Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
The Honorable Patricia Lamberty, JD’79, David Kohll, BSPHA'86, PHARMD'88, and Jeremy Bouman, MS'16, were among 11 alumni celebrated by Creighton University at its annual Evening of Honors on September 11.
Judge Lamberty received the Alumni Achievement Citation, the highest all-University award presented to a Creighton University alumnus/na. Nine other alumni received Alumni Merit Awards from the University's schools and colleges. Heidi Tonne, BSN'06, MBA'22, was recognized with the Recent Alumni Award.
“The true value of a Jesuit education is realized when our graduates carry Creighton’s mission into the world," said Creighton University President, Rev. Daniel S. Hendrickson, SJ, PhD. “I am deeply grateful to our honorees for the many ways in which they continue to make a difference. Their commitment strengthens our University and enriches the communities and professions they serve. In doing so, they help carry forward the transformative education Creighton has provided for nearly 150 years.”
2026 ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT CITATION
The Honorable Patricia A. Lamberty, JD’79
The Honorable Patricia Lamberty received the 2026 Alumni Achievement Citation, the highest all-University award presented to a Creighton University alumnus/na.
Judge Lamberty graduated cum laude from Creighton University School of Law in 1979. She also attended Rutgers University, the University of Delaware and the University of Nebraska before earning a bachelor’s degree in public administration from the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1976. Lamberty joined Zwieback, Brady, Kasher & Festerson after law school, where she practiced for 14 years before establishing her own practice in 1993. Focusing primarily on mediation and arbitration, she chaired the Omaha Bar Association committee that created Nebraska’s first court-referred mediation program.
In 1998, she was appointed to the Nebraska Fourth Judicial District Court, where she served until retiring in 2011. She helped develop youth and adult diversion programs that provided alternatives to incarceration through counseling, education, and judicial oversight. Through the Women’s Fund of Omaha, she helped bring organizations and leaders together to address domestic violence.
Her career also included years with Legal Aid of Nebraska and leadership and volunteer roles with the University of Nebraska Medical Center Board of Counselors, the Nebraska and Omaha Bar Associations and other civic organizations. She later served on the board of Omaha Home for Boys. Her contributions to Nebraska’s legal and civic life have been recognized with the Nebraska State Bar Foundation’s Legal Pioneer Award and Woman of Distinction awards from the YWCA and the Nebraska Commission on the Status of Women.
View Lamberty's full biography
2026 Recent Alumni Award
Heidi J. Tonne, BSN'06, MBA'22
Heidi Tonne is the nurse manager of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Nebraska Medicine. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Creighton in 2006 and returned to the University to earn an Executive Master of Business Administration in Healthcare Management in 2022. She received her MBA cohort’s Accretio Award for her contributions to the program and her classmates.
Tonne began her nursing career as a staff nurse in the Oncology Hematology Special Care Unit at The Nebraska Medical Center. She went on to serve as lead staff nurse, nurse case manager, associate nurse manager and credentialed One Chart: Beacon trainer. In 2016, she became nurse manager of Medical and Surgical Oncology at Nebraska Medicine. The following year, she opened the 36-bed Werner Oncology Medical/Surgical Unit at the Buffett Cancer Center, recruiting the nursing team, developing unit policies and overseeing operational readiness.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she organized and managed a 24-bed unit serving pediatric and adult patients. She later served as interim manager of the 4/5 Lied Orthopedic Medical-Surgical Unit and NICU and contributed to leadership development and new nurse manager orientation. Tonne contributes to nursing research and quality improvement focused on palliative care, clinical outcomes, and nursing practices. She has presented her work at the Oncology Nursing Society Congress and the American Society of Clinical Oncology Quality Conference. She chairs the CAUTI Reduction Committee and serves on the Nursing Research and Innovation Committee. She received the Nebraska Medicine High Achiever Award in 2024.
Tonne serves on the Creighton College of Nursing Alumni Board and actively supports nursing students through career presentations, the Blessing of the Hands Ceremony, handwritten notes and one-on-one mentorship. She regularly volunteers for student initiatives and provides career guidance to students entering the nursing profession, including those pursuing careers at Nebraska Medicine.
2026 Alumni Merit Award Honorees
College of Arts and Sciences
Matthew D. DeBoer, BA'08
Matthew DeBoer graduated from Creighton University’s College of Arts and Sciences with a double major in history and theology in 2008. He participated in Schlegel Center for Service and Justice service trips, served as a resident assistant and intramural sports referee and supervisor, attended the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice, and volunteered as an English teacher in Ethiopia. As a senior, he received the Martin Luther King Jr. Student Leadership Award.
After Creighton, DeBoer joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and spent six years teaching and serving as an administrator at the Good Shepherd School in New Orleans. He earned a K–12 education certificate from Tulane University and a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of Notre Dame through the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program. In 2014, he became principal of St. Therese Catholic Academy in Seattle, where he served for eight years. His leadership earned national recognition through Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education. He also served on the Fulcrum Foundation Diversity Committee, participated in Archdiocesan accreditation teams, mentored aspiring Catholic school leaders through Notre Dame’s Remick Leadership Program and led a five-part racial justice series for more than 40 Catholic school principals in 2020.
DeBoer returned to the Midwest in 2022 and, after serving as campus minister at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Minneapolis, became principal of Annunciation Catholic School. He volunteers with the Sanneh Foundation and Feed My Starving Children, coaches youth basketball, serves his parish communities and donates platelets monthly through the American Red Cross. In 2026, he received the Minneapolis Police Department’s Citizen’s Award of Valor and was honored as a Community Champion by the Minnesota Twins and UnitedHealthcare.
College of Nursing
Catherine M. Todero, PhD, BSN'72
Catherine Todero, PhD, graduated from Creighton University’s College of Nursing in 1972. She earned her master’s degree from the University of Nebraska Medical Center and her doctorate from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Todero is Professor and Dean Emerita of the Creighton College of Nursing and a senior consultant with Advancing Academic Leadership. A nationally respected nurse educator and academic leader, she served on the faculty of Creighton and the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She held leadership positions at San Diego State University and Azusa Pacific University. She founded the UNMC-Cosmopolitan Mobile Nursing Center, secured more than $12 million in federal, state and local funding for research, education and community health initiatives and became an internationally recognized consultant to nursing programs in China and Saudi Arabia. Her scholarship has addressed circadian rhythms, nurse fatigue, chronic disease management, and telehealth.
Todero returned to Creighton as dean of the College of Nursing in 2015 and became vice provost for Health Sciences Campuses in 2019. She helped lead the expansion of nursing education to Phoenix and the development of Creighton’s $100 million Phoenix Health Sciences Campus, championed the College’s first endowed chair dedicated exclusively to nursing and established the Center for Faculty Innovation, Research and Education. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She has held numerous professional leadership roles, including president of the San Diego Chapter of the Association of California Nurse Leaders and president of Sigma Theta Tau International’s Gamma Pi Chapter. She has served for more than two decades as a site visitor for the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education and on national expert panels addressing nurse fatigue and bioethics.
Todero served as a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve Nurse Corps with the 82nd Field Hospital from 1979 to 1983. She retired from Creighton in 2023 and currently serves on the board of Children’s Nebraska. Her community service has included the Medical Reserve Corps of United Way of the Midlands, the Arizona Hospital & HealthCare Association board and numerous organizations supporting women’s leadership, healthcare ethics and youth education.
College of Professional and Continuing Education
Jeremy J. Bouman, MS'16
Jeremy Bouman graduated from Creighton University’s College of Professional and Continuing Education in 2016 with a Master of Science in Leadership. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in communications, with an emphasis in journalism, from Susquehanna University in 1996 and studied abroad at Regent’s College in London in 1995. He recently earned certification as a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP) from the American College.
Bouman is founder and CEO of RISE, a Nebraska nonprofit dedicated to breaking generational cycles of incarceration. Founded in 2017, RISE began as a small local chapter of a national organization before becoming an independent nonprofit and growing into Nebraska’s largest prison reentry organization. Under Bouman’s leadership, RISE provides reentry planning and case management, trauma-informed educational programming, workforce preparation, entrepreneurship training, family support, and advocacy for systemic change. More than 1,600 volunteers have participated in RISE programs inside Nebraska prisons, coaching participants, judging entrepreneurship pitch competitions and celebrating program graduations.
Bouman has 25 years of leadership experience in nonprofit organizations and higher education in New York City, Baltimore, and Omaha. He began his career in technology and business before transitioning to nonprofit leadership following the events of Sept. 11, 2001. His career has included roles with Lutheran Social Services of New York, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Foundation, Dana College and Creighton University, where he joined University Relations in 2010. Bouman serves on the Transform Nebraska Steering Committee and is a member of Omaha’s Downtown Rotary Club. He has been recognized for his work in reentry, nonprofit innovation, and community engagement.
Graduate School
Larry V. Pearson, MBA'81
Larry Pearson earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and a Master of Business Administration from Creighton University’s Heider College of Business in 1981.
Pearson spent more than 35 years in the energy industry. Before joining Tenaska, Inc. in 1988, he held executive positions with Enron Corp. and Northern Natural Gas Co. His career included management, natural gas and electricity marketing, natural gas procurement, utility regulation, finance, strategic planning and engineering.
During more than two decades with Tenaska, Pearson held senior leadership positions before becoming president and CEO of Operations. In that role, he oversaw all aspects of Tenaska’s 13,000-megawatt power plant portfolio and pipeline systems, as well as Tenaska Marketing Ventures, the company’s natural gas marketing business. He retired from Tenaska in 2009 and served on its Board of Stakeholders until 2019. A registered professional engineer emeritus in Nebraska, he served on the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Foundation Board of Trustees from 2005 to 2017.
An Omaha resident, Pearson served 21 years on the boards of Nebraska Methodist Health System and the Nebraska Methodist Hospital. He has served with the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, Nebraska Agricultural Leadership Council and Nebraska Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Pearson has also volunteered with the Boy Scouts of America and been active at St. Luke United Methodist Church in Omaha.
With his wife, Linda, he established the Pearson Endowment Fund to support MBA students in the Creighton Heider College of Business and the Larry V. and Linda J. Pearson Family Starting Guard Endowed Scholarship to support a men’s basketball student-athlete who demonstrates integrity, leadership and achievement. At Creighton University, the Pearsons have also supported men's basketball and the Fly Together initiative, including "The Bill" Sports Performance Center and the McDermott Center renovation.
Heider College of Business
Paul J. Thompson, BSBA'84
Paul Thompson graduated from Creighton University’s College of Business Administration with a degree in finance in 1984. He earned an MBA from Rockhurst University and graduated from the Colorado Graduate School of Banking, where he also served on the Board of Trustees.
A licensed CPA in Missouri, Thompson has more than 40 years of banking experience and is the former Chairman, President and CEO of Country Club Bank, a family-owned commercial bank serving the greater Kansas City area. In 2025, Country Club Bank merged with Omaha-based FNBO. Thompson has served as a Class A Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and in leadership roles with the Missouri Bankers Association, Kansas Bankers Association and American Bankers Association. He served as Chairman of the Missouri Bankers Association and received its highest honor, the Chairman’s Award, twice. He also served on the Kansas Bankers Association Board of Directors and numerous American Bankers Association committees.
Thompson has served on parish committees at St. Ann Church of Prairie Village and the Church of the Nativity and on the Rockhurst High School Board of Trustees. He and his wife, Mary, have chaired the Catholic Charities Foundation of Northeast Kansas Snow Ball gala. He has also supported the Going the Distance for Brain Injury Run (formerly the Amy Thompson Run), which honors his sister Amy and supports individuals and families affected by brain injury.
He serves on the Creighton Heider College of Business Advisory Board. He and Mary established the Paul J. and Mary B. Thompson Magis Teacher Corps Scholarship and, for many years, have hosted Creighton’s annual Accepted Students Reception for Kansas City-area students and families.
View Thompson's full biography
School of Dentistry
Robin R. Khan, DDS'96
Robin Khan, DDS, founded and leads Dentistry for Health in Omaha, Nebraska. Khan earned her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from Creighton University School of Dentistry in 1996. Her healthcare career began in nursing before she pursued dentistry, allowing her to integrate her medical experience with her dental practice.
She is a diplomate of the American Board of Craniofacial Pain and the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine and is board-certified with the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. She is also pursuing professional coaching training to further develop her skills in mentorship, leadership, and clinical collaboration. Her professional honors include the American Cancer Society’s Nurse of Hope Award.
Khan mentors future dentists and helps cultivate compassionate healthcare providers. She is a founding member and consultant for the Creighton School of Dentistry’s Mindfulness Curriculum Conception Team.
School of Law
William F. Hargens, BSBA'79, JD'81
William Hargens, JD, is a double Creighton alumnus, graduating from Creighton College of Arts and Sciences in 1979 and the School of Law in 1981. He recently retired after more than four decades with McGrath North Mullin & Kratz.
A nationally recognized litigator, Hargens has been recognized by Chambers USA, “Great Plains Super Lawyers,” and in “Best Lawyers in America” since 2007. In 2024, he was inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
He served as vice chair of the Creighton University School of Law Alumni Advisory Board and on the Werner Institute Advisory Board and reunion committees. He has supported Moot Court and Mock Trial, provided pro bono legal assistance and built lasting relationships with faculty and students. His longtime commitment to Creighton Athletics was recognized with the Jaybacker of the Year award.
School of Medicine
Michael H. McGuire, BS'71, MD'75
Michael McGuire, MD, earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Creighton University in 1971 and his medical degree from Creighton University School of Medicine in 1975. He completed orthopaedic surgery residency training at Saint Louis University, followed by an American Cancer Society Clinical Fellowship in musculoskeletal oncology at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. His work in orthopaedic oncology was shaped by mentors including Creighton oncologist Henry Lynch, MD, and pioneering orthopaedic surgeon Henry Mankin, MD, at Massachusetts General Hospital.
In 1988, McGuire returned to Creighton and became chair of the Department of Surgery in 1990. A nationally recognized orthopaedic surgeon, educator and researcher, he has performed approximately 25,000 operations, cared for more than 1,000 patients with bone and soft-tissue sarcomas and contributed more than 65 peer-reviewed publications and textbook chapters. He has served as a visiting professor at institutions across the United States and internationally, including in Buenos Aires and Abbottabad, Pakistan. He also served for 15 years as faculty for the Harvard-Newport, Rhode Island Board Review/Prep Course and as an examiner for the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery. McGuire served two years of active duty at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, as a physician in the U.S. Army Medical Corps and continued his military service for several years as a reserve physician.
McGuire met his wife, Anne Dyer McGuire, BSN’73, at Creighton. Anne received the 1973 Spirit of Creighton Award at her commencement. The McGuires remain deeply engaged with Creighton through philanthropy, including the Anne L. and Michael H. McGuire Endowed Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery.
Today, McGuire is a staff surgeon at VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System, consultant in musculoskeletal oncology at CHI Health Bergan Mercy Medical Center and clinical professor of surgery at Creighton University School of Medicine.
School of Pharmacy and Health Professions
David G. Kohll, BSPHA'86, PHARMD'88
David Kohll, PharmD, graduated from Creighton University’s School of Pharmacy and Health Professions in 1986 and earned his Doctor of Pharmacy from Creighton in 1988. He is with Kohll’s Rx, a fourth-generation, family-owned pharmacy and home medical equipment company that has served Nebraska since 1948.
His grandfather, Louis Kohll (Kohlberg), graduated from Creighton’s School of Pharmacy in 1930 and, with his wife, Leona, founded the company in Omaha in 1948. More than 75 years later, David carries that tradition forward as a third-generation leader of the family business. Under his leadership, Kohll’s Rx has expanded from a neighborhood pharmacy into a comprehensive healthcare provider with 17 divisions. The company introduced at-home medication packaging and community vaccination programs and was the state’s first pharmacy to offer immunizations. Kohll’s Rx recently expanded with a new state-of-the-art location in Lincoln.
Kohll has served on the Nebraska Pharmacists Association Legislative Committee, the Medicare Durable Medical Equipment Advisory Committee and regularly works with state and federal lawmakers on pharmacy benefit managers and home medical equipment issues. He also partnered with the Nebraska State Patrol to combat prescription fraud and opioid misuse. Kohll has served as an associate professor and pharmacy preceptor at Creighton and the University of Nebraska Medical Center and coordinated an educational program for UNMC’s pediatric and internal medicine residents. He has served on the Creighton University Alumni Board for the School of Pharmacy and for more than a decade has mentored Doctor of Pharmacy students.
He has served three terms as president of Beth Israel Synagogue and continues to help lead religious services at the Rose Blumkin Jewish Home. He has also served with the Destination Midtown Neighborhood Association and Midtown Business Association and was named Omaha Young Jewish Person of the Year in 2005. Kohll resides in Omaha with his wife, Janet. They have five children: Anna, Sam, Max, Jack, and Leo. Anna and Max are partners in Kohll’s Rx and fourth-generation pharmacists, with Anna Kohll Triger the first woman in the family to enter the profession.
