October 31, 2011

Anil Pereira: All is well in the Bay Area. My latest startup, Verious, was selected as a Finalist in the Startup Battlefield competition at the recent TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco. I continue to advise a number of other startups and also serve on the Board of FNBox which operates the largest social network in Latin America.

PM Steckmest: I brought my wife Esenia to our 20 year reunion and she was so inspired and happy about meeting fellow Whartonites that another female Whartonite is due in January 2012! This in addition to the twins born in January 2010, and Michael born in 1999. Visited San Francisco in October for a quick week, and then returned to Oslo for unchanged, real estate challenges.

Jacques Antebi: Life is good. Susie and I live in DC. Michelle just left for college and Daniel is in 10th grade. After multiple interesting stints, I now work for the Inter-American Investment Corp. a multi-lateral financial institution dedicated to private sector development in Latin America & the Caribbean (and part of the Inter-American Development Bank Group – so I have the pleasure of seeing Claudia Franco once in a while!). I manage a regional private equity fund, and a debt fund just for Haiti.

Ed James: Several years ago, I struggled with obesity and pre-diabetes. Rather than immediately prescribing medication, my doctor fortunately suggested healthy lifestyle changes that prompted me to eat more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, and to include exercise, as well as yoga/meditation in my daily routine. I was soon “cured”.

Drawing inspiration from my personal experiences with healthy lifestyle changes, I founded Heal2BFree, LLC (www.heal2bfree.com) earlier this year, where I serve as President. Heal2BFree focuses on helping individuals and organizations to develop and implement action plans for healthy lifestyles, and is committed to closing the health disparities gap.

We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Amy Perez Friedlander and her two beautiful children Molly (age 10) and Gregory (age 8) in the New York area on October 18, 2011. Amy was a bright, funny and loving friend and colleague. She always had a smile and a kind word and would usually make you laugh. She was highly intelligent, extremely organized and supremely diligent at any task before her – whether a complicated group project at business school, the launch of a corporate brand at Chase or the start-up of her own company, which she had recently undertaken. Amy was a great and loyal friend, an exemplary co-worker and a loving and dedicated mother to her children. All who knew her also loved her and will miss her tremendously. amypicture