| 1993
— Full-Time
Soon
we'll be swapping stories and catching up at our 15th reunion
in Evanston. In the meantime, here's what some of our classmates
are up to.
Cesare
Zetti has some significant news. In September 2007 he
moved from Milan to London with his family – his wife,
Anna, and their children Ludovica (10), Cecilia (8), and Pierfrancesco
(5). Cesare is still working in private equity, at mid-market
buy out firm Bridgepoint Capital, which he joined back in
2000. He was given the opportunity to move to the London office
for two years and "I thought it was a great idea."
Cesare already met up several times with Eric Dingman
and once with Roddy Urquhart and Warwick Nash.
They will be planning more get-togethers over the next couple
of years, I'm sure.
Sanjay
Joshi recently left outsourcing firm Wipro, where he served
as chief executive of global programs and consulting. He is
now planning a venture in the private equity space. Sanjay
and wife Shalini have two kids (ages 9 and 12) and continue
to make Dallas their home. They would be delighted to host
fellow classmates passing through Dallas.
Yumiko
Sato recently became involved in launching the operations
for an assisted living business for seniors in Japan. It is
a new experience for Yumiko, as well as the company. The new
business is taking a great deal of time and energy, so Yumiko
hopes things settle down a bit to allow time to catch up with
others from Kellogg.
Jeff
Urdan and his wife welcomed their daughter, Margaret Elizabeth
"Peggy" Urdan, into the world on Oct. 10. Jeff isn't
the only one with baby news. Hans Lidforss and his
wife, Irina, enjoyed their first Christmas in their new home
in Oakland with baby daughter Nicole. Jon Hermie, president
of DevicePharm, a healthcare marketing agency in Irvine, Calif.,
also had his first baby, Jackson, who was born right before
Christmas. Jon, wife Jody, and son Jackson live in Laguna
Beach with their two labs. And Marike Weinig shared
that her ("second and last") baby, Shelby Sasha
Owen, was born Oct. 11. Shelby joins big brother Michael (2).
Andy Whitman
may have something interesting for all the new parents out
there. Andy has successfully evolved his co-invest private
equity activities into the 2X Consumer Products Growth Partners
fund (2xManagement.com). The 2X team exclusively partners
with and invests in emerging branded consumer products business
primarily in the $1 million to $15 million revenue range.
Recently they announced an investment in gDIAPERS (gDiapers.com),
an eco-friendly flushable diaper company.
Geoffrey Hyatt
has a very exciting career update. Contact Networks, the company
he started in 2002, was acquired by Thomson at the end of
2007. What had started as a geeky skunkworks to create a relationship
collaboration technology for professional services firms got
a huge tailwind from social networking and they were fortunate
enough to navigate through the competition and become the
leading solution for 'social networking' for large businesses.
"The acquisition is a huge milestone and the whole journey
has been amazing." Geoff and his wife, Viva, also have
a personal update, which he is even more excited about, but
you'll have to wait until the next issue for details of the
fantastic news.
Paul
Craig has found a wonderful woman, Sarah Silver, a triathlete
he met at a swim party. Similar to the situation with Geoff,
Paul will have some big news to share in May, but I can't
reveal what it is just yet. On the work front, Craig's Rudy
Project – Technically Cool Eyewear (rudyprojectusa.com)
– keeps expanding and "all I can complain about
is the Euro which is a bummer on margins." Any classmate
or Kelloggmate that needs to score a pair at 40 percent off
retail, just e-mail Paul at paul@rudyprojectusa.com. The company
is moving aggressively into prescription sunwear and eyewear
with the goal to be the No. 1 or 2 player in Rx Sports Eyewear
in five years. Also, Rudy is the official Eyewear of the Australian
Open and Official Helmets of USA Triathlon. Craig looks forward
to seeing everyone in May.
Albert Manzone
was recently named Wrigley's Group vice president and managing
director for Western Europe. Albert is responsible for total
region P&L across the U.K., France, Belgium, Spain, Portugal,
Germany, Poland, Hungary, Baltics, Greece, Italy, Austria,
Switzerland, Holland and Scandinavia. Before joining the Wm.
Wrigley Jr. Company, Albert spent 11 years with PepsiCo, Inc.
in several general management, marketing, and strategy positions
in the U.S. and with international operations. Prior to that
Albert spent three years at McKinsey & Company in Chicago
and before that he spent the first five years of his career
with Philip Morris International as marketing director in
Italy. Albert, wife Nathalie and three children will be relocating
from Chicago to Munich, Germany.
Terry
(Tanguay) Steele had the great pleasure of seeing Cristina
Elias in Miami in January. They hadn't seen one other
for at least five years. Terry was there on business and Cristina
lives in Florida. They had a wonderful lunch and shopping
spree in South Beach. Apparently Cristina was trying to help
Terry to go from 'traditional New England' to 'Miami chic'
for a social event that evening. "Cristina is the same
wonderful, warm and beautiful person we knew at Kellogg. Our
visit was the highlight of my trip."
Walter
Hungerbuhler has had a great year at Egon Zehnder International,
the leading executive search firm, where he has been for more
than nine years. Walter has been part of Egon Zehnder's Greater
China team for seven years and has seen it grow from five
to 17 consultants during that time. He was elected partner
four years ago, and over the past seven years he has built
the firm's life science and services practice in East Asia.
Last year Walter was appointed managing partner of the small
(but rapidly growing) Beijing office, and "I truly enjoy
working in the dynamic China talent market." Walter has
met a few Kellogg classmates over the past years, most notably
Don Bullock, who spent several years with Eaton in
Shanghai; Michael Denzel, who moved from Hong Kong
to Singapore; and Julie Sell, who visited Hong Kong
and Shanghai recently on a fact finding mission for The
Economist. Last year, Walter and wife Vera bought and
renovated a gorgeous small flat on the 36th floor in Hong
Kong's Mid-levels district, though "we hardly spend time
there." Vera spends most of her time in Bangladesh as
the Disability Coordinator for Lepra Bangladesh in Sirajgonj,
a small town three hours from Dhaka. Consequently, Walter
and Vera meet for weekends every six weeks and try to spend
time in their farmhouse in France. This past holiday season,
they climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, where they celebrated a combined
100 years of age at 5,896 meters above sea level.
Don
Bullock returned to the U.S. last year after three years
living abroad running Eaton Corporation's Asian businesses.
Since returning, Don remained with Eaton in Cleveland, OH
and has been running a couple of divisions called the General
Products Businesses. The golfers among the readers will recognize
one of the businesses, Golf Pride golf grips. On the home
front, Don and wife Cathy will have some good news to share
later this winter. Stay tuned...
Debbie Muller
is still enjoying her work as director of training and development
at BCG. In addition to work, Debbie keeps busy doing some
volunteer committee work for the local school board, keeping
the household afloat, and "dodging the gym." Husband
John continues as SVP for strategy and business development
at Beam Global Spirits & Wine. Away from the office/bar,
John keeps up with his hobbies of biking, poker and following
presidential politics — with "the latter two starting
to look disturbingly similar." Last year daughter Sarah
started middle school, where she is thriving. After spending
last summer at Stage and Screen camp, she joined both the
chorus and pom pon squads at school, keeping her artsy streak
alive. For daughter Amy, third grade has brought glasses,
braces, travel soccer, and an intense love ofmonkeys. Last
year Debbie and John gave Whirlyball a whirl (picture lacrosse
in bumper cars, with the goals overhead), resulting in only
one broken bone (wrist, Debbie). After six weeks in a cast
and three months of physical therapy, Debbie still points
out that she scored a goal on the play.
Jim
St. Leger and his wife, Audrey, recently celebrated their
10th anniversary. "Well, it wasn't much of a celebration,
though I do think we managed to sneak off to dinner and a
movie. Ten years, three kids, two jobs, one dog ... who has
the time?" Jim also hit a milestone at Intel, and was
able to take a two-month sabbatical last year, to do some
yard work, visit family and spend a few weeks in Flagstaff.
"It was the first snow of the year and it readily lent
itself to sledding and snowman building (and of course a few
snowball fights)."
Luke Parker
sent a note to say that he and Hideaki (Chuck) Mizuno
caught up for dinner and a little sake in Tokyo late January.
"After years of dedicated training, it was a task we
were both well prepared for."
Ted Padilla
is now the country manager for International Air Transportation
Association (IATA) in the Philippines, having joined the company
in November 2006. It's a far cry from banking, where Ted spent
most of his career, but its a very exciting place to be in
these days. "Aviation and the travel industry have been
experiencing tremendous growth, and the business will be most
evident here in Asia in the next 15 to 20 years. China and
India are seen as the fastest growing markets in the world."
Ted and his family plan to make the trip to Chicago for the
reunion (glad to hear it.).
Michelle
Rider is CEO of the recently launched Inspired Redesign
(inspiredredesign.com), a full-service interior redesign
and real estate staging company, offering residential and
corporate customers one day decorating, color consultation,
real estate staging and placement of furniture, and art and
accessories placement to create a space of harmony and balance.
"My goal is to help individuals and companies improve
their quality of life and work by improving the quality of
their environments," said Michelle. "Interior redesign
can turn your home or office into a place you love and are
inspired by, not just a place you live or work in."
Cliff Sharples,
Lisa Aufranc and their kids really got around last
year – from Maine to Florida; up to Whistler, the BVIs,
in and around Carmel, and the Northwest. (I wonder, did their
dogs put in that many miles, too?) Wescott (10) loves soccer
and drawing, Otto (5) is class clown and tries to do everything
his older brother does, and Yve (7) loves to dance. Lisa is
still in charge — she just has the title now, as president
of AllRecipes.com. Cliff is still starting SnapStyle —
really, it's going to launch in 2008. I just checked, and
if you go to snapstyle.com, you will find a link to
Cliff's blog.
Chip
Hardwick, also known as "The Reverend Doctor Charles
Bryant Hardwick," is done (yes, done) with his PhD. He
worked his tail off to finish in four years, and is so thankful
to be done. And for the first time since 2003, Chip is serving
in a church again. He's thrilled to be the pastor/head of
staff at the Second Presbyterian Church in Bloomington, Ill.
And for the first time since 1996, last year chip visited
four continents in the space of a few months. After finishing
his dissertation, he took the summer off to go to a wedding
in Madrid, then headed to Peru and Morocco. He also made 'little'
trips across the country throughout the year. "Now that
I'm back among the gainfully employed," writes Chip,
"the traveling might slow down." And finally, for
the first time since 1984, Chip is living in a home, rather
than an apartment, condo or dorm. Two guest rooms mean that
he no longer needs to sleep on the coach when people (like
you, hint, hint) come to visit.
It
has been six years since Kohei Kawashima moved from
New York to Chicago. Kohei left Sumitomo Corporation after
17 years to pursue a different career. He is now managing
Honda Connectors, Inc., an extension of a Japanese electronic
component manufacturer located in Bannockburn, Ill. Although,
"the size of the company is like a small boat compared
to a cruise ship like Sumitomo," Kohei is finding the
management experience exciting and challenging. Yuko, who
has been caring for the boys (including Kohei) for years is
now setting out on a new career, working part-time for another
Japanese company. It's been a while since Yuko stopped working,
so there are new discoveries everyday which she is enjoying.
Kohei
and Yuko's Eldest son Hiro (Hirotsugu) is now a senior at
New Trier High School. He is a lead sax player in the school's
jazz band, which received the Grammy Award in 2007 as the
best high school band in the nation. Hiro has been very active
in his extra-curricular activities ranging from community
services to mentoring junior students. The infant who was
in a stroller at the time we were at Kellogg is now 17 and
he will start as an engineering student at Northwestern this
fall. Younger son Tosh (Hitoshi), who was born in Evanston,
is a freshman at New Trier following the path of his brother.
"He is low-key yet focused and hardworking compared to
his flamboyant but sometimes reckless brother." His passion
is tennis, where he excelled to the point of winning a number
of tournaments in the Chicago district. He also plays clarinet
in the concert band.
Wrapping
things up, I talked to Nancy (White) Ramamurthi recently.
She and Sumin Eng ran a half-marathon together (through
cold rain and sleet) and plan to run another one this summer.
Sumin is still working at eBay/PayPal and enjoying it...once
she gets there. She has a 3-hour daily commute, which puts
my 2-hour commute to shame.
Looking
forward to seeing you all at the reunion!
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