Stephen Julien, Keith Rakow and Graciela Stern (all '97) walking off an enormous steak dinner in Buenos Aires
	Barb (Dorf) Levin '97 and husband Michael celebrating Mom's Day with sons Elan and Benjamin
	Erik Zimmer '97 eating fried scorpions in China
	Ken Jones '97 with wife Jane Schaefer and daughters Linnea and Iris
	Gil Penchina and Sue (Buydens) Penchina (both '97) with daughter Kaitlyn (5) and son Brian (3)
	Carlos Rubal '97 with daughters Cristina and Beatriz

1997

Eduardo Hernandez writes that although they are under an extremely tense situation due to several political issues in Venezuela, things are going great for him and his family. On May 12, 2005, his family gained a new member: Federico Antonio. He's a very big boy, bigger and heavier that either of Eduardo's other two sons (Eduardo and Guillermo) were at his age. Federico's two brothers are very happy and have been very supportive with their new brother. Due to a restructuring in his company last October, Eduardo became the new business director for beer and wines in Empresas Polar. Beer is the primary product of this 65-year-old organization. It is a demanding, but interesting industry. So any time you want to join Eduardo for a party, beer or wine is on him!

Antonio Guerra Autrey would like to share with our class: "I can't believe it's been almost 10 years." Antonio is in Mexico working as CEO of Grupomar, a family owned company focused primarily in fishing and canning tuna for the Mexican market. His wife, Fernanda, is involved in philanthropic activities and busy raising their three children — Antonio (5), Marusa (4) and Fernanda (2) — who are the greatest joys of their lives. They are involved in the Mexican Kellogg alum club which organizes events locally and gives them a chance to stay connected with their friends. Antonio writes, "I hope all have enjoyed the ride as much as I have. I'll see you at the next class reunion!"

Brad Williamson recently left his job shilling defibrillators for Medtronic and joined SonoSite as global marketing director for emergency medicine. SonoSite makes easy-to-use ultrasound machines the size of a small laptop computer. But, no, he didn't sell one to Tom Cruise.

Osamu "Sam" Karita is a vice president and director at Boston Consulting Group. He and his wife Keiko have a two-year old son, Kosei.

Jason Summers received an amazing birthday present in November when he and wife Staci welcomed their daughter Ainsley Anina to the world on Jason's birthday. Mom, baby and the rest of the family are all doing well in a new home in Baltimore.

Iris Schaefer Jones was born Nov. 4 to Ken Jones and Jane Schaefer. Iris is already sitting up and playing with her big sister Linnea. Ken is now the director of marketing at BridgePort Networks. BridgePort Networks is a startup focusing on fixed-mobile convergence telecommunications based in Chicago. The company is exciting and the position is great. Ken writes, "Life is good!"

Michael Locke and his wife, Heather, announce the arrival of Graham Whittemore Locke on March 4. Graham joins big brother Skip (6) and sisters Cate (4) and Caroline (2) in a busy Locke household. Michael is CEO of Rasmussen College Inc. which operates career colleges in the Midwest and Florida. He is based in Chicago and can be reached at michael.locke@rasmussen.edu.

Ray Woods recently left Deloitte & Touche to join Getzler Henrich & Associates LLC, a management and financial consulting firm based in New York City. In his role at Getzler Henrich, Ray will provide a wide range of services including turnaround consulting, financial advisory and crisis management services to companies with annual revenues ranging from $20 million to $1 billion in revenues. For more information, Ray can be reached at 917.514.6316. Ray and his wife Renee also recently bought a house in West Orange, N.J.

Sue (Buydens) Penchina, Gil Penchina and their two kids Kaitlyn (5) and Brian (3) spent the past two years living in Paris, where Gil was working as a regional vice president for eBay International. Highlights of their Parisian adventure included more than 20 visits to the Louvre, cooking classes at the Cordon Bleu, sailing toy boats in Luxembourg gardens and vacations all across Europe. The Penchina family is now back in the United States and living in the Bay Area. After eight years at eBay, Gil is leaving to become CEO of the venture-backed startup Wikia — a commercial version of Wikipedia that lets consumers collaborate to create guides to almost everything. Sue is enjoying spending time with the kids and has just finished writing her second children's book.

Ashley (O'Neill) Kleiderer and Karl Kleiderer had a baby girl on Feb. 13! Her name is Natalie Elizabeth. She joins big brothers Nick and Connor.

Barb (Dorf) Levin was too sleep-deprived to announce the birth of her first son Elan two years ago. Now that No. 2 son arrived on April 3, she thought it was finally time to update the Kellogg world on her life. Benjamin arrived on April 3 and all are adjusting well to the new addition. If having a baby wasn't enough, Barb and husband Michael have decided to pack things up in Chicagoland and head across the border to Barb's hometown of Milwaukee, Wis. They became official cheeseheads in July, joining fellow alum Andrew Appel and his wife Susan, daughter Julia, and 135-lb. puppy Lily. Barb loves staying home with her kids and plans to do so indefinitely.

Erik Zimmer, his wife Monica and his two children Carlota (6) and Frederik (5) are now living in Japan. They moved there in January. Eric still works for Abbott Laboratories, and is now in charge of Asia Pacific for Abbott Diabetes Care. Erik writes: "Japan is a great place, and this is a great opportunity to expand our horizons. Asia pacific is a fantastic area." Erik covers 17 countries, which represent 40 languages, many major religions, and some of the most beautiful countries and people and best food in the world. They feel very lucky to be there. And while the Japanese language is extremely difficult to learn, it is a great country to live in and the people are fantastic. He hasn't had a chance to hook up with alumni yet but will do so shortly.

From left: Eduardo Hernandez Pulido, Federico Hernandez Pulido, Dad (Eduardo Hernandez '97), Mom (Ana Federica Pulido) and Guillermo Hernandez Pulido

Paul Dillon is still living in Chicago's Lincoln Park. He just missed seeing Marty and Asha Moran as they swung through the city in the early Spring. Paul has been doing the Chicago reverse-commute, working in the suburbs for ConAgra Foods as the director of transportation procurement.

Carlos Rubal reports from Spain: "Greetings, everyone! Some of you will recognize me as the mildly handsome fellow in the picture, but probably won't recognize the beautiful little girls next to me: they are Cristina (7) and Beatriz (4), my lovely daughters. Their mom and I decided a few months ago to split up, and we both hope it's for the best. So here I am, having a great time with them in the north coast of Spain this past Easter." On the professional front, Carlos is now the CFO of Lar Crea, a large real estate company with interests all over Europe and Mexico. He is traveling frequently to Mexico D.F. and Paris, so anyone willing to catch up, do contact him so you can get together for dinner or a couple of beers sometime.

Geoff Kostal and Eunah (Kim) Kostal '96 recently moved to Waterford, Va. Their three children — Shelby, Theodore and Race — will start kindergarten this fall. This spring, Geoff was hired as a pilot at Continental Airlines and is flying the Boeing 737. Eunah is enjoying her position in capital management.

Keith Rakow writes that he celebrated his second anniversary at United Online where he has been promoted to director of ISP brand marketing for the company's NetZero and Juno brands. Keith enjoys working with United Online CEO Mark Goldston '78, a major talent in the branding world and member of the Kellogg Dean's Advisory Board. Keith reports that Stephen Julien is still enjoying life in Atlanta. The two traveled in March to Argentina where they hung out with Graciela Stern. Graciela is enjoying being back in Buenos Aires after living in Washington, D.C., for the last nine years. Keith would enjoy hearing from classmates who plan to visit the Los Angeles area.