Sarah Crewe ’90 racing at the Ironman Conzumel, winning in her age group

1990

Rep: Charlie Frankel
2052 N. Lincoln Park West, #614
Chicago, IL 60614
charlief2@gmail.com

Hello Classmates, I owe you all an apology for not submitting any class notes since the reunion. It would help if you wrote to me with any news as well. A few of you have sent news and this column will exhaust my supply, so please do write with updates for our future class notes.

The first "old" note that I have to share is from Hiroshi Sone who wrote to us just before the reunion. You may have chatted with Hiroshi at the event but if you missed him, here is some news that he shared: "Hello Kellogg buddies from Tokyo, Japan. Some of my school's graduates who work as English speaking tour guides uploaded a video message on YouTube, which was recorded in a park in Tokyo a few days ago. See youtube.com/watch?v=DC4pG1vp1Ys&feature=share.

"After the earthquake disaster, the whole Japanese tourism industry has been suffering a lot due to unnecessary and incorrect concerns and fears resulting in massive tour cancellations. But the affected areas in Fukushima are very limited and almost all the tourism spots throughout Japan, including Tokyo and Kyoto, are safe and peaceful. I just wanted to let you know the reality here in Japan."

Marie-Pierre Barbieri wrote early last year: "You must be quite busy, or our classmates have not been sharing any news, because your column has been so short! Well, I've got a piece of news for you: we moved to Wilmington, Del., in August. Actually, my husband has been living in our rented house since January. He was transferred to Du Pont head offices as he was back in 1999. Did you know that the Du Pont CEO is a Kellogg alum and a woman? I feel so proud of her for this extraordinary achievement in such a tough industry! Can't wait to come to another Reunion!"

DeDe (O'Neil) McKinnon and Alex McKinnon are enjoying living in Aliso Viejo, Calif. as well as traveling as often as schedules permit. They write: "Recent trips include a quick weekend in Chicago where we caught up with classmates Deanne (Semerdjian) Roggekamp and Ruud Roggekamp, the Isle of Skye in Scotland, Budapest and family visits to Ohio and North Carolina. DeDe continues to enjoy her risk management team leader role at Wells Fargo. Alex resigned from his CMO role at Hampton Products earlier this summer to focus on finding, investing and running a consumer products company located in Orange County and is excited about the prospects. Both of us remain active in supporting the community including Alex joining the Pacific Symphony's board of directors. Both of us have been more involved in helping Mission Hospital. We also see fellow classmates Tanja (Herrera) Cebula and John Kennedy regularly."

Around the same time, Lucy Cimino and David Fishbaum shared the sad and tragic news that after a two-year battle with cancer, our classmate Marcus Scott's wife Karen passed away. Marcus held a memorial service in Carlsbad to celebrate her life and requested that in lieu of flowers donations could be made to UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.

In December, we heard from Steve Dillingham: "After nine years, I put my consulting company, Strategro International, on hiatus this past summer, and took a full-time position in the U.S. working for a Norwegian manufacturer of omega-3 fish oil, which markets their omega-3 oil products to manufacturers of dietary supplements (B2B). I am the general manager of GC Rieber Oils, Inc., and am charged with leading the growth of the business (and company) in North America. Since much of my prior work as a consultant was focused within the health and wellness area, with a particular personal passion for marine biotech/marine ingredients, being involved now in a fish oil business is very much within my sweet spot.

"I continue to keep a growing international network of similar interested colleagues connected and engaged in opportunities within the marine biotech/marine products and ingredients field through my Aquapreneur.com blog and related LinkedIn group, providing companies, investors, R&D and entrepreneurs updated on business opportunities and developments as diverse as new marine-derived functional ingredients for use in nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, drug development and new marine biotechnologies applicable for marine biomass and extracts for use in generating bioenergy, green chemicals, and other earth-friendly industrial uses. I am still based on northern New Jersey, and invite any Kellogg colleagues who are in the vicinity to drop me a line."

Sarah Crewe writes: "After taking many years off from racing, I came back this year with numerous wins, including winning Ironman Cozumel on Nov. 27 in my age group, which qualified me for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii in October. Hung up my banking career for one in fitness instruction and education and have never been happier. Since my income has dropped substantially with my career change, I am seeking a bike sponsor, as my bike is quite outdated and sub-par for World Championship racing. Should any of my fellow alumni have connections I certainly would appreciate the help! I can be reached at sarah.crewe@gmail.com."

Thank you to Hiroshi, Marie-Pierre, Alex, Dede, Steve and Sarah. And Marcus, we are all so sorry for your loss. We all will keep you and your family in our thoughts and prayers.

In December, I had dinner with Rick Friedman at my home. He was in Chicago bidding on a new project with ComEd and his company won the business. He was back again recently and he had drinks with Kathy Monahan. I also recently saw Kathy for lunch. In his spare time since the reunion Rick and Annette (Achermann) built a new home and have moved in. The photos look great. Kathy is busy with a number of local nonprofits including the American Blues Theatre and the Parker School (her son attends the Parker School).

Again, I apologize for the lack of contact. I have been busy with my family and busy with work. The economic climate has been a challenge for the past several years and I've been working extra hard to keep my business growing. However, I must admit that I've been spending every free moment that I have with my son. Many of you have children that are in high school or college but I like a few of our classmates such as Dean Dussias, Craig Marino and, I think, Bill Driscoll, are all new fathers. My son keeps a big smile on my face. I'm reading a book on fatherhood and it, along with the sad news from Marcus, has given me a renewed sense of how important it is for us to cherish every moment we have with our loved ones and to count our blessings.

I'm not sure if I wrote about how great the reunion was but it was a very special weekend and thanks to everyone who participated and those who planned the weekend. If you didn't attend, please do try to come next time. I guarantee that you'll find that the trip was well worth it and you'll leave with a big smile on your face. Take good care everyone and please do drop some news!

Alex McKinnon, DeDe (O'Neil ) McKinnon, Deanne (Semerdjian) Roggekamp and Ruud Roggekamp, all ’90 caught up in Chicago

Charlie Frankel ’90 with son