2000s

00 In Denial
It is that time in our lives where we have to admit to the fact we are now too old to be cool anymore. We may try to sling some slang like “skibidi Ohio rizz,” or think we are all “sigma” because we talk the language of Gen Alpha while wearing our baggy sweatshirts like Gen Z (my kids are all so embarrassed right now, I am thoroughly enjoying it). However, reality is staring at us in the face because we are about to celebrate our 25-year Reunion this summer! Reunion will be held from May 29 - June 1 so register now at reunion.nd.edu. If you’d like to volunteer to be a dorm captain who helps round up attendance, help with the Reunion planning, or want to run for class officer, please reach out to Melissa (Tacey) Goodwin at mjtacey13@yahoo.com. If you’d prefer to donate to ND, please consider earmarking some to the Class of 2000, which is easy to do by visiting giving.nd.edu and selecting the Designation: Class of 2000 (Alumni Association). The donations can be used to spend on Class events like tailgates, reunions, etc. If you come to Reunion, you can catch up with classmates you haven’t seen in a while, see friends you see all the time, and of course, feel like you’re back in college. Don’t be sus, sign up! The reunion will totally slay. No cap! Don’t forget to send me anything you want to brag about or share. I would love to hear it! — Laurie (Strotman) O’Malley; ndbug3@hotmail.com

 

00MBA Reunion Time
Football: Well, it wasn’t the outcome we hoped for in the National Championship, but it was a great football season overall, and all signs are pointing to positive movement in recruiting, branding and other efforts. I’m looking forward to next season! Reunions: Can you believe 2025 marks 25 years since we graduated from the University of Notre Dame’s Graduate Business School?! Whether you’re a two-year MBA, one-year MBA, Executive MBA, Ph.D. in Management, or Master of Accountancy/Taxation*, we are excited to be coming together on campus along with all other classes (ending in 0 and 5) to mark a milestone reunion year. Reunion 2025 is celebrated May 29 - June 1 so register now at reunion.nd.edu. Your Reunion Committee is thrilled to be in full planning mode to make the weekend a joyful, re-engaging and reinvigorating time together. We are aiming for a massive turnout (>85 percent attendance) and would love for you to be in that count. Spouses and families are absolutely welcome. Will you join us? At this stage in life where we are sending children off to college, supporting aging parents and navigating mid-careers, it is likely that many of us have not communicated, interacted or seen each other in person in a while. So, this 25th Reunion is the perfect opportunity to do so, with everyone congregated on campus sharing old memories and creating new ones. You won’t want to miss it! Are you in? Can we count on you to join us and invite other classmates to also attend? If you’d like to attend, kindly send us your correct mobile number and email address to ensure you are receiving all notifications of our Class’s weekend events in a timely manner. Send to CDAnderson.MBA2000@alumni.nd.edu. In addition, please consider updating your contact information on my.ND.edu. The Reunion Planning Committee will be sharing our excitement to have you join us. Please look out for a phone call or Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn message from any of the committee members listed below. We want to ensure that no classmate is missed. In fact, don’t hesitate to start reaching out to friends and classmates you know personally, whom you’d like to have join you as well. And if you’d like to join our committee, contact Carol Anderson. Are you excited yet? Twenty-five years is a long time, and a good old-fashioned reunion is the perfect opportunity to reconnect and re-engage. Can we count on you to join us? Football weekend reunion: If these summer reunion dates don’t work for you, some of us will also be gathering at the USC football game on Oct. 18, which should be perfect in terms of weather. Class updates: Kristin Prajka wrote: “Thought I would share that Anne Burke (Huurman) and I and our sons have been spending some time together. Anne and I have stayed friends all these years, and then as luck would have it our boys were both freshmen at Auburn together last year and placed in the same dorm one floor apart. All we did was introduce them quickly and now they are sophomores and close friends. Makes it super fun for Vin, Anne, Keith (Anne’s husband) and I when we go out to Auburn to see the boys. Hopefully there will be a reunion game in our future. Go Irish!” Carol Anderson says: “It has been an absolute pleasure to rejoin Notre Dame’s national alumni volunteer leadership, as the new vice chair of the Black Alumni of Notre Dame. Over my three-year term, I’m leading an audacious campaign of raising $1,000,000 for scholarships and alumni programming that will continue to enhance the experiences and favorably impact the lives of Black/African American students on Notre Dame’s campus. I invite all 200+ Black Alumni from the MBA Program and our allies at the Mendoza College of Business to join me in this effort. There are numerous opportunities to volunteer across many programs, as mentors, as regional leaders, fundraisers and event planners for our Triennial Reunion and Inaugural Golf Tournament at the Reunion 2027, June 5, 2027.” 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 Some Updates
Thanks to our fellow classmates for some great updates. Keep ’em coming! Toni (Plummer) Kirkpatrick started a new job as senior editor at Diversion Books, acquiring thrillers, sci- fi/fantasy and horror. She was also named the new chair of Latinx in Publishing, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2024. LxP is a nonprofit supporting Latinx authors and publishing professionals. Please check out the website to subscribe to the newsletter, find resources and donate: LatinxinPublishing.com. J. Scott Killen and his wife, Stephanie, just welcomed the latest Notre Dame fan into the world. Rowan Michael Killen was born Nov. 7. Mom, Dad and baby are all healthy and happy. Roger Loughney checked in with a fascinating update. In 2024, Loughney and his ownership group took control of Kristiansand Norway’s professional soccer franchise, Idrettsklubben Start — or IK Start, as it is known colloquially in its native country. IK Start is a prominent club currently playing in Norway’s second division, but has spent five of the last 10 years in the top flight. Chris Marvin served as a co-producer and the impact producer for the new feature film My Dead Friend Zoe, which opens in theaters Feb. 28. This dark comedy, starring Morgan Freeman, Ed Harrris and Sonequa Martin-Green won audience awards at South by Southwest, Mill Valley and Woodstock film festivals, and is executive produced by Travis Kelce. Please keep sharing photos via @nd2001alumni (via Instagram) or Class Notes via email. — Michael Anselmi; 415-860-7130; manselmi@alumni.nd.edu; classof2001@alumni.nd.edu

 

01MBA Class Secretary — Dominic Pang; dpang@panglaw.com

 

01JD Class Updates
Marcus Ellison was elected to an at-large seat on the South Bend Community School Corporation board. His four-year term began in January. Lisa Hudson Henry was also elected to the Mountain View Whisman (CA) School District board of trustees. I believe some classmates including Steve Pratico, Jim Ouellette, Janelle Tranquillo Blankenship, Karen Sugden, Christine (Jennings) and Mike Johnson, Delana McFarlin, Julie Robinson Olvin and Sarah Millar were at the National Championship game cheering on our Irish! Please remember to send me any news updates for our column. — Jonell Lucca; cell 602-677-3266; jonelllucca@yahoo.com

 

02 Class Secretary — Peter Countryman; pcountry@gmail.com

 

02MBA Class Secretary — Melissa Hurd; hurdmc@yahoo.com

 

02JD Class Secretary
Thank you to Ryan Costantini for his years volunteering as the Class Notes author. If you would like to volunteer as our new author, please contact beth.thomas@nd.edu.

 

03 A Job Well Done
Congratulations to Nick Scarpino on joining Giordano’s as their next CEO! Nick brings a wealth of experience to the role, having spent the past 10 years as chief marketing officer at Portillo’s. Go Irish! — 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 Career Accomplishments
Seth O’Donnell MD, a foot and ankle surgeon at Southcoast Health, was selected to participate in the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society Traveling Fellowship Program. The selection process for this program is highly competitive, and Seth was one of five international surgeons invited to attend. Throughout the program, which began in Vancouver, Canada, at the Annual Meeting of the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society, the fellowship participants were hosted by well-known foot and ankle faculty at three academic institutions: Stanford U, the U of Colorado and the U of California, Davis. Congrats on this achievement, Seth! David Yeager Ph.D. was featured on the most recent NDAA virtual series “Game Changers: Inspiration and Expertise to Elevate Your Game for Good”. He, along with the other industry leader panelists, discussed how to attract, develop and retain talent across generations — all while building or being part of a cohesive, high-performing team. David is the co-founder of the Texas Behavioral Science and Policy Institute at the U of Texas at Austin. Congrats to David on the success of his first, recently published book, 10 to 25: The Science of Motivating Young People. Jennie (Bradley) Lichter was recently named the next president of March for Life Education and Defense Fund, which is the organization that hosts the March for Life in DC every January (as well as pro-life marches in state capitals across the country). She recently did a fun interview with the Irish Rover that was in part about how she first attended the March for Life as a freshman at ND. Jennie is just the third person to lead the March for Life in its over-50-year history — and the first mom. Her kids, with husband Brian, are Brendan (11), Bridget (8) and Monica (3). In future years she hopes to see many Domers there! Jennie also submitted a shout-out to our classmate Kevin Somok, my fellow ACE 11 graduate, who recently took on a leadership role as the new principal at St. Jerome Academy, a classical Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Washington in Hyattsville MD. Keep those updates coming! — Carol (McCarthy) Martino; carolmartino10@gmail.com

 

04MBA Mini 20-Year Reunion
With the Fighting Irish going on a 13-game winning streak, it allowed many of our classmates to have mini-reunions along the way. Mary (Murphy) ’04 and Eric Nedell took their entire family Conor (14), Ann Monroe (12), Patrick (10) and John (8), along with Eric’s brother Marc, to the Orange Bowl. Jason Palmi joined them for the victory over Penn State. A week later there was another reunion in the Ruby Lot before the National Title game. John Keener, Neal Capecci, Ryan Lentell, Justin Kelly, Chris Chotard, Tommy Vollmar and myself along with family and friends were in attendance. Keep the updates coming! — Harry Howisen; hhowisen@gmail.com

 

04JD Updates from South Bend to TX
Now in his fourth year as vice president for student affairs at the University, Rev. Gerald “Gerry” Olinger, CSC, has added three big projects to his already busy schedule. First, he is working to strengthen residential life. He reports that Fisher and Pangborn Halls have been decommissioned and two new halls, Coyle for boys and Grojean for girls, are being built on the South Quad by the Rockne Memorial. Second, Father Gerry reports thinking very intentionally about religious disaffiliation and has launched four pillars to help encourage reaffiliation. Finally, Father Gerry reports a collaboration with the College of Arts and Letters and the Department of Psychology to address mental health needs on campus and in the South Bend community. Mary Kruger has been busy at the Department of Justice for the past 17 years as an assistant US attorney. For the last five years, she’s served as the civil chief in the Western District of TX, overseeing all affirmative and defensive civil litigation involving the United States in her district. Mary and her husband have four children and live in New Braunfels TX. Mary is also one of the cool kids who helps out in the Law School’s Intensive Trial Advocacy Program and reports that she loves the chance to work with the students. As I write this, the Irish just beat Penn State in the Orange Bowl. Let’s hope as you read this (if anyone actually reads this), that we are national champions. Go Irish! — Katie (Wharton) DeFerrari; katiedeferrari@gmail.com

 

05 A Sweet Start to 2025
It was so much fun to welcome the Notre Dame family to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl in January and to see some classmates. I marched in the Bowl parade on New Year’s Eve and caught a glimpse of classmate Beth (Duran) Thomas in the crowd, grabbed a drink before the game with Beth (Stelloh) and Keith Blystone and their two boys, who were over from Ocean Springs MS, and watched the game in the Dome with Jacqueline Pimentel-Gannon ’05, ’07MEd, ’11JD, ’11MBA and her husband, Mark Sikora. Jacqueline and Mark attended every single ND football game during the 2024-25 season (home and away — 16 in all!) and had some amazing stories to share about this adventure. I got a few reports of classmates who traveled to Atlanta for the championship game, including Erin (Cox) Fricker, Sarah (Sheehan) and Joe Graham, Doug Durkalski, Dave Olson, Steve Colnitis, Megan (McGinty) Macri, Nicole Phillips and Bridget (Veihmeyer) Monahan. I’m hoping to hear more from classmates who were there during our Reunion weekend this summer (more on that below!). Vance McClenton wrote to share the news of his acquisition of Barrett Plumbing, a trusted plumbing contractor serving the West MI community since 1975. The company, originally founded by Ray Barrett and later owned and operated by his son Jack Barrett, has earned a strong reputation for its dedication to quality and excellence in commercial and residential projects. As the new owner, Vance is committed to continuing the company’s legacy of excellence while bringing fresh ideas and innovations to serve the growing needs of the community. Check them out if you’re in the Western MI area! I hope you’ve heard by now that our 20-year Reunion is upon us! We are planning an unforgettable weekend of events May 29 - June 1 and hope you will register soon at reunion.nd.edu. Please email ndclassnotes05@gmail.com if you have any ideas or would be willing to help in any way with Reunion planning. We also need some classmates to help replenish our Class of 2005 Fund to cover additional hospitality for our Class. These donations are tax deductible and count towards your ND annual giving. To make a gift to our 2005 Class Fund: 1. Go to giving.nd.edu. 2. Put in the amount of your gift and continue. 3. Under Designation, type “2005” and select Class of 2005 (Alumni Association). 4. We are not able to see donor names, but please email ndclassnotes05@gmail.com if you have made a donation to our Class Fund so we can list you as a Reunion Sponsor when we thank everyone who helped make this Reunion a success. Looking forward to seeing many of you in May! — Caroline Meehan; ndclassnotes05@gmail.com

 

05MBA Just Another Chapter of Life
After a nearly 20-year career at Honeywell, John Waldron retired last April. Since then, he’s enjoying spending time with his family and relearning shopping for groceries. His wife, Sara, teaches AP and Honors US Government at Charlotte Catholic High School and they are watching their three kids grow up fast. John was lucky enough to attend Prof. Viva Bartkus’s discussion of her latest book, Business on the Edge, when she was in town last August. John believes that like her books, each chapter of his life is more interesting than the last. Please send in your updates for the next column at hgosar@alumni.nd.edu or to the Notre Dame MBA Class of 2005 Google Group by emailing at ndmba2005-owner@googlegroups.com. Take care and good luck in life and work. — Himanshu Gosar; hgosar@alumni.nd.edu; ndmba2005-owner@googlegroups.com

 

05JD Around the Horn
In Indianapolis, Lou Perry continues his tradition of coaching excellence. Two decades after the transcendence of leading the Cavanaugh Chaos to flash football excellence, he now is teaching his eldest daughter, a high school sophomore, a left-handed swing that would make Ken Griffey Jr. jealous. We look forward to watching her excel in South Bend soon if all goes to plan. He trekked to Atlanta and rooted on our Fighting Irish football team to a second-ending No. 2 ranking, our highest in 30 years. In his spare time, he is an intellectual property partner at Faegre Drinker Biddle. Two weeks prior to that game, I had the opportunity to watch the Irish beat the Georgia Bulldogs alongside Coley Lechner at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans. Having developed a specialized practice that includes cybersecurity and data privacy, Coley serves as director and managing counsel, global privacy, for Western Union in Denver. Out in Los Angeles, Thomas Bruder was elected to the partnership at Kutak Rock, where he focuses on public finance services. Somewhere else in the world, Jeremiah Coder rejoined the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration as counsellor to Manal S. Corwin. He continues to lead international tax policy. And in Colorado Springs, Dominic Angiollo was recognized as one of 10 honorees of the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award, the highest award for DoD career civilians, for his efforts in building equitable policies for sexual assault survivors, cadet parents and LGBTQ+ servicemembers. Congrats! — Adam J. Russ; Houston TX; adamjruss@gmail.com

 

06 Welcome, John Henry
Sabitha and Andrew Salzmann ’05 of Atchison KS welcomed their fifth child, John Henry, on Oct. 9, joining siblings Benjamin, Gabriel, Matthew and Ruth. — Anna (Skoien) Lall; annagracelall@gmail.com

 

06MBA Congratulations
Michael Lloyd was elected to the six-member Herndon Town Council on Nov. 5 to serve a two-year term commencing Jan. 1, receiving the highest total number of votes among nine candidates. — Mike Lloyd; 651 Nathaniel Chase Lane, Herndon VA 20170; cell 312-388-0501; mt_lloyd@yahoo.com

 

06JD Class Secretary — Brian E. Hammell; behammell@yahoo.com

 

07 Pop Culture Jeopardy
Tiffany Roberts was named a leader in the Greater Irvine Chamber 40 Under 40 Honorees. Tiffany is the vice president and FMB Foundation director for F&M Bank. Congratulations, Tiffany! Kristen Aland and her brothers John ’09 and Scott were contestants on the new season of Pop Culture Jeopardy. The siblings shared several laughs with host Colin Jost and had other memorable moments throughout their episode. Check out Prime Video to see how they did! Former ND kicker Carl Gioia is now an SEC football official and was the head line judge at the 2024 Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando. Carl is an orthodontist in Louisville where he and his wife, Diane (Duran) Gioia, are raising three children. Diane is a CPA whose 4.5 tennis team recently won the USTA National Championship. The CFP National Championship game was an opportunity for classmates from across the country to gather in Atlanta. A special thank-you to local Atlanta hosts Will Jourdan, John Bush, Chase Gund, San Pandolfo, Derry Herlihy ’11, Francesca and Brendan Whalen, and Emree Chapman Woods for organizing an incredible tailgate for more than 100 classmates, friends and family members from the classes of 2007 and 2011. We’re almost two years out from our 20th(!) Class Reunion and plan to host meetups leading up to the big event. We’ll post details in this column and our Class Facebook group! Please email your updates to the address below. God Bless and Go Irish! — AJ Cedeño; 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 Trip to Toledo
This is written a few days after Jan. 20. While our team did not prevail on the field, our fans prevailed in the tailgate lots. Just ask Tim Flannery, Katie Rose Hackney Flannery ’09, Tom Bufalino, Chris Garibaldi, Laura Amburgy, Meghan Sweeney Bean, her stunning husband Brett Bean ’11JD, Kate Napleton Kysiak, Chris Cugliari ’10, Garrett Mandeville, Ben Clarke and many other good people. Marcus Freeman, our classmate, is on his way to legendary status. Analisa Arizpe continued listening to music from her old college iPod. Recently, she listened to “Everytime” by Britney; she loved it. Doug Schlarman has Britney as his iPhone wallpaper. Pat Ryan never hollered; neither did Didier Lewis. It’s fine. I’m fine. Dr. Sagar Navare ’07 is an anesthesiologist. He puts people to sleep, like he did to other boxers in 2007. More importantly, he is a huge 2008 Class Notes fan. Will Kearney and Dr. Emily Donelan bought a place in NH, close to the ski mountains. There are bears; Will promises to fight them. On top of the garage is a ski chalet: Contact Will for a weekend getaway. Dan Straface built a house in Morgantown WV and has barred several folks from visiting because of their college reputation. If you don’t know who it is, it is you. Zach Przystup was in Francisco Castillo-Fierro ’10MEd’s wedding, which was almost as big as the birth of his new twins, Annie and Theo. Zach told this writer to include the announcement in the last Class Notes, but Pat O’Brien did not because he forgot. Zach went to Toledo, Spain, in spring 2007 with Kait Levine-Brown, Tara Carey Schuppig, Rachel Sehgal Bravo, Garrett Mandeville (el peligroso), Rachel Maly Goldrick, Joey Validivia (he also never hollered), Brendan Ryan (spoke great Spanish almost rarely), Chris Liedl (liked to say “pues”), Kara Fessler Graham, Carolyn Sarb, Emily Rickert, Kimmy and Brendan Venter (later these two married, but it all started in the basement of La Boveda in April 2007), Dan Husack, Corey Collins Heroux, and several others. Jesse Brawer and Drew Whiting were not allowed to study abroad. Neither was Lawrence Sullivan. Despite Jon Wood ’07’s attempted collusion with Michael Gilbert, Andrew Marchese returned as champion in their fantasy football league. The league will be renamed the Andrew Marchese Invitational and not one person needs the logistics expertise of Dr. Andrew Zeiser (not a real doctor) whose team (co-managed by Dr. Frank Ragukonis, a medical doctor [yes, we are also shocked] and childhood movie star in A Boy, A Ball, A Dream) failed to make the playoffs. Summer is coming. Make sure to get your abs and calves in order, or, if you are like the writer, don’t. Lastly, many of us will be turning 40 this year: Don’t make it an existential crisis. There are bigger things going on in the world. Instead, let’s make a plan to concelebrate at a fall football game this year, preferably September or October. Dan Husack, our Class party planner, will let you know. Chat this summer. — 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
Sarah Snyder and Ed Redden ’12 welcomed their third boy to the crew in November. Caleb is loved by big brothers, George and Parker, and the couple have adjusted to zone defense. Jared Zenk got engaged to Noey Doherty in the fall after putting together a full day›s Amazing Race-style scavenger hunt across Chicago assisted by Julaine (Zenk) Zenkelberger ’13, 20. Looking to up their architectural prowess, Andrew Matasic and Craig Wiborg visited Petra this fall, and they agree that it definitely earns its title as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. John Aland and his siblings Kristen ’07 and Scott were contestants on the new season of Pop Culture Jeopardy. The siblings shared several laughs with host Colin Jost and had other memorable moments throughout their episode. Check out Prime Video to see how they did! 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