1990s

90 Notre Dame 31, Miami 30

Oct. 15, 1988 is a date that many of us considered one of the best days of our undergraduate years. That was the fall Saturday during our junior year when our beloved Fighting Irish upset our hated rivals to the south, the Miami Hurricanes. ESPN was on campus the weekend of the USC game this year interviewing players and key figures in that series as they plan to create one of their “30 for 30” documentaries on the heated rivalry. I spoke to Joe Fredrick prior to that weekend. Joe was headed back to campus for the game and to be interviewed by ESPN for the documentary. Joe, the former Irish basketball captain, was the mastermind behind the “Catholics vs. Convicts” t-shirt that could be seen all over campus that day. Joe is currently living in Lakeside Park KY with his sons Nick, 20, and Joey, 22. Joe is the director of sports marketing for iHeartMedia and is also an assistant basketball coach for the 2014 Kentucky State Champions, Covington Catholic High School. Joe’s roommate in Alumni Hall, Mike “Eggroll” Caponigro, was a co-conspirator in the creation of the t-shirt and also chatted with ESPN. Mike and his wife, Katie, live in Burlingame CA with daughters Ava, 3, and Lucia, 9 months. Mike is the global solutions marketing lead for the sports and entertainment marketing division at Cisco. In the stands that day in October 1988, I celebrated every great Irish play with Matt Spatz. I exchanged messages with Spatzy this year on Oct. 15, as I do every year, to reminisce. I asked Matt what he’s up to, and he replied not much except he is getting fatter and wishes Kelly would remember he is allowed to use a running game. Matt is the director of guidance at Northern Valley Regional High Schools in New Jersey. Matt and his wife, Anne, have a daughter, Makena, and reside in Midland Park NJ. Brian Flynn has been living in San Francisco for 20 years. Brian and his wife, Lisa, have two children: Grace, 13, and Jack, 8, who are aspiring Domers. Brian runs FounderPartners, a venture capital firm. Rich Westenberger makes it back to South Bend from Atlanta for every home game. Rich serves as executive vice president and chief financial officer of the children’s clothing company Carter’s, Inc. Rich and his wife, Betsy, have four kids: Tommy, 16; Charlie, 14; Mary Elizabeth, 12; and Reagan, 8. Mary ’99 and Pat Costello welcomed their fifth child in March. Pat is also pleased to announce that he is now an assistant general counsel at Booz Allen Hamilton in McLean VA. Several of our classmates came together for a minireunion tailgater before the Navy game in October. Folks who stopped by included Chris Paul, Patrick Olmstead, Bob Brutvan, Chris Broadhurst, Mike Anderson, Laura Scotty, Paul Woody and Todd Tucker. A special thanks to Bobby Kloska for obtaining the parking passes in the Joyce Lot. Please send your news and updates to me or Christine (Boron) Griffin at cgrif57@gmail.com. Check us out on Facebook at “Notre Dame Irish Class of 1990” and at http://1990.undclass.org. Go Irish. — Marty Falkenberg; martin.falkenberg@yahoo.com

90MBA Reunion Stories

Hearing lots of great buzz from Reunion? Please send your Reunion updates and stories for the next column. Content is becoming sparse so do your part and share your news. — Dave Wilson; 104 N. Wilson Court, Palatine IL 60067; david_c_wilson@hotmail.com

90JD Class Secretary — Cathy (Pollock) Gregory;

30 Walnut Farms Drive, Farmington CT 06032; cagregory@sbcglobal.net

91 Proud Parent

Greetings. I hope everyone is having a rewarding winter season. Remember that 2016 is a reunion year. I hope many of you plan to return to campus in June. I have only a short update this month. Please keep the updates coming. Mike Eby was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from Kidspeace National Centers for his work with youth in crisis. Mike has spent nearly 15 years working with older youth in the foster care system. Mike is the proud father of three sons and the proud grandfather of one grandson. Congrats, Mike. Go Irish. — John Romanelli; jrndmd@comcast.net

91MBA 25th Reunion is Coming

I hope you are making your plans for our 25th Reunion, scheduled for June 2-5, 2016. While it’s great to get updates via the ND Magazine, it is even better in person. Learn more at reunion.nd.edu. Daniel Maus reports he lives in Fontana WI with his wife and teenage son and daughter. Daniel has worked as an Edward Jones Financial Advisor for 19 years. His hobby is Catholic education. He is on the school board of Catholic Central High School in Burlington WI, is an advocate for school choice programs for elementary and high school students and assists in the recruitment efforts of high school juniors and seniors to Faithful Catholic Colleges and Universities. Dave Walkowski has been VP and CFO of Hoffmaster Group, Inc., a paper products company in Oshkosh WI, for the three years. He worked for Newell Rubbermaid and Phelps Dodge Corporation for the previous 20 years and has lived in Michigan, Indiana, Arizona, New Jersey, Illinois, Ontario, Ohio and North Carolina. Dave and his wife of 22 years, Joanne ’86SMC, have three children: John, 18, at Elon U; Katie, 16; and Molly, 9. Dave said to look him up on LinkedIn to connect. Nathaniel Shaw lives in Hickory NC and is EVP sales and marketing for KBS, LLC, the nation’s largest provider of facility services to retail chains. Nat and his wife, Liz, have two sons. In his spare time, Nat volunteers on the board of family care center of Catawba Valley, which provides transitional housing and assistance to homeless families with children. He also enjoys playing the saxophone, boating and golfing. Nat connected with Kevin Bradford a couple of years ago when he was at an ND football game with his sons and had a nice behind the scenes tour of the business school. Rich Yoo is in a new role as vice president of marketing with privately held Garrett Popcorn Shops, based out of Chicago. It’s a 65-year-old brand that his team is expanding both domestically and internationally. Rich’s kids are in grades 11, 9 and 7. Rich stays in touch with Dennis Cloud, Ray Suerth, John Ashby, Paul Mannino and Jerry Byrne. He was back at ND for the Texas and Navy football games. Gregory S. Jeffrey recently founded Catholic Development Group, LLC. He has been doing development consulting work with non-profits since graduation. If your Catholic school or church is short of funds, call Gregory or visit www.gsjeffrey.com. Shouvik Dutta lives in a suburb of Chicago and has two sons, one of whom is a junior at ND. Shouvik works as a chief information officer for MJ Holding, a supply chain management company. He has been in the manufacturing/ss chain/consulting arena for 25 years. Tom Downey and Stephanie Melvin Downey live in Cupertino CA and are in finance. Tom is with a tech company, and Stephanie is in healthcare. They have three children: Michael, a high school senior; Nolan, a sophomore; and Ava, grade 6. They made a visit to ND with their family in 2014 and found the campus very “grown up.” If you are in the Bay Area, look them up. Keep the news coming. — Patty (Spiekermann) Lynch; 4102 Debenham Court, Rockville MD 20853; res 301-774-1232; cell 301-502-3843; pattylynch05@gmail.com

91JD Making the Jump

I do not have much news to report, so I have resorted to trolling the internet for interesting tidbits.* Sue (Cusick) Greer* and her husband, Will, have their own firm in LaPlata MD. Sue made the jump to private practice from public service representing the office of sheriff for Charles County as well as the Charles County Commissioners. Sue specializes in real estate matters, including zoning, commercial and personal property sales and purchases and title issues. Oh, and Sue still has her megawatt smile. Colleen (Harty) Taricani is the assistant dean for communications at the U of California, Irvine School of Law. She enjoys her work and, like all of us, laments the fact that kids Joey, 12, and Kate, 10, are growing up too fast. When she is not working, you will find her at the beach. Bill McCartan practices corporate law at Bradley & Riley in Cedar Rapids IA. He serves on their board of directors and was recently named the Cedar Rapids corporate law lawyer of the year by Best Lawyers. Laura Maroldy still works at the Department of Justice in Washington DC and volunteers at a local animal shelter. She has resisted adopting a furry friend thus far but will probably cave in soon. Until next time, act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with your God. — Martha (Boesen) Trout; 12823 Clark St., Clive IA 50325; 515-281-5976; mtrout@iowa.gov

92 Reunion Fever

While it is not yet time to start preparing for our 25th reunion, our class got a jump start with classmate and dorm-mate minireunions this fall. More than 500 alumni gathered for the Glee Club’s Centennial Celebration, with the Class of ’92 boasting the highest attendance rate. Clubbers included: David Foster, Bryan Liptak, Father John Thiede, John McKee, John Asher, Brad Fuller, Rob Duff, Kevin Kearns, Chris Adams, Ralph Calico, Tim Cashin, Paul Waldmiller, Mark Salerno, Kevin Weise, Jeff McGarrity, Robb Schoenbauer, John Ujda, Daniel Biros, Dennis Brown and Mike Sayer. Supportive spouses and friends joined the fun: Teresa (Uhoda) Foster, Jenn (Carr) Dziedzic and Carolyn Daly. John Thiede, SJ, took a break from his studies at BC to attend the reunion and shared a recap: they enjoyed the opportunity to sing with a 500-voice choir, participate in the prayer service at the Grotto, re-connect with some for the first time in 23 years, while also enjoying every minute, from the game watch at the old Holy Cross brothers St. Joe Farm with a pig roast and BBQ, to the televised closing Mass at the Basilica on Sunday morning. It sounds like it was a success.
Baby booties: congrats to Lilia (Fernandez) and Paul Storey as they welcomed Paul Jr. to the family on Sept. 15. Deb and Bryce Bettinger, along with Julia, Jacob and Anna, welcomed Leah Rebekah to their clan on Aug. 6. Wedding bells: Anthony Jowid shared that he was a groomsman for former roommate Amit Tripathi, who married Brittany Hizer in Chicago over Labor Day weekend. Other classmates traveled to the Windy City area that weekend for the Texas game, Cubs baseball and of course the DissFunktion reunion at Beat Kitchen with Jeremy Manier, Kris Penn and John Fletcher from our class along with Jim Maher ’93, Harrison Keller ’93 and Derek Doyle ’93. Look for them in Austin next fall. Lots of folks made it back to campus this year: Bill Gill took his son, Brooks, a senior in high school, on an official trip to campus. His new hashtag is #letsgetbrooksinNDclassof2020. Kristin (Gafvert) Hammerschmitt moved back to Indianapolis after three years in Kobe, Japan and caught up with Cheryl (Cihak) and Kerry Wate at the Navy game. Kevin Rooney sends word that he just started a new business, Expert Interview, a group of experts that can assess your company’s potential new hires. Kevin took his son back to campus for his first game against Stanford last fall. Shana (Stephens) Murray shared that she and husband Tom Murray along with Sarah (Williams) and Lindsay Knapp and Mary (Ritter) and Tim Kuehl ’90 hosted an ND gathering in Minneapolis along with the development office and Rev. Oliver Williams, CSC, in October. Father Ollie (Sarah’s uncle) was in town to host a Hesburgh lecture. The event included a Mass and dinner with 35 local alumni featuring Father Ollie as a guest speaker. He discussed his involvement with the UN. Dana (Leccese) Babbin created My Truck, a clothing company that offers clothing options for girls who like what they like instead of being limited to more common, socially acceptable girlie selections. Check out pinktruckdesigns.com to see the fun clothing options for girls like her twin daughters who are interested in bulldozers and trucks instead of Barbies and princesses. Hopefully these young ladies will continue to be game changers and step outside the box like their mom has. Please update your contact info on my.nd.edu and as always send scoop. Let me know who you ran into at football games and minireunions. — Jill-Beth (JB) Hayes; ndclassof92@gmail.com

92MBA Our Impressive Friends

Tom DiBari joined Chartwell Investment Partners, an asset management firm out of Berwyn PA. In his new role, he is responsible for all advisor relationships from Maine to Virginia. Tom and Tracy stay very busy with twins Sloane and Jackson, 11. Tom coaches Sloane’s travel softball team, while Jackson continues to play soccer. Last spring, Sloane was the New Jersey spelling bee champ for grades 4 and 5. David Perkins lives in Tulsa OK and consults on merger and acquisition deals, as well as on investing in businesses, oil and gas and real estate. David is a member of the Irish Angels, a Notre Dame alumni angel investment group. He is also excited to report that he is publishing the third edition of his book, A Concise Overview of Business Valuation. David and Laurie and family recently visited Newport Beach CA in part to look at colleges for their eldest daughter. While there, they spent an evening with Elaine and Darren Seidel and their three children. David writes that Darren works in international finance for Disney and lives in Pacific Palisades. Tom Galante reports that eldest daughter, Steph, just finished her senior season of college soccer and will graduate in December and begin nursing school. Tom hit the jackpot on the football lottery and took his youngest daughter and other family members to the first five home games this season. Jeff Burdeen moved to Boca Raton FL to become chief marketing officer for Warehouse Goods, a forward thinking corporation also known as VapeWorld. Founded in 2005, Warehouse Goods quickly became the industry leader in the vaporizer space and was named one of the Inc. 500 fastest growing private companies in 2010. Send me your updates. — Julie Pendell; 6054 Gabrielle Ave., Ann Arbor MI 48103; 734-680-5635; pendell.julie@gmail.com

92JD Class Secretary — Paul A. Drey;

Brick Gentry PC, 6701 Westown Parkway, Suite 100, West Des Moines IA 50266; 515-271-1765; fax 515-271-1766; paul.drey@brickgentrylaw.com

93 Phoenix or Bust

I was thrilled to hear from Rob Hennings when he emailed me to say he would be in Phoenix for work in mid-October. Robbie and I haven’t seen each other since our college days, so it was quite the reunion when my husband, Jim, and I met up with Robbie for dinner in downtown Phoenix. Rob is a strategist, writer and producer for DC-based McCarthy Hennings Whalen, Inc., which operates as a media consulting company. The company offers online advertising and web videos, as well as public relations services. Rob and I proved that it is actually possible to catch up on 20 years in under three hours. Then again, Rob was a member of the debate team in college, and I simply have a gift for gab. For anyone whose ears were burning on Oct. 12, it’s because Rob and I were probably talking about you and trying to remember when and how we met common friends. It was very entertaining to dig deep into the memory banks to have a “do you remember” and “where are they now’’ discussion over dinner. Please send your updates as I’ve not received news from anyone in several months. It’s way too quiet out there. I can actually remember when we first graduated and you would send snail mail for your updates. Snail mail, email, Linked In, Facebook — any form of communication will suffice with a few lines about what you’ve been doing. I’d love to know how many of us have children who are students at Notre Dame, or how many times you’ve been on campus since graduation, or where you’re planning your next vacation, or whether you managed to retire early and can share with the rest of us how that’s possible. — Anne Marie (Krauza) Yuhas; 1524 W. Calle Escuda, Phoenix AZ 85085; res 623-249-2998; bus 602-547-6125; amyuhas@cox.net

93MBA Fall Fun

I had the complete pleasure of hanging out with Kim and Matt Gleason during freshmen orientation weekend when we took our boys to Notre Dame to start the next chapters in life. Matt and Kim have not aged, can still stay up late and are a ton of fun. Matt spends his working time in New York City on Wall Street, and the family spends their free time playing sports, at their beautiful lake house with lots of friends or heading to Boston College to visit their eldest daughter or Notre Dame football games. I hope you all had a great fall season. I know we are having fun watching ND games. Please send me your Christmas card letters and emails. My next deadline is Feb. 1, 2016. This is usually my favorite column because of the family photos I receive and the information you all send to me. — Tricia Hug Schorr; 12429 Sanderling Trace, Fishers IN 46037; 317-576-9661; thugschorr@yahoo.com

93JD Class Secretary — Charles S. Hegarty;

734-398-5733; chegarty@bodmanllp.com

94 Rising Star

Chicago-based law firm Much Shelist recently announced the addition of Mary Anne (Molly) Phelan as a principal in their real estate practice group. Molly represents real estate companies, investors, businesses with commercial and industrial real estate portfolios and municipal organizations in a wide variety of real estate transactions. She was named a “Rising Star” by Illinois Super Lawyers Magazine for four years running. Congrats, Molly. And congratulations also to Tanya Bulakowski Katovich for receiving the 2015 Davidson Award. Each year the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois (CICI) selects one outstanding teacher who exemplifies excellence in teaching chemistry. Tanya was recognized for her leadership in implementing Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which aims to prepare students to be engineers and scientists. Lastly, national law firm Akerman LLP announced the ongoing growth of its real estate practice group with the addition of partner Lawrence Eiben. Among his positions at the civic and industry levels, Lawrence is a member of the Urban Land Institute’s Sustainable Development Product Council. To contribute to Class Notes, find me on Facebook or send updates to by email address. — Lynne Russo Hartzer; ndclass1994@yahoo.com

94MBA Doing Quite Well

Our 20th (actually 21st) reunion get-together at the Georgia Tech game back in September was a lot of fun. Thank you to everyone who made the trip and to Charles Oliva for all of his help in organizing the weekend. Also, they won’t see this, but a big “thank you” to Parisi’s restaurant for hosting us in a private room despite our lower than anticipated numbers and for allowing us to play some Linebacker-esque music through our iPhones after dinner. The dinner Friday night consisted of a number of us including: Charles and family; Gretchen and Dan Brewer (newly retired and living the good life); Varun Gera and his wife, who made the trip all the way from India; Rajesh Ruia, in town from Tampa and rooting for ND despite having a child at Georgia Tech; Molly Hoyt, her husband, Jenner Davis, and her family; Mark Mildenberger; Kelly and J. Matt Carr; Diana Stratbucker Cook; and Elizabeth (Ix) and *Tom Buccellato. Special thanks to Tom for leading the charge with the tailgate. Howie Kozole unfortunately had to back out at the last minute, and we desperately missed him. I am hoping I didn’t miss anyone. We had a lot of laughs, and it was good to reconnect after so many years. Others who met up with us the next day at our tailgate included Scott Steiger, Phil Neri, Cam Johnson, Mark Lambert, Tom Reyes and Jon Langenfeld. (Kudos to Jon for making the effort and being the only member of “the family” to attend.) Everybody looks great and is doing quite well. Scott, Phil, Cam, Mark and Tom weren’t really their chipper selves as they made the drive from Chicago Saturday morning after a long night. I think they managed to stay for the first half of the game, if they even went in. Dan Pezolt also stopped by the tailgate to say hello to his old MBA friends. All in all, it was a great weekend and hopefully we can do it again soon. Let me know how you’re doing. — Rodger Laurite; 678-644-0422; rodgerlaurite@hotmail.com

94JD Meeting at the Game

Jane and Jim Carrig were in for the Navy game from Milwaukee with son Joe and daughter Molly. They met up with Mary and Eric Ruona of Philadelphia with kids John and Kate and with Frank Pimentel of Buffalo with son Nicki. Also at the game were Linda and Kurt Kjelland in from San Diego, Sejal and Mike Bosnic in from Michigan and Jim Garvey of Chicago. Kathleen Rice with daughter Maggie and the Belias, already in South Bend, also met up with the crew. Eric Ruona recently spent a week in Ghana training local officials from several west-African countries. In September, Mike Castellino moved from the Chicago office of Robbins, Salomon & Patt to their Glenview office. Mike’s practice focuses on local government law and land use. Please send me updates or new email information. — Doug Duncan; pdouglasduncanjr@yahoo.com

95 Send News

Christina Glorioso is excited to announce the birth of her identical twin boys, Jake and Jesse. The boys join big brother Chase in outnumbering Christina in the house. Thanks to Mike Arsenault, who sent a wealth of information for this round. He is a VP for Bradley-Morris in the Atlanta area. Bradley-Morris is a firm that places transitioning military service members into corporate careers. He just celebrated 16 years with the company and will celebrate his 10-year anniversary with his wife, Judith (Tangum), a Hood College graduate. They have three kids, and he completed his third Ironman triathlon last month. Mike and Mike Marty went to the Clemson game together; they’re still soaked. Mike Marty is VP and GM of Care.com. He lives in Connecticut and has two kids, which keep him very busy. John Hines is in Gainesville FL and the assistant sports information director for U of Florida. Gator football and baseball keep him very busy throughout the year. He and his wife just had a baby boy, Teddy, a few months ago. No worries on John’s true loyalties; he still bleeds blue and gold. Marc Hillygus is in the film industry in NYC. Sorin Spohn is in Louisville and is the assistant principal at St. Xavier Catholic School. John Nickel continues to travel the world and is currently spending a good bit of time in India working with alternative medicine. Dan Verich just celebrated 17 years of marriage to his bride, Jennifer Caruso, who he met while serving as a lieutenant with Mike Marty and Mike Arsenault at Fort Hood TX. Dan is a director at USAA in San Antonio. Matt Meko is a senior consultant with Booze Allen Hamilton in Birmingham AL. He has worked extensively on a number of government projects, and he and his wife have two kids. Matt still hasn’t missed a Comic Con and is vying for top prize when it comes to Atlanta in January 2016. Brian Murphy is assistant principal for discipline at Mount St. Joseph’s in Baltimore MD. We want to hear from you; please send news. — Colleen (Mickus) and Mike Robson; 847-998-1402; colleen.robson@starcomww.com or therobsons@sbcglobal.net

95MBA Class Secretary — Renee Werner;

134 Willow Blvd. Willow Springs IL 60480; res 708-467-0454; reneewerner@yahoo.com

95JD Remembering Cathy

A couple of folks shared memories of our classmate Cathy Pieronek, who unexpectedly passed away, as mentioned in an earlier column. This from Bob Boldt: “Cathy was a brilliant conversationalist with incredible intellectual range. Cathy entertained us at lunch with interesting insight delivered with humility and good cheer.” And from Mike Cloonan: “I had the pleasure of interacting with Cathy after graduation, as she served our University both at the Law School and the College of Engineering. Cathy was always devoted to making a difference in students’ lives and making Notre Dame a better place. Her initiatives, especially for female engineers, will continue to benefit many for years to come.” Bob Boldt also wrote from LA, where he’s a partner at Kirkland and Ellis, that he very much enjoyed being at ND for our victory over USC, a game he attended with sons Peter, 13, and Christopher, a ND sophomore. Back in Los Angeles, Bob’s wife, Laura, watched the game at home with their 18 year-old, Patrick, who called the KeiVarae Russell interception moments before it occurred. Bob and Laura also have a fifteen year girl, Clare, who enjoys ice skating and surfing with her dad. Take care. Please send me your news. ¬¬— Julia Meister; meister@taftlaw.com

96 Save the Date for Reunion

Blues Traveler, Hootie and the Blowfish, the women’s soccer team winning the national championship, Thursday night Must See TV, Ask Jeeves, Netscape Navigator, Bridget’s and Club 23. It is hard to believe that almost two decades have passed since our senior year at ND. Please mark your calendars for the weekend of June 2-5 and plan to come back to campus for our 20th Reunion to relive all these memories and more. We’ll be sending out more detailed information soon; in the meantime, please contact me, Paul, Kevin or Nate if you’d like to help out with planning the reunion. Speaking of reunions, Amy Gardner, Theresa (Hennessey) Barcy, Christy (Baker) Grant and Brandi (Wilson) Serper headed to Atlantic City’s Borgata Hotel in August for a girls weekend celebrating Andrea (Zurro) O’Connor‘s birthday. They coincidentally ran into Kelly (Castellanos) Evans and Jeanine Genkinger, who were staying at the Borgata as well, celebrating their own girls weekend. Amy Carroll married Louis Fabregue in Rye NH, near Amy’s childhood home. Amy and Louis are living in Providence RI, where Amy works at Brown U as director of research development. Other ND folks at the wedding included: Amy’s sister and matron of honor, Sarah (Carroll) Heck ’99; her uncle Charles Adie ’58; Anne (Castonguay) and Thomas Lewis ’96 MBA of Bedford NH with children Katie, Maggie and Danny; Kristen (Carey) and Gabe Seaman ’98, who live in Pittsburgh with their boys Connor, Brendan and Declan and where Kristen is working as an emergency room doctor; and Missy (Deckard) and Darrin Moran, who live in Nashville with their son Seamus. Finally, congratulations are in order. Class President Kevin Kuwik married Kathryn Mack in August at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee. Kevin and Kathryn’s wedding served as a minireunion, with the following classmates in attendance: Sean Norton, Andy Brant, Jim Mullen, Mike Regan, Brent Tadsen, Karen (MacKenzie) and Nate Ebeling, Erin (Gallagher) and Kevin Klau, Tim Murphy, Larissa Herczeg, Stacy (Fields)* and Kevin Janicki, Paul Berrettini, Mark Mastroianni, Larry Patron, Jen and Ken Heckel, Tim Smoots, Tricia (Fanone) and *Brian Matzek, Amanda (Gast) O’Neil, Barb (Wilson)* and JJ Merriam, Erin (Lyons) Sundy, Pam Kennedy, Mandy (Abdo) and Bill Sheahan ’95, Jim Crowe and Pete Luongo. Kevin and Kathryn live in Dayton, where Kathryn practices law and Kevin is an assistant coach with the U of Dayton men’s basketball program. Please keep in touch. I look forward to seeing everyone at the reunion. — Kate Crisham; catherine.crisham@usdoj.gov

96MBA We’ve Got Mail

Jimmy Casto ran October’s Chicago Marathon in a ridiculously impressive 3:05, a new personal record. The finishing time qualified him for the Boston Marathon and earned him a guaranteed entry for the New York City Marathon in 2016. On the songwriting front, Jimmy released a new single, “Scars,” available on iTunes and all digital outlets. (Search for James Casto.) Jim Marley reports that the annual baseball weekend reunion marked its 19th consecutive year this summer when he and several classmates traveled to New York to catch a Dodgers-Mets game. Patrick Ciriello, Todd Dauphinais, Mike Feeney, Drew Flood, Greg Mather, Mike Reichart, and Brian Smith all attended. Baseball reunion regulars Tim Binder, Chad Moore, Patrick Smiggen and a few others were sadly missed. The reunion tradition includes a group dinner on Friday night and then a trip to the stadium on Saturday. Jim writes, “Most of the time, the game is enjoyable but the highlight is just getting together and seeing the great friends we made during our wonderful time at Notre Dame. It is incredible to think that every year since our graduation, a solid group of ND MBA ’96ers have met at a different ballpark around the country for reunion, fellowship and a few cold beverages.” Craig Whitney and his wife, Melissa Conroy ’95MBA, are living in Oakland with children Flannery, Cormac and Shea. Craig continues running Longfellow Wine Company, their small winery in Napa, and Melissa is a managing director at J.P. Morgan. Visiting wine country? Make sure to contact Craig because he’d love to get together. He watched the USC game with Jim Cosgrove in San Francisco while Jim was in town for a wedding. Craig reports that Jim is doing well and is working as an attorney in Buffalo. Greg Mather recently moved to Knoxville TN and is president of Crossville Tile. He and Sue have three children who are adjusting well to new schools, new friends and new sports teams. Greg keeps busy trying to filter out all the talk about Tennessee Vols football while also enjoying the great weather. He is happy to meet up with any classmates near Knoxville or help out with anyone in need of some tile. Danielle Yasuna Wheeler and her family spent a few weeks traveling in Morocco and Spain this summer. She then enjoyed a leisurely August hanging out on the front porch of their new home in northwest Portland OR while intermittently training for the 195-mile Hood to Coast Relay. Danielle is taking a break from marketing consulting for a while to spend more time with her children and enjoy life. Jackson Lynch has been named chief human resources officer for BlueLine Rental, the fastest growing heavy equipment rental company in the market. The Lynch family moved to The Woodlands TX and would love to connect with classmates for a game watch. Thanks to everyone who joined our private class page on Facebook and has posted news and family photos. Not yet a member of this group? Simply search for “Notre Dame MBA Class of 1996” on Facebook to come aboard and join the fun. One more reminder: Please send me your email address for use on our class contact list. The next column is due Feb. 1, so keep all of your terrific news coming. Go Irish. — Maureen Maher; ndmba96news@hotmail.com

96JD Tradition

Hello everyone. Here are some updates. Brendan Rielly’s first thriller, An Unbeaten Man, was published in November. It features ND grad and Bowdoin College microbiology professor Michael McKeon, who battles international forces from Russia to the Middle East and the Far East to save his family. Check it out on Amazon. Jeff Kopp recently was named by Crain’s Detroit as one of its 100 most connected business people in Detroit. Jeff attributes this accolade to his ND connections. He is well and continuing to serve in the Army Reserves, where he is the commander of the 91st Legal Operations Detachment in Chicago, in addition to his day job at Foley and Lardner, where he is a commercial and labor and employment litigator. On Oct. 8, in Washington DC, Ed Perdue laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery and received the DRI’s inaugural Veterans’ Network Meritorious Service Award for his military service and recent service with veterans in need. Ed then bumped into and had a few laughs with Joe Theismann ’71 on the flight back to Grand Rapids. Maria Mucha was recently overheard uttering the phrase “strive for mediocrity” while at a Notre Dame tailgate. When questioned about it, Maria indicated that she was only quoting someone else. My daughter, Becky, and I were recently cast as a father and daughter in an Elkhart IN production of Fiddler on the Roof. Please send me your updates. Please also send me your new email addresses, especially if you would like news of minireunion football games. — Christopher J. Spataro; 57027 Wedgefield Court, Elkhart IN 46516; bus 574-239-1918; res 574-875-4257; chris.spataro@faegrebd.com

97 Reunions, Birthdays and Babies

The fall season is always crazy in my family, rushing from one sporting event to another and then trying to race home to cheer on the Irish. I am sure most of you follow the same weekend pattern of running around with errands and stressing over Irish football. Can’t they just make things easy for us and kill every opponent? The Showtime series has been a great look into Notre Dame life and a great chance for my husband and me to relive our memories of school. Maybe this is why I received so many updates this edition. Thank you, everyone, for the emails. Dr. Veronica Alonzo spent her 40th birthday in Mexico City with her family. They went to see the Virgin of Guadalupe shrine. The family arrived during a massive peaceful protest and was stuck in their hotel room. They stayed at the main plaza, Zócalo, across from the presidential palace and next to the main cathedral. There were more than 100,000 people. It was surreal to see the protest on CNN while simultaneously looking at it live from their window. Veronica shared that the image of the Virgin’s apparition is even more impressive in person. Ina Minjarez was elected as a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives representing District 124 in San Antonio. Jeannine (Haener) and* Danny Eisenbacher* had their ninth baby in May. Amy Catherine joined John, Mary, Joey, Anthony, Peter, Terese, Cecilia, and Angela (deceased). Their eldest will be a senior in high school and plans on applying to Notre Dame. Danny recently started a new job. He is working for Microsoft at their Wilsonville site, making Surface Hubs. He is employed as a quality engineer. Jeannine homeschools the grade-school kids while managing all the crazy schedules. They also help host the ND sendoff picnic each fall. Tim Ray was at the 2015 picnic. Ryan O’Connor is celebrating a decade with his patent law practice and keeps very busy with work and two sons, Torin and Keegan, and wife Adrienne. They traveled all of July throughout the beautiful western US, which was precious time together. Erin (Gowen) Vernon accepted an assistant professor of economics position at Seattle U. She resides in Seattle with her husband, Keith, and daughters Sydney and Sophie. This fall was also a big reunion for me and other classmates. It was the celebration of the 1995 Women’s Soccer National Championship season. Megan (Middendorf) O’Sullivan, Stacia (Masters) Richards, Cindy (Daws) Mosley, Amy (VanLaecke) Chisholm, Jen Renola and I, along with several others from the team, were acknowledged on the field during the USC football game. Who can believe it has been 20 years, and we all looked exactly the same. Please send me updates. — Kate (Fisher) Murray; 1840 Huntingdon Road, Huntingdon Valley PA 19006; kmurraynd@yahoo.com

97MBA ’95 Flashback

I hope this column finds you doing well. I received a great email from our classmate Kerry McInerney, marking the anniversary of our arrival at Notre Dame some 20 years ago. I wanted to use this edition of our Class Notes column to share Kerry’s email with you. Here are Kerry’s comments: “Twenty years. It’s the big one, Elizabeth! This should need little explanation, but, then again, some of you are potentially approaching senility at this point. So I’ll spell it out. It was 20 years ago today that we all met in math camp. Twenty years ago this morning I was wandering around campus, in front of a building where business classes were no longer being held, a lone lost refugee from that random dorm in the woods where Timmy (Coff), Stefan (Schroffner), Elena (Dion) and I had been exiled, trying to understand why the Midwest was so hot and why I’d ever left Manhattan. Isn’t it amazing? Our graduate school years are almost old enough to drink. So until they can, let’s toast to them. Cheers! Cheers to that odd, fun month of August, with its trips to the Dunes and its fish tacos and its coach’s cup nights and its many ways to get to Chicago. Cheers to that first fall, with its tailgates, its Pusskin Press and its nights at Senior Bar. Cheers to our road trip to Purdue, to Sister Betty and to double huddle burgers, and cheers to Bill Nichols and Tom Frecka and all of the professors who put up with us. Cheers to ethanol, because the smell used to remind me of fresh bread but now the smell of fresh bread reminds me of the O’Hara-Grace parking lot. Cheers to that beginning and to every single moment that followed. Twenty years. Goodness gracious, you are all so old. It is a good thing that I am so much younger than most of you. I promise that at the next reunion, I’ll help you all with your walkers. Until then, I’d like to leave you with two thoughts. The first is that platinum is the traditional 20th anniversary gift, so please be sure that you have my new address. The second I will close with. It is a paraphrase of something that sage philosopher Stu Fortener recently said, and I think it’s appropriate here: ‘While we are all old now, I still think that happened yesterday.’” Thank you, Kerry, for always remembering our anniversary as new MBAs. To everyone else, please keep in touch. Connect with me on LinkedIn or Facebook, where I use the name Paul Anthony. Go Irish. — Paul Anthony Mongelluzzo; 646-584-7340; dr_paulnd@email.com

97JD Class Secretary — Erica Anaya;

202-361-6611; anaya@comcast.net

98 A Work in Progress

Michele McTierney is a singer and songwriter whose original album, “A Work in Progress,” is due for release in December. Michele ran a Kickstarter campaign and raised $3,000 toward mastering and production costs. Michele and her band performed at venues in Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC. For more information regarding her album, photos, upcoming shows, press and links to her social media, visit her website: michelemctierney.com. Maureen (Gribbin) Maguire and her husband, Mike, welcomed their daughter, Maeve Kathleen, on May 8. Maeve joins big brothers Conor and Jimmy. After 13 years in luxury marketing in NYC, Maureen is a stay-at-home mother in Stamford CT. Chris Peppel returned to his hometown and is now a commanding officer at the Navy Operational Support Center in Columbus OH. Chris took command under the supervision of the Chief of Navy Reserve, Vice Admiral Robin Braun in August and will be stationed in Columbus for two years. He and his wife, Elena, are living in the historic German Village area. Elena works at the Columbus Zoo. Go Irish. — Bob Flannery; rflannery98@gmail.com

98MBA Celebrations

Chris Browning was recently promoted to president of River Software, where he has worked since 2004. River is a leading SaaS social learning platform that supports and enables mentoring, coaching and peer learning. Casey ’13MNA and Charles O’Neal celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in June and were joined by: Patricia and Ernesto Marcos; Steve Bonilla; Abbey and Anthony Jowid ’97MBA; Yvonne Delgadillo ’12MNA; Mendoza accounting professor Bill Nichols and his wife, Diane; Paola ’97MBA and Paul Silva; Laura and Angelo Lombardo; Heather Anderson ’12 MNA; Matt Shelton ’05; Darius Walker ’09 and his wife, Margaret Mason ’04; and Ginny and Rich Linting ’48. — Joseph Dunlop; 330 North Rockingham Way, Amherst NY 14228; res 716-625-8470; bus 716-821-9393 Ext. 274; joseph.dunlop.1@gmail.com

98JD There and Back Again

Chris Bopst recently became the chief legal and financial officer at Sam-Son Logistics, a small freight forwarding, logistics and warehousing company in Buffalo. He is enjoying the challenges and reports his new workplace is like a big family. Bopst reports that his decision to make a career move was in part motivated by a desire to get another mention in this column. D. J. Young has returned, as a partner, to Firestone, Brehm, Wolf, Whitney & Young LLP after spending three years as a federal prosecutor in Laredo TX. While an assistant US attorney, D. J. prosecuted 10 federal jury trials, all with convictions. D. J., his wife, Melissa ’98MBA, and their three children live in a suburb of Columbus. In their spare time, the family tends to their organic farm, including livestock. D. J. stays busy representing businesses and schools. Have news to share? Drop me a line, and fill me in. Also, pay a visit to the NDLS Class of 1998 Facebook page for news and fun. — Chris Putt; res 574-514-3703; crputt@gmail.com

99 Two ESPY Award Recipients

Anne (Rasho) Vanderkamp and husband J.T. welcomed their third child, Grace Pauline, on Dec. 27, 2014. Grace joins big brother Jack and big sister Stella. Charlie Castline is the program director of shared services in the enrollment division at ND. He recently completed his MBA from Indiana U South Bend, is a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma honor society and was named MBA student of the year. He and his wife, Jen, live in Granger with children Tommy and Katie. Frank E. Bugaris III grew frustrated at the slow speed and high cost of offline and online methods to recruit and hire people for open career opportunities, so he developed CareerLightning. CareerLightning is a mobile app for creating immediate and impactful real-world career introductions. It debuted in the Apple App Store in the fall of 2015. Please feel free to contact Frank with any questions or comments at Frank@CareerLightning.com. Congratulations to Katie Lewis, who married Caitlin Harren in a beautiful ceremony on Bainbridge Island WA in August. Congrats to Danielle Green and Shannon Boxx, who were honored during the July ESPY Awards in LA. Green took home the second annual Pat Tillman Award for Service, while Boxx and the United States Women’s Soccer Team garnered the Best Team of the Year Award. One of the spotlight award recipients during an emotional evening, Green is a former ND women’s basketball guard who later enlisted in the Army. In May 2004, she suffered significant injuries, including the amputation of her left hand and numerous shrapnel wounds, during a grenade attack while serving in Baghdad, Iraq. Green was one of the first female casualties during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Green, who later earned the Purple Heart for injuries suffered in combat and now works with returning veterans as a readjustment counselor in South Bend, received this year’s Pat Tillman Award for Service from Academy Award-winning actress Halle Berry. The honor, created in 2014 by the Pat Tillman Foundation, is named for the late Arizona State U and Arizona Cardinals football player who set aside his career to enlist in the Army. He was killed in the line of duty while serving in Afghanistan in April 2004, one month before Green was injured. “It’s such an honor to receive an award named after Pat Tillman,” Green said during her ESPY Awards acceptance speech. “There are a lot of lessons people like Pat and I learned in sports and a lot of lessons we learned in the service. Maybe the most powerful lessons are the common goals, the loyalty, teamwork, selflessness and commitment that individuals show one another.” Boxx and the Women’s Soccer Team celebrated their third FIFA Women’s World Cup title, thanks to a 5-2 win over Japan in the championship match July 5 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Boxx and her teammates also electrified a worldwide audience, particularly in the United States, where the Fox Sports television broadcast drew more than 25 million viewers, making it the most watched soccer match in American television history. We applaud your accomplishments. Please write. — Erin (Wysong) Martin; erinmartin03@yahoo.com

99MBA Happy Days

It was great to receive many happy updates this quarter. We’ll start off with the new additions to our Notre Dame family. Conrad and Jennifer Stellar welcomed their fifth child, Jacqueline Maria, on Sept.12. Life is even busier now, as Jen homeschools their older children: Teagan, Conrad, Keira and Emery. Jen also shared that their real estate team, The Steller Group, was the number one Keller Williams team in Colorado for the second year in a row. If anyone is coming to town to ski this winter, please let her know so you can catch up. Christina Glorioso was named to the Notre Dame Monogram Club Board of Directors and will serve a three-year term. In addition to that honor, she welcomed identical twin boys, Jake and Jesse. Christina is outnumbered by boys as Jake and Jesse join big brother Chase. Michael Parker accepted a new job as sales manager for ImagiLux LED, a US-based manufacturer and seller of custom LED light panels for backlighting anything from signage, natural stone, graphics, photography, stained glass, etc. He was one of the original investors and left the financial services industry after 16 years. Anyone looking for backlighting solutions should give him a call. Joonmo Ahn relocated to Shenzhen, China, last year with his family and is working at Huawei Technologies. They are exploring and enjoying China. His son, Andy, who was born in South Bend during our second year, is now a junior in high school. Andy was very excited to have the Notre Dame admissions office representative come to his school in the fall. If anyone plans to visit Shenzhen or Hong Kong, please let him know. Brendan King and I had the pleasure of visiting with John Kutsche in Austin TX in June. Our three boys will have fond memories of John teaching them how to jump from the rope swing into Lake Austin. Go Irish. — Christy (Hayes) King; christyking@alumni.nd.edu

99JD Class Secretary — Steve Boettinger;

boettinger@alumni.nd.edu