Alumni Association

Distinguished Alumni 2008

Alejandro Bustamante (MBA '82)
Alejandro Bustamante is the president of Plantronics Mexico (PLAMEX), the world's leading manufacturer of communication headsets for mobile, home, and office use. Since becoming president of PLAMEX in 1994, Bustamante has played an instrumental role in helping the company achieve international acclaim for its commitment to quality, the environment, community programs, employee development, and work safety.

Through Bustamante's leadership, PLAMEX has created and nurtured a culture that empowers its 3,000 associates, enjoying one of the industry's lowest turnover rates. The company is known for its extensive employee benefits including career development, education programs, medical care, and housing assistance.

PLAMEX is the only facility in the world to win both the prestigious Ibero American and Asia Pacific Quality Awards for leadership in strategic planning, personnel development, resource management, customer and market focus, environmental impact, and business results. Prior to his appointment at
PLAMEX, Bustamante held executive vice presidencies at both Matrix Aeronautica and Offshore Factories.

Active as an industry leader, Bustamante represented the Mexican private sector in the mid-90s NAFTA negotiations and participated in creating Mexico's national development plan for 1995-2000.

Bustamante is active in several social programs including Project Concern and the Castro Limon Foundation and also serves as president of the Fire Fighters Association of Tijuana. He participates in a number of government programs focused on industrial quality and competitiveness, and is the industry coordinator between the Conalep School System and the private sector.

Bustamante earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from La Salle University of Mexico City and earned his MBA from Pepperdine University in 1982. He has also completed postgraduate course studies at UCLA, Demand Flow Technology Institute, and Harvard University. He lives with his wife Lorena in Chula Vista, Calif.

Leslie Landon Matthews (BA '87, MA '89)
Leslie Landon Matthews is a clinical psychologist and author. Her private practice specializes in helping children from divorced homes and teens with eating disorders. Her professional experience has included clinical work with autistic and abused children at the Julia Ann Singer Center and counseling at the Ofman Learning Center.

After completing her dissertation on the grief resolution process, Matthews became certified as a grief counselor and volunteered her time at the Grief Recovery Institute in Los Angeles. Arising from this association Matthews coauthored and published a book, When Children Grieve: For Adults to Help Children Deal with Death, Divorce, Pet Loss, Moving, and Other Losses (HarperCollins, 2001), which was acclaimed by Fred Rogers, honorary chair of the Highmark Caring Place and host of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

Prior to entering the clinical psychology field, Matthews worked in the entertainment industry, playing the recurring role of schoolteacher Etta Plum on the NBC series Little House on the Prairie. Matthews comes from a show-business family and she is the daughter of Lynn Landon and late actor/producer/ director Michael Landon.

Matthews is active at Bel-Air Presbyterian Church where her family has attended for 10 years. She devotes time to several other charitable organizations including the Boy Scouts of America and St. Anne's, and her husband Brian is an active member of the Seaver College Board of Visitors.

Matthews attended USC and received from Seaver College both her bachelor's degree in psychology (1987) and her master's degree in clinical psychology (1989). She received her marriage and family counseling license in 1990. In 1998 she was awarded her Ph.D. in marriage and family therapy from the California Graduate Institute.

Leslie Landon Matthews resides in Westlake Village, California, with her husband Brian Matthews and their four children, Rachel, Justin, Catherine, and Joe.

Montgomery "Monty" F. Moran (JD '93)
Monty Moran is president and chief operating officer of Chipotle Mexican Grill, a restaurant company specializing in food made from the finest ingredients and prepared using classical cooking methods. Headquartered in Denver, Chipotle was founded in 1993 and is today a public company with more than 730 restaurants nationwide, over 20,000 employees, and over $1 billion in revenues.

Moran assumed leadership at Chipotle in 2005 but his relationship with Chipotle began years earlier when he began negotiating real estate leases for the then start-up business. At that time, Moran was an attorney with the Denver-based law firm Messner & Reeves, where he later became CEO, managing partner, and head of the firm's trial practice group. Prior to joining Messner & Reeves in 1996, Moran was a trial lawyer at the California firm of Morris, Polich & Purdy.

At Chipotle, Moran has dedicated himself to fostering a company culture that recognizes and rewards top performers and prepares them for future leadership roles. This innovative approach has resulted in a more stable workforce, consistently well-run restaurants, and record profits for Chipotle. Moran's focus on a selfless work ethic exemplifies the Pepperdine ideal of servant leadership; he articulates that one must care about a client's problems more than they do themselves.

Moran and his wife Kathryn are teaching their three children the value of "giving back." The family assembles packages for Mothers Without Borders, which provides relief to orphans and widows worldwide. The Morans also contribute to charitable causes that support the environment and conserve wildlife habitats.

Moran received his bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado in 1988, and his juris doctor, cum laude, from Pepperdine School of Law in 1993. His wife Kathryn, is also an alumna of Pepperdine School of Law, Class of 1992. They make their home in Boulder, Colorado.

Monica Grace Rivera Mindt (MA '94)
Monica Grace Rivera Mindt is a clinical neuropsychologist, researcher, and assistant professor of psychology at Fordham University located in New York City. She is also serving a joint appointment as assistant professor at Fordham's Latino American and Latino Studies Institute. Additionally she is principal investigator on a $1 million National Institute of Mental Health grant program studying the socioeconomic barriers to medication adherence for Hispanic HIV-positive patients in New York City.

Rivera Mindt has held her psychology appointment with Fordham since 2002, and her joint appointment in Latino studies since 2003. She also serves as a part-time assistant professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan. In addition to her work on Hispanic HIV-positive patients, she conducts research on HIV antiretroviral therapy effects. She has directed several doctoral and master's theses and teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Rivera Mindt actively participates within the larger psychological profession serving on committees of such organizations as the National Academy of Neuropsychology and the American Psychological Association.

Rivera Mindt has received numerous teaching awards including the Northeast Consortium for Minority Faculty's Early Career Development and Pilot Projects Research Training Awards. She mentors ethnic/racial minority students and postdoctoral students who are pursuing neuropsychology study, and has also been active in community revitalization projects.

In 1992 Rivera Mindt received her bachelor's degree in psychology from California Polytechnic University, Pomona, and earned her master of arts in psychology from Pepperdine University in 1994. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Nebraska in 2000. Rivera Mindt did her clinical residency at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Diego.

Rivera Mindt resides in New York, New York, with her husband Alex Mindt.

Andrew Weathers (BA '98, MPP '00)
Andrew Weathers is a public health advisor with the office of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) located in Atlanta, Georgia. The CDC is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that seeks to promote health and the quality of life by controlling disease, injury, and disability. In this appointment which he has held since 2003, Weathers manages activities relating to field epidemiology, laboratory training, and disease surveillance specifically in the regions of Brazil, Ghana, Kenya, Southern Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Most recently Weathers has been instrumental in supporting the CDC's programs in Central Asia and in start-up operations in Ethiopia, West Africa, and Pakistan. Weathers has held positions of increasing responsibility at the CDC since joining the agency in 2000, dealing with issues including the anthrax emergency responses of 2001-2002 and the African HIV/AIDS crisis.

During his tenure at the CDC, Weathers has received numerous commendations including CDC/ATSDR Employee of the Month (2007), Coordinating Office for Global Health Award for Volunteer Services (2006), the CDC Safety Award for Service from the Occupational Health and Safety Committee (2003), and the CDC Service Award for Anthrax Response (2001).

Weathers received his bachelor's degree from Seaver College in 1998 and his master of public policy degree from Pepperdine University School of Public Policy in 2000. While at the School of Public Policy, he was selected into the prestigious Presidential Management Fellows Program. He resides with his wife Helen in Lawrenceville, Georgia.