EMP-43

Colleen Mather writes: "Here is what I have been up to. I no longer do the marketing on the Happy Meals at McDonald's, but instead I now purchase them for our 2- and 4-year-old girls, Katie and Molly. I am the CEO of Superior Insight Advantage. We specialize in focus group research for small and large consumer and business-to-business companies. Greg and I live in Orland Park, Ill. I would love to catch up with fellow EMP-43ers and can be reached at colleen@superiorinsightadvantage.com. How about we try and plan a mini-reunion for our class in Chicago. Any interest?"

Pat O'Brien is well. He has just relocated to a new place overlooking Millennium Park and the lakefront. He has invited EMP-43ers to look him up if they come downtown to enjoy the park. He recently met Assistant Dean Erica Kantor at the Pritzker pavilion. The topic of incriminating pictures of Pat — taken during the class trip to Germany and Italy — came up. Pat is not commenting and is referring all calls to the attorneys in EMP-43!

	Chet Richardson EMP-43 and daughter Kristen on their backpacking trip around Mt. Rainier
	From Chet Richardson EMP-43: "This picture was taken when I was on a seven-day backpacking trip around Mt. Rainier in Washington. I did the trip with my 22-year-old daughter (who is a senior at UW in Seattle). It was a very difficult hike — which I knew in advance — but I did it to prove that I am just as strong as I was when I was my daughter's age (NOT!!)."
	Colleen Mather EMP-43 and family: Colleen and Greg, and Katie (left) and Molly (right)
	Todd McLauglan EMP-43 and wife, Joanne on their recent trip to the Galapagos Islands

On the professional side he has remained in management consulting over the last several years. He runs his own boutique firm, which he started in 2003. Their primary focus is assisting companies to generate higher potential business models by utilizing their framework for ideation.

As far as Pat's study group is concerned, the native New Yorkers Peter Kelly and Mark Alter have returned to the East Coast and are doing well. Mark (being the true socialite in the group) encourages classmates to visit him if they happen to come to New York City. He hasn't heard from Mary Strapon or Everett White.

Todd MacLaughlan recently (February) took the job of general manager at CIMA LABS, a subsidiary of Cephalon — a $1.2 billion company. CIMA LABS partners with large pharmaceutical companies to bring orally disintegrating tablets such as Alavert and Triaminic in the OTC market or Remeron and Zomig into the Rx market.

His eldest daughter, Tara, is now a sophomore at DePaul University and his younger daughter, Leah, is in her senior year of high school in New Jersey. His youngest, Michael, is finishing eighth grade. Todd and his wife, Joanne, just got back from a trip to the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador — a visit he recommends highly.

Chet Richardson writes: "Soon after we finished EMP in December 1999, I left my Chicago-based company and in late 2000 moved to Seattle to conquer the dot-com craze. Unfortunately, I timed it with the dot-com crash and my original job with a venture firm faded away. I decided to stay and joined a small software startup (just me and about eight or nine eccentric/smart programmers and electrical engineers), invested a chunk of change and worked for free for too long. I was warned in advance by a friend (an angel investor) about what to avoid (i.e., inventors/owners who would not give up control, etc.), but nevertheless plowed ahead. IT turned out to be an expensive lesson, which I eventually took to heart (with encouragement from my wife) and realized I was wasting good money and time for something not worthwhile. So, in early 2003, I painfully decided to leave my entrepreneurial endeavor and return to a larger corporate environment, and sought a number-one or -two lawyer position in a large public company nationwide (being from the West Coast, having grown up overseas as an army brat, having gone to college and law school on the East Coast and having lived in Chicago for 10 years, I narrowed the geographic scope of my search to anything between Charlotte, N.C. and Honolulu, Hawaii, or overseas in Europe or the Far East). We wound up in the middle — joining Alliant Energy Corporation, based in Madison, Wis., as its deputy general counsel. It has been a new industry for me (an interesting switch). The company has really good people and I am enjoying the work. Also, my wife and I like Madison — a university town with a lot going on, plus it is a very easy place to live. One illustrative example: my history has usually involved heavy traffic areas — having worked and lived in Washington, D.C., Honolulu, San Francisco, Chicago and Seattle. The first month in Madison, while I was driving to work and listening to the traffic report, the radio announcer said, 'Be careful, there has been an accident on the beltline and expect delays of up to five minutes.' Our three children are all in college or grad school — so with tuition being the way it is, I expect to keep working for years to come."

Boris Oglesby is keeping busy. Both he and the family are fine. He has promised to write a really long update the next go around.