Tony Jeff '98 with wife Sheila and baby James

1998

Hello 98'ers, happy belated New Year! Many thanks for your notes and your responses to Class Notes. I am so glad you actually read them. In fact, I received a record number of responses to the last update from the fall because a note from a classmate was actually incorrectly attributed to me. Please see Juan Fonseca's update in full below. For the record, it is he who lives in Mexico, works for Goldman Sachs and is a Young Global Leader as selected by the World Economic Forum. (I am still in London, working for Qualcomm to deliver TV to your mobile phone and was elected by my four-year-old as his favorite family member — after his teddy bear, his little sister and my husband. I was incredibly honored.)

Anyway, lots of new stuff to report as well. On we go!

Juan Fonseca continues to thrive at Femsa while being in charge of investor relations. Femsa is one of the largest corporations in the Americas with operations ranging from Coca-Cola bottling to overseeing one of the largest convenience store chains in North America. Although he is very far away from George Clooney's Up in the Air, he is a true globetrotter, convincing investors left and right on the great benefits of Femsa. Juan is hard to catch, but if anyone happens to be in Monterrey, Juan will be happy to meet you in person or ... via video conference.

Juan also writes: "I continue to manage Goldman Sachs' investment banking business in Mexico and Central America. Mexico's sustained growth (thanks to the rebound in U.S. manufacturing), has kept us quite busy on a number of fronts. I am thrilled to report that I was selected by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader into the class of 2010. This is a global program that brings individuals from a wide variety of backgrounds and industries to increase the awareness of key global issue as well as to develop solutions for those issues by leveraging all constituencies of society. I am working on a toolkit for global leaders to help them approach youth to communicate and interact more effectively with them. Hopefully, I will be in a position to share it with you. Pepita, Alfredo Jr, Maria Jose and Santiago all are doing quite well."

Fabian D'Souza sent in his first update since graduation! He writes: "I feel terrible that I have never contributed my news to either this magazine or to the two Reunion summaries, so I am afraid that this news update is with compound interest. After ending my five-year period of indentured servitude with the company that I joined immediately after graduating from Kellogg (read: Green Cards took even longer after 9/11), I did two major things. I launched Boston Strategic Partners, a company that provides strategy, health economics and writing services to various components of the health care industry and I bought a brownstone or Victorian townhouse shell in Boston's South End and spent the next 10 months doing a gut-rehab of the space. The company and house have worked out really well, and so to complete the action plan (we consultants always advise to do three things, not two!), I purchased a medieval castle on the West Coast of Ireland. First built in 1350 A.D., Rahally Castle is a historic tower house and fortress complete with dungeon and murder holes to get rid of unwanted guests! It will serve multiple purposes, as a headquarters for our European and Asian operations and to lend itself to family events such as weddings, etc.

"On the personal side, I became the caregiver to my parents who moved in with me in October 2006. My mother had been suffering from serious complications from end stage renal disease. Thanks to some excellent care in Boston, she recovered really well and had her kidney transplant last May. I often tell people, 'I don't have children; I have parents instead!' Regardless, Jim and I would like to welcome visitors to the Boston area or soon to Ireland as well. I used to see a lot of classmates at O'Hare, but it seems that everyone else has done the wise thing of traveling less!"

Debby Goldberg writes, "After four and a half years of working for the Center for American Progress and commuting between New York City and Washington, I am now back in New York full time. I am vice president for development and part of the executive team at ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that focuses on investigative journalism."

Tony Jeff and his wife Sheila welcomed son James Anthony Jeff III on Oct. 5. Tony's brother Galagher Jeff '99 is the godfather of his new nephew. Tony, Sheila and James continue to live in Madison, Miss., where Tony is the president and CEO of the Mississippi Technology Alliance.

Ted Arnstein sends in this update: "After four incredible years in The Netherlands, I am returning to Boston this summer to become vice president of corporate development for Sensata, a former division of Texas Instruments that was spun out in a Bain Capital LBO. I spent the last four years in a similar role with NXP Semiconductors, which was spun out of Philips by Bain Capital, KKR and Silver Lake Partners. I had dinner with in New York with Peter Salvage, who is doing great, and previously came close a couple of times to jamming again with Leif Welch in the Valley, but we had to settle for a nice dinner instead. We'll miss Europe terribly, but it will be good to get home again and reconnect with friends and classmates."

Ana Irazabal sent in this update, just make us all feel old: "I am still living in Greenwich, Conn., and still working at PepsiCo. Can you believe since November 1998? Time has passed by so quickly. My baby girl Clara, who ran around the hallways of Kellogg, is now driving! Yes, she is 16 and got her learner's permit in December, so now I have my own personal driver. Work is challenging as I manage Trademark Pepsi, which is a tough category to be in. I have been lucky enough to lead the Pepsi Refresh Project, where Pepsi is giving away $20 million to people with good ideas to move the world forward. As a marketer I couldn't have dreamt for a better place to be, doing marketing and helping people across America improve their communities."

Andreas Zehnder is in his 11th year with Egon Zehnder International in Zurich. He updates: "I am very happy that a new colleague that was elected partner was David Ain in our Toronto office. I am still in occasional contact with Peter Harvey, his wife Ana and the four Harvey boys. I travel a great deal to the U.S., including the Kellogg 10-year reunion in 2008, spring vacation in Florida (Universal/Disney Parks in 2009), global EZI partners meeting in Chicago in 2010 and am going to Las Vegas and L.A. in summer (who will be there?). I always read the KGSM section news with huge curiosity! Drop by, the next time you will be in Zürich! Clarissa, our three kids and I will make the Swiss cheese ready for you."