Sauro Nicli: It’s been a while since I have informed you of my situation, but later is better than never… So, first and foremost, Marie-Christine and I have three wonderful daughters – Solenne (six and a half years old), Chiara (almost four years old) and Salome (9 months old) – who are monopolizing all our attention and take up all our spare time. We are very happy to have them, and are blessed that their health is good and that they develop fine.
We live in Singapore since October 2000. I transferred from the McKinsey Zurich Office with the objective to establish our Business Technology practice in Asia: so far it’s worked pretty well – the practice comprises 3 Partners and 34 consultants based in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul. The next challenge is to establish the practice in Japan: I will be spending a significant amount of time in Tokyo in the next 2-3 years. Finally, still on the professional side, last June I was elected a Director of McKinsey & Company. Our house is always open for whoever happens to travel through Singapore. With my wishes of success, good luck and fun to all of you.
Jeff Varick: It is with great pleasure and the widest smile you’ve ever seen on my face that I announce that DeeDee Drysdale and I were engaged to be married on June 26th, in Capri, Italy. We are planning our wedding for January in El Salvador.
Carrie Ericson: I’ve joined Ariba in the role of Managing Director. While I truly enjoyed my many years of consulting and leadership as part AT Kearney’s Procurement Solutions Group, I am very excited about this change and the capabilities offered by the newly combined Ariba/ FreeMarkets company. My new e-mail address is cericson@ariba.com.
Julian Critchlow: I took a sabbatical from Bain & Company to swim the English Channel which I did on Saturday 4th September 2004 (14 hours 8 minutes). Since I thought the attempt was likely to be fatal, I decided to do it in some good causes – diabetes and local primary school. I have raised £15,000 to-date but can always do with additional publicity in case any further sponsors are out there! I have had some publicity locally (Sevenoaks Chronicle – 2 articles) and on local news (Meridian, London Tonight and Central TV) due to the following funny story:
A funny twist of fate occurred on the last day of training. After my very last feed of my very last training swim, I swam back out for one final circuit of Dover harbour and bumped into a bottle. That bottle had a message in it from a little boy called Colm Todd from Suton Coldfield. He set it adrift in Les Sable d’Olonne on the north west coast of France on the 24th August and I bumped into it just off the Dover beach on the 30th August. So being a little perverse, I wrote Colm a letter, enclosed his original and set off for France. When I crawled up the shore after 14 hours swimming, I was greeted by a small crowd of French people who wanted to shake my hand and have pictures taken with me – odd considering I looked like a beached sperm whale! In return, I negotiated for one of them to add a stamp to my letter and post it on to Colm. So when his letter arrives, it will have travelled by bottle from France to England, by swimmer from England to France and by postal service from France to England. Some journey! I hope it brings him as much luck as it did me!
Paul Fourie: Hi, all. A few years back I quit my job at First Boston and set out to build a career as a comedy writer. It was a scary leap, but things eventually paid off. I currently write an animated show for FOX, and in September I start my third season writing jokes for SNL’s Weekend Update. I just published my first humor book, on George W. Bush, which is getting a great response. It just goes to show that my education at the Wharton Follies and The Wharton Journal served me well. I haven’t been in touch with a lot of you, whether from those two fine writing institutions, Cohort D, or the Tokyo study tour, etc. But it would be great to catch up. No matter where you are in the world, feel free to contact me through my website at www.WWWDbook.com. And Steve Pinsky, I’m sorry I never emailed you.
Jean-Yves Charlier: After having lead the turnaround of BT in continental Europe, I have just taken on the position of Chief Executive Officer for COLT Telecom, one of the leading alternative telecommunications operators in Europe and have moved back to London. At the same time, I have become a Managing Director of Fidelity, as Fidelity has a majority position in COLT Telecom, to advise on telecommunications and high-tech investments throughout the world. Times are extremely busy given the challenges of the telecoms market in Europe.
Burt Rea: We Rea’s are at the height of suburban life here in northern New Jersey. Dad takes the train (or plane) to work, the kids are growing up fast, and Ann tries to be the calm center of the storm. Taylor is 10, Madeline is 8, and Sam just turned 5, so we are fully graduated from toddlerhood and enjoying everyone’s increasing self-sufficiency. I am still with Deloitte Consulting (same firm since since graduation — yikes!) and was recently promoted to Director, a non-equity position similar to partner / principal. I stay busy with Life Sciences and Manufacturing accounts in the Northeast — for the most part! We would look forward to hearing from old friends in the area or visiting New York / New Jersey!
Rick Dietch: I am still retired from investment banking (since April 2003), and so far I have felt no desire to return to any real form of work. Although this may be in part due to the fact that I have been renovating and doing a large addition on an 80-year old house here in Dallas (80 years old passes for really really old here). I’m not doing any of the real work on the house myself, but I joke that my new job is as “owner’s rep” on the construction site. But the house is nearly complete, and now that all four kids are in school I may start to feel bored and decide to do something that actually contributes to America’s productivity (or maybe not).
Other than that, all four kids are doing great. Just imagine all of the annoying bragging that other people have done about their kids, and all that goes for my kids too (except it’s all actually true about my kids). They range from 11 down to almost 3 years old, and Janese and I couldn’t be having more fun with them (except for the times when we are preventing them from replicating a WWF cage match on our iron canopy bed).
Robyn Goldman: I’m back on the east coast, this time in Providence, RI, after a two year detour in the Rocky Mountains. While beautiful, life in a small town was just not working for my family. My current position is as CFO of the Big Picture Company, a non-profit educational design company that is starting-up small high schools across the country. The rest of my time is well-spent trying to renovate our great old house, and playing mom to my three Russian-adopted daughters. I’m happy to be in New England!
Mark Thomas: I’m still in Silicon Valley in high tech marketing and business development. Right now I work at Openwave, a wireless internet infrastructure company, leading their strategic alliance team. I still love hanging out with my 9 year old twins and my new bride of this month!
Stephan Tanda: Since January I have taken over as President & CEO of Freudenberg Nonwovens, a $1 billion group of 5 businesses with 18 manufacturing locations worldwide. Freudenberg is a diversified, global $5.5 billion family owned, German, Industrial holding company. Next spring the Tandas (wife Sabina, Nicole (6) and Rebecca (10)) will move with their zoo of 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 2 horses from St. Louis, MO to the Frankfurt, Germany area where the girls will go to the Frankfurt International School. Our dog “Hemingway” which we got in Philly during our Wharton years is still alive and well. We’d love to welcome visitors.
Guy Hurley: Samantha, I and the three Hurley Girlies, have touched down in the USA and are now safely housed in Greenwich CT. I am commuting into NY, and have already caught up with a few old Whartonites. We joined Monica Richter for her fortieth in the Hamptons, and Peter Jannetta has been in touch. Life is good.
John Orr: We’ve been back in Denver for just over eight years now and love living at the foot of the Rockies. I am still with Liberty Media as VP-business development and thoroughly enjoy the media industry. Patte and I have three girls, now 11, 8 and 5 and growing up fast. We even have a middle schooler! Not sure I am ready for teenagers but that is fast approaching. We’d love to see any ’91ers who may be this way for skiing or any reason.
Kevin Holmes: I left the world of telecom and management consulting shortly after 9/11. Today I am a Sales Director for Massey Knakal Realty the most active (by transaction volume) investment/commercial real estate brokerage firm in NYC. I focus on the booming Brooklyn marketplace. My wife Erja and I live in Clinton Hill with our children Shane (13), Rayna (8) and Johana (4). Drop me a line anytime on 917.922.7785 or shoot me an email at kholmes@masseyknakal.com. Would love to catch up so come join us for our annual NYC Marathon brunch.
Mark Solomon: In June, I started a new position as Director of Practice Management with SunGard Availability Services, in Wayne, PA. I am excited for this role as I have a broad charter to challenge and change how we approach project delivery, quality, strategy, and personnel. Laura (Penn Law ’92), the three kids and I are moved to our second home in Wynnewood, just a short hop from campus.
Gary Skraba: Hmmm, over the past 6 months, I’ve been promoted to Senior VP with new departments reporting to me: Human Resources (now, I have to be politically correct?!?!), Training (do as I say, not as I do), Quality Assurance (from a guy who doesn’t balance his checkbook), our subsidiary (the company secret nobody wants to acknowledge), and Facilities (aka, Toilets and Drainpipes). These all joined Marketing as my responsibilities … yikes!
Throw in the Dodgers’ first postseason victory since before I matriculated at Wharton (16 years!!), the theft and eventual, unfortunate return of my 11-year old, 175k-mile car, three flat tires in the span of two months, a trip to Cancun’s Club Med where it’s now all-you-can-drink (flashback to MBA Pub days, or even the blindingly fun Walnut Walk?), a Workers’ Comp claim against me for imposing too much stress (rejected, but still interesting), and nearly no time for dating, etc. Whew, it’s been a wacky year, but it’s all come to a wonderful finish as I just had DirectTV installed and am watching pretty much every NFL game each weekend … ah, the simple pleasures of life! I haven’t been in contact directly with anyone other than John Lucas (WG ’92, although he started with our class) in San Francisco, but I send my best wishes to everyone.
Karen Fukumura: After spending 3 years managing various teams in Bank of America’s operations, I just moved into a new role as the Consumer Market Executive for San Francisco. I look forward to getting to know our mainstream consumer & commercial banking business better from the front-line. And equally important, I’m excited to see what it’s like to be home nearly every night! I’ve been a road warrior for the past 10 years, so this job change will also have a positive life-style impact. So I’m getting myself back out on the golf course, on my mountain bike, and on the ski slopes!