Greg Powell EMP-24 with his son, Greg M. Powell, at his surprise birthday party earlier this year
	Greg Powell EMP-24 with Dinah and Dan Coffey EMP-24

EMP-24

Dave Cole (our Great White North classmate) and his family had a wonderful summer of holidays and contrasts. The typical August two-week break took Dave to Athens to watch the "coming home" of the summer Olympics. He reports that it was a very busy trip with no time to adjust to the seven-hour jet lag from Toronto, nor the high 35-degree Celsius temperatures. The Cole family had the opportunity to see a variety of events, such as preliminary rounds in volleyball, beach volleyball (including cheerleaders and a disc jockey), boxing, badminton, women's water polo and the finals in men's swimming and gymnastics.

Dave writes: "It was really spectacular to see these athletes. We watched the United States dominate in swimming (Michael Phelps) and win gold in the men's all-round gymnastics events (Paul Hamm). It was wonderful to see Hamm stumble on one apparatus and have the drive to recover and win gold. Canada ended up with only 12 medals, so we had to cheer on other teams as well. But the overall feeling from the Olympics is one of a global village --- everyone proud of their country and wearing its colors, all brought together with sport and goodwill. The Greeks, who basically rebuilt the infrastructure of their country to host these games, did a wonderful job and were very friendly. A little Athens sight-seeing and then back to Toronto. Leg two of the trip was the annual five-family wilderness adventure trip. This year it was sea kayaking off Georgian Bay near Lake Huron. With the wind, the swells and the large amounts of rock that make up the 30,000 islands, as well as the beautiful, clear, blue-green water, the Coles had a wonderful time. If you enjoy the outdoors, camping wherever you want and not seeing many people, this is an outdoor paradise that you should definitely check out. Great paddling, hiking and great vistas. And the black bears are just so cute. So a couple of weeks away to recharge the batteries and then back to the corporate world."

Dave is still with the Royal Bank of Canada (as he was while at Kellogg) as a managing director in the investment banking platform. He still does banking deals, but now with a focus on the real estate and consumer products industries. Like all big organizations, RBC just announced another restructuring, and Dave hopes to last another round of changes.

Bruce Sozzi and his wife, Robin, moved to New York/Connecticut in 1997. They have a farm in Redding. Bruce is consulting, primarily in real estate finance and risk (insurance) and speaks with Charles Oeler (c_oeler@hotmail.com), who is with Marvin & Poor tax wizards in Houston. James Conley (j-conley@northwestern.edu), like Tony Paoni, is teaching at Northwestern. James is married and has, by last count, four kids.

I enjoyed an almost heart-stopping surprise birthday party in June. My wife, Kelly, hosted an incredible event for my big five-o. She had been planning the entire activity for the last six years. Family and friends traveled to Carol Stream, Ill., from California, Texas, Kansas and numerous suburbs in the Chicago area. It was truly a trip down memory lane. Stories about me came from childhood buddies, current and former co-workers, neighbors, friends, and yes, a nice contingent from EMP-24.

Bob Ryan, who spoke on behalf of our class, relayed the story of Professor Lavengood's Day One lecture on the topic, "What is a political economy?" I still get wild flashbacks just thinking about it. Suzette Broome, Vaughn Gordy and Dr. Paul Meyer also attended. I was pretty happy after the initial shock, food and mild roast from several friends and family members. In lieu of gifts, Kelly suggested a charitable donation. We were able to raise almost $4,000, which was divided equally between Family Shelter Services and the DuPage County PADS, both in Wheaton, Ill. Then, I received the gift of my dreams, a 1991 Porsche 911 convertible. I have always been infatuated with the 911. It is ironic that my initial introduction to this version of that car occurred while we were completing our first year in EMP. That was 1991, when we said, "If we make it through this, we will live like kings." I can attest to that.