2002 classmates rang in the New Year together in the Big Apple

2002

Hope you all had an enjoyable holiday and New Year's. This year has brought many good things for the class of 2002, including new jobs, new babies and some weddings. I had the pleasure of ringing in 2003 with many of our classmates in New York City. Ian Milward and Tom Stokes hosted a party in their Tribeca apartment. Revelers included folks from the New York City crowd and a slew of others who were in town: Brooke Brandes, Irene Tarkov, Adriana McGrath, Claire Lundin, Debbie Koyama, Angela Teng, Alissa Bagchi, Alvarado, Brian Benneke, Jon Scholes, Anthony Machado, Lisa Jackson, Gizman I. Abbas, Chat Rivera and Uhmer Shah. Julie Saliba spontaneously decided to jump on a plane from Dallas around 11:00 a.m. on Dec. 31 and Emanuela Cancogni won the prize for traveling the farthest, making the trek from Rome to enjoy the holiday with Kellogg friends.

Juan Carlos Gay also caught up with several Kellogg friends as he passed through New York City during the holidays. He's been working in Colombia for six months, but reports that his actual time in the city has been only eight days. He has no apartment and his stuff is in a warehouse. Given his mobility, email is the best bet if you need to find him.

Many of us have also finalized the transition from school to work, and settled into new jobs and new cities. Amy Walters wrote from D.C.,where she landed after graduation to accept a position as a director of the Education Entrepreneurs Fund. She's enjoying the city and also recently completed the D.C. AIDS marathon.

Wayne Borduin wrote from the Bay Area, admitting that while he missed school, it was nice to have the evenings and weekends back ó something I'm sure we can all relate to. Wayne is working in corporate strategic planning for Chevron Texaco and he and wife Stacie are living in Dublin, Calif.

Erika Haendel is enjoying life in Los Angeles. She recently moved into her own Melrose Place-style apartment in Los Feliz, complete with pool and palm tree-lined courtyard. After doing some temporary project work at Disney with Buena Vista Home Entertainment, she was offered a permanent position on the preschool brand marketing team. She works on such exciting titles as Winnie the Pooh, Baby Einstein, Rolie Polie Olie and Stanley. Parents-to-be: contact Erika for the inside scoop on where to find these preschool must-haves!

2002 graduates celebrate the start of their alumni relationship with Kellogg in June.

Indianapolis hasn't been the same since Deborah O'Fallon joined Lilly as a financial analyst for nearly half of Lilly's marketing budget. She's enjoying the challenges of work and has been working on fixing up the house she bought there. She's also planning a spring break with some Kellogg friends, and as she wrote, was gearing up for a long weekend with classmates Jacqueline Young and Aaliyah el Amin. Deborah was one of the many who also relished the fact that she's now getting a paycheck!

Tarik Rodgers has landed a buyer position with Ford Motor Co., which lends itself to countless opportunities. Although he turned down offers with Medtronic and Baxter when we left school, he is more than happy to have found something that will keep him in Detroit with his new wife.

Tom Fox joined Navigation Technologies in Chicago about six months ago. He reports that he's really enjoying the job and learning a lot in the ever-changing arena of high-tech business development.

Rich Saad also sent news. In his new position at GM, he is working in the vehicle operations group, where he is the business manager responsible for integrating advanced manufacturing technology across the company's manufacturing engineering centers. He's responsible for finding new manufacturing technologies and processes, working with federal labs, universities, consortiums, alliance companies and suppliers.

In baby news, we've had several exciting new additions. Meenu Gupta had a baby boy, Arunim, on Oct. 3. He's still in Chicago, and now that he has recovered from new fatherhood, he is just beginning to look around for a job.

William "Will" Gray Small was born Dec. 18 to Scott and Allison Small. Will and Scott are lucky enough to share the same birthday ó good planning, Allison. Will weighed in at 7 lbs., 1.6 ounces and measured 20.5 inches.

Jed Wallace ’02 is the proud new father of Tess Darling.

Jed Wallace and wife Amy Ahlfeld gave birth to Tess Darling on Nov. 1. Baby Tess joined the world at 9 lbs., 3 oz., and was 21 inches long. Tess, mom and dad are all enjoying life in San Diego. Ron Andrikian and wife Natalie had their first child Oct. 12. Baby Daniel is helping mom and dad adjust to their new life and all are enjoying every minute of it.

Hirer Thakar has had a very busy life. Since graduating from Kellogg, he's moved three times, gotten married, started work at SDG in Houston and purchased a home. He writes that work is good and Houston is warm, friendly and full of SUVs.

Cristian Letelier and wife Alejandra are doing well in Chile. Christian invites those of us traveling to Chile in the near future to contact him.

Finally, I heard from David Baker. He's making the last six months of my life seem incredibly boring, but I wanted to share the story of his seemingly endless adventures. David writes, "Since graduating from Kellogg last June, I've had a wonderful run (not that Kellogg wasn't two of the best years of my life either). I've danced the night away in Madrid (every chance I got), tasted puppy in China (I swear it was completely by accident ó I'm still dealing with the emotional scars), frolicked in a magical new world at the Great Barrier Reef, witnessed the breathtaking beauty of New Zealand, carved fresh powder in Vail, watched the snow fall in Central Park and visited my favorite strip mall in New Jersey. Along the way I've met a cornucopia of people who befriended me, who moved me, who challenged me and, in some cases, who just completely creeped me out. How could I possibly top that you ask? I've just started working with Bain and Co. in the firm's London office. For those of you unfamiliar with the firm, I will be doing once again what I love ó management consulting. Plan A is to work 55 to 60 hours a week sitting in a cubicle staring at a computer screen. I'm trying hard to come up with a Plan B right now. With age 35 still five years away though, I've got plenty of time to work on answering that question before my upcoming mid-life crisis, which I've already scheduled into my brand-new Palm Pilot for Dec. 4, 2008, at 9:27 a.m." I anticipate that David's talk show, something a la "Dr. Phil," will launch sometime in early 2009.

For all the details regarding our first Kellogg Reunion (May 2 to 4), please call the alumni office or visit online. Click on the Class of 2002 page to see who's coming.