2010s
2010s
10 Autumn Updates
Matthew Wilse ’10, ’12M.Ed. and Elizabeth Kuhn were married at Basilica of the Sacred Heart on June 16, 2017. Anna (Jansons) Krumins married Nils Krumins on July 11, 2015. They recently welcomed a baby girl, Veronika, on May 25, 2017. Grace (Geppert) Crowley and Mike Crowley ’05, ’12JD welcomed their daughter, Elizabeth Geppert Crowley, on May 7, 2017 in Washington, D.C. She is welcomed with love by her two older brothers, James and Declan. Congratulations to the happy couples! Anthony Stachowski has been named an Associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS). Anthony is a Product Manager at Merchants Insurance Group. Congratulations on the accomplishment! Please send updates to be included in the next ND Magazine. — Matt Molloy; ndclass2010@gmail.com
10MBA Great News
Lauren and Colin Kresse have exciting news to share. They are expecting their first child, a baby boy, due in October. They are excited to be adding to the Class of 2039 and gearing up to live with limited sleep. Lauren is a manager of business development and strategy at Roche Molecular Systems. Colin is a senior manager of enterprise sales onboarding at Salesforce. They are living in San Francisco Bay Area and look forward to seeing fellow alumni at the Stanford game in Palo Alto this year. Xavier Navarro and his wife Lauren are proud to announce the birth of their second daughter, Catalina Sofia Navarro, on June 8. She was born in Miami FL and welcomed happily by her sister Siena, who will turn 2 in November. Xavi is the CFO of Momus Analytics LLC and resides in Miami. In addition to work and family time, Xavi gives back as a board member for Stardom Up, which is a nonprofit that introduces tech entrepreneurship principles to middle school students in the Miami area. Kevin Goodwin got engaged over the 4th of July weekend to Meredith Pettit of Las Vegas. They met in Minneapolis in 2015. He also recently began the Medical Device Center Innovation Fellowship at the U of Minnesota. This wraps up another quarter for Team MBA 2010. Now take a moment and send me some details of “what’s good” to include in the next update. Feel free to share your news anytime. Go Irish. — John Gerberich; cell 847-331-4707; jgerberi@alumni.nd.edu
10JD It’s Me Again
Hello class, Jenny (Hernandez) Laffitte here again to fill Susie Wine’s big shoes, metaphorically, of course. After many years of keeping us updated and entertained, Susie has reluctantly passed me the torch and I could not be more excited to take on the Monday Morning Updates, I mean Class Notes. I hope to keep you as informed and in touch as she did, although I make no promises on the entertainment value. I did not have enough time in the short transitional period to adequately catch up on all the great things that happened in the past few months, but I look forward to hearing from you all and checking in with you in the coming months, because I know that we all have a lot of achievements, accomplishments and special occasions going on in our lives. So please, send me any and all updates you want included here and if you find yourself in Miami, give me a call. Until next time. — Jennifer (Hernandez) Laffitte; 10310 Southwest 128th Ave., Miami FL 33186; res 305-322-7154; bus 786-762-3815; jherna11@alumni.nd.edu
11 Growing Families
Colleen Reuvers ’11SMC and Zach Reuvers welcomed their first child, Ryan Patrick Reuvers, on July 3. The Class of 2039 hopeful will be attending his first ND game over Labor Day Weekend. Chelsea Clark DeBoer and Ty DeBoer welcomed daughter, Margot Jeanette DeBoer, on April 13. Hope Schneider and Justin Schneider are expecting their second child, Mackey Jude Schneider, on Sept. 17. Stella Blue Schneider turned 1 on March 31. The family lives in Redondo Beach CA. Katherine Jones Masterton ’13 and Dan Masterton and had their first daughter, Lucy Karen Masterton, on March 18 in Chicago. She was baptized on June 11 with godparents Stephanie DePrez and Tim Kellen. Patrick and Jessica Brown welcomed their second child, Eleanor Zelie, on the Fourth of July. Appropriately, she came in with a bang, arriving safely, if suddenly, in the car en route to the hospital. Erika Marie Shults, daughter of Dr. Justine Shults ’85 and Cdr. Eugene Shults ’85, married Stephen Charles Lowe of Kearney NE in Santa Barbara CA on June 17. Her bridesmaids included Amy Grinsteinner, Marti Karam ’12 and Jill Mungovan ’12, as well as other close friends. Her aunt Sarah Vakkur Kirby ’90 and uncle Nick Vakkur ’93 were also in attendance. The newlyweds will reside in Lawrence KS following a honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Erika will continue her analytics career at Hallmark as Stephen fulfills his dream of opening his own bar. Hellen Lee got married in September 2016 and gave birth to a child in April. Cornelius Rogers married Nicole Bayer on June 16. Two of the groomsmen were ND alumni from the same class: Daniel Crupi and James Shubert. Theresa Gildner and Matthew Nagy ’12 were married on June 10 on Bainbridge Island WA. They met in the Notre Dame marching band and look forward to a lifetime of cheering on the Irish together. Claire Cotter and Carlos E. Peña got married in beautiful Cleveland on June 24. They will be embarking on a new adventure together, moving to Boulder CO in the fall. Third-generation alum Matt LaFleur married the best woman in the world, Lindsey Lundy, now Lindsey LaFleur, in Little Rock on Nov. 5. Despite six years passing since graduation, Charlie Nejedly, Sean Philbin, and Kyle Bailey continue to communicate daily and bridge the geographical gap by staying in touch over the following mediums: text message (bdubs gang), instagram (thread gang), Snapchat (thread gang), and twitter (DMs). Beth Cotter recently moved from Ann Arbor to San Francisco. Beth will continue her work as a registered dietitian in eating disorder treatment at Cielo House in Moss Beach CA. Stephen Neal recently relocated from Chicago to New Orleans, where he accepted a job with the New Orleans Pelicans/Saints in their business analytics department. Please send updates. Go Irish. — Evan James; ndclass2011@gmail.com
11MBA Waiting for News
Sadly no updates were submitted. Please reach out and send some news for the next edition. — Chris Orenchuk; chris.orenchuk@gmail.com
11JD Exciting News and Happenings
Best year ever? I am going to say yes. We have exciting news and happenings going on. Erin Rogozinski ’08, ’11JD was proposed to by native Tennessean Matt Swafford along the river walk in Geneva IL. She said yes and the schemes began. Stay tuned for the next Class Notes for more details on the Rogo wedding adventures. Speaking of weddings, DJ Ward wed Abbey Harr in June in Florida and many ND alumni were present. Chrissi Mark married Carl Mercado in May. For their next adventure, they will be welcoming a baby this fall. And on that, so many babies. Annie Weir and superman Chris Weir welcomed Magdalena Rose on March 8. Little Maggie is already learning from big sister Lizzie on how to wear Notre Dame sweatbands. Andrea (Grano) ’07SMC and David Thaxton ’07, ’11JD had a joyous little boy Noah Mathias Thaxton join their family on June 14. It’s going to be a full ND class of 2035. Brian Murray and wife Katie welcomed their third child, George Oscar Murray in May. Caitlin Dahl ’06, ’11JD and Matt Cirenza ’06 welcomed Henry Rocca Cirenza on May 27. Do you think he can beat his parents’ number of Notre Dame degrees? Leah and A.J. Weissler welcomed Paul James (“PJ”) Weissler on March 31. Fellow “PJ”, PJ Hines is already worried about maintaining his title as King of Mulligans with this new competition. Speaking of beloved children, Samantha (Winters) and Greg McAlpin ’07, adopted Baloo, a yellow lab with lots of personality who likes to hog his parents’ attention and spend their money. Congrats are deserved for Chris Avila, who was elected to the Notre Dame Law Associate Board representing Florida and Puerto Rico. Rep the Class of 2011 well. Stay tuned for the next update, in which I gratuitously describe in excruciating detail the attendees and memories from my own wedding. Send any updates my way. — Lauren Sharkey; lksharkey@gmail.com
12 Class Secretary — Tyler Harmsen;
tharmsen@alumni.nd.edu
12MBA Class Secretary — Chris Villani;
christopher.villani@gmail.com
12JD New Parents
Hello, classmates. Thanks for checking in. Let’s start with babies. Alison Curran Smith and her husband Buck welcomed a son into the world on July 13. His name is Kenneth Sanders Smith III, and Alison informs me that they’ve decided to call him Sanders. I have immediate and intense name jealousy. And looking ahead to the future, Monica (Bordas) Schmucker and her husband Dustin are expecting their second child. Monica reports, and Facebook video confirms, that it’s a boy. The soon-to-be-family-of-four resides in Florida. Danielle Liguenza sent me the following: “Only fun thing that happened to me this year was getting engaged and continuing to eat a copious amount of nachos, as one does. Hope this helps your update search.” Way to go, Danielle. Ryan Shupe got engaged in January. He popped the question in Paris, also known as the City of Lights. Congratulations to Ryan and his fiancée. Abhishek Kambli is still working as a JAG. He actually just got assigned to a military commission dealing with terrorism cases. His current team is working with the defense of one of the alleged 9/11 co-conspirators, which is really intense stuff. Colin Diamond informs me that the grade school track team he coaches recently won their league championship for the first time since he started coaching four years ago. Prior to Colin becoming their coach, the team had been on a streak of 20 consecutive state titles, but Colin was unable to bring the heat. Kidding, I made that up. Congrats to Colin and his Young Runners. Colin just got back from a trip to Alaska, where he flew around Mount Denali and hiked on a glacier. I think that sounds pretty cool. Andrew Doyle, who apparently got sick of just talking other people into buying Teslas, recently pre-ordered a Tesla of his own. He says Elon Musk is his homeboy. Mr. Musk’s representative has not gotten back to me to confirm. Andrew, who is still working for the Bend OR public defender, recently helped create the local district attorney’s committee on science and also scored a goal in his rec soccer league. And last but not least, has anyone heard from Alvin Adjei lately? Last I heard, he was embarking on what he said was the first solo voyage sailing across the width of Lake Nacogdoches, a journey of between 2,000 and 4,000 feet, depending on where you start. I tried to tell him someone probably already did that, but he said, “If it’s not in Guinness, it doesn’t count.” I would appreciate any information as to Alvin’s whereabouts and current condition. — James Champlin; james.c.champlin@gmail.com
13 Burning the Midnight Oil
Hello fellow tweeners. I come to you between two shifts, the residency version of between two ferns that’s just as brief but nowhere near as entertaining. I got a lot of updates this time, and dug up some extra with my little birdies. We’ll start with weddings and engagements. There was a wedding in Orlando that was choc-full of ’13ers. Traditionally, our class doesn’t do well when traveling to Florida in the winter, but Thomas Potthast and Brianna Neblung looked to change that when they got married Feb. 4. Allison Whitlock, Siobhan Martinez, Kathleen Monahan, Christine D’Allessandro, Rebecca Kibler, Claire Mattison and Janet Mostrom were in attendance. Most impressively (sorry, bridal party) was a special recording by the one and only Sgt. Tim McCarthy of the Indiana State Police. If I could have one tenth of that guy’s pun capabilities, this article would be entirely puns. I also heard from Andrea Palazzolo that she got engaged to Henry Ray, and will marry at the Basilica next year. It’ll be a busy year for her, as she also pursues her first publication, defends her PhD, and gets married. I, on the other hand, have a hard time walking and chewing at the same time. Per Melissa Hoshizaki, Lauren Dunn and Matt Gilbert got engaged in March, and will be getting married in April before Lauren starts her residency. Take it from me, residency is a great way to avoid household chores. I was able to sneak in to the wedding of Joe Wirth and Jackie McGushin, held in Le Man’s Holy Spirit Chapel. Per customary Joe, a pro wrestler in a mask ran through the reception, apparently headed to the wrestle-mania on the second floor. I offered Bobby Shields a lifetime of being out of the magazine if he could make it three rounds, but he declined. Sarah Albert, sister of “the glaringly inferior” Anthony Albert, sent me an email that her brother married Dr. Heather Chiarello. For the sake of diplomacy I won’t get in between the sibling rivalry, but I will say that this is one exceptionally wonderful couple with some of my favorite people. Next up are babies. I only have one update; Gabe Delatte is expecting his second child, a girl. He says the world is her oyster and he doesn’t want to influence where she goes to college, but “I really hope she doesn’t end up in Walsh.” I’ve also got some professional developments. Stephen Despins started his residency in PM&R at Case Western. So far, what I’ve learned about PM&R is that everybody at the hospital loves them. So much so that I’m contemplating stitching it into my white coat so people will want to talk to me. William Dotterweich’s dad, Bill, sent me a pretty impressive email; Will graduated valedictorian from Indiana U, and started his orthopedics residency at Boston U Medical Center. He’s also expecting his first child in September, so it’s a big year for Will. Good thing he’ll have all that extra free time to help with childcare. Also of note, there are three fellow ’13ers in fabulous Cincinnati for residency. Annie Wehry is doing internal medicine, Michael Moore is doing orthopedics, and Megan Rodts is doing pediatrics. As for me, I’m still figuring out the two most important things of residency; where’s the food and where are the bathrooms. Nobody knows that better than Meggan Muller, who has literally written a book on workplace bathroom etiquette. Thank you again for all the updates. Please send more. Cheers. — Chris Champlin; nd2013updates@gmail.com
13MBA More Happenings
Unfortunately I’ve got sad news to pass along. Andrew Leach passed away suddenly on June 2. Our prayers are with his friends and family, especially his wife, Amanda (Kelsay) Leach. Leach was responsible for some of the best laughs I had at Notre Dame. He was a charismatic guy that everyone liked, and he will be greatly missed. I do have happier news to report. John and Jenna Lytle have settled into Houston. They bought a house in August and are doing their best impression of Chip and Joanna by trying to do small home renovations. They are trying to grow the size of the Notre Dame Club of Houston and encourage everyone to think about moving to Houston. Jenna tries to stay in touch with classmates any way possible, most recently by playing (and losing to) Elie El-Zammar in an epic game of Internet Scrabble. Elie is still in Seattle and loving it, and still raving about Microsoft, where he works. Kurt Wilson was promoted to captain in May and finished serving a three-year tour in Wiesbaden, Germany. He and his family moved to Ft. Huachuca AZ in July and will be there until January 2018 while he attends Army Military Intelligence Captain’s Career Course. Nick Jones has also stayed pretty busy. His company Bacon on a Stick continues to do well. In 2015 he started a digital agency that is seeking another round of investor funding. In 2016 he realized a lifelong dream by buying a tabletop games store, All About Games, which now has two locations in Boise ID and a third one that hopefully will be open by the time you read this. Then, this June, he signed a lease for 7,200 square feet of retail space to open a public market and eatery called Caio, which will open in May 2018. In his spare time, he is a full-time lecturer at Boise State U where he teaches Entrepreneurship and Design Thinking. And somewhere along the way he managed to marry Amelia Draney. Lastly, an anonymous tipster passed on two more pieces of info. Mike Hoye recently took an investment banking VP position with Barclays, with a focus on financial sponsors. He lives in the greater Chicago area with his wife and two daughters. And Krissy Kalinauskas and Peter Bloechle were married in Isle of Palms SC in July. In addition to various classmates who attended, Prof. Joe Holt was the officiant. Are there any more MBA class romances out there that may result in wedding bells? The deadline for the next notes is Oct. 29. Keep the tidbits coming. — Nick Imgrund; 314-775-7364; daimgrund@yahoo.com
13JD Now With More Idaho
Well I think we all knew that Megan Olmstead couldn’t stay away from Idaho forever. Megan is leaving Washington DC “to reclaim my Idahoan birthright of tall mountains, dry summers, skiing-filled winters, family, hardy mountain deer, pine trees, potatoes galore and good coffee.” Megan will be associate counsel in the Idaho Office of Energy & Mineral Resources. In Chuck news, Charles Galvin and crew recently spent a week in Seattle for NITA training. While in Frasiertown, Charles met up with Tim Cantu and said, “we shared an adult beverage in his office and I secretly died inside while gazing out the window into the Puget Sound.” I’m sure Ohio has some good views, too. Chuck is continuing the tradition of civic engagement for our class, and as of this writing is collecting signatures to run for a spot on the Mason County School Board. Charles and Natalie’s daughter Lydia remains Instagram queen of the Class of 2013, Progeny Division. Speaking of Instaqueens, Ana-Paola Capaldo recently became engaged to boyfriend Lawrence Aoun. Congrats AP. We have another Class of 2013 wedding to report. Catherine Mitros and Matt May were married in a beautiful ceremony attended by many of our classmates. Congratulations to Catherine and Matt. Ryan Fulkerson recently became the owner of a boxing gym in Bowling Green KY, aptly named Bowling Green KY Boxing. Good luck and congratulations on the new venture, Ryan. And finally, bookending the Class Note with homecoming news, Kevin Landino and his wife Jennifer are heading home to Michigan. Kevin informs me that Jennifer has accepted a postdoctoral research fellowship at U of Michigan. Kevin works as a compliance attorney with The General Automobile Insurance Services. When asked how he felt about the impending move, Kevin proceeded to chant “People from Michigan” except it was email so he just typed it. Please send me updates. — Alex Blair; apblair@gmail.com
14 Class Secretary — Michael Nichols;
miketnicholsii@gmail.com
14MBA It’s Our Anniversary
Wait, what are we talking about? Well, #bestclassever, have you realized that this August marked the fifth anniversary of when we all first met? It’s true. Sure, it seems like only yesterday that we were powering through a whirlwind orientation and bonding over our shared admiration for Brian Lohr but, shockingly, our first month of MBA is now officially five years behind us. The nostalgia almost made your class co-secretaries sad, except then we realized that this milestone means something wonderful: Our classmates are no longer “new friends” anymore. Rather, we have moved over to the “lifelong friends” category. As if there was ever any doubt we’d make it. But happy anniversary, and thanks for five years of beautiful friendship. Our family is growing. And what a difference five years can make. So many of our families are growing that it is difficult for your co-secretaries to keep up, but oh, we have so much fun trying. Let’s start with babies. Prudence Zhu and hubby Wyatt Brooks welcomed their first son, Jimmy, to their Chicago home this summer. Zeynep and Burak Gündoğdu were blessed with a Fourth of July baby, a son who made his debut with fireworks. Meanwhile Instagram was full of bright smiles as we watched Katie and Tom Laughner’s daughter celebrating that she became a big sister in July. Amazing. Congratulations to all the new parents. And then there are weddings. This summer brought wedding bells to Bob Rohr, who swept our own Meg Stiphany clear off her feet. And we’ll have to double check about calling her “K-fan” from now on because the beautiful Kathy Fan married her sweetheart Sean Bahmani on Aug. 1. Congratulations are also in order for Emmanuel “Manny” Malizu on his recent engagement. He’s off the market, ladies. Sorry. Even if you’re only barely paying attention to LinkedIn these days, you may have noticed that 2014ers are making big moves. Lauren Harville took up a brand new life in Minnesota. Winnie Guan is back stateside working for Johnson & Johnson in New Jersey. Others are making big career moves. Katie Rossi has a new position managing strategy for a five-state region with Blue Cross Blue Shield. Alexandru Aleman was promoted to engagement manager in McKinsey & Company’s healthcare practice. And some of these big moves are bringing Domers closer to their passions. Michael Cohen now gets to spend every day geeking out about tech bonds in his new role with S&P Global Ratings. Home for the home game? OMG! OMG! The first home game of 2017. By the time you read this, we will likely have celebrated our reunion weekend on Sept. 2—and hopefully the home team will have earned its first “W” for the season. This year’s event is the third annual reunion tailgate we’ve enjoyed and people are really catching on—so remember to mark your calendars to come home for the first home game of every year. Meanwhile, as great things happen in your lives, please remember to send your updates to Krick and Jess so we can share your joy with your ND family. We love you. Go Irish. — Jessica Bonanno; 407-808-7148; jbonanno@alumni.nd.edu; Krick Cahill; 518-598-4222; kcahill1@alumni.nd.edu
14JD Class Secretary — Rachel Hanley;
rachelrhanley@gmail.com
15 Class Secretary — Robert Reed;
1801 W. North Ave., Apt. 2R, Chicago IL 60622; cell 847-691-0666; rreed1@alumni.nd.edu
15JD Overseas Travel
Alex De La Flor and Patrick Folley changed their Facebook status to “in a relationship.” But they changed their rear car window status to “Just Married” on July 29. Congrats to the lovely couple. Alex works as a guardian ad litem in Ft. Lauderdale while Patrick is an associate at Cole, Scott & Kissane PA in West Palm Beach. Now for the non sequiturs: Steven Nyikos is a research analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He lives in DC and has been spotted in a Washington Nationals hat on occasion. I am not sure what his Mariners brethren will think of that. He is originally from Washington. He still has a beard for those curious. Krissie Connolly and Chaz Enerio are in love…with #Norway. Possibly each other also. OK, yes each other also. Now here are fun facts about Norway. 1. It knighted a penguin in 2008, Brigadier Sir Nils Olav, who is a king penguin residing in the Edinburgh Zoo and is the mascot of the Norwegian King’s Guard. 2. Voss Water is simply water bottled from the municipal water supply in Iveland, Norway. 3. It is home to the world’s longest road tunnel, 15.3 miles. By the way, Chaz works as an associate in corporate litigation for Prickett, Jones & Elliott in Wilmington DE. I’m certain there are no fjords in Delaware. Go ahead and say it, you know you want to: fjords. Boston is trying its best to contain Kyle Munns. He is an associate in the elder law estate practice group with Cushing & Dolan, P.C. Abdul Shakour is somewhere more exciting than Florida, Boston, DC, or Norway. (Go ahead, do it again: fjords). You guessed it, Abdul is rocking out in Des Moines. He is working at Lifespace Communities, Inc. doing contract drafting, governance, and compliance work. I feel bad about teasing him about Iowa, so let me tell you that he traveled to Istanbul and Cappadocia in Turkey last October. So there. But wait, there is more. In April he went to Barcelona and Madrid. This November, he is taking his beautiful bride to Italy. Abdul, might I recommend Norway? One more time: fjords. Doesn’t it just make you feel better to say it? OK, that is all for now. Email me (no one has in two years) with updates on jobs, kids, marriages, divorces, etc. — Matthew Wine; mwine@alumni.nd.edu