EMP-39

Stephanie Pincus checked in from Buffalo, N.Y./Washington, D.C.: “I hope this email finds each of you and your families well and happy. It has been a busy year for us, especially since I am still commuting from Buffalo to D.C. Every Monday morning I fly down, usually on Southwest Airlines, which, as we learned in business school, does a good job in the business of flying planes without frills. I have a small apartment across the street from work where I keep my business uniforms of dark suits, scarves, and flat shoes. On Friday, it’s back home to family, garden, and kitchen, leaving all work and thoughts of work behind. Despite having an excellent housekeeper, it is a challenge to keep up.

“Last October, my daughter was married in D.C., on a beautiful hillside in a burgundy dress (decidedly different). She is still finishing her degree in social work and is considering becoming a sex therapist. I have advised her always to be ‘outside insurance,’ since I am confident there will always be people ready to pay for her services.

“My eldest finally finished graduate school and has started his academic career at Cornell as a classics scholar. He lives in Manhattan in a rent-stabilized apartment, and has an apartment in Ithaca for his work week. He loves being back in New York after the relatively quiet San Francisco.

“My youngest, Ben, has now started public high school in Buffalo. The school is a magnet high school with lots of wonderful kids and teachers, and it is sad to see that the lack of money has reduced critical programs such as art, music, chorus, and all extracurricular activities. The sports programs are largely organized by the parents and function as club teams. He rows four days a week now, which keeps him busy and physically active.

“My husband continues his work in treatment of skin cancer by nonsurgical techniques. I thank all of you as taxpayers for supporting the NIH and his research. He continues to be a devoted father and husband. I am truly grateful for his support and encouragement.

“Regards to one and all. Call if you come to D.C. My office number is 202.273.8946.”

Terry Meyers has been busy. He and a partner, Walt Tomenga, have merged their management consulting practices into a company called Three Dimensional LLC, Business Solutions with Added Perspective. The new firm will offer specialized services to manufacturing companies including supply chain, management processes, lean manufacturing, and continuous process improvement. Reach Terry at tmyers@myershill.com.

Leslie Schmidt has moved to Chicago and reports: “Finally, after more years than I care to admit to trying, I have left Pittsburgh and arrived in Chicago. Whew! Our sons are in college and heading toward careers of their own, so we are enjoying the empty-nest syndrome with relish. Stopped by to visit Chris Storm in Amarillo and occasionally see Geoff Wheeler. Both are still their magnificent selves.”

Speaking of Chris Storm, he snuck in the following update, “Hard to believe it’s been so long since we’ve all been together. Our life continues to be busy and happy. Grite is currently in France with her oldest son and our two grandchildren. The youngest was 2 last week and the oldest is 9 and starting to learn English. He tells me he wants to see a rodeo and needs to know the language so he can understand everything. My kind of kid!

“I’m still the CEO at Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch. It was supposed to be a two-year assignment that is now more than four years and counting. We’ve made lots of progress on the goals I set at the start of all this and I expect I can back off late next year. Our executive VP has a social work background and runs the core of the business, youth programs. He’s simply stellar. He’s going to enter an executive MBA program next September to learn how to defend himself against us business types, and then I think he’ll be a great choice as our next president/CEO. Maybe then I can go do that fly-fishing I keep dreaming about.

“Lastly, my third run at the Hemingway look-alike title is July 22 to 24 in Key West, Fla. Mike Weiss called me last November to be sure I was signed up because he and Deanna were already shopping for airfare. Cheryl Duda-Harte and Eric are also signed up. I expect we’ll have 15-20 crazies again, so if anyone is interested drop me a line. I probably won’t win, as it seems to take five to six years of persistence, but I can guarantee a real good time.”

Barry Cooper is looking forward to spring and reports he ran into Martha Schlicher a couple of weeks ago. She has left Monsanto and is working for a research operation at Southern Illinois University.

It was great to reconnect with Kate Bergin, who offered the following update on herself and several classmates: “I am doing fine. We are having fun enjoying family life. Hannah, 1, and Connor, 4, are sources of joy, laughs and humility. Connor recently asked me, ‘Mom, when it’s your birthday, how old are you going to be?’ I replied, ‘40,’ to which he said, ‘Mom, I can’t count that high.’ ─ YIKES!

“I am still doing consulting, albeit at very low levels, one project at a time. I feel it is important to stay engaged with my work because I love it and I am afraid my brain will atrophy if I don’t! But I also want to enjoy being a mom. So far it is working out pretty well.

“Husband Tim and the kids are doing well. Tim heads up the Army recruiting advertising business at Leo Burnett. Having been in the military, this is a great fit for him. Connor is in school half a day and loves it. Hannah, who was born two months premature, is doing great and has caught up with her peers. She loves jewelry, purses and patent leather shoes! During the second half of 2003, we started taking vacations again (Hannah kept us home for a while.), and visited Montana and DisneyWorld. We are planning an early spring trip to Tucson and are looking forward to warmer weather.

“I still keep in touch with Anne Marie (MacPherson) and Jill (Zimmerman). Anne Marie got married a couple of years ago to a great guy named Chris. They live in Seattle and are very happy. They just got back from a trek in the mountain kingdom of Bhutan (near Tibet and India) in November. Jill married a terrific guy named Bill. They live in Oakland, Calif., and have two girls, almost the same ages as my kids. They have been busy skiing in Tahoe and being social, social, social.”

Terri Herrington is still as beautiful as ever and offered the following update: “Hello all. Paul and I are still in London and doing well. I’ve taken a different job with BP, so we’ve signed up to stay here awhile longer. I am now director of audit, finance and financial control, and I am accountable for designing and delivering the financial component of BP’s internal audit program worldwide. In the new world of Sarbanes-Oxley, that is both challenging and scary.

“Our daughter, Raegan, finishes her bachelors’ degree in May and plans to take a year off from school to gain some work experience in the psychology field. She still wants to be a forensic psychologist and is now talking about a joint doctorate in law and forensic psychology. That altered our retirement planning scenarios a bit! (Is it worth it, Dr. Pete Ferreira?)

“Our mutual EMP friend, Bernie Birt, was in London for a short visit this week, and I enjoyed dinner with her, along with Shawn Carsten EMP-48, who works for Shell. We caught up on news from many of you and enjoyed some great Turkish food. (It sure beats the British food!) Hope you all are well.”

Tim Wulf had the pleasure of talking to Bob Driscoll, Dr. Carolyn Bengtson and Robert Kim. Bob Driscoll is working his way through the challenging world of steel tariffs at O’Neal Steel, and offered free room and board for any EMP-39ers who visit him in Birmingham, Ala. Carolyn is working her way through the challenging dynamics/consolidations of the health-care industry, while being the loving spouse to husband Jonathan as he goes for his umpteenth degree! Robert is semiretired and enjoying traveling the world. His itinerary included three continents in three months. Rough life, but well deserved.

Long-lost Paul Magelli barely made this issue with his last-second update: “Dalia and I had our first little one in July of last year here in England, a son named Paul John III (by his mother). He and his parents are loving life in England. Dalia completed medical school and is about to start residency (if I can’t convince her to take another year off and have a little girl). She will be living in the United States until she gets through her residency, while I stay in England for a while (I just had to open a Chicago branch of my company to have an excuse to have a house on two continents.)

“I am CEO of a software infrastructure company based in Bristol, England, that serves mobile network operators. We have grown the business in 18 months from a handful of founders to almost 50 people, and today have Vodafone and Orange (the No. 1 and 3 global mobile operators) as customers. The business is a technology commercialization play from a major mobile operator. We will soon add several more of the largest mobile operators in the world to our client list. We have successfully taken the company through two rounds of venture finance ─ in the worst venture market in recent history ─ to support our growth.”

For me, life is good in Wisconsin. The family is great, the job is challenging, and I am having fun at church and outside activities. If you want a fun challenge, coach a basketball team that ranges from pre-kindergarten to first grade.

Dennis Blyly, I am sure you can appreciate how hard it is to design a play so that an “almost-5-year-old” gets a shot up against 7-year-olds about twice his size. Reminds me of watching you trying to get Andy Kuchan a shot at the NU gym! Sorry Andy, I only pick on those I love or who live in Asia.

Take care and stay in touch. Tim Wulf