scores to the top quartile. She is now the CNO at Largo Medical Center in Florida where she successfully led the team to launch the ECMO and heart transplant programs during the COVID pandemic.
Amy is blessed to be raising her 2 beautiful daughters Mary Grace (6) and Charlotte (2), as well as her blind chocolate lab Tucker (10). She could not do all of this without the support of her loving husband, Peter. In her free time Amy enjoys hanging out with her family, eating good food that she doesn’t have to cook, and traveling!
BRIAN LUNDEEN
Class of 2004
Class of 2004
A product of Patterson Elementary and Crone Middle School, Brian is a 2004 graduate of Neuqua Valley High School. During his time at Neuqua, Brian participated in several extracurricular activities, including serving as a state officer for Business Professionals of America and as a member of the ice hockey club. At graduation, Brian was honored as the Outstanding Senior in Business award recipient, having spent much of his elective course work dedicated to the business course offerings at Neuqua Valley and finding an early passion in business studies.
Brian attended Northern Illinois University’s Business School. It was through the School of Accounting where Brian obtained both a bachelors and master’s degree in accountancy sciences. Brian was heavily involved in extracurriculars on-campus as a multi-term fraternity president and campus volunteer.
After graduation, Brian took a position in Los Angeles, California in the Forensics and Litigation department of a top-10 accounting firm. Ten years ago, Brian and seven of his colleagues left the Firm to form a new one – Grobstein Teeple LLP. Brian is a Partner at the Firm and the East Coast practice leader. Brian is a Certified Public Accountant in California, Virginia, and Washington D.C. and a Certified Fraud Examiner.
By day, Brian works directly with attorneys and clients providing forensic accounting services to individuals and small businesses. Brian volunteers extensively with non-profit organizations, providing thought leadership in the areas of accounting and management.
By night, Brian is a dedicated Dad to Ellie, a soon-to-be Kindergartener who loves to do all the things that Dad likes to do. He and his wife, Crystal, moved to Alexandria, Virginia in 2017 to begin a new chapter in their life, raise their daughter, and further pursue their careers. They share two dogs and love to travel. When time allows, Brian loves to golf and plays on a men’s ice hockey team in his spare time.
Brian attended Northern Illinois University’s Business School. It was through the School of Accounting where Brian obtained both a bachelors and master’s degree in accountancy sciences. Brian was heavily involved in extracurriculars on-campus as a multi-term fraternity president and campus volunteer.
After graduation, Brian took a position in Los Angeles, California in the Forensics and Litigation department of a top-10 accounting firm. Ten years ago, Brian and seven of his colleagues left the Firm to form a new one – Grobstein Teeple LLP. Brian is a Partner at the Firm and the East Coast practice leader. Brian is a Certified Public Accountant in California, Virginia, and Washington D.C. and a Certified Fraud Examiner.
By day, Brian works directly with attorneys and clients providing forensic accounting services to individuals and small businesses. Brian volunteers extensively with non-profit organizations, providing thought leadership in the areas of accounting and management.
By night, Brian is a dedicated Dad to Ellie, a soon-to-be Kindergartener who loves to do all the things that Dad likes to do. He and his wife, Crystal, moved to Alexandria, Virginia in 2017 to begin a new chapter in their life, raise their daughter, and further pursue their careers. They share two dogs and love to travel. When time allows, Brian loves to golf and plays on a men’s ice hockey team in his spare time.
DAN MEANEY
Class of 2010
Class of 2010
A member of the Class of 2010, Dan Meaney was born in Delaware and raised in Naperville, Illinois. Throughout academics and sports in high school, Dan won a handful of awards based on his lead-by-example leadership style and his work ethic. At Neuqua Valley, He was a four-year member of the football and wrestling teams, and a two-year member of the track and field team. Dan was selected by his peers to become captain of the football and wrestling teams.
Based on the mentorship of a friend, a U.S. Government teacher at Neuqua (Mr. Fumagalli), and a family member, Dan applied to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. While at the academy, he was a four-year varsity athlete on the Navy Sprint Football team and held leadership positions at varying levels. As a student, he interned at Massachusetts Institute of Technology—Lincoln Labs and flew in the backseat of a fighter jet at Naval Air Warfare Center—China Lake, California. Dan graduated with distinction in the top 8% of his class with a Mechanical Engineering degree and was commissioned into the Navy as a Submarine Officer. He completed nuclear training, submarine tactics training, and served multiple years on-board a ballistic missile submarine. During his first patrol, his crew launched three test ballistic missiles from the coast of Florida to South Africa, reaching an altitude of low earth orbit before descent. While at sea, the crew had been recognized as the most tactically proficient submarine in the Atlantic fleet and Dan’s division received awards in Cyber/Communications Excellence as well as the highest technIcal score for Chemical/Radiological Engineering in Naval Nuclear Power History.
After being nominated for Junior Officer of the Year, Dan served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) for two years while teaching Engineering and Weapons Systems courses to students aspiring to become naval officers. Additionally, as a full-time graduate student, Dan conducted advanced explosive design, modeling, and testing to receive a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from UIUC and published in the Journal of Energetic Materials. In 2020, Dan accepted a role with Northrop Grumman Space Systems as a Systems Engineer and works on highly classified space programs in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Dan continues to serve as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserves by traveling to submarine watch-floors in Japan and Hawaii to provide operational guidance to deployed submarines in the Pacific Ocean.
Dan’s hobbies include rock climbing, grilling, and watching Shark Week. Dan is happily married to his high school sweetheart, Ellie Meaney and they have one son, Owen (3).
Based on the mentorship of a friend, a U.S. Government teacher at Neuqua (Mr. Fumagalli), and a family member, Dan applied to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. While at the academy, he was a four-year varsity athlete on the Navy Sprint Football team and held leadership positions at varying levels. As a student, he interned at Massachusetts Institute of Technology—Lincoln Labs and flew in the backseat of a fighter jet at Naval Air Warfare Center—China Lake, California. Dan graduated with distinction in the top 8% of his class with a Mechanical Engineering degree and was commissioned into the Navy as a Submarine Officer. He completed nuclear training, submarine tactics training, and served multiple years on-board a ballistic missile submarine. During his first patrol, his crew launched three test ballistic missiles from the coast of Florida to South Africa, reaching an altitude of low earth orbit before descent. While at sea, the crew had been recognized as the most tactically proficient submarine in the Atlantic fleet and Dan’s division received awards in Cyber/Communications Excellence as well as the highest technIcal score for Chemical/Radiological Engineering in Naval Nuclear Power History.
After being nominated for Junior Officer of the Year, Dan served as an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) for two years while teaching Engineering and Weapons Systems courses to students aspiring to become naval officers. Additionally, as a full-time graduate student, Dan conducted advanced explosive design, modeling, and testing to receive a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from UIUC and published in the Journal of Energetic Materials. In 2020, Dan accepted a role with Northrop Grumman Space Systems as a Systems Engineer and works on highly classified space programs in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. Dan continues to serve as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Reserves by traveling to submarine watch-floors in Japan and Hawaii to provide operational guidance to deployed submarines in the Pacific Ocean.
Dan’s hobbies include rock climbing, grilling, and watching Shark Week. Dan is happily married to his high school sweetheart, Ellie Meaney and they have one son, Owen (3).
DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI CLASS of 2022
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View the INDUCTION CEREMONY of the first class of Distinguished ALUMNI.
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JOSH JOHNSON (2007)
is a saxophonist, keyboardist, multi-instrumentalist and composer. He has performed extensively with the likes of Jeff Parker, Kiefer, Makaya McCraven, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Leon Bridges and Marquis Hill. Johnson can be heard on records by all of these artists, as well as records from the Chicago Underground Quartet, Jeremy Cunningham, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Dawes, Dexter Story, Louis Cole and Joshua White. Since 2018, Johnson has been the musical director, keyboardist, and saxophonist for Leon Bridges, which has taken him to Europe, Asia and Australia. Highlights of his time with Bridges include sold-out performances at Radio City Music Hall, Greek Theater, and the Hollywood Bowl. As a composer, Johnson has written music for many of his own projects, including the bands Snaarj and Holophonor, in addition to writing music for commercial use. He recently contributed arrangements to Sara Gazarek’s album “Thirsty Ghost”, which was nominated for two Grammy awards. In 2015 Johnson was commissioned to compose an hour-long piece by the Los Angeles Jazz Society. His resulting multi-media work “UNREST” takes an unflinching look at the 1992 Los Angeles Civil Unrest, and was premiered at the Angel City Jazz Festival. Johnson currently resides in Los Angeles. Jason Verdin: https://youtu.be/Itp_Mxb2_64?t=3117 Josh Johnson https://youtu.be/Itp_Mxb2_64?t=3395 
JORDAN SCHUBERT (2011)
is a Special Olympics champion on and off the court. He started participating in Special Olympics when he was in 5th grade and some of his biggest growth as an athlete and person came under playing for his coach/District 204 Special Olympics founder, Joy Pierson. In 2010, while at Neuqua, he represented Illinois at the National Youth Summit during the 2010 USA Games where he and other students from all three schools the following year worked towards making all three District 204 High Schools Unified Champion Schools by offering Unified Sports, inclusive youth leadership opportunities, and engaging the entire school on national Spread the Word to End the Word day. After graduating from Neuqua, Jordan continued his academic success at West Chester University. and he currently works with Special Olympics athletes of all ages and abilities in leadership roles such as governance, public speaking, health and coaching. In June, 2022, Jordan’s basketball team will be competing at the USA Games in Orlando, making him the 2nd Neuqua alum and first West Chester alum to earn this opportunity. Lisa Traut: https://youtu.be/Itp_Mxb2_64?t=3934 Jordan Schubert: https://youtu.be/Itp_Mxb2_64?t=4212 
JESSICA WALSH (2000)
is an educator and teacher-leader in Indian Prairie School District #204 and was in Neuqua Valley’s first graduating class. After college, she began her career teaching 7th Grade Language Arts at Granger Middle School In Aurora. Over the past 17 years, she has not only taught students, but served as instructional coach, supporting and mentoring colleagues related to best practices in teaching. She is highly-respected among her peers and is a sought-after presenter on a variety of educational topics. Specifically, she has focused on literacy and equity and how both open doors and provide opportunities for growth and achievement. She is an advocate for inquiry-based instruction and how technology can be used to support students in that environment. She currently runs a lab classroom at Granger where other teachers in the district come and observe Jessica in action. In that classroom, she teaches 6th Grade Language Arts and Ancient Civilizations. Jessica lives in Oswego. Her husband Matt is also a teacher at Granger. Christina Jakubas: https://youtu.be/Itp_Mxb2_64?t=4732 Jessica Walsh: https://youtu.be/Itp_Mxb2_64?t=4949 |
REEM KAREEM (2004)
is a social entrepreneur, dedicated to unlocking the changemaking potential in everyone. She is a co-founder of “Everyday Heroes,” a social enterprise to create more diverse books for early childhood learning. In 2022, she also launched an online “Systems Change Masterclass” which provides anyone, from any sector, with the skills to ensure their ideas can have a positive, lasting impact. Previously, Reem was a director at Ashoka Changemakers, the world’s leading network of social entrepreneurs, where her team distributed over $5.5 million in funding with partners such as LEGO, Intel, Nike, and Red Bull. She also co-created the award-winning platform changemaking.net and published research such as “Busting the Lone Hero Myth” and “Innovations in Financial Wellbeing.” Reem received a Master’s in Management Research from the University of Oxford, focusing on innovation. Prior to Oxford, she graduated with honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor’s in Cognitive Neuroscience. She resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and kids. Jonathan Lauff: https://youtu.be/Itp_Mxb2_64?t=3395 Reem Kareem: https://youtu.be/Itp_Mxb2_64?t=3651 
Rep. LAUREN UNDERWOOD (2004)
serves Illinois’ 14th Congressional District and was sworn into the 116th U.S. Congress on January 3, 2019. Congresswoman Underwood is the first woman, the first person of color, and the first millennial to represent her community in Congress. She is also the youngest African American woman to serve in the United States House of Representatives. Prior to her election to Congress, Congresswoman Underwood worked with a Medicaid plan in Chicago to ensure that it provided high-quality, cost-efficient care. She served as a Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), helping communities across the country prevent, prepare for, and respond to disasters, bioterror threats and public health emergencies. As a career public servant at HHS, she helped implement the Affordable Care Act — broadening access for those on Medicare, improving health care quality, and reforming private insurance. Inna Kagan: https://youtu.be/Itp_Mxb2_64?t=4434 Rep. Lauren Underwood: https://youtu.be/Itp_Mxb2_64?t=4559 Adapted from https://underwood.house.gov/ |