1992

Well, aftah some arm twistin' and leanin,' we finally squeezed some news outta yous. We're gonna let yous off da hook dis time — so's nobody gets "whacked" (as my Jersey pals Tony S. and Mikey G. like to say). But next time we expect 'payment' from yous wit' interest Š or fuhgettaboutit.

Let's start with Scott Allan, now he paid us some respect, when he wrote: "After a three-year stint with a big company (Symbol Technologies) as general manager and vice president of corporate development, I left in late 2005 to start my own software venture. I still live in the San Francisco Bay Area and have two great kids — daughter Cayley (8) and son Ryan (5). I enjoy snowboarding at Tahoe when I can get away and my 40-year-old knees cooperate. I just met up with John Welsch who visited San Fran from Wisconsin for a wedding." Scott promised to write more about his venture so that he has still has knees "to cooperate" next winter.

The day Siberia came to New York in the form of 27 inches of snow, Alan DeYoung departed for even worse climes in Siberia. Alan is visiting the dwindling number of elderly and impoverished Holocaust survivors in Siberia (many who ended up there not by choice) to help care for them and to capture their stories through personal interviews. Going in February certainly shows what a labor of love and conscience this is for him.

	Riff '92 and Eva Coven, nearly two miles high in New Zealand
	Dave Valdes '92 and wife Elena after they climbed Mt. Pinatubo. Behind them is the lake formed after the volcano's violent eruption in 1991.
	Marco Pellegati '92 with daughter Yuri in Manhattan
	Marco Pellegati '92 scuba diving with wife Ilka

Class mascot and one of the original '92 Wiseguys, Dougal Henderson writes from Australia: "I've lived in Brisbane since graduation. In 2000, I married Margaret and we have daughters Zoe (4) and Sophia (16 months), so we're pretty busy. Since 2000, I've been an investment adviser with Macquarie Bank, which gives me the opportunity to express an opinion on just about anything" (Nothing stopped you before either, Dougal). "I manage client portfolios and the markets have been most kind of late. My main pastimes (besides imbibing fabulous Aussie wines) are sailing and mountain biking. Fortunately, Brisbane is a coastal city ringed by steep hills. My major 2005 success was entering the boat I owned in 'a syndicate' (a Norlin 30 called Scampi A), in the annual Brisbane to Gladstone race (a 305-nautical-mile bluewater race). We finished fourth in IRC, and second in Veterans class (veterans referring to the boat and not the sailors!). The result was enough to encourage Scampi's previous owner to make us an offer we couldn't refuse: to sell the boat back to him" (Dougal, you are supposed to make such offers — cripes!). Alas, despite living in paradise, it's been 10-plus years since Dougal had a classmate visit — not since former roomie Kashif Chaudhry. Dougal says he pines for visits from us and he'll even pick up the airfare.

From Minnesota, Kevin Hykes writes that he's "now hanging with Lana Slavitt (Etherington) at skating lessons on Saturday mornings. She moved here last year from L.A., and her kids already skate better than mine."

Gary Dvorchak proudly announces that his L.A. hedge-fund company, Channel Island Partners, has merged with Global Financial Private Capital. Gary joins the young GFPC firm as a senior partner and a managing partner. The firm manages $125 million in equities (long only) for institutions. Kevin McDonnell joined Heidrick & Struggles International Inc. as vice president of finance at H&S corporate headquarters in Chicago. Jim Neary is a partner at New York private equity powerhouse, Warburg Pincus where he focuses on technology investments. "I've lived and worked in New York City since graduation. My wife Rebecca and I have a daughter Kira (8) and son Will (6). Rebecca teaches history at Drew University. We love NYC living, but escape on weekends when we can." Raj Sidana is "having a blast at Kaiser Permanente in Pasadena, Calif. We are revamping the sales, account management, and marketing systems for the next phase of life for Kaiser and we can't hire fast enough. New to SoCal living, my kids still can't believe there's no snow outside." From Japan, Ken Okui reports that he and his wife are fine, with two boys, 11 and 8. Ken is now mulling sending his eldest son to the United States to study. James Sandfort is president-elect of the KSM Alumni Club of Dallas-Fort Worth, where he's an account vice president at UBS Financial Services.

In November, Betty and Mark Kornbluth had their third child, Jenna. She joins brothers Zachary and Daniel. Mark also recently left JPMorganChase for Citibank as head of North American internet strategy. The Kornbluths traded their Manhattan digs (one-bedroom apartment for a family of four) for a nice house in suburban Connecticut a few years ago. But Mark "just made the long-avoided step of buying a minivan last weekend Š arrghhh!" Well Mark, it happens to most of us, and actually an SUV wouldn't have made you look any younger or cooler — just fuelish. First news ever from Hiroshi Hoshiai! "After nearly 20 years with Resona Bank, I joined FedEx Kinko's Japan as human resources director in November. I have been enjoying 'making a copy' life so far, remembering how the Kinko's by McManus saved my life many times. On the private side, my wife Mamiko and I are happy parents of son Takeshi (8) and daughter Hana (5).

From left: Paul Mistor '92, Mimi and Greg Santoro '92, Karen Theobald (Sean's wife), Sean Conlin '92, Gretchen and Barry Fougere '92, and Boyd Rice '92 celebrate the Sean and Karen's wedding.

Big 3 News

Joanne Sevrain (Cho) joined DaimlerChrysler last autumn and now heads up its maintenance parts division for Mopar. Fellow MMM George Thornton wants classmates to visit him while he works on a Ford 'world car' in Lauro de Freitas, just north of Salvador, Brazil. After a long stint with Ford Motor, Tom Scarpello took a new position as vice president of marketing at Tuttle-Click Automotive in Southern California. After spending the previous decade as a developer for a Ford Motor subsidiary, Scott Goldie recently started a new company called Brooks Street (brooks-street.com). We are a land development firm based in California with offices in Newport Beach and the Bay Area. We now own over 3,000 lots in California, two golf courses, and apartment buildings. We sell our property to large public builders such as Pulte and Centex. We also own part of an environmental remediation as we do 'brownfield' redevelopment. My wife Elaine and I have three children, Spencer (11), Austin (9) and Zoe (6). I'd love to see fellow alumni in the Bay Area or in my travels."

Thomas Chen was appointed co-head of Piper Jaffray's financial institutions investment banking group. He will be the first group head to be based in the firm's New York office. Jay Wagnon is president of New York-based Sky Fitness, which is launching the first of its fitness centers in Tulsa, Okla. In December, Barry Fougere resigned as president and CEO of Columbris Networks. He's taking a breather to spend time with family before he embarks on his next adventure. Mark Coleman is an angel investor in a startup energy/whole-food bar called Probar in Park City, Utah. In January, Jim Seymour returned to Chicago, where he became managing director of mergers and acquisitions and new ventures for GE Healthcare Financial Services. He looks forward to the upcoming Chicago triathlon and catching up with fellow classmates. "I've been a bit 'out of the loop' (no pun intended) for some time; four kids, a new job and a relocation will do that."

Kent Lindstom writes" "I recently became president of Friendster, an Internet company backed by Kleiner Perkins, a top Silicon Valley venture capital firm. I live in San Francisco and have been commuting to Silicon Valley for three years, so my first executive move will be — to move the company to San Francisco.

Lance Harris decided to exit the world of corporate America and go into private equity. In January, his firm bought a $350-million division from Metaldyne. "I am the COO of the newly formed FormTech Industries Inc."

Sad News:

My high school classmate and our fellow KSM classmate Bruce Guthrie is sad to say that his wife of more than 16 years, Grace, died of breast cancer in November after a long battle. Bruce is keeping a stiff upper lip and continues to teach business courses at Western Washington University and coach ice speed skating. Bruce, I speak for the whole class in extending our sincerest condolences to you. The family requests that those who wish to, may make donations to the MD Anderson Leukemia Department at 800.525.5841, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation at 972.855.1600 or the Henry G. Kaplan Research Fund at 206-386-2738.

On a happier note, Sean Conlin married Karen Theobald in August and had a reception in November near their northern Virginia home. Attending the reception were classmates Paul Mistor, Boyd Rice, Mimi and Greg Santoro and Gretchen and Barry Fougere.

Kudos to Elise Cayelli whose start up, iSold It Inc., a Pasadena, Calif.-based chain of eBay drop-off stores, raised $7.25 million in new venture capital funding. Jacaranda Partners led the deal.

"After more than eight wonderful years at Toyota, I joined Nissan North America last autumn," writes Bill Krueger. The Kruegers relocated their four kids to Nashville, Tenn., which will become Nissan's new North American HQ. Bill is now vice president of manufacturing at Nissan's flagship, 5.4 million square-foot plant in Smyna, Tenn., where Nissan builds the Altima, Maxima and many SUV models.

April Wright, an emerging independent film writer focused on thrillers, was selected as one of two feature screenwriters for the prestigious Women in Film (WIF) mentorship program for 2005. "Last fall we shot an independent feature film that I wrote and produced called Dead in the Water. We hope to go to festivals in 2006, which should lead to a broader distribution. April lives in West Hollywood and has also screened for Sundance and had the opportunity to work with such stars as Samuel L. Jackson and John Waters. Her action-thriller The Mule recently won first prize in a screenwriting competition for Script magazine.

Pat Burns, now in his second year with Trex, finally had his wife and six children join him in in Leesburg, Va., where their new home was completed in December. Pat's wife Kim was almost institutionalized after a year at home in Pennsylvania with the six kids Monday through Friday while Pat lived and worked Virginia. However, she is now getting Pat to spend quality time with the kids, so her prognosis is good!

For Amy Dykema, one her 2005 highlights was going to see the final stages of the Tour de France. "I wanted to see Lance Armstrong win what might be his final Tour and get him to sign my jersey. I was fortunate enough to meet him in the hotel the day after the Tour. We had a nice conversation and he signed my jersey. Aside from that, I did a lot of mountain bike racing on the weekends. I did a bunch of races across the Midwest and was invited to the first annual Regional Mountain Bike Championship in Michigan, which was a lot of fun." Marco Pellegatti still works for Amana-Key, a management education firm in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He is striving to balance work and family, business and fun. Last January, we visited universities in the United States and Canada for my daughter, Yuri.

Tom Wieser recently met New-York native Rich Rennert in Manhattan where Rich works for Deloitte Consulting. "Rich gave my girlfriend and me great tips on things to do and places to eat in New York City. Thanks, Rich for showing us the town!" Tom also met Boyd Rice twice in Chicago last summer. Boyd is doing great; after several years of managing operations he's now the vice president of marketing at S&C Electric. An avid sailor, he spends his summer weekends sailing Lake Michigan." Tom also met Dale Nugent and Steve DiMarco in Minneapolis. "Dale works at his start-up, RivaTek and Steve works at Fisher-Rosemount. We talked about their travels, as they both travel to places like Russia, India and southeast Asia for work." Fred Christiansen writes, "We live in Bend, Ore., which Outside magazine labeled, 'Adventure Capital USA'. There is a dearth of Asian-fusion restaurants and fufu dogs here, but the skiing, biking, hiking, kayaking, fishing and running are fantastic. It's a bit hard on Fred since he's such an avowed lover and trainer of 'fufu' dogs (i.e., 'puntables') and he misses his shih-tzu and toy poodle. Fourth and long, Freddie! Brett Knickerbocker took a new job with Johnson & Johnson and moved to northwest Indiana, much closer to his summer home in Michigan.

David Krigel has now been in the Bay Area for 10 years. Several years ago, he started his own product management consultancy focused on San Francisco-based financial services firms. "I'm married to a wonderful woman named Melinda and we have a beautiful but forceful 7-month-old daughter, Sasha. Both parents have been in local rock bands over the last few years, which abruptly ended upon Sasha's arrival. Now she's become our audience and vice versa."

As class rep, I recently interviewed Dave Sanderson about his switch from the corporate world to his new entrepreneurial endeavor:

Riff: Frank McGuire, co-founder of FedEx, talks about four keys to entrepreneurial success: passion, attitude, leadership and character. What have been the key factors that have driven you?

Dave: Fear, risk aversion, and wishful thinking. One day I realized my retirement plan of "work 'til I'm dead" might not be practical if I become the only person in the world willing to hire me. I guess my fear of actually living 'til the year 2030 has overcome my preference for short-term comfort.

Riff: How about the wishful thinking?

Dave: Well, if I paid too much attention to the cold hard facts, I probably would have been paralyzed by the high failure rate of entrepreneurs. I've failed so many times in the past year that without wishful thinking, I suppose I'd be back working a real job.

As for yours truly, wiseguy numero uno, things have been good. I've been doing more due diligence work for investors on clean technology and energy ventures. Many of the deals lately are in energy efficiency technology for commercial and institutional buildings. This is pretty exciting stuff as the companies are succeeding in the market and the ROIs that customers are getting far exceed those of the hydrogen, clean-coal and gasohol pipedreams that Mr. Bush has started touting. Eva and I also did a bit of traveling last year. In October, we went for a short trip to Vienna where we met up with biotech maven Karl Krista and his wife, and Barbara and Steve Rappaport who joined us from Prague. We had a splendid time in beautiful weather there. 

In December, I went to New Zealand for business and brought Eva along for some R&R. Between meetings, we backpacked, kayaked and canoed around both islands in scenery you may have seen in Lord of the Rings. We finished the trip with a quick visit to Sydney, Australia, my second hometown from which I had been away for 16 long years.