2010s

10 Reason to Celebrate

 

Gregory Robinson joined the Cincinnati law firm of Keating Muething & Klekamp PLL as an associate with the firm’s labor and employment group. I have many happy birth announcements to share this quarter. Amy (Holt) and Tommy Clarke welcome their first daughter, Caroline Theresa, on Sept. 16. Carly was baptized at St. Elizabeth in Rockville MD on Nov. 27. Liz (Ruiz) and Ben Fritsch welcomed their first daughter, Hazel Margaret, in November. Kristi and Dustin Madden welcomed their first child, Aurora Marie, on March 10. And last but not least, my wife Molly (Smith) and I welcomed our first daughter, Margaret Eileen, on April 18. There are many future Domers to celebrate. With a heavy heart, I report that our classmate Jeffrey Farnell passed away on April 1. Our hearts and prayers are with his family and loved ones. May he rest in peace. Please send your updates to be included in Notre Dame Magazine. The next deadline for submission is Aug. 1. Go Irish. — Matt Molloy; ndclass2010@gmail.com

 

10MBA Great News

 

Kirsten and Mat Ashley are happy to announce the birth of their identical twin boys, Marshall and Bennett, in March in Washington DC. March will be a fun month for the family, since they now will be celebrating birthdays on the 17th, 18th, and 19th. Tim-Oliver (aka T.O.) Seidel has had a busy quarter. He purchased his first house and moved to London Wimbledon. In addition, he was married on May 6. Congratulations to T.O. on his exciting news. 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 fall update. Feel free to share your news any time. Go Irish. — John Gerberich; cell 847-331-4707; jgerberi@alumni.nd.edu

 

10JD The Velasco Version

       

This column, much like a lecture by Prof. Julian Velasco, will be all business. There will be no chit-chat, no “How was the game? What is your favorite color? Do you like stuff?” No fluff will interfere with the telling of cold hard facts about your classmates and the business judgment rule. Item one: Rachel (Williams) and Andrew Hollingsead welcomed baby David Elliott in February. All are happy in Nebraska, where they live in the same metro area as the Midwest’s preeminent zoo. Item two: Congratulations to Ashley and Lee Metzger, who welcomed baby Amos John in February. Amos joins big brother Leo, who is smitten and probably already plotting something with his new sidekick. Lee made partner at his law firm in January, where he focuses on federal criminal defense, insurance defense, and personal injury. Oh, and to top off this marvelous first quarter, a federal judge described him as one of the best attorneys in northern Kentucky, if not the entire state. So there’s that. Lee, I hope never to need a federal criminal defender in the states of Kentucky, Ohio, or Indiana, but I’m glad to know that you are there in case my many business dealings don’t turn out quite how I’d planned. Item three: Congratulations to Kat (Vitale) and Jeremy Lopez on the birth of baby Guy, who joins brothers William and Casey in Toronto. When last we checked in with our northern neighbor, she was being published in the New York Times and parenting two boys, all while teaching legal writing. Typical. Now she’s going to be the legal research and writing coordinator at the U of Toronto Faculty of Law and parenting three boys. (According to Wikipedia, that is the best law school in Canada, no shade intended for Osgoode Hall or the U of Saskatchewan.) Your students/kids are lucky to have you, Kat. Item four: Congratulations to Erin (Brown) and Scott Jones, who welcomed baby Bronwyn Mary in April. The happy parents are smitten and tired. Please send me updates. — Susie Wine ’03, ’10JD; 102 E. 69th Terrace, Kansas City MO 64113; 574-514-3746; swine@alumni.nd.edu

 

11 What’s New

 

Congratulations to Marissa Henry and Andy Thomas, who were married at the Basilica on July 23, 2016. Rev. Ralph Haag, CSC, the esteemed rector of St. Edward’s Hall, presided. The wedding party included Joe Thomas ’13, David Condon ’10, Courtney (McVey) Hrdlicka, Katie (Santella) Bleizeffer, Kerry Reardon, Samantha Swanson, Chris Fedinets, and Caitlin O’Neill ’11SMC. Marissa graduated from Harvard Business School in May 2016, and Andy began there last fall. Mary Elizabeth Calabrese married Marc Rodriguez, a Wisconsin Badger, on April 22 in Chicago. The wedding party was full of Domers, including maid of honor Megan Novak, bridesmaids Katherine Beltran, Claire Streitman, Erin O’Connor ’12, and Stacey Sams ’11SMC, and groomsman Ted Dowd. Many more Notre Dame alumni were in attendance. Andrew Shaffer and Emma Mean ’12 were married in Seattle in May. The two met at an alumni event in 2014 after aviation and medical careers brought them to the Pacific Northwest. Jon Lopez, Felix Zaczek ’12 and Andrew Hall ’12 were among the groomsmen, while Kirsten Strycker (Prabhudas) ’12 and Rosie Rivera (Conover) ’12 were bridesmaids. In attendance were numerous alumni, including Kelsey Clemson ’12, Erin Plate, Sebastian Ortega ’14, and Maya Younes ’12. Sean O’Boyle graduated from Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in May, and married his medical school sweetheart, Hillary McClintic, in June in her hometown of Richmond VA. Bradley McDonald will marry Krista Pikus ’15JD on July 22 at Notre Dame. Marty Sandberg and Cristina Gallo ’12 excitedly marked one year since their founding of Via Chicago Architects + Diseñadores. The small design studio’s eclectic roster of projects range from tiny homes in Bronzeville and an urban farming campus in Englewood, to the renovation of a 300-year-old colonial apartment block in the bustling historic quarter of Panama City, Panamá. Sara (Jaszkowski) Gilson graduated from Harvard Business School in May. She will be starting in July as a senior associate at Freeman Spogli, a Los Angeles based private equity firm. Liz (Elizabeth) Davis is excited to announce that she is working as a trauma ICU nurse in Seattle. Matt Dwyer was appointed treasurer for the Davidson County Democratic Party in Nashville. Deborah Setter earned her PhD from the Indiana U School of Medicine Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology. Her dissertation is titled, “Immunoregulation of the Central Response to Peripheral Nerve Injury: Motoneuron Survival and Relevance to ALS.” Melissa Coles graduated in May with her master of divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School. Kevin Flanagan graduated with his PhD in molecular biology from Washington U in St. Louis, and is starting a job in the growing St. Louis research industry. Ashlee C. Cushing recently joined the Boston office of the international advertising firm Hill Holiday as a senior account executive. Previously, Ashlee was employed by the Boston advertising firm of Wallwork Curry McKenna. Ashlee, an avid Patriots and Notre Dame Football fan, lives in Boston and is an active member of the Notre Dame Club of Boston. Franco Zarama finished his PhD in environmental fluid mechanics at Stanford U this spring. Franco and Laura (Schneider) Zarama are moving to Minneapolis in August. Carlos E. Peña will be starting a fulltime MBA at the U of Colorado at Boulder in the fall. As always, please send updates. Go Irish. — Evan James; ndclass2011@gmail.com

 

11MBA Kids, Moves and Promotions

 

Meg and James Brennan are expecting their second daughter in August. Kevin Vega recently moved to Amsterdam. He will send another update once he gets the courage to ride a bike there. Mariana Fonseca Medina was made the director of ancillary and merchandising strategy for American Airlines. She is basically responsible for seats and bag revenue, which is the most frowned upon job in the airline industry. Finally big congratulations to Justin Whitmore who was appointed the first ever chief sustainability officer for Tyson Foods. Quick hits. Tim Frahme is going camping in Yosemite at the end of the April. If you don’t hear from him in May it’s because he was eaten by a bear. Jack Johnson left IBM and their stock price promptly dropped 5 percent. Cindy Chiow is just here to read the comments. – Chris Orenchuk; chris.orenchuk@gmail.com

 

11JD Class Secretary — Lauren Sharkey;

 

lksharkey@gmail.com

 

12 Class Secretary — Tyler Harmsen;

 

tharmsen@alumni.nd.edu

 

12MBA Class Secretary — Chris Villani;

 

christopher.villani@gmail.com

 

12JD Babies and Other News

 

Let’s begin with babies. Kendall Loebbaka and her husband Brandon welcomed another baby girl to their family in November. Kendall didn’t send along a name, but she assures me that their first-born is very protective of her sister, frequently proclaiming her to be “mine!” Having two kids under 2 makes Kendall miss the days of being at trial, when she got more sleep. They’ll be taking the youngsters to Europe in the near future because they are masochists eager to fly across an ocean with two small children. I know for a fact that Sana Din and her husband Rashad had a baby, but she didn’t respond to my listserv call-out. So I’ll just say that there are pictures on Facebook, and they are adorable. Todd Dixon sent along a stellar photo of his son, Lincoln. Lincoln is not happy to be in a crib, and this is readily apparent in the photo. Todd and his wife Annie recently moved to Grand Rapids, but Todd didn’t tell me what he’s doing there. I guess lawyer stuff, probably? And in the last baby-related news, I accidentally convinced my aunts that my wife was pregnant by mistakenly signing my grandma’s Easter card twice. They thought it was a boy, and that we were naming it Jimmy. Nope. Abhishek Kambli let me know that he is still going to work every day as an Air Force JAG, and I have it on good authority that he got married pretty recently. Congrats, Abhishek. Robert Hutchison said that in the past six months he got engaged and left his Kansas Supreme Court job. Robert works for Thompson, Ramsdell & Warner in Lawrence KS doing civil defense litigation. Sharon Lim did not ignore my listserv call-out, and let me know that she moved all the way from Hawaii back to the mainland, specifically to Atlanta, where she and her cat Al are excited to eat as much southern food and sweet tea as humanly (and feline-ly?) possible. She wanted to give props to Caitlin Shetter and Jimmy Mitchell for being so welcoming, and for moving “basically all of her stuff” for her. Carter (Mills) Isham let me know that she and her husband Rob Isham ’14JD tried to get a puppy, but their landlord said no. I recommend that she initiate aggressive litigation until they give in. I’ll even help, if I get to pet the dog sometimes. Carter and Rob are taking a 10-day trip around the Ring Road in Iceland, which I hear is very nice this time of year. Colin Diamond had no updates of his own, but did let me know that Ryan Swan was featured on the cover of Chicago Lawyer Magazine, proving once again that Ryan Swan is in fact still alive. I was hoping for a full-page headshot of Ryan, gazing softly into the middle distance, but we have to settle for a group photo in which Ryan plays an admittedly integral role. Alvin Adjei recently slept outside overnight in Houston to raise money for charity. If the one donation I have personal knowledge of is any indicator, Alvin got most of the contributions by shaking people down over Snapchat. In other Alvin news, my mother asked why I keep torturing Alvin in this column. I told her I could stop writing about Alvin if he would just stop being so dang interesting. — James Champlin; james.c.champlin@gmail.com

 

13 Update from the Greek Isles

 

Hello friends, thanks for picking up another issue of Notre Dame Magazine. In a beautiful showing, I received quite a few updates for this issue. Unfortunately for you, I found someone in Greece who was willing to lend me a laptop for the afternoon, so you won’t get to navigate Bobby Shields’ egregious spelling errors. I’ll start off with marriage updates. Brian Metz and Lindsae Lowrie (U of Texas) married on June 24 in Fort Worth. They met at Ohio U, where Brian is working hard to become Notre Dame’s next football coach. Marina Thiessen and Nick Pellegrini married in California on April 29. Coincidentally, I wrote this update whilst they said their nuptials, which I deem to be some form of good luck. To wrap it up, Greta Hurlbut and Kevin Kelly married in Jasper IN on May 20. I was explicitly told to mention that they were both in the band, which I can only assume means that three quarters of the way through their wedding, somebody played Take On Me. I’ve gotten one update about a future Domer. Sara Ishac (Mirolli) and her husband Joseph had their first son, Matthew, in September. I’m selfishly hoping he becomes a Sorin Otter, but I guess I would be happy with anything other than that dorm on North Quad. I’ll finish up with some professional updates. Alexandra Moulton was kind enough to give me quite a few medical school graduates. She also mentioned that she passed her CFP examination in March. I got the email from her the same day I received an email updating me on my federal loan status, which is cruel karma. As for residency updates, this is who I’ve heard about. Megan Bone matched pediatrics at UT Southwestern in Dallas, and Bryan Wu will be joining her for internal medicine. If you thought ducks flew together, you obviously don’t know Domers. Catherine Groden will be pursuing pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Andrew McKernan will be training in pediatrics in New Orleans, although that was due to a mix-up in his application. He thought he was applying for a doctor’s appointment, and checked the box that he was a pediatric patient. He’s excited to be surrounded by like-minded patients, however. Jake Murtha will be training at Wake Forest. I wouldn’t be upset if he leaks parts of their playbook, although I am in no way officially condoning. Much to my apprehension, I must congratulate Patrick Fitzgerald on matching with the Mayo Clinic in Florida, and Kevin “Fabio” Soriano with Harvard. I look forward to calling them Dr. Fitzy and Dr. Fabio, respectively. My matching institution is the U of Cincinnati, where I’ll be training in family medicine and psychiatry. That means I’ll get to live with my mommy for a couple of months to contemplate how to become an adult. I’d also like to say hello from Greece, and plug that if you’re looking for a way to broaden your mind and help the world, Lesvos Island is a beautiful place with nearly a thousand refugees. It is a lovely place, with lovely people and hundreds of ways to lend a hand. Thank you for reading, and as always, please send me updates. — Chris Champlin; nd2013updates@gmail.com

 

13MBA Minireunion

 

There was a minireunion of sorts in March as we held the Michael Kinsella Memorial Hash. We gathered on a pleasant Saturday at The Rugby Club in Chicago for some jogging and drinking. Meredith and Mike Cordingley hosted the recovery brunch the next day. All told, those I crossed paths with included Anshuman Beri, Rosalie Bott and Rob Cameron ’15MBA, Olivia Gardner, Monica Gould, Anne Johnston, Kevin Kastenholz, Brendan Kelly, Kasia Prouty, Doug Stauber, and Ann and Andy Wilson, and a few kids as well. I feel like I’m missing someone; sorry about that. I also heard from Lucas Taylor. He’s back on the West Coast, specifically Orange County CA. The deadline for the next notes is July 31. Pass along info you want to share. — Nick Imgrund; 314-775-7364; daimgrund@yahoo.com

 

13JD News from Flag Football Hall-of-Famers

 

Many of you still sing songs and swap war stories about the long and bitter struggle for powderpuff flag football dominance waged by our valiant ladies of the Notre Dame Law Class of 2013. I am sure that the halls of Eck still echo with 1L’s hushed tones as they speak of past exploits of two of our finest gridiron gladiatrixes, Emily Nickles and Alexandra Fries, now legends in the eyes of current students. Well, as all great athletes do, they ultimately set aside the eye black and flappy plastic flag belts, and pursued successful second careers. I have happy news from both of them. As reported in the autumn 2016 Class Notes, Emily reconnected with high school sweetheart Dave Erickson upon moving back to California after graduating from Notre Dame. On May 6, the two tied the knot in Costa Mesa. Emily is a successful family law attorney with Seastrom Seastrom & Tuttle in Orange County. If anyone is looking for a good gift idea for Emily and Dave, I see they registered for a Roomba and are still in need of one. Congratulations to the happy couple. Alex and her husband Rob Theofanis ’12JD welcomed their daughter Beatriz Theofanis on March 24. Alex, Rob and Bea live in the Los Angeles area, where Alex practices commercial litigation, with a strong emphasis on securities and corporate governance at Jones Day. Janice Lee said yes to Tom Fay, and slyly tried to sneak the news past me by hiding her new bling in an otherwise innocuous-yet-cute tweeted pic of her cat, Curio. No such luck, and I blew up her phone at 5 a.m., Pacific. Janice and Tom met when she was interviewing at her former firm, and she called him to ask about firm life. After a wonderful conversation, Tom told her he was billing the time. He was kidding, folks. Probably. Janice now practices at The Law Office of Jillisa L. O’Brien, PC, in Santa Ana CA. Pillar of the Lebanon OH community and amateur cheetah-breeding expert Adam Mathews recently published an article for the website The Federalist about Mario Kart and the rule of law. Julie Araskog won her election for the Palm Beach Town Council, which I mentioned in the last Class Notes. Congratulations Julie. — Alex Blair; apblair@gmail.com

 

14 Wedding News

 

The chegs announce that two of our own are getting married. Chris Genco proposed to Albany Zweber-Langer on on a surprise trip to Minnesota on Valentine's Day. Terry Hines and Nora Quinn got engaged on a trip to New Zealand. Bruce Heggie and the beautiful Emily were married on Oct. 22 in a spectacular grove of trees on a perfect fall day in Jamestown IN. Bruce and Emily met at Ball State after he graduated from ND. Attending the wedding were Kevin Carr as best man, Johnny Romano, Luke Massa, Ryan Brandy, Brianne Toole, and Dr. and Mrs. David Hyde. Bruce and Emily moved to a warmer climate, residing in Simpsonville SC. Will Peterson and David Cable set out on a Modern Millennial Pilgrimage March 25 to 29. The journey on foot involved 75 miles of travel and reflection, beginning at the U of Kentucky Newman Center and culminating at Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey. Peterson is a peace and justice intern at Holy Spirit Parish in Lexington KY. Cable teaches at St. Anthony Catholic School, a University of Notre Dame ACE Academy in Indianapolis. — Michael Nichols; miketnicholsii@gmail.com

 

14MBA Back By Popular Demand

Did you miss us? We’ve heard from some dear readers who noticed our column was conspicuously absent from last quarter’s magazine. (Blame Jess for sleeping on the job.) But that means that this edition is jam-packed with good news from the #bestclassever, so hang onto your Fighting Irish t-shirts and get ready to share the joy. ND ladies take Austin: 15 of our Notre Dame sisters gathered in Austin in April for the first of what all agreed will be an annual ladies’ reunion trip open to all the women in our one-year and two-year classes. Highlights included a peddle pub tour through downtown and personalized drink cozies that read, “Champions Adjust” in bold letters. Sunday was a bit rough but overall, everyone left feeling refreshed, centered, and ready for next year. Speaking of Texas, we’ve had more than a few classmates relocate recently. Although we’re sure we’ve missed a few, we send our congratulations to Izzy Murdy on her move to Dallas. Chad Arroyo and Nick Gigantes are proud residents of New York. Evi Guinto is in good ND company since she followed her company to Chicago. Mike Roslen broke some ND hearts when he left Seattle for Nashville. Cathy Mae Favorito Go is back in St. Louis and Stephanie Faint made Jess and Krick insanely jealous by taking up residence again in beloved South Bend. Say hi to Mayor Pete for us, Stephanie. Dream jobs do come true. Know who else can say hi to Mayor Pete? Anna McKeever. She recently landed her dream job as human resources communications manager for ND. Meanwhile, just hours away, Steve Lehman is living the dream as the new assistant director of the $20 million U of Chicago Innovation Fund. No big deal, Steve. Also in the #nobigdeal but #reallybigdeal category is Jeremy Mason’s new role as his company’s vice president of finance. You all are killing it, but no one is surprised. Our family is growing. Weddings, engagements, babies, oh my. We have way too many big events for this word limit. But congratulations are in order for our dear Will Schwartz and Lanie Abisdris on their recent engagement. (We were all waiting for this.) Congratulations to Carl Mekala on his marriage to Rhea Kotian, to John Davies on his marriage to Katie Umbehagen, to Matthew Kudija on his marriage to Jordan Russell ’15, and Tamara Ashworth on her marriage to Martin Liljebald. Such joy. New baby congrats go to John Robertazzi, Chris Awad, Yunfei Sun, Kim Sessions (McDonald), Brennan Clarke, and Ryan Brogan, whose little Charlotte was born on Easter Sunday. Triple congrats to David Paul who welcomed baby number three, Harrison Carter, to his family’s Houston home in February. Come home for the home game. Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the reunion tailgate to be held, as always, at the first home game of the 2017 season. We expect to see your smiling faces on the weekend of Sept. 2 and will have lots of fun activities planned. 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. 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 Latest News

 

Here is what is going on with the class of 2015. Grizz (Jacob Morse) does not have cancer anymore. James Heisler deployed in May and our prayers are with him. Erin Dustin got a promotion and moved to Chicago. Nora O’Sullivan started a new job at KeHe. Briggs Hoyt has become a crusader for bees and economic growth, with the exception of Hollywood’s continuing sequel productions. Lindsay Logan has been working on improving herself through meditation. Jeanette Kim got the part in Anastasia as Bartok. Unfortunately, the production was shut down and she had to return to the airport. Maddy Skorcz, while being an insurance superstar in Boston, got engaged to Palmer Ferguson. Ellie Reynolds is venturing into personal brand consulting, so please direct any questions about your brand to her. Ryan MacDonald finally mustered up the courage to propose to his longtime girlfriend, Mingzhu “Marybeth” Chen, and she said yes. These lovebirds will be tying the knot in Hong Kong this September, crashers welcome. Please continue to send me updates for next quarter’s column. — Robert Reed; 1801 W. North Ave., Apt. 2R, Chicago IL 60622; cell 847-691-0666; rreed1@alumni.nd.edu

 

15JD Welcome Signs

 

Nantikan and Jason Becker welcomed a new little family member with the birth of Bruce Boomer Becker on Feb. 22. Destined to run the Better Business Bureau, his parents are instead hoping that he joins the astronaut corps. Boomer is already taking in the world and has experienced the love of a good dog and “hammocking.” The Becker clan lives in Maple Shade NJ where Jason works at the New Jersey Office of Law Guardian. Congrats to the new parents. Pat Meehan is off The Shunning list and is living in DC where he works as associate counsel at the US Department of Veterans Affairs, Board of Veterans’ Appeals. He takes in the DC night life when possible. His flag football team is off to a start of 0-3, but as a proud USC undergrad that is to be expected, burn. I really can’t write about anything CJ Pruner has been up to because it would be edited out before publication. He is living in Tampa Bay (I refuse to call it just Tampa) and working as an assistant state attorney at the State’s Attorney Office, 13^th Judicial Circuit. Based on his recent posts, he is against man bun haircuts, dislikes Verne Lundquist, and continues to follow professional wrestling very closely. As you can see he has very little free time, but if you are in Tampa Bay, look him up at your own risk. Now for some random updates. Molly Nick got engaged this April. Christ Stewart is a pre-clerk at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in New York. Melinda Johns is an attorney with the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. Allie Freed is a research attorney with the Michigan Court of Appeals. Preston Mortemore is working as an associate in the Detroit office of Pepper Hamilton LLP in the corporate and securities practice. What do they all have in common, other than Notre Dame law school? I don’t know either, but at least you know something else about them now. Remember to email me with updates about jobs, engagements, kids, etc. No one has done so yet, but I hold out hope. — Matt Wine; mwine@alumni.nd.edu