Alumni Highlights

When Marvin Remmich headed west, he didn’t have a detailed blueprint for where life would take him. He had $500, a duffle bag, and the determination to build something for himself. Years later, that same independent spirit would help him build a career in healthcare leadership, launch his own real estate business, and remain deeply connected to Cal State East Bay.

Marvin grew up on a farm in North Dakota in a large family where hard work was simply part of everyday life. His family grew and canned their own food, raised animals, and worked the land themselves. As Marvin describes it, if something needed to be done, you stepped up and got it done. Those lessons in self-reliance would follow him throughout his life. RAM Properties

After serving in the Army, Marvin made his way west and eventually enrolled at Cal State Hayward. Coming from a family where college had not always been the first priority, he quickly realized that a high school education alone was not going to be enough for the future he wanted. He commuted from Oakland while attending Hayward and made graduating a priority, determined to pay his own way through college and leave school without debt.

Marvin’s journey after graduation was anything but simple. With a degree in marketing, he began his career in Kaiser’s accounting department and continued learning by working across different areas of the organization. He later moved into hospital administration and technology, eventually becoming a controller and taking on increasingly senior leadership roles within the healthcare industry.

Even while working as a financial and administrative leader, Marvin was already thinking about what might come next. He never wanted to be beholden to someone else, so he went back to school to study real estate. His graduate education gave him a path to pursue his broker’s license, and instead of moving into residential real estate, Marvin chose to build his career in commercial real estate.

In 1974, that entrepreneurial drive led him to establish RAM Properties. The business grew into an independently owned real estate company, allowing Marvin to build something of his own while continuing to apply the same determination and self-reliance he had learned growing up on the farm. RAM Properties

Today, Marvin continues to give back to the university that helped provide the foundation for his journey. He has served on Cal State East Bay’s Educational Foundation for approximately 15 years and remains involved to this day.

Looking back, Marvin’s story is less about one perfect career plan and more about continuing to move forward. From a farm in North Dakota to Cal State Hayward, from hospital leadership to entrepreneurship, each chapter gave him something to build on.

For today’s Pioneers, Marvin’s journey is a reminder that you don’t necessarily need to know exactly where you’re going when you start. Sometimes, you just need the determination to take the next step—and the willingness to keep building from there.

John Sullivan Jr.’s path to success didn’t follow a perfectly straight line. Instead, each chapter of his journey helped prepare him for the next—including a pivotal decision to continue his education at Cal State Hayward.

John began college at the University of Oregon but left before completing his degree to serve two years in the U.S. Navy. After completing his military service, he was ready to return to the classroom and chose Cal State Hayward to continue his education.

While attending Hayward, John lived in San Francisco and made the commute across the Bay to campus each day. Among the memories that have stayed with him are the views of the Bay from the Hayward hills and the professors who helped shape his education. Decades later, he still remembers Jay L. Tontz and Virgil Salera and the impact they had on him as a student.

That experience provided John with a foundation for his next major step. He credits his education at Cal State Hayward with helping prepare him to continue his studies at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. From there, he began building a career that would eventually take him from the waterfront to corporate leadership.

John joined Marine Terminal Corporation, a family-owned company serving the maritime industry. What began with work in the waterfront treasury department grew into a 15-year career with the company. As John gained experience and took on greater responsibilities, he moved through the organization’s leadership ranks, eventually becoming an officer and later a director.

Long before Dora Goto arrived at Cal State Hayward, she already had a pretty good idea of where she wanted to go. What she didn’t know was just how much her time at Hayward would shape both her professional and personal life.

Dora grew up in Canada, where she began taking college courses in Clinical Laboratory Science before eventually moving to California. When it came time to continue her education, Cal State Hayward stood out as one of the few nearby universities offering a program aligned with the career she already knew she wanted to pursue.

With many of her earlier courses already completed, Dora took on heavier course loads to move through the program more quickly. During her final years, she lived on campus and worked in the university’s laboratories as a student assistant. That hands-on experience became one of the most valuable parts of her education, giving her practical skills that helped prepare her for her fifth-year internship and, eventually, her first professional opportunities.

Years later, it’s an experience Dora still appreciates. She credits much of her career preparation to Cal State Hayward’s Science program, its dedicated faculty, and especially the opportunity students had to learn through hands-on laboratory work. Even today, she continues to praise East Bay’s Clinical Laboratory Science program and the preparation she sees in graduates entering the profession.

Her connection to Hayward wasn’t only professional. While attending an event with one of the university’s Asian affinity clubs, Dora met a fellow student who would eventually become her husband. What began as a college experience became the start of a life they would build together.

After graduation and additional training, Dora built a career in Clinical Laboratory Science and currently works in the laboratory at Highland Hospital. Her work plays an important role behind the scenes of patient care, providing laboratory results that healthcare professionals rely on to diagnose conditions, guide treatment, and make critical decisions for their patients.

But Dora’s impact didn’t stop at the laboratory.

Drawing from her education and years of professional experience, she eventually stepped into the classroom herself. Today, Dora teaches fifth-year Clinical Hematology at San Francisco State University, helping prepare the next generation of Clinical Laboratory Science professionals for the careers ahead of them.

Her journey has come full circle: from a student learning in the laboratories at Cal State Hayward to a healthcare professional serving her community and an educator passing that knowledge on to future scientists.

Dora’s story is a reminder that the experiences students have at East Bay can reach far beyond graduation. A class, a professor, a campus job, or even an event with a student organization can help shape a career, create lifelong relationships, and influence lives for decades to come.