1988

Brad Schneider is running for Congress. His website is schneiderforcongress.com. There will never be Schneidergate, with reference to congressmen that seem to have trouble behaving themselves. Will be fun to report on the campaign over the next few Kellogg World issues, as I’m sure you’ll be watching it closely too.

I was really humored by some great things David Blaszkowky’s daughter Adina was up to. It was an article in Russian that said she’s a famous country singer in Kazan, Russia. A beauty pageant was put on as part of a program in Tartarstan, Russia, where she is studying (the State Deptartment wants more Americans speaking strategic languages, so in a a summer program, participants live with a working-class family and become fluent. She and five others were pretty much the only Americans in the city). Anyhow, Miss Vietnam won, all in fun, although intense with rehearsals, gown fittings and professional makeup sessions. Check out a photo here: tatar-inform.ru/photo/2011/05/29/1109/19887/#hl. Is anyone out there working in Russia? Contact David through LinkedIn or Facebook. David’s been with the Securities Exchange Commission for about four years (had initially promised an 18-month commitment. Oh well). Though, it’s truly a once-in-a-lifetime chance to lead the interactive data initiative, meaning improving information and sharing transparency (fundamentally important for good markets and regulation). There are a lot of new information products that will come from this work and he has been very pleased to see it through as an impactful venture. He lives in Sharon, Mass., with wife Ami and daughter Rachel, along with Adina, and commutes to D.C.

In the last four years, Ron Zhiss has been at McDonald’s in a global role, focused on bringing innovation to the restaurants. This includes new modern designs for the exteriors and interiors and ways to improve the customer experience. The ideas range from bringing play into the restaurants to news ways of ordering. Ron said something that I’ll reflect on below. He commented on how hard it is to believe that many of us have kids that just graduated from college. His son Daniel graduated from Drake, his middle son Andrew just finished his first year at Drake, and his son Matthew finished his sophomore year in high school. It is amazing. Love to get updates from many of you on this topic.

Bob Hilarides is working on his next gig after leaving IRI. He started The Knowledge Amp, a knowledge management consultancy, enabling companies to leverage knowledge estate better.

David Perry, after more than 20 years in Seattle, is moving to Boston. Cool move to higher education at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., where he’ll serve as chief marketing officer. He leaves behind a wonderful tenure of four and a half years as vice president of marketing and communications at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Higher education is dynamic these days, and institutions are becoming more interested in marketing as a way to position themselves, build awareness and grow enrollment and endowments. David will tell you, Bentley is the next great global business school (and is already a strong undergrad business institution). He and Lauri have been married for 24 years, with kids Clark (12) and Owen (9), who want to see the Red Socks and Celtics, of course.

Scott Ableman has left Simplexity after more than six years as chief marketing officer, and is taking some time off this summer to travel and do some consulting, including some nonprofit work he’s very excited about (building and launching the new TheatreWashington.org this fall). Meanwhile he’s doing a lot of networking and looking for an Internet-related venture.

After two high school graduations in June, Eric Berggren and Debby have both kids set for college next year. He and Debby will be empty-nesters, with no cash flow to enjoy this new freedom. Welcome to the club, Berggrens. Eric is still running his B2B marketing consulting practice, Axios Partners. In the spring, they launched a new software application that measures the value to the customer of a product or service.

I’m connected with many of you on LinkedIn and Facebook, so I can see some interesting updates on you all. You can join our ’88 Kellogg LinkedIn site and share a couple stories. Or just send me a message on FB or LinkedIn at linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=94858. Watching Jamie now planning her last two years of college, and wondering where the heck the time went. I know many of you are in the same boat. How are you handling your midlife crisis, or have you nailed that bucket list? Hope to hear from you, young men and women of ’88.