1992 — Full-Time

Chris Smith wondered whether he held the record for longest tenure at the same company. He writes: "I was with United Technologies for nearly 16 years (14 at Otis Elevator and nearly two at UTC Fire & Security) when I decided to join a private-equity/management-owned fire/life safety company called Fire Life Safety America. I'm vice president of service and charged with doubling the service business in two years. Much more entrepreneurial than being at UTC, but I'm using all the metrics-driven, blocking and tackling techniques honed over my years at UTC."

Sorry Chris but numerous classmates have longer tenures. Chris McKee, Steve Rappaport, George Thornton, Frederic Deschamps and Kendra Ensor and others have you beat.

Chris also notes, "Some of you may recall I had my first child in 1991. He's now a high school senior and we're in the middle of the ever-stressful college search process." 

	Rafael “Riff” Coven ’92 and his 5-day-old daughter Giuliana Fernanda
	Gary Dvorchak ’92 and family in Paris
	Joe Hussman and Allison Katz both ’92 in Buenos Aires
	Russ Kamis ’92
	Mariko Ohsato ’92 and baby Itaru

Jean Sandrin Lemke writes in for the first time: "I married Joe Lemke in 1994 and left the corporate world in October 2001 after my employer Galileo International was acquired by Cendant. No need for two treasurers, so out the door I went. Since we had just had our first child (Emma) I decided to stay home for a while. I had a second daughter (Anna) in 2003. No more kids for me, but this spring my business partner and I 'gave birth' to a very cool Web site kidwinks.com. Kidwinks is 'The site to know with kids in tow,' and is for parents with young children in the Chicago area. Our plan is to expand across the U.S."

Sharon Flanagan writes: "I enjoyed six months off after hanging up my McKinsey spurs, sailing with my daughters and doing some freelance work for some former clients. I just returned to full-time work as corporate officer, SVP of strategy for Treehouse Foods in Chicago. The management team is terrific, composed of seasoned operators who have worked together over the last 20 years. We manufacture private-label foods for grocery and mass merchandisers in numerous categories. We are a small-mid cap stock and trade under the ticker THS. I honestly have to say if I knew it was this much fun on the outside, I wouldn't have collected so many frequent flyer miles and stayed at McKinsey so long. We still live in Evanston and enjoy the amenities (and taxes) that Northwestern provides."

Both Sharon and Lana Etherington Slavitt have been engaged in the national political campaign as well.

Gary Zentner says that his son turned one in September. He writes: "I am surviving the housing crisis in Florida since my family rents a place in downtown West Palm Beach. I returned from 10 days in Switzerland with my family, visiting Geneva, Zurich and Lugano. And, oh yes, my distressed real estate investment fund which I formed with Mike Pease and Mike "Q" Giaquinto (the healthcare mergers and acquisitions king of Jersey) is off to a great start with two profitable land sales."

Mariann Kutz Weber writes: "Big news. We recently moved to Dubuque, Iowa. Yes, we gave up the frenetic pace of D.C., for the corn fields and are loving it! This is my husband's hometown and four of his seven siblings still live here. So our boys (3 and 2) have a dozen aunties and uncles and scores of cousins in their lives. It also means that we have some help beyond two neighborhood babysitters. I continue to work for IFC (as staff) via telecommuting. I have a laptop, high speed Internet and Blackberry and can work from anywhere. Anywhere is a home office complimented by trips to D.C., about once every five weeks. We are about a 3.5-hour drive from Chicago so I hope to benefit from some Kellogg events soon."

Elaine Gern Long lives in Gurnee, Ill., and continues to pursue integrating her traditional healthcare experience with holistic care. She also is a certified ayurvedic educator. Ayurveda dates back 5000 or more years and is widely considered the oldest form of healthcare in the world. She uses this knowledge, along with mind/body work, yoga therapy and reiki healing, to coach and educate successful executives.

Eun and Gerard "Surfin' Bean" Beenen successfully defended his dissertation last spring and finished his doctorate in organizational behavior and theory at Carnegie Mellon University. He writes: "My dissertation developed and tested theory on how people learn and perform in short-term jobs in which they have substantial responsibilities, yet minimal prior experience. We're staying in Pittsburgh for at least a year while I complete a post-doc research fellowship here at CMU. Matthew (6) is starting first grade and Hannah (4) is starting her second year of pre-school." Way to go Beenster!

 John Trapnell writes: "With the housing crisis making words like subprime, securitization and collateralized debt obligation household terms, it's now easy to explain what I've done since graduation. With the credit markets in turmoil, it was time for me to leave GMAC ResCap after 13 years to launch a new distressed-opportunity fund out of Minneapolis. I continue to trade distressed residential mortgages nationwide so I hope your name doesn't come across my desk!"

Russ Kamis sends greetings from western New York. He writes: "I just wanted to say hi to my classmates and let them know that after 20 plus years, I've left corporate America. I'm blessed to no longer need full-time work and the family loves my semi-retirement. Working when you want to and doing what you love certainly has its advantages, not to mention that the travel and overtime demands have dropped dramatically. I'm now pursuing my longstanding interest in helping improve the lives of leaders through coaching. After seven years as CEO of AVOX Systems, I've started a business that provides whole-life advisory services. The Kamis Group LLC provides executives, business owners and professionals with guidance, expertise, support and inspiration to explore and navigate important personal and professional transitions. I help leaders accomplish their goals and maximize their lives. I'm leveraging the many positive and challenging experiences I faced as a leader and in life to help others better use their resources and time to achieve their goals. Not goals of wealth or professional success, although these are important, but personal life goals. I help leaders find balance, improve relationships, identify purpose, pursue passion and live full lives without regret. More information is available on livelifeonpurpose.com."

Mariko Ohsato is apparently enjoying nursing her first baby, Itaru, who was born in April. Mariko also is nursing her other baby, Arc Communications, which was born in the summer of 2005. Mariko is CEO of Toyko-based Arc which focuses on translation and Web production. For details, visit arc-c.jp/eng.

In response to the typical mid-life angst and need to shake things up, Gary Dvorchak and family moved to Paris this fall. They plan on being there for this school year, but may stay longer if they enjoy it (and if immigration authorities cooperate). The short answer to the question, "Why?" is "Because we can!" Gary continues to run his U.S. equity mutual fund (all one needs is a phone and the Internet) and wife Kellie keeps the household operating. Girls Alexandra (8) and Clarissa (7) are easily adjusting to their new school, an international school in the center of Paris, since they attended a similar school in Los Angeles. They are happily ensconced in an apartment on the border of the eighth and 16 arrondissements near the Seine River and will warmly welcome any Kellogg visitors coming through.

Lisa Curland is still in Cleveland working on her fixer-upper home she bought and doing marketing consulting. I recently bumped into Lisa at a Kellogg event in Baltimore and Lisa expects big changes in the near future. More news to come.

Robert Moore, formerly at ABN AMRO North American and ABN LaSalle Bank, joined LPL Financial Corporation as CFO and relocated to LPL's San Diego office.

Kent Lindstrom moved from president to SVP of corporate development at social networking Web site Friendster.

Sharon Alterio was promoted from president of Bard Medical Division to group vice president with responsibility for international business at C.R. Bard Inc. in New Jersey.

Michael Simmons was named president of Directed Electronics.

Sean Rollings, the former vice president of product and industries marketing at NetSuite, was appointed vice president of marketing at Amitive Inc.

Joe Hussman saw Allison Katz at a sunglasses shop in Buenos Aires in May — by pure coincidence I'll bet. Joe also visited Lana Etherington-Slavitt and her husband and their two "super-smart, handsome boys in February in Minneapolis. They have a beautiful home and are building an even more beautiful one. As for me, still in sunny Southern California, working for Toyota. Keep buying those Toyota Prius and hybrid Lexus vehicles please!" 

Paul Mistor and family met with George Thornton and family in Paul's hometown of Dearborn, Mich. After several years with Ford in Brazil, George moved to Ford Canada and now lives in Toronto.

As for your truly, the Riffman, it's been a very busy summer. First, my wife Eva completed her doctorate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in May and a few weeks later, she gave birth to our first child, Giuliana Fernanda Coven. "Little G" is a testarossa, an absolute bundle of joy and sleep deprivation and has grown nearly an inch per week (95th percentile for height). My other "babies," GreenSpark Energy Solutions and The Cleantech Index Fund, are growing nearly as fast and have forced me to start growing our management team much faster. Otherwise, I'll miss "Little G" become "Big G." The demand for energy-efficiency solutions for commercial/industrial buildings is growing like gangbusters and we've been able to deliver huge savings for our customers across the U.S.