1984

Hello from Riverwoods! I apologize that the column is a bit light this time. I'm still trying to find time to work my career back into my life after a 10-year sabbatical, and something had to slip a bit. (This sounds like the speech I keep giving my kids to explain why I don't have their favorite cereal in the house or that striped brown folder that they were supposed to have for language arts class.)

I had a nice update from Mike Kennedy who writes that he recently accepted the position of VP, global marketing at Hollister, Incorporated (a privately held medical device company in the Chicago area). He writes, "It's a perfect job for an old chemical engineer, because global marketing at Hollister also includes all the product development engineers. I remain in Glen Ellyn with my wife, Carla, and two teen-age kids. Carla also became a Kellogg graduate a couple years back in the EMP-52 class. We relax at a summer place on a nearby lake, where we recently purchased a new speedboat (a hole in the water that you pour money into)."

I was so happy to get a great email from my old San Francisco buddy Kenny Potrock. He writes, "I am the proud father of two rough-and-tumble boys — ages 4 and 9 — and a lucky man. Happily married to Susanne for 12 years. We live in Winter Park, Fla., where we water-ski [hoping to avoid the gators], run marathons, root for Maitland to win the Little League World Series and occasionally go to theme parks.

"Speaking of theme parks, I'm the SVP of marketing for Walt Disney World, responsible for getting tens of millions of 'guests' (Disney jargon) to visit us annually. It's a tough job (having a great brand and awesome resources) but someone has to do it.

"My travels take me all over the world (U.S., Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong and the high seas) and it has been an incredible experience attempting to constantly develop marketing concepts that have 'never been done before.' It gets me up challenged each and every morning."

I'm glad that I live here in the Chicago area where I occasionally run into old classmates. Over the summer I was waiting in the camp carpool line where I happened to have been parked in front of my Kellogg roommate Donna (Liebman) Burnfield. She's living here in Deerfield and has two daughters. Although she isn't working right now she's very involved in an organization that raises funds to send Israeli soldiers to college.

Last month I had dinner with Steve Abrams and his wife, Wendy, to celebrate the marriage of a mutual friend. Steve and Wendy had just returned from a bon voyage trip with their oldest son who was on his way to college. They also have a younger son and daughter.

So, I had to settle for quality rather than quantity for this column. I would love to hear from you for the next one when we can have both.