2000s
2000s
00 Happy Fall News
I hope everyone enjoyed their summer and is having a great fall. Although we don’t have a lot of news to share, the announcements are amazing. Stacie (Rupiper) and Michael Farina welcomed their first son, Henry Michael, in May. Stacie is a patent attorney, and Michael is an engineer. The Farina family makes their home in Rochester Hills MI. Deacon Beau Schweitzer, SOLT, ’00, ’02M.A. was ordained a transitional deacon at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit on April 12. He is serving his diaconate year in Belize. Thanks so much for those great announcements, and please continue to send them to me. I love hearing about what you all are up to. To really share what you have going on, save the date for our 15-year Reunion next summer. Can you believe it? It will be June 4-7, so mark your calendars. Check out the Reunion website at reunion.nd.edu for any questions. We will be planning a dinner, Mass, hospitality room and other standard Reunion fun. As with every Reunion, there will be a Reunion giving competition. Any donations between July 2014 and June 30, 2015 will count for competition. More details to come. Please make your plans and show everyone we are the best class. — Laurie (Strotman) O’Malley; ndbug3@hotmail.com
00MBA Reunion News
First, the updates: Paul Stockinger’s family welcomed Layla Rose last fall. His work at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories is going well and Paul ended up as one of the first seven people in the world with the OpenSocial certification from IBM in January. Mike McDaniel has written a book called Finis that is available on amazon.com. Mike writes, “It is a novel about how the world is moving toward the events in Revelation.” Now the Reunion news: Our 15-year Reunion will be June 4-7, 2015. Details should be up on the reunion.nd.edu site soon, but you can expect dinners, lectures, educational programs and recreational activities on campus. You can take the whole family as there are fun activities planned for even the littlest children. This is the fifth year the Graduate Business Alumni Reunion has been combined with the undergraduate and law school reunions, providing MBA alumni with greater opportunity for networking and program offerings. Please consider going; I hear it is a rewarding and renewing experience for all who attend. The MBA Alumni Office needs volunteers from our class to serve on a Reunion planning committee. If you are interested, please email gradalum@nd.edu. Thank you. — Georgette (Leonard) Stubin; 46917 Polo Drive, Canton MI 48187; mba2000@alumni.nd.edu
00JD Class Secretary — Brian J. Murray;
178 Cranston Court, Glen Ellyn IL 60137; bjmurray@jonesday.com
01 Updates
Michael Hogan joined the law firm of Conrad O’Brien as an associate in April. He will be based in the firm’s main office in Philadelphia. In August, Margaret (Kaiser) ’03 and Mike Dorsey celebrated the first birthdays of their twins, James Taylor and Emma Marie. The Dorseys live in Shorewood WI. Meghan (Dunne) and Matt Reynolds welcomed their second child, Connor Matthew, in April. Connor joins big sister, Maeve. Alan Tietz married Linda Vo in May at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis. Mark Price was a groomsman. Alan and Linda live in Dallas and are awaiting the birth of their first child. Maureen Rodgers and her husband Brad Jansky ’00 had their second child, Senia Hally, in May. They also have a son, Ari. Maureen is an attorney in San Francisco, and Brad is a pilot. CJ Murray and I were lucky enough to catch up with Tyler Robert and his family in July. Tyler and his wife, Erin, brought their three sons, Ben, Nick and Drew to Milwaukee to watch the Cardinals play the Brewers. Tyler and Erin work at Monsanto near St. Louis. — Megan (Miller) Murray; 2015 N. 56th St., Milwaukee WI 53208; 414-213-4687; meganmurray45@aol.com
01MBA Class Secretary — Dominic Pang; dpang@panglaw.com
01JD Lots of News
Tessa Davis and her husband, Miguel Almagro Vargas, welcomed identical twin baby boys on July 5 in Singapore: Connor and Logan Almagro Davis. Everyone is doing great. Maura (Sichol) and Rob Sprague welcomed son, Liam Alexander, born Nov. 30. Owen is being a great big brother. Emily Chang and her husband, Eric Spore, welcomed their beautiful baby girl, Elizabeth Ho Lin, on June 14. Baby and family are doing wonderful. Tricia Hoffman-Simanek was recently appointed chair for the Iowa State Bar Association Health Law Section. She was also appointed to the Waypoint Services Board of Directors. (This is a non-profit that serves women, children and families who are homeless, living in poverty or victims of domestic violence, in addition to providing quality childcare to families). Otherwise, she is still busy with a full-time litigation practice and being wife to Brad and mom to three. Allan Abinoja and his family recently moved from Chicago to the suburbs. He has spent a lot of time recently working on Illinois’ new medical marijuana regulations. Thankfully, his wife Lisa has summers off as a professor, and hopefully free tuition for daughter Maya one day. Chris Schultz is still living in Alexandria VA and working at the Securities and Exchange Commission in DC. He was a part of a big trial win against Fabrice “Fabulous Fab” Tourre, and also was on the trial team on the Mark Cuban insider trading case. Although no win on that one, he did get a “mention” on The Tonight Show. Chris and his wife, Leigh Ann, travel the country doing triathlons, including a full Ironman, and marathons (four in seven weeks) all while keeping up with three kids. If you are coming out to the ASU game, let me know so we can get together as my alma maters face off. Please keep these great updates coming for the next column. — Jonell Lucca; res 480-699-0377, cell 602-677-3266; jonelllucca@yahoo.com
02 High Points
Jeff Wittich, Patrick Murphy and John Salvino ’01 climbed to the summit of Aconcagua just after Christmas. At 22,837 feet, it is the highest mountain in the world outside of the Himalayas. Melissa (Rice) and Shannon Ward welcomed their first child, Vivienne Rose, on Jan. 23. The couple is enjoying life in San Diego where they work in the aerospace industry. Erin Jenkins, Abby Tucker, Jim Donnelly, Elizabeth Sain, Elizabeth (Kaufman) Pascoe, Shannon (Flaherty) Ackenhausen ’03, Bridie (Sullivan) Pedierney ’01, Wendy (Brueggeman) and Barry McDonald ’01, Kristy (Miller) ’02SMC, ’03MSA and Jason Linster ’01, ’04JD, ’14MEA, Breeyan (Creevey) ’02SMC and Matt Antongiovanni, Kim (Brown) ’12 MBA and Chris Villani ’05, ’12MBA, David Lute ’00, Andrew McDonnell ’00, Ruth Sommese ’08, and James Bettcher ’07 returned to a snowy campus Feb. 22 to witness the marriage of Alice Keating ’02, ’03MSA to Michael Burke. The wedding was officiated by Father Monk Malloy. Attendants included Lori (Bettcher) Divita ’00, Kristin Corcoran ’02, Vincent Keating ’00, and John Keating ’96. Alice and Mike will be relocating to Manhattan, where she will continue as a CPA with the Northern Trust Company and he will join the faculty at Columbia U. Trace Hendrick and his wife Kelly welcomed a baby girl, Eleanor (Ellie) Marie, on Feb. 23. She joins big brother Liam. They all live in Saginaw MI. Tiffany (Whittaker) and Doug Anderson welcomed their second child, Zeke Whittaker Anderson, on May 20. Zeke joins big brother Kai, 13 months. The Andersons live in Chicago and are enjoying life as a family of four. Melissa (Trevino) Berendzen and her husband welcomed their second child, Sofia Natalia, on May 1. Lauren (Bugos) ’07, ’09MEd and Matt Kloser ’02, ’04MEd welcomed their first child, Luke Joseph, to the family on April 27. John Dougherty and his wife Sarah welcomed their first child, Meredith Hanley, on June 12. The family continues to live in New York City and looks forward to introducing Meredith to Notre Dame Football this fall. Mari (Shiraishi) and Nicholas Walle welcomed a daughter, Grace, on May 31. She is very loved by her big brother, Luke, 3. They live in Honolulu where Mari is a rheumatologist and Nicholas is a radiologist. Dan Neville is engaged to Eva Hom ’09MBA and will be married in the fall. Groomsmen will include fellow alumni Andy Dietler, Ken Bork, Joe Schwartz and Neal Salisian. Many ND Alums will be in attendance. Elizabeth (Schlemm) and Angelo Gabbianelli were thrilled to welcome Bianca Noce in June. She joins her big sister, Cassandra Maria. Although premature, Bianca is healthy and thriving. Anthony Gabbianelli ’08 served as proud godfather at Bianca’s baptism. After six years of dating, Kelly Cooke and Collin Donohue got married on June 7 at Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton NY. Alumni at the wedding included matron of honor Maggie (Dowd) Yeske, maid of honor Melissa Tomkiel, bridesmaids Anne Eisele and Susan (Murray) Frazier and guests Laura Sowa, Ryan Fisher, Katie Garza, Maura Conway, Mariah (Gidel) Erikson, Maggie (Maus) Boyd and Kathryn Eisele. The couple honeymooned in Italy and will continue to reside in New York City. As always, thanks for the updates. — Lisa (Sestile) Corcoran; lsestile@alumni.nd.edu
02MBA Class Secretary — Melissa Hurd; hurdmc@yahoo.com
02JD Growing Families
AmyAnn Mursu and her husband Peter welcomed a third child, Teeg Allen, on March 14. Teeg joined his siblings Irene and Creed at their home in rural New York Mills MN, where Peter is an organic dairy farmer. AmyAnn tells me she left “big law” last year and opened Lakeview Trust & Estate Law, a boutique firm in Ottertail MN. She concentrates her practice on estate and trust administration, estate and gift tax issues and estate and business succession planning. Another growing family: Lisa and Bill Whitman are overjoyed to announce the birth of their fourth child, Juliet Elizabeth Whitman, on Jan. 16. Juliet was warmly welcomed by her siblings Sophia, 7, William, 6, and John, 4. They couldn’t be more thrilled with their baby sister. Bryan Yeazel was appointed executive vice president and chief operating officer of Stock Building Supply Holdings, Inc., where he previously served as general counsel. Stock Building Supply is a lumber and building materials distributor located in Raleigh NC. In his new role, Bryan will lead the company’s regional operating businesses and integrated supply chain. Stephanie Niehaus is relocating to the NYC office of Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP, located at 30 Rockefeller Center. She will continue to cross list in Cleveland and her practice remains litigation with a focus on product liability and toxic tort. She will be living with her family in Rowayton CT and has invited all of us to visit. Drop me a line and let me know what’s new in your world. — Megan Glunz Horton; 521 Elmwood Ave., Wilmette IL 60091; 847-256-2335; megan.g.horton@gmail.com
03 Class Secretary — Joshua Gentine; jgentine@alumni.nd.edu
03MBA Class Secretary — Rosemary Guillette;
9 Messenger St., Unit 7, Plainville MA 02762; rguillette@alumni.nd.edu
03JD Class Secretary — Lawrence A. Ward;
206-903-8817; ward.lawrence@dorcey.com
04 Send Your Updates
For those who attended Reunion in the spring, you may have noticed that your class officers were sadly absent but for good reason. Congratulations to our class treasurer, Katie (Conklin) Myatt and her husband Jason, who welcomed their first child, a daughter named Andersen Grace, on July 16. And my husband, Billy Martino ’06MEd, and I are happy to share the news of Elizabeth June’s arrival on July 29. We are thrilled to have Lizzie as a part of our family. Jennifer Morgan, an associate with the Mobile AL law firm Hand Arendall LLC, recently assisted in representing a former governmental employee in a First Amendment case before the United States Supreme Court. Clare and Dr. Michael Williams Jr. welcomed their first child on Feb. 28. Katherine Elizabeth Williams is the joy of their lives. Saleem Ismail is on one of the committees to help plan the sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) celebration of the city of South Bend next year. He loves his hometown so much that he is honored to be part of the team to help plan this special anniversary. Saleem is still living in Kalamazoo MI. Nancy (Miller) and Joe Wyss had an exciting 2013. Nancy successfully defended her PhD in developmental psychology and is an assistant professor at City Colleges of Chicago. Joe officially became a Double Domer with his JD. He is an associate at Sidley Austin. They also welcomed their first child, Michael Joseph, in December. They look forward to bringing him to campus in the fall. Please continue to send your updates: weddings, babies, new jobs, new cities. Your classmates want to know all about what you’ve been up to since graduation. — Carol Martino; carolmartino10@gmail.com
04MBA 10 Years Out
About 5 percent of our class returned to South Bend for our reunion in June. Members that attended the Reunion were Dan Crowley, Pete Brennan, Greg Hengehold, Fred Manning, Priya Persaud, Meagen Thomas, Akash Trivedi, Mark Welch and me. Greg Hengehold and his wife Jen welcomed son Everett James to their family in June. Ben Bauman and Kate Stouffer got engaged this spring and are planning a wedding for fall. Keep the updates coming. — Harry Howisen; hhowisen@yahoo.com
04JD On the Move
John Torgenson and Julie Maurer recently joined forces at the newly named litigation firm of Benedetto, Torgenson, Maurer, PLC in Phoenix; formerly it was Benedetto Torgenson. John serves as managing partner of the growing litigation boutique for which Julie left Snell & Wilmer, where she focused on complex commercial litigation. Drinks and enchiladas will be on John and Julie next time you are in Phoenix. Michael Hom just traded South Bend for Malibu and has accepted a position as assistant dean for career development at Pepperdine U School of Law. While we are sure Michael was sad to leave Notre Dame, Malibu is a great place to be.
Jason Linster earned his master’s in educational leadership from Notre Dame this summer. In addition to becoming a Triple Domer, Jason was promoted to principal at St. Mary Catholic Central High School in Monroe MI for the 2014 school year. Keep the updates coming. We love hearing from you. — Finn Pressly; 321 N. Clark St., Suite 1000, Chicago IL 60654; 312-795-3242; finn@alumni.nd.edu; Katie Bryan, 1037 Raymond Blvd., 16th Floor, Newark NJ 07102; catherine.g.bryan@gmail.com
05 Fun in the Fall
Katie (Welch) ’04 and Aaron Rarick welcomed daughter Lucille Kate on April 5. Lucy looks forward to tailgating at her first Irish football game in South Bend this fall. Melissa (Regan) and Jeffrey Scheible welcomed their first child, Eleanor Jade, on the morning of April 4. The family lives in North Carolina along with their two dogs, Rockne and George, who adore the new little leprechaun. Pete Gaffney was informed this past January that he was selected as the recipient of the DAISY award for nursing, an international award created by a family who lost a loved one at a young age from an autoimmune disease but were touched by the nursing care he received while he was alive. DAISY stands for Diseases Affecting the Immune SYstem. Pete is one of four nurses on his critical care unit who have been nominated and selected for this award for excellence in nursing. He is proud to be a member of such a respected team. Mike McGowan and Brian Hart had a blast attending the first ever “Keenan Re-U,” an event in which Keenan alumni unite as “Fratres in Christo” as part of the larger Reunion weekend. Mike and Brian relived their glory days in 2West, listened to old stories about the Revue, and had a great time wreaking havoc on the campus with their Keenan brothers. Mike lives in Chicago with his beautiful wife, Renee (Stroncek) McGowan, with whom he just celebrated a five-year wedding anniversary. Mike was recently promoted to senior director at Korn Ferry. Renee left her high school social worker position in the suburbs to grow her private therapy practice (McGowanCounselingServices.com), serving adolescents and families in the Chicago area. Brian married Danielle Pietak last fall in Cincinnati, where they reside. Attendees included Mike, Renee, Matt Diehl, Shannon (Hart) Burwinkel ’06, Katherine Hart ’09 and parents Kathleen (Scheiber) ’79SMC and Jack Hart ’79, along with 15 other Domers ranging from the class of ’51 to the class of ’17. Brian works as a manager at a local construction company. Matt Lilly and his wife Kelly welcomed their third son, Luke Miller Lilly, on July 8. Their sons Jack and Henry are very proud big brothers. Ashley and Brad Voller, along with their children Reece, 4, Owen, 2, and Pierce, 5 months, will be relocating to Chicago as Brad accepts a new position as director of finance with the Robert Bosch Tool Corporation. Chris Villani married Kim Brown ’12MBA this March in Philadelphia. Many Domers were in attendance, including groomsmen Chris Milliron, Matt Bartley and Kevin McCammack. Chris Reintjes celebrated nine years of marriage to his wife Cristina this July. They are the proud parents of David, 5, Henry, 3, John Michael, 1, and Katharine, who was born into heaven in March 2012. A new baby is due this October. Chris served in the Navy as a surface warfare officer on a guided missile destroyer and served with the Marine Corps Special Operations Command prior to being selected to the Navy’s funded legal education program. Chris graduated from the Penn State Dickinson School of Law in 2012 and is completing his first tour in the Navy JAG Corps. Lastly, please visit my.nd.edu and update your profile, and mark your calendar for the Class of 2005 Reunion on June 4-7. The AIM Class also will be hosting its 20-year reunion the following weekend, June 11-13. Please send your stories. — Kristin Boyd; Credit Suisse, 11 Madison Ave., New York NY 10010; 317-523-1195; kristin.boyd@gmail.com
05MBA Class Secretary — Himanshu Gosar; hgosar@alumni.nd.edu
05JD Congratulations
Warm wishes go out to Meghan Rhatigan, who married Joe Holmes on June 7. Meghan is associate general counsel-litigation at Thermo Fisher Scientific in Boston. In her spare time, Meghan serves on the board of directors for Friends of CASA, Inc., a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote and advocate for the best interests of children involved in abuse and neglect cases in Suffolk County. She also serves on the board for the Lawyers Clearinghouse, which provides pro bono legal services to nonprofit organizations, groups seeking nonprofit status and guests of area homeless shelters. Congratulations. I hope to see you on campus this football season. Go Irish. — Adam Russ; 2193 W. 7th St., Cleveland OH 44113; aruss@alumni.nd.edu
06 Careers and Monkey Business
Will Fischer matched into cardiothoracic surgery fellowship at the U of Iowa and will start in July 2015 after finishing a general surgery residency at Loyola in Maywood IL. Abbey Oklak received her master’s from the U of Wales in January in sustainable architecture and urbanism, and she is active in starting a community association in her neighborhood in northern Virginia to help combat issues with low income housing neighbors. In her free time, Abbey can be found listening to live music in the greater DC area. Anne Kwiatt continues to chase around monkeys who steal human food and won’t share with her in Singapore and Gibraltar while everyone else sits in their cubicles. When not advancing the future of primatological research and standards of field study fashion, Anne enjoys drinking wine and generally being awesome. By day, Hunter Young is in his fifth year as an engineer in Phoenix AZ and by night, he is blasting off into outer space and organizing ND game watches. Emily Yannucci and B.J. Bryan were married in Piqua OH on May 31. Classmates in attendance included Emily (Rivard) Byrne, John Floccari, Mike Greer, Josh Henderson, Julia Henkels and Brian Prenger. Mary and John Slonkosky welcomed their first child, Madeline Gabrielle, on March 25. Lauren (Pallone) and Ryan Martin welcomed a daughter, Jane Eliza, on Jan. 21. Lauren is a pediatrician in Washington DC. Christina (Goodwin) and Justin Michaud welcomed a daughter, Annabelle Marie, on Nov. 26, 2013. Already an Irish fan, Annabelle is a true blessing. Margaret (Gorski) and Matt Villier welcomed their third daughter, Cecilia, on May 26. Big sisters Lucy and Caroline love her to pieces. — Anna (Skoien) Lall; 55 Wyman St., Boston MA 02130; 617-553-2562; annagracelall@gmail.com
06MBA Class Secretary — Andrew Sama;
276 Mendoza College of Business, Notre Dame IN 46556; cell 574-339-6115; bus 574-631-5206
06JD Domer Wedding and Babies
My wife Elizabeth and I took our kids Catherine, 3, Darius, 2 and Anthony, 8 months, on a summer road trip and I got to see many classmates. We first drove from New York to Indianapolis, where we stayed overnight with Marci and Dave Guevara and their daughter, Penelope. We hadn’t seen them since our wedding and had a great time catching up. Dave is an associate with Taft, Stettinius & Hollister in Indianapolis, and Marci is working in-house at Mid America Health in Indianapolis. The eight of us then drove to Wisconsin for the wedding of Sarah Troupis and Paul Ferguson. The wedding and reception were wonderful, complete with a fireworks show that would give Macy’s a run for their money. Many Domers were in attendance including: Jason Brost, Preye Cobham, Ryan Fitzgerald, Kevin Lynch, Katie McVoy, Michael Mueth, Michael Murphy and Courtney O’Hagan. On our drive home to New York, we stopped in South Bend and stayed overnight. I hadn’t been back to Notre Dame since right after the bar exam and I couldn’t get over how much had changed on campus. The new Law School is beautiful and it was so much fun exploring it with the kids for the first time. Many of our classmates welcomed new additions to their families. Kathleen (Hogan) and Chris Aguilar welcomed Noland Thomas Aguilar on May 4. Katie is practicing law in the probate and estate planning group at Miller Johnson in Grand Rapids. Kristin (Fortin) Lewnes welcomed a baby boy, Luca Nathan Lewnes, in June. His sister Ava can’t get enough of her baby brother. Kate Leahy is heading back to Washington DC for a two-year assignment as the State Department’s UK desk officer. Kate is looking forward to reconnecting with the NDLS crowd in DC. Maureen Rodgers and her husband, Brad Jansky ’00, welcomed their second child, Senia Hally Jansky, in May. Maureen is an associate at Littler Mendelson in San Francisco doing labor and employment law, and Brad is a pilot. Almira Torralba Baker and her husband Curt welcomed their third boy, Edlin Toralba Baker, on June 30. Eddie is named after Almira’s late father, who passed away two years ago. His big brothers Connor, 6, and Hudson, 4, constantly sing to him and often argue over who can babysit for him. Almira recently switched jobs. She is now back in private practice with Berry, Riddell & Rosensteel, a boutique real estate firm in Scottsdale. For the past five years, Almira was general counsel for a transportation company. Her practice now focuses on real estate and corporate transactional work. I hope all is well with everyone and that you email me life updates for our class column. — Amir Hassan Sadaghiani, sadaghiani@alumni.nd.edu
07 Class Secretary — Stephanie Pelligra; 315-382-6487; stephanie.pelligra@gmail.com
07MBA Class Secretary — Joe Curry; joe@joecurry.com
07JD New Baby
Let’s congratulate Elizabeth McGrath and her husband, Shawn, for the birth of their little girl, Ella Elizabeth McGrath. Ella was born on July 6 at Memorial Hospital in South Bend. Very exciting! I secured a $1.2 million verdict in downstate Pope County IL on behalf of the family of Brett McDaniel, a 13-year-old boy killed in a bicycle versus auto collision. The verdict was a county record (previous record $50,000). Please send me your news! I’ll make a deal – if I get five news pieces for the next one, I won’t put a news piece in about myself. Who has some news for me? — Patrick A. Salvi II; Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C., 22 W. Washington St., Suite 1600, Chicago IL 60602; 312-372-1227; psalvi2@salvilaw.com
08 Building the 08 Legacy
Congratulations to Kerry O’Connor on being awarded a prestigious research and travel grant resulting from an independent call for proposals from The Architectural League of New York, an organization that supports dialogue for architecture and urban design in New York. Kerry is researching resilient design strategies for urban waterfronts and studying the work of Slovenian architect, Joze Plecnik, who implemented a series of innovative waterfront design solutions in the first part of the 20th century in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Kerry graduated from Washington U in St. Louis with a master’s in architecture and works as a designer at Weiss/Manfredi Architecture/Landscape/Urbanism in New York City. Erica Wells began a PhD program in clinical psychology at Florida State U and says she will cheer on the Irish in the Oct. 18 matchup. Allison Sullivan graduated from Vanderbilt U earning her master of science in nursing and is in practice as a family nurse practitioner in the Middle Tennessee area. Meghan Sweeney ’08, ’11JD and Brett Bean ’11JD are engaged to be married following a proposal at the Bean in Chicago. (How fitting.) The couple will be married in August 2015 at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. We are sending ’08 wedding wishes to Dana Ergas and Dennis McLain. The couple will be married on Sept. 27 in Pewaukee WI. Eight years and change after meeting on the first day of class sophomore year, Kathleen Martinez ’08, ’09MSA and Chris Mueller ’08, ’09MSA got married in Henderson NV on May 10. The wedding party included Lindsay Gilmour ’09, Mary Kate McNamara Liffrig, Katie Gibbons, Austin Peiffer ’07, ’08 MSA, John Kustura ’09 and Pat George ’09. Also in attendance were Jenn Galano ’07, ’08 MSA, Ashley Paluf Bach, Erica Castro-Larson, Tim Kneedy and Lauren Gamboa ’09. Kathleen and Chris honeymooned in Hawaii, where Kathleen finally got to swim with sea turtles. Erin Clemens married Thomas Tessendorf in Milwaukee on June 21. Domers in attendance were Julie Lederer, Monja Jodziewicz Neuharth, Alyssa Ratzlaf Heaton, and Denise Weber. The couple met at Marquette U School of Dentistry and are practicing in northwest Wisconsin. Andrew Manza and Judith Kaczmarek were married in Michigan on July 19 with the help of bridesmaid Katrina Dinnebeil Gehrmann and groomsman Matthew Hudson. They met as Huddle employees and began dating after a fateful night at Club Fever. Joe Church and Mary Kate Sweeney Church welcomed their first child, James Joseph Church, on January 26. MaryCatherine Sonntag Regan and husband Sean Regan welcomed a baby, Madeleine Claire Regan, on April 14. MaryCatherine shared that the baby’s favorite CD is one of Notre Dame lullabies, and she and Sean are making sure Madeleine Claire’s first words will be “Go Irish.” Michelle Brintnall Chester and Brian Chester welcomed son Theodore James on April 25. Theo will visit campus this fall and loved meeting his McGlinn aunties and crazy Dillon Hall uncles this summer. Molly Sullivan Sonderman and David Sonderman are delighted to announce the birth of their son, Luke Roger Sonderman, on May 23. Congratulations to all of our classmates. Keep the updates coming. We love hearing from you and so do our classmates. — Megan O’Hara; classof2008@alumni.nd.edu
08MBA Class Secretary — Megan Ulrich; meganlouisefitzgibbons@gmail.com
08JD Babies, Weddings, Cool Jobs, Beer
Jenny (Crane) and Jack Carroll welcomed Abigail Katherine on Feb 8. Abby arrived a bit earlier than planned but is trying to bulk up and fit in her ND onesies by football season. Lee Roach married Liliana Farfan on July 4 in Guyayaquil, Ecuador. Jon Kidwell, Dave Raimer, brother of the groom Patrick Roach ’07JD, and Ryan Bradel ’07JD attended. Richard Grant ’07JD would have been there, but just days prior, his wife Abby gave birth to their first baby. Kelly and Matt Lilly welcomed their third son, Luke Miller, on July 8. Their sons Jack and Henry are very proud big brothers. Fun fact: I used to live across the hall from Matt’s wife Kelly during my 1L year at Castle Point in the Enchanted Forest. On July 20, G Costa and his wife Jen welcomed their son, Jack Mathews, into the world. Jack, future class of 2036, will attend his first ND game this fall against Michigan. Matt Goddeyne married Jessica Serrano on Aug. 22 in Kalamzoo MI. Another fun fact: one of my favorite memories of Mr. Goddeyne is when he dressed up as a cowboy for class on Halloween 1L year. I believe a fake moustache made an appearance. After a five-month sabbatical from Big Law, spent mostly traveling in Italy, Valerie Novales was ready to pursue a major career change. In June, Val joined a fantastic group of college classmates on the executive team at Exusia, a two-year startup. Exusia provides management consulting and software as service (SaaS) solutions to clients in financial, government and high technology organizations. She oversees the global operations, legal, finance, recruiting and HR functions, which she reports has been a truly dynamic and seamless transition from the M&A world. On a daily basis, Val is able to use her advisory and managerial skills while doing fun things like developing corporate strategy and growth plans. Jeff Vercauteren wins the prize for civil service awesomeness. He was elected president of Capitol Neighborhoods, Inc. and was also elected to the Board of Directors of Downtown Madison, Inc. The two organizations work to promote downtown economic development and quality of life for residents and businesses. Jeff is entering his seventh year as an attorney with Cullen Weston Pines & Bach LLP in Madison, focusing on business, real estate and government relations. I had the pleasure of catching up with Andrew Soukup over a few beers when he was in Chicago for work this summer. Andrew and Nicole are doing well, living it up in DC with their cute son Aidan. Finally, in memory of Kyle D. Smith, the Class of 2008 Mock Trial Award fund has been established at NDLS. Please donate at donate.nd.edu, and under “Designations” mark “Kyle D. Smith, Class of 2008 Mock Trial Award.” This is an expendable scholarship meaning that we will be able to award the scholarship as long as we have money in the fund. Please be generous this year and in years to come. — Marie-Therese Mansfield; mt.mansfield1@gmail.com
09 Doing Better Than Fine
Our class celebrated our five-year Reunion in May and did so in record-setting fashion. The Class of ’09 now holds the record for most attendees for a five-year Reunion. We say thanks to the Alumni Association, class president Joey Brown, and vice president Janeva (Waked) Morfaw for all their hard work organizing the nostalgic and memorable weekend. Congratulations to Matt Besler on his performance in the 2014 World Cup. He represented the United States and Notre Dame well in the US men’s national soccer team’s best showing in a decade. He will be continuing his illustrious career at Sporting Kansas City. Angela Carothers began an MA in Irish and Irish-American Studies at NYU last fall, and will be spending the summer in and around Dublin. She will be around NYC for at least another year and would love to reconnect with classmate and friends who are in the area. Janvea Waked married Columbus Morfaw in Minneapolis on May 4. The wedding party included Megan Flynn, Kathleen Rooney, Kadeja Gaines and Mary Kaminski. The celebration featured numerous class members, and fun was had by all. Edward Guitierrez is attending medical school at the U of Illinois in Chicago. Geoffrey Mooney is entering Moreau Seminary at Notre Dame in the fall semester as part of the postulant program for the Congregation of Holy Cross. Stephanie Nguyen received an MS in higher education and student affairs from IU on May 9. While there, she served as the co-editor-in-chief of the Academic Journal, helped teach a career development course and held practicum experiences in the office of the president and the Kelley School of Business Undergraduate Career Services Office. She will be pledging her allegiance to the state of Indiana and will stay in Bloomington IN while she searches for a full-time job at Indiana U. Carolynn Richer received her MFA in stage management from Yale School of Drama this May. Valerie Popelka has been busy with her food start-up, Kuli Kuli (kulikulibar.com). Currently their products, which feature a new superfood called moringa, are in over 50 stores, including Whole Foods in Northern California. Andrew Matasic and Craig Wiborg are training for the Badwater 135-mile race in Death Valley. Briana Miller stayed in South Bend for two years and worked at Press Ganey. She then moved to Indianapolis where she completed a master’s in public affairs at IUPUI, where she worked with Mayor Greg Ballard, Indiana Department of Workforce Development and as a graduate assistant. She now lives in Denver where she works as a senior software consultant with CedarCrestone. Andy Bulso is a seminarian for the Catholic Diocese of Nashville, and will be ordained a deacon in Rome on Oct. 2. He anticipates ordination to the priesthood in the summer of 2015. Rebecca Gannon is graduating from Brooklyn Law School this spring with honors. She looks forward to clerking for a magistrate judge in the Eastern District of New York this fall. Alison (Schaub) and John McGrimley had a very busy spring. John graduated from medical school May 17 and began his residency in anesthesiology at U of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas in July. Alison finished the Boston Marathon on April 21. Alexander Moore is living in Atlanta and working in investor relations for State Street Corporation. He would love to meet up with any classmates living there; please email amoore6@alumni.nd.edu. Stephen Eckart graduated from Tulane Medical School this May and started his family medicine residency at the U of Cincinnati in July. Maureen Clark received her MPH from Emory U on May 12. During her program, she focused on health education and health care policy for vulnerable populations. She interned as a policy analyst at the CDC, volunteered at a free clinic and interned in the Department of Government Relations at University Hospitals. She plans to move to DC to pursue a position in the federal government through the Presidential Management Fellows program. Monica Tarnawski got engaged to Shiva Thavamani in May in Ridgewood NJ. The couple moved to Atlanta in July. Betsy O’Neill ’10, ’11MSA married Garrett Busch ’09, ’10MBA at Saint John the Baptist Church in Napa. The wedding party included Bridget (O’Neill) Zand ’07, ’08MBA, Eric Cherney ’06, Katie (Motto) DeMott ’10, Ann-Marie Woods ’10, Meghan Pearl ’10, Alison Schilling ’10, ’11MBA, James O’Neill ’15, Patrick Seul ’06, Kevin May ’10MBA and Thomas Le ’07. Garrett and Betsy live in Napa and will continue to run Trinitas Cellars, which among its many wine varieties, even has a wine dedicated to Pope Francis which was personally presented to the Pope in a private audience. Jon and Caitlyn Buttaci welcomed their second child, Cecilia Josephine, on July 1. Please visit the Notre Dame Class of 2009 Facebook Page to reconnect with members of the class and find out who is going to which football games. If you have any additional news or announcements, please contact me. Go Irish. — Megan Flynn; 1701 E. 12th St. Apt. 13P, Cleveland OH 44114; 574-320-0573; megflynn7@gmail.com
09MBA Quick Update
Greetings, and welcome back to football season. I’ve got some exciting engagement news to share: Eva Hom is engaged to Dan Neville ’02 and they will be married in the fall. The wedding party will include classmates Austin (Sponsel) Srejma, Lindsey Roberts and Andy Dietler ’10MBA. Congrats, you two. In other news, thanks to last quarter’s update, I confirmed that at least one person reads these notes when George Cleveland reached out to inform me that’s he’s more of a Good Housekeeping guy than a Woman’s World guy. So I’ve got that going for me; things are looking up. I hope all is well in your neck of the woods; please keep the updates coming. Cheers. — Shawn Pulscher; 801-336-7344; spulscher@alumni.nd.edu