1993

I hope you had a wonderful holiday. I enjoyed the many holiday letter updates ─ especially hearing about all the new babies! And just wait until you read what Jack McGonagle has been up to…

Irma De Hoyos, who you may recall moved from Texas to Las Vegas last year, was recently playing poker in her new hometown when Don Paiva showed up at her table. Apparently Don is a bit of a card shark and made some big bucks that night playing Texas hold ‘em poker. He and his family also live in Vegas, where he still works for General Motors. In addition to the Don update, Irma also wanted to pass along her strong recommendation for a class she took called the Landmark Forum (check it out at www.landmarkforum.com). Irma says she “can’t speak highly enough about it!”

Andy Whitman is still working and living in the Chicago area. After a 12-year stint at Kraft, Andy founded 2x Management LLC to work with leading private equity firms to acquire, manage and grow consumer goods businesses.

Geoffrey Hyatt, who lives in Boston, has been a serial entrepreneur since leaving BCG in ‘99. First he founded Strong Numbers (www.strongnumbers.com), which he sold in 2001 (now part of Intuit). Next he started Contact Network (www.contactnetworkcorp.com), which launched its enterprise social networking solution last year for several large clients. By the way, Geoff says they are hiring for nearly all positions, most Boston-based.

After graduation, Karl Safft returned to Germany, where he worked in corporate finance and tax advisory for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Hamburg. From there, he joined 3i Group in Frankfurt as an investment manager in private equity. In 1998 he joined Morgan Stanley’s private wealth management practice in Zürich, Switzerland. He met wife Vidula on a flight from London to Chicago in 1993, after one of his investment banking interview rounds. Since the relationship survived many years of commuting between Germany and Chicago, they thought the basis was sufficiently strong to get married ─ which they did in Mauritius in 1997. Karl and Vidula enjoy life in beautiful Zürich, and look forward to hearing from Kellogg friends planning a trip to that part of the world. Email Karl at karl.safft@morganstanley.com.

	Nancy White '93 married Shiv Ramamurthi on the beach in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

In November 2002, Nancy White married Shiv Ramamurthi, whom she met while working at Yahoo. They had a beautiful wedding on a beach in San Juan, Puerto Rico, followed by a ceremony in India. Now living in New York City, Nancy recently began working in the consumer strategy and planning division of Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals Group.

Ghia Griarte, husband Rod Brewster and daughter Natalie moved to Redwood City, Calif., last year. Ghia joined a venture capital company, Saints Ventures, which has acquired and invested in a number of exciting companies. As demanding as her professional life is, Ghia’s personal life is equally demanding, revolving around Natalie’s schedule.

Terry Ryan and Pauline Ryan ‘92 live in Southboro, Mass., where daughter Alexandra and son Colby keep them on their toes. Between family trips to St. Johns, Key West and Washington D.C., last year, Terry found time for his contracting work with EMC and Cool Dogs ─ while playing a little soccer and running after Colby.

Lisa Bishop recently moved (again) to Manhattan Beach, Calif., where she bought a cute cottage. She has actually lived in seven different places over the past three years. Work life has been good at Neutrogena, where Lisa has “had a fair share of challenges and successes.” A personal highlight from last year was her trip to Egypt, where she spent a couple weeks exploring the ancient temples and pyramids, and another week scuba diving in the Red Sea. She also got a kitten, Aki (“autumn” in Japanese). Apparently, Aki is into everything ─ but lots of fun.

Ernesto Ure '93 with, from left, wife Maria; Clara, 10; Delfina, 15; and Ernesto Jr., 5; at home in Manhattan Beach, Calif. Class of 1993 grads may remember Delfina as the little girl riding on the back of Ernesto's bike at Kellogg.

After leaving Kellogg, Ernesto Ure, his wife Maria, and daughter Delfina returned to Los Angeles, where Ernesto took a job with LaSalle Partners. Ernesto also had a two-year stint with LaSalle in Mexico City before the family settled down in Manhattan Beach, Calif., in 1997. Since then, Ernesto has been working as an independent consultant and commercial real estate appraiser. The Ure family expanded with an Evanston-conceived, Los Angeles-born girl named Clara, 10, and, after many years of waiting, a little boy named ... Ernesto M. Ure V, 5. By the way, Delfina (who some may remember as a little girl riding on the back of Ernesto’s bike and eating donuts at the old lounge) is now 15 and a freshman in high school.

Wayne Chang moved to Palo Alto, Calif., a couple years ago after spending many years working in Asia. Though he still travels to Asia occasionally for work, he has strong incentive to stay at home. He was married last summer to his beautiful wife Alice.

Susie Campbell and John Sheputis have recently been blessed with the birth of their first child, Ryan Campbell Sheputis, born in December. Both are enjoying parenthood where, as John puts it, “Sleepus interruptus is our norm.” I’m sure many others can relate.

Among those are John Kim and his wife Michelle, who welcomed their third child, Luke, who joins brother Joshua and sister Cayla. The Kims live in L.A., where John works for the Disney Entertainment Group.

Roman Pongracz and wife Katharina also had a new addition to the family last year. Katharina was born in April 2003, welcomed by big sister Stephanie and brother Franz.

Luke Parker and wife Alicia became parents (again) in January when Matilda was born. Luke writes, “I’m relieved that she has her mother’s good looks, but I am in the market for a rocking chair to sit in and a shotgun to hold while I greet her would-be suitors.” Good luck, boys.

Patrick Lin is also a proud new father and Elizabeth “Buffy” Eilert Grewal is a first-time mom. Congratulations!

Last October Jeff Urdan joined Crystal Steel Fabricators, a $10 million privately held business in the construction industry. Jeff has a general management role, with a focus on improving profitability through technology and process improvements. He is particularly happy about his new position because he gets to continue working with a guy he has been friends with since college and was Jeff’s partner at his last job, a start-up. Jeff is now living on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where company headquarters is located.

After a 15-year Midwestern swing through Cincinnati, Chicago and Columbus, Debbie Muller, husband John, and daughters Sarah and Amy, decamped to yet another “c” city last summer: Charlotte, N.C. While John is busy in his new position at Bank of America, Debbie is beginning to ponder her personal future in Charlotte. There are a number of undergrad and graduate business programs in the area that will hopefully yield some teaching opportunities. While considering the bigger picture, she is staying busy with the girls’ school and activities and falling in with a new mom crowd.

A highlight of Emily Malatesta's '93 year in 2003 was a trip to Tanzania, including a visit to Kilimanjaro.

Last year, Emily Malatesta moved from NYC to D.C., where she now works at Discovery Communications as director of apparel and accessories. She is enjoying getting to know her neighborhood, which apparently, “was not a nice part of D.C. 10 years ago.” Another highlight for Emily last year was her trip to Tanzania, which included a seven-day Kilimanjaro climb along the Rongai route. Recalls Emily: “We awoke at midnight and climbed through the night to reach the summit and the ice fields. When I crested the crater’s edge, the full moon was ahead of me and the rising sun behind me. Spectacular!”

After eight years in management consulting (at Deloitte Consulting, Mitchell Madison Group and SPSS Inc.), Dave Semb is having “a ton of fun” as a partner at PriSim Business War Games Inc. The company builds and teaches interactive computer-based business simulation training courses that include business war gaming exercises and theory-based lectures and discussions.

Don Bullock is now living in Shanghai after changing roles within Eaton Corp., with new responsibility for the Asia Pacific region. It has been quite the adventure for Don, working to grow Eaton’s businesses in such a fast-paced and rapidly changing environment. As if this did not represent enough change, Don and his wife Cathy are managing what is likely the longest commute on record as they balance a two-career marriage from opposite sides of the globe.

Margy Stratton Norman and husband Greg Norman ‘94 continue to live in a lovely old farmhouse in the Milwaukee area, where they moved four years ago. They thoroughly enjoy their busy lives with their two daughters (ages 1 and 3), three cats and two dogs. They are both still in the same jobs ─ Greg in real estate development, and Margy in manufacturing management/new product development. Margy is also involved in various community organizations, including the United Way of Greater Milwaukee and the Wisconsin Humane Society.

After completing his Kellogg degree, Jack McGonagle moved to NYC and has been there ever since. He was a bond trader for about five years, but has been on the vendor sales side since 1998. Jack is divorced, but has a great son, Jackson, now 10. Jackson was born right before we all graduated, so he’s a constant reminder to Jack just how long we’ve been out of Kellogg!

Jack’s life since 9-11 has been fairly influenced by the military. Though he has been out of the U.S. Marine Corps (his pre-Kellogg job) since 1994, he got back into the reserves in 2001. He served as the No. 2 guy managing a few hundred Marine and Navy reservists who worked at Ground Zero providing security, among other things. (Fortunately, he blew off a technology conference that was occurring at Windows on the World --) He responded to a call on 9-11, and had an “interesting” (to say the least) experience.

In 2002, his entire reserve unit was called to active duty, and after many months of training, was sent to Iraq in March 2003. His unit was based in Nasiriyah, of Jessica Lynch fame, for the end of that fight, and for the next four months. Jack spent part of the time as the “military mayor” of a town called Ar Rifa (population 130,000). He says dealing with the local Iraqis to try to get their infrastructure re-established and basic services going, in addition to the multitude of security issues that existed, was a huge challenge. Jack returned to New York last August. He is sorry he missed the reunion ... but I can’t imagine a better excuse.

Well, that’s it for this issue. Even if you didn’t help save the world like Jack, we’d all love to hear what you’re up to ─ your family, your work, your travels, whatever. Email me and include a picture if you have one. Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, I hope you’re enjoying it immensely!