EMP-20

	Ned Rockwell EMP-20 with his three children Ben, John and Rachel on top of Mount Elbert, the highest peak in Colorado (elevation 14,433 feet).

Ned Rockwell, wife Amy and their three kids Ben, John and Rachel are all doing well in their home in Lake Bluff, Ill. Ben (19), who you may recall was born in the fall of year two of EMP, is a first-year engineering student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. Ned has been doing business development consulting work for the last five years at Rockwell Business Consulting LLC, primarily to healthcare product and service companies. Prior to embarking on his independent contractor life, Ned was president and CEO of ABR LLC, an early-stage biotech company. While at ABR, Ned spent most of his time working to fund the development and launch of the company's first product during the time period just following the dot-com bubble burst. With the aid of a federal grant and private investment capital, the company did achieve its first revenue in 2003. Prior to ABR, Ned was the global business manager of Agricultural Chemicals for Stepan Company. He tries to stay connected to Kellogg by attending a couple of events each year. This year, he has taken the responsibility of class rep for EMP-20 and encourages all of his EMP-20 classmates to find a way to stay connected. He looks forward to hearing from all of you and sharing your updates through Kellogg World.

Gene Quinn is the president of Confluence Partners, a private investment and consulting company in Weston, Conn., with investments in digital media, financial services, travel research, and technology and consumer market research. He is chairman of PhoCusWright Inc., a leading authority on travel industry technology and market research, and iM@ (Interactive Mobile @advertising), a startup that produces mobile destination guides and offers consumer and business travelers GPS-enabled advertising and promotions. He also chairs the advisory board at BzzAgent Inc., a word-of-mouth marketing services company. He is a former director at NASDAQ companies Checkfree Corporation, the leader in online bill payments, before its merger with Fiserv in 2007 and Open Market, an early leader in Internet e-commerce software. After 25 years as a media company executive at Viacom's MTV Networks, Tribune Company and Knight Ridder, he launched Confluence Partners in 1999 as an investment, strategy and advisory firm. He is former chairman of the Henry's Fork Foundation in Idaho and an active fly angler and conservation advocate. He and his wife, Susan, have three adult children. Along with friends and family, they built an elementary school in 2003 in Malawi, where their son served in the U.S. Peace Corps.

Myron Remington has retired from active employment but still manages to spend five months or more per year serving Texas on disaster recovery. She writes: "If it isn't tornadoes, wildfires or general flooding, it's another hurricane (two this year). Disasters happen. When not helping folks put their lives back together after disaster, I study and share what I learn regarding wellness. Most sickness we face is self-inflicted. I welcome any inquiries as to what I've discovered."

Walter Pasko accepted a position as vice president of procurement and corporate officer for Valmont Industries in Omaha, Neb., six years ago. Valmont is the largest manufacturer of poles (utility substations, highway lighting, wind energy distribution) irrigation systems (farms), coatings and tubing. Annual sales are approximately $2 billion, with 50 plants on five continents. He travels extensively and is in China, Europe and South America about once per quarter. According to Walter, the transition for his family has been very good. They do miss the food in Chicago, but not the traffic. His oldest son Brian works for Navistar in Warrenville, Ill., and played hockey in the CCHA (Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Notre Dame are some of the CCHA teams) as well as the Minnesota Wild organization before he retired from hockey. Younger son Dan is a junior at the University of Nebraska (Lincoln), majoring in finance. Walter has not converted to the Husker Nation and still considers himself a Big Ten guy.

Walter Herbst reports, "I've gone to the other side and am a clinical professor at Kellogg and McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science." He began and runs an M.S. program in product development and is recruiting for his eighth class year. Walter teaches in the marketing department at Kellogg and the mechanical engineering department at McCormick. He also took a trip to India where he was involved with the U.N. Agency's World Intellectual Property Organization. They held a seminar on product development for developing nations coupled with intellectual property issues. Walter describes his trip as "a most interesting place to go, but for most, go see the film 'Slumdog Millionaire.' You'll get the same impression without having to do the trip."

Barbara Pequignot-Keith has two big news items to report: a new life and a new job for the "Frenchie." While still living in Dallas, she remarried in November 2007 (in Paris) to a wonderful man, Dana Keith '77. He also is Dallas-based and speaks French (and Spanish) fluently. How is that for a match? They live outside of Dallas with their kids Zoe (16) and Max (12). They are very excited to have bought a little condo in Paris for their old days, Barbara's long dream coming true. They rent it to visitors if anyone is ever visiting the City of Light (myparisianplace.com). Feel free to call.

Barbara has just accepted a new job as senior director of marketing and communications for VHA Inc. in Dallas. VHA Inc. is a for-profit cooperative with more than 1,400 employees serving more than 21,000 non-acute care and 1,400 not-for-profit hospitals. VHA delivers supply chain management to reduce the cost of healthcare and also helps members solve key clinical and operational challenges. She is responsible for channel and MARCOM strategy for the clinical improvement group working with the corporate marketing group, the clinical staff and the regional offices.

Barbara reports that the switch is a big change from her career in financial services, having spent many years at The Associates, Citibank, ad agencies, and lately with Countrywide as their SVP of marketing and living through the mortgage implosion. But she sees it as a breath of fresh air. The channel marketing position is right up her alley and she is excited to enter the (stable and growing) healthcare world. She writes: "It goes to show that if you know marketing, you can market anything, anywhere, so who says you can't switch industries? It is just a little bit harder and does require people with an open mind, like all of us, who believe that all skills are transferable and that bringing new ideas is good. Please reach out to me any time if you need help or just want to network or chat."