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Win Reis ’95 with son Tommy |
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A Kellogg gathering at the Karen Hohenstein ’95 wedding |
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1995
— Full-Time
A few of us gathered by the San Francisco Bay for a lovely Sunday afternoon. It had been a few years since we'd seen each other and it was great to see everyone. Fourteen years later and we didn't look much worse for wear! Jim Beckemeyer won the prize for having stayed at the same company since graduation (Kaiser). Chris Joseph's daughter Megan, who was just a newborn at Kellogg, is now a lovely young lady and taller than I am. Chris quit his job last year and started his own company (answergem.com). Craig Lee is working at Paypal (eBay). Lawrence Chan has a beautiful family with a girl (3) and boy (1). We think the genes on mom's side are more dominant! Lawrence works in medical communications at ApotheCom. Marie-Helene Ambard-Yalom and her husband (who is a psychotherapist) have a psychotherapy business that provides resources (tapes/books) online (psychotherapy.net).
Karen Hohenstein married David Hoover in July 2008. The event itself was great fun and provided a venue for a much-needed Kellogg class catch-up. Kellogg alums present included Sheila (Samii) Matuscak, Kristina Pauley, Cheri (DeMong) Hubbard, Chris Kiergan, Matt Boler, Jan (Peterson) McDougal, Steve McDougal, Llandra (Brannon) Jennings, John Jennings, Gary Dastin, Chris Corby, Catherine (Stephan) Henson, Rebecca (Sober) Rounsavil, Kelly Adams, Kirstin (Osgood) Wolberg, Mark Medema, Geoff Dybas, Lisa Morrill and Bill Graham '94. Highlights of the weekend included Steve McDougal joining the band for "Copacabana" and several late nights of dancing at the Hange Uppe. Karen and David will be splitting their time between Concord, N.C., and Chicago for the foreseeable future.
John Honney is teaching a course on venture capital and private equity during the winter term at Kellogg. (John's a smart guy. This will be a great class but should be pretty tough. His poor students!)
James Pitt sent hellos: "We have two boys (10 and 7) and a 9-week-old puppy. I have been in Atlanta since graduation and in commercial real estate for about eight years or so."
I got a great e-mail from Tony Howe. Here it is, unedited: "Greetings from Mooresville, N.C. (Lake Norman area north of Charlotte)! Who keeps singing what a 'long, strange trip it's been' as I type? Tina and I had son No. 3. If that's not a sign from above to cease and desist, not sure what is. The good news is that we'll eventually go out and grab another Labrador retriever to keep our 1:1 ratio intact (highly recommended).
"I am working in enterprise marketing for Wachovia … I mean Wells ... I mean Govco. Since I don't know anything about marketing, please send me your ideas and I'll present them as my own (a skill honed while working for some of the largest consultancies in the world). Launching a business on the side focused on Africa (don't laugh), which will probably become unnecessary when I find my real millionaire parents who no doubt have missed me a great deal during their prolonged absence. Tina continues to slug it out as a technology executive (her title is far too long for this letter) for the same crazy company that brought us to North Carolina from Southern California (and yes, apparently that IS legal). And despite present conditions, she's trained up as a wine connoisseur and a chef. Good for her, great for me.
"Needless to say, we live for the weekends given our location and the plethora of things to do ('Well, you told me I have a plethora. And I just would like to know if you know what a plethora is. I would not like to think that a person would tell someone he has a plethora, and then find out that that person has no idea what it means to have a plethora. Name the movie for 10 bonus points). Since I don't know what a plethora is, life is all about boating, swimming, T-ball, soccer, basketball, football and, naturally, officiating the UFC events that routinely break out in our living room. Both John and Ryan (1, 2 respectively) are climbing the Taekwondo ranks, so it pays to arrive soon after the shouting has begun to minimize the wear and tear on the furniture and consumer electronics."
Sounds like all is well with Win Reis and family: "I moved over to Hewlett Packard's software division last year and am leading marketing for part of our manageability portfolio but am looking for more of a customer-facing role in business development, alliance management, or marketing programs. Both Marie and I are still playing a lot of tennis and looking forward to playing together in mixed doubles this winter. It could be dangerous! But the old golf game has been somewhat neglected with kids getting older and busier. Older son Tommy (12) is now seeing eye-to-eye with the old man at 5 foot 7 inches and will no doubt be looking down at me by this time next year. I was off work most of the summer on family medical leave with my younger son Gordon (9), who broke his leg during the last week of school. It was tough for him to basically lose his summer but he and I got to spend some quality time together which can't be overlooked. This year I'm going to be den leader for Gordon's Webelos Cub Scouts, while Tommy has achieved First Class rank in Boy Scouts in just under 18 months and is one of only two seventh graders to be elected to his school's student council."
Ashish Vazirani and family were living in the Bay Area but moved back to D.C. Ashish is with MarketBridge and will continue to manage the same set of West Coast clients and the West Coast team, but with a bit more flight time. He and Deborah have two children, Benjamin (13) and Isabella (9). Deb finished her doctorate in public health a couple of years ago and is happy to be back in D.C. where there are more opportunities in her field (international health programs focusing on maternal and child health), plus D.C. is really home for them, so it's good to be back with family and longtime friends.
Michelle Quinones, who was the baby of our class, celebrated the big 40 in September. So be sure to send her some happy wishes.
Some folks had asked me about Rick Berg and I'm delighted to pass along that he's doing well. His son, little Ben, got his license this year, and this summer, he was a lifeguard at three pools and worked at the counter in a Chick-Fil-A. His brother, Sam, went to a range of camps this past summer: soccer, lacrosse and sleepover. Both boys are doing well in school and they had fun with their dad Rick when they took a trip to San Francisco and Yosemite in July. And for the bad news and good news, Rick got diagnosed with skin cancer in the throat on Election Day in November 2008, went through radiation and chemo over the winter and was 'clean' as of April. He is back on his road bike and is really, really enjoying coffee and solid foods again. Next up is the 15-year Reunion in the spring as he returns to Kellogg as a cancer 'SR5R.'"
Some exciting news from Winnie DelliQuadri. She's living in her hometown of Steamboat Springs, Colo., and working for the City of Steamboat Springs. She recently adopted a son, David Cash DelliQuadri (2).
For those who want to start the 15th year Reunion early (and continue the tradition started in our second year at Kellogg), Liz Wald, Jane Bieneman, Erica Rutkin Keswin, John Martin and others will be in Aspen during the first week of March for their 15th annual ski trip. Please feel free to let them know if you can join them. They say: "We might not ski as fast as we used to but we always get to après ski before anyone else!"
Wendy Yanowitch Feher sends greetings from London: "All is well here. I'm leading the corporate relationships group at London Business School's Executive Education program. My daughters (2) are incredibly lovely and entertaining. Michael is great and a very busy diabetes/cholesterol doc, giving lectures, writing books and changing diapers."
Frank Wetterkamp sent in a short summary of the last 15 years, as well as an opportunity to invest in a German chocolate brand: "I got married five years ago. My wife brought two children into our marriage. Now we have a total of three (Henry, 11, Marie 9, and May, 4). We bought a house near Munich early last year, and enjoy the nearby lakes and mountains.
"Out of Kellogg, I spent a couple of years in New York with the U.S. subsidiary of a German bank doing some corporate finance work. Then, I returned to Germany and worked at Banque Paribas as an equity analyst, before being self-employed for two years. In my most interesting project, I started a small special chemical company together with Eric Nickel, husband of Jackie Tario Nickel in Atlanta. After that, I returned to Germany and joined PricewaterhouseCoopers' transaction services and business recovery practice and stayed there for seven years.
"In the fall of 2006, I became CFO of the German subsidiary of Babcock & Brown, a global Australian investor that went bankrupt earlier this year in the wake of the financial crisis. Ever since, I joined a small advisory boutique and advise U.S.-distressed funds in the acquisition of non-performing portfolios or single loans. In the latter case, we also co-invest and serve as the fund's asset manager. We also develop our own projects for which we look for investors. Our most time-consuming project is the re-launch of a very traditional, old German chocolate brand. My partner acquired the trademark a few years ago and developed a new packaging and store layout. We are now looking for financial or (semi-)strategic investors to re-launch the brand in Germany. Ideally, we would bring the brand to the U.S. by opening a large flagship store in New York. We are in discussions with a number of investors, but haven't closed a deal yet, so keep your fingers crossed."
Mark Ball is busy repositioning his niche consulting firm, Emerging Sun, to pursue government contracts, particularly in the areas of strategic sourcing and information technology. He and his wife, Patience '96, and their two boys, Tao (7) and Tendai (5), moved into their new home in Kensington, M.D., and are doing very well
Our 15-year Reunion is next year, April 30 to May 2. If you'd like to be on the advisory committee to give input, give me a shout. Hope to see many friends in Chicago next year. |
