Hello 1990-ers!

Happy New Year. Once again, we, the only active Class of 1990 Kellogg "Group," are pleased to report on some of our fellow classmates' activities.

From Kathy Monahan:

Terri Foreman and I have been reminiscing (via e-mail) how our lives have changed dramatically since our last get-together, which was hanging out in Sonoma having a glass of wine with our husbands. Now Terri and Vince have two children, Ellie (3) and Kyle (16 months), and live in Haddonfield, N.J. Terri is working four days a week with two from home and enjoying her busy life.

Dave Mai and Linda Bleck-Mai are glad to say they are finally settled! They live in Mequon, Wis. with their two children David (10) and Sarah (7). Dave is practicing dermatology at Advanced Healthcare in Milwaukee, and I must add that he still has his wonderful wit and that twinkle in his eye! Linda is writing and illustrating children's books. Her new series of books, based on a dog character named Pepper, have innovative pull-tabs, flaps and pop-ups and will be published by Simon and Schuster very soon. So, if you want to support Linda's new career as an author and learn all about her character Pepper and his friend and owner, Lily, look for them in bookstores this July! Yes, Linda's boundless energy continues to inspire me, as she manages feats such as designing and installing her own landscaping, creating children's books and jumping in the car with her kids for a spontaneous road trip to Chicago for a day at the zoo with my son and I. On a final note, Linda and David have extended an open invitation to anyone driving up north on I-43 to stop by and say hi.

From Kevin Sankey:

Well, you know the old saying that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Caught up with Kate Thatcher (Barnwell) recently and we shared the irony destined to befall those who would choose to organize a week of activities for a hoard of incoming first year business school students. The natural progression from CIM Week leader seems to be elementary school PTA president. Since Kellogg has yet to institute a new concentration to properly prepare graduates for this endeavor, we suggest you give either of us a call before you jump off that cliff. Kate can attest to the fact that following your two sons on their snowboards might be substantially safer even if cliffs are involved.

Sam Sheagren, our resident golf enthusiast at Kellogg, has managed to make quite a career of his hobby. "With a lot of changes going on at Callaway Golf, I find myself the acting head of our international business, which is our subsidiaries in Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia and Korea. Not sure if that will prove to be an interim or a more lasting assignment, but it sure is making life interesting for now." More importantly, what we all want to know is, "What's your handicap and how many strokes are you going to give us?"

I'm sure that many of us spent a late evening or two with A.T. Castillo down at Kingston Mines, the Wild Hare or another of Chicago's famous music establishments. As such, it came as no surprise when A.T. called the other day trying to recall the name of the band, Dick Holiday and the Bamboo Gang, that used to frequent the Cubby Bear. A.T. always was a fan of the underworld. So what would you expect when I asked him about what's new in his life? "Looking forward to the return of 'The Sopranos' in March," of course.

One other thing: Marcus Scott and his longtime partner Karen Ross were married in Hawaii on Jan. 4. Heard this from Sam, but don't know for certain myself.

In the words of Jimmy Buffet, "(We're) growing older, but not up!" May that forever stay the case.

Greg Casagrande, who is still running his micro-lending company in the South Pacific, writes:

"As many of you are aware, I have had the great honor of serving on the United Nations International Year of Microcredit 2005 Advisors Group for the past 12 months.

"The UN-IYM officially drew to a close in November at the U.N. headquarters in New York with the "International Forum to Build Inclusive Financial Sectors." The event drew a wide range of expert voices in the field of microfinance as well as some celebrities who have decided to add their voices to support microfinance as a leading tool for poverty eradication. I was pleased to see people like Richard Branson, Walter Cronkite, Jennifer Lopez and Tim Robbins adding their name to the list of supporters of the movement."

From Charlie Frankel:

"I received a wonderful e-mail from Ben Lee around the holidays who wrote:

'It has been a long time since you, Marie-Pierre Bourguignon, Katie Smethurst, myself and few other very lucky Kellogg interns spent the summer together in London and Amsterdam. Sorry I haven't written sooner; but there's no time like the present, so here it goes:

'Today I am the luckiest man in the world. I married way up and we have two good boys, ages 6 and 3. We live in our hometown of Tampa, Fla., where both our parents and grandparents also grew up, so you can imagine how small the place can feel sometimes. Mostly I love it here, and Tampa has been a great base for me to build a business.

'Our house is a wonderfully restored 1920s bungalow in a historic district by the open bay, and lately I've been into turning our backyard into a tropical Balinese paradise, complete with tall bamboo, leafy palms and all sorts of orchids. There's also a guesthouse back there and overnight visitors from Kellogg-past are always welcome.

'Twelve years ago, I started an advertising agency with a partner, no employees and no clients. We [labored hard] for years doing just about anything anybody would pay us for. The New York Yankees became our first big client when they moved their headquarters to Tampa in the mid-1990s. A lot of risk, fun and hard work later, our agency is today one of the top creative and media firms in Florida, handling campaigns for national and multinational brands.

'In business, I am most proud of the team of 25 employees we've been able to assemble. It's a brilliant group of artists, writers, designers and Web programmers, as well as media buyers and MBA-type account managers from all over the world. Everyone works amazingly well together, and they really do accomplish great things. (The employees also drive me nuts, but that's probably more to do with me.)

'I have often thought about writing into Kellogg World, but could never finish this letter. Never felt successful enough, and still don't compared to the stuff I read about other alumni. But hopefully my confession will inspire kindred timid fools to write in, too. My wise (and beautiful) wife says, "You only get what you give." Then again, her grandfather told me, "Don't do anything you wouldn't eat," whatever that meant.'

I was in the Tampa area over Christmas and had the pleasure of having lunch with Ben and meeting his colleagues, his sons and seeing the life he has created for himself. It was refreshing to see that Ben hasn't changed a bit — just as funny and down-to-earth as always — other than he is even happier than when at Kellogg, if that is even comprehensible to any of you. I look forward to catching up with Ben when I'm back down that way.

Last summer I got a call from Allison Plyer, who had returned to Chicago after having been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Allison and I grabbed dinner and caught up and she pondered what her life was going to be like when she returned. I admire her for her character, courage and composure under extreme circumstances. She had no idea if her home had been damaged by flood waters — there were conflicting reports and she wouldn't know for sure until she returned. I asked Allison to write some word for this column to share her experiences of what New Orleans and her life have been like since she returned. Here's what she had to say:

"I evacuated New Orleans on Aug. 27 with my dog, laptop, five t-shirts and three pairs of shorts. I ended up living in exile (mostly in Chicago) for about five weeks. No, I wasn't quite prepared for that eventuality. On Oct. 8, my next-door neighbor got back in and confirmed there had been five feet of water in our area, and so I raced down to New Orleans to see what I could salvage.

"I had to throw away about two-thirds of what I owned and largely gut my house. But Katrina can't get rid of me that easily. My work has become even more important since the storm. Our data center Web site went from being a local asset to a national asset. And we've been to Washington several times to describe how we kept the web site going and helped people find missing relatives all while we were evacuating. Now we're working closely with partners like the Brookings Institution, the Rand Corporation, and the U.S. Census to pull together data that will help inform a sound rebuilding plan for New Orleans and to monitor its progress. And believe me, we'll rebuild. There ain't no stopping us.

"Some of my most joyous work since the storm has been with Shades of Praise. Shades is New Orleans' interracial, interfaith gospel choir. I've been singing with them since 2003, working to promote racial harmony in New Orleans. The Shades were close before the storm. Now we're like brothers and sisters. Shades of Praise members worked hard after Katrina to track each other down. Then we raised funds to make sure everyone was in safe housing and out of shelters. And as we began to trickle back into town, we've helped one another find housing, repair roofs, move appliances and gut houses, and together we hand washed our entire flooded inventory of putrid, stinky "God is Still Doing Great Things" CDs to make them sale-able once more. We're doing free concerts all over town and sharing our vision for a better New Orleans.

"But New Orleans is one depressing place right now. It's grey and largely deserted and unmistakably a disaster zone. Three quarters of the city was destroyed by flooding, and it's gonna take a long, long time to rebuild. And each New Orleanian is faced with an overwhelming set of responsibilities in a context of limited or reduced resources (fewer stores, fewer jobs, etc.) in an atmosphere of great uncertainty. (Will the levees get fixed? Will it flood again next year? Will my business go belly up? Can I get a roofer? Will my neighbors come back? etc., etc., etc.) Everything is far from back to normal. I just hope the country continues to devote as much energy to rebuilding this crucial port city (not to mention national cultural treasure), as it does to rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan."

Allison's last sentence provides an interesting segue to some powerful news from Bill Driscoll. Bill recently sent an e-mail that many of you have seen. For those of you who haven't, I told Bill I would be publishing it for our Kellogg classmates to read for themselves. Bill writes:

"This is a paltry New Year's update. All is well and Lisa continues to enjoy teaching at University of Washington-Tacoma. The dogs both remain fat, dumb and happy. Our kitchen remodel is going exactly as expected — over budget and way late.

"The big news, as some of you are aware, is a temporary change in career plans that I've been working on for the past year or so. This Sunday they will become, so to speak, active.

"I have joined a United States Marine Corps reserve unit that has been activated and will be on active duty through October/November 2006 and deployed to Iraq from March through October.

"My unit will be the 3rd Civil Affairs Group (CAG), based in Anbar Province and will be tasked with assisting the 1st Marine Division with reconstruction and integration with the civilians and local government groups. My specific billet or job will be economics officer, which is primarily a planning and administrative function, so I will not be spending a significant amount of time supervising specific projects 'outside the wire.'

"A number of months ago I spoke with a friend who was in the reserves indicating they were looking for people with my background. As the CAG is a reserve unit and has been on multiple tours, many officers have been on two or even three tours, and they were looking to expand the pool of potential officers.

"In terms of why am I doing this, I've enjoyed the benefits of our society to as great a degree as anyone and feel strongly that if anyone should sacrifice at this point, I ought to, rather than make somebody go back a second or third time. When I found out folks with my background — and age — were needed, I put my name in the hat. In addition to the duty aspect, I must also admit that I am excited by, and looking forward to, the opportunity.

"The downside of course will be the impact on Lisa and broader family for both the separation and stress. I'm very grateful they have decided to support my decision and I'm similarly grateful to those around us who will step up to support them while I'm gone.

"Although my decision is not political, it has been difficult on Lisa and I continue to be extremely lucky and grateful that she is my wife (although I'm not certain this phrase is on the tip of her tongue right now).

"As I get into this project, it will be difficult to respond to individual e-mails. Rather, I'll send out periodic e-mail summaries of what I'm doing."

I was overwhelmed with so many emotions when I read Billy's letter. Mostly, I felt gratitude and am very proud of him for what he's doing. Of course, there is concern for his safety and empathy for Lisa and how she must be feeling about Bill's decision. Good luck, Bill, and may God continue to bless you and keep you safe.

As was the case with many of you, I received many holiday cards and letters from our classmates. It is such a joy for me to get these, especially those with family photos. What I love most about them is how genuinely happy the children are. You can't fake that kind of happiness and it is contagious just to look at those smiling, giggling faces.

Kathy, Kevin and I want to thank everyone for contributing and want to encourage more of you to contact one of us with some news of your life and/or your career. We are so grateful to have shared those two years in Evanston with such a solid, fun, capable and genuine group of people. Please write, as your classmates really do want to know what you're doing.

Finally, it has been many months now since the last column and still no news about or from Jim Kingsley. I've decided to put up a 25-cent reward for any news about Jimmy. Take care everyone, and have a good spring. We'll catch you in a few months.

Please write or call us.