EMP-39

Hello all. The following EM-39ers offer updates this quarter.

John Erickson writes: "I remain in Charlotte. After a two-year stint as a semi-retired consultant I started a corporate gig this past January. I'm working for Permanent General Assurance Corporation, which is based in Nashville. I work at home, but commute to Nashville about one week a month. I'm also spending time in Arizona and California in the new job. I ran a marathon in Houston in January — my first — in the back-row spirit of things, I finished well back in the pack. If you're in Charlotte let me know!"

Stephanie Pincus has been busy! She writes: "I completed my term as the chief academic affiliations officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs in November 2004. I am now based full-time in Buffalo, N.Y., where I am working part-time at the local VA hospital, as well as doing speaking, writing and consulting. Most importantly, I am enjoying time with my husband and 16-year-old son, Ben, who will be a junior in high school in this fall. For a further update check my Web site, shpincus.com which has a number of commentaries and describes my activities which are increasingly focused on improving the success of professional women." Send Stephanie an email at shp@shpincus.com.

Bob Driscoll wrote: "Yes, I'm still in Birmingham. In April I was promoted to regional operations manager for the Southeast. I'm responsible for operating nine locations in Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida and Alabama. Traveling with young kids is hard to adjust to. I just spent time on the Coast helping with the Katrina relief effort. The TV just doesn't do it justice until you see the destruction. Eight people from our church managed to shovel mud and remove dry wall from three houses. The MRE meals are really pretty good. Delaney is 10 and in the fifth grade, Drew is 8 and in the third, and Daryl is 5."

Barry Cooper called the other day and complained he is now an empty nester! What a problem to have. From an earlier update that missed the deadline: "Not much to report here except my job and family are doing well. Our youngest daughter graduated from high school this week and will attend George Washington University in D.C. in the fall! I have managed to drop 52 pounds since last fall and am very close to my fighting weight when I graduated from undergraduate school! As a result of this my Kellogg class ring was a little big and I managed to lose it at our lake house a couple of weekends ago. I have checked my records, but I can't find the jeweler that we ordered those through. I also called Kellogg; they have no record of it and have since switched manufacturers. Does anyone have a name and contact in their archives?"

It's that time of year again and Chris Storm made his annual pilgrimage to Key West along with several of his classmates for the Hemingway look-alike contest. Chris writes: "Grite and are in the process of moving to our new home in Luther, Mont., just west of Red Lodge. I retired as CEO of Cal Farley's Boys Ranch on June 30, and remain on the board. I was also elected to the Boys Ranch Independent School Board as a trustee, a fact that should amaze (horrify?) any parties interested in the state of education in the great state of Texas. I'm unemployed again, as I was our second year at Kellogg. Send me some tips!

"Deanna and Mike Weiss made their fourth and Cheryl (Duda-Harte) and Eric Harte made their third trip to Key West for the Hemingway look-alike contest. Madison Harte came too, but didn't spend much time in the bar. Cheryl was trying to keep her away from my sons, I'm sure. I finished in the top five this year so things are looking up.

"The best news is my oldest son, Christopher, who visited us at Kellogg one weekend, is getting married on Dec. 30 to a wonderful young lady he got to know at Dartmouth. He's in the fourth year of his PhD (Math) program at Dartmouth and she's a third-year law student at Columbia. My other two boys are fine as are Grite's three."

Dick Lunde is alive and well in New Jersey. "Things are great here in N.J. Andrew (9) and Amelia (5) are both in a new school right here in town. (We're done with parochial schools — yea!) Working at Cendant's NRT division (real estate brokerage operations) since 2002. Sue is now at Wyeth, after five years with Pharmacia/Pfizer. Doing the same stuff — strategic sourcing. Our elderly dog is still kicking, too. And biting, barking, yapping and doing other things not fit for a family publication such as this."

As for myself, the last month has been eventful. The company I was working for was acquired in late July, and on Aug. 1 I had that fateful meeting where they "decided to go in another direction" and put "their own" people in to run the plant. I had not experienced the joy of being canned before, so something to add to the resume! Luckily for me, I was able to find a job quickly (I'm telling you, Dave Webster, that work you did on the Kellogg brand really is true) and I am now the director of global sourcing and distribution for the V. Mueller division of Cardinal Health.