1992

	Rafael Coven ’92 and family Mark “The McKech” McKechnie ’92 and his beautiful twin daughters at Mark’s San Rafael, Calif., home. Rafael comments, “We had some nice hikes and as you can see, McKech and I have invested in a ‘new’ maritime venture.”

John Fanning’s first-ever post: “For my summer ‘vacations,’ I run around with 150 Oakland, Calif., public middle and high school kids at the small nonprofit I now run. Small means our annual budget is smaller than most new Kellogg graduates starting salaries. I didn’t mean to take the phrase ‘nonprofit’ so literally, but so it goes. Kellogg taught me how. I live in Oakland and would love to hear from classmates if they’re out this way. I look forward to our 20th reunion in May and connecting with my 4Q pals. I love the NYC pre-party idea (I think they called it a ‘reunion warm-up’ — very grown up), so does anyone want to help me plan one here?”

Gary Dvorchak reports that he has been married for 20 years to the same woman, no less! He and Kellie got married between first and second year back in September 1991. For their anniversary, they relived their honeymoon and went back to France for a week, sans enfants.

Isvaldo Perez Jr. joined the Dallas office of Spencer Stuart as a consultant in the firm’s consumer goods and services, and marketing officer practices. He will recruit senior-level executives for clients in the consumer packaged goods, consumer durables and retail industries. Isvaldo also will focus primarily on general management and strategic functional roles in sales, marketing and supply chain.

Another 20-year first timer, Leo Hermacinski finally reports: “I quit my position as partner at The Parthenon Group after 16 great years. Once I got the overwhelming feeling of ‘been there, done that’ in the consulting world, it was all too apparent that I needed a change or perhaps a midlife crisis or just simple madness. I will miss those recruiting visits to Evanston, though.

“I’ll take a few months to recharge and then look for a ‘real’ job, as my clients always say. My wife, Beatrice, is pushing to get me out of the house ASAP and since she works three days a week, she does have the moral high ground. While at Parthenon, I led the technology and industrials practices so those are the natural hunting grounds for my forthcoming job search. Meanwhile, I oversee the homework of our children Max, Alexandra, and Anna (10th, 8th and 5th grades).

“Lots of cycling happening this year. The biggest ride was a successful Harpoon B2B ‘Brewery to Brewery’ ride this June, a one-day, 148-mile ride from Harpoon’s Boston brewery to its one in Vermont.”

Rebecca and Bob Wise are proud to say that their son is now a senior at Northwestern.

Barry Fougere is now CEO of Big Belly Solar, a maker of solar-powered trash compacters.

Ellen Grove Purdy left SDI when it was sold to IMS Health, and became CFO of Kleiner Perkins-backed clean tech company Renmatix. Renmatix is the lowest cost producer of cellulosic sugar, which enables the economic, large-scale production of chemicals and fuels from biomass instead of conventional fossil fuels. Ellen writes: “We moved our headquarters from suburban Atlanta to Philadelphia (King of Prussia) where I’ve been since 1992. Steve and I have a son (15) who enjoys playing baseball for his school and we all love the Phillies. Can’t wait to see everyone at the reunion! I’m also on the board of Riff Coven’s company, PaceControls, an energy-efficiency technology company in Philly at the Navy Yard Clean Energy Campus.”

Andy and Lana Slavitt celebrated their son’s Bar Mitzvah last spring with many Kellogg alumni in attendance.

Sharon Flanagan and family are still in Evanston in the shadow of the stadium and look forward to seeing folks in April. Sharon writes: “Having escaped McKinsey a few years back, I am the chief strategy officer for TreeHouse Foods, a $2B private label food manufacturer headquartered in Oakbrook. Lots of fun as we execute a rollup of private label. Fortunately or unfortunately, the recession has been a boon for us.”

Update from Chongqing, China: George Thornton and family moved from Oakville, Ontario, to Chongqing, China, to manage the launch of Ford’s product blitz in China. What was once an ancient citadel, is now a booming manufacturing and high-tech provincial megalopolis with more than 29 million people. George comments, “Debra, Graziela and Gillian are adjusting to a very different type of lifestyle, but enjoying it. Drop us a line if you’re passing through.”

In Charlotteville, Va., Kevin Sidders finally ditched the I-banking for good and started his own venture called VinConnect. Kevin comments: “We work with top European wineries to enable them to sell their wines direct to customers in the U.S. (just like the high-end Napa wineries do). The business was formed in January and launched formally Sept. 20. Any Kellogg grads who have an interest in buying worldclass European wines direct from the source ought to check out vinconnect.com and sign up. It’s simple and free. Had I known I’d end up here, I’d have paid a lot more attention in marketing. Any Kelloggians who wish to share their expertise (in barter) can find me at ksidders@vinconnect.com.”

Steven Elms, a managing partner at private equity firm Aisling Capital, has joined the board of publicly traded pharmaceutical company Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc. Penix Therapeutics is focused on the sales, marketing and development of branded and generic drugs primarily for the pediatric market.

Yours truly and family visited Mark “The McKech” McKechnie and his beautiful twin daughters at Mark’s San Rafael, Calif., home. Mark runs a tech I-banking group at Think Equity in San Francisco.