1989

Greetings to all. Everyone must be busy driving the economy since my in-box has been pretty quiet since the last issue. Hope to hear from more of you soon ─ thanks to those who wrote.

John Wood, founder and president of Room to Read, wrote to share good news: The nonprofit organization won an inaugural Social Capitalist Award, given by Fast Company magazine and consulting firm The Monitor Group. The award is granted to “organizations that use entrepreneurial genius to solve some of the world’s most daunting social problems,” and is detailed in a recent issue of Fast Company.

John writes: “The due diligence process was fairly grueling, and involved interviews, surveys, personal essays and quantitative proof that our business model gets results. We did not expect to win such an award so early in our life. The average winner is 13 years old, and their budgets average $12 million, so we were honored to be in their company.”

James E. McLean is the new executive vice president and chief operating officer of Tishman Construction Corp. of Illinois. In his new position, James will have overall responsibility for management of Tishman’s Chicago office.

J. Harry Wells is the new president and chief executive officer of the Chicago Youth Centers (CYC). CYC is the largest independent youth services agency based in Chicago, and has served Chicago’s children, teens and their families for nearly 50 years.

Beth Ayotte sent in this update: “I thought I would drop you a note about what has been happening with me and other members of the class of 1989. I am still with ADP Dealer Services, which is the longest time I have stayed in one location without being relocated, downsized, etc. It is great not to have to pack and unpack boxes for a change. I am actually accumulating ‘clutter.’

“It was very busy this fall. A group of us gets together each year and hits a few of the NU football games. I have a chance to catch up with Larry Rusinko, Penn French, Tiscia Eicher, Tina Tranfaglia and Milton Young, as well as a few other alums, depending on the game. Larry Rusinko had a busy year. He recently left Panera Bread, where he was the VP of marketing, and relocated to the Springfield, Mass., area to see if the magic was there to turn Friendly’s Ice Cream around. He was also married this fall, between trips to Evanston for football games. The last time I spoke to Milton Young, he was still with Whirlpool, but looking at a new position in global procurement. The decision on relocating to Shanghai was on the table, and I believe that he and his wife were contemplating that major move. Tiscia Eicher continues to drive the Calphalon Culinary Institutes. Tina Tranfaglia is the brains and brawn behind the Zoo Pals and Sports Pals line of paper products. You become quite the popular aunt when you get coupons for free Zoo Pals!

“I had a great Christmas season this year. On Nov. 30, my mother and I flew down to Guatemala City, Guatemala, to pick up my son. After waiting 11 months, my son RJ (Robert John) was home to celebrate his first birthday and Christmas. Life has certainly changed from me running around to running after a very busy 1-year-old!”

Deb Maue also has been very busy: “In the past year I’ve gotten married, had a baby, renovated my house, and both my husband and I switched jobs. Tim and I had a baby boy, David Howell Moyar, on Sept. 17, two weeks before our first wedding anniversary. In March Ç002, I left Unilever for a consulting job with Constellation Management Group. We’re a small new-product consulting firm special­izing in retail. I am the VP of new product development, leading new product development for CVS. And we also just completed an addition on our house in Oak Park, which took a year. Finally, Tim joined Leo Burnett in March. Some people fight change; I say, if you’re going to change one thing, why not change everything?”

Etienne Veber was promoted to president and CEO of Merisant, the world’s leading producer of low-calorie tabletop sweeteners, including the well-known brands Equal and Canderel.