TMP 1996

David Asmann co-founded Triton Capital Partners Ltd. in 2000 to provide middle-market companies with high-quality, senior-level investment banking services. David also serves as a director of several companies and charitable organizations.

Dennis McSweeney recently formed McSweeney & Antman, a corporate branding and communications consulting firm in Chicago. The firm helps companies define or refine their corporate brands and communicate more effectively with key stakeholders, including investors, customers, employees and the public.

Danielle Dycus founded and has been organizing the Hike for Humanity to raise funds for UNICEF for the past five years. The UNICEF UK national committee was so pleased with the results they decided to take on this event as a national project and are now working to expand it within the UK. Outside of the UK, Danielle has friends who have helped organize the event in Chicago and Vancouver. She continues to work for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in its London office, where she has been since 1997, but says she has yet to develop a fine British accent.

	Susan Siemers TMP '96 with some of her handmade beauty products

Susan Siemers writes that her career has taken a huge shift. "My Kellogg education was invaluable, and I rose quickly from rather mundane management jobs to being the OEM sales manager for Honeywell Aerospace in South Bend. I sold airplane wheels and brakes all over the world.

"Having been raised on a farm in northern Illinois, I have always longed to get back to the land. The opportunities were wide open here in Indiana, where I have lived since 1993. Farmland sells for a small fraction of what it does in Illinois. In 2004, I bought 82 acres southwest of South Bend. My intention was to build a passive solar house (which I did) and use the farm as a personal retreat. I took the land out of production and planted 8,300 trees. There is a lovely creek across the back of the property, with 15 acres of heavily wooded land across it, five acres of wetlands and an acre and a half pond. Every morning, I would leave the farm for my corporate job. My job was exciting and afforded me travel all over the world, where I met with airplane producers and potential suppliers of component parts. I've climbed the Great Wall in China, dined on South American steaks in Brazil, learned to drive on the left side of the road and navigate roundabouts in England, shopped in street markets on Saturday mornings in Paris, listened to the mournful sound of the boats in Puget Sound. These are all wonderful memories. But as I drove down my half-mile lane each morning, I longed to stay put. I would see deer, hawks, indigo buntings, great blue heron --- and I would have to leave it all every day, sometimes for a week at a time.

"A couple of years earlier, I had begun making goat milk soap, marketing it on the Internet (www.ceres-co.com) and at fairs and festivals in the area. I didn't think it could produce enough income to enable early retirement, but then a friend challenged me to look at my lifestyle and assess my true needs. I expanded my product line to include alcohol-free face cream and body lotions, great for sensitive skin. I began making yarrow products from yarrow wild-harvested from my pesticide- and herbicide-free farm. I ventured into the Chicago market at a couple of women's conferences and acquired a loyal, albeit small, following for my skin care products and herbals.

"Last fall, I took the plunge and left my secure life in the corporate world. I started selling regularly at the South Bend farmer's market and eventually bought a booth there. I am now using the skills and knowledge from my Kellogg education to further my own business. After analyzing what I needed to do to offset what I anticipated would be lower sales in the summertime when people weren't suffering from dry skin, I built a greenhouse and began selling plants in addition to my soaps and skin-care products. I utilized my built-in focus group (the customers at the market) to analyze where there might be a niche for me. I now specialize in open-pollinated heirloom plants, especially tomatoes and basil. I also raise and sell 'old time' flower plants such as zinnias and moss rose --- flowers the other vendors ignore because they don't have wide appeal. But I sell all that I raise.

"All of this commerce happens in a small booth that is exactly 8 feet wide and is open to the public 16 to 20 hours a week. I have a loyal following of people who trust me and my products. My revenues continue to grow. I work long hard hours, but love every minute of it. My energy level has never been higher. I am approaching my 63rd birthday and I can work circles around people who are 10 years younger. Money is tight, but I have managed to scrape together enough to take a small vacation in Michigan, where I will learn to kayak on Lake Michigan. Money is certainly not the only measure of success. In fact, for me, it is one of the least important measures, so long as the basic needs to live are being met. I have food (home-raised and organic), clothing, a roof over my head and a lifestyle that suits me to a T. Life is good."