Many Kellogg classmates were on hand to witness the October nuptials of Ellen Taschioglou ’97 and John Parsons.

1997

A big thank you to Brenda (Brown) Boime for taking the lead in keeping our class together. Brenda has some exciting news to share. On Dec. 17, she gave birth to Samuel William. Both Mom and baby are doing great. However, due to her rather busy schedule, Brenda has passed the updates torch back to me. So, here we go ...

Troy Ihlanfeldt writes, "My wife Michele '98 and I are doing very well. We welcomed our daughter, Charlotte Grace, into the world on March 31, 2002. She is now 10 months old and absolutely delightful. We made the big move to the suburbs after five years of city living. I am still having a great time in executive search at Russell Reynolds and focus my efforts in the consumer and retail industries. I enjoy hearing from Kellogg classmates and am always willing to help out."

Darren Louis writes, "Kim and I are doing well ... having moved back from London at the start of 2001, we are all settled now with our 2-year-old son in the Connecticut 'burbs. I am still at Deutsche Bank, which no doubt places me in the minority in terms of still being with the same place since graduating. That said, we are still shopping around to be fished out of this place to end up in Boston or Chicago. So we'll see. But with a wife and a child to kill my free time, there is not much else to report on this side."

Stacy TMP ’97 and Mike TMP ’98 Devine and their son, Connor Michael Devine.

Jorge Ehrenwald is still in Mexico City, finishing a grueling three-year stint in a start-up called PetroRed. He writes, "It will be over for me in June, and once I get my stock package I'll say goodbye to this entrepreneurial phase. No idea what's next yet." Jorge is planning on restarting the fire on the ski trip for November. Those who are interested should contact him directly.

Jason Summers accepted a new position with Verizon Communications as general manager for enterprise accounts in New York City and Long Island. Jason and his wife Staci will be relocating to Manhattan and are looking forward to everything the city has to offer.

Tolani Ogunleye is still at Leo Burnett in Chicago (one of the few classmates still at their first post-Kellogg job!). Tolani was promoted to vice president in January, working on the Procter & Gamble account. She has finally decided to make Chicago her home. Bought a house in Lincoln Square last July. Please look her up if you ever find yourself in Chicago.

Patty Caplan is still a consultant with Freed & Associates, working on information system implementations, accounts receivable reduction and operations redesign at health care facilities. She manages to squeeze in organizational behavior stuff whenever she can. Emma is now 4 years old and Jonathan is a technical writer at PDI/Dreamworks.

As if moving to Richmond and changing jobs was not enough, Steve Olszewski and his wife Lisa welcomed a new addition to the family, Justin Thomas, on Jan. 17. Thankfully, Justin has taken much of his looks from his mother and is settling comfortably into his role as a food processor.

Owen Belman and his wife, Andrea, are the proud parents of Joseph Wister Belman, born Nov. 17. Joseph and parents are doing well in Singapore, where Owen remains with Marakon Associates.

Pictured at the September wedding of John Budd TMP ’97 and Rebecca Blake TMP ’02 are, back row, from left, Jay Mages TMP ’98, Maura Grace, John Budd and an unidentified guest. Front row, from left, Mimi Slogar, Annette Lee TMP ’98, Rebecca Blake TMP ’02, Deborah Valella TMP ’99, Rachael Korn and Scott Kluge.

After leaving McKinsey three years ago, Ichiro Ike Kawanabe became chief operating officer of his family business, Nihon Kotsu, the oldest and largest taxi and limousine service company in Tokyo. More than 5000 limousine drivers are waiting for Kellogg alums visiting Tokyo!

Liz Hobson has moved from the U.K. to Sydney, Australia, to work in the telecom sector and enjoy the quality of life, weather and sport not generally found in London! She has already made contact with fellow class members Menno Veeneklaus and Warren Bright and hopes to participate more actively in the Australian Kellogg alumni network. Anyone wishing to contact her should do so on her email address: hobson_liz@hotmail.com.

All is well in the Belmonte household. Jon, Rita and Hana (now 2) continue to enjoy the 70-degree and sunny winter in La Jolla, Calif. Most importantly, on Feb. 16, they welcomed Calvin Park Belmonte to the family. Cal's stats were 8 lbs., 6 oz. and 21 inches. Mom and baby are healthy and everyone is doing well.

Jennifer Franke returned to San Francisco in September. She is now working at PGP Corp., a data encryption software company.

Everything happens in threes to Michael Teh. After three degrees and three careers he's back in New York on three new paths: 1. Acting — he's a full-time student at HB Studio where, he says, "Despite having many famous alumni such as Candice Bergen, Matthew Broderick, Billy Crystal, Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, Jack Lemmon, Bette Midler, Al Pacino, Sarah Jessica Parker and Sigourney Weaver, they're obviously struggling in this recession and are accepting anyone! 2. Yoga — In-depth study in Anusara yoga, a prerequisite to teacher training that even has him attending yoga philosophy lectures on Friday and Saturday nights! He explains, "I'm desperately in need of some spiritual growth to counter all the regression I've achieved over the last few years!" and 3. Hospitality — Like 95 percent of actors, he's destined to be one of those bartenders or waiters who's "really an actor," but worse, he'll be one with a law degree and an MBA who needs to let you know that fact while he's serving you. (He's authorized us to shoot him if we ever see him doing this!) Please let him know if you know any producers, agents or bar owners! "Now, if only the ladies came in threes Ö "

Andy Scott ’97 and wife Stacey welcomed their new daughter Audrey into the world on Jan. 22.

Andy Scott and his wife Stacey welcomed their new daughter Audrey into the world on Jan. 22. The Scott family also recently bought a house in San Francisco, and hopes to stay in the area for the long term.

Susan Cohen gave birth to a baby girl, Alison Shea, on Sept. 26. The entire family is doing great — mom and dad are adjusting to life with two little ones.

Bouake Fofana (Fof) writes: "As I said in the previous edition, I moved my family back home from Minnesota. I thought the political tension had eased. I was deadly wrong! My family returned home one week before a coup attempt that turned out to be the beginning of a civil war. Several rebel groups hold two-thirds of the country and most companies have evacuated their expatriates. I am left with no choice but to look for a job in the States, hoping to get an employment visa H1B."

	Burt Lampl ’97 and his wife Trina brought their new daughter Hallie Grace Lampl home in January. Hallie was born three months early, in October.

Burt Lampl and his wife Trina recently welcomed their long-awaited daughter to the world. Born a micropreemie, Hallie Grace Lampl entered the world some three months early on Oct. 21, weighing 1 lb. 2 ozs. After more than three months in the intensive care nursery, Burt and Trina brought her home on her due date, Jan. 29, weighing 4 lbs., 6 ozs. In true Kelloggian fashion, many alumni visited and cheered Hallie during her stay in the hospital, including Anne (Raveret) Obsitnik, Addison Snell, Bill Jazbec, Cecilia (Aviles) Fisher and husband Stu '96, Gil Penchina, Joe Urban, Kenji Hashimoto and Sanjay Kapoor. Anne and Addison went above and beyond duty in donating blood directly to Hallie. And Gil, in classic Penchina fashion, brought bags and bags of holiday sweets to keep the nurses happy.

David Popler '97 and Northwestern grad Beth Rickson were married Dec. 14 in Key West, Fla. Many Kellogg alums were among the wedding guests.

David Popler and Northwestern grad Beth Rickson were married Dec. 14 in Key West, Fla. In attendance were Kellogg alums Brian Korn, Sue (Gouws) Korn, Mike Hilberman, Rick Michaux, Scott Pollack '96, Kim (Bartlett) Pollack, Dan Spector, Stephanie (Gordon) Farsht, Steve Farsht '98 and Joseph Urban. David and Beth are living in San Mateo, Calif., where David is working as vice president of business development at Corrigo (alongside classmate Rick Michaux, who is president there).

Ellen Taschioglou ’97 married John Parsons in San Francisco on Oct. 6.

Ellen Taschioglou married John Parsons n San Francisco on Oct. 6. Talk about fate: Somehow John discovered Ellen at San Francisco's Black and White Ball, a multivenue fund raiser that attracted a mere 15,000 guests. Fate struck again when four days after their honeymoon, Ellen was laid off from Schwab. The timing was perfect, as it allowed her to join Monica Gessner and PJ Platt at Sharon Foote's civil marriage ceremony the very next day. Since October, Ellen's been singing, taking theater improv classes and relishing the opportunity to finally get work that exploits her true talents and passions — most likely work in the nonprofit sector. She's also used the time to excessively organize their new condo in the marina, literally three blocks from where Kevin Dame just bought. Although Ellen still refers to herself as "ET" or "Ellen T," she did opt for the easy last name, Parsons. She'd love to catch up through the_boo@hotmail.com

	Kellogg alum Patrick Flanagan ’97 found his soulmate in Betsy Vance, a Northwestern University graduate. The couple was married Oct. 26 in Chicago.

Patrick Flanagan married Betsy Vance, a Northwestern University graduate, on Oct. 26 in Chicago. In attendance were: Ed Lhee and his wife Maerry, Andy Maner and his wife Julie, Steve and Ifen Carlson, Dave Fishman and his wife Sue, Kevin and Beth (Webber) Hoffman, Sal Saglimbeni, Wayne Hill, Brenda (Brown) Boime and her husband Eric, Matt Burnham and his wife Sheilah, Darren Louis and his wife Kimberly, John and Abby (Scott) McWeeny and Michael Locke and his wife Heather. Betsy and Pat will be leaving San Francisco after six years of living in the country's best adult playground to take up residence in Chicago this spring because they "really miss the snow."

Roxana Velarde and Eduardo Capocchi celebrated the arrival of their new baby daughter Chiara. The baby is doing great, charming her parents and brother AndrÈ. Eduardo is with ABN AMRO in Sao Paulo and Roxana has giving consulting with A.T. Kearney a break to take care of the kids for a while.

Emmanuel Mercier and his wife Muriel are extremely happy to announce the birth of Marine. She was born Jan. 19 at the Portland hospital in London. Both the baby (3.2 kg., 48 cm.) and the mummy are doing well, and the new daddy is on another planet! This is the year of changes, as they also planned to move to Geneva by end of March. Emmanuel is still working at the Gillette Co. for the Duracell brand as european business manager. His email address will stay the same: Emmanuel_Mercier@gillette.com. The Merciers are looking forward to meeting any Kelloggians living or travelling through the Geneva area. They already met with Chris Meyer, who is also living in Geneva. Over the last few months, they have been catching up with some '97 classmates in London such as Pierre and Deborah Cherki, Kay Turner, Jeff Bernardo, Elizabeth Carlson, Carlos Rubal, Joe Dierdorf, Alex Emery and his wife Veronica, Paula Querio (without Pedro!) and Matt and Rebecca Lowell.

Michael Payne ’97 commutes to work in Amsterdam.

Michael Payne sends his greetings from Amsterdam, providing a long overdue submission, Michael reports that 2002 was a good year on several fronts. It began with the arrival of his daughter Malou and was subsequently dominated by her as well. She now has eight teeth and is able to sing and dance, and is a walking testimony that one should not underestimate the impact a child will have on your life. Last spring he decided to leave GE (formerly Enron) Wind Energy for an opportunity to help create Shell's Wind Energy business. He continues to love his windy work, and is busy developing projects onshore and offshore as their senior vice president, responsible for northern Europe. The stars lined up, and the family was able to make a smooth transition and swap August in Houston for August in Amsterdam — the best possible outcome in light of their respective climates. Perhaps most importantly, the family was able to move out of their hotel just before Malou learned to crawl. Although they failed to appreciate the value of this at the time, in retrospect they now recognize that moving with a baby in a more advanced stage of mobility would have meant a significantly more challenging effort.

In the process they traded in two cars for two old bicycles and the Mosquito Ranch for an Amsterdam canal house built in 1674. Now home is best described as vertical, and along with the city itself, is all rather different than life in the Lone Star State. As a result of the charming old world craftsmanship, and the other benefits Amsterdam has to offer, he hopes to see more visitors than he did while living in Houston and Panama. Paul Swinand and wife were the first to make it, arriving some weeks before Michael's furniture. Michael closes with a simple quote. "It was great to see many of you at the five-year Reunion. I expect the rest of you to come and see us!" His email remains mpayne1997@kellogg.northwestern.edu.

Greg Hinton TMP ’97 and Amy (Begnino) Hinton TMP ’00 with newborn twins Kaitlyn and Joseph.		John TMP ’97, Shannon and Katelina Coyle.