2000s
2000s
00 You Can Take the Kid out of South Bend . . .
Happy fall, classmates! I hope this fall season is starting off well for all of you, as you rake up your leaves and find your favorite fleece jackets again. Hopefully many of you will return, or already have returned, to campus for some football games. I am not sure when this edition will be delivered to your doorstep, but remember that our class tailgate is on Oct. 14 for the ND vs. USC game. I can’t wait to get some updates from that event! As evidenced by the updates for this column, our classmates are always keeping Notre Dame in mind when using their talents. Brian Tilley recently published his first book, Higher Ground: Morality and Humanity in the Evolving Politics of Race, and since he had input on the cover, he made sure to use gold and blue colors as a nod to his ND roots. Brian currently lives in San Diego with his wife, Maggie, and four kids (Joshua, Adrian, Leo and Lucia). He is a professor of psychology and department chair at National U. Congratulations on your book, Brian! Drew Brennan has also been very busy with all things Irish. He lives in the western suburbs of Chicago with his wife, Bridget, and two children, Conner and Rosey. A couple of years ago he started the Exit 77 podcast where he covers Notre Dame football and Notre Dame lacrosse. He has done more than 50 podcast episodes and has had a lot of fun with many classmates joining the podcast as guests to talk about ND football and how the team is doing. Additionally, this year Drew became a beat writer for OneFootDown.com covering the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team and reporting on them. It was an amazing season culminating in ND winning their first-ever lacrosse national championship, and he had the chance to cover the Final Four of the lacrosse tournament from the press box out in Philadelphia. As part of his role for OneFootDown, he had the chance to cover the ND spring football game from the ND pressbox, which was a dream come true for Drew. We should all try to follow along this year on both his podcast and his lacrosse writings! Those are all the updates for now, but keep sending me more brags, good news and funny stories! Go rake some leaves and Go Irish! — Laurie (Strotman) O’Malley; ndbug3@hotmail.com
00MBA Time for Tailgates!
Hello friends! I hope everyone is ready for football season. Just one update this time. After almost 23 years at Intel, Jennifer DeRousie Monnig has moved into a new role as director of total rewards operations, data intelligence and experience at Flexport. She and Aaron continue to live in Beaverton OR with their three kids. She also serves on the board of the Portland Community College Foundation and coaches high school track (21 years and counting!). Please send any personal and/or professional updates to the email address below. — Mike McDaniel; mba2000@alumni.nd.edu
00JD Class Secretary — Daniel Hardwick;
danhardwick@gmail.com
01 Sharing Successes
Kelly (Cooney) Cilella produced the animated feature Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken for DreamWorks Animation. It opened in theaters on June 30 and is available to stream at home now. Ann M. Hanlon, executive director of the Perimeter Community Improvement Districts, has been named in Georgia Trend’s “Notable Georgians 2023” list of the 100 Most Influential Georgians. Please continue to share photos via @nd2001alumni (on Instagram) or class notes via email at classof2001@alumni.nd.edu. Hope to see you in the fall and Go Irish. — Michael Anselmi; 415-860-7130; manselmi@alumni.nd.edu; classof2001@alumni.nd.edu
01MBA Class Secretary — Dominic Pang;
dpang@panglaw.com
01JD Class Updates
Julie Foster is now the attorney/director of compliance for the Council Bluffs Community Schools and was appointed to the Commission for Continuing Legal Education by the Iowa Supreme Court. Julie is also once again going to be a bar exam grader. Matt Klein is now a partner with the firm of Robbins, Kelly, Patterson & Tucker in Cincinnati. Matt has practiced in Findlay OH since our graduation, but was excited about relocating. Shonda Folsom was awarded a Texas Rural Woman Grant from the Texas Woman University Center for Women Entrepreneurs for repairs to her Main Street building in Bronte TX. I am now the associate director for prosecutorial operations with the DOJ Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces Executive Office in DC. Please remember to send me any news updates for our column. — Jonell Lucca; cell 602-677-3266; jonelllucca@yahoo.com
02 Class Secretary — Lisa (Sestile) Corcoran;
lsestile@alumni.nd.edu
02MBA Class Secretary — Melissa Hurd;
hurdmc@yahoo.com
02JD I Am the Worst
Greetings from South Bend (actually, Belgrade, Serbia, but that’s another story). First, I must apologize for missing the last two Class Notes deadlines. I was traveling and I simply lost track of the deadline. It will not happen again on my watch. Please continue to send me updates. If you sent me one that has not been published, please resend it, as I had some Gmail issues and likely lost it. I do have one update going back to autumn of last year that I will publish in its original, unedited form: The Fraternal Order of the Fist held its annual shareholders meeting on the weekend of Oct. 8–9, 2022, at the luxurious Wynn Resort in Las Vegas. Fred Marczyk, Matt Anderson, Peyton Berg, John Murphy, George Rau and Jack Kennedy gathered to watch the Catholics beat the Mormons 28–20 in Sin City. For IRS reporting purposes, no taxable events occurred at the casinos, and four-figure gambling losses may be claimed as a deduction. By unanimous vote, the FOF declared a total and unequivocal victory over the Lemurs, thus ending America’s longest prankster war. A petition for name change to the Murphy Fellowship was summarily denied when it was discovered that it would infringe on an existing group at NDLS that promotes religious freedom (yawn). Notable changes among the brotherhood included thinning hair, the inability to stay out late two nights in a row, and the disturbing (but necessary) use of reading glasses. The meeting also served as a subterfuge for a celebration of 20 years since our law school graduation. An examination of the record revealed that nobody has been suspended, disbarred or served time in a federal prison; to the contrary, the FOF stands counts among its ranks two senior in-house counsel, two law firm founding partners, one global law partner and a prominent insurance executive. As Murphy would say in his exaggerated Irish accent, “not too bad for a bunch of tossers.” After 20 years, the FOF wishes all of our fellow classmates good health and fair play. Right on. — Ryan D. Costantini; 414 S. Notre Dame Ave., South Bend IN 46617; mobile 574-339-8050; ryan.costantini@gmail.com
03 20-Year Reunion
A big thank you to everyone that joined us in June for our 20-year Reunion! It was an unforgettable weekend and on behalf of Matt Smith, Karen (Lysaught) Kennedy, Nick Mastronardi and myself, I want to extend our gratitude to those who were able to spend the weekend reliving our glory days. If you have any good stories or pictures from Reunion Weekend, please send them to my email below—I’d love to share with everyone! Congratulations to Brian Farkas who married Esther Jentzen at Most Holy Trinity Church on June 18, 2022, in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit. Wishing you a belated happy first anniversary! I am sad to share that Rachael Stowe, wife of Jeff Show, passed away surrounded by family and friends in their home in South Bend on July 2. Rachael’s greatest joy and passion in life was her family. She met Jeff through mutual friends; they married in 2010 and had four children, Molly, Emma, Callan and Pippin. Their deep sense of awe and wonder for God’s creation guided their family’s approach to life. In recent years, Rachael used her writing to reflect on the realities of trusting in God in the midst of living with terminal cancer. Please send your deepest condolences and heartfelt prayers to Jeff, his children and all their friends and family that knew and loved Rachael. — Josh 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@dorsey.com
04 Send Updates
Hope everyone had a wonderful summer—send in some stories from your summer travels and adventures! Only one update was submitted this quarter—your classmates want to hear what’s going on with you, so please continue to share with me any news you’d like included in a future issue. Congratulations to Rob Armstrong, who was named chief marketing officer of Zebra Technologies Corporation. Rob has been with Zebra since 2014, when the company acquired Motorola Solutions’ Enterprise Business, and since that time, he held various leadership roles in marketing, most recently serving as senior vice president of integrated marketing and channels. I hope fall 2023 will bring lots of mini-reunions at football games. — Carol Martino; carolmartino10@gmail.com
04MBA Living Inspiration
Jeff Stewart lives in Cary NC with his wife and their seven children. Jeff wrote and published Living: Inspiration from a Father with Cancer. His cancer was fortuitously discovered when he tried to donate a kidney. The book was written as life advice for his children. Ken Jennings called Living “a moving message-in-a-bottle from a great Jeopardy! champion,” and NPR called the book “insider advice for anyone facing a cancer diagnosis.” Living debuted as the No. 1 new release on Amazon in Oncology and in Medical Professional Biography. Please keep the updates coming. June 2024 is our class’s 20th reunion. I hope to see everyone there. — Harry Howisen; hhowisen@gmail.com
04JD Attorney General Ang
In July, the governor of TX appointed our very own Angela Colmenero to be the interim attorney general of the Lone Star State. Angela had previously been serving the governor as his deputy chief of staff. She lives in Austin with her husband and their two boys, Grayson (age 12) and Wyatt (age 11). Congratulations to you, Angela, for this well-deserved honor. Natalie Huddleston has graciously opened up her South Bend home to classmates attending the Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh and Notre Dame vs. Wake Forest football games. All are welcome after the games on Oct. 28 and Nov. 18 at 1445 N. Oakhill Drive. Thank you, Natalie, for your hospitality and for taking time out of your busy schedule as an immigration judge to cheer on the Irish. — Katie (Wharton) DeFerrari; katiedeferrari@gmail.com
05 Happy News and Sad News
I have happy and sad news to report this quarter. I’ll start with the latter. Every quarter I receive a list of alumni who have passed away and always hope there won’t be any reports for 2005. My heart sank at this last report. We lost our classmate Mike Spencer unexpectedly on March 26, a couple of months after his 40th birthday. Mike is survived by his wife, Graciela, and two children (Aaron Michael and Anna Grace), as well as his mother, Nydia Spencer. His obituary shared the following about his professional accomplishments and community impact: “Mike joined Cummins full-time in 2007 in the HHP quality team in Columbus. During his 16-year tenure, Mike also worked in treasury, finance, and EBU account roles, and most recently as a member of the New and ReCon Parts pricing team since 2018. While he contributed immensely throughout his time with Cummins, his pricing work with Lat Am DBU and CSSNA transformation received special appreciation and left a lasting impact on our business. Additionally, Mike was an active member of Cummins GOAL and the New and ReCon Parts Right Environment team. Mike served as MC during many Fiesta Latinas, presented in Es Posible and Exito, and organized multiple fundraisers for Su Casa. Mike was a faithful member of St. Bartholomew Catholic Church where he had served as an altar boy, reader, and as Eucharistic Minister. He was also active in the Peace and Justice Movement. Mike was a beloved friend of many—always sharing a smile and a laugh while caring for everyone around him. He will be remembered for his sense of humor, commitment to community, and collaborative spirit—always willing to lend a helping hand.” I know all of you join me in offering condolences to Mike’s family, especially Graciela and their children. And now for the happy news. Dr. Sarah Daly married Justin Perry in an August ceremony in Tavistock NJ, with an October follow-on celebration in Pittsburgh, where Sarah, a criminologist turned consultant, and Justin, a Pittsburgh firefighter, make their home. Both events were full of Domers playing roles small and large. Dr. Sam Sanchez ’98, ’06MA officiated, with Maggie (Nolan) Carey, Kate McDonnell ’02 and Howard Hall alums Katie May, Nicole Orozco and Dr. Sara Ramirez attending. The ND Marching Band sax section made an appearance too, in the forms of Michael Delaney ’05, ’06MBA, Tim Stonelake, Dr. Greg Salzler, Dr. Gregory Laski, Dr. Lindsay (Clark) Donat, Dr. Chris Marett, Kamilah Edwards ’06 and Richard Leal. Remaining in Steel City for our next update: Chris Ban is an oral surgeon in Pittsburgh and recently competed on Jeopardy!, taking home $13,000 as the champion on June 27. He plans to use his winnings to honor his late brother Michael with a donation to rename a rowhouse in Michael’s honor at North Allegheny High School, where the brothers rowed together during their high school years. Michael was diagnosed with brain cancer five years ago and passed away last year. For inspiration during chemo, Chris would send Michael pictures from The Jungle Book, their favorite book growing up. Chris was in a tight battle during his appearance on Jeopardy!, and it all came down to Final Jeopardy. The question was related to The Jungle Book. Needless to say, he aced it. Chris told a local Pittsburgh news station, “I miss [Michael] a lot but he’s around in his own way, helping out. He showed up at the end with that Final Jeopardy question. It might be beautifully poetic, it might be supernatural, I don’t know. But to me . . . I’ll never forget that.” — Caroline Meehan; ndclassnotes05@gmail.com
05MBA Class Secretary — Himanshu Gosar;
hgosar@alumni.nd.edu; ndmba2005-owner@googlegroups.com
05JD Making Moves
Congratulations go out to Damon Semmens on the launch of his new litigation and trial-focused firm, Malik Semmens LLC, in Denver. We look forward to hearing about your new adventure. In Dallas, Tim Hubach became the general counsel for Lucid Hearing, which aims to modernize hearing aid services and products. Yes, you heard that right. Congrats, Tim! And further congratulations go out to fellow Dallas resident Michael Federer¸ who is now the CEO for Fusion Specialty’s North American operations. Besides keeping Mike on the straight and narrow, Ashley Federer is senior counsel and vice president for Comerica Bank. After nearly two decades, Paul Harris now finds himself heading to work on the other side of Public Square in Cleveland. Paul recently joined Taft Stettinius & Hollister as a partner in the commercial litigation practice. Our own Ryan Bednarczuk is a Taft alumnus, who now serves as associate general counsel, global marketing, technology and contracts for the Wendy’s Company. A little further south, in Cincinnati, Matt Arend himself joined the ranks of classmates advising clients in-house, having joined Vitas Healthcare as senior counsel. They say there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes. But if there is one other thing you can be sure of, it’s that somewhere in the world, Jeremiah Coder is advising on those tax issues. That somewhere now happens to be Jersey—the old one—where he serves as the deputy director, international tax policy for Revenue Jersey. In sunny Southern CA, Julia Witt recently joined Lynberg & Watkins APC, where she focuses on civil litigation relating to the defense of public entities. And along the sunny Gulf Coast of FL, Rob Becht ’85, ’05JD serves as the chief executive officer of Menorah Life in St. Petersburg. In St. Louis, Beth Silker ’02, ’05JD joined Armstrong Teasdale as a litigation partner after 18 years at Brown & James PC. Beth defends clients in matters of intellectual property, employment law, breach of contract, fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and professional malpractice. On top of that, she and Chad Silker ’02, ’05JD recently celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary by purchasing a new house. I am sure that many Notre Dame games will be aired in the new house. Finally, I am honored to have been elected as the Region 13/14 representative (comprised of AL, LA, MS, OK, TN and TX) to the Notre Dame Law Association Board, where I will serve a three-year term and be a part of the board’s Alumni Outreach Committee. I happily join Tim Storino ’02, ’05JD, a partner in Denton’s Chicago office, on the NDLA board. We look forward to representing you and working together to advance the interests of the Law School, its students and our alumni. Go Irish! — Adam J. Russ; Houston TX; adamjruss@gmail.com
06 On the Move
Katherine (Malkovsky) Igoe was just published in The New York Times for the fifth time and continues to hunt for freelance work. She had her second child (Desmond) in February. Anne Kwiatt lives in Georgetown DC and is still fabulous. Casey (Dunne) Pelzl, her husband, her sister Catherine (Dunne) Hankla ’08, and her father Tim Dunne ’74, ’76 participated in the Iron Horse Bike Ride in Durango CO this past Memorial Day. The group collectively downed approximately 10,000 calories in sushi, pizza and beer once finished. Anne (Edelbrock) Benthem traded in her snow boots for cowboy boots and now lives in Houston TX with her husband and two children. — Anna (Skoien) Lall; annagracelall@gmail.com
06MBA Class Secretary — Mike Lloyd;
651 Nathaniel Chase Lane, Herndon VA 20170; cell 312-388-0501; mt_lloyd@yahoo.com
06JD Class Secretary — Amir Hassan Sadaghiani;
sadaghiani@alumni.nd.edu
07 Class Secretary — Stephanie Pelligra;
ndclassnotes2007@gmail.com
07MBA Class Secretary — Tim 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 15-Year Reunion!
Thank you to everyone who joined in our 15-year Reunion! We are grateful to our Class Mass concelebrants Father Brogan Ryan, CSC, and Father Pat Reidy, CSC, and music ministers Anita Lyons Leon-Jhong, Mary Liz Walters Kaltenbach, and Christina Holmstrom and Andy Valenzeula ’09. Thank you to our lectors and liturgical ministers Molly Sullivan Sonderman, Jennie Motto Mesterharm, Ben Clarke, Andy Mathews, Anna Pursley Barcus, Amy Vereecke Medlock, Matt Medlock and Laura Miller-Graff. Thanks to Jenny (Rolfs) ’09 and Greg O’Donnell, our quad party outside of Morrissey Hall featured a massive splash pad that was enjoyed by the dozens of ’08 children in attendance. Lawrence “Sully” Sullivan flew in from CA and brought baby boy Sullivan, who visited Fisher Hall and saw old photos of his father in the Men of ND calendar as Mr. November. Pat Ryan did not make the calendar; nor did John Biddle or Jesse Brawer. Neither did Hunter Land, but we can all agree he should have been included. Our class enjoyed a lovely reception and dinner at the new McKenna Hall. We are extremely grateful to our keynote speaker, Milo Dodson, for offering such a thoughtful reflection. Thank you to Erin O’Neill Clarke who served as emcee and to Florencia Segura and Father Pat Reidy, CSC, who offered the invocation and benediction. In the “Refreshment Tent” (guys, it’s a beer tent), the band rocked. Midway through their set, they played Rob Zombie’s “Dragula” while donning skull masks. Older classes looked on in horror, but not Garrett Mandeville, Joe Jost, Rose Jost ’09 or Michelle Brintnall Chester. They danced hard and channeled their inner Keanu Reeves (Matrix reference). Also making appearances on the dance floor (or the open bar) were Anita Lyons Leon-Jhong and Mary Claire Sullivan Mandeville. Cassie Belek, Allison Clements, Liz Byrum Parker, Amy Walker, Christine Nguyen Federman and Michelle Clements ’12 kept the Reunion festivities going at the Taylor Swift show in Chicago. The group owes a blood debt to Amy, who secured the tickets. No one was feeling like 22 the next day, especially Amy who had to catch a 6 a.m. flight. Congratulations to Emily Kempf (née Kennedy) on publishing The First Five to Seven Years: The Tale of One Woman’s Search, the World Over, for Her Highest and Best Use. It is a spiritual memoir spanning her eight years living in São Paulo, Brazil, but she also likes to think of it as a guide for recovering over-achievers. Check it out on Amazon! Megan O’Hara married Jonathan Krieger in May. Katie Guida Calhoun and Bridget Keating were in the wedding party. Attendees enjoyed a medley of Backstreet Boys, T-Swift and Mariah Carey, so the dance floor was hot. After five years of longing and pining, eight Carroll Vermin reunited in Albuquerque NM, the Land of Enchantment. They included (listed in order of estimated net worth) Jimmy Buffi, Jarrent Lantz, Joseph Murphy, Kerry O’Connor, Michael O’Connor, Joe Powers, Joe Schonhoff and Nic Zarazua. Peter Hadley did not attend. Erin Mulholland Pozolo and Andrew Pozolo welcomed their first child, Logan, on April 2. Golden retriever Zoe is excited to be a big sister and show him her favorite walking spots. In February, Mary Pat Collins Hagmann, Kathleen Coverick, Caity Schneeman, Lauren Sharkey Byam and Erin Mulholland Pozolo reunited in Washington DC for a weekend of brunching, soup making and vision boards. Michelle Zaldana-Flynn joined virtually from Sacramento in between surgeries and rounds. Zahm House alumni Andrew “Conan” Digan and Pete “Call on Me” Harig completed their long-awaited Home-and-Home Lake Cottage Series in WA and ME. Pete babystepped his way across moose country and learned to sail on his first try, while Conan succeeded in only getting a little sunburned. Pat Grainey, who you may remember for his absurd long-distance running skills, moved to Ireland with his wife and had a beautiful baby on the Emerald Isle. Vanessa and Tom Bufalino welcomed their third child, a baby girl, Emilia Rose. That gives them Giovanni, Isabella and Emilia. If you’re wondering, yes, they are Italian. Nick Albares completed his rookie head coaching season for the Little League of New Orleans All Stars after an undefeated regular season run, and the kids had almost as much fun as Nick. Send your updates! — Patrick O’Brien; classof2008@alumni.nd.edu
08MBA Class Secretary — Megan Ulrich;
meganlouisefitzgibbons@gmail.com
08JD Class Secretary — Marie-Therese Mansfield;
mt.mansfield1@gmail.com
09 Doing Better Than Fine
Amy Elliot and Dan Miller welcomed their son, Henry, on June 19. Andrew Matasic and Craig Wiborg completed a Great American Road Trip this summer, traveling to all 48 contiguous states in 60 days. 2009 alumnae housemates that lived on East Marion Street celebrated 18 years of friendship and their ever-growing ND families by vacationing together for a winter reunion. In attendance were Kara (Davey) Master, Anne (Brodfuehrer) Finerfrock, Bridget (Blum) Hunt, Elyse (Muratore) Jerina, Heather (Christenson) Hamersky, Kieran (Neeson) Hyland, Laura (Rokita) Wheeler, Maura (Bradley) Johnson, Mo (Conway) Dash, Natalie (Leopold) Kapnick and Lindsay (Lechner) Luft. Missed was Kelly (Kearns) Dickow, who recently welcomed her second daughter. 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