Kathy Jara Skinner '93 with husband Steve, daughter Morgan and sons Ryan and Owen

1993

Harald Fett recently relocated from Munich to Cologne, where he moved into an old farmhouse with his girlfriend Benita. His new home dates to 1770 and has nice guest quarters. Harold says, "Whoever wants to visit, please swing by." Professionally Harold has been active in the turnaround and restructuring business for the past four years. In fact the main reason he moved to Cologne is his work as managing director of an iron foundry he bought last July. He welcomes the challenge of managing an old-economy company with lots of nuts-and-bolts problems, but it keeps him very, very busy. This year Harold and Benita's are planning a trip to South America to visit some friends and Benita's family in Chile. (Looking forward to hearing about the trip, Harald!)

Alla Grinshtat Wexler and husband Michael recently visited Kathy Jara Skinner and husband Steve Skinner in Vermont. The two families had a great time skiing and introducing their kids to each other. Kathy now has three children: Ryan, 7; Owen, 5; and Morgan; 2 1/2. They all got along very well with Alla's 8-month-old son Sam and a good time was had by all!

After a career in project finance and two kids, Lori Tecktiel Frischer has joined Yoffi Fine Jewelry, a startup that sells fine jewelry through a network of independent consultants through home and office trunk show parties. As VP of sales and marketing Lori is responsible for building the consultant network throughout the States. Lori is glad that her hours are flexible so she's able to balance work with time with the kids. Check out the Yoffi Web site at sell-yoffi.com.

Tom Higgins is managing director and CIO of the Bulgarian-American Enterprise Fund, where he has worked since 1993. In January he founded a new investment fund, Balkan Accession Fund (BAF), which he co-manages. BAF targets flexible equity and mezzanine investment structures in leading mid-sized private companies, with a focus on Romania and Bulgaria. The targeted capitalization of the fund is EUR 75 million and the first close was for EUR 20 million. BAF is still looking for investors, so feel free to contact Tom at thiggins@baefinvest.com if you are interested.

In January Ken Roberts, VP of international business development for Delta Faucet Co., relocated with his family to Guangzhou, China. For the last four years part of his job he has been overseeing a greenfield manufacturing site near Guangzhou. "I guess it finally got big enough that my boss asked if I'd relocate," writes Ken. His wife and kids seem to like their new locale and they've finally gotten their personal effects through the Chinese customs gauntlet, "so all seems to be going pretty well." Ken invites friends to reconnect with him at kw_roberts@hotmail.com.

Rose Tsou is still in Taiwan, working for Yahoo! for the past five years running Taiwan operations. Rose says she'd love to reconnect with the class again (so send in your updates to bring her up to speed!).

Liz Howard has worked for Kellogg for 10 years, the first nine as assistant dean for development. Now she is the associate director of Kellogg's Center for Nonprofit Management. The center provides executive education to nonprofit leaders, both paid staff and volunteers, who want to increase the effectiveness of their organizations. The center hosts nine different programs at Wieboldt Hall and provides scholarship assistance for organizations that cannot afford to participate. If you serve as a staff or board member of a nonprofit and are interested, you can learn more on the Web site, kellogg.northwestern.edu/nonprofitexeced. On a personal note, Liz and her husband Mike live in Northbrook, Ill., and have two boys (4 and 5) and a daughter (18 months).

Wendy Will has some wonderful news: TWINS! Liza Frances and Lena Marie were born on Aug. 7. Husband John is still in shock that he is living in a household of four girls (including Wendy). Wendy is still in shock over how dramatic the change has been from one to three kids. "They are thankfully getting easier and more fun by the day, but I think it's going to be a sleepless period in our lives," Wendy says.

You may recall from the last Class Notes update that Wendy works at Sg2 with Bill Woodson, who also has twins. (Maybe there's something in the water at Sg2?) Wendy writes that Sg2 has been a great move for her, as it is focused on providing healthcare intelligence to hospital organizations that focus on the innovations in the healthcare arena. "I think I got burned out on operations, so it is fun to be back on the strategy side and working with progressive hospitals around the country," she says. Somehow Bill and Wendy are both figuring out how to fit twins into a work schedule, but Wendy is staying part time to keep her sanity and have the luxury of doing most of her work from home. (Bill and Wendy, send us some pictures!)

Congratulations go to Geoffrey Hyatt and wife Viva, who were married Oct. 9 in Kennebunkport, Maine. They live in Boston, where Viva is happy to have a seven-minute walk to work at Bain Capital. Geoffrey is very busy at Contact Network, where they have developed the leading corporate software that helps you find your colleagues that have relationships that will help you. If your company is still trying to share relationships around the water cooler or by internal blast email, there is a better way. And for those in Boston, Contact Network is hiring and welcoming exceptional candidates.

Dominic Rispoli, wife Lisa; son Corey, 5; daughter Caroline, 2; and dog Frisco have all relocated (for the fourth time in the past 10 years) back to the New York area from San Francisco. They miss the Bay Area, but are very excited to be settling in the Northeast, where the majority of their extended family is located. They live in Westport, Conn., (nowhere near Martha) and Dominic is still with Lehman Brothers in investment banking. (Dominic, did you know Kathy Jara Skinner and her family live in Westport, too?)

Nancy White Ramamurthi and her husband Varun relocated back to San Francisco after a couple years in New York City. Nancy is now VP of marketing for Infinite Spirits, makers of Shakers Original American Vodka. I got to catch up with Nancy and Varun when we met for brunch with John Sheputis and Sumin Eng at the end of last year. Nancy's son Varun, and John and Susie Campbell's son Ryan met for the first time and got along famously.

Dave Darrah was recently promoted to general manager for Zatarain's Inc., a New Orleans-based food company and subsidiary of McCormick & Co. He's really excited about the new challenges that lay ahead and encourages all of our classmates to "Jazz Up Dinner Tonight" with Zatarain's! The company has recently completed product testing and trademark protection in Canada, Europe and beyond. It's Dave's goal to make sure that wherever Roddy is, he'll have the authentic flavors of Zatarain's close at hand. (By the way ... where is Roddy? Roddy, let us know what you're up to.) "Life is hardly easy in the Big Easy these days but we survived (last year's) hurricane season fairly well," Dave reports. However, it is with deep regret that Dave passes along the following news to Gerry and Luke ... the Florabama is gone, thanks to Hurricane Ivan. I guess they'll just have to find a new watering hole.

Roman Pongracz, wife Katharina; daughter Stephanie, 6; son Franzi, 4; and daughter Tati, 1 1/2; are still living happily in Vienna. (Letecia Ponce, who lives in Madrid, is Tati's godmother, by the way). Last year Roman successfully restructured his company — and his job! The family looks forward to skiing in Switzerland this season and Roman wishes all his fellow Kelloggians a great year.

	Brett Jarvis '93 with wife Lydgia, son Zach, and daughters Haylie and Elise

Brett Jarvis, wife Lydgia, son Zach and daughter Haylie welcomed Elise to the family last March (apparently Lydgia had to drive herself to the hospital; Brett may never live that one down). Last year Brett's wide-ranging, Renaissance activities ran the full gamut from work to work. However, he also found the opportunity to fit in some work, service at church, work, volunteering at the kids' schools, work, coaching Zach's T-ball team, and getting his passport and computer stolen in England (while at work?).

Last year Terry Ryan, wife Pauline Jen Ryan '92 and their children Alexandra, 6, and Colby, 3, flew on several round trips, stayed in 11 different hotels/resorts and drove thousands of miles to discover that while "adventure travel" for some means trekking in Nepal or safaris in Kenya, for families it typically means 1 a.m. meltdowns in hotel lobbies and starving children on airport tarmacs. Kidding aside, it sounds like the Ryans had some great family bonding as they explored the country. On the work front, Pauline is now senior VP of corporate development and operations at ImmunoGen. Although she did manage to sing one concert last summer with the Back Bay Chorale in Boston Common, she discovered that it really is impossible to have a full-time career and be a mom to two young children AND expect to have any hobbies of her own. (Can any of you relate?) Terry continues as a freelance marketing/strategy consultant, contracting primarily with EMC.

If you thought the Ryans were busy last year, wait until you hear what Cliff and Lisa Aufranc Sharples were up to. Cliff, Lisa and their children Wescott, 7; Yve, 4; and Otto, 2; visited 37 states, loading and unloading moving vans four times, living at five different addresses, changing jobs, changing schools and living on two coasts for three months of the year at the same time. At the end of the day, they moved from a red state (Texas) to a blue state (Washington). The reason for all the chaos was Cliff's acceptance of a new job at Cranium (you know, the game). With an office full of toys, Cliff's cool-dad factor has jumped way up with the kids!

Do you remember Ramu Thiagarajan, a professor of accounting while we were at Kellogg? Well, he left Kellogg in 1999 to join Mellon Capital Management, where he was managing director, responsible for all active stock selection strategies. Ramu recently changed jobs and is now a principal at one of the large hedge funds, Pequot Capital Management, where he is responsible for structured strategies. He is based in San Francisco and would love for his former students to get in touch with him at ramu@pequotcap.com.

I hope you're all having a fun-filled, prosperous year. Keep those updates coming in and don't forget to include photos. Oh, I'm planning a two-week trip to Alaska with some friends this summer. If you're interested in coming along, drop me a line. The more the merrier!