1990s
1990s
90 A Novel Idea
Tamara (Trautner) ’91 and Gary Gerlacher live in Plano TX and happily married off two of their three children this last year. Gary is a pediatric emergency physician and decided 30 years of crazy stories from the emergency room would make a good book, so he wrote a few novels. Last Patient of the Night and Faulty Bloodline follow an ER doctor and his K9 companion (AJ Docker and Banshee) as they seek justice for victims from the ER. They are thrillers and are available on Amazon. Gary’s third novel, Sin City Treachery, will be available in June. You can find more information at garygerlacher.com. Kerry Sieger and her husband, Corey Morgan, road-tripped from Houston to El Paso TX for the Sun Bowl. They had a great time and really enjoyed ND’s victory! Kerry has recently been named vice president of global quality operations at Immatics, a biotechnology company in clinical phase development making immunotherapies for the treatment of solid tumor cancers. It is headquartered in Germany, but they have a new GMP clean room manufacturing facility in Houston in which they will make gene-modified cellular immunotherapies. The QC department is currently tech transferring their assays and equipment from their location in the Texas Medical Center to their new digs in Stafford (a Houston suburb). Kerry reports that she is very excited about her new role in this company for which she has worked for nine years. Debbie (Goodrich) ’91 and Stephen Shulkowski returned to campus for the ND-Pitt game with several of their children including Natalie ’22 and Stephanie Jo (Pitt ’18). There they reunited with 1990 classmates Vin Przybylinski, Phillip (Flip) Molloy and Trent Boneau as well as Suzanne (Juster) Shapiro ’92, plus spouses and many of the children. In addition to a convincing Irish victory in football, they watched Trent’s son Bryce and his teammates defeat Pittsburgh on the soccer pitch. Many laughs were shared during their pregame tailgate. Please keep track of us on Facebook at Notre Dame Irish Class of 1990 and at 1990.undclass.org. Go Irish! — Marty Falkenberg; 23 Casselton Road, Raymond ME 04071; 847-323-4717; martin.falkenberg@yahoo.com
90MBA Life Is Good
Winter is coming as I write this Class update looking out on a serene lake in the mountains of western NC. The fairways at the club are rock hard, so if I hit them the ball goes much farther — but so are my putts. Life is good and I hope that classmates are enjoying a great start to 2024. I wish you and your families health and happiness in 2024. I’ve received a few updates from fellow classmates, so here we go. Mary (Collins) White spent 26 years at BlackRock, primarily in the institutional client group, and is now running investor relations for a startup real estate platform — fully remote so it’s a great transition! She has been married for 32 years to Brent White and lives in Wilmette IL, about three blocks from the house she grew up in. Now splitting time between there and Seagrove Beach FL, Mary has three kids — Michael graduated from Villanova and lives in Atlanta, Kevin graduated from Miami of Ohio and lives in Chicago and Allison graduated from Santa Clara and lives in San Diego. Mary loves to play tennis, golf and paddle tennis as much as possible. She was chair of the Regina Dominican High School (her alma mater) board and is on the board of Women Investment Professionals in Chicago. Dan Ribic recently joined Capgemini as a program/project manager — he hopes this will be his last career move! Dan and his wife, Kristin (U of Illinois/NYU), built their retirement home at Lake Oconee in Greensboro GA and split time between there and Atlanta. His daughter Alex (U of Georgia 2026) is on the pre-med track and is enjoying the UGA home games. Dan’s youngest, Anna Kate (Marist HS 2024), is completing her senior year and recently was accepted to the U of Georgia — she is so looking forward to college and her next stage of life. Dan says all is well in the ATL!! Deacon Mel Tardy is an associate advising professor in the College of Arts and Letters at Notre Dame. He was ordained a permanent deacon in May 2011 by Bishop Kevin Rhoades and serves the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend at St. Augustine Parish. He has served as president of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus and on the boards of the National Black Catholic Congress, the National Association of Black Catholic Deacons and the John S. Marten Program in Homiletics and Liturgics at Notre Dame. He is a director on the Mission Integration Committee at the U of St. Francis (Fort Wayne IN) and the African American Vocations Committee of the National Religious Vocations Conference. Deacon Mel is a contributing author for the 2014 book Black Domers: 70 Years at Notre Dame. In May 2023, he received a Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa (honorary degree) from Holy Cross College, Notre Dame IN. Deacon Mel and his wife, Annie, celebrated their 25th anniversary in 2023 and, together, they founded the Youth and Young Adult Ministry at St. Augustine Parish in South Bend. They are most proud of their three grown children and three grandchildren (a fourth is due in April!). Being on campus helps Deacon Mel stay in touch with visiting classmates and friends. He still loves to do art and even play a bit of jazz trumpet (when he can find time!). Where in the world are Rich LaBerge, Chelley Vician and Reiaz Somji? Please send me updates even if you’re not listed here, or you’ll be reading a lot about Greg Pellegrino, Craig Thompson and Gerry Wilson in future updates. — Jim Rogers; 1825 SouthPointe Dr., Morganton NC 28655; 336-413-2569; domer8490@gmail.com
90JD Class Secretary — Cathy (Pollock) Gregory;
cagregory.home@gmail.com
91 Spring Updates This year Jim Lang is serving as a visiting professor at the Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence on campus. It’s a hybrid position, so he spends one full week of every month on campus, and otherwise is remote. When he is on campus, he visits with classmate Kristen Lewis who teaches in biology, haunts the halls of O’Shaughnessy, and has at least one meal at the dining hall. He is still waiting for Circus Lunch to return! Joe greets us from Papua New Guinea, where he has been serving as Chargé d’Affaires (acting Ambassador) for the past year. In May, he will hit 25 years as a diplomat with the State Department, and 30 years of government service. He will complete his assignment in PNG this summer and will be heading to Nigeria next, his first time serving in Africa. He’ll finally be able to put to use what he studied in professor Walshe’s classes on African politics at Notre Dame. Julie (McCarthy) ’90 and Jim Larkin and their family traveled to the Notre Dame Tantur Ecumenical Institute to spend a week with their son, Kieran ’25 who was completing his summer study abroad program in Jerusalem. They say it was truly a wondrous journey to walk in Jesus’ footsteps and to stay at the joint Ecumenical Institute overlooking the Mount of Olives and Bethlehem, commissioned by Pope Paul VI, who called on Fr. Hesburgh and Notre Dame to build it. Kay and Brett Hunt have retired and are now sailing the Pacific Northwest on their sailboat Beagle Spirit. Updates available at beaglespirit.com. Rosie (Reyes) ’93 and Jim Zeller’s daughter, Gabriella, is a freshman who resides in P.E. and is a member of the track & field team. They had a wonderful time at the Rotatori (Mark & Renee Kaptur) family tailgate parties this fall. It was wonderful to reconnect in person with Grace suitemate Kevin Greene and his wife Celeste after too many years! Theodore “Ted” Passe graduated from Duke U Medical School in 1995. He did his radiology residency training at Johns Hopkins Hospital and completed his fellowship in neuroradiology at the Mayo Clinic. Following 14 years in private practice, Ted returned to a staff position as a neuroradiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. He was recently named a Fellow of the American College of Radiology. Ted and his wife Michele have three children. Kate English joined Epstein Becker Green. John Joseph Bannan published a book called Superdeterminism Defeats Atheism: How Physics Disproves Atheistic Ideology available on Amazon Kindle. — Suzi (Criqui) Mueller; suzi@cbglobalsearch.com
91MBA Football Brings Us Together
Jane and John Ashby tailgated with Rich Yoo and Ray Boyle before the Ohio State game. Ray’s son is at ND in the MBA program. Fran LaBella and Missy Sommer are organizing a committee for an “unofficial Class reunion” the weekend of Oct. 12 for the Stanford football game. Several classmates were running into each other at games this past season and thought a planned event was overdue. Save the date, and reconnect for this fall 2024 weekend. Stay tuned for more information coming soon, or email Fran at frances.labella@yahoo.com. Tom Livingston reports that he now splits time between southwest FL and northern ID. His daughter Jane is finishing up graduate school at Gonzaga and daughter Claire is a social media campaign creator in Seattle. Tom has been with Inspire Medical Systems now for a year and he enjoys transforming patients’ lives one at a time with their sleep apnea solution. If anyone is in either area let him know (tom.livingston1967@gmail.com); he would love to have a mini-ND MBA gathering. Dan Mackey reports that his daughter Julia graduated from the London School of Economics in December with a master’s degree in environmental economics. He and his wife, Kim, went to London for graduation and then enjoyed a European vacation. Dan also attended the ND vs. Central Michigan football game and hopes to get back to campus again in the fall (talk to Fran and Missy, Dan!). Scott Trossen picked up a new hobby. In January 2023 he started downhill skiing. Rumor has it that he’s not doing Rocky Mountain black-rated trails, though he is holding his own. His top speed was 43 mph — but then he thought, “Oh yeah, that’s just reckless.” If you find yourself wanting to ski in the Midwest, reach out to Scott (trossens@gmail.com) to enjoy that mountain air. That is a wrap for this issue. Send updates. — Patty (Spiekermann) Lynch; pattylynch05@gmail.com
91JD Greetings
I received a Christmas card from Bernie Lau. He and his family spent time in Canada over the holidays. Bernie and his wife, Singmay, value the time with their sons, Charles and William, who are both busy with their medical careers. I also received a card from Tim DeMasi. Tim and his wife, Karin, are completely outnumbered with sons Jack, Traigh, Nate and Reid. Anything new in your world? Let me know. Until next time, act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with your God. — Martha (Boesen) Trout; 12823 Clark St., Clive IA 50325; 515-249-9235; marthatrout@gmail.com
92 Sesqui Class Scoop
Lewis Hall gals Maureen (Blake) Gill, Jo Hannah (Jody Bellis) Hurtt, Kelly Reuba and Stacey Turner celebrated 35 years of friendship by meeting up in beautiful Santa Fe NM in November. Most of the Lewis “8-chick” met up in Greenville SC in September. Maria (Reda) and Peter Gulli opened up their new, empty-nester home to Colleen (Danaher) Contreras, Kris (Cebulla) Thompson ’93, Lisa (Broeren) Richards, Kathy (Lamprecht) Prue, Cristin (McCarthy) Vahey and Jen (Sorice) Clark for a weekend of pickleball, bike rides on the Greenville trails, a pontoon boat cruise and lots of laughter. Chelsea (Latimer) Smith sent news: Her son, Zach, is sophomore at Oberlin playing basketball and daughter Kinsey is a senior in high school. She committed to play D1 volleyball for Davidson next year. Her youngest, a sophomore in HS, is trying to follow their footsteps and also play a sport in college. Chelsea and husband James celebrated their 23rd wedding anniversary after meeting at Kellogg business school. They live in Chicago where for the first time in 25 years, Chelsea’s triplet sisters also live. Chelsea heads the single-family office services for Bernstein Private Wealth. If you attend a Chicago Cubs baseball game, you will see classmate Craig Counsell in the dugout as he joined the Cubs as manager in November after working for the Milwaukee Brewers as their manager since 2015. Craig holds the Brewers’ franchise record for most wins as manager. He also led the Brewers to five of their nine all-time postseason appearances. Shannon Ledesma’s son Nate Jones played soccer for UW and is not only a dean’s list member, but was the first defender drafted in the first round to play professional soccer with the MLS. He signed with the CO Rapids. Barb Campbell participated in the first all-women field at the Ironman World Championship in Kona HI in October. In case you didn’t know what that entails, it is a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile run. Way to go, Barb! Congrats to Kevin Roxas. In November he received the 2023 G. Pritchy Smith Multicultural Educator of the Year Award from the National Association for Multicultural Education. Classmates Lynn (Willett) Nowak and Kristin (Gafvert) Hammerschmitt watched their daughters box against each other in the finals of the Baraka Bouts. Sarah “Midshipmenace” Nowak beat Ellie Hammerschmitt to become a two-time champ. Paris in November? Yes, please. Yolanda Carroll, Andria Settles, Michele Steele and Monique White met up for a long weekend in Paris, France, (not Texas) to attend the inaugural NCAA women’s college basketball game (ND vs. SC) with both teams led by Black female coaches. The trip included shopping, some amazing meals and networking with others in town for the historic game. While the Lady Irish did not win, it was still a trip of a lifetime. Attend any mini-reunions, trips or other family scoop? Please post on the Class Facebook page where scoops, ticket swaps and game meet-ups are shared. Check out my.nd.edu to update your contact info. Note the Class Facebook page: U of Notre Dame, Class of 1992. God bless and Go Irish! — Jill-Beth (JB) Hayes; ndclassof92@gmail.com
92MBA Class Secretary — Julie Pendell;
pendell.julie@gmail.com
92JD Class Secretary — Paul A. Drey; 6701 Westown Parkway, Suite 100, West Des Moines IA 50266; bus 515-271-1765; paul.drey@brickgentrylaw.com
93 Dusting Off the Dogbook
While I’d like to think that I personally know almost everyone who sends me an update for our Class Notes, that’s impossible with a class of more than 1,800 graduates. I was social, but not that social! As a result, I occasionally need to dust off my Dogbook (and yearbook!) to place a face to a name and confirm whether and how I knew someone when we were undergrads. Yes, I was that person who highlighted names and jotted down the personal connection — a shared class, a dormmate, a work-study co-worker, an SYR setup, etc. Can I just say how thankful I am that I tagged my Dogbook? As the years pass, I’m less able to recall how I first met someone. Not that this detail is critical to my day-to-day existence, but it’s always a nice walk down memory lane. I was thrilled to hear from two good friends for our Class Notes; no Dogbook needed. Karen Holderer Sims moved to Bonham TX to be closer to her family, including her dad, August “Gus” ’69MBA, and brothers David ’91 and Michael ’03. Karen and her husband, Joe, made the 21-hour trek from Rochester NY with their senior dogs, Pippa (12) and Lula (11), stopping along the way for the ultimate canine road trip. Karen works as associate director of admission communication and digital content at Austin College. In her spare time, she is on the board at the Creative Arts Center and a member of the ND Club of Dallas. Joe and her brothers are all talented musicians, so she’s thinking of dusting off her guitar and starting a family band — Van Holderer, perhaps? Carlos Lozada is happy to share that his new book, The Washington Book: How to Read Politics and Politicians (Simon & Schuster), came out Feb. 20. The Washington Book features 50 of his essays and reviews on political memoirs and manifestos, journalistic investigations, special counsel reports, impeachment investigations, Supreme Court opinions and many other texts that make up the paper trail of Washington. The pieces span 2013 to 2023 — basically, from “This Town” to the Trump indictments — and draw from his work first at The Washington Post and now at The New York Times. In this collection, Carlos tries to capture Washington through its own words. He digs into the self-referential presidency of Barack Obama, the collected writings of Donald Trump, the tensions of Hillary Clinton and the memoir George H.W. Bush never wrote but should have. He explores landmark investigations from Watergate and Iran-Contra to the Starr and Mueller reports. Carlos read Dick Cheney, Mike Pence and Kamala Harris and spent time with Tocqueville, Sam Huntington and Albert Hirschman. He sifted through the writings of Vladimir Putin, the literature of 9/11, the politics of the 1619 Project, the transformation of the Supreme Court, the origins of the Big Lie and lots more. Join me in congratulating Carlos on his newest book, which can be purchased on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Finally, just a quick reminder to update your contact info on my.nd.edu if you haven’t recently done this. — Anne Marie (Krauza) Yuhas; 623-606-7000; yuhas93@gmail.com
93MBA Many Reuniting
I have had some phone calls from classmates who are slowing down with work and are able to connect with fellow ND classmates. Both Matt Gleason and Matthew Majikes told me that when traveling, they reach out to those in our Class who live in the city where they are headed. If you have been connecting with classmates, please send me an email with your details. Todd Moore sent me an update in November saying that he left the retirement world and is back to work, spending his days in Cook County as the deputy chief administrative officer. He was wondering if anyone in Chicago from our class gets together. I can send you Todd’s contact info if you send me an email. He is also wondering where Mike Smith is. Mike, if you read these updates, Todd would love to reconnect. Thank you for the Christmas cards. Many of us have children getting married, which is a fun time in life. I would love to hear from you if you have any reconnection stories or fun stories to share with our class. My next deadline is April 21, which is the summer issue. If you know which football games you will be attending, please let me know. I can include that information in this newsletter, which will be delivered sometime in August to your door. I look forward to seeing you in 2024 at ND or on this platform. Go Irish! — Tricia Hug Schorr; 317-987-5000; thugschorr@yahoo.com
93JD Class Secretary — Joe DiRienzo;
DiRienzo & DiRienzo, 116 Saint Paul St., Westfield NJ 07090; res 908-812-2765; bus 908-233-6700; jd1@dirienzo-law.com
94 Final Months till Reunion 2024
We can’t wait to see you at our 30th Reunion on May 30-June 2! Let’s make it the best one yet! To register and learn more, visit reunion.nd.edu! Jennifer Babula is happy to be back in the US after 12 years abroad with the State Department. Posted in Jamaica, Morocco and Cameroon, with tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, Jennifer and her family are now permanently situated in western CO. If you see her passport floating down the Colorado River, she begs you to let it float on by. Tim O’Neill and his brother Ryan ’97 started a new foundation, ONeillHope.org, and dusted off their O’Neill Brothers piano benches to raise money for families in need. After taking a 12-year break from concerts to be a dad, Tim and Annie ’01 are hoping at least one of their four kids makes it into ND someday! Tim and Ryan’s concerts raised $100,000 for the O’Neill Foundation of Hope. Beth (Bolger) Ritchie left Disney this year and started a new role as CFO of Centr. On an even more fun note, Beth will have another Domer in the family with daughter Kelsey as part of the Class of 2028! Troy Mendez will be leaving his post as dean of Trinity Cathedral in Phoenix and is excited to announce he’ll be taking the position of executive director of the Episcopal Evangelism Society. John Fiore and his wife, Isabel, live in Lake Forest IL with their son Charlie and daughter Penny. The whole family spent Thanksgiving in St. Andrews, Scotland, visiting while Charlie is studying abroad this year. John has worked for JPMorgan for more than 28 years and is currently a managing director in debt capital markets. David Basile lives in Westfield NJ with his wife, Jennifer, and their four children: Marco, Jonah, Rowan and Isla. Dave thoroughly enjoys spending time with his family, playing sports and doing homework with the kids. He also occasionally reunites to play live music with his Notre Dame bandmates. He is a regional vice president and general manager at Hovione, a family-owned pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization located in East Windsor NJ and headquartered in Portugal. In his role, Dave leads a team of approximately 200 employees providing life-saving medicines for well-known pharmaceutical clients. He is very excited about and engaged in growing Hovione’s commercial footprint in the United States. Erik Stevens shares that life is good raising a 16-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl. Erik is still selling real estate with Success Property Brokers in Scottsdale AZ. He has branched out from residential to commercial now as well. Erik’s wife, Kristen, is opening an IV infusion pharmacy, and they are looking forward to the 30th Reunion this spring. Kevin Carrigan is going on his 17th year as a partner within Ernst & Young’s Financial Services practice. He is based out of their Chicago office where he primarily works with banking, capital markets and wealth management clients. He lives in Naperville IL with his wife, Therese (Kang) ’96, and their three children. Keep the updates coming to ndclass1994@yahoo.com — Elizabeth Macor Groupp; elizabethgroupp@gmail.com; Matt Cannizzo; mcannizz@nd.edu
94MBA 30 Year Reunion Time
I will start this column with an apology to everyone who was so upset and disappointed that I didn’t write a column last quarter but I actually did. This column – which I am mainly repeating – was mistakenly published under ’94 Law instead of ’94 MBA. Apologies to all, (especially you, Pierre Nona, and my father). A bunch of us attended Pitt game including Angela (Stavropoulos) Laurite, Elizabeth (Ix) and Tom Buccellato, Megan (Lee) and Dave Hilal, Unfortunately, J. Matt Carr, Jenner Davis, Diana (Stratbucker) Cook, Scott Steiger and Mark Mildenberger were unable to attend. However, we did travel to ND in early February to see a hockey game and got to see Jenner, Tom and Elizabeth. We were fortunate enough to see Jenner and her parents at the tOSU game as well, along with a stellar crew of Mike Mullster Mulligan with his lovely wife Katherine, Dave “Wally” Pasquale and his family, Kathy (Hardiek) and Kevin “Doc” Dougherty (although Kathy didn’t get to stay for the game), Pierre, Matthew and Amy Kavanaugh, Dan (aka Peanut) Pezolt, M. Scott Aubry, Esq., and a surprise last minute visit via LandJet from Scott Woodpile Frigon and his beautiful wife Ann. Unfortunately, Christopher Brett Ohlmeyer and M. Sean O’Neill were unable to make it. Hilal was also at the tOSU game (though we didn’t see each other), along with Dan Renouard, Jon Langenfeld and Kevin Berch. Dave and Bucce were together at USC as well. Pierre, Doc and I had the ultimate pleasure of spending the weekend in Louisville with Chris Zubag Zulanas. While the outcome of the game was not what we wanted or expected, we had a ton of laughs and bourbon. Plans are already underway for a big group gathering in Atlanta in October for the Georgia Tech game. Shannon (Davis) Pezolt is likely learning right now that her home may be a host house for said game! The above crew also plans to be at the Louisville game in late September. Lastly – I spoke with Charles Oliva recently and we discussed a reunion game for 2024, which will be 30 years since we graduated MBA. We are targeting the weekend of September 20, 2024, which is the Miami of OH game. More to come but please mark your calendars. It looks like many of the group will be able to come to that game including Marky Mark! Jenner may have to miss it, though. We are expecting Phil Neri, Mark Lambert, Tom Reyes, Carroll Rockey, Cam Johnson and others to attend. Charles did tell me that he recently saw Danielle (Sabin) Rushing in Dallas for dinner. Charles and family were in town for the Beyonce concert. Danielle recently went back to work full-time with Deloitte after working on and off there for 30 years. Not boring at all, Danielle! To everyone else, please let Angela and me know how you’re doing! I need more info to fill out this column. — Rodger Laurite; 678-644-0422; rodgerlaurite@hotmail.com
94JD Class Secretary — Doug Duncan;
pdouglasduncanjr@yahoo.com
95 Authors
Gregg Behr shared that a book he co-authored and that was released at the height of the pandemic is about to go to its seventh printing. It’s titled When You Wonder, You’re Learning: Mister Rogers’ Enduring Lessons for Raising Creative, Curious, Caring Kids (Hachette, 2021). It’s a book written for educators and parents, revealing Mister Rogers’ blueprints for learning and how we, still today, can use those lessons left to us by America’s favorite neighbor to support joyful, wondrous learning — at school, at home, wherever kids learn. Classmates can find When You Wonder, You’re Learning wherever they buy their books, including Amazon. Gregg is happily raising his family in his hometown of Pittsburgh and serving his region’s youth, families and educators via his role at The Grable Foundation. Kristy (Schinderle) Dominiak is an active member of the Notre Dame Club of Charleston SC. If you are ever visiting the area, you are welcome at the ND game watch parties at Dunleavy’s Irish Pub on Sullivan’s Island. She lives there with her husband of 26 years, Patrick, and has three children who have flown the nest. Kristy published her first book, The Shaken Snow Globe: Finding Happiness Beyond My White Picket Fence; speaks across the country on “How to Become the Most Courageous Person You Know”; and is a life coach at KristyDominiak.com. She has a passion for helping families thrive, especially those dealing with anxiety, ADHD and learning differences. For her fellow alumni, her book club appearances and speaking engagements are pro bono. After college, Jorge Macias married the love of his life, Hismelda Carrillo Macias. Jorge works as a real estate broker and tax preparer. In 2020 he received an MA in strategic leadership from Life Pacific U. He and his wife are studying to receive their pastoral credentials with the Foursquare Church and working with a psychologist to be certified as biblical counselors. Together they have five children. Twin daughters Marina and Anais graduated from Life Pacific U and are working as pastors for the Foursquare Church. Aaron is a junior at Notre Dame, graduating exactly 30 years after his father in 2025. Aaron is following in Jorge’s steps as a tuba player in the ND Marching Band. Clarissa is a freshman at Life Pacific U, and their youngest son, Nehemiah, is in the fourth grade. Chris Folk is living in San Diego with his wife, Jody, and their three daughters: Emmy, 6, Julie, 4, and Felicity, 3. Chris is currently working in the medical devices industry. After graduating he received an MS at the U of Cincinnati in ’98 and a Ph.D. at UCLA in ’14. They stay in touch with many of the ND family, but don’t make it to the Bend often. Please stay tuned for more updates next quarter. Go Irish! — Molly Donius Boscarino; 745 LeBrun Road, Amherst NY 14226; 412-304-8469; mdboscarino@gmail.com
95MBA Class Secretary — Renee Werner;
134 Willow Blvd., Willow Springs IL 60480; 773-528-3929; renee.werner@alumni.nd.edu
95JD Class Secretary — Julia Meister;
meister@taftlaw.com
96 Class Secretary — Kate Crisham;
Seattle; catherine.crisham@usdoj.gov
96MBA Class Secretary — Maureen Maher;
ndmba96news@hotmail.com
96JD Volunteering Is Our Thing
Bruce Wells is retired from the Elkhart County, IN, Prosecutor’s Office. He is volunteering through his church to help missions. Currently he is in Argentina helping the Ministerio Beerseba Church with some construction projects for its school in Soldini, Argentina. Susie (Spisak) Hanchar traveled to Ghana in October to volunteer with a medical brigade serving rural communities in the central coast region. Susie spent two weeks with 10 of her Lilly colleagues serving the people of Ghana by providing medical treatment and education. The experience has had a profound impact on her life and has inspired her to look for new ways to make a difference in the lives of others. Chris Spataro volunteered to serve as a mock trial judge at Notre Dame Law School in fall of 2023. It was his first time doing so. While most other judges were assigned “regular old classrooms” for their trials, Chris was ecstatic to be able to preside over a case in the Patrick F. McCartan Courtroom in the Eck Hall of Law (and had flashbacks to eating popcorn and McDonald’s cheeseburgers during the film shown in one of his IL classes). Bill Jones is vice president at Enterprise Mobility, overseeing the global HR legal functions. His wife, Julie, is busy with a travel agency she started 10 years ago. Their oldest son, Will, is beginning the NOLS program in Patagonia this semester. Their middle son, Henry, is a junior at Wisconsin and is studying abroad in Barcelona this semester. Teddy is in eighth grade and ruling the house. If you have any personal or professional updates to share for our next issue, please contact me. — Chris Spataro; 57027 Wedgefield Court, Elkhart IN 46516; 574-596-2417; chrisjspataro@gmail.com
97 Following in Our Footsteps
It seems that a lot of my updates recently have been about our children becoming the next crop of Domers. It has been fun to catch up with fellow alums at different University events. I do have to say it is much sweeter to tailgate and not have to worry about an upcoming Orgo test or huge paper to turn in on Monday. Renee (Daffron) Minogue’s oldest son started his time at Notre Dame living in Keenan. Over Welcome Weekend she caught up with Debbie (Malloy) Turner and Boo (Withers) Beckstoffer, whose daughters are also first-years. So fun to see the next generation living the Irish dream. Laurie (Anderson) and Jeff Faulk’s daughter Brigid is also a freshman at ND this year studying chemical engineering. Their older son, Cullen, is senior finance major at Case Western in a dual degree program to get his MSF as well. Their daughter Jane is a freshman in high school. They are living in Warren OH, and Laurie is a program manager at Aptiv and Jeff is a divisional sales manager at Veka Inc. They were lucky enough to make it to three ND games this year: CMU, USC and Wake Forest. Reliving their college days again, but who can blame them. Back in May ’21, Matt Glen and Ginny (Babst) Saxton were reacquainted at a training for parents interested in joining a growing network of classical high schools in the Catholic tradition. Fast forward two years and Matt’s school, Chesterton Academy of St. Joseph, is in its second year in Dayton OH, and Ginny’s school, Chesterton Academy of Divine Mercy, opened this August in Covington LA. They have joined the ranks of 56 other Chesterton schools operating around the country. Thank you, Matt and Ginny, for your commitment to Catholic education in our country. Please stay safe and healthy. Please send all updates to — Kate (Fisher) Murray; 1840 Huntingdon Road, Huntingdon Valley PA 19006; kmurraynd@yahoo.com
97MBA Now THIS Is an Update
Tim Coff had a good 2023. He connected with Katie Moll (Wolsfeld), Raissa Carvatta (Dietrich), Jennifer and Stu Fortener, Ryan Baker and Grant Greig during football season and at the Ohio State game. Apparently, Ryan had an encounter with the dance floor pole at the Linebacker, but sources could not confirm the incident. Tim was excited to have the Irish visit him and the family in NC for the Duke game last season. Tim’s looking forward to a great 2024 and returning to campus in the fall or for a home basketball game this winter with Heather Drinan. “Ram” Lakshi Lakshmanan reports that both personally and professionally, life’s been good! Ram’s been connecting with classmates from ND and a few professors too. He’s had several interesting assignments from private equity firms, and the opportunity to attend the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago back in August. Ram also participated in many music programs in St. Louis by singing and playing the mridangam (a South Indian percussion instrument). Joy Gaffud-Vase says hi. She and the family are doing well. Joy spent New Year’s in Seattle and witnessed a Steelers win over the Seahawks. At the writing of this column Joy was on her way to India for work. Bill Asch is in MN with wife Emily and two kids, working in a new division of Optum, part of UnitedHealth Group, specializing in post-acute senior care. Bill wrapped up his second year as senior director of engineering leading 17 software teams and continues to enjoy the role. The Asches now have a junior in college studying neuroscience, and the younger one is heading to college this fall. Bill sees Jason Parker ’98MBA often as he lives in the Twin Cities. Passing through MN? Drop Bill a line at bill@asch.org. Anthony “Ant-Man” Jowid informed me that the email I was using to contact him is no longer valid. My apologies, Ant! Ant is division vice president at ARS/Rescue Rooter. You can reach out to Anthony at ajowid@gmail.com. I sent Kerry McInerney a happy birthday text message in January to remind her she will always be much younger than me regardless of what birthday she was celebrating. Exciting news from JJ Evans. JJ narrowly missed being elected as justice of the town of Poughkeepsie NY. Even though he did zero campaigning and showed no interest in the position for the six months leading up to the election, JJ still garnered more votes than the incumbent justice he was up against, who campaigned aggressively. Feeling nostalgic, I ran a regression to analyze how many Christmas cards I received. Thank you to Heather Drinan, Elena and Mike Dion, Tim Coff and family and the University of Notre Dame. I also received holiday cards from my broker, my insurance agent and Northwell Health. Here in NY things are good. Plans to scale some of our shows were stalled by the pandemic, but we’re back on track and moving forward. It would be great to get updates on some MBAs we haven’t heard from for a while: Charlie James, Joe Foppiano, Rich Jacobs, Leisl and Chris Ludwig, Julie (Meadows) Visconsi, Tenque Shahruddin, Marileen Koppenberg, Qun Cao, Maria Kicheeva, Bob Messana, Stelios Vouzoukas and Joe Fanning. No AI was used in the editing of this class column. Text, email or dial me up. Thanks to all the MBAs who helped make this column possible. Stay well and hope to hear from you soon! — Paul Anthony Mongelluzzo; 646-584-7340; paulanthonymba@gmail.com
97JD Remembering Russ
Our classmate Russell Day passed away Dec. 26. Russ was remembered by many for his sense of humor and kindness. He loved a good discussion about politics, singing Irish tunes and utilizing his quick wit. Russ was described by one of our classmates as “brilliant, hilarious and delightful to be around.” What an amazing way to be remembered. He was a wonderful brother and uncle to his niece and nephews and will be missed immensely. — Julie Vales; cell 973-727-5767; juliemvales@gmail.com; john.vales@dentons.com
98 Dublin Domers
A special thank-you to a friend of all of ours, Eric Anderson, for this quarterly update. Eric shared that a large group from our Class made the trek back to the motherland to watch our Irish beat the Midshipmen in Dublin to kick off the past football season. Nes Weigand did the heavy lifting and planned the amazing trip, which included a litany of outings: a hooley show, group dinners, trips to the countryside, golf outings and a pre-game pub crawl. Those from our Class who joined in the festivities were Dan Maloney, Brian Canavan, DJ Hartman, Ned Ryan, Andy Simon, Dan Armstrong, Pete Callan, Andy Nelson, Julie Corrigan, Jeremy Cazares, Pat Garrity, Michelle (Annunziata) and Lee Hambright, Mary (Gillard) and Eric Anderson, and Nes Weigand. Many spouses, kids, parents, aunts and uncles also joined the fun. The group stayed at the Carton House, and there is a great photo of everyone that I wish I could attach to this. You’ll just have to ask Eric to share it with you. During their Dublin visit, they bumped into Renee (Annunziata) ’01 and Mike Romanelli ’01, Tim Horton ’02JD, and Susan (Clark) ’02 and Joseph Schwartz ’02. I hope everyone had a wonderful winter and am wishing you all a happy spring season. Go Irish! — Bob Flannery; rflannery98@gmail.com
98MBA Coming Together After 25 Years
Well, I missed the deadline for the winter issue to celebrate the great gathering of our Class for the 25-year reunion game, so here’s some news that’s a little aged like a great cheese. First, big thanks to Kevin O’Connor, Marita McKenna, Meg and Dan Ferry, and Katelyn Dyer for generating the energy and activities for reunion weekend! There were both formal and informal goings-on over the weekend, which started with a waaaaaay nicer reception in the COBA/ Mendoza courtyard than we got back in our day! Our crew dominated the place but made nice connections with some current MBA-ers and had a little debate about the ship. After dinner at various locations around South Bend, we reconnected on the top floor of LaSalle Grill and took over a room to reminisce, share personal and professional updates and recruit hosts for our impromptu ND ’98MBA tailgater on Saturday. Big thanks to Julie and Mark Turner for the early morning trek to the stadium and loading up on eats and drinks for all. The game was a winner for the Irish, so good times there. Here’s everyone else who joined us for the fun: Chris Corbett; Chris Zando; Chuck O’Neal, Sukeshi O’Neal and son Charlie; Cynthia and David Bosch; Samantha and Dominic Marshall; Doug Rosien and his MUCH better half, Sarah (love ya, Doug!); Eddie Coney and son Andrew; Frank Chang and his daughter Allison; Jeff Betts; Julie Hertzler; Kalli Devaraj and Dr. Sarv Devaraj; Kevin Walsh; Nikki and Mark Lawrence; Tracy and Patrick Smith; Paul Silva and daughters Gaby and Bella; Tim Saur with his wife, Tera, and daughter Lily; Victor Trujillo; Chrissy and Tod Auman; Carrie and Dan Skendzel; Jay Conroy; and Pete Cairney. We missed the rest of you! Planning is in the works already for the next unofficial ’98MBA gathering. Pencil in Oct. 26 at MetLife Stadium in NJ as the Irish take on Navy! — Mark Holloway; mholloway@alumni.nd.edu
98JD Class Secretary — Chris Putt;
mobile 574-514-3703; crputt@gmail.com
99 25th Reunion — Whodda Thunk?
On a snowy day in South Bend not too long ago, I started doing some high-level math (a.k.a. counting on my fingers — my freshman-year math grades will bear out that this is the limit of my computational skills) and realized that, yes indeed, 2024 is a Reunion year for the Class of 1999. Not only is it a Reunion year, but it is also — gasp — our 25th Reunion. I know, the horror! Well, we must accept our inevitable aging, and at least we get an awesome weekend out of it. Reunion is scheduled from May 30 to June 2 and sign-up is live now at reunion.nd.edu. Dinner at the Downes Ballroom, Grotto Mass, and guest speaker Shannon Cullinan ’93 include some of the activities. I will be there with bells on (figuratively) and hope to see many of you there too. It will be a great weekend to catch up with old friends, maybe make a few new ones, and reconnect with the University. See you there! — Ryan D. Costantini; 414 S. Notre Dame Ave., South Bend IN 46617; mobile: 574-339-8050; ryan.costantini@gmail.com
99MBA Class Secretary — Christy (Hayes) King;
christyking@alumni.nd.edu
99JD Class Secretary — Steve Boettinger;
boettinger@alumni.nd.edu