1998

Oh my lovelies! What a fun-filled edition of Notes for the 98ers. So many new entrants have joined us in their maiden contributions to the column. Welcome and thank you for casting your Notes virginity aside to satiate the curiosity of your classmates. I salute you. Let the gossip commence.

The fabulous and ever gregarious Grillo Grimoldi checks in from what used to be Argentina. “We hope that by publication Argentina still exists as a country! Any interest in a nice and exotic South American country that starts with ARG (Americans bought Texas and California with great success...)?”

Nacho (Buckethead Extraordinaire) Arrizabalaga’s company, International Paper, was kind enough to remove for him a pesky road block — his job in Memphis. “IP’s downsizing has given me a chance to do what I really enjoy — eating Spanish food. After a 16-year stint in the United States from high school exchange-student to post-Kellogg ‘executive’(a step up?), Mariela, my wife of three years, and myself, are considering returning to Spain. I’m looking forward to seeing many of you again soon!”

Rick Burnham writes, “After working through five big right-sizings in three years, a flat learning curve, and a slow/no growth industry, I have left Reebok and the corporate life for the world of professional sailing (again). I have joined the sailing team of Dennis Conner and Team Stars and Stripes for the 2003 America’s Cup in New Zealand.

“After training in Long Beach and Hawaii, we’ll relocate to Auckland in August to prepare for the Challenger Selection Series which begins next October. Life is pretty short and in 20 years I will probably be more disappointed with those things I didn’t do than with those things I actually did do. This won’t be one of them.”

Kristina Cho Frank and Michael Frank welcomed a baby boy on Jan. 15. “His name is Oliver Jaesun, and he is big! (nearly 10 lbs. at birth). We are very much enjoying parenthood, and all it entails. We live in Connecticut and see NYC-based alums every now and again, especially when they want to get away from it all and trek up to the suburbs. I am in business development for a subsidiary of AOL/Time-Warner and Kris works in Brand at Cadbury-Schwepps’ Mott’s.”

On Oct. 21, Ken Kaufman tied the knot with Lara Saidman. “All (or at least some)of the thanks go to Lauren and Rob Adams. Lara was a classmate of Lauren’s at NU Law while we were in Evanston, and she and Rob set us up right after graduation in 1998. The rest is a cheesy romance novel. The wedding was in Washington, D.C., and we were fortunate enough to have several friends from Kellogg and the law school there to celebrate with us.”

Marisa Bryce is returning to the place it all began. “I’m moving back to Chicago after a couple years of Silicon Valley. I’ve had a lot of time to reflect after the WTC and concluded that fun and comfortable living is a priority. That translated into the first train back to Chi-town!”

Cynthia M. Harris is now Cynthia Harris Bowman after marrying a friend from college last year.

David R. Smith writes to update us on his political aspirations. “I am running for U.S. Congress in the 2nd District of Utah. My Web site has all the information. Please visit www.davidsmith2002.com.”

Sapan Polepalle '98 married Pramilla Kolisetty in a traditional Hindi ceremony that lasted all day. Many Kellogg School alums traveled to New Jersey to participate in the event.

Sapan Polepalle married Pramila Kolisetty last May. Sapan writes: “I was really surprised at the number of friends who traveled thousands of miles to celebrate the occasion with us. The Kellogg contingent was represented by Siva Ramamoorthy and his wife, Rami Kahlon and wife Avneet, Dan Clifford, Mike Lill, Fumi Takemura along with wife and kids from Japan. Matt Holcomb, Bill Dubinsky, Avi Tescuba and Peter Kim. The wedding, a traditional Hindu ceremony, lasted all day and took place in New Jersey.”

	Heather Lamm '98 and Alex Ooms '97 were married last September in Aspen, Colo.

Danny O’Shaughnessy has added to his growing brood. “This came just in time to announce the birth of our latest. Claire Colleen O’Shaughnessy was born Jan. 31. She joins Ian and Merrill as our third child. All is well with us, and I continue to be in the small minority of Kellogg 98s who are still in their original job.”

Alex Lee recently migrated from LALA to Texas. “I’ve been happily residing in Dallas working in marketing with TXU Energy for the newly deregulated energy market in Texas. And no, I have no affiliation with Enron! We have four Kelloggians and are feverishly employing all the marketing tools to raise awareness of the ultimate commodity here in the lone star state.”

Len Ross writes, “Roz and I are proud to announce Joshua Dylan’s birth on Oct. 12. Joshua was fairly colicky his first few months, but has mellowed into a happy little pudge ball, and is doing great. We are still somewhat sleep deprived, but are filled with great joy by our little boy.”

Brad Armistead is shaking off his post-Xmas toy high. “Things at Mattel are going really well,” he writes. “I’ve wrapped up my first year in the toy industry, and I have to smile when I think about how I went from creating things like a global vision for a waste water treatment company while in consulting, to writing up strategies for large dolls and stuffed animals. It’s kind of a different world, and one that I enjoy very much.

“Under the leadership of another Kellogg grad, Bob Eckert (our CEO), the company is definitely going through a very successful turnaround. It’s been an exciting place to be, and I suspect that it will continue to be. Heading up to Whistler this week with a bunch of friends, including fellow Kelloggians Dave Shevock and Andy Chi, and will be heading off to France in early July to visit with an old colleague of mine from BCG.”

Mark Taber is proud new papa. “Everything is great here. Evelina (Moreyra) and I just had a baby girl. Anna Elizabeth Taber arrived on Jan. 22 at 7 lbs. Evelina did amazingly well during the delivery and I now refer to her as ‘ma’am,’ to show my newly enhanced respect for her. Anna was healthy and happy, although she apparently was quite content to stay where she was prior to delivery. As I am writing, she is 10-days-old and hasn’t been tarnished by the cold, cruel world (but Morello is coming over for the Super Bowl on Sunday, so that will be changing).

“Also, in an effort to further accelerate our charge into adulthood, we are moving to the suburbs (Wellesley, Mass.) in March.So, other than a new baby and new house, things haven’t changed: Rob Fawcett still makes bi-weekly prank phone calls to us, Rick Morello is still a Saab-driving consultant and Boston is still fun. Huiner, I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that I am doing very well on my New Year’s resolution to eat more fruit.”

Speaking of Rick Morello and razor sharp hairdos, and don’t we always, the great man is still living off his glory days at Kellogg. “ I have taken a few months off from the consulting rat race at Mercer to catch my breath after a busy 2001. I am now leaving time to serve as a nanny for Mark and Evelina Taber’s new baby here in Boston. It’s the best I could do after urging Mark to take Evelina on their first date back at Kellogg.”

Mark Strauch had his hands full with a double dose of dirty diapers and should have reported that he and Laurie and had identical twin boys on July 23. “Rob Chesney, the butter-fingered Canadian already dropped one of them in my living room but fortunately for him the Strauchs are hard-headed kids, all is well. I’ll never forget the look on Erica’s face. Also Will Adams, Andrew Calderwood, Rob Fawcett, Ned Rollhaus, Brandon Sweeney, Marc Chaput, Pat Marshall, Scott Gardner, Jeff Blount, and myself playing father-son golf tourney in Arizona March 1-2. In this event I am playing the role of son, my twins news notwithstanding.”

Jon and Lisa Haas are loving being new parents to Ethan, who was born on Sept 8. “While I’d like to believe we’re not too baby obsessed these days, we did recently drag Christina Kramlich to a baby music class when she was last visiting New York. I have recently returned to work as a research analyst at SoundView Technology Group and am busy trying to juggle being a mom with my career. Now that’s something I didn’t learn at business school!”

Kevin Whelan recently moved to northern Virginia from Atlanta with his wife Tracy and has started working for a small company called ScoreBoard which provides a hosted software solution to wireless carriers to help them optimize their networks (he says he would be happy to talk in detail about it if anyone is interested).

“We are excited about being in this area and taking advantage of everything that is has to offer,” he says. “I’m also looking forward to getting involved with the Kellogg club up here and helping out where I can.” Kevin’s e-mail address is kevin_whelan@scoreboardinc.com.

Sean Callahan recently started to work for Oracle in the SCM group in product management “People in San Francisco are doing their best to wait out the dot-com burst by enjoying a record year of snow in Tahoe. The usually ubiquitous Keith Quinn has been MIA ever since moving to L.A. Scott Gardner is being very clear that Enron and AES are two different companies.”

Dain Bussewitz left Marakon Associates after three-and-a-half years. “Hopefully I will have new job news to report by the time the notes come out in April.”

Robert Kuskie is in the Boston area working as East Coast sales manager for ChipPAC, a semiconductor assembly firm. “Sadly, my wife Cyndee has been furloughed from United where she was a flight attendant. Sept. 11 was tough, but Cyn was a great example of how strong people can be during tough times. She wanted nothing more than to keep flying. They have really enjoyed the Boston area, but would now like to get back to sunny southern California.” If anyone needs a quality sales person, let Robert know.

Mark Carroll is proud to report that his wife, Amy, gave birth to their first child, Charles Gregory Carroll on Dec. 29. “He was 8 lbs., 13 oz. and is happy and healthy. Amy and I live in Birmingham, MI and are feeling very blessed to have a healthy child with very healthy lungs! As for the MBA side of things, I’m working at Questor Partners in Southfield, Michigan. Questor is a buyout fund that specializes in distressed situations.”

So that’s all the gossip that fits for print right now, except for my own personal tidbits, which you all seem so eager to know about. Well, yes, I’m still in London. After a brief income hiatus, I have decided to pursue my dream of being a rock star. Or at least working with rock stars. Or at least working with people who play songs by rock stars. I am now working for Capital Radio in London doing M&A for rock star wannabes. It is completely fun and I’m having a blast. You heard it here first — TV is SOOOO 2001. 2002 is the year of Radio. Rock on. Love, Melanie