1997

Kymm Bartlett Pollack and Scott Pollack '96 welcomed Caroline Wilder Pollack into the world on November 18, 2004. Kymm writes, "When Caroline came home from the hospital she was greeted by big licks in the face by big sister Eppie (our Chesapeake Bay retriever). Eppie is still sorting out her new position in the household but Scott does a great job of dividing his time between diaper changes and ball throwing." On the career front, Scott's company, Pasamaquoddy Consulting, is keeping him busy. Most recently he's partnered with a local turnaround firm where he's been involved in evaluating potential investment targets. Kymm is still happy at General Mills. She is currently a marketing director heading up a new initiative focusing on improving speed-to-market efforts. In a trip to the Bay Area, Kymm and Scott report driving along in Berkeley only to spot Rick Heller and Sanjay Delakia standing on a front porch. In this chance encounter, Kymm learned that Rick and his wife had just moved in and Sanjay and his wife were coming over for dinner. In the same trip, Kymm and Scott caught up with Christy Hartung Moorhead (who was in town with husband Alex Moorhead and daughter Avery for a wedding), Sean Foley, Kyle Appell and his girlfriend Beth, and Dave Poplar and wife, Beth. All are doing well.

	Arvind Jain '97 and his family vacationing in Hawaii
	H.D. Vo '97, her husband Stan Woo EMP-98, and their baby, Sebastian, visit with other Kellogg alums
	Archana Mehra '97 and her husband, Zubin Taraporevala
	Joe Urban '97 and wife, Carye, on their wedding day
	Kymm Barlett Pollack '97, husband Scott Pollack '96 and daughter Caroline visit the sea lions and seals at Los Lobos.
	Sharon (Foote) Heckel '97
	Stan Baginskis '97 with wife Debbie and daugher Sophia
	Owen Belman '97 with son Thomas

Debbie and Rob Taylor have now been living in Scottsdale, Ariz. for nearly six years. Still no kids to report although three pets, including a three-legged cat, keep them hopping — pun intended. Rob is busy training for his first Ironman Triathlon, to be held in Panama City, Fla. on Nov. 5. He has dedicated his race to his uncle "Sonny" who has been battling prostate cancer for over 18 years. To learn more about Rob's efforts and an inspiring story, visit sonnysfight.com. On the professional side, Rob continues his entrepreneurial efforts, recently funding and launching his third business — Vitalize Studios — a franchise business in the health and wellness sector. Please look them up if you go to the valley of the sun. Doesn't everyone come to Scottsdale for a convention at least once? Rtaylo19@yahoo.com.

Katie Brick graduated in May with an M.Div. from Catholic Theological Union and is working as a campus minister at DePaul University, focusing on their business and New Learning schools. She writes, "It's nutty how life's experiences come together sometimes!"

Rick Michaux and wife, Melissa, had their second child, Clara, on June 30. Rick relocated Corrigo (the company he and David Popler work at) from the Bay area to Portland last year. Rick, Melissa, Emma (3) and Clara now live in Oregon and welcome any Northwest-bound folk.

Tami Neuhausel Bohlig, Brian Bohlig '96 and their daughter, Emerson, welcomed Cooper James Bohlig to their family on May 24.

Michael Gooch-Breault and wife, Katherine Gooch-Breault, welcomed their son, Griffin Rudolph Gooch-Breault, on May 24 in New York City. (Mike changed his last name from Breault to Gooch-Breault when they got married in 2003.)

After a year and a half of project work in Kansas City, Sharon (Foote) Heckel is back in the Bay Area on a "local" project (see smiling photo). Sharon continues with IBM Business Consulting Services as an associate partner, going into her ninth year there. She and husband Bjoern bought a house in December in Oakland, where they live with their two newly adopted cats. In November 2004, Sharon and Bjoern took a three-week sojourn to Morocco, with just packs on their backs. It was great fun! Sharon's parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in June, which the entire family celebrated on a Caribbean cruise. Sharon writes, "All are invited to come to the Bay Area for a visit, now that a proper guest room is in place! Hope to see many of you soon!"

Owen Belman, his wife, Andrea, and their son, Joseph, have moved to Dubai where Owen is head of consumer banking for the UAE with Standard Chartered Bank. They have just welcomed their second child, Thomas Chase Belman.

Patty Caplan is still working at the health-care consulting firm of Freed & Associates on a variety of projects, including a recent electronic medical record implementation. If anyone wants to works for a great health-care project management firm in the Bay Area, please get in touch. Patty's daughter, Emma, is now 6 and Jonathan, who works at DreamWorks Animation, is having a major birthday this year (hint: he's older than most in our class).

Alex Emery moved to Tokyo to set up Permira's first office in Asia. So far, he has hooked up with Ike Kawanabe, Yoshi Kaji and Sam Karita. Alex says if anyone is planning to come through Tokyo, please look him up: alex.emery@permira.com.

Charlotte Vere has finally decided to return to work having had a three-year break. She is now finance director of Recruit Media, a recruitment company specializing in creative types. "So if you ever need a creative director in London you know where to come. Apart from work, all is well: husband Alfredo is still working hard at Morgan Stanley and children Hector and Alicia (now 5 and nearly 2) are fabulous if a bit of a handful!"

A lot has changed for Stan Baginskis in the last few years. New job, new house, beautiful wife, Debbie, and two happy kids, Sophia (16 months) and Carter (1 week old). They are enjoying their time in the Bay area and keeping in touch with several class of '97 alums, both local and in other places. Stan keeps his calendar full and the income stream flowing by running his own management consulting firm AMS Management Consulting, while continuing to look for the right full-time opportunity. Any leads for senior-level positions at Bay Area tech companies in product management or development are welcome! The bicycles, running shoes and basketballs are seeing less mileage. Meanwhile, the stroller wheels are wearing down and the diaper pails are filling up.

Joseph Urban married Carye Campbell in San Francisco on July 30, 2004. Many Kellogg friends were there for the celebration, including classmates David Popler and Michael Hilberman (both were his groomsmen), Franco Cirelli, Mark Crandon, Stan Baginskis, Gabriel Biguria '96 and Chris Summersgil '96. The new couple honeymooned in Italy for two weeks — and liked it so much that they returned this past August for another two weeks! Just before the wedding they bought a condo in Pacific Heights which now keeps them busy with renovations, painting, electrical work and kitchen designing.

Joe's company, Corvalence, has evolved out of office supply manufacturing and into consulting and intellectual property development. After making a solid effort to sell cubicle wall products during a contracting economy (ack!), Joe refocused his efforts back onto two areas of expertise: software and product design. He has been consulting in strategy and software design for Cisco for over two and a half years. Joe has also provided product development consulting services to Silicon Valley startups. Recent projects include a water purification device and a novel solar power technology. Joe is also in the process of developing two business plans, one for a digital identity service and another for a location-based service. If you are in those fields, any input or referrals from alumni is appreciated!

For the past four months Joe has been interviewing Kellogg entrepreneurs to help design the Kellogg Bay Area Entrepreneurial Network. The organization's objective is to bring Kellogg entrepreneurs together with other Kellogg entrepreneurs and alumni mentors for information sharing and support. Over 25 alumni in the Bay Area have expressed interest and the coordination committee is already forming. If interested, please contact Joe at jurban1997@kellogg.northwestern.edu.

Hugh Cunningham from N.Y. visited the Bay area and met H.D. Vo, her husband Stan Woo EMP-98, their son Sebastian, and Joe Dierdorf.

Arvind Jain and wife, Alpana, recently vacationed on the Big Island of Hawaii with their two sons before getting back to post-summer life in the Bay Area. Akash, and his almost-newly born (May 2005) brother, Vinay, had lots of fun basking in the sun and waves.

Archana Mehra got married last October to Zubin Taraporevala. They were married at the Fairmont Copley in Boston and joined by several of Archana's Kellogg classmates including Molly McCombe, Nancy Joyce and Rene Jarquin, Candance Parks Chow, Deb and Rob Lutz, Brownyn Poole and Peter Schmitz, Jai Shekhawat, Pradip Patiah and Manisha Shahani. Archana has moved to NYC and is now the director of talent for Marakon Associates.

Mike Dobler '97, Dara Mitchell '97, Malika Benbachir Meyer, Christopher Meyer '97, Alexandre Sabeti '99, Kyle Appell '97 and Sean Foley '97

Ellen (Taschioglou) Parsons writes: "On July 5, my husband, John, and I enlarged our home by two feet with the birth of our daughter, Dominique ("Nikki") Parsons. Nikki, who weighed a compact 6 pounds 7 ounces, joins 86-pound rescue dog, Brooklyn. We still live in San Francisco's marina area, where I stroll with other new moms, like Laura Kuo '96 and her daughter Charlotte. While I am currently working long hours as a stay-at-home mom, earlier this year I finally found my professional calling in nonprofit marketing/development — currently with Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco. I started as a volunteer, recently served as an employee, and continue as a very active board member."

Andy Scott is a co-founder of an advisory firm called Capital Value Partners, which helps clients acquire and sell intellectual property. On the family front, he and his wife, Stacey, welcomed their son Nathan into the world in March. Big sister Audrey is adjusting well.

Christopher Meyer married Malika Benbachir in Geneva on March 18, and then celebrated their wedding with family and friends in Fes, Morocco on Sept. 2. A number of Kellogg alums made it to Fes for the wedding, including Sean Foley, Mike Dobler, Dara Mitchell, Alexandre Sabeti '99 and Kyle Appell. Sean Foley writes, "The wedding was absolutely amazing — a traditional Moroccan ceremony right down to the music, dancing, clothing, and food. One of the customs is that friends of the groom carry him around on a ceremonial plate to the beat of traditional Moroccan music, while everyone around dances. I'm happy to report that while Chris had a bit of a shaky ride, we didn't drop him, and he survived none the worse for wear." Christopher and Malika now reside in Geneva. Christopher is head of business development and strategic planning for Medtronic Europe, a medical device company with $10 billion sales, and Malika is a dentist and does implant research at the Geneva University Hospital.

After several years in consulting roles in New York and San Francisco, things shifted pace in 2003 for Jasjit Mangat. (Yup, this update is pretty dated!) First came marriage, to long-time girlfriend Preet, who is a cancer epidemiologist from Berkeley. Several friends from Kellogg and their (seven!) other alum groups joined in the celebrations in Malibu, Calif. They then did the only logical thing by jumping the next flight out to Bangalore in south India. Preet had a WHO fellowship to investigate cancer trends in India, and Jasjit worked with The Carlyle Group's India team evaluating VC investments in "Indo-U.S." opportunities.

One technology — RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) — and one company — an MIT-spinoff called OATSystems — stood out, and in 2004 Jasjit accepted Oat's offer to set up an office in Bangalore and grow business in the region. RFID is an emerging technology, and Bangalore an emerging destination, so it's been a bit like the Bay Area days of the late 1990s! They have traveled a ton in south India, and he writes that it is beautiful. The icing on the cake for them has been the birth of their daughter, Meher Kaur Mangat, who checked in alert and curious this past 4th of July. Jasjit writes, "Since then it's been the routine of baby talk, sleepless nights and diaper changes that most of the Kellogg class of '97 has probably already experienced by now."

Jasjit's current responsibility — promoting business adoption of RFID — is based out of Boston, and they expect to relocate there in Q1, 2006. They look forward to connecting with the Kellogg group in Boston, and reconnecting with old friends all over. Jasjit's email address is jmangat@iitbombay.org. He also wants to note the excellent job Vijay Sankar '98, Sanjay Shroff '88 and others have been doing with Kellogg's India chapter. The group hosted Dean Dipak Jain last year, and continues to raise Kellogg's (relatively low profile) brand identity in that part of the world

Alessandro Duina (Lalo) is still in Shanghai, where he has lived for more than two years now. The company he co-founded together with Chinese partners, The JLJ Group (jljgroup.com), keeps him busy and alive. You may spot him riding his electric scooter, ignoring all traffic rules, since there are none in Shanghai. The Kellogg alumni is fairly active in Shanghai and the city can be very nice when the weather is right. Let him know if you are in town!

Jasjit Mangat '97 with wife Preet and parents (whom 1996 India GIMers may recall) at the base of the Nilgiri Mountains in south India

Late last year, Kenji Hashimoto and his family (wife Dana, Kailee, 4 and Kendall, 1) moved to England, just outside of London, so he could take the job as managing director, financial controller Europe for American Airlines. It has been a very exciting move. While London is probably one of the easiest places for an American to transition to, it has had its challenges. They are living out in the "country" (just outside the M25 near Windsor, really), and there is actually quite a large expat community. So far their family travels have been to explore other areas of England. For work Kenji has been all over Europe, but unfortunately usually only seeing the inside of the airport, a sales office or a reservations center. Dana's "outside career" is on hold right now while she runs the family. They definitely miss all of the conveniences and the low cost of things in the U.S. They have a spare bedroom so visitors are welcome!