Brian Bancroft EMP-56 enjoys exploring Powerscourt Gardens in the Wicklow Mountains south of Dublin, Ireland, with his wife Jackie and children Gabrielle and Jack

EMP-56

Hello Class of EMP-56! Fall weather always reminds me of our first EMP meetings in Evanston and the feelings of anticipation as we started our Kellogg journey. Eight years have passed, but our quest for learning and adventure has not diminished. Here is an update on where life is taking our classmates from EMP-56:

Mike Dvorak accepted a new position with Pacific Gas & Electric as director of electric distribution engineering and mapping. Mike and his lovely wife Maureen relocated to San Francisco and are enjoying the opportunity to explore the West Coast. Congratulations, Mike!

Steve Schuette continues to be challenged at Alcatel-Lucent and is living in Versailles, France, with his family (wife Dawn and son Max). Steve is enjoying a two-year expat assignment, during which he is focusing on technical development with global leadership responsibilities. What a way to see the world! We wish Steve and the Schuette family the best European experience!

Rob Stoppek accepted a new opportunity in July to be vice president at IDEX Corporation. It is wonderful to learn of Rob’s smooth transition from Italy back to the U.S. Welcome home and best of luck!

Mark Whittington was promoted to vice president and general manager of the Tradition Plumbing Channel with Elkay. In this position, Mark will have full P&L responsibility for this channel and accountability for establishing and executing a strategy to grow this important segment for Elkay. Congratulations on the new business challenge, Mark!

David Sulfridge completed a major achievement on Oct. 10 — running the circuit of the five World Marathon Majors in two years! A big EMP-56 “Congratulations!” goes out to David for achieving this very impressive personal goal. During 2009, he completed Boston, Berlin and New York. In April, he ran London and now finished with our home-city event in Chicago. Who does David credit with getting him hooked on marathons? Our own classmate, Curtis Smith, who encouraged many of us to run the Chicago Marathon back in 2004. In addition to running around the world, David’s work has kept him traveling globally as well. Most recently, David spent time in China, touring Beijing, Shanghai and the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.

September offered a unique opportunity for our classmates Shumin Wang, Ping Yu and David Sulfridge when the City of Chicago hosted an alumni gathering on Sept. 21 in Shanghai. In addition to having time to catch up personally, our EMP-56 classmates also met other Kellogg alumni and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who was there promoting business between the sister cities (Shanghai and Chicago).

Cheryl King’s company Hybrid Home Living is continuing to grow in Scottsdale, Ariz. Focused on helping homeowners and multi-family property owners save energy and increase their property values, she is leading the industry in bringing new technology to the residential home market.

Dan Masterson’s company Guardian Angel is also continuing to grow and is moving into the next phase of its corporate evolution, and is ready to invite investment. Its first product, the Guardian Angel Outlet, won the MIT Enterprise Forum Whiteboard challenge and has generated a very positive customer response in all testing. Guardian Angel is continuing to innovate offerings for new parents and create a safer world for our youngest people.

Brian Bancroft moved into a new position at Kellogg’s, leading the company’s global indirect procurement group for non-product-related expenditures (about half of its $8 billion annual spend). With global responsibility, Brian has been traveling in Latin America, Europe and Asia — most recently visiting Ireland for a two-week trip, with wife Jackie and the kids (Gabrielle, 12, and Jack, 8) joining him for a family vacation. The Bancroft family has relocated to Michigan. We wish you all congratulations and good luck in the new house!

Nurzhan Kapparov returned to his homeland of Kazakhstan, after working and studying internationally in America (five years) and Russia (three and a half years). Now living in Astana, Nurzhan has moved into a new career direction and is an adviser to the head of the agency at the Kazakhstan government organization focused on fighting economic and corporate corruption (financial police). EMP-56 wishes you a wonderful welcome home and the best of success in this new position!

Keeping in touch has gotten easier for EMP-56ers who have connected on LinkedIn. We have 49 members in the Kellogg EMP-56 group. While this is encouraging, I’m looking for 100 percent participation. If you haven’t joined yet, check it out and keep us up to date on your news in real time. Go Wildcats!

Second from left: Shumin Wang, David Sulfridge and Ping Yu, all EMP-56, attend the Chicago alumni event in September in Shanghai