Brandon Berndt
B.S., 2006
Manager and Affiliate Program Director, ChanPoker.com
Kristine Berndt
B.S., 2006
Program Manager, Pac-10 Conference
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Brandon: “Both Kristine and I are from Elk Grove, California, and we went to high school together. She went to UAB to play softball, and once I graduated from high school I followed her out there. It was definitely a decision I’m glad we both made, but at the time, for two people at such a young age, it was a big step to take.”
Kristine: “I was more worried when he came down here than when I got here myself—mainly because I was part of the softball team, so I knew I had people who were around me and I knew I could always go to them if I needed anything. My team was my ‘security blanket’ that first year, and Brandon didn’t really have that with anybody when he arrived.”
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It was a big leap of faith for Kristine Lara and Brandon Berndt to leave the familiarity and security of northern California and come all the way across the country to attend UAB, but it paid off for both of them. Kristine was a four-year letterwinner on UAB’s softball team and finished her career as one of the most decorated athletes in Blazer history. She also served as an intern in the Blazer athletics department, and that experience, as well as her physical-education degree, earned her a two-year administrative fellowship with the Pac-10 when she graduated—and a full-time job offer after only the first year of that fellowship.
Brandon, too, found a career path in Birmingham, both in the School of Business and in his free time.
Brandon: “I knew I wanted to be in business. I didn’t have a clear path at the time—I actually wanted to teach golf, and I figured management would be a feather in my cap for that kind of career, but halfway through my schooling I changed my career path. My sophomore year I began playing poker online and realized quickly that I really enjoyed the industry and wanted to be on the business side of it. So I started creating my own Web sites and marketing for poker rooms, building a name for myself online, while still focusing on my classes and all of the ways they pertained to what I wanted to do.”
Kristine: “I’m in athletic administration for the Pac-10, working in championships—we host championships in 14 different sports, and I help administer and manage all of them. This year the Pac-10 as a whole won 13 national championships, and the rest of the country won 16, so we got almost 50 percent of the national titles across all sports in the NCAA this year, which is pretty cool.”
Since joining ChanPoker.com, Brandon has been published numerous times and has received invitations to speak at some of the biggest conferences in the American gaming industry. Both Brandon and Kristine credit UAB with not only providing the foundation for their success, but also making their transition to a new part of the country easier; they agree that they enjoyed the UAB community, the Birmingham area, and the South as a whole.
Kristine: “One of the nice things about UAB is that it’s not a huge campus. Anywhere you go, your freshman year there’ll be a ton of kids, and the teachers hardly have any idea who you are—but at UAB, as I got into my major, my teachers were always welcoming and open and asking me how they could help me get my degree. That helped me academically for sure. I still communicate with my teachers all the time.
“Southern hospitality was definitely a big part of our experience. The people in Birmingham—not just on campus, but also throughout the community—were just wonderful. People would embrace us, they were always so nice and welcoming regardless of where we were or whether we were meeting them for the first time. We were doing a lot of things for the first time, like trying barbecue or going to the Florida panhandle and seeing the white-sand beaches together. We were young, we were still trying to find our footing, but it was fun.”
The relationship remained strong throughout their four years at UAB—they were married in August 2007—and they’ve since returned to the San Francisco area. But despite being 3,000 miles away from campus, they still make an effort to keep up with the Blazers whenever possible.
Kristine: “This past season the UAB softball team came out to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, which is a few hours south of here, and we went out to see them play. It was nice to see my coach and some of the people I played with again.”
Brandon: “We’re big sports fans in general, and we’re still big fans of UAB sports. We’ll come back every year for a football game, and we’re trying to find a way to make it back for another one this year, maybe for the Homecoming game.”
Kristine: “We definitely have strong ties to UAB. My experience in Birmingham was just great, and I love the South.”