| 1997
Jennifer
Rand
has accepted a post with Visa USA as vice president, marketing,
on the debit and credit businesses. She is excited about the
business and brand, as well as their sponsorship of the Olympics
and NFL! It also means that she will no longer be commuting,
and instead taking a cable car to work!
Erik
Zimmer is moving to Japan to run the Asia Pacific diabetes
division for Abbott Laboratories. He has been living near
Paris for the past three years with his wife Monica and their
two kids Carlota and Frederik where he was divisional director
for Abbott Diabetes Care.
Patrick
Imholz continues to work for Holcim and is now back from
Chile in Switzerland, living in Zurich. Felix Ahlers
is a member of the executive team of Frosta, the German manufacturer
of frozen foods. Before moving to his current post in Hamburg,
Felix spent some time in Poland where in his spare time he
managed to launch a fast food soup business and the country's
first "speed dating" service: truly a renaissance
man. To the best of our knowledge Corrado Giaquinto
is, along with Patrick, the only classmate still working for
his original post-Kellogg employer, Colgate.
Corrado is now living in Moscow with his French wife
Sylvie and polyglot son Victor, who is not yet 3 but can already
speak words in four different languages. Marco Azzaretti
works for Gerber Technology in Connecticut, where he has been
living for the last four years using Manhattan as an antidote
for the less-than-exciting suburban Connecticut lifestyle.
After pursuing diverse interests, including briefly managing
a pizzeria in Tuscany, Alessandro Duina has been happily
living in Shanghai, China, for the last 3 years. There he
founded, along with local partners, a consulting firm that
helps companies identify opportunities and gain access to
the booming local market. Also a member of the Kellogg Italian
gang is Orazio Costadura '96, who is married to Corrado's
sister Valeria and happily living in Munich along with their
daughter Eleonora. Orazio works for car manufacturer Audi
where he is responsible for product planning. The Italian
gang reports having a great time as always, and feels confident
about its ability to continue to get together each year and
for many years to come, unencumbered by the logistic inconvenience
posed by wives, girlfriends, sons, daughters and other factors.
Now that's the Kellogg spirit!
Brian
Korn and Sue Gouws welcomed Jason Nicholas Korn
into the world on Nov. 29. He is a whole lot of fun, and is the love of their lives. They
have been living in Belmont, Calif., for nearly eight years
now and they really enjoy it. Sue has been working at Providian
Financial (now Washington Mutual Card Services) in corporate
development since they moved out there, and Brian has been
doing software marketing.
Peter
Walter moved to Bangkok
in June 2001 while he was still with A.T. Kearney. After more than eight years with ATK,
he's recently started a job as the Thailand country manager
for L.E.K. Consulting. It's a great office, with lots of interesting
work across Asia and beyond. Last year was an interesting
but tiring travel year; he had the unique opportunity to travel
to 31 countries in the course of my client work for a global
transportation company. He wouldn't want to do it two years
in a row, but the experiences were well worth it. Peter's
wife Lyle and their kids are doing great, and they are all
enjoying the many interesting facets of life in southeast
Asia. Nathan just turned 7 in January, while Alec (born in
Bangkok) is 3 . Highlights for the kids have been the very accessible
beaches, overnight train trips to northern Thailand, and the
annual visit to the Surin Elephant Round-Up in the Northeast,
to name a few. Lyle has started a blog about her views on
life here, which you can check out at: lylesinrodwalter.blogs.com.
They are hoping to stay for a while longer, so if you ever
get over to this part of the world, please look them up!
Anne
(Raveret) Obsitnik and Jim Obsitnik welcomed daughter
No. 2 to the world on Sept. 23, almost exactly two years after
their first daughter Chase was born. Caroline Harden Obsitnik
weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces at birth and is very healthy. Anne
is at home with the girls for now. The Obsitniks still live
in Moraga, Calif. There has been a huge influx of Kellogg
grads to the area recently, and Anne says, "It's been
fun to reconnect with a bunch of folks."
Jennifer
(Schlein) Podhajsky and Matt Podhajsky are proud to announce
the birth of Alexandra Rose on Sept. 28. Alex joins big brother
Jacob, who is 2 . Jennifer is currently a director of
marketing at The Hershey Company where she is responsible
for Kisses, Miniatures and Nuggets. If you are going to be
in the Hershey area, the family would love to hear from you.
Jen's e-mail address is jpodhajsky@hersheys.com.
Alexander
Ooms lives with wife Heather Lamm '98 and son Jasper in
Denver, where he works for a small private equity firm and
skis like an East Coast flatlander. He can be stalked at ooms.net.
Michael
J. Granoff is living in Tenafly, N.J. with wife Tovit,
daughter Yaira Eve (3), and twin sons Avi & Rafi (1.5).
He is the founder of Maniv Energy Capital which invests in
and assists in capital raises for alternative energy and clean
technology companies in the U.S. and Israel.
After
spending seven years in the Bay Area, and almost six years
with CNET Networks, Scott Morrow has moved to Los Angeles
to pursue a new career opportunity with Interactive Corp (IAC)
as the executive vice president, product & marketing for
Citysearch.com, where he will be responsible for all facets
of marketing and operations, including product strategy and
development, content and brand communications. He has traded
in his fleece, cords and mountain bike for designer sunglasses,
$300 blue jeans, and an expensive monthly car payment and
says he feels "like he's moved to a different country."
Scott would love to reconnect with Kellogg classmates who
are living in the area and can be reached at 310.254.0765
or via e-mail (rsmorrow@gmail.com). He looks forward
to hearing from some old voices and says, "Don't forget
to look for me on Entourage!"
2005
was the "Year of the Fire" for Michelle Vidano
and her husband Chuck. On April 15 they had a fire in their
Bay Area home, which started with a space heater. Fortunately
no one was injured, but their house had fire and smoke damage
throughout and had to be gutted down to the frame. They figured
it was a sign from above that they needed to remodel and expand,
so that's what they're doing. Work at Google continues to
be as exciting as it was when she first joined. If you need
a Gmail account, just let her know.
Jen
Hargreaves and her husband Vic became proud parents of
Sydney Elise Adler Feb. 25, 2005. Jen is still at Intuit,
working four days a week, which is very sane. "Everyone
should have a three-day weekend," she says. She is an
internal consultant in the organization and process excellence
group of the QuickBooks division.
Antonio
Guerra Autrey lives in Mexico City with wife Fernanda
and three kids, Antonio (5), Marusa (4) and Fernanda (1).
His work as CEO of Grupo Maritimo Industrial relates to the
food business. They are a fully integrated tuna operation
with the fishing ships, port activities and helicopters needed
for the fishing activities, as well as national distribution
of and branding activities of "Tuny" the second
largest tuna brand in Mexico.
After
eight years at Jones Lang LaSalle in Chicago, David Henry
decided to put the coats and scarves in the closet and move
to Los Angeles to accept a position at CB Richard Ellis —
the world's largest real estate services firm. His continued
thanks goes to Kevin Pate, Patricia Schneider,
Sean Krauss, Ike Kawanabe and Dave Garcia
for teaming up with him to write their real estate business
plan in Professor Merkin's class. That plan has become a reality!
If anyone ever needs real estate advice (free to Kellogg classmates),
feel free to give him a call at 213.613.3728.
In
2005, Garth McCune joined a start-up professional services firm, Archstone
Consulting, as a manager specializing in supply chain management
and information technology strategy for high technology, industrial
and consumer packaged goods clients.
Brian
James just took a new job as the vice president of product
marketing at Telelogic based in Irvine, California. Now he
gets to commute to work from the Bay Area via United and American
instead of Highway 101 — and it's a lot faster than
getting to his old company in Mountain View!
Melinda
Graham now has a new name! Melinda and Brett Norwich married
in Chicago on Sept. 10.
Mirabel
Gombe left her job at Jaguar Land Rover (Ford Motor Co.)
at the end of October last year. She moved to New York and
is currently enrolled at Parsons, where she is studying fashion
design.
Frederic
Halley would like to announce that he and Ariane Gorin
'00 have had a second boy. Alexander was born Nov. 9 and joins
his older brother Nicolas (born March 12, 2004). They are
still living in Paris and recently David Vely stopped
by on his way back to Dubai where he now lives.
Duncan
Evans, his wife Sarah and their daughter Genevieve welcomed
Graeme Gardner Evans to their family on Jan. 20 in Newport
Beach, Calif.
Menno
Veeneklaas is still happily settled in Sydney, Australia.
Menno and his wife Mairead now have two boys: Finn (5) and
Charlie (2). Menno recently celebrated the 5th
anniversary of YourHealth Group, the business he co-founded
with a holistic doctor. YourHealth operates five medical and
wellness centers and manufactures and distributes a range
of high-grade nutritional supplements in Australia and New
Zealand.
Pat
Flanagan and his wife Betsy welcomed Thomas Luke Flanagan
into the world on Feb. 7 (Pat's birthday). Big sister Madeline
(2) was tentative at first, but has now embraced him as a
member of the family.
Patricio
Hernandez writes: "Ricardo 'Calin' de la
Serna was married on Dec. 10 to lovely Vanessa, a Lebanese
American who, through a stroke of serendipity, is a children's
psychologist, ensuring she will be able to deal with Calin's
many idiosyncracies. The wedding was a tasteful and elegant
affair, with an exquisite mix of Arab flair and Spanish accents.
Calin invited a strong Kellogg contingent to celebrate with
him."
Kevin
Pate and his wife Shelley are proud to announce they have
added boy No. 3 to their clan. Karsten Casey Pate
was born Nov. 11 and weighed 8 pounds, 4 ounces. Kellen (4),
Kieper (2) and Karsten are all doing well.
Sadhana
(Dixit) & Jerry Joliet had their third child
in January. Asha Sophiya (finally a girl!) joined Jay (4)
and Alex (2). Everyone is doing well. Jerry is with Diageo,
the world's leading premium adult beverages company. He decided
to shed his operations hat and is now in a sales and marketing
role focused on launching new premium spirits. Prior to the
baby, Sadhana started a marketing consulting company focused
on early-stage Internet startups. She plans to start working
with clients again in April. Last summer Jerry and Sadhana
were able to catch up with Dinsh and Sally (Haws) Guzdar
on the Cape, and this spring have plans to vacation with Steve
Trowern and his wife Marcie in the Outer Banks. Sadhana
and Jerry are in Southport, Conn., and would love to hear
from those in the area.
Kurt
Weinsheimer and his wife Eve and daughter Greta (almost
1) just moved back to the Bay Area after three years in Chicago.
They are excited to be back and look forward to catching up
with friends.
Wayne
Hill and his wife Jenny
just had their third child, Matthew Speed Hill, born Feb.
6. Wayne and Jenny also have 2-year-old twins Henry and Lila,
so they have their hands full these days!
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