1983
Dear
Classmates:
I
am happy to report that the search for my Kellogg World replacement
on this column is over ... and it is me!
Yes,
I have beaten the reality-show blues by maintaining a position
that keeps me in the best reality, in touch with my coveted
classmates from the distinguished Class of 1983. You'll read
more about reality from our own reality czar, Mark Mitten.
Mark gets to relive "The Apprentice" each season
— Bill Rancic, eat your heart out.
And,
speaking of classmates, I will point out later in this column
that we were — as you will read from Vicky Jones — the first Kellogg School class to use computers
in the classroom. I bring this up because this column is our
best ever (in more than 26 years) because of the magic of
the Internet and Kellogg email address listservs. Thank you,
all.
Great
stuff here. Most comprehensive column ever, with some people
bringing us fully up-to-date since graduation. Fun to be back
in touch with all of you. Long live the Class of '83!
I'll
start with me: After 20 years in the cable television business
(MTV) and the Internet before it was fashionable (with companies
like Prodigy, Sony, Disney and AOL — I should have written
the book), I joined two advertising veterans, Martin Puris
and John Bernbach, to help marketers understand and utilize
the new world of media and communications. We started an integrated
media and marketing company called Not Traditional Media.
We have a network of 30 best-of-breed companies ranging from
Internet, wireless, place-based, events and branded content,
which we represent and package directly for clients such as
AllState, American Express, Kmart, Procter and Universal Pictures,
to name a few. It's a new model, a new industry and a new
company. I have been fortunate to run into many Kellogg School
grads along the way.
In
fact, one of the most recent Kellogg run-ins was with Renee Dunn,
now global marketing human resources director at Procter &
Gamble, who lit up the room with "Hey, you're the Kellogg
column guy." Never heard that one before. Now onward
to the Class of '83.
Tom
Williamsen writes: "I
am married, with seven kids, living in Salt Lake City. President
of the Chasebrook Co., a commercial real estate development
firm. I hope to stay in shape and die healthy. The plan is
to ski, bicycle, hike and climb as much as possible. Oh yeah
— and still go to work."
Nancy
Chou started off the
new year by accepting an exciting position as the SVP of marketing
at a secure messaging platform company called Sigaba, headquartered
in San Mateo, Calif. She says, "I had a chance to work
with a fellow Kellogg alum, Paul Nikcevic '97, who is Sigaba's
VP of business development." In addition, Nancy was invited
back for the third year to teach a marketing course she developed
called "Sales-Focused Marketing in High Tech" at
Stanford University's continuing studies program.
Richard
Sincere writes that Sincere & Co. LLC was founded in 1997
and has grown to 13 employees with its corporate office in
Boston. "Our marketing financial services firm uses participatory
management as its foundation," he writes, "thanks
to the good learning at Kellogg. My wife Deb and son Alex
are enjoying our getaway home in Jackson, N.H., where we spend
considerable time skiing, camping and hiking."
Amy
Hugins, Kathy Lynn-Cullotta,
Claire Goulding and
Brenda Kelly were some of those who attended Judy Rappaport
Maloney's 50th birthday
bash the weekend of Feb. 4-6 in Sedona, Ariz.
Barbara
Mitchell's latest adventures
in employment took her to Mauritius, Egypt and Bahrain this
past year. She's planning a visit to meet her new niece in
Panama in 2005 and to see her seven brothers and sisters there.
In an effort to keep up with the younger generation, she finished
a master's degree in computer systems at night school and
is now wondering what to do with all of her spare time.
Joel
Tillinghast is still
managing the Fidelity Low-Priced Stock Fund.
Karen
Wilson Wiese says that since leaving American Airlines nearly 10
years ago, she has been fully engaged as a mother of three
(Kendra, 14, Kevin, 12, and Allen, 7), and a volunteer at
schools, Girl Scouts and church. "The work is challenging
and varied and the pay is nil," she says, "but I
receive many unexpected bonuses and expect a very satisfactory
return on investment."
Rick
Drake writes that, "with
the exception of one year in Cleveland about 10 years ago,
I have been in the investment management industry in Chicago
since we graduated. I am currently co-manager of the ABN AMRO
Growth Fund and director of equity research for ABN AMRO Asset
Management in Chicago. Marketing my fund has given me the
opportunity to make many appearances on CNBC, Bloomberg TV
and Radio, and even a short appearance on 'NBC Nightly News,'
as well as being mentioned in a feature article in Barron's
in May 2004. Traveling to do marketing or to visit clients
allows me to travel all over the country and occasionally
to Europe, but it is always great to come home to my family
in Wilmette. I've been married to Margaret for 14 years and
we have three children, Jack, 11, Caroline, 8, and Patrick,
5."
Michael
Scheinberg continues to practice real estate law as a partner
with Pircher, Nichols & Meeks in Los Angeles and serves
as chairman of the Moriah Society, a group of men and women
in the Southern California real estate and building industries
supporting the University of Judaism scholarship fund. Michael
and Carole Scheinberg have two children, Stephen, 11, and
Mila, 9, who attend Le Lycee Francais de Los Angeles. The
family enjoys skiing, tennis and camping.
Rich
Pilnik writes that "since
Kellogg, my formula has been to marry Liz, have three kids
— Tony, 18, and twins Matthew and Alex, 16 — move
around six countries and get the hang of doing business in
the international world of pharmaceuticals. Currently managing
Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia out of the London European
headquarters of Eli Lilly and Co. We still stay in touch with
that rather rambunctious multinational crew and look forward
to the next reunion."
Ned
Jessen tells us that
his daughter Margaret is about to graduate from the University
of Virginia; his son Parlin is heading off to Dickinson College
as a freshman; his daughter Paula is on her way to becoming
an eighth-grader at Forest Bluff Montessori School (Ned's
wife Lynn was a co-founder of the school in 1982); his four
teacup poodles are driving him crazy; and he's enjoying his
activities in the private equity investment business (and
was a co-founder of Career Education Corp. in 1994). Ned and
Lynn just returned from Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where they
enjoyed the company of fellow Kellogg graduates Cindy and
Mark Fuller,
and Sam '82 and Becky Howe '82.
Korak Mitra has spent the 26
years since Kellogg (26 years?) in high tech, and currently
works as the SVP for Carrier Group for Intellisync Corp.,
which makes software that enables users to get their office
in their mobile phone/PDA. Korak and Jill just celebrated
their 23rd wedding anniversary, and their daughter Tina is
now a junior at Princeton. You can reach Korak at korakmitra@yahoo.com.
Bob Murray lives
in Princeton, N.J., and works in nearby Plainsboro for Merrill
Lynch Investment Managers, where he runs several high-yield
corporate bond funds. "I have been with the firm for
nearly 16 years," he says, "and in my spare time
I play a lot of mediocre squash and golf. Other than Michael Beaumont, whom I saw at our reunion, I have not
kept up with classmates. I have been to a few of the KACNJ
events."
Mark Raffles writes: "Since
I was mostly in the night program, I haven't felt as compelled
to contribute to Kellogg World as day students
probably do. However, Scott Schiller's diligent efforts over the years
deserve a response. After leaving Kellogg I sold bonds for
Salomon Brothers, then UBS. In 1999 I left the dark side and
managed mutual fund portfolios at Scudder Kemper until the
Deutsche Bank merger, when I joined a small money-management
firm. I left there in May 2004 and am seeking an interesting
challenge for my life's second act. I remain a stalwart Wildcat
football fan and season ticket-holder. You can reach me at
raffam@comcast.net."
Charles
Zent has some interesting
news: "I'm pretty sure Tom Swann and I win by a mile our class' Ball and Chain Award,
as we continue to work side by side at First Analysis doing
our best not to bury our institutional clients with poor stock
recommendations. (We've worked together here 12 years, after
more than five years at the Alcar Group.) I also continue
to live just a few miles from Kellogg, although I really shook
things up two years ago and bought a house
about six blocks away. That move put me in Kenilworth, a community
that some residents believe is currently 'fighting for its
soul' as a result of the growing popularity of tear-downs.
So far, I have been able to avoid getting caught up in this
political tempest. Life is basically good, albeit for occasional
anxiety pangs associated with the prospect of my 15-year-old
daughter getting her driver's license and the realization
that she will soon be applying to college. Really seems only
yesterday that I was graduating from B-school. It sure goes
by fast."
Claire Brown writes that, "After
living in Japan, Australia and Hong Kong for more 10 years,
I moved to Greenwich, Conn., six years ago with IBM."
She is now a member of the IBM strategy team focused on the
healthcare and life sciences industry and says she sees Mark
Mitten often and "had the pleasure of having Tod Francis for dinner a couple of months ago."
Therese
Rowley says that, "Having
gotten married for the first time a year ago to Tom Mathews,
we are excited to be going to China in May to pick up our
new adopted daughter. My business continues in its rich diversity:
teaching and consulting in leadership and change; having an
international practice as an intuitive/healer and now executive-producing
a documentary on the misdiagnosis of gifted children. My work
focus is moving toward research and thought leadership on
alternatives to drugging children who learn differently."
Mark
Mitten says, "Up until February, I was a partner in the
Chicago office of McKinsey & Co., where I was one of the
leaders of its North American marketing practice. I developed
business strategies with a focus on driving growth for CEOs
of leading consumer package goods, retail and media clients.
I left McKinsey a year ago to join Mark Burnett Productions
as a producer for seasons two and three of NBC TV's hit show
'The Apprentice.' It is important to note that Claire Brown
and her family have been integral to my success at 'The Apprentice.'
Part of my role has been to oversee the finales for each season.
In Season 2, it was the Greenwich Polo Club. Claire, her husband
and two sons, Patrick (my godson) and Alexander, attended
the polo match to have fun and provide support. They became
my 'good luck charms' and came back for the Season 3 finale."
Jim Waszak is the founder and
president of Success Enhancement Inc., a business-development
firm with the mission of finding customers for clients. Jim
says he is "widely known as a master networker"
and happily shares contacts with those whom he encounters.
Susan
Henken-Thielen reports: "I am still in Minneapolis and am the
director of marketing at a medical device company, Compex
Technologies, in charge of Slendertone toning products, a
product from Ireland that we distribute in the States. They
use electro-muscle stimulation, a medical technology, for
firming and toning. We have a belt for the abdomen and shorts
for the bottom and thighs. They are cleared by the FDA and
really work. I am having fun and traveling around the world.
Jim and I have been married for 21 years. Dawn, 12, is an
active, social seventh-grader who loves art, music, dance
and gymnastics, and Evan is 9 years old, in fourth grade,
and has never met a sport he didn't like (wish the same could
be said for academic subjects!). I get to Northwestern at
least once a year as part of the Northwestern University Council
of 100. We come back to campus to mentor women students on
career choices and job skills development. A fun way to stay
involved."
Joan
Grant writes that, "Right
after graduation, my husband and I moved to San Francisco.
I am an attorney in San Francisco at the law firm Shartsis,
Friese & Ginsburg, where I am in a group that specializes
in investment advisers and hedge funds (an interesting business
right now). We have two children, Daniel, 15, and Sydney,
12, and live in San Mateo, a suburb about 15 miles south of
San Francisco. Daniel is driving now, so be forewarned if
you live in or expect to visit the Bay Area. I was at Kellogg
during the 1980-81 school year; from '81-'83 I took classes
at Northwestern's Chicago campus, while I finished at Northwestern
Law School. I would love to hear from anyone I knew from the
Class of 1982 or from EMP."
Lee
Gaston recently left
First Chicago/Bank One/JPMorgan Chase after 21 years in various
financial reporting roles, most recently with the private
equity/venture capital division. He says, "Three mergers
of equals was enough!" He plans on spending some months
enjoying time with his three kids, Eleanor, 14; Nathaniel,
12; and Genevieve, 7; and wife Lisa before venturing back
into the market later in '05. He wonders what's become of
Mike Boehm, Gretchen Reimel and Bill Warner.
Jay
Riley, gleeful
as always, says: "All's well and easy here at Camp Riley.
The kids are 20, 18 and 14, and the 'rents just keep getting
younger and better looking every sunny day. Thomson is at
Colorado (ski racing and poli sci, but mostly ski racing),
Will is a senior (basketball, mostly basketball) and Brittany,
the Renaissance Child, is in eighth grade in a couple different
schools, reading, ski racing, playing soccer, writing and
reading some more. Beth still peddles the pots and pans, and
I'm running what is now a Roche subsidiary here in tax-free
New Hampshire and traveling to beautiful Switzerland. I've
had some more cool mountain climbing and some good ice climbing,
and skied the Haute Route in the Alps with one of the 'boys'
last spring."
Kellogg
classmates report that they saw Jeff Sorenson on "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." He's
a brigadier general and was speaking about armoring vehicles
for Iraq.
After
graduation Rodrigo Etchenique spent
10 years with J&J in Brazil in marketing for the baby
products division. "After that wonderful experience,"
he says, "I joined the Whirlpool (home appliance) affiliate
in Brazil, were I spent another 10 years running different
businesses, including its international operations in Latin
America. Then, in 2000, after going through an advanced executive
program at Stanford University, I decided to open my own businesses.
When I came back to Brazil, I quit Whirlpool and started three
different companies, partnering with a couple of friends and
one of my brothers. Those companies are an advertising agency
called Synapsys (www.synapsys.com.br), where I am investing most of my time as president;
a company that provides satellite tracking products and services
for logistics and security purposes; and a distributor and
retailer of home appliances and electronics." Rodrigo
is quite a busy guy.
Jose
Pages developed with a partner the first subscription-based
DVD rental service of Argentina, named Cinencasa. Jose writes
of the venture: "The service model had to be adapted
to local conditions, the main being that couriers are either
expensive, not reliable or have insufficient coverage. Marketing
actions have targeted opinion leaders, press and clients of
service firms such as credit cards, mobile phones and ISPs
in order to attain early market dominance. This is my first
entrepreneurial venture and I am having lots of fun and excitement.
"My
daughter Gabriela is studying law and working part time for
the firm. My son Gonzalo is in high school and a heavy user
of Cinencasa. Betty is fine and continues working for the
Central Bank."
Carolyn
Spitz relates a dream come true: "Three years ago I
retired from the corporate world and am now pursuing a master's
degree in music education at Holy Names University in Oakland.
I am planning a (second) career in choral/vocal music and
education. My son Matt is a freshman at Stanford and daughter
Liesl is a sophomore in high school. My husband Stephen and
I have lived in San Francisco since 1983 and enjoy it."
Jeff
Cohen writes from Atlanta:
"We made the move 'down South' two years ago when I joined
CIBA Vision, a Novartis company, as vice president of marketing
for contact lenses and lens care products in the North America
region. I've spent the last nine years applying CPG marketing
to nontraditional industries (autos, appliances, contact lenses).
Bev and I will celebrate our 20th anniversary in September.
Our oldest son Joshua is 17 and is starting the college search
(even thinking about Northwestern), and Danny is 13 and will
celebrate his Bar Mitzvah in August." Jeff is active
in the Atlanta chapter of the Kellogg Alumni Club and enjoys
meeting many Kellogg alums there.
Brenda
Kelly reports that she vacationed in Yosemite for the first
time. She writes: "Al and I absolutely loved it and can't
wait to return. Looking forward to seeing a few Kellogg friends
in Sedona in February. We visited Judy Maloney and then skied
in Taos afterward with Kathy Lynn, Amy, Sari and Claire."
Send me the vacation report, everyone. "I'm working at
a software company focused on combating counterfeit pharmaceuticals
based in Cambridge," she adds. "I'd love Kellogg
classmates to contact me when they come to the Boston area,
even if it's last minute. It's great fun to catch up."
Leslie
Sutphen is on her eighth
year running her own strategy consulting firm in the listed
derivatives industry. She lives with husband Byron Lanning
and daughter Lydia, 4, in Oak Park, Ill.
Tim
Kern says he is covering
aviation for a number of publications: "Though it sounds
like a situation rife with opportunities for conflicts of
interest," he says, "I manage to keep the two areas
of my work — publicity and reporting — separate.
Since starting on my own a year ago (at age 52 — I should
know better), I've been published in AVweb.com, the Transponder
(in Anchorage), Pilot Getaways, Kitplanes, AV Safety and Plane
& Pilot. I've just finished a feature for Custom Planes/Private
Pilot, and I've signed up for two series of features. When
I covered the Reno Air Races (for both Kitplanes and AVweb),
I also served as a reporter for the Reno Gazette-Journal.
The other half of my business comes from writing press releases,
scripts and white papers for many in the industry, as well
as for former and present consulting clients. I also teach
economics, as I have for a dozen years (high school through
postgraduate). It's the only subject that explains everything,
while proving nothing. That's fun for me. No family, no kids;
parents are long departed and tenderly missed. I wouldn't
mind hearing from former Kellogg School (night) classmates."
Paula
Linder Meier says she is "still out in California doing some
high-tech consulting and volunteering at the kids' schools
and for their sports teams. Proud to see Kellogg is No. 1."
Vick
Mennon has been in life
sciences marketing since graduation, most recently at the
scientific instruments maker Thermo Electron. He's currently
enjoying an employment sabbatical (i.e., he was laid off)
and hopes to be back at work soon. He's lived the last 16
years in Cupertino, Calif., with his wife Denise and two boys,
ages 9 and 12.
Elliott
Sturman is living with
his wife Ann and sons Joshua, 11, and Daniel, 9, in Westlake
Village, just north of Los Angeles. He completed the design
and installation of a comprehensive daily employee performance
measurement and incentive system for Blue Cross of California
earlier this year. He is currently looking for an individual
or corporate partner who can help him upgrade the system's
software so it can support the performance of virtually any
service sector employee. He says you should contact him at
818.879.9591 or at esturman@sbcglobal.net if you know someone who might be
interested in helping with this "important and exciting
endeavor."
"Life
continues to treat my family well," says John Butler.
"Ann and I celebrated our 20th anniversary this year,
and we continue to enjoy lake living up in Cheeseland (that's
Wisconsin) with our faithful but whiny dog Buster. I have
joined forces with another Kellogg grad to create a manufacturing
company focused on a small-lot, high-mix, quick-turnaround
business — the stuff that won't be going to China. This
is a brave new world for me, but it is already invigorating
and rewarding."
Steven
Milunovich reports that he's been at Merrill Lynch seven years:
"It's now 21 years as a Wall Street analyst. Never did
make it back to the Midwest as originally planned. Living
in Connecticut with my wife, who went to Harvard (the Northwestern
of the East) and our three children. Met up with classmates
Art Greco and Dan Bumgardner for a terrific barbecue in fall."
Vicky
Jones says she is entering
year four of her marketing consulting practice and hasn't
lost her house yet. She says "My clients are mostly small
businesses that need help with positioning, and my work ranges
from market research to product development to marketing planning
to copy writing to rudimentary design. I lead marketing seminars
several times a year for the University of Wisconsin's Small
Business Development Center. The nonprofit part of my life
includes my ongoing involvement in theater, music and church;
I just completed a 10-week course in improvisation with my
boyfriend, am gearing up to organize another Madison folk
music festival and, as a lay minister for First Unitarian
Society, officiated nine weddings this year. It's amazing
to recall that in 1983 my brand group at Quaker was the first
to have computers at their desks. Mine used 8-inch floppy
disks and was considered to be the standard on which all computers
would be based: Xerox. Those of my classmates who remember
me as an oddball can be reassured by the knowledge that I
work on a Mac. Find me at vickyjones.com."
Ron
Farmer is CEO of Revenue
Technologies, a venture capital-backed software company based
in Atlanta, where he's lived since 1993 after being captive
in New York and New Jersey for 10 years after Kellogg. He's
been married to Julie for 14 years, and his kids are Sam,
12, and Laura, 10. When he's not working he's at one of his
kids' sporting events. He jokes that, "Most people who
know me now wonder how in the world I got into a school as
good as Kellogg." We remind him that was a quarter-century
ago!
"It
was a big year for me," says Bill Schrader. My wife Desiree and I celebrated our 25th wedding
anniversary and our son AJ graduated from high school and
is now off to University of California-Santa Barbara. It's
lonely around the house. The company I started, The Austin
Group, has been around now for five years. I'm in the real
estate development business, primarily in residential subdivisions."
He also develops retail shopping centers on occasion and is
proud of his "unique" mission statement: "If
it's more than an hour from my house, I'm not interested."
Arly
Guenther has been married
for the past 25 years, has three children and lives in Lake
Forest, Ill. He's been CEO of Arlington Computer Products,
a solution provider in the technology industry, for the last
20 years.
What
a group! What a class! Keep the news coming.
Scott |