EMP-78

Hello everyone. Hope 2011 is treating you all well. We have a lot of great news going on. Check it out and don't forget to mail what's going on with you and your family to Heather Christ, Bel Masagão or Than Hartsock.

Andreas Kuster was promoted to vice president and appointed the integration manager of UBF Seguros, a Sao Paulo-based commercial insurance company that SwissRe acquired. Until the end of June, he will manage the integration in Sao Paulo before he relocates to Switzerland (to continue to work on the integration).

Steve Droste is the general manager for sales and marketing for P&H MinePro Services in Canada. He is responsible for mining equipment sales in Canada. He relocated to Calgary in December but he travels extensively throughout Canada.

In November, Mike Fryer and his wife Thea relocated to Jiamusi, China (in the Heilongjiang province) with John Deere as the manufacturing engineering manager in the combine harvester factory. This is an interesting time in China for the company as it introduces new products, faces heavy production demand, and works on capacity expansion. Mike and Thea are also enjoying their crash course in local language, culture, history and food and believe it is now safe to say that they survived their first winter.

Isabel Masagão moved back to Sao Paulo and just accepted a position at Unilever in marketing. She will be a senior manager responsible for the ice-cream business in Brazil.

Kevin Connell has a new role as senior director for agency and consumer and ECM solutions at Liberty Mutual Agency Corporation.

Ed Pierson accepted a new position at State Farm Insurance, working in marketing strategy. He, his wife Devon and baby Wesley just moved to Bloomington, Ill.

Mary Beth Arnett relocated to St. Louis with her husband Michael. She has accepted a position as director of database marketing with Pinnacle Entertainment's corporate marketing department. In this role, Mary Beth will oversee the direct marketing programs for the company's St. Louis, Indiana and eventually Ohio casinos.

Chris Carver joined a nonprofit media organization in San Diego called Invisible Children. Chris is the organization's chief operations officer. Invisible Children uses film, merchandise and social action to end the use of child soldiers in central Africa.

Tom Stricker is the president and CEO of HK Logistics, a subsidiary of Dematic Corp. They provide the financing and operational expertise to design, build, own and operate automated warehouses for our clients

Michael Frye accepted a position as a regional manager in training. This is a rotational position, so he will be moving about three to four times in the next three to five years. Michael and his family are currently in Lexington, Ky.

Ben Kim and Darcy welcomed their newest addition, Colton Fox Youn-Sung Kim. Born on Feb. 15, baby Colton came in at a whopping 10 pounds and is due to start trying out for middle linebacker in the fall. Mom, dad and baby are happy, healthy and struggling to catch up on e-mails, text messages and all the unanswered calls that have come pouring in recently.

Great news for Paul Zielinski and his wife. They just celebrated the birth of Mason Andrew Zielinski on Dec. 29. Baby and parents are doing just fine. Paul also started at Kohl's Corp. back in October as IT account manager, merchandising and product development.