EMP-25

Happy 2002! The past few months have brought a number of changes in the lives of our classmates. There are exciting promotions, job changes, travel, family events and lots of other news, which I'm please to share with all of you.

Congratulations are in order for Donald R. Misner who has moved from Miami, leaving his K10559 Super metal detector behind on the beach and is now back on the ranch in Plano, Texas. He is the chief marketing officer for AmeriCredit in Fort Worth, Texas. AmeriCredit is the largest independent middle market auto finance company in North America. As far as his personal life is concerned, he stated that his wife, Sally, continues to tolerate him (just kidding) and that their son is almost off the payroll having graduated from the University of Colorado. It appears that while in Colorado, he has attained three departmental majors. They are snowboarding, skiing, and finance.

Things continue to change and be interesting for Wendy L. Tweeter of Growth Design Corporation as the company has gone global and expanded their marketplace. Currently they have projects in Switzerland and Tanzania related to micro business development. Wendy said she has been spending a lot of time hiking in Italy at Lake Como and Tuscany. Sounds like rough duty to me!

Rachel M. Macha also continues to be busy with family and with her business. She writes, "Life is constant motion for me. The triplets are four years old, and the twins are two years old. I am starting the second year of my contract with Access Direct, now owned by USA Networks. As of January, I am be responsible for the sales and marketing process for two of their companies, Access Direct and Hancock Information Group, headquartered in Orlando Fla. I recently chaired a huge gala fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House here in Wilmington — the first ever and it was a great success!"

For many years, Nestle has used proprietary software to manage, control and report product costing, manufacturing performance and inventory control in most of its factories around the work. Dan Leffert is managing the development and support team for these proprietary applications as they prepare for a worldwide transition to SAP in the near future. Dan and his family are living in Pully Switzerland and shared the following with me. "The cultural transition for the family has been every bit as interesting as have the business challenges. We are living in the French-speaking part of Switzerland which offers incredible scenery, wonderful people, a very international community and a totally different lifestyle than what we had in Los Angeles. Our son's high school graduation ceremony next spring will actually be held in the local castle — certainly more exciting than a high school gymnasium!”

Here is an excerpt from an informative note from Diana Walker in which she writes: "On a professional basis, I was promoted last year to executive vice president to oversee operational and financial areas at Hu-Friedy Corp in Chicago. On a personal basis, my first-born, Jennifer, graduated from high school and went off to college. It's just my son, Jeff, and me left at home. Jeff is a sophomore so I have a few years left before being an ‘empty nester.’ Bought a powerboat this summer and, after many spills and water up my nose, learned how to water-ski. This being accomplished after many years of sailing into the sunset. Actually bought the boat from another Northwestern connection, Randy Walter. One last note. Last year I also ran in the Chicago Marathon. It was absolutely great!"

Brian L. Rucks is playing golf monthly in Hilton Head Island, S.C. He mentioned that he coincidentally bumped into Harry M. Johns at a Delta gate in Atlanta and had a great catch-up conversation. Brian says that he is still making the finest golf clubs to lower golf scores and traveled to Santiago, Chile, for two weeks in January. By the way, Brian, I was able to lower my score by not playing!

You will be interested to know that Thomas M. Prescott is doing very will and has had some exciting challenges and accomplishments in his career. He writes: "The last couple of years have gone by very fast. We moved back to the San Francisco Bay Area, and built a new home. I had the opportunity to lead a turnaround at a small interventional cardiology company named Cardiac Pathways Corp. Being at Ground Zero for the Internet bubble economy and seeing it dramatically expand and contract has certainly enlightened me. With all of this activity taking place in a few years, I must confess, it's been a wild ride. Unfortunately, I don't seem to do a very good job of keeping up with my classmates but every so often, Mike V. Schrock and I swap e-mails, but that's about it.

“Just to share a bit about the last few years, I was the CEO of the above small public company mentioned above. We managed to get it fixed and growing again, headed for profitability within a few quarters. This culminated in an acquisition by Boston Scientific for about 10X of the market cap when we started. It was a good deal for the investors and strategically a good thing for the company and our employees. The transaction closed this last August and since then, I have been helping out with the transition as well as making a few trips with my wife to Hawaii and Scottsdale to play golf. I will probably dive into another small medical technology company sometime this year. The Bay Area is still a Mecca for medical technology and biotech, and the venture community is still supporting a great deal of company formation and expansion.

“My family is doing great. We are settled into a nice home on a beautiful golf course (with tee times available for classmates) with a son in high school (freshman) doing football, soccer, lacrosse, etc. My wife is extremely happy to be back out west and has given up tennis for golf! When I think back on our days at Kellogg, I certainly don't miss the hours associated with all the studying and the travel associated with being an out-of-towner. What I do miss is the camaraderie. Hope this finds everyone well."

Rich P. Teska is enjoying his callenges at The Northern Trust Company in Chicago. He mentioned that Stephen Kells is also at the financial institution and is doing well. In addition I heard from John S Strauss who is doing well at System Sensor as vice president and general manager of the St. Charles, Ill., location. Jim M. North is still residing in California and is the vice president, customer services business operations for Aspect Communications in San Jose.

Received a nice note from J. Fred Brunk who is serving as vice president of sales and marketing at Fluid Management in Wheeling, Ill. Fred says his son Alex (17) is a freshman in a computer science program at Georgia Tech and that he gets to see him on trips to Atlanta. His family is doing well and made the observed of how the War on Terrorism brought back memories of Jan. 16, 1991 as we all watched the Gulf War unfold at the Allen Center. I've heard this from others as well. It's really amazing to recall and reflect on just how much of an impact both events have had on our lives and with our Kellogg experience.

Heard from Gregory A. Orlando who wants to know if we will be making any plans for the reunion. As it stands now, as of this writing, there is interest and a group is looking into it that include Nicki L. Schuh, Diana Walker, and William R. Knab. I would hope that something gets arranged that allows those individuals that are available to get together. Someone please step up and make it happen! By the way, Greg is now located in the new Motorola facilitating in Deer Park, Ill., and just loves it.

Vince A. Inendino says things are going well both on the personal and business side. He says that he is trying really hard to reassess his priorities and spend more time with his family. In addition he stated that he sees Greg A. Orlando frequently and that Greg is "working out diligently and looks like the Incredible Hulk." If you can concentrate real hard you can almost picture that in your mind.

Had a report from R. Scott Blankenship about his study group. He states, "As for our old team, we are trying to get everyone talking (at least on e-mail) to plan some type of reunion. I have talked with Sally A. Faber and Harry M. Johns but only have e-mail contract with Lee J. Spruit and Michael M. Nanney. I'm not sure what is happening with John C.T. Dodgen other than he and his wife have had another baby." Scott and his wife Cathy are celebrating their second anniversary and doing great.

This summer they will be off to Europe for a friend's wedding. They will fly to Malaga Spain to kick off a fantastic and exciting vacation. They plan to spend three weeks working their way up the coast through France (The wedding is in Grenoble) and finish up in Rome. Scott closed with a few works of wisdom, "Time flies. Live everyday like it's your last and remember — eat dessert first!"

Lee J. Spruit sent me a note that he has moved on to a new opportunity. "I've changed jobs and have gotten into the automotive seating framing business. I am currently working at the corporate offices in Novi, Mich., as the director of program management and technology for CAMACO, overseeing, as you can guess, programs and technology! It's been great. I'm enjoying what I'm doing and having fun. We are a small company of about $200 million in sales, focused and growing in a small company environment, which means that I'm feeling good about moving away from the constraints of a big company. Our youngest son is a freshman in high school. He is also enjoying the change and the challenges. Our oldest son is a junior at the University of Illinois, and I can't wait for him to graduate and start making some money for himself. Will go now but know that all is well here in Michigan. Go Red Wings."

And finally, received an nice note from Michael M. Nanney who is really enjoying his new job and recently celebrated his first year anniversary with Nexen. He shared the following in his communication. "We recently bought an oil and gas field in the Gulf of Mexico and hope to close on a second field by December 2001. This is a significant part of my job so I'm glad to make a contribution. It is my turn to help my children get ready for college. My daughter is a junior in high school and we took a college tour in the Northeast during her fall break this year. I was able to incorporate the trip with an industry conference in Connecticut. We had a really great trip visiting 10 colleges and enjoying the colorful changing leaves as a bonus. Wow, is it beautiful out east in the fall. It was really great and I enjoyed spending the time with my daughter. It actually brought back lots of memories of my days in college — way back when. We intend to take a college tour of Midwestern schools, including Northwestern, this spring. I really want her to consider it, but it may not be the right size enrollment for her and her interests. She has really taken a liking to the smaller liberal arts colleges. Anyway, she still has a year to make the decision of where to apply so we will just have to wait and see.”

That's it gang! Thanks to all that have supported and contributed to our report this year. That's all for now. It's been fun and rewarding.