2003 — Full-Time

We hope everyone is having a great 2007! We have been busy as a class, with weddings, births, job changes and general revelry. Let's start with the job changes, many of which were aided by the loving hand of the Kellogg network!

Dave Fleck left Google late last year (but not before recruiting Jesse Marmon) to join a media/tech startup, BitTorrent. Who recruited Dave to BitTorrent? None other than Brian Taptich. Dave can definitely attest to the fact that the Kellogg network is alive and strong.

At BitTorrent, Dave is responsible for business development and strategy. On a day-to-day basis, he spends a significant amount of time working with major and independent content creators (movie studios, broadcast/cable TV channels, music labels, etc.) to license their content for sale through BitTorrent. He says he feels blessed because he loved his job at Google and loves this one even more. He thanks Kellogg — the experience, the education, the people — for helping to make these opportunities happen.

Irene Rizzi '04 and Arnaud Beernaert '03.
Traditional groom tossing, starring Arnaud Beernaert '03 as the tossed groom
Ajay Chawan and Britta Watters (both '03) on the beach in Goa, India
On the way to the beach, Ajay Chawan and Britta Watters (both '03) stop to say hello to a passing elephant.
Pancho Covarrubias '03 and Betyna after exchanging vows.
Swapneel Ekbote '03 and family, including baby Nikhil Jay
While wearing a silly hat, Kasper Leschly '03 sets direction in 21st-century Chinese style toward the site of the Olympics.
Proud papa Ben Mahnke '03 visits with Elikem Kuenyehia '03 and shows off daughter Anna Joy.
Tim Peterson '03, wife Danielle, and new son Owen enjoying Owen's first Christmas Eve.
Trisha Garces '03 married Joel Pomerenk '04.
Thomas Poppe '03 and Kasper Leschly '03 with designers on a product retreat.
Brad and Kelly Sikorski both '03 and daughter Eve celebrate their first Christmas together.
After a long day of skiing and boarding, Kellogg friends get together for some serious pasta. Clockwise from front: Gerry Gilligan '03, Amy and Javier Rendon '03, Jen McKnight '03, Amit Nag '03, Jan Henrich '02, Pam Supanwanid '03, Vicki Nakata '03, Brian Gilmore (mystery diner), Lu Gallucci '03, Doug Dixon '03, Jessica Yang '03, and Andrea Paiz '03.
Barry Grant '03 in Heavenly, Lake Tahoe, with a true appreciation for the resort's name. Surrounding Barry (from left) are Emily Sung '03, a bit of Betsy Leis '03, Fran Wang '03, Bliss Hansen (a colleague of Debbie's) and Debbie Hartman '03.
Wamsi Mohan '03 and Neeraja (from left, in back), and Navya and baby Arjun in the front.
Jeff Johnson '03 and Mary with Daisy Jane and Lincoln Killian.
Muchachos gone wild: Attila Toth '03, Carlos Orozco '04, Tomas Lange '03, Selman Careaga '03, Ricardo Ballesteros '03 and Santiago Rivera '03

Dave's also found time to have some fun in the sun. In addition to mountain biking and snowboarding, a few San Fran Kelloggians have even picked up surfing. Summer Olympic hopefuls? Eddie Hayden they are not (yet), but they can dream.

Have you been enjoying your DiGiorno or Tombstone pizza? If so, you have Brigette Wolf to thank for that, as she was recently promoted to brand manager at Kraft and has moved into the world of pizza.

Henning and Cheril von Barsewisch have great news: They recently brought home a green T4 VW Transporter van. By mid-March, her conversion to a campervan will be complete. By then, she'll be doing tricks like elevating her roof, etc. They cannot wait to cruise around all over the British Isles in the coming years. If you're up for some camping and mountain biking in Scotland, let them know.

Josh Miller and Rachel Gold are just over halfway through their nine months of living in Córdoba, Argentina and they’re happy to share that they’re still having an incredible time! Rachel continues to enjoy her research with the Center for Human Rights and the Environment, where she is working with the center’s Human Rights and Environment Legal Clinic. They’re also thrilled to share that she passed the bar exam, and as of one month ago, she is an official member of the State Bar of California! Josh is keeping busy with daily Spanish classes, working remotely for his part-time job with the U.S.-based Professional Leaders Project, volunteering at the synagogue, hiking, biking, cooking and reading Harry Potter in Spanish. Together they’ve been doing lots of sight-seeing in Córdoba and other parts of Argentina while also enjoying quality time with out-of-town guests and their Argentinean friends.

With neither career changes nor babies on their minds, an expedition of '03s set out to Park City, Utah to rekindle the Kellogg ski trip fire. Vicki Nakata, Doug Dixon, Gerry Gilligan, Amit Nag, Andrea Paiz, Jen McKnight, Barry Grant, Amy and Javier Rendon, Lu Gallucci, Jessica Yang, Pam Supanwanid and Jan Henrich '02 reveled in 10" of cottony powder over the President's Day weekend, tearing up the slopes and perfecting their double-ollie 180 back-side undercut roll-dings in the half pipe. Not to be outdone on the slopes, Debbie Hartman, Fran Wang, Emily Sung, Betsy Leis and Barry Grant (lucky fella) joined the NU Young Alumni on a trip to Heavenly at South Lake Tahoe in February. Despite springlike conditions and fresh snow, all had to agree that the performance by Super Diamond was the highlight.

A quick update from the Scandinavian Class of '03 community, which seems to have been hit by an Asian trend: Thomas Poppe and Kasper Leschly have joined Huy Hoang Do in the Far East, meaning a full 75 percent of the '03 Scandinavian population now resides far away from herring, snaps and high taxes! Thomas and Kasper have both left the cushy corporate world and started their own venture designing and selling women's fashion shoes in Beijing. In the words of Kasper, it "sounds as smart as selling ice cubes on the South Pole," but rest assured that T and K have hired outside design help and financing.

Aspiring entrepreneur Ajay Chawan has been living in Nashville, Tenn., since graduation in 2003. Despite living in the South for more than three years, he has managed to stave off a southern drawl and appreciation for country music. Ajay has been working on the business he started while at Kellogg. The business is closer to actually realizing revenues (though it has not yet). Hopefully, that will change by the time the next issue of KW rolls out.

Ajay finally took some time off from the business and his new house to travel to India. On his way to India, he ran into Kanchan Patkar, who was heading to Mumbai to meet up with family and friends. While in India, Ajay spent a week in Mumbai (doing a lot of shopping) and a week lounging on the beach in Goa. The trip re-energized him for what promises to be an exciting 2007.

Finally, Karen Lee announces that she has finally left the powerful but low-paying ranks of MBA Admissions at the UCLA Anderson School to join the powerful, low-paying ranks of the CEO's office. OK, so she's not the CEO, but the MBA rotational program she is managing at DaVita — a $4 billion, Fortune 1000-and-growing healthcare company headquartered in Los Angeles — does at least report to the CEO's office (instead of the much-feared HR office).

Before her move to DaVita, Karen was able to squeeze in a camping trip with Kerry Mar Hopkins in Pismo Beach, quickie lunch with visiting world traveller Ousman Jobe and final admissions recruiting trips to New York City, where she was able to see Bullfrog Emily Rompala; Boston, where she was able to grab a drink with recently hitched Leti Pearman and Mandy Taft; and Chicago, where she was directed to meet up with an unnamed Kellogg classmate at none other than Hooters Bar and Restaurant (a prize goes to the first one who can guess whom she met there).

Anyway, since Karen started her new role in fall 2006, she has been able to also hang out with Los Angeles buds Clare Reynolds, Nancy Tanaka and Gulshan Verma, who helped celebrate the first birthday of Karen and Andy's daughter, Shing. Karen later went to see Ajay Chawan while she was on a business trip out to the foreign land of Nashville, Tenn.

Our class was also very busy getting married. For the first wedding update, let's head to Brazil.

Thomas Leiers and wife Julia married on Oct. 7 in Aachen, Germany. There were some Kellogg folks there, including Norbert Kireth and his wife, Joan, who terminated a business trip to the United States one day earlier to be in Aachen in due time.

In November 2006, several classmates reunited on the island of Vitoria, Brazil, to celebrate the wedding of Francisco "Pancho" Covarrubias to Betyna Almeida. Pancho and Betyna met two years earlier in Austin, Texas, and were joined for the festivities by Mauricio Angulo (who flew in from Washington, D.C. with wife Daniela); Alberto Bezanilla, Andres Fosk, Gonzalo Kirberg and Eduardo "Mene" Meynet (all of whom left Chile with their respective significant others to join the party); and Mariano Ramos, who left behind the London weather for a few days to enjoy the South American summer (yes, it's summer down there). The 13-hour party included a full caipirinha bar, lots of drinking and Brazilian-style dancing, and even a live samba band. Following their honeymoon, Pancho and Betyna settled down in San Antonio, where he's responsible for Latin American business development for Kimco Realty, a New York-based REIT, and Betyna continues to practice as an oil and gas lawyer.

LAHIMA spirit was also alive and well in Argentina! Irene Rizzi '04 and Arnaud Beernaert married in October in Buenos Aires. Their union was celebrated in a very Latin way, which left their European and American guests a bit amazed (evening Masses, tossing of groom and bride in the air, 4 a.m. carnival-mask distribution, etc., are not frequently observed in the Northern hemisphere). The party lasted until dawn, and the LAHIMA spirit was alive and kicking on the dance floor until the very end, as many members of that club had flown over to celebrate with them. Irene left her internal consulting job with Cargill (and the harsh Minneapolis winters at the same time) and accepted a business development position with Cargill's energy trading business in Geneva. The thermal shock is therefore not complete, but at least the mountains are just an hour's drive. After having gone through a long-distance relationship for most of the time since graduation, this was also the perfect time to reassess her professional choice, which had forced Arnaud to spend most of his nights in hotels. Instead of just doing an internal transfer to the Geneva office, he left his manager job with McKinsey to join a private Swiss bank. It took them some time and effort to put it together, but Irene and Arnaud are thrilled with their new life.

A large Kellogg contingent also attended the June 17 wedding of Sherry and Joey Olivier.

Trisha Garces married Joel Pomerenk '04 on July 1 in downtown Chicago. Trisha recently joined The MacArthur Foundation, and she and Joel live in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood.

George Lane and Sara Dwyer married on Oct. 29, 2005, in Tulsa, Okla. (Sara worked in the dean's office at Kellogg, so some of you might remember her from there). They had a great group of Kellogg alums present to celebrate, including Chris Nolte and his wife, Sue, Tim Volkema and his wife Meridith, Tom Brown and Amy Kauth, and Rob Zamacona, not to mention Greg Lane '77, Annika Lane '99, Christopher Lane '01 and Elizabeth (Likens) Lane '01. The event would not have been complete without Debra Steele, formerly of Kellogg Student Affairs, who first introduced them in 2002 at Prairie Moon in Evanston (on a Tuesday night, no less). Sara and George have been in Manhattan since graduation, and they like New York more every year. Sara is thriving in the custom executive education group at Columbia Business School, and George was recently promoted to vice president at RREEF/Deutsche Bank's real estate private equity group.

Stacy Arend and Todd Solow joined the crew of Kellogg couples when they tied the knot Sept. 9 in Chicago, back near the scene of the crime (9/9, so Todd could remember the anniversary). Many Kellogg friends were able to join the couple for a Lake Michigan/Chicago River cruise on a beautiful Friday night, and partied like rock stars at the wedding and reception near Navy Pier on Saturday. The honeymoon followed in Maui and Kauai (the site of Stacy's second KOA — much better accommodations this time). Now they are back home in Minneapolis, where they are "enjoying" the winter.

Anjali Bhargava married Shaunak Desai on July 2 in her hometown of West Lafayette, Ind. It was a beautiful ceremony that took place over three days, with many close family and friends in attendance. Anjali and Shaunak now live in Royal Oak, Mich. Anjali is a marketing manager for Compuware Corp. and Shaunak is in his fourth year of residency in orthopedic surgery at Henry Ford Hospital.

Had we surveyed our class at graduation about who would be the longest-lasting bachelor amongst us, many would have voted Juan Antonio Martinez to the top of the straw poll. However, even our very own Juan has managed to say goodbye to life as a bachelor. Juan married the charmingly beautiful Lupita Arbulu on Feb. 10 in their home state of Veracruz, Mexico. The 14-hour wedding reception reflected Juan's passion for a tremendous fiesta. The newlyweds kicked off with an impressive dance performance. During the night, Juan was frequently seen flying by as Superman and dancing on tabletops with his Kelloggian friends. Congratulations, Juanito and Lupita, and thanks for the memorable wedding experience. The only thing we missed was the afterparty in McManus 208.

Moving from weddings to births, we're happy to announce that the Kellogg Class of 2037 is already planning their KOA and saving up points for those hard-to-grab professors. Here's our first look at some of those class members.

Jeff Johnson and his wife, Mary, have expanded their family in the past two years. Daughter Daisy Jane was born in November 2004, and son Lincoln Killian was welcomed into the family in November. Jeff was recently named vice president and promoted to senior research analyst covering medical technology stocks at Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee. While Jeff has been lucky enough to see many of his business school friends during the past year, the highlight for him in 2006 (after the birth of his son of course) was taking the money of 12 of his Kellogg brethren by finishing in first place (for the second time in four years) in the Kellogg fantasy baseball league!

Kelly Sikorski (formerly Kelly Bikel) and Brad Sikorski celebrated the arrival of baby girl Eve on Sept. 18. Believe it or not, they are still living in Arkansas and working for Wal-Mart, so their daughter is an official Arkansas native. They're not sure what to think about that. (We think that's just fine! We'll get her up to Chicago for Kellogg!) On Jan. 25, Swapneel Ekbote and his wife welcomed a baby boy to their family. Nikhil Jay Ekbote was born at 5:24 a.m., weighing 6 pounds 12 ounces and measuring 20 inches.

Wamsi Mohan and his wife, Neeraja, welcomed Arjun Mohan, their second child, in September 2006. Big sister Navya can't get enough of him. Also, a word of caution to everyone: Wamsi is happy to announce that he's still making sure investors lose their shirts with his equity research job at Merrill Lynch.

Tim Peterson and wife Danielle are excited to announce the birth of their son Owen. He was born on June 30 in Reston, Va. Owen looks forward to his first visit to Kellogg and Wrigley Field.

Ben Mahnke and his wife, Elisa, are proud to announce the arrival of daughter Anna Joy. They recently had the opportunity to visit with the globe-trotting Elikem Kuenyehia (just back from Hong Kong, next stop Amsterdam), who was in Boston to speak at an African business event sponsored by some lesser, Cambridge-based business school that shall not be named in polite company. Living in Ghana, Elikem had been well short of his annual quota of ice, snow and old Kellogg friends but landed all three while he was in town. The ice and snow he hadn't missed at all, but all Kelloggians who want a warm welcome should think about passing through Accra whenever possible. Elikem is kept busy building the international-business-savvy law firm he founded, Oxford and Beaumont Solicitors, as well as teaching and writing about entrepreneurship and business in Ghana.

Elisa and Ben are both ridiculously happy with little Anna, and exactly as obsessed and boring to talk to about her as all the other new parents you've met. They attempt to keep themselves capable of having interesting conversations on three or four non-kid-related topics so that their non-parent friends don't write them off completely. Anyone who'd like to view their blog, which contains more baby photos than you can shake a diaper bag at, should feel free to get in touch.