2003 — Full-Time

During his trip to Switzerland, Rodolfo Novarini '03 paid a visit to Irene Rizzi '03 and Arnaud Beernaert '03, and met their newborn daughter, Ines.
Huw, Pryor and Tindley Gilbert '03 are living the good lifein NYC.
Green Lake Mom's Club: From bottom left, Rob Stephenson '03with daughter Anne and Jennifer '03, Chip '02 and Lori Craw '03 with son Gavin, Megan '02 and Jay Marine '02 with little girls Sara and Kate; top row is Marlaand Eric Whaley '03 with son Raffi
Adrianne '03, Evan, Charley'03 and new son Lucas Agualla
Spotted on the dance floor at the wedding of Sam Barnes '03 and Gus Christensen were: Drew and Mindy (Barr) Turitz (both '03), Emmy '03 and Andy Berlind, Dave and Jen (Posner) Napier '03, Brian Talbott '03, Christina Hennington '03, Nancy Rosen '03, Rob '03 and Yelena Zamacona, Tindley '03 and Huw Gilbert, Scott '03 and Sharon Robinson, Brady and Colby (Maher) Countryman'03, Jesse Marmon (now Haines) '03, Catherine Vaughn '02, Laura Smith '02, Todd Asmuth '01, and Katherine (Loucks) Sullivan '01.
Paul and Kaori (Okui) Bray, both '03, with their new son, Ken
Tony Chen '03, wife Catherine and tot Timmy ('32) enjoy Navy Pier's Winter Wonderland.
Amy DiMarzio '03 and her husband, Garrett, pose for the camera with new daughter Kate.
Brian Gauck and Daisy Hatch, both '03, capture a memorable moment in front of the Taj Mahal.
Brian Gauck '03 and Daisy Hatch '03, pose in their LuchaLibre masks following a wrestling match adventure in Mexico City.
Rob Levak, Huy Hoang and Jason Kasarda, all '03, join up inSan Francisco as Huy passes through from Vietnam on business.
Rachel and Josh Miller '03 chill out in an ice cavern inside Glaciar del Torre in Patagonia, Argentina.
Tony Owen '03, wife Monique and new daughter Ursula Grace
A warm Kellogg welcome to Ella Naz Pardasani, new daughter of Neil Pardasani '03 and wife Farnaz
Fine '03 dining in the mountains of Colorado with, from left, Leti Taft-Pearman, Mandy Taft-Pearman, Fran Wang, Chad Mizee, BlissHansen (friend), Emily Sun, Vincent Roever (friend), Debbie Hartman and Clinton Kent
Celebrating the wedding of Dawn Perry '03 and Russell Cornell in Phoenix, from left: Margarita Cultu '03, Nancy Tanaka '03, Carolina Cultu with Deniz Cultu '03, Russell Cornell, Derek Yung '03, Dawn Perry '03, Jill Yung '03, Mike Shedivy '03, Stacy Shedivy and Betsy Leis '03
The larger Rhagavapudi clan. From left, Ravi '03, Aarna, Padmaja and Rishi
Iris Seidmann '03 and Paul Snyder on their honeymoon in Greece
Natalie Shlafman '03 and new son Benjamin perform their first stare-down (Benjamin won, as Natalie laughed).
Justin and Dina Silverman, both '03, smile for the paparazzi with new daughter Hallie.
Edward Sim '03 and son Alex take a father-and-son day trip to Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina.
Proud mom and dad Pam Supanwanid '03 and Jan Henrich '03 show off newborn Bianca.
Kelly and Jeff Vergamini, both '03, a short time after the arrival of new son Jack
A proud Gulshan Verma '03 with new daughter Avantika Emily and son Karan
Cheril (Santini) '03, new daughter Isla, and Henning vonBarsewisch

You know what? You're still classy, 2003. As usual, you gave your all and provided us with another Class Notes section to remember. And, although some of the submissions were of questionable validity and/or interest (e.g., Mike Simonton is delighted to announce that he is expecting. And Amit Nag is equally excited to report that he is expectorating), all made it through the final cut and into this latest edition. Let's get into it, eh?

The baby boom begins with Amy DiMarzio and her husband, Garrett, who welcomed a new member of Red Sox Nation, Kate, in April 2007.

Paul and Kaori (Okui) Bray had a son, Paul Kendrick Bray Jr. (a.k.a. Ken), on June 7. Paul has left the world of consulting and has taken a position with Sabre Holdings. Kaori took three months of maternity leave and is now back working at American Airlines.

Jeff and Kelly Vergamini had a baby boy as well. Jack Ryan Vergamini was born June 15. They love being parents with the exception of the whole sleeping thing. Not even Jeff's i-banking hours prepared him for how little sleep they would get.

The big news out of Omaha, aside from Charley Agulla's failed attempt at the "American Idol" auditions, is that he and Adrianne had their second little boy, Lucas Henry, last September.

And not just baby news to report to you from Tony Owen. Tony and his wife, Monique, did recently welcome their first child — a little girl named Ursula Grace Owen. She was born Nov. 6, and surprised them by arriving five weeks early. Luckily all is well with the little peanut, and she came home with them from the hospital a day later. Professionally, after four years with Toyota/Lexus, Tony decided to leave last fall to join his family and build an asset management/venture capital business. During his last year at Lexus, he focused on product marketing, leading the marketing/launch strategy for their flagship LS460, and also worked on a small team dedicated to growing the Lexus brand in other global markets. However, he was ready for a change and something a bit more entrepreneurial. His new business is based in Chicago, although they still live in L.A., and the company focuses primarily on early stage investing in businesses in the food/retail and automotive sectors. They have an initial investment in an early stage, fast-casual restaurant dedicated to healthy, fresh fast food in major metros. They have seven locations up and running and several more to come. The next city to launch is Chicago this spring.

Chris Nolte and wife Sue gave birth to a boy, Hudson Andrew Nolte, on Nov. 18.

Pam Supanwanid and Jan Henrich '02 were excited to announce the arrival of their little Bianca just a day later. Bianca was born Nov. 19, a little early but welcomed with excitement.

Right around the corner, Christine and Andy Bockelman welcomed their first child, Anna Rose Bockelman, on Nov. 21. She enjoys walks in Central Park, laying on her tummy and dancing with her daddy to the greatest hits from Air Supply.

Boy, was November a busy month for our class. Neil Pardasani and wife Farnaz welcomed their daughter Ella Naz Pardasani into the world on Nov. 22, Thanksgiving Day. Neil is still slaving away at BCG (4.5 years now) in L.A.

Vlad and Natalie Shlafman are excited to welcome a new addition to the family, too. Benjamin Gabriel Shlafman was born Dec. 12. Big brother Joseph is happy to have another playmate and Vlad and Natalie are both proud of the growing clan.

After the successful addition to their family of a camper van last March, Henning and Cheril (Santini) von Barsewisch are pleased to announce a new and improved addition to the family. Their little Isla Joy Gisa von Barsewisch arrived Dec. 24, the best Christmas present ever.

Belinda (Marcus) Roth also has a new baby announcement. She and her husband, Tony, had their second daughter, Ariane Sylvie Roth, on Jan. 29. Mom reports that all are doing great.

And congratulations to Ravi Rhagavapudi. He and his wife, Padmaja, are happy to announce the birth of their daughter, Aarna, on Feb. 2. Both Padmaja and baby are doing fine and Rishi (4) is ecstatic about being a big brother. Ravi also changed jobs in December. After four years of sales and marketing at Guidant he switched to Ecolab as a director of marketing. And guess who sits in the corner office next door to Ravi? Maarten Potjer.

And, in the latest breaking baby news, Justin and Dina Silverman are proud to introduce the one and only Hallie Abigail Silverman. Hailing from L.A., Hallie was born Feb. 13. She was way too anxious to join the real world to wait for Valentine's Day itself, but mom and dad still consider her the perfect Valentine's day gift.

On June 9, Samantha Barnes married Gus Christensen in Greenwich, Conn. After a church ceremony, a reception followed at the bride's family home. The Kellogg crowd nearly outnumbered the Yale crowd (yes, she married another Yalie) and definitely outnumbered the Wharton crowd (yes, she married a finance jock). After a three-week honeymoon in Africa, Sam and Gus are living in NYC where she is the U.S. business director for Veuve Clicquot.

After more than 5 years, Brady Countryman and Colby Maher tied the knot on July 13 in Honolulu. Hawaii was the perfect destination for the wedding, since Colby's family is from Hawaii and her favorite memories of childhood are on the island. They were married in the same church where Colby's parents and grandparents were married, and it's darn beautiful. A huge Kellogg crew flew to the island for the event, and all enjoyed several days of spectacular events and touring the island. In other news, Colby is now working in the strategic planning group at Amgen (a recent development).

Iris Seidmann married Paul Snyder on Aug. 4. They met at their 10-year high school reunion and never looked back. The wedding took place in Rochester, N.Y., and it was amazing having their family and close friends there celebrating with them. They spent their honeymoon in Greece. Only New York City could bring them home. They live in Manhattan and love to explore their relatively new neighborhood in their free time. Iris is a finance director for Diageo and Paul teaches high school and coaches basketball in the South Bronx.

Andrew Ingley married Marissa Ross in Chicago on Sept. 21. Groomsmen included Jim McIntyre and Ryan O'Toole, among others. Marissa and Andrew look forward to many years of marital bliss living in the Chicago area. And more congrats to the new husband and wife in their purchase of a new house in December.

Dawn Perry married Russell Cornell on Oct. 22, 2006, at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. Dawn and Russ are living in St. Paul, Minn., where Dawn is a marketing manager for 3M and Russ is an associate at McKinsey & Co.

Chris Pratt was married to Beatriz Medina in February in San Francisco. Chris was working at Cisco in San Jose, Calif., and Bea was working for Linksys based in Orange County. They unexpectedly crossed paths in a business meeting in SoCal and Chris lost no time talking his boss into putting them on the same project. After waiting six months to make his move, they dated long distance for a year before Bea transferred to Northern California. Bea works at Cisco, and Chris started a job with Expedia.com in December.

Great news from our co-editor, Tindley Gilbert. After a summer internship in 2002 that led to four great years, she decided to leave Pfizer. She writes that it was a remarkable place that allowed her to grow personally and professionally. It was a tough decision to leave such a great company, but she's really excited about the opportunity that lies ahead. In December, Tindley joined Access Communications, a healthcare advertising and marketing company focusing on managed care. She's excited to build on what she learned at Pfizer, while also having a schedule that will allow her to spend more time with her daughter, Pryor.

Have you heard what's been happening with Mark Smolenski? His $4 million fund is still around, but things have gone so well, that he's now in the process raising a $50 million fund with his partners: Axios Investments Fund II. Mark is still focused on early-stage, pre-VC opportunities that need $2 to $3 million. Midwest businesses are preferred. He will probably be ready to start making investments by late fall of 2008. (Note: this is not a paid advertisement).

Lots of things are happening on the career front with Andrea Paiz in Guatemala. After a long negotiation process, she has been granted the franchise for Claire's in Central America (accessories for girls and young women). At last report, Andrea had a store to put together, which included counting the 55,400 units sent to her, pricing them, and placing all the merchandise. Yikes! Best of luck, Andrea.

In October, Gulshan Verma and his family moved to India, where he is now head of strategy for Yahoo India (after two years in California with Yahoo). They are finally settling down in Mumbai. Highlights of the moving experience were: (1) Three months of pleading with the Indian government to let their boxes through customs without imposing exorbitant import duties, finally completed when his wife, Anusha, told the customs official that if they wanted to tax their beds "for being too new" they could keep them; (2) After waiting two months to get Internet access, having the local Internet company head of installations ask Gulshan if he could hook up his brand new exchange server to his systems after he found out Gulshan worked for Yahoo. The delay was because said company had no installation engineers and he was desperate; (3) Getting his driver's license on the fourth attempt after finally convincing the examiners that he wasn't an illegal immigrant trying to take Indian jobs, or a fugitive on the run from Interpol, or an American agent. Gulshan's convinced the DVLA and its local equivalents meet once a year to share "best practices." In the end, things are going well, although Gulshan feels like he could do a master's degree in voltage differences between countries and its ability to blow up all kinds of electronic equipment. Kids Karan (2) and new daughter Avantika Emily are doing well. Karan has gone straight from speaking SoCal Spanish to Mumbai street-style Hindi. People continue to laugh at Gulshan's miserable Hindi accent after six years of living in the U.S. and16 years in England. There's a definite lack of Kellogg alumni in India so if anyone comes over, please look them up. The Vermas would be happy to show you around.

Tony Chen continues to work as the new idea guy at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, while starting up a new media company for dads called Savvy Daddy (more on this soon). Don't keep us waiting too long for an update, Tony.

It's been a busy period for Ajay Chawan. Professionally, he is happy to report that the company he started while at Kellogg, Saatwic Foods, is still alive. In fact, it finally earned revenues in 2007 and was even featured in Fortune Small Business magazine. Additionally, in January, Ajay and wife Britta took a break to visit Northern California. Despite experiencing the monsoons that struck the Bay Area during his entire visit, they met up with several Kellogg classmates, including Javier Rendon, Kerry (Mar) Hopkins, Jessica Yang and Barry Grant. Britta and Ajay are hoping that Northern California will be in their futures.

Thomas Poppe and Kasper Leschly are trucking along in the wonderful world of high heels and long boots in China; 46 shops and 35,000 pairs later, they are as bullish and tired as ever with their foray into the women's shoe market. And don't despair: they still have some 30,000 pairs left if you wonder what to wear for reunion — check eBay soon. As you can tell, market conditions in China are tough, but what would you expect given the fact that two-thirds of all shoes in the entire world are made in China?

Miriam Claes left her international McKinsey career and is now helping a non-for-profit organization linked to the recently deceased Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. She's helping to set up a large-scale Vedic organic agriculture project in the Ukraine.

Paolo Cuomo is still at McKinsey, now taking on the exciting challenge of being an associate partner in the business technology office and retail practice in London. With all their free time, Alessia and Paolo have opened a shop selling Italian ceramic tiles and SIA gifts and furniture. Give them a shout if you are planning any home redecoration in the U.K. or Europe. Allegra is almost two years old and already wielding a tennis racquet with world-class style.

Andy Pollack accepted an offer with Amazon.com last summer. The Seattle-based product management position in tools and hardware will have Andy working with third-party merchants and the Amazon team to broaden product selection, drive demand and improve the user experience. The role is a great mix of account management, product management and project management. Andy says he's truly psyched to be transitioning his career back to the online space with Amazom.

Rachel and Josh Miller spent a fabulous nine months abroad in Córdoba, Argentina, where they lived in a hip neighborhood that reminded them of a non-stop LAHIMA party, except no one spoke English or wanted an MBA. They loved it. Over the summer they returned to the U.S., moved into a new home in Berkeley, Calif., and celebrated their 5-year wedding anniversary. They've been keeping busy seeing family and old friends and have been doing lots of outdoor activities like hiking, biking and gardening to take full advantage of the unseasonably warm winter. As for their professional lives, Rachel is a lawyer in the solar energy business, and as of March Josh started a new nonprofit job working for a private family foundation called the Jim Joseph Foundation.

Jason Kasarda is still in San Francisco, working for HP, and life is treating him very well. Over the holidays, he spent two weeks in Thailand, but unfortunately he was not able to connect with his Thai Kellogg friends, who were doing crazy things like holding an urgent meeting on a Sunday, flying to Saigon to sell cement, and moving from the Land of Smiles to Singapore.

Joann, Andrew and Bill Nahmias are enjoying a lovely winter of near-record snowfall in Milwaukee. They see a lot of Sue and Chris Nolte and their sons Truman and Hudson, who moved around the corner from them last summer. Bill is still at Miller Brewing Co., but moved from corporate strategy into marketing in January. The family recently returned from a great trip to Switzerland and France, but after coming back to single-digit temperatures they will probably shoot for a warmer weather destination next winter.

Greg Lief provided us with a great update, with news on a number of our classmates. Thanks, Greg. He joined Monitor Group's Cambridge office in 2004, and he consults primarily to life sciences companies. The work brings him to the West Coast often, and he and his wife had a chance to catch up with Kellogg friends early this year. They watched the dismal Patriots loss with Mike Lyon and Yvette Mangalindan in San Francisco, along with their daughter Freya (1). All are doing well, and Mike recently joined a small investment bank in Palo Alto, while Yvette's working in strategy at Gap. They live down the street from Jorge Calderon, who gave Greg the download on his new company, HillView Ventures. And Greg also ran into Brian Gauck and Daisy Hatch who were out celebrating Daisy's birthday. They got together withJeanne (Lukacek) Markland, her husband John and their daughter Amelia. Jeanne recently left Deloitte to join Point B consulting and return a bit of work/life balance to her life. Back at home in Boston, Greg and the family recently left the city and moved to Newton into a 160 year old farmhouse and are quickly learning about all the maintenance in an old house. They often see other Boston suburbanites like Amy Dimarzio, husband Garrett and daughter Kate; Joel Collins and wife Karen; and Andrew Obenshain '04 and his family, who live about a mile away from them. If you're in town, let Greg know.

Brian Gauck and Daisy Hatch write that they took a trip to India in January, and loved everything about it and would have spent more time there if they could. How this compares to their trip to Mexico City last year, including a mandatory wrestling match visit, is anybody's guess.

Edward Sim, wife Helen, Alex (10), and Emma (4) enjoy their lives in Charlotte, N.C. This Christmas was special because they received their much awaited greencards on Christmas Eve. Now they can truly call Charlotte home. The greencard has certainly opened opportunities for Helen. In December, she held her first art exhibition since her fine arts days in college and rekindled her passion for painting after more than a decade. Their wonderful friends, Attila Toth, Edit and their beautiful twin daughters specially came all the way from Atlanta to attend Helen's exhibition. Beginning in February, Helen has started art classes for kids and adults. As for Edward, he recently joined the Corporate Treasury of Bank of America, which affords him even more time with Alex and Emma so that Helen can finally embark on her career.