1992

Lana Etherington '92 with Sharon Flanigan, Kathy Shea Urbat '92 and their respective children.

Before the latest news, I have to say that the Class of 1992 news flow has turned to a tiny trickle; so open up the floodgates and send me your news or our section will look just like all the other years!

Jeannine Everett is in San Francisco area and is BCG’s director of research. It’s a great gig; she’s able to work from her home and BCG consultants worldwide plug into her when they need research. She and husband John have a 4-year-old boy, Jonah. Jeannine also started writing children’s books in her free time and is looking for any KGSM connection that might help her get published. She claims to have converted from being a Midwesterner to a full-fledged Californian complete with Birkenstocks, and yoga classes. Isabelle and David Murphy are proudly announce the birth Quentin Murphy born in August. Gary and Kellie Dvorchak also had a baby girl in August, Clarissa Renae. So far big sister Alexandra (21 months) loves her!

Joanne Cho Sevrain, is still at A.T. Kearney Chicago and would love to hear from KGSM classmates. Write to her at Joanne.Sevrain@atkearney.com. Dean Mendel has been in Montreal since graduation. He writes: “I came home initially to help my dad resuscitate a hotel business that was in big trouble (remember the recession of ’92?). Thereafter, I did the pseudo-tech thing for a while and am back in real estate now, developing ‘strip’ centers, primarily.” (Is he going to give Hooters a run for its money?) “Andrea and I just had our third healthy and wonderful child, Max who joins sisters Polly (6) and Jillian (4). Last spring I hosted a Kellogg alumni reunion at my house for about 10 KGSMers. Paul Mistor writes: “I am still working for PwCon a project in Frankfurt, Germany through the autumn, after that, I have no idea where I will be. I still rent an apartment in North Carolina that I get back to about once a month. I just returned from vacation with Kashif Chaudrhy, and Elaine Leung. We went to Kenya and Tanzania: one week to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and one for safari. I’ll also be running the Berlin marathon.”

Susie and Rob Honigberg celebrated their 10-year wedding anniversary by spending a romantic weekend in West Virginia. John Trapnell writes us for the first time: “Upon receiving notice of our 10-year reunion, I figured it was time to write: I married Ann Gooderl, and we have two wonderful children Austin (3) and Emily (1). I work in Minneapolis as a director of trading for GMAC-RFC, a leading issuer of mortgage and asset-backed securities. I was recently awarded a seven-week paid sabbatical. We used the time to travel Alaska, experience some quality family time, golf, and pursue various volunteer opportunities.” John’s e-mail address is: john.trapnell@gmacrfc.com

As for me, in June my wife Eva and I attended the beautiful San Francisco wedding of Mark McKechnie and longtime sweetheart Michelle Shapiro. The reception was held at the Fairmont. Also attending were Scott “Moose” Schur and Jeff Worden who showing off his fashionable lobster tan. The highlight of the evening though was The McKech throwing down to the rockin’ band. He even got the whole McKechnie clan (at least the brothers and their sons) to do running belly slides across the dance floor. Michelle, the slacker, abstained from the latter. I also just visited Steve Rappaport in Prague. The Rapper has been there nine years through think and thin, and, after a lot of hard work, has his own mini-conglomerate. He’s got his fingers into import/export trading, consumer goods wholesaling, plumbing products, and retail — look out Mitsui and Sumitomo. “I returned to the United States today only to witness firsthand the horrors of the WTC terrorist attack here. My condolences to any of you who have lost friends or loved ones on this day of infamy.”

Helene and Mark Kennedy and their three daughters have been in Evanston for the last few years as Mark is completing his PhD at Kellogg. “I’ll finish in 2002 and have entered the academic job market.” Adjunct Professor of Arts Management Joanne Scheff Bernstein has taught Arts Management at Kellogg for eight years and at the undergrad program where most students major in the arts, journalism, etc. She also teaches arts management worldwide and consults to arts organizations. Joanne co-authored a book with Philip Kotler: Standing Room Only: Strategies for Marketing the Performing Arts. In 2001, she married NU alum Bob Bernstein, and daughter Jennifer ’00 married another KGSMer. Purple and gray all the way. Nick Lurie is a Marketing Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill.

	In November, Eun and Gerard Beenen '92 welcomed their son Matthew Henri into the world.

Eun and Gerard Beenen proudly announce the arrival of their first child, Matthew Henri (9 lbs.) in November. Mommy is fine and Gerard has returned to his new job as COO of Evanston-based Block Medical Group. Juliette and Cedric Loiret-Bernal are thrilled to announce the birth of their daughter Josephine Marie Charlotte. Ellen Purdy recently joined Philly-area CPA and consulting firm Kreischer, Miller & Co. as manager of consulting and biz development. “I am a strategy and performance consultant to small to mid-sized companies, helping CEO’s grow the value of their firms. It’s very rewarding, and my local client base allows for more time with my husband and son, Connor. Poonam Arora is pretty much a full-time mom here in Manhattan. Paul Mastrapa has rejoined the healthcare company OptionCare (OPTN) as CFO.

Ali Babican writes from Turkey: “I married Zeynep in 1995 and have a son, Kerem (6). I’m a domestic wholesale trader of clothing and home linens, and am now moving into retail. In 2001, I also became a founding member of the JDP (Justice and Development Party), which is now Turkey’s leading political party. Dealing with economics, political marketing and international relations now consumes half my time. Bernie Armstrong left Ulysses Capital to direct equity trading for HSBC-Geneva. Karen and John Larson and family live in Lake Forest, Ill; they both work for Abbott Labs. Philip Lane became a father again, more on that soon.”

Pat Burns finally reports. “Through classmate, Tony Natoli, I met my wife Kim and her daughter Katie in 1993. We’ve kept busy since. We married in 1994, and then I joined Owens Corning spinout AOC. In 1995 we moved to Oak Park, Ill. (right by George Smith), where I was promoted to regional manager, and our daughter Caroline (intelligent like her mom) was born. Lauren (blue-eyed beauty with lots of personality) was born on my birthday in 1996. In 1998, Patrick Jr. (Mr. Energy) arrived, moving Kim to conclude, “If we’re going to have all these kids, then one of us needs to stay home and raise them.” She resigned as VP at Cigna. Then we moved to Memphis when I was promoted to business manager. 2000 brought our fifth child, Elise. In 2001 we moved to Chadds Ford, Pa., (a two-truck move; one just for the Barbies) where I joined DuPont. I now focus on strategy and M&A (Seth Bergstein advises me sometimes). Our kids are healthy and happy We enjoy life here, and host many friends such as Jennifer and Eric Degenfelder and Rob Grossman when he came to try and best Oprah’s time in the Philly marathon (he didn’t).

Kal '92 and Mike Denzel '93, and family.

On the other hand, two Minnesota winters were enough for Al Weggeman and family. Al was president and general manager of a GE subsidiary but left to become COO of Key Components, Inc. in Connecticut. Key essentially does LBO’s of industrial manufacturers with strong product, market, and cash-flow positions. “Time is flying as we watch our daughters grow up before us,” He writes. “We shared the winter holidays with Barry Fougere and family last year.” Jennifer and Steve Werber had their third boy, Louis McFall, in 2001 and report that older brothers Steven (4) and Nelson (2) love to find new ways to delight and terrify him. Steve says; “I’m co-managing the Seligman Global Technology fund (SHGTX) and we live in Riverside, Ct. I speak frequently to Jennifer and Colie Spink in London.”

Tom Fitzpatrick had another baby girl last year. Gordon Watt is with Atlanta I-bank Robinson Humphrey and was married in September. Joe Husman is still in L.A., but has rejoined Toyota in e-business. Jennifer Cornell Grenzebach has joined Capital One in Richmond, Va. Jeff Drake in now VP, corporate planning for CP Ships and lives in London. Lana Etherington Slavit had a second boy, Zarchary in November and is on extended maternity leave. “Being a full-time mom is more fun than I expected,” she says. Lana recently reunited with Sharon Flanigan, and Kathy Shea Urbat in Chicago. Kathy keeps a hectic pace working in N.Y. and Chicago. Sharon writes, “As a relatively new McKinsey partner, I co-lead the Midwest consumer-retail practice. I travel often, but enjoy my client base. Otherwise, I hear occasionally from Todd Morgan who still globetrots for his startup GF-X and Guy Kinley who’s now at Accenture and is lives close to Jenny and Rick Patton in Kansas City. Last I heard Jenny was developing the Victoria’s Secret cosmetic line.

Jim Bell and Angela Comstock are still in San Francisco. Angela left PG&E in 2000. “I loved my job, but the environment in California was a no-win situation for utilities and PG&E was bound for Chapter 11. The tech boom was in full swing, and tech firms desperate for IR talent. So, I headed up IR for five months at now-failed dot-com, e-stamp, and then nine months for Clarent, which then rapidly imploded. Fortunately, I bailed just before all hell broke loose, and Clarent is now subject to a mini-Enron-like scandal and lawsuits. Having displayed an inability to pick employers (a bankrupt utility and two failed NADAQ tech companies), I decided to take time off to raise our two kids.” Hedge funds are dying to know where Angela works next. Meanwhile, Jim has been director of marketing for a small software start-up, Vantive, for more than two years. Its software enables product life-cycle automation (PLA) for product development. Fred Christiansen works for the emerging markets group at IBM’s Pervasive Computing Division, in Raleigh, N.C. ”After working and getting married in the Philippines, we moved to New Jersey for five years. North Carolina is gorgeous and we love it down here. Send me e-mail at: christen@us.ibm.com.”

Kai Offergaard Robertson writes: “After working for the Food Marketing Institute (since graduation) where I tracked consumer and food industry trends, I left to apply my knowledge at the Environmental Working Group (EWG) last fall. EWG is a nonprofit that kicks butt. We analyze and report on environmental health issues, e.g., toxics in the air, food, water that should be reduced or eliminated (Kai, that’s half the ingredients of my beloved Twinkies and CheezeWhiz). My role is to engage the private sector and harness market forces to expedite change).

“My first project addresses consumer concerns about pesticide residue on food. We will launch a label program in 2002 that enables food processors to certify their packaged foods to our strict, verifiable standards for no detected pesticide residues. On the home front, all is terrific with my 2-and-a-half-year-old and husband Larry ’91.”

Ayako and Hitoshi Ohta and family are doing well. Daughter Kay danced the Nutcracker with NYC Ballet last autumn and daughter Amy received an art scholarship in NYC. Work had Hitoshi temporarily back in Japan. On top of a special assignment at Minolta’s HQ, he has been ardently marketing the nonprofit business school, Institute of Strategic Leadership. Backed by top academics worldwide and Japanese business leaders from Sony, Toyota, BCG, etc., ISL has earned high praise for its unique approach. Excited by this success, Hitoshi has left Minolta to pursue his ISL passion and will rejoin his family in New Jersey. Good luck Hitoshi!

Pauline Jen Ryan and husband Terry ’93 proudly announce the birth of Colby Jen Ryan in 2001. Big sister Alexandra (3) is thrilled. “I’m VP of biz dev for ImmunoGen, Inc., a biotech firm in Cambridge, Ma. I’ve had little maternity leave, and continue to work from home in between diaper duty. I could get used to this working-from-home gig; I take conference calls to Europe while nursing Colby in my pajamas! If they only knew!” They do now. “On a sad note, we attended the memorial service for Ted Hennessy ’93 who was on American Airlines flight 11 on 9/11. The church was packed, a testament to all the lives that he touched.”

Elena and David Ongpin Valdes had an adventurous year. At the Inquirer he lead negotiations for management and successfully signed a CBA with the unions. He’s also the leader of a new free publication, Libre. Their kids are now seven and three Last year Dave took his 4X4 halfway up the active Mt. Pinatubo and then hiked to the summit. The couple also spent a relaxing weekend a resort in Davao that terrorist group Abu Sayaff attacked just months later. The family also went diving, kayaking, and rafting. Dave also volunteered as a diving researcher for World Wildlife Fund on the WWF’s dive ship for a week exploring the reefs of Tubbataha. Next Dave wants to volunteer with the other WWF; “Who’s got next!?”

Since 1992, Mariann Kurtz has lived and worked in most of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, first with PwC and more recently the IFC. For the last six years, Mariann has been in Sarajevo running the IFC’s SEED program when she’s not flying around in C130s or evacuating her offices. Unfortunately she tore her ACL (again) skiing in Bosnia’s Olympic hills, and spent four days in a nearby German Army Field Hospital. She awaits visitors in Sarajevo or along the Croatian Coast. Watch for an article in the next issue of Kellogg World about Mariann.

As for the Covens, Eva and I went trekking, fishing, and kayaking in the pristine Patagonian Andes. We also visited with Felipe Mujica ’93 in Santiago, Lydia and Kashif Chaudhry who have a beautiful Federalist-style home in Westchester, Pa., and spent New Year’s Eve with Eric Llopis and family.