Ed Cappabianca: I have been living in the UK permanently since 1995, and Jane and I are coming up to our 10th wedding anniversary! We have three young children (Mia, 4; Rafi, 2 and Freddie, 2), who are just tremendous. We are now based out in the countryside in Essex. Having spent most of my time since Wharton in investment banking, about 2 years ago I joined an early stage venture capital and advisory firm, Lion Capital Advisers. We focus primarily on technology and med-tech sectors and have made 16 investments to date in our first fund. We are in the process of raising a second fund of $75 million. We just had Rob Fitzpatrick to visit for the weekend, who is traveling a bit more from Australia, and on his next trip, we hope to arrange a Wharton ’91 dinner in London.
Steven Pinsky: Congratulations to the Ryan family for joining the unofficial Wharton Family of Twins Club. In addition to the Cristsand Holles, this club also includes myself, the Erickson (Perrie Taylor) family, the Fitzpatrick (Robert) family, the Guenzl (Simon and Amy) family and the Thomas (Mark) family. Please let me know if I have missed anyone. Since my last update, I have celebrated the 18-month anniversary of the Sutton Advisory Group. I can still be reached at spinsky@suttonadvisroygroup.com. We continue to provide M&A, turnaround and business advisory services to small and medium sized companies. More importantly, last October I completed my first Marathon in 3:55:37. I ran in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC and it was a wonderful experience that I highly recommend. I now have my sights on the 2004 New York City Marathon. I welcome any and all tips to get my time below 3:30.
Karen Batchelder: I was recently promoted to Managing Director and head of Legg Mason’s Private Finance & Sponsors Group. Responsibilities include raising private debt and equity for emerging growth companies across a variety industries including, education, business services, consumer products and services, telecom, IT services and media. In addition, our group is responsible for relationship management for middle market private equity and venture capital firms. Jeff and I love living in Philadelphia and have now been here for seven years. Please look us up if you are ever in Philly.
PM Steckmest: Not much news from Norway. The alumni club is non-active but I have some contact with Bjørn Jebsen in Bergen. Went to Amsterdam for a golf tournament and was fortunate to meet Feico and his beautiful wife Albertine. Still working for Oslo Sporveier and enoying real estate management. Bought a summerhouse that will take all our free time to refurbish, but is a nice restplace one hour from Oslo. Hoping to hear from old friends who dare travel this far north!
Arnold Holle: Denise and I had our fourth child: Antonia Elizabeth and all of us, including her brothers Max & Adrian (twins, 6) and Constantine (2 1/2) are very proud. Denise and I continue to be employees of investment banks (a breed rarer than dot-com founders these days…), she as an equity analyst (banish the word) and I as a banker focusing on what’s left of M&A. Although on maternity leave, she is asking me to include that this little note is her “opinion, and her opinion only, uninfluenced by investment bankers, etc. pp.”
Pete Jannetta: I have made a switch from European equity research sales into sales trading at CAI Cheuvreux, where I have been for over three years now. Married life is treating me well; my wife Carina brought home a Lhasa Apsos puppy ‘Pinda’ in January to which my initial reaction was naturally negative but which I have since fallen for hook, line and sinker. More importantly, Carina is opening a Brazilian furnishings store called ‘OCA’ at 322 E. 59th Street (59th between 2nd and 3rd) in Manhattan. The store will open as soon as our first container clears customs, probably @ July 15th! We will be throwing an opening party on July 31st – from 6 to 9 pm. Come and bring friends!
Jaime de la Barra: A new member has arrived to enlighten the days of our family. María Francisca, the fifth after two girls and two boys, was born on the 17th day of June in very good health (3Kilos, and 51 cm.). The mother is doing great too. On the professional front, I´m still at Compass Group as the Managing Partner of the Chile office, after five years dedicated only to manage and distribute funds to Pension Funds and other Chilean institutional investors, we entered into a JV with the largest insurance company in Chile to create a Mutual Fund company in which I am the Chairman of the Board.
David Taylor: This spring I was appointed by the Tennessee Board of Education to its Accountability Committee to determine alternative means to the State’s Gateway exams to certify high school students’ achievement. I was also elected to the Board of Governors of the Human Rights Campaign, which is the nation’s largest gay/lesbian civil rights organization with more than 500,000 members. I am also president elect of the Birmingham-Southern College Alumni Association – so I will be very busy this next year!
Randi Roy: I am living in Westport, CT with my husband Howard (10 year anniversary this year) and two awesome kids — my son, Max (about to be a first-grader) and my daughter, Jordan (almost 3-1/2). I’m working part-time in NYC in health care consulting. We love Westport –spent some time with Michelle and Arun Gouda before they went to London, and also seeJeff Kiker and Amanda Tepper often (and sometimes Lorrie King, Lauren Goldberg and Gary Schanzer at their house). I am also in touch with Amy Perez (Friedlander) who just had her second child and is living in Westchester. It is amazing how quickly we all became suburban.
Mike Ryan: Astrid and I have relocated (with our four kids) to Manhattan. I will continue with Goldman Sachs in the International Equities Group and Astrid will resume her diplomatic career as a Norwegian Delegate to the United Nations. We’re looking forward to seeing more of our east coast friends. Our new address is 15 W 75th St., Apt. 5A, NY, NY, 10023.
Dave Harper: I’ve left my post as CFO of Noble International Ltd. to join Quantum Value Management, LLC, a private equity fund. I’ll be establishing the fund’s southeastern US presence and is relocating with his family to Charleston, SC. Quantum has made some acquisitions in heavy manufacturing and is seeking further investment opportunities in small and middle market companies across a wide range of industries, particularly in manufacturing, service and distribution businesses. My wife Martha Cummings (WG’89) and children Victor (age 7) and Kate (age 5) are very excited about leaving the long, cold Michigan winters behind to enjoy life on the Carolina coast. I can be reached at 586-834-1006 or by email at dharper@quantumassociatesllc.com.
Grant Wilson: Last seen heading to Turkey in ’91 with Anne Freeman, Ed Cappabianca, Jeff Varick and Alex Holcomb…. I returned to Australia in ’92 and met my wife Lea later that year (Lea was Miss Australia in 1989 – I got lucky – the guy before me hadn’t been to Wharton!). We have two great kids, Sam 7 and Jessica 5. I left banking in ’95 and joined Qantas to look after their corporate finance activities. I then got the chance to run retail sales for the airline. 3 years ago I decided to start my own business, TravelEdge (traveledge.com.au), with a Qantas colleague. Our focus is Corporate travel and we now have 28 employees. Despite the rocky road for the industry, it’s been, and continues to be, great fun. Lea is now a presenter for a national TV network, I swim with Rob Fitzpatrick most mornings (he is Sam’s godfather), Ed married my cousin Jane, we’ve had great holidays with Rob, Dan Jansen, Jeremy Jonas and families and Alex, David Thevenon, Andrew Harrison andPeter Doherty all live within 10 minutes drive. Life’s good – come visit!
The following “Euro-Scoop” was submitted by Natasha Quist and Dawn Hines:
Linda Jenkinson(LJ) recently organized a women’s only power pow-wow in a sublime chateau in the French Champagne region. A joint Wharton, Stanford, Harvard and Cambridge event a total of thirty women from London, Scotland, Amsterdam, Paris and San Francisco arrived for a week of fun, frolicking and female bonding. Unfortunately the local villagers are still recovering from the impact of seeing thirty scantily clad Anglo-Saxons doing yoga in the morning dew (extremely medicinal). Natasha Quist and Dawn Hinesparticipated in the event, and Heather Collander and Monica Richter will be forever regretful that they caved in to work-related demands and missed breakfast with the palace peacocks, among other things. Linda is still a resident of San Francisco. Over the last 12 years she has started 3 companies and taken 2 public. She has been nominated to several boards, has acquired her black belt in Power yoga, has reached level 7 in Tantra-sex, has married, given birth……the list goes on. She is now an avid collector of fine French art. Her collection includes many of the great masters, Delacroix, Le Brun, Poussin, Ingre, and David. Her apparent interest in the painting was primarily driven by her desire to get her dressmaker to copy the outfit.
Natasha Quist has become quite the ski-bunny. She has recently been sighted on the slopes of Gstaad, Verbier and Megeve, and has apparently skied 25 days this season! She is now back in Paris, after a year of the Expat life in Amsterdam. She is considering hanging up her Sports-Marketing guru shoes for a new career as a Paris-based gossip columnist and restaurant critic. The big news being that she is going to join Oxfam – and single handedly save Africa…
Dawn Hines has spent too long in the “low-lands” of Amsterdam, and has deteriorated into a ski-bunny wannabe. Her only memorable ski accomplishment this year was a spectacular face-plant into the piste – though she did manage to look pitiful enough that a handsome Bavarian ski instructor pulled her out of the snow. She continues to break men’s hearts all over continental Europe. She recently attended a High Tec Entrepreneurs Event in Amsterdam, where several men were vying for her business card. Dawn was one of the few WG91 who attended the The Wharton forum in Berlin. The highlights of the forum were the VERY frank address of Karl van Miert, and the animated panel discussion – Hans Tietmeyer, Bundesbank ex-Pres., along with a Senior Economist from Morgan Stanley, the head of IBM EMEA and the Economic Editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on the situation in Germany, and economic outlook for the EU.
Nicolas Caron has been trying to keep up the pretense that he lives in LA but he has been seen frequently at all the “in” clubs and restaurants in Paris. He was last seen at Paul Smith’s new boutique on Boulevard Raspail buying his summer wardrobe. Nicolas attempted to gate crash the Wharton Women’s event at the French Chateau claiming that the event was shamefully sexist. He was allowed to escort 12 of the women to dinner!! The good news is that Nicolas will not be indicted in the Martha Stewart fiasco.
Tina Winfield continues her involvement in maintaining international relations through a British radio show where she gives her point of view as an American living in Europe.
Vicki Guy wants to replace Jean-Marie Messier as CEO of Vivendi. In her spare time she does charity work in the finance department of the OECD. (she will send her own gossip following her trip to Washington)
Renault and Mary Jezequel were spotted at the Paris Ritz with their son Nicolas and who else but Nicolas Caron. Apparently Renault is distraught because his 18-month-old son, born and raised in London uttered his first full sentence “daddy why do you speak with that funny French accent”.
Stephanie Guilpin has decided to take a sabbatical, after spending a weekend with Linda Jenkins – she is still having a great time living it up in Manhattan – planning weekends in the Hamptons, cocktail parties and shopping sprees. Stephanie is apparently the owner of 18 pairs of Jimmy Choo shoes!