EMP-39

EMP-39 alums Tony Urlakis, Tim Wulf, Bob Kim and JIm Breen enjoy a dinner party in August.

A large amount of activity and communication occurred among EMP-39 classmates this summer, due mostly to the efforts of John Erickson. John’s exciting summer included successful eye surgery and an appearance on “Who wants to be a Millionaire,” where he just missed the hot seat. John passed the four-year mark in Denver, where he enjoys living the good life skiing with his wife and two daughters. John claims it will be at least four years before the girls outdo him on the slopes (time will tell). Two company buyouts and a significant reorganization in the last four years have challenged John, but he sees progress in the transition.

Barry Cooper is facing similar challenges in St Louis. Barry writes, “My company was acquired by MetLife during January 2000. I’ve spent the last 18 months devising and implementing a plan to integrate all of my responsibilities into MetLife (controllers, banking, treasury, accounts payable, payroll and purchasing). This is the classic thing in an acquisition where the corporate functions from the acquired company get eliminated. I’m just about done with this project and have only four people left (from the 106 that were on the team). If any of you have been through this, it is a difficult thing to disassemble the team you have built. If you haven’t been through it and encounter it at some point, my advice is leave sooner rather than later in the transition (I knew I missed something while I was napping on those Friday afternoons)!”

Despite offers to stay within Met and move to the East Coast, Barry and his family have decided to stay in St. Louis. In unison once again with his back-row brother John Erickson, Barry had lasiks surgery back in January is pleased with the results. “After wearing contact/glasses for 30 years it has been really nice to be without them!” If fellow EMP-39’ers plan to be in the St. Louis area, give Barry a call at 314.849.2345.

Stephanie Pincus is working in Washington, D.C., and has greatly expanded her impact on the education of health care professionals. She writes, “My scope of responsibility includes supervision of education of all trainees in the VA, which is about 8,660 physicians and about 90,000 individuals each year. I’ve had the opportunity to put in place some new programs that focus on interdisciplinary teamwork in developing new ways of providing care. Our most notable program is rolling out the next academic year and will develop experts in end-of-life care (palliative care). My office is now struggling with major policy decisions regarding specialty and primary care training.

“I continue the commuting tradition which I started at Kellogg, and every Monday I fly to D.C. for the week. I had dinner with Bob Farrar recently who is commuting to D.C. from Cleveland, and working with a health-care consulting company which manages clinics. We literally meet crossing a shortcut dirt parking lot on a way to a meeting! Tomorrow I’ll be having dinner in Chicago with Darlene Steffen. If you plan to be in D.C. give me a call at 202.273.8946 or cell 716.570.5986”.

Bob Driscoll is busy converting to a new software system and implementing a $7 million automatic storage system at work. A father again, his youngest just turned one-year old. As the operations manager, Bob continues to fight thought the steel industry recession. How dare I use the “R” word? Look at it from Bob’s perspective, where “13 domestic mills (our suppliers) have closed in the last eight months.”

Ravi Ravichandran is as active as ever. He writes, “My company has grown quite a bit since the Kellogg days. We were ranked 110th, 161st place in the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. by Inc. Magazine in 1999 and 2000 respectively. For the year 2000, we were ranked as the 4th fastest-growing hi-tech company in the Chicago area and as the 320th fastest growing Hi-tech company in the U.S. and Canada by D&T. We were listed in Forbes magazine by D&T, and we came in just three numbers below AOL.

“On a personal note, I was given the “Entrepreneurial Success Award for 2000” by Illinois Governor Ryan, and was inducted into the “Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame” in February. Life is exciting with my two-year-old and all the growth. I certainly miss the Kellogg days, though”.

Carol Blaine is alive and well in Columbus. She wrote in June that for her company “growth is coming and looks like we’ll make our targets if the second half of the year continues as strong as the first.” Carol, I hope your second half has been better than mine.

Another EMP-39 alumnus who is prospering though good times and bad is Cheryl Duda. She writes, “I’m doing my own thing, working with emerging software and service companies in marketing/brand/product strategy. After being a vice president of marketing in two successful start-ups, I joined another one last year that was an absolute crash and burn. I got lured into it because it was a supply chain company in golf, so my love for the sport obscured my better judgment. Anyway, I’m working on the consulting side now and working mostly through VCs and a popular incubator here called STARTech. If any of you guys need my help, just call. If anyone passes through Dallas, just give me a buzz. Home number is 972.624.1125 and my cell number is 917.520.9250.”

Richard Lunde is enjoying life on the East Coast. He welcomed a new addition to the family this year, a daughter to go with his son Andrew, so Dick and Sue are as active as ever. Dick’s new passions are bike riding with Sue and offering case example suggestions to Kellogg Professors. Might we see Professor Lunde in the next Kellogg World?

Erick Opsahl has decided to fight global warming using reverse psychology. “After suffering through 10 winters in Wisconsin, Kim and I decided to head south and I took a job with Kimberly-Clark (the people who bring you Kleenex and Huggies) in Atlanta about a year ago. We love living in Atlanta and I am taking full advantage of the year-round golf season. The family unit now numbers four with the addition of a baby boy last summer, so it’s been a busy (and enjoyable) year with a new job, new home and new baby.”

Andy Kuchen chimed into the cascade of e-mails with the following update. “The Kuchan family is doing great. Since old Monsanto’s merger (early 2000) and subsequent partial IPO of the Ag business (October 2000), I have been the IR person for Monsanto (the Ag business) and having a blast. I can have a blast when the stock price moves from $20 to $35 in eight months. Since February, I have been training my replacement in IR. That could continue for the next six months at which point I will move on — to what, is the question.

“Meanwhile, Kim and the kids (still two of them and holding) are doing great. This summer we visited Paris, Geneva and Berlin for two weeks. Everyone was pretty excited about that. I, for one, could not imagine two weeks off work with no computer.”

Dennis Blyly just keeps getting better. He writes, “My kids are 5,7 and 9, and Caron and I moved out of the metropolis of Middlebury, Ind., to a more sedate location on 10 acres of land about three miles from our old place. While the house needs plenty of improvements, we’re having a blast (pool, dirt bikes, go-carts). Business has been terrific. Now that some element of rationality has returned to the markets, we suddenly appear to have a brain again!”

Darlene Steffen is on the move. “Ironically, I transferred to Chicago within months of graduating from Kellogg. It’s a parts distribution start-up, coupled with an acquisition. It’s called ValuePart and is 80 percent owned by JD. After taking some risks and making lots of mistakes, ValuePart’s actually profitable now. Unlike VCs, we tend to have more patience with our start-ups achieving results. Now that business is a bit stable, the pressure’s on to raise EBIT. My family and I transferred to Moline to a more stable and so far enjoyable position in the information systems division. We expect the number of visitors to come to a screeching halt. If any of you visit Moline or John Deere, I’d love to see you. Our number is 309.765.3383.”

Chris Storm returned from another world-tour to write, “I left the for-profit world two years ago to become board chairman and CEO of Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch. This is a 62-year old childcare organization that provides basic residential childcare to about 350 boys and girls ranging in age from 2 years to 19 years. We have three campuses in the Texas Panhandle and an endowment of over $400 million.” Chris’s wife Grite has spent the last couple years developing an import business. She imports Belgian lace, Belgian chocolate, and French shaving items. It’s been a lot of work, a lot of fun, and is beginning to be profitable.”

Joyce Milner is still drying out from Tropical Storm Allison, which turned downtown Houston into a huge lake but left her house undamaged. She writes, “I took a new assignment in February in Shell Chemicals as global planning manager. It keeps me busy, but has been fun so far. I’ll be traveling to London every two months, which is just about the right amount. I’m glad to have a job I enjoy, as I think I’ll be working for the next 25 years (having been neither lucky nor smart with the performance of my retirement funds last year).”

Joyce’s family is doing well. “My daughter just graduated from high school, and will be going to Texas A&M this fall. She and I are leaving soon for Grand Cayman, which is her graduation gift from us (yep, I drew the lucky straw). My boys are great, involved in sports and everyone is healthy now. (I spent much of last year caring for my older son, who contracted a bizarre and life-threatening illness, but he is back to 100 percent, has grown five inches, and hospitals are finally a fading memory.)”

Great news from the West Coast. Anne Marie MacPherson has been promoted to vice president of marketing and development for Goodwill in Seattle. She has some very significant personal news to share, but Kellogg World rules prohibit disclosure until after Oct. 27! Anne is asking EMP-39 classmates to come see her in Seattle on Nov. 17. Her direct line at work is 206.860.5716.”

Chris Mapes writes from his home in Fort Wayne, “With the implosion of the dot-com phenomenon, the electrical industry seems more ‘sexy.’ I am continuing to enjoy my position with Superior Telecom, and we opened a $50 million facility in Mexico this past year. It was an excellent time to bring new capacity into a sinking economy. Maybe Andy Kuchen could give me some advice for the investment community? (No, I would call Martha Schlicher).” His children Jerilyn, Olivia and Jack are all doing fantastic.

Terry Myers is another EMP-39’er who is very active. “The Myers & Hill management education and consulting business is doing well. Partner Hill left two years ago. There’s lots of travel; right now I’m working with factories in Indiana, Wisconsin, and Iowa (have gun, will travel). Business keeps growing in spite of the economy...likely to add people in the next few months. Am doing adjunct professorial work one evening a week at Drake University teaching management strategy to graduating seniors. I’m also writing a monthly column in Software Strategies Magazine.”

In August, Bob Kim and his wife Helen hosted a dinner party for several EMP-39 alumni. It was a great evening of conversation and celebration, where we found out that Jim Brenn is still a golf addict and wife Deb is a golf widow. Tony Urlakis has expanded his interests to include painting. His wife Diane says he is quite good! Tony admitted he is a compulsive pack rat, and this habit will pay off in spades when he sells his mint condition 1950s era Schwinn bike (now worth close to $5K). It was good to see Tony in great health after his mild heart attack. Bob has been a traveling man, with vacation trips to Fiji and New Zealand. Thanks again to Bob and Helen for sharing their beautiful home.