1991

Tom Wilder writes: “I have not done a terrific job keeping in touch with folks from ’91, although I have seen John Harris (who is in the same device industry), Tom Steuber and Mike Donohoe over the years.

“ My wife, Cathy, and I having been living in Newport Beach, Calif., for about a year. We have three kids, ages 11, 9 and 6. For the first 11 years after graduating from Kellogg, I worked for a terrific medical device company, Medtronic. We have lived in Minneapolis, Europe, Hong Kong and Northern California. Last fall, however, I could no longer resist an opportunity to try something different and have taken a position as president and CEO for MicroTherapeutics, a neurovascular device company. Cheers.”

Jose Maria Serrano connects from Madrid, where he lives with his wife, Mercedes, and son, Borja, who is 8. He writes: “I am with the communications and PR consultants Fleishman-Hillard, dealing with financial communications (your industry).” You can contact him at Fleishman-Hillard International Communications Spain, C/ Don Ramón de la Cruz, 23 -bajo 28001 Madrid - Spain. Tel: (+34) 91 576 0621; fax: (+34) 91 578 0115; mobile: +34 647563346; email: serrano@fleishman.es; www.fleishman.com.

Caroline Sherman’s play, “Empire,” is winning awards in L.A. in three categories: world premier musical, featured actress and choreographer. You can get more info at www.playbill.com/news/article/81682.html. Caroline, in fine “startup” fashion, is open to all donations of hand-me-down gowns and tuxedoes.

Tom Steuber writes: “Virginia and I now have four children: Kirk, 13, Kate, 11, Justin, 8, and Jared, 2. We still live in Lafayette, Calif., where we’ve been since leaving Evanston. Last October we moved into a new house that Virginia designed. We bought the land about three years ago and spent two years in design and construction. I’m still working in the family coffee business that my parents started in 1972. We now have about 110 employees. Our activities are mostly family related, as you can imagine. I’m an assistant scoutmaster for Kirk’s Boy Scout troop. We enjoy a lot of outdoor activities such as backpacking, camping and rock climbing.”

Sam Peterson writes: “Must admit, I have not stayed in extensive touch with classmates other than Jeff Wieland, Anand Malani, Andy Ford and a few others. Just relocated from New Jersey to Malaysia for the same company (BOC Group) I’ve been with since graduation. Now MD for Malaysian Oxygen Berhad, a public company in which BOC maintains management control. Anna ’92, Justin, Rina and Patrick are now here in Kuala Lumpur. Note this is third overseas secondment (HK and Thailand in past). Any ’91 grads out here in SE Asia?”

From Dennis Roche in N.Y: “Last July my wife and I welcomed our fourth son, Thomas, who joins older brothers Brendan, Jack and Patrick. The only time it is quiet is when ‘Power Rangers Wild Force’ is on. I am currently president of an indoor billboard company, Zoom Media, and live just outside of New York City. I currently spend a lot of time following Scott Winslow’s marathoning exploits, and lunch regularly with John Prunier, who has an investment bank that he runs with a partner in New York. I also have the emails of a bunch of Kellogg ‘guys’: Ed Harycki, Casey Minton, Julie Mazman and a few others.”

Sam Zales, president and CEO of BuyerZone.com, fills us in on a recent event: “No major news other than celebrating Kevin White’s 40th birthday gig in Kennebunkport this summer. Because of the northeast location, most out of towners could not make it in for the gig, but John Pergande’s clan arrived from Texas, and Sara and Edward “SB” Keller, and Urvi and John Prunier were in attendance.

“ The highlight of the festivities for me was seeing Kevin prance around the local bar scene adorned in his birthday gift, a fashionable terrycloth XXL boxing robe, embroidered with his ring moniker, ‘The Lip.’ A great event hosted by Kevin’s family, though he didn’t achieve his 40-year goal of dunking a basketball.”

Scott Winslow says: “Hi. I keep in touch with Ed Raftery a lot. I met up with Ed and his wife, Stephanie, at the Falmouth Road Race in August on Cape Cod. I also keep in touch with Dennis Roche, Jeff Wieland and Caroline Sherman. I saw Rich Chenitz at the Falmouth Road Race as well. He and his wife, Patty, ran the race.

“ I opened the Boston sales office three years ago for a growing IT storage technology company, XIOtech, based in Eden Prairie, Minn. I have run the last two Boston Marathons and will run my third this spring. I am dating a girl I met while training for last year’s marathon.”

Great news for the Fowle family: “Jeannie and I (Steve Fowle) recently were in California to adopt Collin Christopher Fowle, born Aug. 20. He is treating us better than we deserve. I am living in Cleveland and am CFO for Third Federal Savings, MHC, largest mutual S&L. Love Cleveland. Don’t know many Kellogg alum, here, however.”

From L.A., Hope Wintner contributes: “I am still living in Los Angeles. It’s hard to consider leaving once you get used to the lifestyle and weather here. My husband, Ted, and I just had our second daughter, Arielle, in May. Her big sister, Talia, 2, thinks she just got the greatest doll ever with all these great lifelike features. I’m spending most of my time with the kids and really apreciate the chance to do that right now. I’m also serving as board president for a great nonprofit called Girls Inc. It’s a national group whose mission is ‘inspiring all girls to be strong, smart and bold.’ The primary goals are to help girls feel empowered and to build their self-esteem and confidence. We serve school-age girls in mostly at-risk communities. I welcome anyone in the L.A. area to contact me about getting involved if this issue appeals to you.”

Ty Roberts tells us that he and his wife, Ashley, are making their move to the suburbs from downtown Chicago. They will be living in Glenview, where Ty’s first project will be building a white picket fence around their little old farmhouse. Lately, Ty has been doing project consulting in Chicago while working on yet another startup project in the heavy manufacturing industry.

Jaime Williams, now managing director for Cargill Risk Management in Monterrey, Mexico, is looking to touch base with some of his Kellogg friends. Gabriel Udeschini, Jane Whitaker, Graham Mitchel, Bruno Niemeyer, please contact Jaime if you see this.

Sonya Grier tells us us that she has taken a two-year leave of absence from her position as an assistant professor of marketing in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. She was recently awarded the new Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholars Fellowship, and will spend two years at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The fellowship aims “to build the nation’s capacity for research, leadership and action to address more effectively the broad range of factors affecting health.” She will study population health topics and develop innovative research on how marketing influences health. She is looking forward to being a student again (except for the “poor” part), and to being challenged and stretched by training in a new field.

Rusty Gordon, remembering that Tim Balfe grew up in Akron, adds some personal flair: “It turns out that I have lived in Akron since graduating. I met my wife here shortly after arriving. As a result, I did not spend much time at those bars in the Portage Lakes that you (Tim) gave me tips on.We have a 9-year-old boy. It’s been a good, affordable place for family life.

“ We’ll be moving out of West Akron into the country in Bath sometime near the beginning of winter.”

Josh Chernoff writes: “I am writing from Tokyo, where I am on a grand tour of A.T. Kearney’s Asian offices. My trip takes me through Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Melbourne, as part of my new role of global practice leader for our consumer industries and retail practice. I am still living in Evanston, where wife Julie is cooking up a storm and recently was elected to the Evanston District 65 school board. She is becoming a local celebrity. Anyone in search of a respite from other reality TV shows is invited to watch the live school board proceedings on local cable access every other Monday night. Or TIVO it!

“ Children Adam, 11, and Leah, 9, are thriving and growing by the minute. New household addition is Rosie, the cockapoo, who has stolen our hearts (and many of my socks as well). That’s it for now!”

Though Steve Salera says, “As for news, I have none,” he does have some: “Just doing deals for IBM Global Services and managing a bunch of M&A professionals. We relocated to a small town in New Hampshire (which I occasionally get to see when I am not on the road) a year ago. Pam and the kids, Rachel, 9, and Peter, 7, are having a great time competing in equestrian events. They like school and enjoy living so close to their grandparents and family for the first time in years.”

Marjorie Brown writes: “A brief bit of news: David Pierson and I (married in 2001) had a beautiful baby girl, Isabelle Knight Pierson, in November 2002. She’s an incredible joy. We live in Manhattan on the Upper West Side. Lots of great Kellogg alums from our class in the neighborhood, and we enjoy the occasional Caroline Sherman sighting too.”

Jeffrey W. Colin recently founded Baker Street Advisors, a wealth management firm catering to high-net-worth individuals and family groups. Since graduating from Kellogg in ’91 he has held various positions at Goldman Sachs, myCFO and Robertson Stephens, and most recently was a member of the executive management committee at Deutsche Bank.

Ilse Schaupp Sidles adds a kind note along with her news: “I just want to say that you guys are as handsome as ever! [editor’s note: awww, shucks!] Not much to report in my Kellogg world. I haven’t seen any of my classmates since Julie Levitan’s wedding in Napa last summer. However, I still think of everyone often. I work part time for my family’s trucking business and spend the rest of my time with my two cherubs, Charlie, 5, and Addie, 2. My family’s company is based in Green Bay, Wis., but I was fortunate enough to talk my parents into letting me live in Lake Forest, Ill.”

Paul Glen writes: “I am excited to share some good news: My book Leading Geeks: How to Manage and Lead People Who Deliver Technology (Jossey-Bass Pfeiffer, 2003, Warren Bennis Signature Series) recently won the 2003 Financial Times Germany/getAbstract Business and Finance Book Prize as best book in the category of leadership.”

From Christine Mason: “After six years of starting various companies, I am back in Evanston as CEO of Open Road Technologies, the first stand-alone spinout of Northwestern’s Intelligent Information Lab. On the personal side, Jarrett, Sam and Ky, frequent pint-sized study group participants while we were at Kellogg, are all in high school (!). Jarrett graduates in January and plans to head to Hollywood, eschewing all things business. The youngest, Connor, our only post-Kellogg addition, is in the 4th grade, happily occupied in the world of bicycles and bionicles, spelling and soccer. Am teaching power vinyasa yoga on the weekends, living in beautiful Highland Park and frequently seeing Kathy Shea Urbat ’92 and her lovely family.”