2010s

10 Happy Days

Congratulations to Jessie Jenkins and John Beecham, who were married in Omaha last May. Jessie is finishing her third year of medical school at U of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. Krista Rose Mijares and Michael Lerma were married in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on July 13, 2013. The Mass was co-celebrated by Father Paul Doyle, CSC; Father Edward Malloy, CSC; and Father Ed Gorski, CSC. The bridal party included Kathleen (Lane) Van Vleet, Kristine So, Jonathan Alfano ’09, Joshua Entz ’09, Kyle Pawlak ’09, Jason Rodulfa ’09, and Hajime Sargent ’09. The day was captured by OMG Photography, owned by classmate Kaity Fuja. The couple and their loved ones spent most of the wedding weekend at the Sacred Heart Parish Center, where the couple first met on a freshman retreat and where the couple got engaged. Ashley Mensch married Nick Severyn ’11 in November in her home state of New Jersey. Attendants included Ray Farabaugh, Stephanie Severyn ’09, Kathleen Severyn ’15, Brian Severyn ’18, Mike Doran ’11, Mike Rooney ’11, Thomas Pecsok ’11, Tom Friel ’11, Matt Lauritzen ’11, Derry Herlihy ’11, and Fritz Schoenhut ’11. Laura (Cassel) and Scott Andrews braved the cold and got married at the Basilica in March. Father John Conley, CSC, Scott’s old rector, presided. The wedding party included Keriann Hopkins, Katherine Schilling, Kathleen McDonald, Margaret Schropp ’12ACE, Brian Kastenholz, Michael Dean, John McNeil, John Queally and Andrew Baroody. Laura is a seventh-grade language arts teacher at the San Miguel School, and Scott is a private equity analyst at BOK Financial. They live in Tulsa OK. Colleen Kelly and Ryan Brellenthin were married at Old St. Pat’s in Chicago on May 31. Matt Perron and Laura Verwilst were married in the Basilica on June 13. Members of the wedding party included Ann Driscoll ’07, Rachel Perron ’13, Chrissy Andrews, Colleen Kelly, Andrew Verwilst ’14, Brian Dondanville ’11, Rob Morgan ’11 and Tom Rooney. Laura graduated from the Southern College of Optometry in May. Congratulations to the many happy couples. Congratulations to Kathleen Zink and Justin Jamero, who got engaged in September at a winery in Sonoma CA. The New York City-based couple plans to wed in 2015. Kathleen is a second-year law student at Fordham U School of Law. Timothy Keown and Urvashi Mathur were engaged on April 22. All the best as you plan your weddings. Katie Peralta graduated from Northwestern U Medill School of Journalism in December and will work as a business reporter in Washington DC. Fellow Marionette Kelsey Scribner is a 2L at Georgetown U Law Center in Washington. Alex Freer graduated in May with a PhD in chemical engineering from Purdue. Alex works for ExxonMobil Products Research & Technology and lives in Philadelphia. Nick Perdue graduated from Indiana U Medical School in May and was inducted into the AOA Medical Honor Society. Nick will start his dermatology residency this July at Indiana U Medical Center in Indianapolis. Hui Hung was recently promoted to senior consultant at MorganFranklin. She appreciated your prayers as she geared up for MBA school applications. Shelley Chen received a master’s degree in occupational therapy from USC in May. HX Phan left public school education to pursue her fourth-grade dreams of becoming an accountant. We had so many wonderful things to report. Keep the updates coming. See you all next summer at our five-year reunion. Go Irish. — Matt Molloy; 602-510-7373; NDclass2010@gmail.com

10MBA Updates Abound

Greg Cochara accepted an offer to join The Onion’s senior management team as their new director of analytics. He is thrilled to be a part of America’s “finest news source,” which is growing exponentially. In the last two years, The Onion has ended its print publication and opened Onion Labs, a content advertising venture which capitalizes on its competitive advantage in comedy. Greg and his wife, Katie, live in Lisle IL. Katie is the founder & CEO of Katie Lynn Creations (KatieLynnCreations.com), which specializes in custom luxury wedding invitations, stationery and consulting. Brian Milligan shared that he joined Schwartz Investment Counsel as an equity research analyst. He is excited to be part of a firm with over $1.8 billion in assets that also has the Ave Maria mutual fund family. This fund family targets clients interested in financially sound investments in companies that do not violate certain religious principles of the Catholic Church. Brian, wife Jen and son Brady live in Plymouth MI. Andrew Franger writes that he is now at Morningstar as a consultant to RIAs using the company’s products. He is still living in Chicago and is still as handsome as ever. Xavier Navarro wed his girlfriend of three years, Lauren Alvarez, on April 12 in beautiful St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Miami Beach. Following the wedding and reception, the couple spent two weeks in Italy wining and dining on some of the best Italy has to offer. Upon return, Xavier and Lauren will continue to reside in NYC. Xavier is a client executive with IBM and Lauren is the marketing director for prestigious Alvarez Law Firm. Ben Freeburg shared that he is tying the knot this summer in Seattle to Jenni Mickelson who is a second grade teacher. He is still with Summit Capital as investment strategy director — private markets. After the wedding they will live in the Seattle area. Ted Kwartler writes that he recently spoke at a predictive analytics conference in San Diego and is speaking again in Chicago. When he presents, he typically covers text mining in social media. He was also asked to sit on the editorial board of the Applied Marketing Analytics Journal. Ted works as a director of advanced analytics at Liberty Mutual Insurance in Boston, where he lives with his daughters Nora and Brenna and wife Meghan. Yves Desharnais just moved from Chicago to Canada and will be settling in Montreal. He is starting an IT business focused on consulting and developing software tools. Tim-Oliver Seidel lives in London and is working for Baird. David Villecco recently launched a technology start-up, Venn Conferencing that specializes in video and VoIP security for corporate clients. The company provides services that secure, connect and monitor enterprise telecommunications traffic in order to prevent cyber intrusions. Based in Denver, Venn Conferencing focuses on an emerging niche of cyber security that is becoming essential in corporate network security. Exciting news on my home front: Patricia and I welcomed a bundle of joy on April 10. Nicholas George Gerberich has been a good sleeper, but still likes to show us who is the boss from time to time. We are looking forward to some trips back to South Bend with the little guy soon. I work for IBM in the strategy and analytics consulting services practice, and Patricia is taking a break from her attorney job. Please contact me with your promotions, new additions, and special updates. Go Irish. — John Gerberich; cell 847-331-4707; jgerberi@alumni.nd.edu

10JD Summertime

The living is easy, unless you’re a new parent trying to apply sunscreen to your wriggling baby. Brigit and Ben Accinelli are members of the New Parents’ Club, welcoming baby Amelia last June. She’s probably spending the summer at a splash pad near their home in central Missouri (God’s country), where Ben is stationed in Army JAG. Please be sure to visit Marshall MO, ancestral home of the author and Jim the Wonder Dog. Taking the plunge into parenthood for the second time recently were Maria and Michael Korson, who welcomed baby Bonnie Anne in April. Big brother MKII is reportedly enjoying his new role and is very helpful in throwing away diapers. Please reward him with a tasty blueberry, Michael. Margaret (Azhar) and Dennis Czuchaj welcomed the pitter-patter of little feet in January with the birth of Eleanor (Nora) Rose. Nora is very sweet and growing quickly. Please bring her to the reunion next May so that she can babble happily with the many other future Domers our class has birthed over the past five years. Happy one-year anniversary to Kimberly Gilsdorf and Jonathan Miner, who were married last August in a beautiful backyard ceremony in Washington. After a honeymoon in Iceland, they settled in NYC, but have recently relocated home to Seattle. Kimberly started a new job at FSG Consultants, and Jonathan is in the corporate group at K&L Gates. Please continue making the rest of us jealous with your Puget Sound adventures. Julie Woods has been living the dream in west LA in three ways. First, she ran the LA marathon. Second, she has a fantastic apartment near enough to her job in Brentwood to walk to work. Third, she works at a probate litigation firm, putting her trusts and estates knowledge to good use. Please remember us poor commuters as you enjoy your walk in the 72-degree sunshine, Julie. It is not often that we here at Class Notes are scooped by the NY Times. But it happened recently, when the wedding announcement of Kathleen Donovan and Kenny Coffin appeared there before it appeared here. Never again. Many congrats to the two, who were joined by Caitlin (Gildea) Robinson, Emily Mraz, Ryan Duffy, Rob Hamburg and John Cronin in the wedding party. Also helping them celebrate were Stacy Greiner, Michael Chambliss, Brittany Grice, Kimberly Shubert, Michael Davey, Katelan Doyle, Laura Moran, Maggie Myers and Perry Phipps, Katie (Lewis) Blouin, Ryan Dattilo, Jenny Hernandez and Matthew Reedy ’11JD. The ceremony was in Dallas and a good time was had by all. Only two guests missed their flights the next day due to excessive celebration. Reunion 2015 is just around the corner so mark your calendars. Please bring your adorable children so we can ooh and aah over them, and we will work on getting evening childcare. — Susie Wine; 1106 N. St. Joseph St., South Bend, IN 46617; 574-514-3746

11 Springing Ahead

Cynthia Weber and Grant Schmidt ’10 were married in Mobile AL on Feb. 8. Cytnhia and Grant served as ND’s student body vice president and president, respectively, during the 2009-2010 school year. Father Tim Scully, CSC, Father Sean McGraw, CSC, and Father Lou DelFra, CSC, presided at the ceremony at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. It was truly a Notre Dame wedding, with the ND ACE bus making an appearance, a “Marry Like a Champion” sign that the couple hit as they walked out of the cathedral, a ND-themed groom’s cake and many Notre Dame grads in the wedding party including: bridesmaids Kate Clitheroe, Mary Kate Lyons, and Kristen Sutton ’11MSA; groomsmen Terry Howell ’10, Brent Neville ’10, Aaron Weber ’14, and Bob Reish ’09; and usher Steve Bold ’10. Grant and Cynthia live in Dallas. Cynthia graduated from SMU Law this spring and will be clerking for the Hon. Barbara M.G. Lynn. Grant recently graduated from UT Law and is clerking for the Hon. Sam A. Lindsay. Tim Castellini proposed to Ellen Bartindale ’12 in September 2013. The couple did their engagement photos at ND shortly thereafter and will be getting married in St. Charles IL on Aug. 16. ND groomsmen and ushers include: Andrew Reyes ’10, Matt Castellini (’16), Pat Langley, Avery Zuck, Henry Shine, Jack Russell, Bobby Novak, Brian Brooke, Matthew Bartindale ’10, Jake Marmul and Michael Baer. Ellen’s ND alum bridesmaids include: Catherine (Casey) Bartindale ’10, Patti Noelck ’12, Haley Chamberlain ’12, Mary Mahon ’12 and Christy Ruffing ’12. Ellen works for Adams Street Partners, a private equity firm of funds in Chicago and Tim works for Callan Associates, an investment consulting firm, in their Chicago office. Nick Lezynski and Jessica Schott ’11SMC are engaged and will be married at the Basilica on June 14 by Father Joseph Carey, CSC. Domers in the wedding party include David Ruffer, Daniel Franco, JT Redshaw, Ryan Sheehan, Mike Garcia, Chris Salvi ’12, Martin Quintana ’10, Siobhan Sarb ’08, Ryan Sarb ’08 and Blaise Lezynski ’15. The couple also welcomed their first baby, Sloane O’Brien Lezynski, on March 9. Congratulations. —
Evan James; ndclass2011@gmail.com

11MBA New Adventures

Nate Burns is taking on a new venture. He will be teaching finance to high school students at the Launch summer entrepreneurship academy at MIT. Rebecca (Camus) and Erik Haas had an exciting fall. They welcomed their son, Robert (ND class of 2035), in August and moved back to Chicago in October. Mimi Wilfong made the Helice world championship team again. This September she will represent the United States in Bologna, Italy. Pedro Freyre is getting married to his beautiful fiancée, Colleen Kelly. They will be getting married in Montgomery MN, where they plan on having a barn-themed wedding. Parting shots: Lacey (Pletcher) Love checked in from Naperville IL. Cindy Chiow wants to know why no one is visiting her in Singapore. Nate Burns, in the vein of Bachman Turner Overdrive, continues to take care of business. Sarah Louise (Windham) Gribble has nothing to report. Viral Kothari is dominating life. If you would like to see your update here, please reach out. — Chris Orenchuk; 574-514-5671; chris.orenchuk@gmail.com

11JD Memorable Times

Danielle (Palkert) ’07, ’11JD and Alex Hermanny ’08MEd, ’11JD welcomed Elizabeth Rose “Ellie” on Feb. 14. Brendan Bush accepted a position at Hansen Reynolds Dickinson Crueger, a complex corporate litigation firm in Milwaukee and got engaged to Laura Bresnahan ’09 in February. That was pretty impressive for the shortest month of the year. Shari Taylor is a member of the English Bar and currently on secondment from Ashurst LLP to GE Corporate Finance Bank in London. Kaitlin (Moredock) and Jason DiNapoli joyously awaited the arrival of Johnny DiNapoli in May. A baby shower was held at Fiddler’s Hearth in South Bend with many ND grads in attendance including Lauren Sharkey ’08, ’11JD, Meghan Sweeney ’08, ’11JD, Erin Rogozinski, ’08, ’11JD, Samantha Winters and MacKenzie Moredock ’17. Christopher Avila is on a three-month secondment with a client (G4S) in England. Terrence Steven Rogers ’79 ’11LLM published an article in the Observer called “Remembering Alan Sondej,” about deceased and distinguished Notre Dame grad Alan Sondej ’74, who worked on behalf of the world’s poor and hungry. He died in a call to a fire as a member of the Hyattsville MD, Volunteer Fire Department on March 18, 1988. Terrence also published an article in The Women’s Rights Law Reporter of Rutgers U in November 2013 titled, “Exposure to Domestic Violence as a Crime Under Domestic and International Law.” He and wife Michelle enjoy raising Terrence Charles, 3. PJ Hines grew a beard (though this secretary doubts it). There is no word yet whether this catches buffalo wing sauce during his training for the Buffalo Wing Contest. I look forward to keeping in touch with everyone, so keep your stories coming and contact me. — Lauren Sharkey; lksharkey@gmail.com

12 News Needed

Please submit any class updates, such as engagements, weddings, births, deaths and reunions. — Tyler Harmsen;

563-505-3708; tharmsen@alumni.nd.edu

12MBA Important Events

Matthew Pyzyk was named vice president at Green Courte Partners. After completing a post-MBA internship, Julia Durgee moved to Portland ME (in the coldest winter in recent memory) to begin a digital marketing analyst role at L.L. Bean. She manages programmatic media buying platforms that help the brand reach people on Facebook, mobile and the wider web. Ryan Egan has taken on a new job in the suburbs of Chicago, and recently visited our nation’s capital. Our classmates have had several other important events since our last entry, so please send your updates so we can all share in your fantastic news. — Jenna Newcomb; irishMBA2012@gmail.com

12JD Babies, Politics, Pets and a Celebrity

To start things off with a bang, Brian Boyle sent me a picture, but I can’t print photos. It is a black and white photograph of a half-dozen NDLS ’12 grads standing in a line, looking dapper in suits and ties. It came with the following caption: “From Left to Right: Sean Damm, Benjamin Forest (presumably) Ostrander, Brian Hugh Boyle, Brian Hugh (presumably) Bond, Colin “Blood” Diamond and Harrison St. Germain (all Law ‘07) [sic] visited an art gallery in an undated photo from either 2010 or 2013.” The caption is obviously inaccurate, as Brian Boyle would never be caught dead in an art gallery. There were big changes for a few of our classmates in the past few months. Sean Damm and his wife Ashlyn had a beautiful baby girl on March 7 and named her Layla Peyton Damm. The whole family is Damm happy. Drew Stokesbary and his wife, Ashley, looked forward to having a baby in late May, and Drew says that he plans on naming the baby John, to ensure he eventually winds up at NDLS. Mr. Stokesbary is running for the state legislature in Washington state. I am happy to give him my official endorsement, especially after he committed to adding a plank to his platform that takes a strong stance on undergrads in the law library. Sabila (Kadiruzzaman) Khan recently got a promotion and is now an assistant vice president and counsel in her group at BNP Paribas. On top of that, she and her husband Adil recently bought a home in Queens. Brian Michel has been busily serving the public interest up in Milwaukee, where he has worked as an assistant district attorney doing trial work, as a solo practitioner handling public defender appointments and landlord/tenant disputes, and most recently as a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee. Brian works in a bunch of high-need areas of the law with LASM and advocates for those living with mental illness, veterans and other low-income residents of his city. While not working tirelessly for justice, he lives on the city’s south side with his dog, Justice. Katie Vujea hung out with Taylor Swift at a bridal shower. No, seriously, check Facebook. Or Buzzfeed. Brigette Dutra reports that her cat Prudence is living the quiet life of a proud feline diva, and that she recently took (and did well on) an online quiz testing her on the correct use of “affect” vs. “effect.” And in an impromptu reunion, Alvin Adjei crashed at my apartment for a few days while he was in Chicago for a wedding, and we made halfhearted and ultimately unsuccessful efforts to meet up with John Rompf, who was in town for something unrelated. I took this opportunity to introduce Alvin to my fish, Ruth Bader Finsburg. Alvin developed an instant, intense connection with the fish, and was overheard saying, “Do you think it knows that it’s a fish?” Thanks for all of your updates. Keep sending me stuff between now and the next issue. — James Champlin; james.c.champlin@gmail.com

13 We Told Them

We told the juniors it would go by quickly. After seeing a thousand Facebook statuses about graduating, I’m going to take a quick minute to tell all of the current seniors that we told them so. Nothing makes me more bitter than nostalgia, am I right? Anyway, I’ll start with some happy news. Matthew Daye asked Sarah Pinter to marry him, and she said yes. He popped the question on Notre Dame’s campus, which is a class-A move, and the two are going to be married in the Basilica, another class-A move. I also caught wind that Kayla Hickey and Adam Zebrowski got engaged. (If either of you are wondering how I know, Caitlin Connelly spilled the beans). I’d like to wish, on behalf of the class, both couples the best of luck as they enter into what we all hope will be long marriages full of joy. I’d also like to congratulate our architect classmates on graduating. Welcome to the real world, friends. Those are all of the updates I received, despite my Facebook plea. Joe Thomas publicly promised me an update to include in this issue, but I failed to receive it. I’m sure it got lost in the mail, because the Joe I know always keeps a promise. Luckily for you all, I’ve had my ear to the grapevine and caught wind of some other updates. Claire George recently attempted the world record for consecutive viewings of Disney’s Frozen, but was only able to watch it four times before her cat broke her Blu-Ray player. Lindsey Marugg, a med school classmate of mine, will be traveling through Swaziland this summer. Her main goals are improving the health of patients, helping develop a sustainable healthcare system and not contracting shigellosis like she did last time. I’ll be traveling to Peru this summer, but I’ve already accepted the fact that I’m probably going to contract shigellosis. Joe Wirth recently transferred to Philadelphia to coach at a local high school but spends most of his time solving leftover equations from the calculus class. Those are all of the updates I have received or caught wind of. Please start sending me quantity, not even quality, updates that I can add before I start flooding your email inboxes. Cheers. — Chris Champlin; The Cannery Apartments, Dayton Ohio 45402; nd2013updates@gmail.com

13JD Bored With Happy News

Congratulations to all February bar admittees. Katy Wrona and her husband Brian welcomed their daughter Megan Marie Wrona on Patriot’s Day, April 21. Katy reports that Megan Marie is healthy, gorgeous and a proud American. Reports indicate that upon arrival, Megan Marie picked up her shovel, walked to the mine and loaded 16 tons of No. 9 coal. Ana-Paola Capaldo Escandell reports that she is alive. When asked for further information, she directed me to her Instagram feed. Mike Rogers hit the Irish name trifecta with his marriage to Bridget Colleen Kiley on April 19. Congratulations to Mike and Bridget. Kerry O’Brien said “yes” to Matt Pluck on April 12. Kerry and Matt invite you to crash at their pad any time you visit Vegas. Not really. In contrast, Annie Bellantone-Reed is hosting a party and you are all invited. Inconvenience her as much as you want. Charles Galvin emailed and texted me to make sure I knew that on April 30, his wife Natalie correctly answered the final question of a trivia competition at RJ’s Sports Pub in West Chester OH by matching five organic brands to their respective grocery store chains, thereby vaulting the Galvins from sixth place to first. The Galvins are the proud owners of a $15 gift card to RJ’s and eternal glory. Congratulations, Charles and Natalie. Send me your updates, or in the alternative, if you see a passing armadillo who answers to “Steve,” simply whisper the update in his ear. Steve will know how to find me. — Alex Blair; apblair@gmail.com