1997

It’s been a busy few months for the Class of ’97.

Mark Smith started working for London-based Reed Elsevier in September, helping the firm make bolt-on acquisitions and divestitures. Mark has been living in London since Nov. 2001, most recently working for AOL UK and Lehman Brothers.

From left: Antonio Guerra ’97, Ricardo Erales ’97, and Fernando del Cid ’97 at a reunion in Guatemala

Sharon Foote had a busy last year. She married long-time beau Bjoern Heckel Oct. 25, 2002, in a small ceremony in San Francisco, and held a wedding reception in August at a beautiful winery in Sonoma. Monica Gessner, Mirabel Gombe, Ellen Parsons (Taschioglou), PJ Platt and Winnie Shapiro (Wong) all participated in the reception festivities. Sharon and Bjoern celebrated their one-year anniversary in their new condo in San Francisco. Sharon has somehow managed to stay in the same job ever since graduation from Kellogg, though the company has changed to IBM Business Consulting Services from PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting. She is an associate partner who specializes in change management and human resources issues. She welcomes everyone to come visit San Francisco — or move out there. Hey, rents are cheap now! The couple plans to take a long world trip in 2004. Any contacts in Africa, Russia, Southeast Asia or South America would be appreciated. Sharon’s email address is sharon.foote@us.ibm.com.

Brad Williamson and his wife, Debbie, are still living in Seattle and recently welcomed the arrival of their second daughter, Julia. Big sister Carina turned 3 in October and is, unfortunately, not yet fit for babysitting. Brad is working for Medtronic as product manager for the company’s automated external defibrillators division. Debbie is continuing to write and edit for a variety of business and consumer publications. Prior to the arrival of Julia, they managed a “babymoon” — a trip to London where they visited Marie Kwek and her husband, Philippe. While there, Brad and Debbie managed not to relate any of their own remodeling horror stories while Marie and Philippe regaled them with their plans to completely renovate their recently purchased South Kensington flat.

	Nicole and Steve Busby ’97 with their son, McLean “Mac” Busby

From the East Coast, Nicole and Steve Busby report the birth of McLean “Mac” Busby, who arrived May 8 weighing 6 pounds, 8 ounces, and measuring 19 inches long. Steve is still with Greenwich Associates and can be reached at sbusby@greenwich.com. Steve and Nicole live in Bedford, N.Y.

Ryuji Kaneko recently moved within Kentucky. He lives with his family at 10132 Whittlesey Drive, Union, KY 41091 (Tel: 859.384.6797) and continues to work as VP corporate development at Aristech Acrylics LLC in Florence, Ky., a Cincinnati suburb.

Courtney Armstrong has joined Warner Bros. Pictures as director of business affairs. He came from Walt Disney Pictures, where he spent three years as an attorney in the business and legal affairs department of the Motion Picture Group. Prior to that he spent three years as a litigation associate on the entertainment litigation team at the Los Angeles-based law firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP.

Sanjay Dholakia and wife Melissa welcomed baby Maya Barnes Dholakia to the family on Oct. 27, 2002. She is a happy, healthy and very well-loved little girl!

Charley Buntrock Zeches is still in San Francisco, still underemployed and still married. She does weird contract work for local surviving dot-coms, even weirder work for a NASA project at Stanford and built a Lego car for this year’s Burning Man. At last year’s Burning Man, she officiated at the wedding of Matthew Beckwith and his bride, Risa Evans. Cecilia Aviles-Fisher was a reader at the desert ceremony. Brian and Sue Gouws Korn cooked up a mean chili for the reception. Photos are a little too wacky for inclusion in Kellogg World.

John Yen says hi from Shanghai. A number of new things to report: First of all, John and Sofi welcomed their third child last month. Bianca is doing well while both parents are getting re-acquainted with sleep deprivation. Secondly, John has taken over as general manager at Emerson’s Appliance Solutions Group in Asia. Still at the same company since graduation, John is enjoying Shanghai with the rapidly growing alumni association. All visitors to Shanghai, please contact John, because the alumni club has regular events.

Valerie (Herzfeld) and Rob Weiss welcomed their second child into the world on Aug. 8. Adam Louis Weiss came in at a svelte 22.5 inches long and weighed 9 pounds, 13 ounces. Mom is doing well, Dad is realizing how easy he had it with one child and sister Maya seems to be excited about her little brother, but keeps telling him to “wake up, Baby.”

Nico Ortiz’s Turtle Mountain Brewing Co. opened up a second, smaller operation on July 7 near the Sandia Peak ski area in Albuquerque. Fellow investors and Class of ‘97 alums Warren Heffelfinger and Brian and Sue Gouws Korn may finally be getting some return on their investment in the original Turtle Mountain. Nico’s 3-year-old son, Porter, recently successfully completed his potty training, marking a milestone in the life of every man.

Laurie, Nathaniel and Mike Peck are doing well. Mike writes: “We left Los Angeles last year and moved back to Kansas City. We are settled for now with our 3-year-old son, Nathaniel (and soon to be new brother). I’m managing a seed investment fund with a technology organization in Kansas and enjoying the investment side of the world rather than the entrepreneurial side.”

Peter and Katy (Turner) Keim had twins on Nov. 18, 2002. Natalie and Tyler both weighed in at 6 1/2 pounds, making for one very large 5-foot-2-inch pregnant lady! Although it took them nine months to get this announcement in, they are happy to report that they are surviving, mostly due to support from “aunts and uncles” John McWeeny, Abby Scott, Sal Saligembeni, Todd Tracey and Milicent Callinog, Kurt Weinsheimer, Greg Stone, Debbie Bernstein and Jen Franke, and advice from gurus Grant and Lara Talbot Gund. Abby and John agreed to babysit for a week while they go to Hawaii!
Big news on the Levin (Dorf) front. Elan Solomon Levin turned Barb Dorf and Michael Levin into very proud parents on Aug. 11. If the pending arrival of a new baby wasn’t enough this summer, Barb and Michael moved in June to Deerfield, Ill. They welcome any and all visitors. You can reach Barb at her Kellogg alum email.

Ashley O’Neil and Karl Kleiderer welcomed Connor Michael Kleiderer on Aug. 26. He weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces, and was 20 inches long. Everyone is healthy and happy. Even proud big brother Nick has shown no ill effects from Connor’s homecoming (yet!).

In March Fred Turner accepted the position of director of planning at Farmacias Benavides, the largest chain of pharmacies in Mexico, and is enjoying the retail industry after living the consulting and technology lifestyle for a couple of years. He also recently formed a band with Poli Elizondo (with whom he previously played in the Special K Band) and a few others, and has been playing clubs and parties around Monterrey. And finally, he’s been working with Homero Gonzalez ‘00 on organizing an alumni club in Monterrey, which should hold its first event in the coming months.

Jennifer (Schlein) and Matt Podhajsky are happy to announce the birth of their son, Jacob Matthew. Jake arrived 12 days early on Aug. 22 and weighed 8 pounds, 8 ounces. Everyone is doing great, including the dog and cat. Jen is taking three months’ maternity leave from Hershey Foods, where she is still managing the Reese’s Pieces business. While Matt is sad to leave them at home while he goes to work, he is happy that his commute is now only 10 minutes. He started working at Hershey in June and is the associate marketing manager on Hershey Syrup, cocoa and ice cream toppings. What a sweet life we lead! They would love to hear from folks at mattandjen@comcast.net.

Tom Robinson and Ai-Li Lim report two major projects they have been tackling. The first is their home, which was subject to a substantial renovation this summer. Almost the entire home was gutted and reconfigured. The extent of the work forced them to relocate temporarily to become my neighbors. The other project was their daughter, Celeste, who was welcomed into the world on July 2. Big brother Quinn has handled both changes quite well. Tom is still working at BCG in the health care practice, while Ai-Li continues to climb the internal management ranks at Monitor.

Kellye Tisdale Wicker and her husband, L.Winston Wicker, are still bubbling with joy over the birth of their son, Jordan Winston Wicker, born on Nov. 29, 2002. He weighed 6 pounds, 10 ounces. As of this writing, he weighed a whopping 23 pounds. His parents stay fit by keeping pace with his fast and furious crawling style. In March Kellye left Accenture after six years with the firm to start a business with her sister called Lillie’s of Charleston (www.lilliesofcharleston.com). The two manufacture and market their father’s recipes for barbecue sauces, hot sauces and a seasoning mix. Kellye says, “I do miss the high-paid consulting salary, but very much enjoy having the flexibility in my schedule to spend time with my son.” She and her family live in the northwest suburbs of Boston, but travel frequently to Charleston, S.C., for the family business, as well as to Chicago to hang out with her Kellogg gal pals, Cassandra Alston and Joycelynn Stone.

Janet Gardner Long happily reports the birth of her second boy, Cameron Andrew, in May. Cameron joins big brother Henry, who is now 2 1/2. “We’re having a great time with the boys,” she says, “but also enjoy our kid-free nights out with our Philly neighbors Deb and Rob Lutz.”

Corrado Giaquinto ’97 (right), with his 5-month-old son, Victor Alessandro, and Kellogg classmate and brother-in-law Orazio Costadura ’96, new dad of Eleonora

Corrado Giaquinto and his wife, Sylvie, have become proud parents of Victor Alessandro. Baby and mother are in great health. Actually, Victor is already reading The Economist (the pictures for now). The enlarged Giaquinto family is still enjoying Paris, where Corrado is still working for Colgate-Palmolive. Rumors say he should be leaving for his next assignment in a remote corner of the world before the end of the year. Unfortunately, his contacts with the Kellogg community have not been very frequent. He says he recently met with Richard Debrot, Guillaume Darrousez, Christian Darquier ‘93 and Felix Ahlers.
Alex Moorhead and Christy Hartung ’92 welcomed Avery Patricia Moorhead on Sept. 5. She weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces. Mother and daughter are holding up well, and dad too.

Duncan Evans and Sarah Stonehart married on March 10 in Fairfield, Conn. In attendance from Kellogg were Mark Smith, Frank Cardello, Ted Davis, Tim Kierstead, Jana (Pompadur) Kierstead and Shelly (Smith) Young. After six years in New York, Duncan has moved west to lead the M&A efforts for Experian as vice president, corporate development. He and Sarah now live in Newport Beach, Calif.