1986

Charlie Baker has very exciting news, which I will let him explain. He writes: “Over the past nine months, I’ve been embarked on an unusual odyssey for a Kellogg alum. I’ve been running for governor of the great state of Massachusetts. In April, I secured the Republican nomination for governor at the state convention and will be involved in a four-way race with an incumbent Democrat, an Independent and a Green/Rainbow Party candidate between now and November. Classmates can follow the race on my Facebook page or check out the website at charliebaker2010.com. Let’s hope we have BIG NEWS in November. Running a company is a lot different than running for office — but it’s a fun, wild ride for Lauren and me. We’re both learning lots of things we didn’t know — good and bad — and trying to maintain some degree of normalcy in our lives. Our kids are smart enough to treat the whole thing with a big grain of salt and a huge sense of humor. Good for them.” If/when Charlie wins, how long do I have to wait to ask him to take care of my unpaid parking tickets from my BU days? (Editor’s note: For more on Charlie’s race for the governorship, see page 24.)

Brad Kime and Lori Collins, both ’86, with a friend on Brad’s birthday

Nikki Pope will be changing jobs in the fall. She will teach a venture capital law course in the fall and an advanced corporations course in the spring at the Santa Clara University School of Law. She also is working on a couple of articles she hopes to get published during the coming academic year. Her plan is to get a few articles written, teach a couple of classes and keep the controversial statements and amicus briefs to a minimum. When Charlie Baker becomes POTUS, she might be nominated to SCOTUS.

Cindi Bigelow had a lovely day with Shaun Holiday, who joined the Bigelow Tea board over a year and a half ago. He attended the spring board meeting and afterward, they had a chance to have dinner and catch up. Shaun is doing well and driving his company, Havas Media, forward. Bigelow Tea has had its best year ever, up 12 percent. Cindi’s daughter Meghan is enjoying her first year at college (somebody misses her, must be her dad) and son David has finished up 11th grade and CAN’T WAIT for college in another 18 months (the house will be very empty then, but there will be more room for us to visit). Cindi also had a chance to ski with Tim Mendola this winter up at Okemo, Maine, and had a ball! Cindi was with Allie Shemitz Schieffelin a few times at business and social events over the last couple of months. Allie is working hard and doing great things for her family company, Lighting Quotient. Overall, life is good!

Lori Collins helped Brad Kime celebrate his 50th birthday at Ink48 Hotel in New York. The joint has great views of the Hudson River, the New York skyline and the aged drinking heavily. I assume she was referring to some bluehairs on a bus trip from Jersey. It could not have been Kellogg grads in the prime of life. Brad is also happy to report that he was named president of On Deck Capital in New York City. He started as COO back in September. On Deck is an exciting venture-backed startup focused on enhancing the flow of credit to small business through its technology and lending.

Willy Kotas spent three days in Evanston for the club leadership conference/reunion weekend in late April. As president of the Kellogg Alumni Club of Brazil, he co-led a breakout session at the alumni club powwow. For some reason, he was paired as a speaker with Kellogg Alumni Club of Milwaukee's leaders. The organizers must have known about Willy’s love of cheese, cider, and beer (all things Milwaukee). In December, he joined Kenexa, an innovative consulting firm that supports human resources throughout the entire employee lifecycle. It took Willy 49 years to find the right woman and 51 to partner with the ideal company. We are all invited to stay with Willy and his wife during the 2016 Summer Olympics. You did say that, didn’t you?

Speaking of reunions, our 25th class Reunion is next April (April 29-May 1, 2011). I hope we can get many of you to join the committee and to attend the event. That weekend is my 17th wedding anniversary, so it might take some heavy-duty pleading and gift-giving for me to make it. Laurie and I are still enjoying teaching and now that the schedule has gotten a little less hectic, we hope to play a lot of bad golf this summer. I’ll be playing in the Booster Days golf outing with John Baumann ’85 in the summer. Then it’s the usual summer trips to Spring Green for Shakespeare and golf and Door County to see the family and play more golf.

Milwaukee had a spring this year for the first time in 10 years. We really enjoyed it. Feel free to drop me a note anytime on what you and your families are up to. I think they have made the online version of this publication more secure, so we can go back to having fun. Or at least I hope we can.