1998
Rep: Melanie (Brownrout) Honnor
38 Faroe Road
London, UK
W14 0EP
melanie@honnor.com
Sari and Blake McConnell had a baby girl on Dec. 2. Sari writes, "Her name is Dahlia Houston McConnell. Our sons Jacob (8) and Ellis (5) are crazy about her. And yes, three is more than two, but our boys have been very helpful helpers. We bought a new house in Burlingame around the corner from Marni and Andy Fligel '00. And Ellis's winter soccer team is coached by Hunter Middleton. We run into Kellogg folk all the time which is pretty cool. If there are any NU undergrads going to the 20th reunion in Evanston this fall, I will be there, too. Workwise, I'm still on the tail end of my maternity leave running Conformer Products. And Blake just got a nice promotion to vice president at Symantec. So if you get a virus on your computer give him a call. He loves that."
After 12 years running the product organization at OpenTable, Mike Xenakis is moving to London in June to run its European business. (Class Notes '98 Ed. Note: "Yay!")
Rick Morello writes: "This might be my first contribution to notes, although I believe Mark Taber occasionally will add his own comical commentary about something I did (or didn't do). However, I do have some news that might be worth sharing. After spending 12 years in Boston, getting married, and working in various healthcare technology ventures, we are on our way to Atlanta where I will be CEO of Plasma Surgical, a company that markets an innovative cutting and coagulation device (PlasmaJet) for a variety of surgical procedures. The company received FDA clearance for PlasmaJet a few years ago and is now focused on commercial scale-up. D'lynne and I will thoroughly miss Boston (and the Tabers of course) but hope to return in the future. Any signs of Kellogg alumni in Atlanta?"
David Smith writes, "I finished my young adult action adventure novel, The Dark Eagles - First Flight, and had my first book signing on Feb. 25 in Carpinteria, Calif. More signings to follow. Our Facebook Fan Page is The Dark Eagles."
Andrea Barsotti sends in this update: "Well, the news for our Kelloggians is that after exactly 25 years wandering around the world (Milan, Evanston, Bangkok, London, Barcelona, Rome, Warsaw, Cagliari), I finally returned to live in my hometown Florence, Italy! It feels great to live again in the home where I grew up -- a huge flat that is part of a 15th century villa overlooking the marvelous city of Florence. There is plenty of room so all friends from Kellogg are welcome to stop by!"
Beth Gertz continues to leverage her Kellogg and strategy consulting skills to foster innovation in international development. She moved to London in 2010 to oversee child health and nutrition programs in Africa and India for one of Europe's largest private philanthropic foundations, The Children's Investment Fund Foundation.