EMP-37

	Professor Leigh Thompson, Bob Weeks EMP-37 and their kids, Sam, Anna and Ray, enjoy a wonderful summer day on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State.

Art Handman writes that his wife, Pam and son, John, are moving again...back to Sarasota, Fla.! Art was promoted to a new position as vice president of business development at Tropicana headquarters in Florida as a result of the PEPSICO/Quaker Oats Merger. He is the senior sales executive and chief customer officer onsite at Tropicana, and a member of the management committee. He reports to both the CEO of Tropicana, and to the SVP of their new shared sales organization (called Quaker Tropicana Gatorade Sales or QTG Sales) based in Chicago.

Art said “It looks like a challenging assignment, with a low boredom quotient. I get to work on strategic initiatives and head a team of talented people at Tropicana, while serving on the senior leadership team at QTG sales. I will also be in Chicago fairly frequently for meetings, so I can stay in better touch with everyone. Having worked for four months ‘under the tent’ of the merger integration effort, I can say that it was a fascinating experience. I will never see the word ‘merger’ in the newspaper again without thinking of the massive amount of planning and hard work that lies underneath these types of change management experiences.” Art’s e-mail address is: art.handman@tropicana.com.

Mark Booth will be joining Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America as executive vice president responsible for sales, marketing and business operations effective Oct. 1. Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America is based in Lincolnshire, Ill., and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takeda Chemical Industries, Ltd. Takeda is a global, research-based company with its main focus on pharmaceuticals. Mark and his family will be relocating to the Chicago area in the near future. Mark joins Takeda from Immunex, a Seattle-based biopharmaceutical company. At Immunex he served as the general manager and senior vice president, Commercial Operations. Mark’s e-mail address is boothm@immunex.com.

Dave Semple and his family returned to Chicago from Sydney, Australia, after four great years Down Under. Dave has started an assignment at GM’s Electro-Motive Division in La Grange. Sadly, Dave also reports that just a few days before leaving Australia, his family’s home in Woodridge, Ill., was destroyed by fire. The home was insured, but they face a long rebuilding project. Dave’s e-mail address is davidsemple@hotmail.com.

John Sturm was promoted to vice president of manufacturing of BMI worldwide including Berlin Germany and soon, China. John’s e-mail address is john.sturm@bmiinc.com.

Skip Spillone says he is now the CFO at Brook Furniture Rental, a privately held company in Lake Forest, Ill. Skip’s new e-mail address is LSS@bfr.com.

Tom Taber writes that his company changed its name to Pactiv Corporation (formerly Tenneco) in 1999 when they went public. His new title is director business development. He is responsible for strategic planning, acquisitions, joint ventures, etc. for a $1 billion portfolio within the corporation. He is also evaluating a possible assignment in Europe. Tom’s e-mail address is ttaber@pactiv.com.

Tom also mentioned that he’d like to get in touch again with some of his old classmates at another informal lunch or dinner. It has been awhile since we’ve done that, so I’ll send out an email soon to arrange another get-together. Does anyone have any ideas or want to volunteer to help make some arrangements?