EMP-63

Twenty-four members of EMP-63 gathered in Dallas for a weekend of golf, nightclubs, dinners, and a fantastic Super Bowl party. In attendance were Vikas Aditya, Michele Azar, Jon Baksht, Chris Bernauer, Heather Boyer, Jason Childers, Paul Del Gallo, Beth Eckenrode, Paul Futrell, Andrew Gillen, Safak Guven, Russell Hayworth, Kim Jude, Jim Lott, James Park, Ronnie Razmi, Ken Sandifer, David Seemater, Nikolaj Sjoqvist, Anand Subramanian, Eishin Takahashi, Charles Thompson, Ann-Marie Waryas, Marc Womack and Hari Vallurupalli.

	James Park EMP-63, Russell Walker EMP-62 and Alexander (Sasha) Vaisblat EMP-63 in Russia
	Hari Vallurupalli EMP-63 with wife Veda, daughter Medha and newborn daughter Ratna

The first evening was a fantastic event at Marc Womack's home, which his wife, Jennifer, agreed to host, for reasons we will possibly never understand. She had been out with us in Chicago once, and all we can say is that she knew what she was getting into. Eight members of the group rented a bus for 35 people for the trip back and forth, demonstrating our knowledge of efficiency gained from the Operations class (thanks, Professor Lariviere!). Later it was dinner at a steakhouse and then a transfer to the Magnolia hotel. It turns out the group is best bounded by classes the next day, because without that constraint, the evening ran until golf started on Saturday.

On Saturday, the group dined at Javier's restaurant, which had no idea what it was getting into. From there, many journeyed to the W hotel's "Ghost Bar," which used to be one of Dallas's premier night spots, but is now just a crumbled ember under the ring of fire. In summary, it was the wildest time EMP-63 has ever had in a bar.

On Sunday, Hari Vallurupalli and his wife, Veda, hosted the Super Bowl party. This was, of course, a slight inconvenience, as Hari had to fly in from India to attend, and Veda was ready to have their second daughter, which she had three days later. In terms of heroic hosting efforts, this is simply tops. Our thanks to them. We had a wonderful time.

One notable absence was Chris Brogan. After coordinating much of the event, he began his long drive from Las Vegas to Dallas to join us all for the Super Bowl. Twelve hours outside of Dallas, his car threw a belt and he watched the Super Bowl in a New Mexico hotel in a county that was dry on Sundays. They told him if he wanted beer for the Super Bowl, he should have stocked up. Better people would not have called and laughed. We were not those people.

Forty-three EMP-63 members attended either the Pittsburg reunion or the Dallas reunion (11 attended both). This is a remarkable number, and our hope is that with the official Kellogg Reunion in May on campus, we will have captured them and the remainder! That tugging you feel is your network calling. We are looking forward to seeing everyone at Reunion on campus May 4-6.

In October, Paul Futrell, Paul Del Gallo, and Safak Guven attended the Leadership in the Military Seminar arranged by Professor Messick. The night before, they and Peter Granat, Rafiq Mohammadi, Kim Jude and her husband Craig, met for dinner at Joe's Crab in Chicago. Needless to say, Joe's will never be the same. We don't think you can even get seafood there anymore.

Wiener Mondesir has taken a role with Cisco in the strategy group of their Linksys division. He claims his job change is not to avoid James Park, who has moved to the area.

Chris Brogan has moved to Austin, Texas, leaving the family-friendly Las Vegas area. Austin presents an exciting opportunity for the Brogans, including the ability to spend more time together, see fewer neon signs on their way to work and buy 10-gallon hats. Speculation that Chris moved to the area because James Park had just moved away is unfair.

Rodney Mayers has been promoted to assistant vice president of interactive media for Cox Enterprises. In his new role, he will lead and support the company in shaping and defining its overarching interactive media strategy. Rodney has been with Cox since 1999. He has caught up with big Russ and Weiner in the Atlanta area. All rumors that he has been disconnecting cable and Internet service on classmates that would not help him at Kellogg are lies spread by individuals with low values.

James Park and Russell Walker EMP-62 went to Russia to visit Alexander (Sasha) Vaisblat. They visited space town, St. Petersburg, and saw belly dancing and bears driving motorbikes. A variety of other good things took place. We will let them share separately. Rumors that James Park had to travel this far so that people would not move away are completely unfounded, and Weiner and Brogan should be ashamed of themselves for spreading those rumors.

Kevin McShane is now a managing vice president at Experian, the credit-reporting agency. This is a key opportunity for Kevin to use his significant experience, his ability to imitate college football coaches for whom he has played, and his Kellogg degree. He has asked that his regards be sent to everyone, and he implores everyone who calls who has "a friend" who might have been a bit overboard with credit cards to understand he is in a regulated business and cannot "hit delete" on anything.

Vikas Aditya, Eishen Takahashi, and Paul Del Gallo met in Portland to explore every single pub in town. Count was lost after 25. They also visited various natural attractions, which were not nearly as interesting.

Alfonso Cantalapiedra (Canta) has made an internal move within Starboard Cruise Services. His promotion is to general manager of strategic planning and business development and is a move back into the financial transactional end of the business. For everyone who has been e-mailing him and asking for drink coupons, room upgrades and captain's table seating, this should serve as notice to stop.

In December, Mike McClain, Charles Thompson, Marc Womack, Paul Del Gallo and Ken Sandifer caught up in Dallas. The Friday evening dinner at Joe's steakhouse was only to be outdone by the round of golf the next day. This apparently involves the Texas tradition of "game called on the count of it's not beautiful out" and an immediate procession to the sports bar to watch the football games. Evenings were spent at the hotels attending Christmas parties for companies we did not work for. Should anyone from the Dallas area ask, we work for whatever company was having their holiday party at the time.

Rosemary McGuillicutty has taken a role as director of custodial engineers for the school department in the town of Coryn, Wis. This will provide her the opportunity to supervise the same level of effort she put into cleaning up on microeconomic exams. She is really looking forward to seeing everyone at the May Reunion and wants you to know the shots are on her!

Adbo Adbo, Tim Mahoney, Beth Eckenrode, Anand Subramanian and Paul Del Gallo caught up in December for dinner and drinks in New York City before the Christmas shopping spree. The individual tabs from dinner and the shopping — which took place later — were registered by the Federal Bank of New York consumer spending report for the fourth quarter of 2006.

Ronnie Razmi has left his practice in Indiana, sold his home and gone to Dallas to be with his family while evaluating his opportunities. This answers the longstanding question of what happens when you take a leading cardiologist with a Mayo Clinic background and send him to a top MBA program. In six months, he becomes unemployed and homeless. More to come on Ronnie in future editions.

Safak Guven, Kim Jude and Paul Del Gallo are auditing a class at Kellogg through the winter 2007 term. This is not the first step in the executive PhD program. They asked.

Sujit Bakre is now the manager of business development and operations within the networks and enterprise business unit of Motorola. His new role involves business case development; strategy and technology roadmap (hardware/software); pricing models; supply chain; inventory and life cycle management. In general, this position is a good mix of technology and finance/accounting. He is enjoying it and has asked if classmates could stop calling the Motorola switchboard and asking to be patched in to "Sujit, King of All He Sees With His Eyes; cruise master; happy husband and father; and the guy Motorola is lucky to have." That's not really his title. He also knows almost nobody besides him from EMP-63 knows what a transcoder is, and he doesn't care.

Natasha and Neil Snyder are the proud parents of Maxwell Alexander Snyder, born May 25. Max weighed in at 8.5 pounds and measured 21.5 inches.

Hari Vallurupalli and his wife, Veda, are pleased to announce the birth of Ratna Vallurupalli, born Feb. 8. She weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces and measured 18 inches at birth. Veda, Hari and daughter Medha are all excited about the new arrival.

Kevin James McShane Jr. was born Dec. 13 to Kevin McShane and his wife, Kate. The baby was 9 pounds, 14 ounces at birth. Proud siblings Jack, Nora and Peter are excited to have this new addition to the family.

Tim Mahoney has been appointed CEO of the Americas region for Marsh Inc. He is also responsible for their G5 initiative worldwide. That initiative allows Tim to leverage his leadership capabilities in large global accounts. It also allows him to take up a presence in Peru, Canada and Paraguay, where he blends in very well.

Russell Cravey has started construction on his Ambulatory Surgery Center. He says he is "working my gluteus maximus off." He broke ground in January in a 7,000-square-foot free-standing, multi-specialty ambulatory surgery center. Hopefully he will be performing eye surgery in the new facility by September. Rumors that calls for appointments begin with him walking out in a Kellogg shirt and yelling, "Did somebody say 'Doctor?'" at the top of his lungs are greatly exaggerated.

Ann-Marie Peluso Waryas has asked that we pass on the following note:

"As most of you know, the start of 2007 has been a defining month in my life for many reasons, but most importantly due to my father's passing. Most of you knew he had been battling cancer for some time. I must first thank everyone for all your support during our second year at school. Having your understanding and friendships gave me so much strength.

"After his passing, while I always knew EMP-63 would be there for me, I never could have anticipated the massive outpouring of affection and support. I will never forget your calls, e-mails, cards, donations or flowers, or those that came to the wake and funeral to be there for me in a most sorrowful time — particularly those who traveled from out of town. Your outreach of support and care was overwhelming and truly touched my spirit.

"I know my father is watching over me, beaming with pride, to know I have such exceptional friends. I am eternally grateful and promise to always return your kindness."