2000s

00 Staying Busy When There’s Nothing to Do

Hi guys. I know we are all getting stretched thin by this pandemic and feel fatigued with all the rules we need to follow to keep our communities safe. But fear not, our classmates have found ways to keep themselves busy. Our classmate Beth Simon joined Greenleaf Trust as marketing specialist. Beth is responsible for supporting the marketing team with a focus on planning and executing marketing events, community involvement and other charitable functions. Our classmate Renee (Daniels) Miller was part of the 3M COVID-19 response team, and her efforts led to a promotion. Renee is the global segment marketing lead for the sterilization segment, a $450 million business. Her husband, Scott Miller, also works for 3M. We can thank them for the millions of N95 masks made to keep our healthcare workers safe during the pandemic. Our classmate Alison (Healy) Sjovall earned her MBA from Providence College. Alison and her husband live in Providence RI with their two daughters. Congratulations, Alison. While some classmates were staying active with their education and careers, other classmates were staying physically active. The PE Pyros rallied together during COVID to finish The Great European 2500 virtual team run. Stephany (Foster) Spahr captained the team while Nancy (Ziemba) Patel lead the way in total miles run. Robin (Horning) Livington, Melissa Gorman, Anna Yates, Michelle (Teynor) Beard, Diana (Leza) Sheehan, Donata (Parillo) Guerrero, Stephanie Trautman, Carrie (Hedin) Thangamani, Molly (Rost) Jenks ’01 and Biz McShane-Murphy contributed many miles through the wind, rain and snow. The team finished third in their division. Good work, ladies; I am super impressed. In August, Jeff Rauenhorst hiked the Superior Hiking Trail, a 310-mile trail in northeastern Minnesota that follows the rocky ridges overlooking Lake Superior. He completed the trek in five days, 17 hours and 59 minutes for the fastest known unsupported time. Jeff lives with his wife Gia (Puccini) and their two children in Incline Village NV. Jeff, your accomplishment totally overshadows my pride at taking my dog for a walk every day. All kidding aside, that is very impressive and hopefully will motivate us all to tackle a challenge. Speaking of impressive, Sharis (Long ’01) and Dan Cooley welcomed their son, JP, to the world on Leap Day 2020. The Cooleys live in Minneapolis with their five children. What a bright spot during a time when we need something happy and hopeful. Class of ’00, you never fail to impress me. Thank you for all your updates. Please keep sending them my way. Stay safe, everyone. — Laurie (Strotman) O’Malley; ndbug3@hotmail.com

 

00MBA Class Secretary — Georgette (Leonard) Stubin;

46917 Polo Drive, Canton MI 48187; mba2000@alumni.nd.edu

 

00JD Class Secretary — Dan Hardwick;

danhardwick@gmail.com 

 

01 Golf, Academic Honors, Reunion
Jaime Morales shared that he took on a new role as the director of development for the Western Golf Association/Evans Scholars Foundation. The WGA/ESF awards scholarships to young men and women who are caddies. They must meet the requirements: excellent academics, strong caddie record, financial need and outstanding character. Along those lines, he hopes to resume his annual golf trip with Mark Berndt, Nick Davis and Brendan Sullivan. Anne Ralph is a professor at The Ohio State U Moritz College of Law, where she was recently named associate dean for academic affairs. In 2020, she received the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching, which is awarded to 10 faculty members annually across the university. Chris Chambers started a new side hustle called Bowmas (bowmas.com) which is a luxury face mask and accessory company. In the past few issues, I have given updates for our reunion and ask everyone to hold tight to see if it happens. If we must hold off for a bit, T. Drew Mitchell, Jordan Curnes and William Zac Markwell will come up with something. Also, I apologize if I lost any updates with the change to 2021. Please follow up if you shared something as it is great to share what everyone is up to. I hope everyone is staying safe and sane. Please post to our Instagram account @nd2001alumni if you have anything to share. Also, we now have an email account: classof2001@alumni.nd.edu. — Michael Anselmi; manselmi@alumni.nd.edu.

 

01MBA Class Secretary — Dominic Pang;

dpang@panglaw.com 

 

01JD Updates

Todd Yeagley and Jill Rathbun eloped to the mountains of Montana Sept. 3 for their wedding ceremony. They have a small working farm in Collinsville OK, and Todd continues his veterinarian work as a co-owner of the Woodland West Animal Hospital. We received the sad news that our classmate, Kathleen “Katey” Maher, passed away on Oct. 14. Katey was a kind and gentle person, who was always willing to help someone in any way she could. She is survived by her two children and her two brothers. Please keep them in your prayers during this difficult time. I continue to hope you and your families are in good health. Please remember to send me updates for our column. — Jonell Lucca; cell 602-677-3266; jonelllucca@yahoo.com 

 

02 News and Updates

Dede Lohle Simon ’74 shared that her daughter, Michelle (Simon) Noon, was profiled in the Wall Street Journal, as No. 3 of 14 of “The Most Influential Women in Private Equity.” Michelle is the cofounder and managing partner at Boston-based Clearhaven Partners, a firm investing in software and software-driven companies. Michelle is married to Ted and they have two small children. They live in West Haven MA. Jemar Tisby launched his second book, How to Fight Racism, a handbook for pursuing racial justice with hands-on suggestions bolstered by real-world examples of change. Jemar offers an array of actionable items to confront racism in our relationships and in everyday life through a simple framework, the A.R.C. Of Racial Justice that helps readers consistently interrogate their own actions and maintain a consistent posture of anti-racist action. This book follows Jemar’s recent book, The Color of Compromise, which is on the bestseller lists of the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal. Anabel (Navarro) Spencer recently moved to San Antonio with her husband, Mylo, and two children, Dax, 9, and Saralyn, 11. She is a grant writer and is excited to join the ND Club of San Antonio. Katie (Ligibel) Grey started BASH Annapolis, a celebratory yard sign company helping people celebrate life’s awesome moments in a move to stay sane while having both kids at home for virtual school and her husband, Eric, working full time from their master bedroom,  It is a franchise based in Texas, and she’s having fun surprising people with her six-foot-tall custom hats at home in Maryland. We all need a reason to celebrate these days, and this makes her feel like she is doing a small part to bring people joy during this crazy pandemic. Follow @bashannapolis to see who she BASHes next. Megan Drangstveit successfully defended her dissertation on Dec. 3 to complete her PhD from Michigan State U’s Higher, Adult, and Lifelong Education program. She serves as project director for a $6 million US Department of Education HSI-STEM at Cal State Fullerton, serving low-income Latinx transfer students. She and her wife, Dr. Colleen McDonough, live in Anaheim with their two dogs. Thanks for the updates everyone. It’s great to stay connected through these crazy times. Thinking of you all and wishing you a happy and healthy spring. — Lisa (Sestile) Corcoran; lsestile@alumni.nd.edu

 

02MBA More Changes

Welcome to spring 2021. I’m sure there are more changes out there, but I’m happy to say we have a few class updates. Daniel Carr started a new job as VP of legal operations at SnapAV and will soon move once again, this time back to Utah from New Jersey, where he and his wife, Wendy, have been raising their family. Two kids are out of the nest, but there are still five at home aged three to 16, so there’s plenty of devotion, distraction and disaster to fill any house. Rebecca (Funk) Bogie is living in the Dallas area with her husband and 12-year-old son. She went back to school several years ago for a doctorate to teach at the university level. After graduating with a DBA in May 2019, she started teaching part-time as an online adjunct while still working full-time in corporate finance. In August, she completely transitioned to teaching, taking a full-time accounting instructor role at Louisiana State U in Shreveport, where she teaches in person as well as online, commuting three days each week while still living in DFW. For myself, we welcomed Kaden in April 2020 in NYC during the first pandemic spike. He joins his brother, Finnegan, 3, in our move to the suburbs in New Jersey for a backyard and a bedroom that is not a closet (literally). I’m celebrating nine years with American Express and looking forward to hearing from more of our class as our lives continue to change, despite spending so much time at home. — Melissa Hurd; hurdmc@yahoo.com

 

02JD Still Fighting for Justice

Ron Banerji reports that his position as a prosecutor in El Paso County TX District Attorney’s Office ended in December. Ron was one of 30 career prosecutors not retained by the new district attorney, which, in Ron’s case, he attributes to having made a campaign contribution to her opponent. Fortunately for Ron and the good people of El Paso, the El Paso County Public Defender’s Office recognized Ron’s talent and dedication to justice and quickly hired him as a public defender, where he will defend people accused of felonies. Ron’s future clients are lucky to have him by their side. Ron has lived in El Paso for 10 years with his wife, Amanda, an OBGYN; their daughter, Samantha, who is in 10th grade; and son, Alex, who is in sixth grade. Please join me in congratulating Ron and wishing him all the best as he starts this new chapter in his career. — Ryan D. Costantini; 414 S. Notre Dame Ave., South Bend IN 46617; mobile 574-339-8050; ryan.costantini@gmail.com

 

03 Two Decades of Friendship

Since the summer of 2000, a group of friends primarily composed of Keenan guys and BP girls, have been keeping in touch via an email distribution list. Some of these friendships, Josh Fulcher, Martha Fulcher, Carl Sergio and Joe Miller began even earlier, in childhood. The group consists of at least 34 Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s graduates. There are 11 master’s degrees, six law degrees, one RN, one MD in dentistry, one doctor of physical therapy, two MDs and two PhDs, for a total of 24 advanced degrees. There have been four Keenan-BP marriages in the group, and nine marriages among all the alumni, with a grand total of 55 children, 34 boys and 21 girls. This group calls 14 different metro areas home, including Honolulu, Denver, Houston, Toronto, Dallas, Wichita KS, Lincoln NE, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Chicago, Tampa, Philadelphia and greater London. Four of the guys have resigned themselves to shaving their bald heads. There have been a lot of happy memories over the years, and a lot of great weddings. Keenan-BP marriages: Christen (Meko) and David Cantos, Karen Swanson and Justin Haan, Michelle (Clark) and Robert Dineen, Katie (Holinka) ’02 and Spencer Robinson. Other group marriages: Rachael Stowe ’07SMC and Jeffery Show, Andrea Mondragon ’07 and Joshua Fulcher, Amy (Bird) and Scott “Smooth” Jarratt, Martha (Fulcher) ’05 and Chris Roman, Jessica (Boehm) and Nick Lambrecht ’02. Other members of this crew include Michael Fotopoulos, Ellen (Smith) Cooke, Beth (Cassin) Kmiec, Blake Haan ’04, Matt Hotze, Eric Gobel, Jenny (Stahl) Stokowski, Katie (Noack) Bruhn, Paul Kowalski, Abbey (Sullivan) Orozco, Becky (Shepkowski) Shaw ’04SMC, Jen Aguirre, Leigh (Bothe) Shea, Monica (Go) Markovich ’04 and David Gloss. Their historian, David Cantos, was kind enough to share a fictionalized account of their history: Just over 21 years ago, through the magic of the North Quad dance party and the Graffiti Dance, a group of men from Section Four West in Keenan befriended a group of women from the first floor of BP. The group forged their bonds on the shores of Sarcophagus Island (mistakenly labelled Duck Island on modern maps) and at the third table from the north stairwell in the upper level of North Dining Hall. Expanding to include women from Lewis, Welsh Fam, Cavanaugh, PE and Saint Mary’s College, the group grew. After graduating in 2003, this group of friends started the longest running continuous email list in the history of Al Gore’s internet. Never going more than a couple weeks without a message or response from one of the group’s members, it has fueled a continuous connection across the globe. Go Irish. — Joshua Gentine; jgentine@alumni.nd.edu

 

03MBA Class Secretary — Rosemary Guillette;

9 Messenger St., Unit 7, Plainville MA 02762; rguillette@alumni.nd.edu 

 

03JD Class Secretary — Lawrence A. Ward;

206-903-8817; ward.lawrence@dorcey.com 

 

04 First Time

Lynn (Wojszynski) Daue wrote to say she has enjoyed reading these Class Notes and decided to share a short update of her own for the first time. She and her husband, Matt, celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary in December. Cecilia Harry, the chief economic development officer for Colorado Springs, was named to the “40 Under 40” list for chamber executives in the country. This annual recognition program showcases the industry’s top emerging leaders who have demonstrated success in their careers and made significant contributions to the communities they serve. She made a similar list for economic development professionals in 2017, so congrats to Cecilia on this double recognition. Her family relocated to Colorado Springs from Wisconsin in December 2019 when she was recruited for this role. Matthew Lutz, wife Shelly, and August, 2, welcomed their newest son, Julien Christopher, on Jan. 5. The young family relocated to Portland and is enjoying the nearby coast, slopes and wine country. Matt is a university recruiter for PwC and Shelly opened her own fitness and wellness business. Don’t hesitate to look them up if you’re in the Pacific Northwest. And with a personal update, I’ll share that my husband, Bill, and I are officially homeowners as we bought a house in West Hartford CT in December. It was quite the December to move in right before the holidays, during a pandemic, with (potty training) triplets and a six-year-old, but we were happy to ring in 2021 in our new home. Please continue to send your updates. — Carol Martino; carolmartino10@gmail.com 

 

04MBA Quiet Quarter

It has been quiet on the update front for the last 12 weeks. By the time this issue arrives in your mailbox, hopefully a good number of us will have received the vaccine or at least have an appointment scheduled. Instead of going the Facebook route for updates, I used Notre Dame’s new alumni email system for update requests. Mark Werling is the only confirmed recipient of the email so if you did not receive it, please let me know at my email below. Our own Mark Welch is the director of information technology for the Alumni Association so we can get any tech issues fixed. As a side note, if you have not visited your local alumni club’s website on the new myNotreDame system, check it out. Mark and his team did an exceptional job on implementing it and the new features are fantastic and make getting involved with your local alumni clubs easy to do. Keep the updates coming. — Harry Howisen; hhowisen@gmail.com

 

04JD Class Secretary — Elizabeth Miceli;

emicelilaw@gmail.com

 

05 Class Secretary — Kristin Boyd;

Credit Suisse, 11 Madison Ave., New York NY 10010; 317-523-1195; kristin.boyd@gmail.com

 

05MBA Class Secretary — Himanshu Gosar;

hgosar@alumni.nd.edu

 

05JD Moving Right Along

What is there left to say about 2020? As the new year fell upon us, our classmates were on the move. In New York City, Jack Palma joined Man Group PLC, a $100 billion London-based asset manager, as a senior credit analyst in the US CLO Group. After starting his career as a debt finance attorney at Paul Hastings, Jack has been on the finance side of things for almost a decade. It beats responding to discovery requests. His work involves investing in non-investment grade leveraged loans. It kind of reminds me of Michael Lewis’s The Big Short. He continues to live in Manhattan and is doing well, suffering through bad NFL football aside. He recently started his first three-year term on the board of directors of The Human Fund. Jack enjoys managing money for people and helping private equity firms build businesses. Out in San Diego, Kurt Oreshack left Breakwater Law Group to become general counsel of Maravai LifeSciences Holdings Inc., which assists with the development of drug therapies, diagnostics and novel vaccines and supports research on human diseases through its portfolio of market-leading companies and proprietary technologies. Founded in 2014, the company became publicly traded in the fall of 2020. Down on the Gulf Coast, I joined Gordon, Arata, Montgomery, Barnett, McCollam, Duplantis & Eagan LLC as a member in its Houston office. The Chambers-ranked firm is headquartered in New Orleans, my soul’s native habitat, if you will, with roots dating back to 1895. The firm primarily practices in the energy, maritime, chemical, construction, finance, banking, real estate, telecommunications and public utilities industries. The broader platform allows me to service client needs in Texas, Louisiana and Ohio. Outside the firm, I also continue to teach in the Law School’s Intensive Trial Advocacy program, alongside Casey Nokes and others. During the holidays, my wife and I were able to catch up — socially-distanced, of course — with Nicolle (Sielle) Hood and Sean Hood ’03JD while in Arizona. Nicolle continues to serve as general counsel of Camelback Partners, a private equity firm. She also is a cofounder of My First Nest Egg, a fintech startup that aims to educate children about the power of compound interest and promote interactive savings. Consider this as you start saving for your children’s future education. In Chicago, Karen Selking serves as a principal with Zulkie Partners, a firm dedicated to business immigration law. Karen helps companies attract and retain top global immigrant talent by advising on the best legal strategy to secure work visas for valued employees and critical hires. In Pittsburgh, John Wingerter is a shareholder with Dentons Cohen & Grigsby, an office created by the 2020 “Golden Spike” merger of Dentons with Cohen & Grigsby. As a member of the corporate group, John assists clients with private equity and mezzanine financing transactions, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, venture capital, business formation and capitalization, as well as advising on and negotiating other business and commercial transactions. In Columbus, Erin (Gallagher) Barnhart continues her important work serving as an assistant federal public defender of the Capital Habeas Unit of the Federal Public Defender for the Southern District of Ohio, where she represents death row inmates in federal habeas and civil rights litigation. — Adam J. Russ; Houston TX; adamjruss@gmail.com

 

06 Welcome News

Katrina (Anderson) and Patrick Wilkinson welcomed their first child, Helen Bea Wilkinson, on Oct. 28. She is the most positive thing to happen to 2020, and the Wilkinsons are enjoying their new sleep-deprived existence in Lafayette CO. Gregory Szewczyk became a partner at the law firm Ballard Spahr in Denver. — Anna (Skoien) Lall; annagracelall@gmail.com 

 

06MBA Class Secretary Wanted

The Alumni Association is in search of a class secretary for the MBA Class of 2006. Interested parties should email Alumni Editor Joanne Norell at jnorell@nd.edu using the subject line “Class Secretary 2006MBA.”

 

06JD Class Secretary — Amir Hassan Sadaghiani;

sadaghiani@alumni.nd.edu

 

07 Class Secretary — Stephanie Pelligra;

ndclassnotes2007@gmail.com

 

07MBA Class Secretary — Tom Ponisciak;

tponisci@nd.edu

 

07JD Class Secretary — Patrick A. Salvi II;

Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard P.C., 161 N. Clark St., Suite 4700, Chicago IL 60601; 312-372-1227; psalvi2@salvilaw.com

 

08 Birdwatching, Babies and Partnership

Hey folks. We hope your spring has been excellent and you are getting ready for warmer weather. At least you haven’t had to trudge through South Quad in sub-zero temperatures. Here are some updates to warm the soul. Rebecca (Antas) Smith and husband Nicholas Smith welcomed their second child, Tyler Craig Smith, who arrived on Sept. 4. He and his big sister, Grace, wore their ND gear for the season opener against Duke. Mom and Dad are thrilled to add another Irish fan to the family. Speaking of big news, Mallory McMorrow became the youngest woman ever elected to the Michigan State Senate in 2018. Also, get your tiny pantsuits ready because she and husband, Ray Wert (a handsome Michigan State alum, but we don’t hold that against him), were set to welcome a baby girl into the world at the end of January. It’s their first child and Mallory and Ray are only moderately terrified. The ’07, ’08 and ’09 boxing captains held a Zoom reunion in early December. Boxing champion Mike Lee ’09 regaled all with his stories and a plug for his new business, My Soul CBD. Check it out. Hunter Land, Lawrence Sullivan and Jesse Brawer also attended and discussed whether Leo Rubinkowski ’09, Chris Cugliari ’10, Mark Weber ’09, Nicholas Ponzio ’10 or Andres Villalba ’09 took the most punishment from Michael Hennig ’07. Andrew McGill ’07 has not changed; neither has Steve (Ogie) Hansen ’07. Plunkett Cooney insurance coverage attorney, Nicole C. Ruggirello, was recently named a partner in the firm. Nicole represents several major property and casualty insurance companies in coverage cases throughout the Midwest. Julia Hudac (Vogelheim) ’08, ’10MEd and Nate Hudac ’07 are parents to two future hall of fame kids: Frankie and Jack. Frankie, the eldest, likes to craft trinkets and laugh at books about modern furniture. Jack is really into birdwatching. Julia and Nate live in the Seattle area and encourage folks to come visit (but not Kelly Foyle ’10MEd). Hang in there, folks. To our classmates in the medical field, we thank you, and we are praying for your safety. And as always, if you need anything, we are here for you. Summer is right around the corner. — Patrick O’Brien; classof2008@alumni.nd.edu

 

08MBA Class Secretary — Megan Ulrich;

meganlouisefitzgibbons@gmail.com

 

08JD Congratulations

It is always a joy to hear from you throughout the year, and it is especially nice to share news of your wonderful accomplishments. Jennifer Ciarimboli wrote that she is now an assistant professor of academic support and bar prep at Suffolk U Law School in Boston. Jen teaches classes and advises students individually, and reports that she absolutely loves her new role. I am certain that Jen’s students love having her as a professor, too. Shawtina Ferguson Lewis has multiple pieces of good news for Class Notes. She and her husband, Anthony, proudly welcomed their son, Elliot John Lewis, to the world on Dec. 30. They hope that throughout his life he finds time for good trouble. Additionally, Shawtina was elected to the partnership at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough effective Jan.1. Shawtina wins the award for most productive person between Christmas and the new year. Matt Goddeyne shared that on Jan. 5, his wife, Jessica, gave birth to their second daughter, Cecelia Rose. Cecelia joins big sister Nina and brings a whole bunch of love and happiness to the Goddeyne household. Finally, in memory of Kyle D. Smith, the Class of 2008 Mock Trial Award fund has been established at NDLS. Please donate at http://donate.nd.edu/, and under “Designations” mark “Kyle D. Smith Class of 2008 Mock Trial Award.” This is an expendable scholarship meaning that we will be able to award the scholarship as long as we have money in the fund. Please be generous this year and in years to come. — Marie-Therese Mansfield; mt.mansfield1@gmail.com  

 

09 Doing Better Than Fine

Class of ’09 grads continue to influence their communities daily, and we are so proud to be associated with each other. Tom “Dom” Junker and his wife, Olivia, welcomed their second child, Jameson Declan Junker, on Oct. 30. Mom, dad, big sister Madeline and baby Declan are doing well and look forward to their first trip as a family of four to Notre Dame sometime in the hopefully not-too-distant future. Ryan Gorman and Brittany Winner welcomed their first child, Ava Winner Gorman, into the world on Oct. 9. Please visit the Notre Dame Class of 2009 Facebook page to reconnect with members of the class. If you have any additional news or announcements, please contact me. Go Irish. — Megan Flynn; megflynn7@gmail.com

 

09MBA Class Secretary — Shawn Pulscher;

801-336-7344; spulscher@alumni.nd.edu

 

09JD Class Secretary — Josh Rinschler;

josh.rinschler@gmail.com