EMP-47

There was a strong showing this year for the annual EMP-47 holiday get-together held at Berghoff for lunch the Friday before Christmas. This was the sixth annual get together organized by Matt Gresge. Attendees included Vivian Mumaw, Mitch Helfand, Mitch Sellett, Jim Sherman, Barry Metzger, Tom Hulseman, April and Paul Beaupre, Kim Roeme, Don Versen, Dan Rudrud, Andy Shafter and Deb Krupinski. It was great to catch up with everyone and see that the annual tradition of sharing some holiday cheer is still alive. With the closing of Berghoff this year, Matt reports that new venues are currently under consideration. There was no information at the time of this writing on which attendees made it back to work that afternoon.

Congratulations to Aileen Blake for being named to the 2005 Treasury & Risk Management/Citigroup's 40 Under 40 list of the nation's up-and-coming young finance executives. The list recognizes the nation's best young finance executives who have made significant contributions and improvements to their organizations. Aileen is the executive vice president and controller for Northern Trust Company, which has $2.6 trillion in assets.

Frank Carroll is now president of Bosch Power Tools, North America. Frank and his wife Cathy are the proud parents of five children and recently celebrated the first birthday of their youngest, Jack. Frank was also able to attend a group Bravo gathering recently to catch up with his study group mates and reports that they had a good turnout in spite of everyone's busy schedules.

Several of our classmates have exciting new positions. Deidra Gold was recently named executive vice president and general counsel of Wolters Kluwer North America. Zul Jiwani has joined Caremark Corporation as lead business analyst in IT strategy and planning. Naj Uddin recently joined startup GetActive as vice president of services. GetActive provides software as a service to membership and advocacy organizations and currently serves 800 customers.

Congratulations to Ray and Kathleen Finato on the birth of their second son Nicolo Alfred Finato. Nicky was born Jan. 9 and joins older brother Joey.

Bo Kemper was on hand with several Kellogg deans, local dignitaries and current and prospective students to celebrate the opening of the Kellogg School's Miami EMBA Program. The new program's inaugural class launched in January of 2006 and Bo reports that the facility in Coral Gables, Fla. is quite impressive with many similarities to the Allen Center.

Please join us May 5-7 for Reunion 2006 to reconnect with classmates and to celebrate our fifth anniversary of graduation. There will be a weekend full of learning, social and family events as well as a festive EMP party at the Allen Center on the evening of Saturday, May 6.