Arlene Westbrook EMP-49 and son John.

Hope all of you had a wonderful summer. The EMP-49 summer picnic was held on Aug. 12 and we had a wonderful time. It was ego-building between parents and kids (future Kelloggians). Parents lost the soccer game but made up with a win in baseball. When I checked with few parents on the following Monday, they were all hurting and swallowing down Aleve to keep their joints in place. We hope that more of EMP-49 can join us next year.

The sale of GE Insurance to Swiss Re caused Jim Pondel to land the position of product manager for staffing at Manpower in Milwaukee. Jim says it is great to be part of an organization that should benefit from an aging population and expected talent crunch. He is also better positioned to attend any EMP-49 study sessions! Jim hopes to have the house hunting behind him soon and reconnect with many of his classmates in the near future.

From left: Doug Reed, Arlene Westbrook, Mushtaq Merchant and RA Atanus (all EMP-49).

Vitaly Lenchik has joined Flextronics as director of product development. This is an exciting opportunity to grow a business and he is looking forward to experiencing California. He and his family will be living in Santa Cruz, which is a university/resort town on the Pacific coast about 50 minutes away from his work. The kids are starting high school and middle school. It will be a huge change for them.