1984

Thank you to everyone who wrote with updates. It is always fun to hear about where our friends' and classmates' lives are taking them. Because it is often years between your updates, when I get them, I think back to our Kellogg days and imagine I can fast-forward to where you are now.

Katie Glockner Seymour sends news from Florida and beyond. She and "her boys" spent their summer building a house in a village in the Dominican Republic. In the fall she took 14 Trinity Prep students to the University of Denver for an international PeaceJam conference. The group met 10 Nobel laureates and learned about critical global issues from the likes of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, Betty Williams, Jodie Williams and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. "My son Nate says his life is now complete; he got to shake hands with the Dalai Lama," writes Katie. "There were students from Tibet, Burma (refugees in India), Argentina and England, and the students realized they all have similar dreams." Katie also reported that she spotted a newspaper article in which Ken Potrock announced Walt Disney World's "Year of a Million Dreams" campaign.

Andy Beran retired from Intel after 21 years. He reports that he is working harder than ever, starting up a sign manufacturing business with Tricia, his wife of 26 years. His older daughter is in a PhD program in Washington, D.C., and his younger daughter is working with him and Tricia in the new business.

Angel Rodriguez Ortega has made some big changes in his life. After spending 22 years at Baxter, he recently resigned. Angel writes: "It was a great ride and experience. The best part was having friends all around the world. International became a very important part of today's Baxter with a very high growth rate. My last position was vice president for Northern Latin America/Intercontinental, where I was responsible for several Latin America countries, Turkey and regional marketing (total business $700 million).

"I am excited about the future, with a lot of things to come professionally and personally. I have decided to take a sabbatical this year and spend time with my family, as the last years' travel schedule was very hectic. I am spending a lot of time with my wife, Elena, and daughters Mariana (5) and Pamela (3). I am also planning to take time to carefully evaluate the different options in the healthcare business in Latin America for 2007. I have joined the board of an organic producer commercialization company in Mexico called Aires de Campo, which is the segment leader in this new field in Mexico.

"We get together regularly with the Mexico group, Carlos Vera, Fernando Rodriguez, Martha Ayala and Luis Vilatela. We just had a dinner when Luis received the assignment of HSBC General Manager Spain, before he relocated to Madrid."

I received news of big changes from Brian Hand as well. He left ShopLocal, the company he started eight years ago. "It was a very hard decision," he writes, "but my entrepreneurial side was driving me to do another early-stage company." Since leaving, Brian can be found on the slopes or at the beach, and in his free time he's working on a couple of new ventures. One of the ventures is a start-up with partners Gary Lucido, who was also with ShopLocal, and Jay Sharp. They promise us more info in a few months, so stay tuned for details.

Indie Desai Christie is doing what she knows best. She saw a product need not being met in the marketplace so she developed a product to fill it. She writes: "Having children very active in hockey, soccer and lacrosse and battling with them to not wear flip flops all the time, I felt there was a need for an open shoe that allowed tired feet to breathe but had more traction and warmth than what kids are wearing all year round." With advice from Hank Miller, she brought the concept to life, introducing a line of unisex, shearling-lined traction sandals called Ripa Sport Sandals. She finds the entrepreneurial route exciting, but believes her challenge will be balancing it with everything else in her life. Her venture can be seen on the Web and at select high-end sport stores. Congratulations, Indie!

I love receiving your updates and your classmates enjoy hearing about what you're up to. We like to know about your families, travels and volunteer projects, so you don't need to have big career changes to send an e-mail.