Ebony magazine recognized EMP-56's Vicky Free as one of its Outstanding Women in Marketing and Communica-tions in New York on April 14.

EMP-56

Class of EMP-56 — the summer is upon us and it's no surprise that the spring of 2005 has brought us more BIG news!

Leading off our headlines is the national recognition of one of my favorite talented women. On April 14, Vicky Free was recognized in New York by Ebony magazine as one of its Outstanding Women in Marketing and Communications. Vicky was honored at a fabulous awards ceremony and delivered a speech that left all attendees with no doubt as to why she was on the stage (no surprise to us that Vicky is amazing!) I know we will all be looking forward to getting her autograph on our very own copy of Ebony. Yes, we all knew her when Š Congratulations, Vicky, for being wonderful, for making an impact on women's issues and for bringing such notable success to Kellogg!

But that's not all. We have quite a few other personal and professional events to celebrate:

Steve Prokup married his long-time love, Chaoran Jin, on April 30 in the ballroom of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Many EMP-56ers attended to celebrate their beautiful evening wedding and shared in the witty toast led by Chaoran's father (delivered in Chinese and translated) to wish the newlyweds (wow, she is lovely) well as they headed off to honeymoon in Thailand. Steve and Chaoran, the class of EMP-56 wishes you a lifetime of prosperity, adventure and abundant love!

Celebrating at the wedding of EMP-56's Steve Prokup and Chaoran Jin, are classmates Ping Yu, Rob Stoppek, Jerry Carter, Matt DesRosiers, Curtis Smith, Brian Bancroft, Rich Montbriand, Todd Chalem, Sheila Sullivan and Scott Corley. A few others not pictured also cheered the couple's good fortune!

Kristin Bird is taking on some major changes since our graduation. Joining Unilever Foods as the director of customer and channel marketing last winter, Kristin has been putting her Kellogg degree into fast action and says she is really enjoying her new role.

Tom Brya has taken a new role at KV Pharmaceutical in St. Louis. As the vice president of commercial strategy and growth, Tom is driving the company's business plan forward, while still managing the commute home to Winnetka. We're glad Tom's staying local (better chance of seeing him at upcoming events) and we're also glad to hear of his business success!

Kendra Fuson has new and interesting news — she's taken a position at St. Paul Travelers as vice president of strategic projects within the personal lines group. The bad news for us is that she's relocating to Hartford, Conn., at the end of May! Congrats on the new gig, Kendra — we're all looking forward to visiting you on the East Coast!

Margie Allen is continuing to shake things up. She left her position at St. Paul in April and has been dedicating her new Kellogg MBA and entrepreneurial spirit to expanding the family business. Margie will be opening a home accessories and decorative arts store in the near south area on Michigan Avenue. She's busy working with the architect on store design and we will all be invited to her grand opening!

Jason Ferrara has also been on the move. He's now the director of marketing at Careerbuilder.com, responsible for building the B2B marketing organization targeting small businesses of one to 100 employees. In addition, Jason is leading new product development, pricing, lead management, e-commerce, trade shows and special events, and marketing communications. Jason is working hard and is excited to take on the challenges ahead.

I am also on the move and while many of us have relocated to exciting places (Shumin, send photos!), I am headed out to the countryside of Iowa. My newly constructed house is in the small town of LeClaire, on the outskirts of the Quad Cities. It's a great location, so I am hoping everyone will come and take advantage of the golf course (free for me and all my friends for two years), the pool/hot tub and game room!

Finally, I'll share a few thoughts about our first Kellogg EMP-56 Reunion. First of all, where were you? The event was nice, but attendance from our class left everyone wondering where we were! A few of our class attended Saturday's academic sessions (Vicky Free, Suzette Webb, Scott Corley and Curtis Smith) and only two of us (Mike Dvorak and me) came out for the evening's dinner at the Allen Center. It was very nice and we got a chance to catch up with lots of people from EMP-57 (they had more than 30 people there). Given that this was not a great date for our class, look for an upcoming fall event notice — it's time for EMP-56 to gather and celebrate what a phenomenal year we are having! Who's in for some fun?