1989 — Full-Time

Attention Class of 1989: If you are interested in learning more about your 20-year Reunion, please contact Christine Feiner at 847.491.6628 or c-feiner@kellogg.northwestern.edu.

Thanks to all of you who responded to my e-mail request for news — we have many great updates this issue.

First of all, SAVE THE DATE! The Class of 1989's 20-year Reunion is the weekend of May 1-3. A committee is forming now to plan the reunion weekend. Details to follow!

Gwen Farley Green writes: "Tiscia Eicher went on a 10-day trip hiking, biking, kayaking and touring in Croatia with friends and '90 grads Geni Burke, Martha Stuart and Rob Cappucci. Also, because this is an Olympic year, and because I know she wouldn't likely report on this herself, I wanted to let you know that classmate Lisa Buese Gani was recently featured in a new book, BOYCOTT: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team, by Tom and Gerald Caraccioli. She is one of 18 athletes profiled who were directly affected by President Carter's decision to have the U.S. boycott the 1980 Games. Lisa made the 1980 Olympic team in swimming. I recommend the book. It's a quick read, not to mention a good history lesson! Per Lisa, in a recent e-mail she wrote: 'The authors did a nice job capturing the essence of the athletes and how the political decision came to fruition. It was interesting how the authors created the profile stories after only talking for about 30-45 minutes to each of us.'"

Anne Engel (better half of Mark Engel) writes: "We are all doing well here in Connecticut. David (14) is starting high school, Eliza (12) is starting seventh grade, Jack (5) is going to kindergarten and Sam (3) is going to Pre-K. Four different schools for me this year! Mark is president and CEO of Rosco Labs, an international business that he loves. I'm consulting with Pepsi three days a week working with their innovation team. It helps me keep a pulse on the business, maintain my sanity and keeps me balanced. I've also entered the blogging world this year (who hasn't?) with a Web site called Coffee Chat with 1000 Wise Women (wisewomencoffeechat.com). The site's mission is to build a community to share ideas and bits of wisdom to help inspire others. We took a trip in April to Arizona with Heather and Frank Grillo's family. We have vacationed with the Grillos quite regularly since leaving business school. We were in Sedona, Ariz., and the Grand Canyon and then spent a couple days in Scottsdale, Ariz., catching up with Ron Boninger and Patty Hruby. I also speak to Gary Yoshioka every so often. He's doing great in Hawaii, continues to run the Pepsi business there and has two adorable children. Hope all is well with you and hope we get a chance to catch up next summer!"

Patty Funderburg writes: "Alex and I ran into Mary Heinen and Drew Jones when we were at the rodeo in Beaver Creek, Colo. It turns out that we have neighboring vacation condos. We had a very fun time the following evening catching up over dinner."

Mitch Manassa sends in this update: "In advance of our 20-year Kellogg Reunion and the Kellogg Centennial, we have had several occasions to get together with groups of '89 grads. In March, Amanda Montgomery Drewatolitsch (at UBS) and family hosted a dinner at their Canyons, Utah, ski home which included Randy Paulson (at Odyssey Partners), myself and our families. Amanda also hosted Tom and Terri Whitman (Huntington Bank) at their Connecticut home earlier that year. The Four Quarter Class of '89 also strives to advance the social network built in Evanston and Laurie Ferguson Schulte (marketing and strategy consulting) continued with a wonderful dinner at her home including Vicky and Scott Mordell (Chamberlain Group/Duchossois), Carole and Phil Hildebrandt (Segall Bryant & Hamill), Sandy and Jim Hansen (Cardinal Health) and my wife Tammy and me. Also in town that weekend was Terri "Global Traveler" Whitman and supposedly Scott Johnson (Accenture) who was never seen.

"Terri returned the favor and hosted me at her country club in Columbus, Ohio. We speak occasionally with Jay and Robyn Stead but have not yet had the courage to bring the kids to New Zealand to visit their lovely home. We also have the too infrequent opportunity to visit or host Judy and Rick Wallace (Kelly Services) and their vanload of four kids who now reside in Bloomfield Village, Mich. We also get to see classmate John Wood mostly on "Oprah" sharing his incredible story of how he is helping the less fortunate in places, like Nepal, by building libraries to combat illiteracy. I'm still at KPMG in the transaction services practice. The practice had less than five people when I joined in 1989 and had grown to nearly 700 U.S. professionals and more than 50 partners in the past 20 years. Due to the terrific success of the Class of 1989, our team even has had the opportunity to support at least three '89 alums on their company/fund acquisitions. Several of us including Marie Devlin (vice president of marketing at Pepsi Foods) plan to attend the Kellogg Centennial celebration kick-off event where we hope to see more of you."

Don Chaney reports: "I've been at Greenwich Capital Markets (sub of RBS) for the last four years. We've been rocked by the markets and lots of people leaving which resulted in a massive hiring of Bear traders and salesmen." 

Denise Bindelglass ’89 with kids Brody, Paulina, Susana and husband Don
Sky and Hilary Runser, both ’89, with sons

George Graffy writes: "Fran and I continue to live in Dallas with our three children who are now (gulp) teenagers. For the last 10 years, I have been president of Smart Circle International, a company which develops marketing programs for professional sports teams, resort developers, golf course management companies, restaurants, home improvement retailers and other leisure industries. I also have really enjoyed coaching my children and their friends in lacrosse, basketball and soccer over the past decade and am rapidly approaching my 1,000th game. My son Eric and I also achieved the level of master diver when we completed our 50th scuba dive on a Bahamas shark feeding adventure. I travel extensively to our offices around the U.S. and Canada and recently have had the chance to re-connect with many Kellogg classmates including Pat Muldoon, Laurie Ferguson Schulte, Kevin George '90, Scott Ortega, Rich Tola and many others. Looking forward to catching up with many of you.  I invite anyone passing through Dallas to give me a call for lunch or dinner."

Liz Mueller writes: "I have lived in San Diego for 14 years and am the director of development at the School of Business Administration for the University of San Diego. We are a private Catholic university not to be confused with UCSD - University of CA San Diego. We have a large undergraduate business program and a full time and part time MBA program. I really like living in San Diego; who wouldn't? I just had major spine surgery so hopefully in a few more months I will be back to doing what I love: swimming, walking on the beach and golfing. Sally (Nicholas) Prendergast lives nearby in Encinitas and I hear she is involved with her children and their horses. I see her husband Bob at real estate conferences where USD is the sponsor."

I enjoyed receiving this note from Jose Fernandez Grandizo in Mexico: "I was one of the four Mexicans in the Class of 1989. I have never sent any updates to Kellogg World, so I guess this is the time to do it. Nineteen years after Kellogg, my wife Maria Magadalena and I live in Guadalajara, Mexico, with our three kids (16, 12, 9). We are both very busy raising them, especially now that they are racing full speed into their teen ages. After graduation, I spent eight years at HP Latin America, mainly in a financial position before joining a small software development firm, where I've been ever since. One of our most treasured memories is a one-year sabbatical we took to Victoria, B.C., in 2004. Last summer, my wife and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in Barcelona, Spain. Reach us at: jose.grandizo@sinergia.com.mx."

Marion (Downey) Hanold lives 15 minutes north of Evanston with her husband David in an old Dutch Colonial that they recently renovated. She writes: "We have two kiddos, Elizabeth (8) and Jonathan (6). Thanks to them and what amounts to two work-at-home parents, we're in perpetual motion! I sell residential real estate on the North Shore and since that endeavor's not exactly percolating these days, I spend quite a bit of time at Accenture coaching their consultants on how to become better at selling to senior executives. Both of us do a lot of extracurricular volunteering in addition to the usual round of carpools and soccer coaching. We've had a great summer on Lake Michigan, welcoming friends from out of town and traveling a bit ourselves. I see Tiscia Eicher and Gwen Farley Green on a too-infrequent basis, but hope we can gather at KGSM for the 20-year Reunion in 2009."

I recently met Denise Bindelglass in downtown Chicago to get updated on her family and career. In her words: "I have been at Trading Technologies International for five years as the vice president of human resources. We have grown tremendously and it has been a great ride! Grown the headcount by 500 percent and opened ten offices around the world. In my downtime, I gave birth to twins in January. Brody and Susanna join big sister Paulina (2). As if not busy enough, I teach a class up at Northwestern which began as a pilot program for the engineering students and now has become a requirement. I'd love to hear from former classmates."

Peter Lawyer sent this update from Minneapolis: "I am still with BCG, 19 years after joining the Chicago office. I did a stint in Tokyo from 1998-2001 before returning to Chicago. Last fall, I opened up BCG's new Minneapolis office, which is growing quite nicely. I've got two Northwestern undergrads and one Kellogg grad (Steve Waddell '06) on the staff now, but I'm looking forward to hiring some more — so tell all those folks with Twin Cities connections or an appetite for extreme cold to look me up! I have seen a lot of classmate Chris Wright (our families are very close friends).  I'm pleased to note that another classmate, Tim Hoying, has joined BCG Chicago (though I imagine he'll probably tell you that himself). I also was very happy to re-establish contact last spring with my old group-mates Alex Fuentes, Rick Andrews and Doug Rooney. If we could track down Patty, Tom, Brook, Ed, Evelyn and Andy, it would be like getting the whole band back together! Hope to see a lot of you at our upcoming 20-year Reunion. Yikes, we's gettin' old! My wife Monica '92 also says hello to '89 classmates. All are welcome if you happen by the Twin Cities."

Asad Haroon reports that he has just moved to San Diego and loves it. He is the CEO and founder of InsideUp, an online advertising platform. His twins Kyra and Selina are 5   years old.

Sharon (Kenney) Komlofske writes: "My three kids and I visited Tiscia Eicher at her new job as head of Adoption programs at PAWS. The PAWS facility in Chicago is spectacular and the adoption of our cat was a great experience. I also got to spend a few days in New York in June with Cheryl Weldon at the annual Worth sales meeting. Cheryl has a Worth clothing agency in Atlanta and I have one in Wilmette, Ill. It's a small business, but a lot of fun. My true passion, and where I spend most of my time is with the Gift of Adoption Fund where I was elected chairman of the national board."

Mark Sneider writes from Cincinnati: "I'm into my third year of running the agency lead generation/business development firm I started. We are going to cross the $1 million mark this year in revenue which is exciting. It's been challenging managing a company growing at 40 percent a year, but certainly very exciting. I started a second business in January that helps build B2B businesses outside of the agency/pr/marketing services space.

"When not working, I'm spending time with the family. We spent a great couple of weeks in New Mexico and Colorado this summer seeing the sites and hiking the Rockies. And I found my retirement community: Madrid, N.M. I'm longing to get back to Wrigley and see the Cubs. Hoping that this will be the year!"

Another Cincinnati resident, Kyle Hodgkins writes: "Paul, I saw your plea for news and as secretary for my college class, I felt compelled to respond in solidarity. Bob '84 and I are here in Cincinnati and since it's been nearly a dozen years, it looks like this is home. I may well be the only marketing professional in Cincinnati who has never been directly employed by Proctor & Gamble. I continue to work 'part-time' in marketing consulting (and those of you who work 'part-time' know exactly why it's in quotes) and am doing a good deal of qualitative research with Ipsos. Moderating is a blast though the travel can be a bit much. I, myself, am stunned to admit that I have actually been to Peoria for focus groups. It occurs to me that our 20-year is on the way, which means we're all either hopelessly out of date or wise, seasoned professionals.  I choose the latter; it makes me feel happy. I'm in touch most frequently with Carolyn Glastris, Heather Winch, Kathy Kane and Roxanne Gottlieb, but get great Christmas cards from a host of others, including one family that insists on sending annual, beaming, mud-streaked photos of their children. I like that. We welcome all visitors passing through the Queen City. Cheers to all."

Seijiro "Sage" Takeshita writes from London: "Gosh, Kellogg 1989. Time flies like an arrow. I received my doctorate in management from University of London last year. I have made about 1,700 TV and radio appearances over the 15 years here in London for BBC, CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg, etc. (Currently no regular programs.) I have made numerous presentations to organizations and schools (including OECD, CBI, Wilton Park, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, European Institute, The Houses of Parliament, LSE and University of London) and articles to papers and magazines. Oh yes, I work as a director of Mizuho International, a London arm of Japanese mega bank Mizuho. I played rugby till about five years ago – also was a captain of the London Japanese Rugby Football Club for two years (back in the 90s). As for Kellogg ties, I get in touch with Zain Naqi from time to time, but not enough! Please send my best regards to all the gallant gentlemen and charming ladies in the Class of '89."

Another e-mail from across the pond came from Michel Philippart in Paris who writes: "I joined Big Fish, the most global and comprehensive firm focusing on people development in purchasing and supply management. I am focusing on the global training practice that I am leading. For fun, I help a few winemakers with their Internet communication strategy and their U.S. commercial activities."

Steve Foster says: "I am still living in Los Gatos, Calif., working at TPG (fka Texas Pacific Group) in San Francisco. We recently raised a $1.3 billion growth fund and I am now focused on renewable energy and clean technology. I stay in touch with several of my Kellogg four quarter buddies including Phil Hildebrandt, CEO of Siegel, Bryant & Hamill, a money management firm based in Chicago and Scott Mordell, a senior executive at Chamberlain International, also based in Chicago. We have been doing a ski weekend every year for the last fifteen years. I see Darrell Zoromski, vice president of marketing at Align Technologies. He lives in Petaluma, Calif., but works in Santa Clara. I also see Pat Muldoon, an evening to day '89 adopted by the Four Quarters back in the day. Pat is CEO of energy bar company Detour Bar and is working with a private equity fund on several food and beverage companies. I am likely to attend the 20-year Reunion next year. There are lots of folks I would love to catch up with."

D.J. Patenaude writes: "All is well in the Patenaude Family...knock on wood...everyone is thriving here in Boston. Professionally, I am a SVP at the Affiliated Managers Group Inc., a holding company that invests exclusively in investment management businesses. My current role is the head of global distribution with offices in Toronto, Sydney, London and hopefully, Singapore, this fall. I am developing a global marketing and client servicing strategy for our underlying affiliates. Personally, married to Shelley. She continues to put up with me after 21 years! The kids are Drew (16), who attends Deerfield Academy, Jay (14), who attends The Fessenden School and Allie (10), in fifth grade in the Dover School system and runs our house. I hope and trust all is well with you!"

Alex Baker writes: "I'm still working with the Partners Healthcare System in Boston, and am COO of the network of about 5,500 physicians. I continue to be challenged by my job and most days, I even enjoy it.  Personally, after years of daydreaming about 'when we get a cottage in Maine,' Butch and I finally took the plunge and bought a weekend place in York, Maine, this past winter. It's about 90 minutes from Boston, so it's easy to do for a weekend. In fact, we've spent nearly every weekend up there since we bought the house in March. It's been a great retreat and makes every weekend like a mini-vacation, which is exactly what I was looking for." 

In addition to being married for 18 years and having two sons, now in tenth and eighth grades, Hilary Glann and Skyles Runser have been running a marketing consultancy for the past five years. Ilima Partners (ilimapartners.com) helps both established companies and VC-funded technology startups develop marketing strategies, reach goals and address the challenges of their industries. Sky has done a lot of launch strategy work, and customer/partner/salesforce-facing projects, while Hilary's highlights include overall marketing strategy and product marketing guidance. 

John Wood says: "I was in Nepal in March to celebrate the opening of Room to Read's 5,000th school library and we made a big commitment at the Clinton Global Initiative (on stage with Bill) to increase that number to 13,000 libraries serving 5 million children by the end of 2010. We'll also open our 700th school this year and are now working in South Africa and Zambia, in addition to six Asian countries."

Marc Landsberg checks in with this update: "Things are great. Last January, I wrapped up my stint as president of Arc Worldwide, a global marketing services agency, which was part of the Publicis Groupe. I took a few great months off attending Super Bowl, UNC/Duke basketball and skiing in Colorado. In April, I joined Lake Capital as a director, focusing on helping Lake make investments in the marketing services space. Lake is a leading middle-market private equity firm based in Chicago with $1.3 billion under management. Family is great: Jack (11), Grace (8) and George (6) are all at the Latin School in Chicago. Lindsay '90 just went back to work and is working as a freelancer helping digital marketing agencies drive their new business efforts. Currently, she's at a very hot shop in the West Loop called Design Kitchen."

Karin Dommermuth O'Connor writes: "I am living and working in Chicago and have been running Perimeter Advisors, a boutique strategy consulting firm, since 2004. My husband Paul O'Connor and I adopted a daughter from China in 2001. Hard to believe it's been seven years and she's already 10 and in fifth grade! I have been quite involved with Kellogg as well, having been part of the Kellogg Alumni Council since 1999. My most amazing experience with that group thus far was a 10-day trip to India with Dean Jain in January 2007. The Kellogg India alumni were terrific hosts and helped organize a jam-packed schedule including visits with companies (both Indian and expat), academic and government leaders. The undisputed highlight, though, was enjoying high tea with Prime Minister Singh at his home in Delhi. Our 20-year Reunion committee is gearing up, so you will all be hearing from us soon. Reunion promises to be memorable, so plan on attending!"

Scott Davis sends this update from Chicago: "My family and work worlds continue to keep me very busy. Emma recently started fourth grade and my twin boys Ethan and Benjamin started seventh grade. Emma still clearly runs our house and we are trying to keep up the boys and their busy social/sports/homework calendars. Over the summer, I spent a week with the boys in Cooperstown, N.Y., at a weeklong baseball tournament. It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I continue to work at Prophet and am putting the wraps on my third book, called The Shift: The Transformation of Today's Marketer into Tomorrow's Growth Champion. I am hoping to write a screenplay for this one. On the side, I have helped launch a company called Green Planet Bottling, where we are manufacturing the first organic, biodegradable water bottle. We are focusing our efforts on corporate campuses, hotels and closed venues, where recycling and composting can actually become a reality. I am also helping with the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the 20-year!"

Lyle Wright wrote: "I have returned to the Northlands and am currently in St. Paul, Minn., working with the Small Business Development Center program. I have worked in this program for over a decade now in various positions in Missouri, California and now Minnesota, and I love the challenges I face each day. My two sons have finally almost left the nest and my wife has returned to school with the goal to become a novelist. I am still working on learning Spanish and next up is my doctorate to add to the adjunct faculty teaching I did while at Missouri State University."

This update came in from Heather Winch: "I'm looking forward to our (can it be?) 20-year Reunion next spring. I've left the corporate world and heavy manufacturing. After a great career since grad school with the Minster Machine Company, leaving as executive vice president of operations, I decided to follow my childhood dream of starting a business from scratch before I hit the big 5-0. Earlier this year, WinchWorks Projects LLC was born. I'm providing turnkey project management for people building homes in the South Carolina Lowcountry, coordinating all activities from architect selection through move-in and saving my clients time, money and the hassles associated with the building process. If you want more info, visit winchworksprojects.com. To say I'm having a ball would be an understatement. I occasionally see Carolyn Adams, who's on Hilton Head and still keep in touch with Kyle Doherty Hodgkins, Kathleen Kane and Carolyn Glastris and look forward every year to the wildly entertaining Chelovich/Quoyeser Christmas letter!"

Jeff Ward writes from Washington D.C.: "The big news is that I've launched my second entrepreneurial venture, Savvy Navigator Tours LLC! We offer experiential journeys to Southern Africa for the upscale, adventurous, gay traveler (think Abercrombie and Kent for gay guys). After spending the past eight years helping executives find their passion as an executive coach with my firm, I took some of my own advice and launched Savvy Navigator. My core business, Northward Leadership and Development, still continues offering individual and corporate coaching programs, so the Jeffrey Ward career highway has two lanes and I'm digging the entrepreneurial world. Life at home is good and my partner Michael Klein is SVP for content at the Travel Channel (a division of Cox Communications). Needless to say, if we're not talking leadership at the dinner table, it's travel."

As for my own update, I have one foot in investment banking and the other in private equity. I recently joined River North Partners, a boutique mergers and acquisition advisory firm. We also operate the Rural American Fund, a private equity fund targeting agribusiness with a focus on seeds. Debbie and I are busy helping our son Garrett (17) research colleges which will soon come in handy for Patrick (15) and Emmett (13). I regularly see Bruce Carlson, Al Tomlinson, Tim Hoying and Jeff Baden '88 at our rotating card game. Thanks so much to all of you who sent in news. I look forward to seeing you at our 20-year Reunion May 1-3."