2010s
2010s
11 New Directions
Brigid (Mangano) Boyle ’11, ’12MA and husband Andrew welcomed daughter Maeve Adelaide in January 2019. Celia (Johns) O’Brien and Trevor O’Brien ’10 welcomed their son, John “Mac” MacEachern O’Brien, into the Notre Dame family on May 31. He was due to be baptized in the Log Chapel in September. They live in Birmingham AL where Celia is finishing her ob/gyn residency at UAB and Trevor runs Pathways, a homeless shelter for women and families. Deborah and Andrew Setter ’10 welcomed Bruce Anton Setter in January 2019. After Deborah completed her MD/PhD training in May, the Setters moved to Rochester MN where Deborah will complete neurology residency at the Mayo Clinic. Chris (Gattis) Gruslin and Allyse Gruslin MDiv ’16 welcomed their first child, Ruth Marie, on Aug. 27. Chris and Allyse reside in northern Rhode Island. Michelle Toscano began working as a paralegal and legal researcher at Campolo, Middleton & McCormick LLP in September 2018. Jorge Ortiz is excited to announce that is attending Notre Dame Law School. Marine Corps Capt. Rory Kelly recently transitioned from active duty to the reserves, where he will perform recruiting support duties. He is back at home under the Dome and enrolled in the ND MBA Program. He was set to marry Meghan Flynn ’13SMC, ’19MBA and sister of Kelly Flynn Kramb, on Aug. 31 in the Basilica. Meghan graduated from Notre Dame’s MBA program and has begun working at Whirlpool in Benton Harbor MI. Having completed two years of an overseas hardship duty to Germany, Air Force Capt. Erin Plate has extended her European adventures for another year in order to more fully immerse herself in the local culture and top off her tally of travels to include a few more exotic destinations. Highlights of her adventures include exploring St. Teresa of Calcutta’s birthplace in Skopje, Macedonia, skiing in the Swiss Alps, and checking out cities all over the continent, from Budapest to Bastogne. Having honed her language skills while abroad, she hopes to put them to good use by applying for future work in the Department of Defense’s Office of International Affairs as a foreign area officer. Cait Listro received a PhD in clinical psychology in 2017 from Michigan State U and her license to practice in 2018 after completing training at the Memphis VA Hospital. She started a job as a primary care mental health psychologist in November 2018 at the Jesse Brown VA Hospital in Chicago. Patrick and Jessica Brown received graduate degrees (a master’s in public affairs and PhD in economics, respectively) from Princeton U in June. Along with kids Teddy and Ellie, the couple moved to Columbia SC as Jessica begins work as assistant professor of economics at the U of South Carolina. Patrick is working as a policy advisor with the Joint Economic Committee of the US Congress. Please send updates. — Evan James; ndclass2011@gmail.com
11MBA Living the Dream
It’s a light quarter in terms of updates from our class. Tony Petro and Nick Schubert happened to run into each other at a restaurant in LA. They shared a lovely photo, with the caption “Two devilishly handsome pals from Ohio and Texas run into each other at a random restaurant in Los Angeles.” — Mimi Wilfong; 903-714-4988; mimitwilfong@gmail.com
11JD Lifelong Friendship
Madeleine Hermanny was born on May 31, one day before Patrick Swafford, son of Matt and Erin Swafford ’08, ’11JD. This may confuse some, as Patrick was announced in the last issue of this magazine. Madeleine is a third kid, so she appreciates being announced at all. Parents Danielle ’07, ’11JD and Alex ’06MEd, ’11JD Hermanny have planned an initial meeting between Madeleine and Patrick, beginning what will likely be a lifelong friendship and possible budding romance. But there are more babies. Leah Robinson Fogarty was born July 10 to Vanessa Barmack and Jimmy Fogarty ’09JD. Elissa Regev and husband Guy welcomed Elah Ruth on Sept. 14. While were speaking of Regevs, Emma Regev and husband Doron Junger welcomed Maxwell Zigmond Junger on Oct. 8. I have cleared the Basilica in 2050 for arranged marriages. We lawyers just need to figure out a way to make them legally binding. Where are my Supreme Court clerks? (Obviously I’m joking and obviously excluding the Regev cousins.) — Lauren Sharkey ’09; lksharkey@gmail.com
12 Summer Study
This summer, Megan Robertson studied ongoing research projects such as radio tracking, cheetah conservation and ecosystem management as well as the design of school and community programs in Namibia. Megan, a zookeeper at Utah's Hogle Zoo, lives in Salt Lake City and is a graduate student in Miami U’s Global Field Program. You can find more information on her time there at the following link: earthexpeditions.miamioh.edu. Caitlin Urbain and Brian Powers were married on June 29 in Oak Park IL. Many ND alumni and current students were in attendance, from the Class of 1980 to Class of 2023. The wedding party included Amanda Becerra, Maria Capotescu, Sarah Spieler, Stephanie Borjas, Nick Gunty, Jamie O'Brien, Tim Powers ’11, Micaela Powers ’18, Andy Powers ’21, and Bill Powers ’23. Congrats to Andrea Scheder, who joined Faegre Baker Daniels LLP in Minneapolis. Scheder earned her JD from Vanderbilt U Law School, where she served as managing editor of the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment and Technology Law. At ND, you may remember her from your finance and psychology classes. It is with a sad heart that I include this last update. Stephen Biddle, our classmate who graduated in 2013, passed away in an automobile accident on July 15. Stevie had a generous and caring heart, giving extravagantly of his time and energy to family, friends, acquaintances, and even strangers when he sensed a need. He spent three years as a member of the Notre Dame Glee Club. He played guitar with a Kalamazoo band and was in a few PEMCo productions, among other activities. A link to his obituary: obits.mlive.com/obituaries/kalamazoo/obituary.aspx?n=stephen-biddle&pid=193427503&fhid=16489. On a personal note, I had the great honor of getting to know Stevie in Glee Club, both joining in our sophomore year. I am thankful for the time I was able to spend with him, as I know that all of us who knew him are. — Tyler Harmsen; tharmsen14@gmail.com
12MBA Class Secretary — Chris Villani;
christopher.villani@gmail.com
12JD Bunch of Updates
Good day, classmates. A big thanks to Wendy Novotne, who sent along a digest message with a bunch of updates from a bunch of people. As always, starting with babies, it is a privilege to share news of Peter John Kosydar IV’s birth in August. Natalie Kosydar and Pete Kosydar III are super happy to have him around and have made sure he has plenty of Irish gear to wear for his father-son game watches. Jimmy Mitchell and Caitlin Shetter are expecting a baby girl in February. This will be their first child, and they are thrilled to expand their family. Wendy shared that Ryan Raybould welcomed baby number three. Brett Wasinger welcomed baby number two. Sana Din had baby number two and Wendy herself was due to welcome her own baby boy in November. That’s so many babies to hear about in one email, it was overwhelming for me. In engagements and weddings, Steve Hahn got engaged in March, and is set to get married in 2020. In new-job news, Sharon Lim is leaving her clerkship in the Northern District of Georgia and will be starting at Jackson Lewis in Atlanta in January. While she is excited to go back into private practice, she is not excited to sit for the Georgia bar exam. Wendy transitioned from DLA Piper’s DC office to their Seattle office. She’s excited to be back in the Pacific NW but was sad to move so far away from her soulmate, Sana Din. Wendy also shared that she was appointed to the NDLS Law Advisory Council this fall, so you can hit her up with any law school issues for at least the next three years. Dave Schmidt and Kendall Loebbaka made partner this year at their firm, Knobbe Martin, and both work out of their Orange County office in California. Andrew Doyle transitioned from the DUI prosecution unit into the property unit in Bend OR. Apparently, he loved defending DUIs, but it’s not as much fun to prosecute them. Andrew is also enjoying his rec soccer league, which is undefeated. They have just one game left and are apparently doing their best to emulate an undefeated Arsenal team from the early 2000s, according to Andrew. And while we’re on the topic of sports, there was a minireunion at Suntrust Park this summer, when Sharon Lim, Jimmy Mitchell, Caitlin Shetter, Isadora Huntley, my wife and I (Jimmy Champlin, in case you forgot who writes these) met up for a Braves game. The Braves lost to the Dodgers, and Sharon asked me to print, “Go Dodgers!” Since I only go to baseball games for the peanuts and to work on my tan, I don’t mind printing whatever Sharon wants. In miscellany, Colin Diamond went to Machu Picchu in April, where he dropped his phone and broke it. He still made it back to the US to email me about his broken phone, so apparently, he figured things out. And finally, as I previewed in the call for updates, Alvin Adjei and I met up this September in Austin TX. We were there for a bachelor party weekend and got to ride a boat and see Andy Roddick’s house. We had several heart-to-heart talks and got into a long argument in the back of an Uber. Alvin was mad that I didn't call him when I was in Houston for a few hours five years ago and accused me of being a bad friend. After I gently reminded Alvin about the time he spent a whole weekend in Chicago without telling me, he gave me the silent treatment for the rest of the ride. Just kidding. He said, “that was different,” and that he was hurt by what I was insinuating. I guess you can't win ’em all. Keep sending me those sweet, sweet updates. — James Champlin; james.c.champlin@gmail.com
13 Overflowing with Updates
Hello classmates, thanks for tuning in for another issue of the class updates. I think this three-month break might have set a record for most updates I’ve received. We’ll start off with engagements and weddings. One of Sorin’s finest, Colin Rouser, got engaged to Grace Kane in August. I don’t have details on the wedding, as my Facebook stalking can only get me so much. Katheryn Murphy married Mark Sonnick in October on Long Island. Katheryn also let me know that Brett Cavanaugh married Amanda Pertierra at the Basilica in August, and Jenny Lesko married Jacob Gyore in September. One wedding per month seems to be what most people our age are averaging. Fellow Sorin alum Brian Pimental married Bonnie Kaiser ’08 in San Diego surrounded by their families. Both high accomplishers. She’s a tenure track professor at UCSD and he works in the pharmaceutical industry after getting a PhD in chemical engineering. We’ll see how many pharmaceutical representatives I can frustrate in my office by asking if they know Brian. Jacqueline Patz and Leo DiPiero were married in August in scenic Green Bay. There’s some joke in there about Green Bay and cheesy wedding speeches but I’ll refrain. In the groom’s party were several Domers: Bill DiPiero ’09, Garrett Ward, Jeff Wei, Ben Foster, Kyle Bailey-Knapke, Mike Butler, Joshua Szczudlak, and Chris DeLillo. Not to be outdone by number of classmates at one reception, Alexanda Moulton and Rob Nelson had a dorm’s worth of people in attendance. In no particular order they were Mary Hendrie, Caitlin Myron, Alyssa Casill, James Kaull, Eric Secviar, Tim Kaminski, Lewis Delosa, Caroline (Kelleher) and Joe Beglane, Kevin “Fabio” Soriano, Eric Biro, Casey Murdock, Mick Hammock, Britt (Wuest) and Jake Murtha, Bekah (Kohn) ’13SMC and Sam Dettmann, Kathleen Kastenholz, Spencer Andrews, Carol Rowley, Mickey Gardella, Linda Scheiber, Jessica Runk, the incomparable Nick Seewald, Mike Fronk, Kevin Allen Doherty, Greta (Hurlbut) and Kevin Kelly. I think that little stretch might have doubled the ink usage in this column with all the bold lettering. Speaking of bold, it’s a bold move inviting Fabio anywhere there’s an open bar. To round out the section on relationships and families, Michelle Mealey had a baby boy in September. I won’t say who broke the news to me, but it rhymes with Alvin Hu. For professional developments, Sean Meehan graduated with his PhD in mathematics from The Ohio State U. That, everyone, will hopefully be the only time I have to type that university into the column. There were also a bunch of updates regarding classmates and the Congregation of the Holy Cross courtesy of Ricky Bevington (Sorin College). Karl Romkoma and Bryan Williams were ordained in April at the Basilica. Gill Stoy took his vows in August and was made a deacon in September. He’s working at a parish in South Bend and will be ordained in April. David Murry and Ricky started their novitiate in August with the CSC. If you’re like me and thought “oh, I’ll have to google that,” then don’t worry. Ricky was kind enough to include a definition. He states it’s “where we pray and give up our phones and stuff. So, if folks are trying to text us, that is the reason we aren’t responding.” There’s probably more to it than that, because otherwise I’m basically going through a novitiate every time my mom tries to text me. Thank you for reading. Please keep sending updates. Cheers. — Chris Champlin; nd2013updates@gmail.com
13MBA More Weddings
While visiting Croatia in August, Elie El-Zammar got engaged to Ashley Ausmus. The couple lives in Seattle where Elie works with Microsoft. I still think of Elie anytime I see a Bing reference. Elie and Ashley are planning a summer 2020 wedding. In the span of about six weeks, I sold my duplex near the city, bought a house in the suburbs, and got engaged to Karen Talamantes, who comes with daughter Olivia. It’s been interesting going from single to parent of a third grader. Thankfully they both quickly became Notre Dame fans. (The undefeated regular season last year no doubt helped a lot). Karen is an ICU nurse at a local hospital. By the time you read this, we’ll be married and back from our honeymoon in Panama. The deadline for the next notes is Jan. 20, so send me info. — Nick Imgrund; 314-775-7364; daimgrund@yahoo.com
13JD Class Secretary — Alex Blair;
apblair@gmail.com
14 Class Secretary — Michael Nichols;
miketnicholsii@gmail.com
14MBA Class Secretary — Jessica Bonanno;
407-808-7148; jbonanno@alumni.nd.edu; Krick Cahill; 518-598-4222; kcahill1@alumni.nd.edu
14JD Celebrations
Here is a shout out to everyone who came to our five-year anniversary celebration. Your turn out about doubled 2013’s. It’s not a competition, but if it were, you’d win. Thanks for your amazing class spirit. In line with our class spirit, our class got one more girl in our graduating class when Kaitlyn Hollysmith (formerly Brendan Smith) came out as transgender. She is proud to represent her class and all LGBTQ graduates at Notre Dame. A final shout out goes to Michelle Pope, whose hard work has brought her the honor of being nominated and awarded The National Black Lawyers’ Top 40 under 40. We are not at all surprised. Congrats Michelle! You can read more about the honor here: nbltop100.org. That is all for this quarter. Stay warm. — Rachel Hanley; rachelrhanley@gmail.com
15 Wedding Bells
Nate “Whopper” Bombardier and Caitlin Schlehuber were married on May 4 at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Nate, a former leprechaun, said he finally found his pot of gold. Jameson Ondrof and Stephanie Comstock ’16 are getting married in May in Seattle. Amy Schockling moved to Europe in August to start a two-year graduate program in Sweden. She is working toward a master’s in environmental studies and sustainability science. Before classes began, Amy met fellow Domer Maribeth Rauh in Copenhagen for a fun weekend in a new city. — Emily Flores; eflores2@alumni.nd.edu
15JD Class Secretary — Alisa Finelli;
alisafinelli@gmail.com
16 Marathons, Marriages and Moves
This fall brought new medals to hang on your walls and new metals to wear on your fingers, and we’re happy to celebrate both. Congratulations to our classmates who participated in marathons this year. Hannah Skrbis rocked the Detroit Marathon and Adam Henderson did the same to the Des Moines Marathon. Hannah has worked with Ford in Detroit and Louisville, and Adam works as regional campaigns director for Iowa House Democrats. Audrey Kelly impresses me with every new post about the miles she covers, having just completed her 13th marathon during her three years in med school. Cheers also to those who ran the Chicago Marathon including Emma Fleming and fiancé Patrick Couch, Evie Baumann, the best freshman roommate Maria Ianni, Emily Claps, Joe Driano and Kate Ferrara. Kate is also a member of the Chicago comedy club Curds with Friends, so catch their comedy and maybe a cheese curd in the Windy City. Not to be confused with Kate, Katie (Ferrara) Beers and her husband Jack are expecting a baby. Matthew Greene married Kelsey Lyons in Arizona last year. He’s not to be confused with Matt Greene who works in the Notre Dame Admissions Office and just closed out another great travel season. Love and champagne toasts to the recently engaged couples: Emma Lyons and David Que, Sara Chesser and Patrick Deasey, Emma Borne and Stuart Streit, Erin Geraghty and Mike Murphy (who got engaged on a hike in Olympic National Park), Rachel Komar and Nate McCormick, Marissa Bowman and Dan Evans, Claire Magnuson and Charlie Altfillisch, Rachel Serio and John Paul Droullet ’17, and Sarah Enciso and Johnny Fuller ’15. Congratulations also to the recently married couples: Meaghan Polk and Michael Logue, Bridget Mooney and Phil Gilroy ’17, Kate Hermeling and Matthew Hutchinson (who had their announcement in the New York Times) Caroline Kernodle and Drew Bergonia, Sean Morrison and Ethan Dowling, Donna Vu and Zack Cox, Kelly Higgins and Ricky Clark, Nicole Galetta and Mack Watson ’16JD, Mary Kate Whelan and Kevin Weithers, Mary Kate Vicenzi and Danny Muldoon, Monica Simon and Brendan Lesch ’14, Annie Mangano and David Surine, and Elaine Landi and Matt Boomer. I heard that the Boomer wedding had the most beautiful Golden Dome groom’s cake and the best performance of “Hooked on a Feeling” from the boys of O’Neill Hall. Some classmates made international moves since we graduated. Madden Zappa attended King’s College London pursuing a degree in mental health, ethics and law. Jake Grefenstette is at King’s College working toward a PhD in philosophy. Liz Anthony studies at Oxford’s Business School and participates in the Jacobs Foundation Scholars Program. Maddie Renezeder recently graduated from Cambridge’s School of Art with her master’s in children’s book illustration. Eric Schnurrenberger works at Kraft Heinz in London and just finished his master’s in innovation, entrepreneurship and management at Imperial College Business School. Teresa Kennedy moved in June to Beijing to work as an external relations coordinator with Global Environmental Institute. Shannon Kraemer is working this year as a solar specialist with Venture Sales and Marketing in Melbourne. A few extra notes: if you were at the USC game, you saw Talia Campbell honored on the field for her run at the 2019 US Women’s Mid-Amateur Golf Championship. She lives in New York and works with KPS Capital Partners. Kelly Marous also lives in NY and works at Bravo in integrated marketing. She shares her monthly book reads; check them out and pick up one of her favorites. I want to celebrate all the things you do. Keep me updated. I’d love to hear from you. — Bridget Doyle; bdoyle3@alumni.nd.edu
16MBA More Life Changes
Social media shows no shortage of life updates. It appears that many classmates have moved to new cities (or countries), gotten married, welcomed babies or acquired hobbies. Congratulations to Jane and Brian Noh who welcomed their son, Logan Jinwoo Noh, on May 16. The Noh family resides in Seattle. Lis (Zhang) and Michael Eshleman were married March 18, 2018. They live in South Bend and are planning a trip to New Zealand to hike in the mountains. The Eshlemans are proud parents to two fluffy animals and enjoy watching documentaries as a family. Ashleigh Calderone ran her third Chicago Marathon this year. Ashleigh accepted an associate brand manager position at Kraft Heinz in 2018 and relocated from Columbus to Chicago. Seok-bong “Gregory” Choi moved from Toronto to New York City. Reach out to him when you are in New York. Sadly, Matthew Weaver ’16 EMBA passed away in a plane crash this summer. Matthew was dedicated to his family and loved fishing, hunting, cooking, skiing and wine tasting. If you would like to send an update on yourself or a classmate, please send updates our way. — Kelly Chase; res 952-270-7830; kchase@alumni.nd.edu; Claire Kenney; res 734-751-2354; ckenney2@alumni.nd.edu
17 Serving the Community
According to Notre Dame’s website, 90 percent of the student population participated in some form of “service learning” while at the university; whether it was through an SSLP or a weekly opportunity, people were involved with the community. This passion and involvement did not stop when we received our diplomas but continued, as is evident by many of our classmates. Mary Connolly spent last year serving in a day center and shelter for people experiencing homelessness in Tacoma WA through Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest. She is grateful for the opportunity to get to know people on the margins in her community. In November she starts another year of service through AmeriCorps VISTA at United Way of Pierce County, where she will assist in the development of a program that tackles poverty among students and their families in a nearby school district. She would like the class of 2017 to know that if you are having a quarter-life crisis, service through AmeriCorps is a great way to be involved in an area you have no experience in but are passionate about. Glen McClain, a second-year medical student at U of Cincinnati College of Medicine, has mentored and helped grow the Gay Student Association at Madison Jr./Sr. High School in Middletown OH for the past two years. As a mentor, he serves as a liaison between the students and the administration helping to promote a more inclusive school culture and empowering the students to be involved in local LGBT advocacy. He has watched the students learn how pervasive positive energy can be. In a school that once prohibited a GSA from forming, now almost every teacher has an “ally” sticker on their door. Lauren Janek has been living in Chicago and working in investment banking. In her free time, she works with the advocacy group, Invisilillies, that she and Francie Fitzgerald started at Notre Dame to bring awareness to invisible illnesses. This year, Laruen joined the board of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation and helped plan their Chicago Spin4 event this September which raised $75,000 for research. Despite a lot of health ups and downs and a couple new diagnoses since graduating, Lauren hopes to give back more to the community that has brought so many wonderful and inspiring individuals into her life. As a second-year med student at Midwestern U in Chicago, Aly Anton volunteers at Community Health Clinic, which is the largest free health clinic in the country. She has loved this opportunity to get involved in her new community and learn from incredible physicians who volunteer with her. Nick Burkhardt volunteers with AFAC where he helps unpack, package and sort foods to ship to shelters. AFAC also hosts “backpack” nights in which young adults fill children’s backpacks with prepared meal portions for when their parents work multiple shifts a day. Tegan Chesney is involved in her company’s internal service initiatives. There she has signed up for events like showing Girl Scouts how cool STEM activities are, helping Girl Scouts learn how to give a professional handshake, dress for work, and other empowering actions. She has also volunteered with coworkers for the NOVA Special Olympics. She helps direct athletes to locations for their events. These events have reinforced the importance of empowering young people in the activities they find fun or intriguing. This past summer, Nick Sywyj spent two weeks volunteering at an orphanage in Ukraine. Being outside of the academic setting has provided him the opportunity to study theology, develop his philosophy, and serve others. He believes that children especially teach us what we can so easily forget as adults: to be happy, to take risks, to not worry, and to love life. Mary Kate Healey and Thomas Yarcusko ’18G (ACE) were married on Dec. 29, 2018 in Cleveland. It was a great opportunity for some of the Lyons Hall girls to reunite. Mary Kate works at John Carroll, a small Jesuit university in Cleveland as a graphic designer and part of that includes making the alumni magazine. Brooke Justus married Justin Cohen ’18 in a beautiful outdoor wedding in San Diego this summer before they headed back to Boston where Brooke started her third year at Harvard Law School. Many of her Pangborn friends were there to celebrate the marriage. Congrats to Arianna and Josh Dulany who welcomed their first baby in September. If you would like to be featured, please contact me. — Celanire Flagg; cflagg@alumni.nd.edu
17MBA Collection of Updates
Here are a few quick updates. First, Matthew Sedore and his wife Christy ’10 moved to Houston for a new role within his company, ExxonMobil. Congrats to both. In addition to serving as a major in the Army Reserve, Matt Dudevoir has been busy at the IDEA Center at Notre Dame, working with alumni entrepreneurs and small business owners. He also got married during Easter weekend. Congrats to him, his wife and their two cats. Mike Minnis recently returned to the States after spending 15 months in Saudi Arabia, working with Booz Hamilton on a military support contract. He now works on national security-related projects in Washington DC. Mike also visited Notre Dame to assist with recruiting and ran into Bill Brunner, Karissa Schuchardt and Sylvia Banda. Heena Purohit was promoted to senior product manager at IBM. She is responsible for leading products across IBM Watson IoT to help industries transform their operations through AI and IoT. Congrats to Dan Nunn and Dara Chesnutt, who were married Sept. 28. They live in Atlanta and got married downtown at the Trolley Barn, with 20 classmates in attendance. Classmate Tom Hermes served as officiant. Chris Moffo and his wife welcomed their second child, Eloise Grace Moffo, on April 13. Finally, Mary Tomasik (yours truly) got engaged over the summer and will plan a wedding for September 2020. Cheers to the MBA Class of 2017. — Mary Tomasik; mtomasik@alumni.nd.edu
17JD Happy News
Leah Fuessel got engaged to Tim Gorski on Oct. 5 on the River Walk in St. Charles IL. The couple plans to marry in spring 2021. Patrick Grimmer ’14, ’17JD and Concha Prado ’14, ’18MSA were married in August in El Salvador. Lowell Ritter married Colleen Murphy on Oct. 5 in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Please send me your personal and professional updates for our next class column. — Lauren Nottoli; laurennottoli@gmail.com