EMP-60

Aaron Matos shared exciting news that his company, Jobing.com, acquired the naming rights on the new Jobing.com Arena in Phoenix. It's the home of the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes and one of the top concert venues in the country. Wayne Gretzky is the Coyotes coach and minority owner, so I know they must be good or getting there! Who knew Aaron was such a hockey fan? Next time you plan a trip to Phoenix, be sure to get tickets to a game or check out a concert and look him up.

Surprisingly, the "Active Alumnus of the Year Award" goes to none other than Alan Handley. In support of Da Bears, he has been able to catch up with several classmates, including Ron Harris at the Seattle game, Dave Hemink at the New England game, Aaron Matos at the Cardinals game and Don Hammond at the Minnesota game (I think Don told me that he almost got into a fight with Handley for his loud taunting until he realized he knew him and all was resolved). Alan was also able to have a long night of drinking and catching up with Shan Chinnasamy in San Francisco. Shan recently left Intuit to focus on his own technology venture and investments in India.

	Alan Handley EMP-60 (left) and Don Hammond EMP-60 (right) at the Bears/Patriots game
	Alan Handley EMP-60 (center) and Dave Hemink EMP-60 (right) at the Bears/Patriots game
	Aaron Matos EMP-60 (center) at the new Jobing.com Arena

As we all knew would be the case, Don Hammond has knocked it out of the park with his company, Symmetric. He had strong revenues in 2006 for a new business, and is forecasting growth of 50 percent or more in 2007.

Rockin' Ronnie Harris fielded a well-deserved promotion in September. He is now the vice president of Essex Group Inc. In this capacity, he oversees the distribution business group. He writes: "The new job has been exciting and challenging, as you might expect, but I was ready and I have a great group to lead."

Deb Nunes was also promoted at Agilent to worldwide marketing operations manager. It's an extension of the job she has held for the past year. She is working on launching a new brand for Agilent Life Sciences and Chemical Analysis and mentioned that her Kellogg training has certainly come in handy. Her family is great, and her daughters are now 12. Recent travels to the Florida Keys allowed Deb to get her scuba diving certification. She and the family even spotted some nurse sharks on one of their dives.

Patricia Harris has traveled to Paris, Spain (Madrid, Granada and Seville) and Italy (Venice, Siena, Florence, Pisa, Milan and Lake Como). She had a great time in each of those fantastic destinations, and commented that even the waiters in Paris were nice! She made it to Vegas for work, but we missed each other.

I got a chance to see Mike Rafi and Bob Herzog while they visited Las Vegas for conventions. Mike continues to do extremely well at JLG, and Bob is enjoying leading the operations group at Leeds. Bob is in Pittsburgh and gets to see Ron Keating, who won't take my calls because he is such a big shot now at Kennemetal.

Speaking of big shots, Tom Cavanagh and Stu Abelson are rumored to be starting up a business together, but I cannot get any details from either of them! I did exchange e-mail with Stu Abelson's better half, Katherine, who shared that they are heading out to the East Coast and likely to settle in Massachusetts sometime this spring. I have been trying to convince them to come to Vegas for some time with little luck, and now they will be even farther away.

Vana Matte had new baby boy, Michael Drona Matte, on Nov. 14. Michael weighed 8 pounds, 14 ounces and measured 22 inches at birth. Big brother Samuel says he loves Michael and want to read books to Michael and he feels he needs to watch Michael all the time. She also started a new job as director at CareFirst, a Maryland-based health insurance company, in June.