EMP-51

Greetings alumni,

Sorry we haven't had notes in a while. I had been sending out the request for your input to a distribution list that was defunct. When I wasn't getting any input, I investigated the conspiracy theories and found the problem. My last e-mail to you generated a rousing response, so let's get to it. (My commentary is offset by brackets.)

I will kick it off with a couple of news tidbits.

We have a new addition to our family. In August, we saved another soul and brought Penelope Pearl Lacy Lynn Wynne to our home from the Huron Valley Humane Society. She is a wonderful addition to the family and provides hours of entertainment while tormenting her rescued brother Beanie!

Leaving Ford was indeed the best decision of my life. It was tough to forecast that as I walked out the door after 18 years, but I have been appointed vice president of marketing for Con-way Freight in Ann Arbor, Mich., on a great leadership team that values collaboration. My commute is now 3.3 miles.

But enough about me. As you can see, we're going to fill some pages after the hiatus:

	Coleman EMP-51 and Adeola McDonough enjoy their new addition Aiyana McDonough
	Bill EMP-51, Beanie, Pearl and Bunny Wynne celebrate Beanie's 5th birthday
	Marc Zimmerman EMP-51 and Maury Magids EMP-45 closed the NASDAQ

Kannan Srikanth moved from Oklahoma to Dallas and provides this update: "It has been a long time since there was any activity in this e-mail group. [AMEN!] Hope everyone is doing alright in their jobs/businesses. If someone is near the Dallas area, please do give me a call so that we can meet for lunch or dinner or at least a drink to catch up. My cell number is 214.232.4014."

Coleman McDonough continues his global march and provides us with some happy news. He works with Hercules Offshore located in Houston but is based in Lagos, Nigeria. He reports: "My role is one of a dual capacity. I hold the No. 2 position in West Africa, where I report to the managing director. I am responsible for all business development and marketing, and have an operational and financial oversight role. When the MD moves on in about two years, I would assume that position. This places me in Nigeria for about five to seven years, after which I would either continue in Nigeria or move on to the Middle East."

Coleman also adds that Aiyana McDonough was born May 30 in Reddington Hospital on Victoria Island in Lagos, Nigeria. She weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces and was 19.5 inches long.

Congratulations to Adeola and Coleman on such a wonderful addition!

Jeff Hederick last reported that he was flying over jungles in Indonesia. He mistakenly copied me on instructions for his team should he be captured by gorillas. [Hey, I don't know … I just report the news]

Randy B. Hopper shall now be known as Sen. Hopper, hailing from the 18th District in Wisconsin. He had a narrow victory of 180 votes on a base of 83,000. The king of cheese has now added pork to his repertoire. Congratulations, senator. Now let's go fix Washington!

Steve Sullins checks in: "Sending this e-mail to an enormous list of people (mostly people who have visited Kipling House in the U.K.) has brought back many fond, and some frightening, memories of the debauchery witnessed only by the walls of Kipling House. But alas, all good things must come to an end – or move to a new place that hasn't yet reacted to a random Tuesday night's festivities with a slate of new laws.

"Further details to come, but yes it's virtually a lock that I'll be leaving the U.K. sometime in August. So, what better way to go out than with the Janet Reno Dance Party Revival, aka London World Party? And why Janet Reno, you may ask? It's a good question. All you need to know is that there is a lot of very clever reasoning behind it. Save the date: July 26. And book your travel now. More mouth-watering details to come. [Please send these details, I have bucket of drool already and am working on No. 2.]"

Helen Chionis keeps us updated at caringbridge.com. Sign up and you can get her regular updates. She's quite an inspiration! Her battle continues and she is a remarkable woman for waging her war against cancer while offering to shepherd our next Reunion. We'll have more on that in future e-mail communications. Thanks Helen.

John Cherf, Chris Keil, Larry Murphy, Hamilton Gayden, Shi-Qing Wang, Ingrid Lehnert, Anthony Marino, Steven Romeo, Eric Rozier, Sasan Goodzari, George Kostopolous, Dave Whan, Roger Muselman, Chris Jurasek, Rob Moll, Mark Cox, Dave Jerrett, Larry Smith, Serge Tarazi, Bernardo Sada, Derrick Marris and Kevin Counihan responded to the e-mail roll call. All seem to be doing well. Thanks for checking in, gang!

Guillermo Herrera sends us some info about the company she founded, Pinnacle Biologics Inc. (pinnaclebiologics.com). [Good stuff, G. Keep us posted on your progress with the new venture.]

Andrew Krupp reports: "Hanging in out in Austin these days. Kids are getting bigger all the time."

Rob Sit informs us that Clark Johnson, Bob Muhs, Larry Smith and himself had a little gathering in Minneapolis this past summer.

Desi O'Grady reports he has nothing to report from Kansas City. [Hope no news is good news!]

Mike Crane reports changes: "I don't know if you captured it or knew it, but I returned to Michigan in Jan. 2006. I was working for Siemens Automotive until they were bought by Continental Corporation (another German company) about a year ago. I now lead Continental's hybrid electric vehicle activities, not a bad place to be in all this turmoil. We live on the north side of town, so we are a fair distance from you in Ann Arbor. However, my office is in Dearborn, so call me if you're interested in hooking up for lunch sometime. The only person around here from Northwestern that I've seen is Hamilton. [I will hunt you down for that lunch, Mike!]"

Gene McMahon responded to my roll call in more detail: "No, I did not receive this. No, I did not receive any of the $700 billion dollar trifecta that your Congress is betting on. No, I am not getting any "relief" regarding the millions of uninsured Americans who flock to our hospitals. No, I am not happy about my 401K. No. NO. NO!" [We'll just call you Dr. No from now on!]

Shaun Kondamuri busted in: "I wish I had some exciting news to give you. I will think hard: I'm going skiing at Vail next week with the family, for some needed R and R. Does that count as news?" [YOU BET!]

Heather Robinson is still down on the farm: "I'm still in Iowa, still with John Deere (surprise, surprise)."

Mike Frank is globetrotting, "Close to a year ago, I moved to Beijing, China as the business lead for Monsanto's China region."

Steve Monks is headed for granddad status: "Not much new in my world. I'm still at Pentair water but now have global business unit operations responsibility. No grandkids yet, but that will be coming soon, I'm sure: I have one son that is married and another daughter who is getting married in October."

Dan Rice and Jennifer Rice are doing well. Dan writes: "We had No. 2, a little girl named Claire, born on April 26, 2008. She and her big brother Danny (3) are getting along fine. Claire started to crawl just in time for Christmas and was trying to gather up all the jingle bells (to see how they tasted) as we decorated the Christmas tree!

"I'm still at Lockheed Martin, working on the VH-71 presidential helicopter as the air system program manager, which means I'm responsible for everything on the helicopter that actually leaves the ground. Lots of work and lots of political visibility, but I'm enjoying it."

Dan Heffernan has an addition to the family, too: "My wife Kelli, our son Thomas and I welcomed a daughter, Bridgette Kaise, on Aug. 7. I'm still at Goldman Sachs in New York and traveling extensively as usual."

Clay Callan reports: "I live in Dallas and work at Highland Capital Management LP as head of operations for the private equity team. My focus is on distressed and turnaround situations where HCMLP has a controlling interest. It's interesting work and we are quite busy these days. My wife (An) and I had boy/girl twins last year (Drew and Emery) and Brenna (8). We are enjoying Texas. We do miss snow in the winter. I exchanged e-mails with Ryan Roberts who moved to Dallas in October. Steve Romeo is also in Dallas and we ran into each other at Home Depot. I trust you know Zimmerman recently rang the bell at one of the trade exchanges and suspect he is doing well, along with Andy in Austin."

Marc Zimmerman has news: "We celebrated some holiday cheer with the McDonoughs recently in Austin. We also closed the NASDAQ with fellow EMP-45er Maury Magids. In other news, I am a finalist for the Austin Under 40 awards (austinunder40.org). As Gene McMahon commented, thank goodness it is based on age and not waist size."

On that note, we'll close out this edition. Again, sorry for the dark spell, but the clouds have broken.

Thank you for your continued support and communication. Keep those pictures, cards and letters coming – you're what makes it great!

Yours Truly, Bill