» Alumni Association Board Members

photo of Tara Bokosky

Tara Bokosky

President
Tara Bokosky is a member of the Chapman Alumni Board. She graduated with her MBA in 2017, Beta Gamma Sigma, as well as with her Master’s in Special Education. Tara oversees the ambassador committee and is responsible for coordinating Alumni board efforts between the University and Ambassadors.
Tara is a Financial Advisor at Tax & Financial Group where she works with business owners and professionals and guides businesses, families and individuals with the accumulation and preservation of wealth through comprehensive financial strategies. Before entering the financial services industry, Tara worked in the Brea Unified School district and remains involved within the special needs community.
In her free time, Tara likes to travel and spend time with family, friends and her 140-lb German Shepard. She plays basketball every Sunday and is an avid sports fan.
photo of Ray Schnell

Ray Schnell

Immediate Past-President
Ray is the President of the Alumni Association, and graduated in 2014 Beta Gamma Sigma, with his Executive MBA from Chapman University.
Ray works at ADP in their private equity practice. He partners with the largest global PE firms to drive value creation strategies across their portfolio by reducing cost, risk and operational inefficiency within their Human Capital Management (HCM) infrastructure. Ray also supports PE firms through M&A due diligence and rapid deployment of workforce management infrastructure upon close of acquisitions.
Prior to ADP, Ray was a founding partner of CreativeHeads.net, one of the leading recruitment networks for the creative industries. He also worked as an advertising executive in NYC. Ray now lives in Tustin with his wife Cheryl, and two daughters Emma and Ava. He is also a proud board member of the Tustin Public Schools Foundation.
photo of Joseph Lewis

Joseph A Lewis

Founding President; Vice President of Association Development
Joe graduated from the Executive MBA program at Chapman University in 2014. He has served as the Alumni Association’s President from 2016 – 2020. Over his four years as president, he successfully executed his vision to expand the alumni’s awareness, engagement and sustainability. Joe is an innovative and true outside-the-box thinker and has continuously broken down barriers to achieve the goals he has set for the organization.
In addition to Joe’s commitment to the Alumni Association, he assists the Board of Directors for Chapman’s Alumni Association, the Board of Directors for the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce, Orangewood Foundation’s Business Advisory Council, volunteers as a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County & Inland Empire and is a graduate from Newport Beach Foundation’s Distinguished Citizens Program.
photo of Nicole Lucas

Nicole Lucas

Vice President of Association Governance
Nicole Lucas graduated from the joint MBA/JD program at Chapman University in 2018.
Nicole is Commercial Counsel for YETI Coolers, the outdoor manufacturer based in Austin, Texas. Nicole partners with various business units throughout the supply chain ranging from Procurement to Logistics to Sales, and assists with enabling the teams to achieve their goals from the initial planning stages of their projects. Nicole has utilized her business background to implement performance tracking metrics to demonstrate the department’s productivity and value to the company, and is constantly working to improve and streamline the commercial team operations.
In addition to Nicole’s involvement in the Alumni Association, Nicole is also an active member of the Orange County Bar Association, including the Young Lawyers Division, and the Association of Corporate Counsel.
photo of April Tran

April Tran

Vice President of Marketing & Public Relations
April Tran graduated with her MBA in 2018 and B.A. in Strategic Corporate Communication in 2017, both from Chapman University. She also holds Executive Certificates from Harvard Business School, London Business School and MIT. During her time at Chapman, she was a Student Board Member on the Chancellor's Advisory Board, founded an angel fund for student startups through the Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and was a Graduate Teaching Assistant.
She is a marketing strategy consultant and works with companies across diverse industries from startups to small businesses and established brands. April previously worked in marketing, strategy and communication functions at Johnson & Johnson, Forbes, McDonald’s Corporate, CTBC Bank and OrthoFX.
Outside of work, April is the Founder and Chair of YNG Orange County (YPO subdivision). YPO is the world’s most exclusive business peer network of 25,000 chief executives around the world in over 130 countries. She enjoys sports, traveling and volunteering in her free time.
photo of Jennifer Cheo

Jennifer Cheo

Jennifer Cheo graduated with her joint MBA/JD from Chapman University in May 2017 and is an Associate in the Los Angeles office of Buckley LLP. Jennifer assists a variety of financial services clients on a wide range of regulatory compliance issues and transactional matters involving consumer and commercial lending, corporate governance, and financial institution operations.
In 2019, Jennifer co-authored the summary of California Consumer Financial Regulation for the online Practical Law publication of Thomson Reuters. Jennifer is a member of the State Bar of California and the Orange County Bar Association.
photo of Robert Hanger

Robert Hanger

Robert Hanger is Managing Director of Masthead Capital, a strategic advisory firm to lower middle market businesses. He provides strategic planning, financial consulting, merger and acquisition transaction advisory, and capitalization optimization strategy solutions. Prior to starting Masthead Capital, he was Managing Director of the Corporate Finance Division at Opus Bank and held positions at California Bank & Trust and Northern Trust. Prior to his banking career he was a Tax Accountant at a local CPA firm in Southern California.
Mr. Hanger received his MBA from Chapman University, BS in Finance and Business Law from California State University, Long Beach, and a Certificate in Financial Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles. He resides in Tustin, CA with his wife and two children. He spends his personal time boating and enjoying as many outdoor activities as possible.
photo of Steven Jaksch

Steven Jaksch

Steven has 19 years of professional experience in financial services providing personalized and practical financial advice to individuals and families.
Prior to joining TCFG Investment Advisors, Steven served as a Director for Miracle Mile Advisors and Vice President, Financial Consultant at Charles Schwab where he advised clients in areas of estate planning, wealth management, investment management and retirement planning.
Steven received his MBA, with honors, from Chapman University in 2019. He has several financial securities licenses including Series 7, 66, 9 and 10. Additionally, he holds a California State insurance license. Steven lives in Laguna Niguel with his wife Shelly and four wonderful children.
photo of Ash Payami

Ash Payami

Ash currently works as a Senior Manager of Worldwide Digital Sales & Distribution at Lionsgate. He also has experience in the software & startup space as well as retail management for operations, recruitment, and human resources. Ash has served as a Graduate Assistant and Ambassador at Chapman University and was also a special project consultant for the Board of Counselors. Ash graduated with a B.S. from The University of California, Santa Barbara and holds an MBA from Chapman University. He enjoys yoga, watching movies, swimming and traveling.
photo of Vasily Shorokhov

Vasily Shorokhov

Vasily has been a resident of Orange County for over 20 years. After completing his Bachelor’s Degree from Argyros College of Business, Vasily spent most of his career in the Financial Services Industry working for companies like First American Title and Wells Fargo. In 2010, Vasily went back to Chapman and completed his MBA in 2012. He served on the Chapman Alumni Association board from 2014 to 2017. Currently Vasily is working for ADP in the Sales Capacity.
photo of Salma Zawawi

Salma Zawawi

Salma graduated from the MBA program at Chapman University in 2007. She has served as a board member on the MBA Alumni Association since early 2017 and is responsible for creating the International Women’s Day event with the inaugural forum taking place in March 2019.
Salma currently works as a Medical Delegate for Gerber’s Infant Nutrition division. She has 13+ years of experience in sales and has worked for other Fortune 500 companies such as Allergan and Boehringer Ingelheim. In addition, Salma is an adjunct business professor and teaches online business classes at Santiago Canyon College. She has a passion for education and for uplifting young learners and women in business.
In addition to her commitment to the Alumni Association, Salma is involved in community work through Children’s Hope International Literacy & Development and RV 4 CampFire Family. She resides in Newport Beach with her husband and two children. In her spare time she enjoys practicing yoga, skiing, bike riding, traveling and spending time with friends and family.
photo of Brianna Kdeiss

Brianna Kdeiss

Brianna Kdeiss is a member of the Chapman Argyros College Alumni Board. She graduated with her MBA in 2021. During her time at Chapman, Brianna served as VP of the Women in Business Association and as the Graduate Business Association President.
She is a marketing associate at Zymo Research Corporation, where she is happy to merge her knowledge from both her B.S. in Molecular Biology from Cal State Fullerton and her MBA from Chapman University.
In her personal time, she enjoys live theater and music, spending time with her 2 cats, and taking advantage of the beautiful California coast.
photo of Ethan Ayres

Ethan Ayres

Ethan graduated from the inaugural class of the Masters of Science in Real Estate program and earned his Bachelors of Science in Management degree from Pepperdine University.
He joined Ayres Hotels in 2016 where he began a Management Training Program. Over the course of a year, Ethan was thoroughly trained and worked in many departments including: housekeeping, engineering, breakfast, sales, front desk, and operations. After he completed the Management Training Program, Ethan dedicated the next four months learning the back end of management by working in the Marketing Department.
Ethan’s natural drive has led him to immerse himself in achieving success working with Ayres Construction Company (ACC). As a Project Assistant until 2021, he focused on bidding, organization, and oversight of construction projects – ranging from hotel renovations to small maintenance items. Currently, he is working as an Assistant Project Manager overseeing new developments. Ethan enjoys meeting new people within the real estate industry and the challenge of staying up to date on the impermanent industry. He is always up for a round of golf or a dip in the ocean.