Marlon Brownlee '86 with wife Jeaniene and their two children Marques and Simone at his induction into office on the Maplewood Township Committeee

1986

William "Willy" Kotas and his wife Erika had a wonderful three-week European vacation in January. A highlight of the trip was visiting the Czech Republic, especially the Budvar brewery tour and having dinner with a Kellogg alum who works at Pilsen. Best of all was spending two days in Cesky Krumlov, where they toured castles and Willy bowled a 241. He could have visited Milwaukee and had almost the same vacation. He is looking forward to seeing all of us at the reunion.

Charlie Baker and Lauren Schadt have mostly recovered from the work and excitement — as well as the immense disappointment — brought on by his unsuccessful campaign for Massachusetts governor. Lots of lessons learned and new friends found along the way. They want to extend a huge "thank you" to the members of the Class of 1986 who helped bring big-time support to their campaign from all over the country. In other news, their oldest son is firmly planted in the Midwest at Denison and loving it; their middle son AJ is roaring along through his junior year in high school; and Caroline loves eighth grade and it seems to love her, too. Personally, I will never understand why so many of you are sending 8-year-olds to college. I know they are the smart offspring of Kellogg grads, but can't you wait until they are 18? Lauren and Charlie will be at the reunion also.

Brad Kime is still the president of On Deck in New York. They raised $15 million in capital for growth and expansion of the company with SAP Ventures as lead investor. They also passed $100 million in money lent since inception of the company, so a lot of $30,000 small business loans in the last couple of years! Brad will be at the reunion and he might have a few bailout checks for us. Or maybe not, without collateral.

Cindi Bigelow has been busy growing her business and rounding up Kellogg alumni to attend Reunion. Well not just her — a gang of us are diligently working on our upcoming 25th reunion. We hope everyone can come! It will be a ball. Cindi is having so much fun working with everyone on the committee, which has such super energy. It reminds her why she loved Kellogg so much. She wants to remind everyone to book their rooms ASAP. The more people that attend, the more fun it will be.

Lori Collins reports that she has not run for governor, only attorney general, but that she dropped out when she was informed she would have to get a law degree. Lori has standards. The highest thing she has climbed recently is the stairs — not any mountains. The only little bitty update is that she has joined the board of Home Performance Resource Center (who knew?), which is the research arm of Efficiency First, a national trade organization promoting energy efficiency policy and financial solutions. See efficiencyfirst.org and hprcenter.org for more info. Lori will be at Reunion too.

Mary and Mark Schwartz are threatening to attend Reunion. I think their children are pushing for them to attend so they have the house to themselves for a weekend. I say, update your homeowners policy and come on down. Mark went on a back country ski trip in February in western Colorado (near Durango) and found the altitude to be more challenging than he expected, but he made it home in one piece with great stories and photos. He has shared neither with me so far.

Nikki Pope is enjoying teaching and would really love it, if the school did not have students. She has not decided if she will wear her sport coat with suede elbow patches at Reunion.

Marlon Brownlee will be at Reunion (he has never missed one). His big news is that he was elected to the Maplewood (NJ) Township Committee in November and was sworn into office Jan. 1. It is for a three-year term and Marlon is looking forward to tackling the challenges of municipal government. Tom Moore attended the ceremony and joined his family and friends in celebrating the occasion. Marlon kept us in the loop on his Facebook page and will keep updating us as he gets the township in shape.

My life is going about the way it always does. I am teaching business classes at University of Wisconsin — Milwaukee. You are all invited to stop by as a guest speaker. With the Badgers playing in the Rose Bowl and the Packers winning the Super Bowl, much of my fall was spent pacing in front of the TV. While shopping a few weeks ago, I ran into Jeff Bartlett at Costco. Neither of us was hurt. Jeff is doing well, but is not sure he will be able to make the reunion. I will be at Reunion on Friday night, but as I have mentioned, it is my anniversary on Saturday so I will become the invisible man. I will be in the area, but you will never see me. There is a rumor of spring in the air, so bad golf will not be far behind. I am looking forward to seeing all of you at the reunion.