2004

Chad Stevens and Brian Helm '03 together have started Signature Destinations Club, signaturedestinationsclub, a regionally focused luxury residence club. According to press information for the new company, Stevens first dreamed up the idea for the business while on a Kellogg School ski trip to Steamboat, Colo: "He and his buddies tossed around the idea of buying a vacation home to share. Over grilling steaks and enjoying wine, they determined they didn't want the hassle of home ownership and wanted to be able to travel to numerous locations. Thus, Signature Destinations was born."

Signature Destinations offers members access to a portfolio of second homes within driving distance of nine regional target hubs around the country. Members pay $125,000 individual one-time membership fees (80 percent refundable upon resignation) and an annual fee (currently $8,500) to cover the operating expenses of the club. The standard membership allows members 56 days of advanced reservations and unlimited space-available travel.

According to the company, residences are typically 2,500 square feet and can accommodate groups of six to 10 people. Signature Destinations planned to open homes in its first hub, the Pacific Northwest, in June. Other hubs will follow over the next three years.

Martin Claure writes: "I started Colfax Realty during my second year at Kellogg. What began as a side business to make some extra income while at school turned out to be a pretty successful venture that I decided to pursue full time in my post-MBA life. Colfax Realty is a young, but fast-growing real estate firm that specializes in helping people move before graduate school, and with any relocations they make thereafter. We had such success in Chicago/Evanston last year that we opened offices in New York, Boston and Miami." Of course, those Kellogg roots keep him growing — Ellen Zfaney assists with his Chicago operation and Lacey, wife of George Fondran, helps manage his New York branch.

Members of the Class of 2004 reunite for the Texas Winter Classic MBA soccer tournament. Bottom row, from left, Mark Kushemba '04, Rodrigo Sawaya '00, Juan Pablo Rossi '04 and Javier Carvallo '00. Top Row, from left, Brady Countryman '03, Ryan O'Toole '03, an invitee, Ramiro Rodriguez Agusti '03, Bryan Kranick '00, Neil Giugno '03 and Mariano Ramos '03

Age may not make one wiser... but it can help win more games. The Kellogg alumni soccer team recently proved this at the Texas Winter Classic MBA tournament, blowing by the Kellogg neophytes to reach the quarterfinals.

Jon ("a little bit country, a little bit rock 'n roll") Conta bid a nostalgic farewell as his band Spacecake played its final gig this May "after years of endless touring in support of our multiplatinum albums, countless sold-out stadiums and hundreds of made-for-TV movies." Check local listings for a reunion tour coming to a town near you.

All our best wishes to Hwashing and Sam Heyworth, new parents of Ryan Dashan Heyworth, who entered the world on March 5 at 3:30 p.m. He weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces, and measured 21 inches long. Sam writes, "Mom and baby are doing well, and dad is very, very proud."

Congratulations to Yukiko and Mikio Kawahara, who married on March 25. Dai Tsuruki reached out to KOA Veracruzanos to help celebrate, noting: "It is very common for the Japanese to send a telegram with a special design when close friends cannot attend the wedding. Those telegrams will be read." He continued by saving Miki's nuptials, adding: "Of course you can send it in English (I will not translate)."

Tapiwa Mashingaidze acknowledges that he "owes most of you either a phone call, an email, a letter, a coffee, a lunch or some dastardly combination of all of the above."

Can you believe it's been a year since we graduated?! Reunion was a fast and fabulous weekend celebration, with such Kellogg traditions as TG, the Keg, and of course, Special K! Special cheers to our international travelers: Nori Kubo and Daisuke Tsuruki, who jetted over from Japan and the European Community, Alex DeCroo and Annik Penders from Belgium, and Sandrine Murcia from France. A huge thank-you to the 2005 reunion committee: Mario Dominguez, Peggy Mathias, Kim Matthews, Kim Milstein, Sandrine Murcia, Mike Sheehan, Marcy Shugert, Andy Sofield and Garrett Ulosevich.