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EMP-50
Thank you to all who sent in your updates! From those that we have not heard from, we encourage you to let us know what is happening in your world and please include pictures.
Steve Hoke writes that since graduation he has flipped sides and has been suing insurers for corporations in asbestos, environmental, D&O and E&O. As avenging angel for the impoverished corporate set, he has recovered more than $220MM for clients (shalegal.com). He is one of the few attorneys successfully doing work-outs for companies with crippling litigation problems that want to isolate liabilities from healthy assets, and currently represents a company with more than 20,000 lawsuits. He is grateful to Professor Stephen Presser, who regularly refers clients, including some EMPers for whom he recovered nearly $30MM in a minority shareholder dispute. Of course, he owes everything he has to Claudia Temple ("Hey, do you know anything about asbestos?"), his very first client in 2002. It’s all about Claudia!
Claudia Temple is residing at Kraft as the assistant treasurer and is involved in the acquisition integration of Cadbury (yum) while at the same time is transforming treasury worldwide. Her part-time job of finding new clients for the amazingly talented Steve Hoke continues. Scott Halliday — where are you?
Sam Coady was promoted to managing director of corporate finance at the CME Group. Sam is responsible for financial valuations and business case development for mergers and acquisitions and strategic investments.
Joe DeSantis accepted the role of vice president of operations for Standard Beverage Corporation in Lenexa, Kansas. Joe and his family will relocate to the Kansas City area during the summer.
Keith Belair joined Shelby American (a public company) in Las Vegas as CFO two years ago. The company builds custom Shelby Mustangs, and brands and sells about 1,000 items after their founder, Carroll Shelby. They also are the main sponsor of the Shelby American Sprint Cup race here in Las Vegas.
Keith also helped start the Kellogg Alumni of Las Vegas Club. Seventeen alumni attended the club’s second get-together at the Shelby Museum.
Dave Hebeda says that nothing has really changed for him professionally. He is still vice president and corporate controller at APP Pharmaceuticals in Schaumburg, Ill. He also plays guitar in the band "Without A Net," which has shows in various suburban bars. They usually play about once a month.
Chris Clawson writes: "I hope you all are well and enjoying life nearly eight years after Kellogg. It’s really hard to imagine it’s been that long, but as we know time marches on. Lots of changes on my end, to say the least. Beth and I are living just outside Madison, Wis., with our two boys Cole (5) and Reid (1). Cole is a ball of energy, attending pre-kindergarten five days a week, playing basketball, baseball and golf and enjoying being the big brother. Reid is sporting a baby mullet, learning to walk and eating everything in sight.
"Last October our three brand companies, Horizon Fitness, Vision Fitness and Matrix Fitness, merged into one group called Johnson Health Tech-North America. I was appointed president and CEO. During my three years with the company, we have had some very rewarding strategic partnerships develop with Lance Armstrong and the Livestrong Foundation as exclusive suppliers of Livestrong Fitness equipment worldwide, a relationship that guarantees a minimum of $4 million in donations to the foundation over the next five years. We co-developed the Krankcycle with Johnny G, the inventor of spinning. Our Matrix brand was recognized as the Vendor of the Year by Gold’s Gym in 2009. It’s hard to find a more enjoyable industry than fitness and despite the macroeconomic issues we’ve all seen, we remain bullish on the prospects for the future."
Doug Yakola said after shutting down ATA airlines, he and Carrie Wismer EMP-52 moved from Indianapolis back to the East Coast, settling in York, Maine. He writes: "When I tell people that I live in Maine, half of them don’t know where that is (is that near Kansas?), and the other half think I’m part Canadian. Actually, we are only about 75 minutes north of Boston, right on the southern coast. I am working for a private equity firm, helping several of their portfolio companies. I am traveling quite a bit now to Miami. Not a bad location in the middle of February! If anyone gets to southern Maine or Miami this winter, shoot me an e-mail at dyakola@yahoo.com. I would love to catch up."
Something that Doug didn’t mention but we thought was important to add is that Carrie is an accomplished children’s book author. For those of you looking for a good children’s’ book, we strongly recommend looking her up on Amazon.com. It’s a great gift for kids who are interesting in learning about the sky in a fun way. Not to mention special milkshake recipes!
The advantage of sending us updates? We connected long-lost friends Doug and Scott Barnhart when we saw Doug’s request for Miami buddies. Doug didn’t know that Scott has been down in Miami for about 1.5 years and works in the office on Blue Lagoon Drive next to the airport. Scott lives in Coconut Grove, about 15 minutes from the airport. He also keeps a boat in a marina on Key Biscayne. Scott caught his first sailfish this January.
A number of us had the great honor of witnessing Bernie Birt marry that absolutely lovely and wonderful Jim Kaczkowski in Evanston. The ceremony was very touching and truly demonstrated their love for one another as well as the love for the new family they created with their union. After the ceremony, we were treated to a rocking reception during which Bernie and Jim were surrounded by family and dozens of friends, many from Kellogg.
On a sad note, Reggie Walker’s father passed away after a battle with cancer on Dec. 9. He was 79 years old, and two days short of his 80th birthday. Bill O’Connell’s mother Ruth passed away on Jan. 23. I spoke with Bill the day he was taking his mom to the hospice and it was with great love that he shared how proud his mom was of Bill’s time at Kellogg as well as all of the friends he made during his time at the Allen Center. Please keep Reggie and Bill in your thoughts.
We would like to hear from many more of you, so please share updated contact information as well as new events happening in your world.
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