Class Notes
1950s
1959-FT
Charles (Bob) Enever
After a 12-year career at Ford Motor Co. in finance, Bob moved to Steamboat Springs, Colo., where he made a career as a real estate developer. He semi-retired in 1983 as an investor in real estate and securities. In 1995, he launched a career by personally building the Yampa River Botanic Park in Steamboat Springs on land that he and his wife had donated to the city. He still works for the park, designing and building trails, an amphitheater and a stage. Now 92, he also hikes and bikes.
1960s
1963-FT
Chuck McConnell
Chuck continues as principal, executive managing director at Stewart, Cooper & Coon, executive placement and recruiting firm. He is author of Conquer Your Yips: Win the Employment You Target, which compares the stress of golf shots with the stress of search and interviewing. Chuck has been successful for the past 17 years with senior clients who are exploring new and improved employment.
1965-FT
Tom Cowley
Tom has served as director of the Doctor of Ministry program since 2007 at the Zinzendorf School of Doctoral Studies, Olivet University, Mill Valley. The Doctor of Ministry program currently serves nearly 150 candidates around the world and has awarded 93 degrees since 2007. Tom has lived with his wife, Karen, in Tiburon, Calif. for 40+ years.
1967-FT
Robert Spindell
Bob has been appointed commissioner to the Wisconsin Election Commission. The commission overseas all elections in Wisconsin and enforces all election laws. The election commission has made national news recently with the impending controversial court order to clean up the voter rolls by deactivating some 180,000 registrations with outdated or nonexistent addresses.
1968-FT
Peter Noonan
Dennis Goode ’68, Jack Pankratz ’68, John Pope ’68 and Pete, and their wives, celebrated the 51st anniversary of being roommates on the 14th floor of 900 N. Lakeshore Dr. They held their own reunion at the Old Edwards Inn in Highlands, N.C.
1970s
1970-FT
Robert Campbell
Robert became head coach of UCSD Speech and Debate and helped resurrect a nearly extinct program. Campbell teaches business courses for UCSD's Rady School of Management.
1974-FT
Anthony Carfang
Tony merged his company, Treasury Strategies, with Novantas, Inc. He has recently formed The Carfang Group for his ongoing writing, speaking and consulting in treasury management, payments and banking. He now splits his time between Evanston, Ill., and Naples, Fla., where he enjoys the many programs of Northwestern's Naples Alumni Club.1975-FT
John Bluford
John, founder and president of the Bluford Healthcare Leadership Institute (BHLI), received an Award of Honor from the American Hospital Association in 2019 for the BHLI's leadership in workforce development, diversity and health equity. The award is given to individuals or organizations in recognition of exemplary contributions to the health and well-being of our nation through leadership on major health policy or social initiatives. John is impacting health disparities by cultivating diverse healthcare executives.
1975-FT
James Curto
In October 2019, James celebrated the 20th anniversary of the founding of his company, The Birches Assisted Living, located in Clarendon Hills, Ill.1975-FT
Myron Karasik
Myron was presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who’s Who. 2019 marked his first full year of retirement. Myron still periodically presents sessions on NETPRIS on software engineering or business plan development. He is currently working on an economics treatise and resides in Israel with his wife, Miriyam.
1976-FT
Ellen (Watanabe) Huxtable
Ellen hosts the western Chicago suburban NU Connects gatherings with alumni friends from Kellogg and other schools, including spouse Robert (BS ’90) and newest alumnus, son Nathan (BA ’19).1976-E&W
James Nelli
Based in Southern California and enjoying his 12th year in retirement, Jim is traveling the world with his wife, Barb. He is learning about and exploring all the cultures he only had time to read about while working. His life is good.1977-FT
Don Fergusson
Don recently completed a spectacular luxury lodge villa, Falcon Brae, on the South Island of New Zealand, now open for exclusive use of up to 10 guests. Google Stonefly Lodge Villa. Don is retired president of RustOleum.
1978-FT
Jay Sloofman
Jay was a member of Team USA, which won the bronze medal in bridge at the 2019 Maccabi Games in Budapest. It was a terrific competition with an incredible result.
1979-FT
Phil Hayes
In 2019, Phil retired from Glaval Bus, for which he was general manager for 18 years. He grew the startup manufacturer from 30 employees to 275 based on a business strategy he learned at the 2004 Kellogg class reunion. Now he plans to bring his Kellogg skills to a new career as a deacon in the Catholic Church.
1980s
1980-FT
Daniel Belet
Daniel retired last summer as professor of general management and leadership at La Rochelle Business School (now part of EXCELIA Group). He is still active as the head of the French WIAL affiliate and devotes most of his time to promoting the WIAL action learning method and training coaches. He is living in the Bordeaux region with his family. He always follows Kellogg developments and achievements with great interest and is proud to be an alumnus.1980-E&W
Bill Colaianni
Bill and Sara Colaianni ’80 now live in Chapel Hill, N.C., near the University of North Carolina. Bill works with the UNC School of Medicine and Business School in implementing leadership training for UNC medical students. Bill says: “Of all that I learned at Kellogg and after, understanding organizational management has been the most critical.”1982-FT
Gwen Cohen
At a holiday gathering, Gwen and Susan Rosenstein ’79 chatted (they served together on the Kellogg Alumni Council). They reminisced about a full and exciting year traveling and spending time with their respective families. Gwen was privileged to present at a KEWN session on women and money last spring, and she received an Egretha Financial Empowerment Award in December. She will be traveling to Vietnam and China by spring. More to come.1982-FT
David Ing
David had a West Coast swing and lined up with some classmates. In Oregon, Ron Benton ’82 has been enjoying long summer hours as a wilderness ranger, keeping up with youngsters half his age in the U.S. Forest Service. Kim Jensen ’82 is still active in accounting, choosing clients who are fun to work with. In California, Craig Kensek ’82 remains active with both Kellogg and Stanford tech alumni events.
1982-FT
Craig Kensek
Craig has been doing mega posting on LinkedIn, averaging 3,000+ views per month. The local alumni group is great. He’s been seeking his next full-time gig (for way too long). Interviews/screens through Kellogg career site, zero. Zip. Disappointing. He helped put together a marketing pre-fresher event that took place just prior to RSA 2020 in March in SF. He is assisting a VPN startup. gotomarketdojo.com1982-E&W
John (Jack) MacDonald
Jack recently joined Charles Towne Holdings, an investment banking firm headquartered in Charleston, S.C. His focus is on the asset and wealth management industries, where he brings over 30 years of expertise. CTH offers capital markets, investment banking and strategic advisory services.1982-FT
Etsuko Nakajima
Last April Etsuko had lunch with Lilian Camio ’82 and her husband, Mike, in D.C. Then, in NYC she had lunch with Theresa Schnepf ’82 before attending her friend's wedding there. In November, she visited Honolulu for a class reunion of her Japanese junior high school. There, she had a drink with Steve Lee ’82 in the Kahala Hotel & Resort, which his architect father designed, and she met his wife, Laisin, at their house nearby.1983-E&W
Mark Burak
Mark served as interim director at the Honolulu Museum of Art throughout 2019 while the museum conducted a search for a new permanent director. He continues to serve on the board of trustees of the museum and as treasurer. He is also a director of the Bank of Hawaii and chairs the audit and risk committee.1983-FT
Jose Pages
Jose is president of Fundacion Itau Argentina. Last year he closed alliances with six provincial ministries of education for a high school literary story contest, resulting in 70 narrations soon to be published, among 1,100+ participants. Other cultural and educational activities also have great community involvement. Jose has two grandsons from his daughter, and a son, both with Betty.1983-FT
Karen (Wilson) Wiese
Widowed since 2016, Karen focuses on family, travel, church, choir and volunteerism. Travel included Portugal, Vietnam, Cambodia, Belgium, Cuba, Morocco, France, Southern civil rights sites and visiting family and friends (including Peter Bopp ’83 in New York and Anne Monfray ’82 in Paris). Karen teaches ESL to adults and serves on a board developing an urban teaching farm with programs for youth in a marginalized Dallas neighborhood.1984-FT
Curt Bergstrom
In 2007 Curt founded Sino Matters Ltd. in Beijing, China, to make it possible for foreign business leaders in China to speak Mandarin. Today they count Daimler, Volkswagen, Siemens, Volvo, Intel, Mars and many others as clients.1984-E&W
Michael Hugos
Michael is a co-founder of SCM Globe, a cloud-based provider of supply chain simulation applications. For the second year, he worked with students at the Indian School of Business, a Kellogg international alliance partner. They created a supply chain simulation set in India, and 48 teams competed online. First place this year went to the Indian Institute of Management, Raipur.
1984-FT
Tracey Colter McCurrach
Tracey is taking everything she learned at Kellogg, as well as her career and life experiences in the three decades since graduating, to open Colter Equestrian Center with her daughter, Carrie. Located just outside of Columbus, Ohio, Tracey invites anyone who is interested in horses, the Columbus area, a crazy business or life on a small farm to contact her. She continues to stay in touch with a number of classmates, including yearly travels with Tracey Smith ’84, Jan Dillow ’84 and Stacy Brandom ’84.1984-FT
Mary Morrow
Mary was named president and CEO of the Dignity Health Management Services Organization, a subsidiary of Common Spirit Health that provides physician and health plan services throughout multiple states. Mary joined the organization as its COO in late 2018. She commutes between her office in Bakersfield, Calif., and her home in Pittsburgh, Pa.1984-FT
Mark Mosch
Mark finished the equity raise for his latest private equity real estate fund: AndMark Investment Fund V. Closed in November 2019, the $91 million raised brings the total equity managed by AndMark to $212,000,000, which is invested in close to $1 billion of multi-family properties.1984-E&W
Julia (Newberger) Tang Peters
Julia delivered a webinar, Avoiding the Mid-Career Rut, for Kellogg alumni on December 4. She teamed up with Matthew Temple, director of alumni career and professional development at Kellogg, to advise executives about the inevitability of mid-career challenges and tools to use to take charge of their careers when career decisions can be overwhelming. Matthew asked Julia to give this webinar after reading her article, Are You at Risk of a Mid-Career Rut?, in HBR.org (September 5, 2019) and her book, Pivot Points.
1985-FT
Nancy Rodkin Rotering
In 2019 Nancy was re-elected to a third term as mayor of Highland Park, Ill. She also recently resumed the chair position of the board of a legal aid clinic she founded and teaches Women and American Political Leadership to Northwestern undergraduates. Nancy married classmate Rob Rotering ’85 in 1989, and they have four boys ages 17-25. Nancy and Rob often spend their free time cheering on the Wildcats with Greg Kameika ’85.
1985-FT
Patrick Grismer
Patrick was appointed CFO of Starbucks Coffee Company in 2018, following CFO stints at Yum! Brands and Hyatt Hotels. Pat and his wife, Chris, recently settled in Seattle — their ninth relocation in nearly 25 years. While Pat was with Hyatt, they enjoyed living in Chicago and reconnecting with Kellogg friends. Deepening their connection to Northwestern, their son Christopher graduated from the Medill School of Journalism in 2019.1986-FT
Charles Baker
Lauren Schadt Baker ’86 and Charles celebrated 32 years of marriage this year — but more importantly, their oldest son Charlie married Christine Nelson. It was a beautiful, glorious day, and they got to close out 2019 and enter into 2020 at classmate Ann Hewitt’s ’86 wedding. Woohoo!
1986-FT
Lori Collins
Lori *finally* married Moses Luski in August 2019. As a result, Lori will be learning Spanish (he's Cuban), Hebrew (he's Jewish), German (kids are Austrian) and provenance (he's an art collector). The couple will reside in Charlotte where Lori consults on climate change and works on her cooking skills. Lori was also a lead author on the 2019 Investor Briefing on Physical Climate Risk and Resilience released at the United Nations Climate Conference COP25 in Madrid in December 2019. The briefing was published by the Global Adaptation and Resilience Investment (GARI) working group that brings together investors and other stakeholders to highlight risks and opportunities related to climate change.
1987-FT
Scott Cragin
Scott retired after 30 years teaching business at Missouri Southern State University. His final project was implementing an open-book management system that the university calls Empowering U. He plans to move to the Denver area to be near his daughter.
1987-FT
Susanne Henry
Former study mates Susanne and Mark Dvorozniak ’87 reconnected in Whistler Blackcomb (British Columbia, Canada) this past holiday season. Mark, who lives in Portland, Maine, and Susanne, from Chicago, enjoyed skiing together along with their families, remembering friends and unforgettable professors, such as Professor Lavengood in management policy, and catching up on jobs and life pursuits.
1987-FT
Spencer Horowitz
Spencer was appointed by a 9-0 vote of the San Jose City Council to serve as a board trustee of the city's employee pension plan. The pension board manages investment strategy and asset allocation for the city's $2B pension fund. A 30-year resident of San Jose, Calif., Spencer has also served as an airport commissioner and small business development commissioner in Silicon Valley's largest city.1987-FT
Jay Lipe
Jay entered his 11th year of teaching marketing at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. He is proud that he gets to write letters of recommendation for his former students to attend Kellogg. Someday he hopes to write one for his new granddaughter.1987-FT
Lee Wright
Lee founded the nonprofit organization The Pursuit of History in 2019 to encourage greater understanding of history and engagement with historic sites and institutions. One of its projects is History Camp, which brings together adults from all walks of life, regardless of degree or profession. In 2020, the largest event of its kind will take place in Boston, Philadelphia, Richmond, Denver and other cities across the U.S.
1988-FT
Mark Proudfoot
Mark and Hanne Proudfoot (nee Olsen) ’88 visited their seventh continent in February, traveling to Antarctica. It was an extraordinary tour through Patagonia to the tip of South America. They embarked by small cruise ship to the Antarctic Peninsula, encountering penguins, whales, seals and stark landscapes.
1988-FT
Maria Kathryn Wickham
Kathryn and Liz Munroe Hennessy ’88 continue to enjoy skiing together, a tradition they started their first year at Kellogg. Most recently, they and their families met up to ski over New Year's in Whistler. Early last year, Kathryn visited Chicago with her committee from the Seattle Art Museum. In addition to seeing Liz, she also met up with Cindy Clark Mancillas ’88. After many years, Kathryn has reconnected with Susanna Bolten Connaughton ’88 when they realized that they both had daughters at Pomona College in L.A.
1989-FT
William Murschel
Bill has retired from posts at KeyCorp and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and returned to suburban Chicago (Wheaton), where he and Terry are tending to grandchildren, and Bill is doing some board work and nonprofit consulting.1990s
1990-FT
Greg Casagrande
Greg, Biomatters chairman, announced the company has been acquired by GraphPad, creating a global life sciences platform. Biomatter Geneious software is the premium brand for DNA data analysis, used by leading academics and pharma and biotech companies. Casagrande commented: “We began modestly 15 years ago with two staff in an incubator and angel capital. We built a global team with significant expertise in applying computation and graphical visualization to the challenges faced by DNA data researchers.”
1990-FT
Scott Crist
Scott shared a table at the Girls and Boys Country benefit with Rob Saltiel ’90. Scott, a partner at Texas Ventures, recently took over as CEO of Osperity, an industrial computer vision and analytics company based in Houston. Rob is the CEO of Key Energy Services based in Houston as well.
1990-FT
John Doyle
John realized a long-time dream and joined Scott Craig ’90 by being quoted in the Wall Street Journal, albeit for John it was in the Middle Seat column and not the real estate section. John is a national consultant on affordable housing development and his quote contended that an air passenger "rents" space and believes airlines should not allow "adverse possession" of his middle seat space by adjoining (larger) passengers. Even with a Kellogg MBA, John remains too frugal (ok, cheap) to trade up to first class.
1990-FT
Jose Gutierrez
Jose has been a member of the Kellogg Dallas Alumni Club for over a decade, where he has made wonderful friends and enjoyed connecting with terrific fellow Kellogg alumni. Now retired from corporate executive life after a 25-year career with AT&T, Jose has served as independent director on the board of Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Adient PLC and Denny’s Corp. An avid outdoorsman, he hikes around the world and has founded notiehiking.com, an inspirational venture.
1990-PT
Rebecca Wear Robinson
Rebecca was named to the steering committee tasked with creating a water safety plan for the United States to address the epidemic of drowning. She also serves on the Chicago task force, creating and implementing a water safety plan for Chicago. Rebecca continues to work with clients around the world in the global health and social change fields to integrate social marketing into their approach.
1990-FT
Marie-Eve Rougeot
Taking advantage of frequent business trips to New York, Los Angeles and Milan for toy fairs, Marie-Eve has been reuniting regularly with dear friends from Kellogg over the recent years: Rodney Williams ’90, Mohamed Amer ’90, David Anderson ’90, Rocio Haskell ’90 and MariePierre Bourguignon ’90. She thanks all of them for *almost* always making time to meet and catch up with her and for being part of her life.1990-FT
Peter Santoro
In 2004 Soros’ and General Electric’s pension fund hired Peter to do an evaluation of one of its portfolio companies that manufactured a patented performance fabric. Peter eventually took over as CEO. Over the next five years, Peter refocused the business on military applications and returned the business to profitability and growth. In 2012, Peter purchased the business and continues to run Nextec Applications. Peter resides with his family in Greenwich, Conn.1991-FT
Scott Freidheim
Scott just joined ettain group as co-chairman. He collaborated with A&M Capital to acquire ettain group, Leidos Health and Global Employment Solutions in this IT staffing and solutions rollup. Scott, having been on the executive committees of Lehman Brothers and Investcorp, as well as operator of Sears Holdings as COO and CEO of CDI Corp, is putting CEOs together with private equity capital and is hoping to work with a Kellogg alumnus next. In 2017, he joined the board of the U.S. Olympic Committee Foundation with classmate Kevin White ’91.1991-FT
Peter Luther
Peter semi-retired earlier this year from his role as CEO of Atrium Innovations after the successful sale of his company to Nestle. Peter is currently a strategic advisor for the PE firm Permira and serving on the boards of the U.S. Soccer Foundation and CeQur. Peter remains active with Kellogg, having recently provided a gift to support the Global Initiatives in Management (GIM) program, which enables students to go abroad to expand their global experience.1991-FT
Robert Van Orden
Bob joined Equifax in November in enterprise alliances, doing business development and sales, and learning all about data science, big data and AI across several verticals. It’s a new industry for Bob, showing that industry changes can be done later in your career. The Kellogg network led him to the opportunity, and many Kellogg alumni work there, including three on his floor. The company is going through an aggressive transition to the cloud and experiencing decent growth again.
1991-FT
John Vano
Doug Cruikshank ’91, John Vano ’91 and Matt McCall ’91 met up in Chicago for a quick visit and agreed to make efforts for more frequent get-togethers, especially if skiing is involved.1992-FT
Matthew Allgood
What makes Kellogg special is its people. Matthew is so grateful for alumni friends like Pauline Jen Ryan ’92 who offered up her network of healthcare professionals for professional insights, second opinions or whatever desired when he shared that his oldest daughter, Hannah, has Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Hannah's well into her treatments and prognosis is good to be cured within six months. Thanks to all KGSM alumni friends for your support.
1992-FT
Kent Lindstrom
Kent founded and is general partner of 8-Bit Capital, with his partner Jonathan Abrams. Bit Capital is based in San Francisco, Calif.1992-FT
Axel Wieandt
Axel, former KAC EMEA chairman and PHS member, has been invited to join Kellogg's faculty as adjunct professor of finance. In the spring quarter, he taught a well-attended course on Digital Assets, Blockchain Technology and the Future of Finance in the full-time MBA program. Since September 2019, Axel has advised GMP-O S.A., a Paris-based orphan disease pharmaceutical company led by Naseem Amin ’92, CEO, on the buildup of its finance function. For Axel's full professional background go to linkedin.com/in/axel-wieandt/.
1992-FT
Andy Hilliard
Andy moved back to his roots in Sonoma, Calif., from Charlotte, N.C., where he is CEO of Accelerance, a consultancy helping companies best leverage global software engineering models. Look him up when you're in the North Bay or if you're looking for either wine country tips or a drinking buddy.1992-E&W
Linda (Van Eck) Shepard
Linda is an adjunct professor of accounting and finance at Webster University’s Walker School of Business and Technology satellite school in Irvine, Calif. She was CFO for Habitat for Humanity of Orange County and secured the financial means to build more than 100 homes for housing over 400 people during her tenure and set the stage to continue the mission. Linda helped open the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, Calif., was assistant controller at Taco Bell and at AirTouch Cellular (Verizon), she helped launch the first prepaid cell phone.
1992-E&W
Amber Webb
Amber is now a Kellogg Executive Scholar and has achieved her certificate of professional achievement in nonprofit management. She is joining the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) as vice president of philanthropy. MPC is a high-impact policy change organization shaping a more equitable, sustainable and prosperous Chicago region since 1934. MPC changes perceptions, conversations and the status quo: every neighborhood has promise, every community should be heard and every person can thrive.
1992-FT
Mariann Kurtz Weber
After 20 years with the International Finance Corporation, Mariann has taken an early-out package allowing her to spend more time with her 13- and 15-year-old boys. She continues as a consultant to IFC and the World Bank Group and is a certified, practicing leadership coach. Mariann particularly enjoys supporting leadership teams and working with new leaders/managers. Now she will have time for some alumni events and executive education seminars.1993-FT
Charlie Bruetman
Charlie lives in Washington, D.C. After 25 years in consulting, Charlie founded his own company, Retium Health, providing services to Medicare Advantage plans focusing on the development of provider networks that meet CMS adequacy standards. Charlie and his wife, Analia, have two kids, both currently studying at Northwestern.1993-FT
Melinda Meyers Cook
Melinda met up with Jim Morris ’93 and Kevin Rooney ’93 and spouses at the Army-Navy football game in December. Jim is a West Point grad, and Kevin has one (soon to be two!) sons at the Naval Academy. A fun reunion for sure.
1993-FT
Carla Jones
After pursuing a career in strategic management, Carla pivoted and obtained a doctorate in business administration from Arizona State University in June 2009. In September 2019, Dr. Carla Jones was awarded tenure and promotion to associate professor at Sam Houston State University, where she strives to emulate the phenomenal professors she encountered throughout her educational journey.
1993-FT
Eric Kahn
In August, Eric expanded his auto dealership group by opening a new 25,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art Honda dealership in Fayetteville, N.Y. (East Syracuse). The new dealership, named Friendly Honda of Fayetteville, is part of the Friendly Auto Group, which includes Friendly Honda and Friendly Ford in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., and Friendly Acura in Middletown, N.Y. Kahn also owns and operates Capital Luxury Cars (Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover) in Albany, N.Y.1993-E&W
Bob Rosenthal
ClubExpress, a SAAS company in Schaumburg, Ill., that provides association management solutions, was listed as one of the top 50 technology companies in Illinois in November 2019. Bob, VP of sales and marketing for ClubExpress, accepted the award from Godard Abel, CEO of G2 Crowd. This adds to ClubExpress' recent awards, which includes the coveted Editor's Choice Award in Association Management Systems by PCMag.com since 2016.
1993-FT
Karl Safft
Peter Dahlstrom ’93 and Karl had a delightful encounter at the McKinsey Nightcap at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland. Suddenly, they stood next to each other in the crowd, after they had not seen each other for more than 15 years. A great joy and surprise! As a senior partner at McKinsey, Peter was one of the hosts of this maybe most exclusive party at the WEF.
1994-FT
Lynne Bey
Career Communications Group’s Women of Color magazine, Consumers Energy and General Motors selected Lynne as a Technology All-Star for demonstrating exceptional achievement in the workplace and community. Lynne was honored at the technology recognition luncheon during the 24th Annual Women of Color STEM Conference in Detroit on October 4, 2019.
1994-E&W
Joy Joyce
Joy connected with Joan Kane ’84 through the University of Illinois at Chicago's Center for Economic Education. Both are working to improve financial education for youth through classroom projects entered into competitions, as well as helping teachers strengthen curriculum with standards-based lessons and active learning.1994-E&W
Tom Keleher
Tom continues to manage the global equity investing business for Dutch social impact investment group Oikocredit. After nearly a decade in the Netherlands, Tom is based in New Mexico where he's had the pleasure to join forces with Kevin McDonald ’83, Dana Barnard ’83 and Jim Gil ’94 in promoting quarterly gatherings of local entrepreneurs to help strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the state. Tom recently attended a conference in London with Luca Torre ’06, where they convened an enjoyable dinner for like-minded investors.1994-FT
Kevin Lee
Kevin and Janice Lee had the chance to catch up with new New Yorkers Helen Barnes ’94 and Chris Newell ’94. They also met up with MC and Mark Anderson ’94 in Park City, Utah.
1994-E&W
Mary Sneed
Bill Sneed ’86 (Sidley Austin LLP), Mary, Christine Messerschmidt ’95 and John Messerschmidt ’86 (Thrivent Financial), with their sons Tom Sneed and Andrew Messerschmidt, both Boy Scouts in Troop 29, headed off on a high adventure at Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, N.M. in July 2019.
1994-FT
Dimitris Stathopoulos
For his birthday on September 22, Dimitris hosted a Kellogg ’94 weekend study group focusing on enjoying life in your 50s in his beautiful resort-style vacation home on Serifos Island in Greece. Christine Elbert ’94, Caroline Lesage ’94, Takeshi Kasai ’94, Sven von Schilling ’94, Joao Silva ’94 and Nikos Yannoulatos ’94 all contributed to the following breakthrough conclusion: work less, party more and "whatever happens, happens."
1995-FT
Mark Lamps
Mark’s oldest graduated from Northwestern this past June … so time flies! He is working at Atkore down in the south suburbs of Chicago with several other Kellogg alumni, including Brian Breidigan ’94. Rick Berg ’95 and Mark tried to meet for dinner earlier this year, but their schedules never quite matched, so he is looking forward to their reunion!1995-FT
Mario Manzocchi
In the summer of 2019, Mario met Marco Mombelli ’99, who came to Switzerland from Brazil to visit. Mario told Marco of his new job as an engineer, consultant and entrepreneur in the construction of one of the largest pump-storage hydroelectrical power plants in Europe (900 megawatts, installed power). Mario likes to recount how Kellogg shaped his career, in particular by applying the following learned principles: objectives setting, focus, continuous learning, change management, and personal knowledge and skills diversification.
1995-E&W
Joe Meyer
Joe was promoted to senior vice president of system operations at Indiana University Health, where he has responsibility for a range of system-wide functions, including clinical laboratory services, supply chain, clinical engineering, food/nutrition, environmental services, security and business continuity. He remains in Indianapolis and has been active with the local Kellogg Club.1995-FT
James Pitts
James launched a corporate real estate consulting company, Fractional Real Estate Department (FRED), that provides outsourced corporate real estate strategy and process to middle market companies. James lost his 98-year-old mother. James' U19 team won its U19 boys division at the Disney Soccer Showcase and was the highest scoring team in the tournament. James launched a 501(c)(3) to help the underprivileged youth on his team play travel soccer and earn college soccer scholarships. James has been hanging with Al Thompson ’95 and Rick Berg ’95.
1995-E&W
Jack Rubarth
Jack married Cindi Jones (JD '88) on May 4, 2019, in Dallas. Jack and Cindi met through the Northwestern Alumni Club of DFW, and they co-chaired the 2015 Kellogg Alumni Club of Dallas Soiree, benefiting Big Brothers Big Sisters. Jack and Cindi’s nuptials drew a large crowd of NU alumni. Jack and Cindi will continue to live in Dallas with a revolving door for all of their six children.
1996-E&W
Denise Maple
In August 2019, Denise joined the finance faculty at the Gies College of Business at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She teaches financial statement analysis and coordinates the master of finance practicum program. She is thrilled to have the opportunity to give back at her undergraduate alma mater.
1996-FT
Bob Raidt
Bob has joined Accenture Interactive in Chicago as a managing director, senior digital transformation executive.
1997-FT
Michael Granoff
Mike’s Tel Aviv-based VC, Maniv Mobility, closed a $100M second fund backed by some of the world's leading automakers and suppliers to invest in startups inventing 21st century mobility solutions. Come to Israel and visit!
1997-FT
Menno Veeneklaas
Menno had a reunion with Tim Moran ’97 and his family in Cleveland, Ohio, in October. It was great to catch up after 20 years. Tim and Menno last saw each other at Menno’s wedding in Ireland in 1999. They watched live American football (Cleveland lost) and enjoyed some nice meals together.1998-FT
Chris Caren
After 10 years of private equity ownership, Chris sold his company to Advance (owner of Conde Nast) and was able to recruit Northwestern's Provost Jonathan Holloway to his board. He gave Chris a personal tour of the amazing new Kellogg campus ... it was great to be back!
1998-FT
Leo Griffin
Leo joined VF Corp, owner of Vans, The North Face, Timberland and a dozen other iconic lifestyle brands, as VP of digital strategy, and relocated his family from California to Denver, Colo. He’s looking forward to meeting up with Denver-based alumni.1998-E&W
Elizabeth Range Kiely
The Eiffel Tower was the location for Amy Prullage Ravi ’98 and Beth to host a yoga fundraiser for the Parisian charity Koh-Ed. Amy is the founder of ExtendMed, and Beth is the co-founder of Om on the Range Yoga Studio. Amy and family (including husband Prasa Ravi ’07, an Executive MBA grad) were living in Paris at the time, and Beth and her husband came to visit them. The Kielys are seasoned yoga and mindfulness teachers and created this pop-up charity yoga class with their friends of over two decades
1998-FT
Lisa Lee
Lisa is a brand and innovation strategist based in Portland, Ore. Lisa reconnected with Ana Maria Irazabal ’98, David Contract ’98 and Kelly Fahey Jacobson ’98 in NYC last summer, and often catches up with Curt Jennewine ’98, who also lives in Portland.1998-FT
Chris Tomseth
Chris continues to live in the Washington, D.C., area and raise capital to expand Backpacker Panda, a global network of youth hostels. The Kellogg connection is strong in this endeavor. The lead investor is an alumnus, and other Kellogg classmates and alumni are increasingly getting involved.1999-FT
Ari Ackerman
With enormous joy and gratitude, Ari (and Lauren) feel blessed to welcome into the world Simona Liza Ackerman. Their hearts are full over this precious soul as it truly was love at first sight. She is named after Ari’s mom, Simona, and Lauren’s grandfather, Leonard —both so giving, loving and beautiful. They know their daughter will always have them in her heart.
1999-FT
Stacy Sukov Blackman
Stacy launched her new company, Stryke Club, in the fall of 2019. Stryke Club recognizes that "guys have skin too" and has created clean, effective, well-priced skincare products that teen boys will actually use. One of her partners, Darci Rosenblum, is married to Dave Aufhauser ’98 — the Kellogg network is always working! She is grateful to the many Kellogg classmates that showed support by purchasing right away and encourages everyone to check out StrykeClub.com.1999-E&W
Joseph Davila
Joe relocated back to the U.S. (Dallas) from an 8-year position in Luxembourg and has been appointed president and CEO of Selene Finance, a leading residential mortgage servicing company and wholly-owned subsidiary of private equity firm Pretium.1999-E&W
Fran Kenck
Fran received an award for Excellence in Exchanges at the 5th Annual Markets Choice Awards: 2019 Women in Finance event, sponsored by Markets Media Group. The Women in Finance program recognizes the most talented and accomplished women in multiple categories in all areas of finance. Nasdaq honored her by posting a congratulatory message to her on the Nasdaq Tower in New York's Times Square. marketsmedia.com/women-in-finance-awards-qa-fran-kenck-tassat/
1999-FT
Erin Lydon
Erin continues advising fast-scaling startups, currently serving as the strategic advisor to Evil Geniuses, a top-performing e-sports organization with teams competing globally in League of Legends, Dota and Counterstrike: GO. It was great to reconnect with West Coast classmates now that she works from Seattle and Los Angeles. Additionally, watch her recent TEDx Talk, Equal Pay for Equal Work, on YouTube. She previewed the talk to current Kellogg MBAs last fall.
1999-FT
Eileen Yoshida
Eileen and Cory Mann ’99 continued their 20-year friendship with a September afternoon of sailing on Boston's Spot Pond. Eileen apologizes for the hat — her daughter, Emily, is a sophomore at UCLA!
2000s
2000-FT
Ken Bower
Ken is currently the CEO of Clayton Financial Group, a wealth management firm he co-founded in 2015. CFG serves individuals and families in 33 states from a headquarters office in St. Louis. Ken looks forward to seeing everyone in Evanston in May.2000-FT
Pat Callahan
Pat joined Cleveland-based Progressive Insurance in 2002 and is currently the president of the personal lines division (auto, home, other insurance). He recently reconnected with Jason Laky ’00 who leads Transunion’s U.S. Financial Services business, and their teams are collaborating on some new initiatives. His daughter will be attending NU as a freshman this fall, so much to her chagrin, he expects to be back in Evanston with some regularity.2000-FT
Jeff Jones
After a nearly 20-year career in investment banking, Jeff joined First Busey Corp (ticker: BUSE) as EVP and chief financial officer in August 2019. He now resides in Champaign, Ill., with wife Alexa and children Dillon (12) and Maddie (6).
2000-E&W
George Webb
George recently became president of Pension & Wealth Management Advisors, an investment advisory firm in the Boston area. The company is celebrating its 25th year in business and serves institutions and wealthy individuals on all aspects of investment program management, financial planning and generational wealth management. The team has capacity for a limited amount of new engagements and welcomes the opportunity to be of service within their existing client and alumni networks: pensionwealth.com.2000-E&W
Corina Yeh
It was 20 years ago that we all headed to China and Hong Kong for our Kellogg GIM class in August/September 1999. A few highlights included: the Great Wall, the Bund, Lan Kwai Fong, the Motorola boat ride, Lamma Island, meetings with Caterpillar, A.T. Kearney, McDonald’s, Morgan Stanley, etc. We learned so much about the culture and doing business in China, but we also bonded as a group, making it an awesome experience. It was time for us to reunite, so some of us met in Chicago and some in San Francisco.
2001-FT
Todd Asmuth
Todd is the president and CFO for SHINE Medical, who recently broke ground and started construction on its medical isotope plant in Janesville, Wis. SHINE will produce 20 million patient doses per year for the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease and cancer.2001-E&W
Scott England
Scott recently started a new company selling premium THC-free CBD cream. He says: "The CBD market has exploded in the last few years. Unfortunately, this growth has flooded the market with products that make outlandish claims and products that don't contain the amount of CBD they claim on the label. We felt there was a need for a premium CBD product with 100 percent transparency. We launched nutrahealllc.com to offer consumers a topical cream for aches and pains as an alternative to ibuprofen. Early feedback has been great."
2001-FT
James Lynch
2020 began by fulfilling a dream to ski Silverton Mountain in Colorado. James' hope is that 2020 brings him the courage to also achieve a long-held professional goal — teaming to create a Delaware Statutory Trust (DST) consisting of a basket of industrial real estate properties. His wife, Liz, and twins, Mead and Lily (6), are happy and healthy. Here's to us all having our best year yet in 2020! Please text him (312.371.0807) if you come to Dallas.
2001-FT
Kari Riedel
Kari moved with her family to Austin after 15 years in California. She continues to work for Challenge Success, a Stanford-based education nonprofit that partners with high-achieving schools to reduce undue student stress and support greater well-being and engagement with learning.2002-FT
Wayne Borduin
Wayne and family returned to California after living abroad (Venezuela and Indonesia) for the last 6+ years. Wayne is the general manager of investor relations for Chevron Corporation, where he has worked for nearly 18 years since graduating from Kellogg.
2002-FT
Britta Rendlen
Britta took on the position of chief impact investment officer with Peace Parks Foundation in Stellenbosch, South Africa. She will develop new business models and revenue streams for conservation areas across southern Africa.2002-FT
James Sowerby
James reconnected with Carson Brown ’02 and was reminded what makes Kellogg special. Carson gave his time, insights and guidance, and before long, they were sharing kids' sports stories. Thanks Carson! James also benefited from Kellogg's career coaching services from Michelle Awuku-Tatum ’02. Career-wise, this year has been challenging as deputy CFO of a business with equally steep ambitions and challenges. Katarina is taking on life and work with gusto, and 7-year-old Addie is growing fast. Please look them up in Houston.2002-E&W
Elgin Thompson
Elgin has joined JMP Securities as a managing director in the technology investment banking group. Based in the firm's New York office, he will continue to focus on the Internet and software sectors. Over the course of his career, Elgin has completed over 75 M&A and public and private financing transactions resulting in $40+ billion of enterprise value.
2002-FT
Sara Wegmann
Sara tapped fellow Minneapolis-based Kellogg alumnae Stacy Arend Solow ’03 and Margarita Dimas Cultu ’03 to serve on the board of the recently launched nonprofit organization, Her Next Play. Her Next Play programs inspire girls to stay in sports, help female athletes develop leadership skills through sports and help athletes transition from sports to a career. These three Kellogg alumnae are working hard to develop the next generation of women leaders through sports.
2003-E&W
Richard Alvarez
Richard is now VP of sales for CuraLinc Healthcare. CuraLinc Healthcare provides an outcomes-driven suite of employee assistance (EAP), member assistance (MAP), student assistance, behavioral health and wellness programs to clients with employees, members and students in the U.S. and around the world.2003-FT
Bill Nahmias
Bill just hit his five-year anniversary at Gartner and recently moved into a new role leading strategy and operations for its global conferences business. He hopes to see some Kellogg classmates at a Gartner conference somewhere in the world in 2020.2003-E&W
Bo Sandine
Bo leads a citywide youth empowerment program in New Haven, Conn., as its program manager. On New Year's Eve, the IMatter Project unveiled its latest installation: three nine-foot-high illuminated towers with 36 portraits of city youth, accompanied by positive personal statements. Local press coverage was extensive, including all four major TV networks and both primary city print/web outlets.
2003-FT
Edward Zhou
Hanne Capital, a healthcare-focused VC fund founded by Edward has successfully closed its inaugural RMB fund of RMB450M in September 2019, during an extremely challenging fundraising environment. A fellow Kellogg alum Fred Fei ’11 provided critical support in the formation of the fund. Hanne now has seven people in the firm and is expecting two IPOs within the next three years. More details can be found at hannecapital.com.
2004-FT
Patrick de Baecque
Patrick became country manager for France for Coinstar in November 2019. He discovered Coinstar working on a business case at Kellogg.2004-FT
Qiaoni Linda Jing
Qiaoni was appointed as president and CEO of Genective, a JV between Limagrain and KWS, two of the largest seed companies in the world. She has been busy with relocating the global HQ from Paris to Champaign, Ill., and building up the operations in the U.S. Her appointment came around the same time when she was honored as one of the 2019 most influential businesswomen in St. Louis, Mo. The Laforest-Jing family now has dual residences in St. Louis and Champaign while Qiaoni splits her working time between both places.
2004-E&W
Ravi Kaushik
Ravi and Vishwanath Swarup ’10 met up with families in Mumbai to celebrate Christmas and their new leadership roles in global Indian healthcare companies. Vishy recently took on the role of executive vice president: global hospitals and group country head LatAm at Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (a global Indian pharma company), and Ravi has become CEO of Transasia Biomedicals Ltd. (global Indian IVD company). It was great to catch up and discuss new challenges and reminisce about Kellogg classes with the families over dinner.
2004-FT
Lewis Lin
Lewis started a new software company, viaMaven, to help managers and employees provide performance feedback. He lives in Seattle with his wife, Jamie Hui.2004-FT
Katja Lindo (Roever)
Katja has been working at LA VILLA, a meeting hotel at Lake Starnberg near Munich, Germany, for two years. She is now CEO and is excited about the new role at the family business. She hosted several Kellogg alumni at LA VILLA in 2019, including Ulrich Seidl ’04, Oliver Bauer ’04, Lu Gallucci ’03 and Vlad Grlica ’03 (plus husband, Dean Lindo ’03).2004-FT
Brian Myers
Brian took the plunge to launch CURVEJUMPER, a business accelerator focused exclusively on empowering leaders to find their next stage of growth while empowering their people to achieve it. Brian credits Kellogg’s range, from Fin-D to Contextual Inquiry (and some fun at Reunion 2019), for helping him uncover critical insights and drive transformative growth for businesses at $100, $100 million and $100 billion.2005-FT
Alex Hoffman
Alex recently joined Nucor Corporation as the GM of business development and leading the M&A team, after spending 13 years in various M&A and strategy roles in the steel and coal industries. He, his wife, Peg, and their two kids have enjoyed the move to Charlotte, N.C., and look forward to the warmer winters to come!2006-FT
Reshma Dalia
Reshma and Rahul Chaudhari welcomed gorgeous identical twin girls in November 2019. They are over the moon!2005-FT
Dan Gomez
Dan and Courtney Collins were married on June 29, 2019, at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. Several classmates served as groomsmen, ushers and readers. Those in attendance were John Barr ’05, John Boyle ’05, David Deming ’05, Jason Ferguson ’05, David Lubeck ’05, Carlo Portes ’05 and Kenny Tucker ’05. Dan is head of food and beverage investment banking at Brown Gibbons Lang & Company. He and Courtney reside in downtown Chicago.
2005-FT
John Hamilton
John, Amit Saraf ’05 and Bob Van Horn ’05 are working together in San Francisco to launch TVDataNow, a company that helps leading brands advertise and measure performance on new TV platforms (streaming, CTV). Previously, they worked together at LiveRamp (NYSE: RAMP), which grew 10x during their time there.2006-E&W
James Boccarossa
Jim and Stephanie welcomed a new addition to their family in October, baby Jack, and big brother James is excited. They also grew their Air Spares Unlimited family with the addition of a new software company (ProvenAir Technologies), a new office location and a new warehouse near MDW. The Kellogg family also helped with a great referral for a new hire. 2019 was definitely a busy year!
2006-FT
Matthew Forti
Endless gratitude to the Kellogg community for propelling One Acre Fund to the milestone of chronic hunger elimination for 1 million farmers per year. Special thanks to Dean Cornelli and the many faculty, administrators, students and alumni who celebrated this milestone at its 2019 Gala on December; especially classmates Keech Combe Shetty ’06, Akshay Combe Shetty ’06, Ben Olds ’06, Nate Lucht ’06, Jordan Shields ’06, Kirsten Hull ’06, Paul Wormley ’06, Jess Lan ’06, and planning committee members Jamie Wesner ’05 and Dev Patel ’08.2006-E&W
Prashant Gupta
As program director in Microsoft Cloud+AI Platform Group, Prashant innovated on cross-industry multiparty data collaboration capability — the first of its kind in industry — and established health data collaboratives in cardiology, eyecare and pathology with leading healthcare providers to build AI Networks.2006-FT
Sonita Lontoh
Sonita, senior vice president and global head of marketing at HP, Inc., went back to campus in the fall to share a fireside chat with current MBA students on How to Enable Digital Transformation and Create Real Impacts. She also shared her own personal career journey and the importance of doing the intersection of passion (what you love), skills (what you're good at) and most importantly, purpose (what the world needs). She also had a chance to catch up with Jeff Hammock ’06 on campus.
2006-FT
Kalpana Waikar
Kalpana recently launched Inspired Indian Cooking, a monthly subscription box delivering authentic Indian cooking experiences for home chefs, including pre-portioned spices and pantry ingredients and video tutorials. She was inspired to launch her business partly by the many Kellogg entrepreneurs she knows, especially those with food businesses. Her son (who was in kindergarten while she was at Kellogg!) is a sophomore at the University of Michigan, and her daughter is a high school junior and leader in climate change activism.2007-E&W
Noel Elfant
After 15 years as a general counsel for both public and private companies, Noel (JD '85) started his own law firm, General Counsel Practice LLC, in 2019. He reconnected with Kellogg to stay tuned to business and business development trends, connect with companies that need a GC on a fractional basis and connect others to his contacts.
2007-E&W
Brian Rigney
Brian is president of the manufacturing firm Dill Air Controls in Oxford, N.C., and has recently been elected to a term as president of the Tire Industry Association, a nonprofit focused on tire industry training and government affairs. Brian also serves on the board of an EV battery manufacturer, continually finding second life applications.
2007-FT
Cameron Smith
Cameron hosted the faculty retreat for Northwestern's School of Education and Social Policy at Bennett Day School in Chicago where he is CEO and co-founder. Bennett is a lab school partner to the University, and SESP faculty toured the pre-K—12th grade private school dedicated to project-based learning. Alumni passionate about education are welcome to get in touch with Cameron too.2007-FT
Heather Stone
Heather married Matthew Menard in an intimate ceremony in Alaska on August 18. In October, Heather and Matt celebrated with close friends at home in Minneapolis, Minn., where Heather is a sales executive and Matt is a small business owner. Several Kellogg friends were in attendance, including Cara Sylvester ’07, Liz Mahler Skinner ’07, Beth Kessler ’07, Bhavan Suri ’07, Andrea Gouw ’07, Christina Scharer ’07, Katie Brodnik ’07, Shannon Jones ’08 and Bill Daley ’03.
2008-FT
Jeanette Cajide
Jeanette made a triumphant comeback to competitive figure skating after a 30-year hiatus from the sport. Her experience and determination as an entrepreneur helped her overcome some major setbacks and win first place in her skating division at 2019 U.S. Figure Skating Adult Sectionals in Colorado Springs and Adult Nationals in Salt Lake City. She plans to continue competing in 2020.2009-FT
Hiroshi Ogino
The 10-year reunion of the class of 2009 in Japan included growing collaborative leaders, Hiroshi Sugita ’09, Masa Futaesaku ’09, Toshi Matsuo ’09, Tsuyoshi Kaji ’09, Nari Obuchi ’09, Seungchul Seo ’09, Taka Sato ’09, Keita Suzuki ’09, Eriko Matsuyama (JV ’09), Yoichi Ueda ’09, Itaru Matsuyama ’09, Hiroshi Oggy Ogino ’09, Akio Hata and Hiromi Ogino (JV ’09). They also gave a send-off for Yoichi for Singapore. Oggy played music with Hiromi.
2009-FT
Oriol Solans
Oriol was blessed in 2020 by the arrival of Manel to his family. His family continues to enjoy their time in South America, based in Chile but traveling around for work (most of the time) and for leisure (a few times, much less than the beauty of the region deserves).
2009-FT
Alex Tenorio
Alex took a new position with the Silicon Valley Community Foundation as their executive vice president of fundraising and business development. Alex is excited to drive philanthropy that will help impact issues such as homelessness, economic mobility and early childhood learning in the region.2009-FT
Chris Vansnick
Chris and his family are excited to move from Belgium to the U.S. Chris joined Radial, Inc., part of the bpost group, based in King of Prussia, Pa., near Philadelphia. A big challenge for both the family and Chris. They are looking forward to getting back in touch with their U.S. friends.2010s
2010-E&W
Sumita Ghosh
Sumi leads the entrepreneurial wellness team at ACCO Brands as senior director, owning innovation and commercialization. She launched TruSens Air Purifiers in 2019 and exceeded expectations with more than $2.5 million in global sales. Being entrepreneurial has its inherent risks, but Kellogg equipped Sumi with strategic thinking and problem-solving skills to face business challenges fearlessly. Kellogg also taught her to always focus on the consumer. She lives in Chicago with her husband, Nick, 7-year-old Sophia and 2-year-old Noah.
2011-FT
Carl Evans
Carl founded Pittsburgh-based AI startup Tercero Technologies in April 2019. Tercero focuses on developing hardware-accelerated autonomous vehicle and machine learning technologies. The company recently won a contract to develop AI technologies for the U.S. Department of Defense.2011-E&W
Rashmi Gopinath
Rashmi joined B Capital Group as a general partner to lead venture capital investments globally in the enterprise software sector. She continues to be based in San Francisco with Mahesh Menon ’12 and their 8-year-old daughter Rhea.
2011-FT
Ugo Posada
On the personal front, Cecilia Garza ’11 and Ugo welcomed Rodrigo to this world. He was born 30-weeks old, and after a six-week stint at the neonatal ICU, the little fighter is now growing healthily and spending time with his rookie parents. On the work front, Ugo was promoted to director in Advent International's portfolio group, in charge of value creation of the private equity firm's investment portfolio in the Andean region (Colombia, Chile and Peru).2011-E&W
Michael Raspatello
Mike celebrated the 3rd birthday of October, a beer-and-culture focused media and event property created in partnership with Zx Ventures and Conde Nast. Beyond October, Mike is leading the development of a first-of-its-kind event venue concept in Southeast Michigan, proudly boasting fellow Kellogg Entrepreneur Organization alumnus Brandon Hinkle ’09 as an advisor.
2011-FT
Mike Schwartz
Mike recently accepted a position with Comcast Spectacor as senior vice president of corporate partnerships for the Philadelphia Flyers and Wells Fargo Center. Mike and his family moved to the Philadelphia area in August and are enjoying exploring the city. Prior to the move, Mike served as vice president of strategy and analytics for the Milwaukee Brewers.2013-E&W
Christina Weber Coyne
Christina relocated from Chicago to Scottsdale, Ariz., in April 2019, and started Coyne Ventures LLC. She is an independent consultant in the commercial real estate industry focusing on the underwriting, due diligence and closing processes for transactions. She was previously at EQ Office (formerly Equity Office Properties), a subsidiary of the Blackstone Group, for more than 12 years. She married Michael Coyne, son of Raymond F. Coyne (PhD ’80) in July 2018. Michael and Christina welcomed a baby girl, Hannah Grace, in August 2019.
2012-FT
Christopher Erwin
Chris rebranded his management consulting business to RockWater and moved to a new office space in Santa Monica. RockWater's clients include Google, YouTube, Viacom, Mitsui & Co, Conan O'Brien/Team Coco, Whistle Sports and more.2013-FT
Giovanni Gallo
Giovanni celebrated ComplianceLine being named to the Charlotte Fast 50 as the eighth fastest growing company. Giovanni acquired ComplianceLine via a search fund in 2016 and serves as co-CEO with his brother, Nick.
2013-FT
Val Misra
Val founded MBA Accepted in New York. It’s an education consultancy that helps market students into the best MBA programs and colleges globally. In 2019 MBA Accepted clients received 198 offer letters to global MBA programs and colleges, and it had a 100 percent success rate. In 2020 Val plans to continue the good work in helping make peoples' dreams come true: mbaaccepted.com.2013-FT
Varun Poddar
Varun collaborated with Professor Mohanbir Sawhney and co-created a new Kellogg Executive Education program, Artificial Intelligence: Strategies for Leading Business Transformation. Varun found this to be a fascinating opportunity to satisfy his intellectual itch, put his diverse experiences to work, connect with the broader Kellogg community and learn from the brilliance of Prof. Sawhney. Together, they created case studies, original frameworks and hands-on workshops that drove actionable insights on how to implement an AI/ML strategy.
2014-FT
Adam Ingalsbe
Adam quit a great corporate job and has become a professional dabbler (independent consultant). He would love to hear from you if you live near a national park, need help with product development strategy or are working on something awesome.2014-E&W
Brent Neiser
On October 3, 2019, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) director Kathleen L. Kraninger announced the appointment of Brent, CFP of Greenwood Village, Colo., and senior director of the National Endowment for Financial Education, as chair of the CFPB Consumer Advisory Board.2015-FT
Andy Crewson
Kyle Coots ’15 and Andy have teamed up to build a scale platform of HOA management companies. Kyle is managing director of the PE firm backing the investment (Miramar Equity Partners), and Andy is the organization’s chief operating officer. They have established operations in Houston and Dallas and plan to continue to scale via M&A.2015-E&W
Holly Urban
Following her graduation from Kellogg, Holly co-founded Chicago-based innovation company, Incubator LLC. Incubator recently launched productivity-enhancing legal software applications through its affiliate EffortlessLegal, and identification-verifying software through affiliate Konfirmi. Holly and Incubator look forward to releasing its import/export app, PriorNotify, in 2020.2016-E&W
Jordan Homsy-Harris
Jordan married the love of his life, Annie Homsy-Harris, at the Chicago History Museum in October. The two of them are CTO and CEO, respectively, of a new blockchain technology startup: FemTech Solutions.2017-E&W
Kathleen McGuire
Kathleen and her husband, Jacob Demars, opened their first restaurant in Des Moines, Iowa. R I Restaurant features dishes that embody flavors of the Northeast (Jacob grew up in Rockport, Mass.) and the Midwest (Kathleen was raised in Iowa) with elevated techniques that were learned during years in Denver and Chicago. It’s a venture that is combining their love of food with Kathleen's love for business and finance.
2017-FT
Eddie Yang
Families of Eddie and Sharif Ismail ’18 welcomed 2020 together, with homemade Chinese food, a visit to the science museum in Bonn and doodles from the kids. Interestingly, Eddie moved with his family 15 months ago to the area where Sharif grew up. The two families are taking advantage of every opportunity to catch up and have fun together.2018-E&W
Geoff Hanson
After 17 years in brand management, Geoff opened a new business in December called Mobility City of Chicago. Mobility City repairs wheelchairs and scooters, and they perform the repairs in the client's home. He also opened a retail store that sells and rents mobility equipment in Morton Grove, Ill., that serves all of Cook County. He is proud and excited to join the world of entrepreneurs. Come visit Mobility City at 7620 Dempster Street, Morton Grove, Ill.
2018-E&W
Eric Masters
Eric started a new job as senior analyst at Datassential, a market research company for the food industry.2018-FT
Dianna He Murray
Dianna married Michael Murray (JV ’18) in central Illinois in September. Many Kellogg friends and Bullfrog section mates were in attendance, including classmates Danielle Fox ’18, Kyndrea Head ’18, Marcella Lobo ’18, Beth Riley ’18, Josh Robinson ’18, Jonny San ’18, Natasha Singh ’18, Priya Swaroop ’18 and Mia Velasquez ’18.
2018-FT
Katy Rieger
Katy and Graham Righi (JV ’18) were married on June 22, 2019, in Nantucket, Mass., with many Kellogg friends in attendance.
2019-FT
David Costello
Dave is moving forward with his startup, Scoots, the footwear brand that exists to ignite the considered revolution. Scoots will be launching with two new styles in the summer of 2020. Stay tuned.
Executive MBA Cohorts
EMBA Cohort 7
John Fontana
John is the first co-director of the Ignatian Legacy Fellows Program, a partnership of Jesuit universities sponsoring a yearlong gap year program comprised of six-week-long trips culminating in Spain and Rome for people seeking to create a meaningful retirement.EMBA Cohort 33
Karl Saunders
Karl, leveraging his Kellogg MBA, especially in finance and investment banking, has continued his interest in corporate governance and investment management. He recently passed the Series 65 Examination and has founded Saunix Investment Management, a private concierge investment advisory firm with offices in Ohio and New York. He continues to teach martial arts and is a Renzo Gracie Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
EMBA Cohort 37
Lloyd Everard
Lloyd received producer credit for the film The Laundromat, starring Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman. He is the VP of HR at Emerson Electric - Professional Tools division and recently reconnected with John Sturm, also of EMBA Cohort 37.EMBA Cohort 40
David Bungum
Ray Siegel ’98 and Lynn Siegel hosted the 21st annual EMP 40 FIDO group Christmas Dinner on December 14, 2019. Schedules kept the attendance a little lower than customary, but the company was as great as ever. Dave and Michele Bungum, along with Rich Daly ’98 and Susan Daly, made the spirits bright.EMBA Cohort 41
Anita Tang
Anita was elected to the board of directors of U.K.-based Adtones Limited, a media platform technology company. She also was elected to the board of directors of the NGO World Confederation of Productivity Science, headquartered in Canada, and to vice president of the World Academy of Productivity Science.EMBA Cohort 41
Susan Walters-Flood
Susan of Naperville, Ill., has joined the leadership team of Spinning Wheel Brands (SWB), a multi-brand plant-based food startup founded by Julia Stamberger ’02 of Chicago. Susan brings her 20 years of expertise in building plant-based businesses. 2020 will be a great year for SWB, as the company expands to retailers nationwide. Look for Hope & Sesame sesame milk, Mozaics organic popped veggie and potato chips and Veggicopia plant-based portable snack portions across major retailers and online retailers including Amazon.EMBA Cohort 45
Frederick Axelrod, MD
Frederick, president/CEO for LifeStream Blood Bank in San Bernardino, Calif., has been elected chairman, board of directors, Desert Regional Medical Center, effective January 1. Desert Regional Medical Center is a 387-bed tertiary acute care hospital located in Palm Springs, Calif. Its services include the only designated trauma center serving more than 8,000 square miles of Southeastern California and the only neonatal intensive care unit in the region.
EMBA Cohort 45
Amy Lazarus
Amy joined ControlRad as VP of U.S. operations. ControlRad is developing innovative solutions that dramatically reduce the lifetime risk of radiation exposure from fixed and mobile C-arm procedures for patients and healthcare professionals, without compromising on image quality and workflow: controlrad.com.EMBA Cohort 57
Charles Zhang
Charles received important rankings, including #6 on Forbes’ list of America’s Top Wealth Advisors for 2019, as well as #2 on Barron’s list of America’s Top 100 Independent Financial Advisors. However, one of Charles’ proudest accomplishments has been his ability to act philanthropically for his community. The new Charles and Lynn Chen-Zhang Portage Community Senior Center fundraising has been accelerated by a generous donation from Charles and Lynn. Charles is looking forward to continued success in the future.
EMBA Cohort 60
Eileen Moore Johnson
Eileen married her partner Richard Johnson on October 19, 2019, in New Orleans, where they met. Her son Eddie (13) was the best man and her stepdaughters Bailey and Shelby (both 17) were her maids of honor. She is still with Caesars Entertainment in Las Vegas as regional president of operations. 2019 was also a great year to catch up with fellow EMBA Cohort 60 classmates Paul Kolebuck ’05, Tom Himmel ’05, Mike Rafi ’05 and Rohit Kashyap ’05 during their trips to Vegas.
EMBA Cohort 64
Travis Monke
Travis, Mark Rusiewski ’06 and Tom Ellis ’06 got together to catch up in Chicago in November. It was great to meet with good friends again.EMBA Cohort 67
Jesus Socorro
Jesus was elected chair of the Florida Board of Accountancy, which is the state’s regulatory body for CPAs. Jesus founded and leads MBAF’s Risk and Transaction Advisory practice, providing IPO and internal control services, and M&A transaction advisory and due diligence. Jesus is also on the board of directors of Veru Inc., a Nasdaq-traded biopharmaceutical company focused on urology and oncology, where he serves as the chair of the audit committee.EMBA Cohort 69
Natasha Kennedy
Natasha and Derek Wiebenson celebrated the birth of Derek’s and his wife, Lisa’s, baby Kate McHale at the home of the Wiebensons in Lafayette, Colo., in October 2019.EMBA Cohort 73
Steve Greenspon
Steve was recently named to the executive committee of the board of directors of the International Housewares Association. Steve remains active on the boards of nonprofits Big Shoulders Fund and the Better Government Association. Steve continues to own and run Honey-Can-Do and lives in Burr Ridge, Ill., with his wife, Catherine, and son Milo.
EMBA Cohort 83
Jason Payne
The Payne Law Firm, P.C. celebrated its 15-year anniversary in June 2019. The Payne Law Firm, P.C. was founded by Jason. Fellow EMBA Cohort 83 graduate Toschia Hogan ’11, traveled to Houston, Texas, for the celebration.
EMBA Cohort 90
Ruben Alejandro Castillo
Alex was appointed chief human resources officer at Fidelity & Guaranty Life.EMBA Cohort 90
Arti Bedi Pullins
Arti was recently honored by Crain’s Chicago Business as one of its 2019 Notable Entrepreneurs. She was recognized for her success with Pundit Consultantz, a business consultancy she founded in 2017 that helps organizations, primarily in the healthcare and technology industries, incubate new endeavors and grow new products, services, channels and markets. chicagobusiness.com/awards/arti-pullins
EMBA Cohort 92
Katie Banks
Katie co-founded and is CEO of Youth Hunters International. YHI's mission is to engage, inspire and educate youth hunters and conservationists through educational and experiential training events, seminars and hunting experiences worldwide.
EMBA Cohort 94
Ravi Thakkar
Ravi was appointed vice president of product management at Impossible Foods, where he will oversee all aspects of product management in a newly created role. Ravi joins Impossible Foods from Apple, where he served as iPhone product manager in the worldwide product marketing division. Ravi will build and lead a team of product managers at Impossible Foods. The food tech startup currently sells the award-winning Impossible Burger, and its scientists are working on a full range of delicious, nutritious, plant-based meat and dairy foods.EMBA Cohort 98
Vishal Arora
Vishal leads micro venture capital firm VDOSH, focused on early stage startup investment with the goal to democratize venture capital markets for the everyday investor. VDOSH is joined by EMBA Cohort 98 alumni James Rosseau ’15 and Steven Arquilla ’15, as an investor and advisor, Lisa Litherland ’15 as partner, with a few other investors from Kellogg.
EMBA Cohort 100
Matthew Huebner
Matt co-founded the equity placement desk at Capstone Headwaters. Matt and his partner focus exclusively on minority equity placement raises and strategic advisory assignments, working with growth, mature and startup companies across multiple industries. Capstone Headwaters is one of the largest independently owned middle-market investment banks in the U.S.EMBA Cohort 105
Bret McLeod
Bret co-founded Lakewood Hotel Group in 2019, a real estate investment firm focused on institutional quality, full-service, branded hotels in prime non-gateway and suburban/airport markets. Bret credits the support and inspiration of his fellow 105 classmates and professors in nurturing the entrepreneurial spark necessary to initiate the platform after spending his entire career at Host Hotels & Resorts, the nation's largest lodging REIT.EMBA Cohort 107
Ricardo Cardiel
Ricardo is founder and CEO of Latin American Rainmakers, a business development firm established in 2007 focused on the development of power gen infrastructure projects based on conventional and non-conventional technologies. The spirit and vision to encompass all stakeholders involved in a business opportunity have become a passion behind every business developed. Under a max win-win relationship, we guarantee success for all the ecosystem (investors, company, collaborators, customers, society and environment. That’s Kellogg!EMBA Cohort 107
David Piza
David has been elected to the board of directors of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA). The SCA is a global membership-based association encompassing every element of the coffee value chain from coffee farmers to baristas and roasters. This is a recognition to David's contributions to the coffee industry and opportunity to further drive change.
EMBA Cohort KH08
Tom Lui
Tom met David Cheng ’01 at an alumni event in Taipei and found they are both badminton enthusiasts. They planned to go to Kyoto, Japan, in April 2020 to compete in Mizuno's Omotenashi Cup. Exercise helps keep a healthy body!
EMBA Cohort KS01
Lee Feliciano
Lee recently launched a startup providing mobile solar systems for disaster relief and recovery as well as temporary events that would normally rely on portable generators. Rent.Solar is the for-profit sibling of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit called FootprintProject that works with communities impacted by climate change disasters and helps them build back greener. rent.solarEMBA Cohort KS03
Frank Hubbert
Frank recently became managing director of Lapp Mobility GmbH (LMD) in Germany. LMD offers charging solutions for electric vehicles (EV) at home and while on the road. The company is a corporate spin-off from LAPP Group and is looking forward to developing fascinating new products and services that will make EV charging easy, flexible and digital. We love to charge!
EMBA Cohort KS09
Vincent Mestdagh
Vincent started EcoLodge, whose mission is to make passive and green buildings affordable by utilizing local wood and straw as insulation. EcoLodge manufactures and sells Wald-Cube in Belgium. He welcomed alumni to visit the model home last October: Cristina Taboada ’09, Francois Gevers ’03 and Stephane Coste ’95. Investors are welcome to help develop the business. waldcube.be
EMBA Cohort KW13
Nathan Evans
Fulfin, the company co-founded by Nathan, completed a seven-digit seed financing round to redefine Working Capital financing for e-commerce merchants. The round was led by Hevella Capital, a renowned fintech investor in Germany.EMBA Cohort KW19
Evelyn Janetzki
Evelyn relocated from Paris to Germany, where she lives with Dimitrios and their daughter Marianna. Evelyn left a corporate career in the steel industry to reconnect with her academic first love of psychology. She founded Solutions Coach Düsseldorf (solutionscoachduesseldorf.com) and offers solution-focused coaching to international clients in English, German and Spanish, in Düsseldorf and online. Evelyn keeps in touch with many classmates and is happy to connect with you on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/evelyn-janetzki-solutions-coach-dus.