EMP-66

Fifteen souls braved our second annual reunion Nov. 7-9, 2008 in Las Vegas, gathering for fun, frivolity and the chance to reminisce. A big shout out to Drew Marston, Colleen Hayes, Susanne Dawursk and Russell Moss for their hours of planning to make this tradition happen!

The weekend festivities officially kicked off with dinner at Kristofer's steak house. Kim Hendrix and others who arrived early spent a nice afternoon relaxing at the pool. After dinner, the sugar packet poker crew, led by Bret Waters and Drew, continued their Allen Center game-playing tradition as stated alive and well. Meanwhile, Tom Clark, Jenn Harper and Susanne headed to the Wynn for a night of quarter slots and dancing. In true Tom Clark fashion, he chose to stay at the Wynn, instead of with the group, which worked out perfectly when he simply flashed his card to get immediate entry into Tryst. Feeling a little over-clothed, Susanne and Jenn pledged to wear their matching hot pants next time.

Chris Ball EMP-66 with new addition Lucas James Ball
Chetan Mahajan EMP-66, wife Vandita holding new baby girl Raahat and big brother Anhad

On Saturday, Kaye Cingle arranged for indoor skydiving and Bret, Susanne, Drew and Tom participated, while many members of the group watched. Rick Sasala, Francine and Colleen opted to head to the Hoover Dam for the day. Shockingly, Roopak Manchanda, Srinivas Gaddam and Pulakesh Sen were missing in action all day. Saturday night brought us all back together with happy hour at Diablo to celebrate Jenn's birthday. Chris Martinez worked his magic to score us the perfect spot on the upstairs deck overlooking the Strip. After a few rounds, most of the crew headed over to Cirque du Soleil's KA while Roopak and Srinivas went to see George Lopez perform. On Sunday morning we all gathered for breakfast and to say our goodbyes. We hope 2009 brings out even more of our EMP-66 classmates.

Personal Highlights:

On Jan. 17, Chris Ball and his wife welcomed baby No. 5, Lucas James Ball. Lucas arrived weighing 7 pounds, 1 ounce and was 19.5 inches long. He is eating like a champ. All of the kids were thrilled to meet the newest member of the team. Chris's career continues to flourish; he was promoted general manager in May. He is responsible for Whirlpool's National Accounts sales organization. In December, the Balls decided to get a house closer to work. They now live in Stevensville, Mich., which cuts Chris' daily commute by more than an hour each day, which has been a welcome change. It's also very close to Lake Michigan, so beach guests are always welcome!

Chetan Mahajan and Vandita had been planning to adopt a baby girl. That process culminated on Dec. 25 when daughter Raahat joined the family at three months and 18 days old.

Paul Flynn joined Monsanto in St. Louis in July. He joined Steve Padgett's group with the responsibility of building a strategy around the biotech collaborations the company engages. Paul is looking forward to the opportunity and the growth potential of Monsanto and the biotech industry over the next 10 years. Paul's wife Lisa and his kids are enjoying the move to a bigger city that still has a rural feel with a 20-minute drive from downtown. If in the St. Louis area, Paul says to drop by.

Louis Huston accepted an expatriate role as the executive coordinator/strategy and planning manager at Shell Oil. He is residing in Den Hague, Netherlands. Louis works for the chief information officer of Shell Oil and is a member of the IT Executive Committee. The committee is responsible for anything that deals with IT within Shell Oil (exploration and production, downstream, trading, global functions and infrastructure).

Maggie Lower was promoted to senior vice president at Bank of America. She holds a national leadership role for institutional investments team and is working diligently through the Merrill Lynch transition.

Lou Madge is still running his own management consulting practice (mandhgroup.com) and is living in Boston. He is trying to have a good time riding the wave until the consulting gigs dry up. Lou was asked by his main client to serve as interim director of strategy and planning and has started traveling more (although not quite like the good old days at Deloitte). He hopes to be able to visit EMP friends during some of his business travels. Lou is experiencing firsthand Uzzi's teachings on the power of the network. Thanks to Roopak Manchanda's suggestion, Lou is working with Srinivas Gaddam's company on one of his of projects. It's good to do business with EMP friends. He remains cautiously optimistic about the economic outlook and wishes the economy improves soon, so he can join the Hoopes club and buy Bentley No. 1 someday. (Lou guesses that having the audacity to dream big didn't hurt the current president of the United States.) If anyone is planning to visit Boston, contact Lou. He'd enjoy seeing his EMP friends again.

Rick Sasala started a part-time consulting arrangement with a local asset management firm in January. He is performing asset evaluation and improving some of the back office operations. The longer-term goal is to implement some analytical methodologies for monitoring and optimizing portfolio construction. Rick is looking forward to some recovery in the markets so that his role will evolve into a full-time position. In addition, he is continuing to hold down full-time work at Insulspan as well.