John Butter with daughter, Elizabeth, Sarah Jo Sarchet Butter, Elizabeth Carlson, Alan Buyert and Kathy Preble gathered in Chicago over Labor Day weekend.

1998

5 Year Reunion
Reunion Weekend is May 2 to 4! Help plan Reunion Weekend. Contact Hwashing Heyworth at 847.467.6386 or h-heyworth@kellogg.northwestern.edu.

After almost three years in London, I set target goals for myself every month this summer to help me get in touch my American roots. I can now report that I successfully reached them all without incident.

In July I was able to make it back home to Connecticut to see my parents and imported the following items with me back to the U.K.: Toll House chocolate chips, Guilden’s spicy brown mustard and Kraft French Dressing. Something about not having ready access to basic American food staples makes me crave them more. In August I went wine tasting in France and managed not to total my rental car while getting re-accustomed to right-side driving. And last week, I went to see Bon Jovi because A.) The tickets were free from work and B.) I was an East Coast teenager in the 80s. I do not actually know what is scarier — the fact that I was TRULY excited for the concert (as the only American at the radio station I work for) or that fact that I actually knew the words to every song they did from the “Slippery When Wet” album. So mission accomplished, I am still an American Kelloggian in London. And so on that fair note, to the goss we go …

Another wave of little ones (Kellogg Class of 2029) has joined the ever-increasing broods of our classmates.

	Tracy (Cotler) and Federico Germani have been frequent travelers in the past year, including a 10-day trip to Japan to watch Argentina play in the World Cup.
	Kellogg classmates reunited in Seattle for the wedding of Ellen Chung and Christopher Kinney, who were married June 22 at St. James Cathedral.
	Cynthia (Graves) Opie with her husband, Garrick, and son, Bryce.
	Val Kucherenko with his wife, Leila, and their 16-month-old daughter, Sasha.

Clarissa and Andreas Zehnder had their third baby in February of this year, after their first at Kellogg. “According to the ABCD (Andreas, Brandon, Clarissa, Deana) name chronology it had to be an E now: Evan Flinn. (There are still some letters left in the alphabet …).” Otherwise Andreas is enjoying getting in contact every once in a while with various 1998 Kelloggians from all around the world, since, after leaving McKinsey, he is in his second year for the executive search company his father founded some 38 years ago — Egon Zehnder International.

Scott Baird and his wife, Leirion, had a baby girl Aug. 11. “Her name is Avalena ‘Ava’ Sophia Baird. Everyone is doing great, and if you really want to see pictures of her, you can on our Web site, www.bairdgallery .net.”
Bobbi and Charlie Hurt were blessed with the arrival of their first child, Layton, on Aug. 9. “Everything is still great and I’m having a ton of fun.”

First-time class notes-er Cynthia (Graves) Opie writes, “I haven’t sent anything in to you before, but the ETDTs (remember them — the Evening To Day Transfers) have been, as Curt Wheadon described us, ‘the baby-producing machines of the class of ’98,’ so I thought I’d help keep everyone updated! Last October, Greg and Julia (Kuse) Thomas welcomed Andrew Gregory into the world. Not to be outdone by his classmates, Milind Gokarn and his wife Archana had twins! Mihika and Tejas were born in November. My husband, Garrick, and I started off the new year with a new addition, Bryce Clayton. Tim and M’Liz Simonds welcomed a beautiful baby girl, Reilly Nichol, in February. And finally, in March, Dwight Moore and his wife, Maricel, also had a baby boy, Brandon Christopher.

In other Kellogg news, Isabel and Andy Schultz have joined Kellogg’s London contingency as they’ve been in London since last summer.

Third baby for the Grimoldis! Santiago Grimoldi was born Aug. 23. More good news, especially for the ones thinking about an adventurous trip to Argentina: “We have started to build a summer/winter house in Patagonia. The location is great since we are right on the lake and we are 20 minutes from an excellent ski resort. The only good news about the economic chaos that Argentina is undergoing is that everything has become incredibly cheap in dollar terms. We already have the plane tickets for the reunion in May 2003.”
Molly Battin and hubby, Ramsay, had a baby boy, Parker, on May 2 — 9 pounds 6 ounces, 21 1/2 inches long. “He is fantastic and growing fast! We are having the best time with him.”

Yes, believe it, it’s true! Andrew Calderwood and his wife, Katharine, welcomed baby Christopher Calderwood on Sept. 6 at 10:33 a.m. “He arrived weighing 9 pounds 2 ounces and is 23 inches long! All three of us are doing very well.”

Catherine and Ned Rollhaus had their first baby (girl) May 23. “Merrill Grace Rollhaus is doing great and Nicole Avril survived as her first baby sitter.”
Chris Cummings and wife, Michelle, welcomed Abigail Cooper Cummings into the world Nov. 21, much to their delight. “Michelle, Meredith and I are doing great with the new addition, as well. Things are going well at Interwoven — fun and hectic all at the same time. Life is good.”

Sarah Sarchet Butter and husband, John Butter, joyfully welcomed Elizabeth Margaret on June 5. “She is beautiful, and a true blessing!”

Pete Meindl and his wife, Sarah, have twin boys, Eric and Jamie, who are closing in on their first birthday. “We love being parents and are learning more from our little guys every day. We live in Menlo Park, Calif., where I am working on my PhD at Stanford.”

Robert Kennedy sent in this update from Richmond, Va.: “I and the family (Wistie, Bentley (4 1/2 yrs) and Lacy (1 1/2 yrs) ) are still in Richmond with Miller Zell on the Circuit City engagement. I have recently spoken with Dave Contract, Chris Lee and Jennifer Palmer and we are looking forward to having Jen Meyer Ryan and her husband visiting us in Richmond in the coming weeks. Please let everyone know that if they are passing through Richmond for any reason to drop me a line. Hope all is well!”

Val Kucherenko writes to say that he and his wife, Leila, and their 16-month-old daughter, Sasha, are still enjoying life on the ocean, living in sunny Capitola, near Santa Cruz, Calif. “We are still experiencing consequences after last September when Nortel canceled my position along with 65,000 others,” says Val. “All last year I was working from home as a consultant contractor for a CMGI company and looking for a full-time job, at the same time working on my own idea of the future start up. The good thing is that traffic in the Bay Area became much better; I spent plenty of time with the family, did lots of education and got myself back in excellent physical shape. I have a feeling something big is coming and it is better to be ready, but what exactly and when? With love …”

Newlyweds Rebecca Merrill Lee and Alex Lee had Kellogg friends on hand to help celebrate their special day. Pictured from left to right, are Roman Reznicek '97, Birdie Reznicek '98, Kaia Reznicek, Rebecca Merrill Lee, Alex Lee, Ted Hong '97, and Jennifer Hong.

David S. Urbanczyk writes to say that he and his wife, Lauren Mamantov, have happily settled back in Chicago, after having worked in Europe, first for OAG Travel Publishing, and then Celemi AB, a learning design consultancy based in Malmo, Sweden. He is now working as general manager for strategic planning at the Chicago Transit Authority, responsible for the agency’s survey market research and mid/long-term planning.

Reamonn Smale is FINALLY busting a move out of the Midwest to return to his European roots, “As I write, the movers are about to pack up our things and ship us out. I’m staying with Thomson Publishing but transferring to Zurich, Switzerland. So we’re returning to Europe after six years in the United States (including four years in Minnesota). We’ll be staying right on Lake Zurich so now when it snows at least we’ll be able to enjoy it in the Alps. We’re proud to be taking back two Americans (Jamie and Mark) and hope to see some friends there soon.”

Alex Fuller writes, “After graduating from Kellogg I took a position at Bain in Chicago and then moved to Madrid, still with Bain. About a year ago I left Bain to set up a travel company called Ambulo. This is not an Internet venture, but I do have a Web site, http://ambulo-exp.com. The company focuses on totally custom-made travel, making your travel dreams come true.”

Still fascinated with Russia after his Kellogg Corps trip there in ’98, Eric Fullmer is back in Moscow for the fourth time, taking Russian lessons and plotting a permanent move. “I am currently on a six-month leave of absence from Bain Dallas, during which I have already checked in on Leo Griffin’s suburban life in Santa Monica and Leif Welch in San Francisco at the end of my motorcycle trip there from Texas. I am looking for volunteers for my upcoming ride from SF to Mexico City in October and around Cuba in November.”

As of May 11, Alex Lee is now part of the ranks of married couples. “Rebecca Merrill and I got married in Chico, and were joined by Birdie Reznicek (formerly Chang), her husband, Roman ’97, along with their new baby, Kaia, as well as Ted Hong ’97 and his wife, Jennifer. We’re trudging through our first Dallas summer together and have kept from getting all wilted up by the heat … thus far! I also stay in close touch with Kim and David Clark.”

Jason Spievak writes, “Life in Santa Barbara is still good, despite the barrage of calls from recent Kellogg grads looking for jobs. (Things sure have changed in four years!) Of course, the class of ’98 can be competitive and it appears that merely having two kids isn’t enough to keep up with the Marshes, Sees, Brinkmanns, O’Shaugnesseys and other prolific Kellogg couples. So I think Lynette may be hatching a plan. We’ve been pretty fortunate to get our fair share of Kellogg visitors in the past several months, including George Benz and his women, Yianna and Michael Xenakis with their incredibly laid-back boy, Will, Kevin Hastings and other cameos. Stasia Bourke and Charlie Huiner also just bought a beautiful house nearby, so we get to see even more of them.”

Sanket Akerkar sends greetings from Barcelona! “Anita and I have moved from San Francisco to Barcelona! I left my job (at McK) and Anita is doing a semester abroad at a B-school in Barcelona. I am taking some time to rest from work and will spend my time learning Spanish, golfing, going to the beach, taking cooking classes etc. We plan on being here until December, after which time we will go to Africa and India for about six weeks. After that, we are going to move to NYC, where I am going to join my Dad’s company and Anita is going to look for a job in brand.”

Making the best of being downsized out of his last job, Dan Clifford took six months off and backpacked through Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia. “I’m back in San Francisco, have an actual address, and now have a wardrobe that exceeds two T-shirts. I just started doing strategic alliances work at a market research software company called Vividence.”

Victor Hartano met Nicole Lowsalaraks and her mom while she was visiting Jakarta. “We went to a Padang restaurant. This West Sumatran cuisine is well known for offering Indonesia’s spiciest dishes. Apparently, they were not spicy enough for the Thais. They kept adding more and more green chili.”

Elisabeth Carlson writes, “Just a quick update to say I am still in London trying to lower U.K. cholesterol levels with J&J. During a recent trip to Chicago I saw Sarah Jo Sarchet Butter, her husband, John, and new baby, well-named — Elizabeth, and also Kathy Preble. All are happy and healthy in Chicago. I regularly see Dave Rollier here in London and recently saw Leigh Anne Albert, who is moving from London to Cape Town with husband, Alan, and also Paul Lemass, who has moved to a new home in London with wife, Larissa, and recently-turned-1-year-old son, Xavier.”

Rob Kornblum sent in a huge update, “Much news here. After four years of being a venture capitalist, I decided that I wanted to be on the inside, helping to grow a software company rather than on the outside as an investor. I also wanted to get back to the East Coast, closer to family (so much more important now that I have a child). So after looking around for a while, I took a position with Manugistics as director of market strategy. Manugistics is one of the leading supply chain management software companies (all of that operations stuff that I blew off at Kellogg is coming back to haunt me). Suzie just graduated from business school at the University of Texas, so it was a good time for us to move. We just relocated to the D.C. area (suburban Maryland). I’m looking forward to getting plugged in to the D.C. Kellogg network. I traded emails with Kevin Whelan and Brian Brinkmann, but haven’t seen either yet. I stopped in Atlanta in June on my drive from Texas to Maryland and stayed with Bobbi and Charlie Hurt. They are doing great. Just had their first baby two weeks ago. I also saw Lauren and Rob Adams in Chicago at a conference in July and saw their adorable and fat little baby named Charlie. They went suburban and moved to Wilmette. I also had dinner with Danny O’Shaughnessy, who assured me that there would still be a stock market when all the dust settled.”

Gayatri and Santosh Anoo are the proud parents of Medha Santosh Anoo.
Melinda and Stacey Lawrence are the new parents of Sophie Lynne.

Tracy (Cotter) and Federico Germani sent in this update: “We’ve been living in Miami for nearly a year and a half now and are thoroughly enjoying life in South Florida — tennis, biking, yoga on the beach etc. In between tennis matches, Fede continues to work at McKinsey (four years now) and Tracy is with World Fuel Services as vice president of planning and analysis. Our travel schedule has been fairly full, with a number of trips to Sweden last year (where Fede was working), Rome this past April, and what should have been the best trip of the year — 10 days in Japan to watch Argentina trounce the competition in the World Cup. Unfortunately Argentina didn’t fare as well as we had hoped, but we did manage to have a blast on our trip, at least for the early part of it. We met up with Takashi Atake for a memorable evening and tried to convince him to move back to the United States, but much to our dismay he said he’s having too much fun working 22-hour days for his Japanese bank. Back in Miami we’ve also been able to hook up with a few Kellogg alumni over the last few months, including Julie Hill, Jamie McDonald and Carlos Marsano, as well as Manuel Bravo, Pepe Cafferata ’97 and Eddie Lacayo in Chicago. Hope all is well with everyone, and let us know if you’re ever in town!”

David Ransburg provided me with a good dose of Section 65 dirt (Editor’s note: Go Bucketheads!): “I’ve left my consulting job and am heading back to school. Later this month I’ll start Northwestern’s masters in counseling psychology program. I’ll be a full-time student in Evanston (again!) for (another!) two years, and after that I can either start practicing as a licensed therapist right away, or continue on for my PhD in psychology. Here’s a bit of news about some of our classmates: Charles Hauck has left Microsoft and is now living in Geneva. Herd Rogers is living on the Isle of Mann and just had his second child, a son named Davey. Peter Salvage continues to live in Manhattan, where he and his wife just celebrated the first birthday of their daughter, Olivia. Greg Gutierrez is still with McKinsey, but he is now based out of their Miami office. Jen Ryan (nee Meyer) is still with Deloitte here in Chicago. Sara Chambers has recently moved back to Chicago after a bit of time in Seattle. Michael and Kris (Cho) Frank are living in New Canaan, Conn. Michael is developing new lines of business for a company called Synapse, Kris is doing brand management for Mott’s (applesauce, apple juice, apple-everything!).”

Speaking of Bucketheads, Isabelle Gecils decided to join the entrepreneurial world and has formed her own company — Gecils Energy LLC — a firm that serves energy technology and renewable energy companies. “In the short-time my little company has been in existence, we have already lined up three big customers and are about to get two more, and so I entered into strategic alliances with a merchant bank and other consulting shops to provide a full suite of financing and consulting services,” Isabelle reports.

Paul Bernard moved from his post-graduation job at Goldman Sachs investment banking to Nokia M&A and corporate venturing in San Francisco. He recently moved to Helsinki where he is running Nokia’s mobile payments (think of it as m-commerce) activities (technical architecture and products).

Caroline Mendoza Horrigan is enjoying being a stay-at-home mom in D.C. with daughter Madeline Grace, who turns 2 in December. She writes that her current job is more challenging than any she has ever had but also much more fun! “I love being a mom!”

Carina and Homer Luther have added a third girl to their troops. “Sophia Nicole Luther was born in January of this year and is two years younger than Cecilia Marie and Fiona Lee, her wild 2 1/2-year-old sisters (who are fraternal twins). We are in Houston and I primarily have been working on several real estate projects in Mexico and Costa Rica. Lastly, my fellow flyfishing club buddies will be proud to know that I have spent a considerable amount of time teaching my girls how to flyfish and ‘match the hatch’ in Wyoming this summer.”

Tracy McEuen writes, “Just wanted to let my classmates know that Will and I have just relocated to my hometown of Evansville, Ind. I left my position as brand manager of the Wamsutta brand for Springs Industries in Fort Mill, S.C., to join Mead Johnson Nutritionals (a division of Bristol Myers Squibb) as a brand manager in their adult nutritionals division. The past few weeks have been crazy, especially as we have a fairly new member of the family, my son, Jake, who was born Feb. 25 of this year. He joined proud sister, Jesse, who is now 2 1/2.”

Dale Smith recently joined Jones Lang LaSalle in Washington D.C., as part of a group that is consulting for the Army and Air Force on real estate issues. “We are advising them on the privatization of family housing at their bases throughout the country. The last year and a half was kind of crazy for me. I spent most of it living in Sydney, having been recruited by a consulting partner of my SF-based firm. Then the Australian company crashed within a few months, which left me with a lot of time to enjoy Australia, New Zealand, Asia, London, and numerous places in the United States. One of the real highlights was getting to catch up with so many of our classmates — I think I must have seen at least 50 in the last year. I’d like to mention all the fun reunions, but in the interest of space, there were three weddings I was very happy to attend: Heather Lamm and Alex Ooms ’97 in Aspen last September, Jimmy Sartain to Mary Anne Franken in Maui in May and Chris Kinney and Ellen Chung in Seattle in June.

Rob Leach writes, “Over the last months, there seems to be a resurgence of activity so I felt compelled to check in. I heard from Rob Hogan that he and Mary now have four kids under the roof — the latest are twin boys (Luke and Kevin) born in early September to make it a total of four (all boys that is!). We were hoping to get back to Chicago this summer for some beers in Wrigley and ribs at Twin Anchors. Rick Wolfgram actually resorted to a spreadsheet to track availability given how many options there were with attendees and weekends. Leave it to the finance guy. I, unfortunately, had a family vacation conflict and I was unable to convince them that Hogan, Wolfgram, Rik Hahn and James Kreyenhagen were really like family so that should count as family vacation, too. Anyway, we added another to our bunch in Portland and now a full complement of genders. We now have two kids with a boy, Mason, who will be 3 at the end of November and Sarah who just turned 1. I also got a call from Alastair MacPhail who is still out in NYC. Dain Bussewitz decided to come explore the great Pacific Northwest with his wife, in a new job at Nike. We are looking forward to showing him the town and getting him to babysit with a little luck too...”

Kellogg classmates reunited in Seattle for the wedding of Ellen Chung and Christopher Kinney, who were married June 22 at St. James Cathedral. Guests included Brad Armistead, Raul Guerrero, Dale Smith, Beth Gertz, Peter Harvey and wife, Anna, and baby, Hugh, and Eric Loh ’96. Ellen is a management consultant for Diamond Cluster International and Chris works in the worldwide licensing and pricing group at Microsoft. They live in Seattle.