2002

Hello everyone! Yet another season of fun activity from our classmates. A lot of you wrote in with your news, but we also threw in some of the news we knew of as well:

Carrie (Bither) Palmer '02 and her husband Jeff welcomed son Maxwell Lee Palmer to the world on June 1. He weighed 8 pounds, 11 ounces at birth. He is now 7 months old and Carrie writes that they are having a lot of fun with him.

	Michele (Ghitnic) Mesnick '02, Paulo Mesnick '03 and baby Max Mesnik
	Dave Meierding '02 and wife Mika out for summer stroll at Meiji Shrine, Tokyo
	Carson Brown '02 and son Carson III
	Andy Martelli '02 and son on Frog Pond slide
	Carrie (Bither) Palmer '02 with husband Jeff and son Max
	Back row, from left: Doug '02 and Kim Monro; Hitomi, Karen and Shinya Naka '02; (front row) Dave Meierding '02 and wife, Mika
	Melissa (Gellert) Cooper '02, Matt Cooper and baby Kate enjoying a Tahoe ski weekend
	Chris Jones '02 and son Taeus

Andy Martelli and his 8-month-old son Joe took a trip to the "Frog Pond" park for children in Boston. This was Joe's first slide and  he was very excited!

The Carson Brown family welcomed son Carson III, born Aug. 12.

Reed Krider and Sara Wegmann-Krider welcomed a new baby girl, Claire Marie Wegmann-Krider, on Oct. 31 (Halloween).

Jay Koval writes: "My wife Jill and I had two baby girls on Jan. 18 — chaos to say the least, but the best thing we've ever done other than marry each other. Rylie weighed 7 pounds, 10 ounces and Delaney weighed 7 pounds, 0 ounces. It's funny — even after five sleepless nights, we just look at the girls and smile and talk about how pretty and wonderful they are!"

Melissa (Gellert) Cooper and husband Matt welcomed a baby girl this past fall. Kate Madeline Cooper arrived on Oct. 24 weighing 7 pounds, 12 ounces and measuring 19 inches long. Mom, Dad and Kate are doing great!

Michele (Ghitnic) Mesnik and her husband Paulo Mesnik '03 had a son, Max, who was born on Sept. 13 and they write that they are absolutely in love with him.

Dave Meierding '02 writes that he married Mika Nagae on June 26. In a classic east-meets-west event, they held a Shinto ceremony at Tokyo's Meiji Shrine dressed in traditional wedding kimonos, then jumped into a tux (he) and wedding gown (she) for their reception at Maxim's de Paris in the Ginza district. They were joined by Londoners Kim and Doug Monro as well as locals Hitomi and Shinya Naka (with daughter Karen). Dave and Mika then doubled their matrimonial fun with a U.S. reception at The Fairmont San Francisco on Aug. 14. With cable car bells ringing in the background, congratulating them there were Clint Loftman and 1-month-old Alejandra "Wowski" Pelkowski accompanied by her parents, Sonia and Brian Pelkowski. (It was a close race between the newlyweds and the newly born for the most photos taken of them.) Dave and Mika deferred their honeymoon until the winter, and they had an utterly amazing 10 days in Costa Rica, whitewater rafting, zipline touring, volcano hiking and welcoming the New Year in the middle of the jungle, all set up for them by Jim Lutz and his Vaya Adventures. They are now happily living in Tokyo, both working for Chevron.

Ty Smith married Rachel Clapp last summer. They were joined at the wedding by Aaron Levine, Evan Norton, Katie Arnold, Scott Saywell, Dan O'Leary, Tom Fuchs and Jim Nollsch. Tracey Vetterick '01, Scott Innis '01 and Greg Hocking '99 also joined the celebration. Ty writes: "We have settled in Lincoln, Neb., and right now I am working at my family business (a small chain of retail clothing stores), while Rachel is pursuing her PhD in management at the business school at UNL. I finally have a legitimate reason to root for the Cornhuskers (and great student seats at games)."

Jose Sabino writes that he, Afonso Sugiyama, Andre Oliveira and Mari Tolovi, assumed the roles of co-chairs of the Kellogg Alumni Club in Brazil, based in Sao Paulo. He says they are very excited with the challenge and opportunity to strengthen the contact with other Kellogg classmates. Whenever other '02 alums come down to Brazil, on business or holidays, please let them know!

Shawn Wischmeier has been named CIO of the $13.1 billion Indiana Public Employees' Retirement Fund. This is a great opportunity for Shawn and is also a meaningful testament to the value of Kellogg's finance program. Way to go Shawn!

Tom Aiello was named as the vice president of marketing for military.com, the nation's largest military membership organization and a division of Monster Worldwide. Tom came to Military.com in May 2005 from advertising giant Leo Burnett, where he had worked since 1998. He was also appointed to the President's National Hire Veterans Committee by the U.S. Secretary of Labor.

Andy Martelli writes that he is still in Washington, D.C. in his third year at the Corporate Executive Board.

Chris Jones, Amanda Jones and son Taeus write: " Hiya, things are really good with us actually — '06 feels really strong with lots to look forward to. Tae is continuing to be a legend. His afro is what we call "OC" — outta control! But we can't bring ourselves to cut it, so it grows. He rocks it well. His godfather "Uncle Ro Ro Frankowski" has bought him all the athletic apparel an 18-month-old can want! Chris is doing really well at Mattel and he and Ronnie RUN the Mattel basketball league."

David Baker left London mid-winter to enjoy the warmer summer skies of Melbourne. He'll be there until June at least. He looks forward to traveling the region.

The new co-chairs of the Brazilian alumni club from left: Jose Sabino '02, Afonso Sugiyama '02, Andre Pimenta '03 and Ricardo Guerra '02, former co-chairs and Andre Oliveira '02

Chompan "Pip" Kulnides joined a Thai conglomerate called the Minor Group in May. The firm's key businesses are in three areas: hotels, food franchises and trading. Her current position is something similar to internal consultant plus some work in risk management and internal audit. Pip writes: "The work so far has been very interesting. What's more, this new job has allowed me to have more time at home — both in the evenings and also in terms of a lot less traveling. Until now, the only trips I had to make were to visit some of our hotels in Phuket and Koh Samui. Can't really complain on that!"

Since Julie (Saliba) is now brand manager of Cheetos, we have to sign off with a reminder that you can never have enough messy, silly fun in your life. So, enjoy the next few months, send us your news and enjoy a bag of Cheetos every now and then!