EMP-53

Greetings, EMP-53! I hope this finds you all well. So let's start with recapping Reunion. Our small showing included Pam Alexa, still with Wyeth outside Pittsburg, and looking great. I ran into our very own "Rat Pack:" Jay Kobitter, Mike Merfeld and Joe Fiore. They stopped at Kellogg enroute to Bar Louie, of course. I heard from a couple of others, but I'm not sure who else actually braved the wild rain and thunderstorms.

During the last couple of months I've seen both Dan Roman and Mike Sarlitto. They are doing well with their company, SummitPoint Management. Mike writes the expected commercial: "SummitPoint Management, a Chicago-based management consultancy specializing in providing a wide array of transactional support services into M&A and investment situations including financial, operational and commercial due diligence, celebrated its fifth anniversary in 2007.  SummitPoint's growing list of clientele includes Goldman Sachs, Microsoft, General Electric and numerous private equity, corporate strategic and investment group serial acquirers nationwide."

I've also seen Bill Birck and Deepak Mital around town. Bill's Reed Construction is doing extremely well, but we mainly trade stories about Thomas the Tank Engine and the like. And our favorite doctor, Deepak, has big news. Dr. Deepak Mital M.D, MBA was inducted as president of the Indian American Medical Association of Illinois (IAMA-IL) for 2008. Director of the pancreas transplant program at Rush University and associate professor of surgery at Rush Medical, Dr. Mital plans to bring new technology to the IAMA. In the past year he helped set up a health clinic at Daley Plaza in Chicago, celebrating Indian Independence Day by the Association of Indians in America. Dean Dipak Jain will be the chief guest at the 2008 annual meeting of the IAMA-IL at the new Intercontinental O'Hare Chicago Hotel on Nov. 15.

Scott Kirkpatrick reports that he was recently in Lausanne, Switzerland, at the Olympic Museum, addressing more than 200 national federations that make up the FIVB — the International Volleyball Federation.

Paul Darley reports that W.S. Darley & Co celebrated 100 years and the company purchased a new headquarters (as you will recall, 1908 was also the last time the Cubs won a World Series — perhaps Paul should start a new company this year?). His new headquarters are more than 40,000 sqare feet, and Darley also has operations in Wisconsin, Iowa and Oregon.

On the family front, huge congratulations to a number of 53'ers on new family members. Melissa and Gary welcomed Tara Lynn Macek Raju on Jan. 5, after moving to a beautiful new home in Lincoln Park.

Kalea and Santosh Padki announce the birth of their son, KŸrn Shankar. KŸrn was born on March 24 in Chapel Hill, N.C. They report that their 27-month-old, Anjali, is playing a very good "big sister," and wants to be in the middle of everything! Anjali, incidentally, has gotten very good at identifying brand logos (Dora, Hello Kitty—those darn marketers!) and often utters "Dada's cool!" Ultimately, they figured out she was actually saying "Dada's school" whenever she saw the Kellogg logo! Evidently, understanding marketing and its import run in the family. She seems destined for Kellogg, since purple is her favorite color.

On April 25, Patrick Brady and his wife, Chase, welcomed the newest little Brady:  William Carter Brady. Carter's older siblings, Harlan, Myles, Hollis and Elden, are thrilled to have a new baby brother.

And finally, I've moved to a new job with the U.S. Olympic Committee, working on the Chicago bid to host the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. And thanks to Scott Kirkpatrick for all his help with the bid and to me in my role.

The bid is not a job for the faint of heart, and between juggling work, family and life, I am passing the torch, so to speak, with regard to the Kellogg column. I've mostly enjoyed harassing you for news these past years, and at the time of this writing, no less than three EMP-ers were vying for this great opportunity. I may consider auctioning it off. Stay tuned to see who the lucky winner is.

Take good care, please continue to send your news to our new columnist TBA, and if I can ever be of assistance, please don't hesitate to reach out. Please be aware that we won't know which city wins the right to host the 2016 Games until Oct. 2, 2009 so I cannot get you any tickets yet.