5 minute read

Around the Water Cooler

Class of 1986 Angela Minas, who serves on the Rice Business Council of Overseers, was named to the Weatherford International Board of Directors.

Class of 1990 Robert Foye recently moved with his family from Shanghai, China to Piedmont, California as part of a broader job expansion with Treasury Wine Estates as global chief operating officer. His family includes Kristianna (undergraduate class of 1991, maiden name Schmitt), their sons Robert (see In Memoriam) and William and their daughters Meredith and Annabel. The job front is looking very positive and he looks forward to continued ties with the Jones School. Last year, they hosted the entire EMBA graduating class to Sin gapore for a full week immersion on international business.

Class of 1992 Mark McMeans works for Brasada Capital Management in Houston, which was started by alumni from AIM ten years ago. They recently announced a merger with Friedberg Investment Management, a firm with a 38-year record of accomplishment. The combined firm is doing business under the Brasada name

Class of 1997 Steven Ebel joined Distribu tionNOW (DNOW) last year to head up business development for the supply chain services or ganization. This group provides services aimed at lowering total supply chain costs for energy sector customers by setting up dedicated supply chains for maintenance, repairs and operations (MRO) materials to reduce expense and working capital while improving service metrics. Steve and his wife Sonja live in Magnolia with their four kids.

Class of 2004 In June 2017, Dan Tinker was promoted to president and CEO of SRS Distribution, a national building products distributor based in Dallas. The company has 205 locations in 41 states and has grown dramatically since its inception in 2008 through 55 acquisitions and 86 new startup locations to current revenues of over $2.5 billion. They are 31percent owned by over 500 employees and 70 percent owned by their private equity sponsor, Berkshire Partners.

Class of 2007 Victoria (Walsh) Cooper is now a financial advisor with Majors & Mondragon in the Houston area. 10 years after the day they met. Around the same time, John added a new company called Collaborative Office Interiors, which complements his exist ing office furniture company ROSI Inc. The new showroom is in the Greenway Plaza complex and focuses on creating great spaces that attract the millenni al workforce. Jacky owns and operates 3 Men Movers.

Lorie Clements launched her own business, Springboard Solutions, to help entrepre neurs get what they want from their business.

Class of 2014 Laura (Spencer) Mott and her husband, Parker, welcomed their first child, Russell Adrian, on December 20, 2017.

Isaias Alonso and family wel comed daughter Leila McKinley Alonso.

Class of 2010 Leonardo Esteban was featured in Hispanic Executive Magazine, both for his profes sional and personal journey and for his role as director of procurement at Veolia. Read the article in its entirety https:// hispanicexecutive.com/2017/ veolia/

Lauren (Grabski) Brooks and her husband, Nathan, welcomed their daughter, Alexandra Leigh, on January 16, 2018.

Class of 2011 John Ofield (Rice ’84, MBA ’11) and Jacky Noons are both entrepreneurs, both Rice grads and both have exciting news to share! They tied the knot on October 5, 2017, exactly Class of 2015 Larry Strader moved from his role at Jacobs and is now the general manager of GeoControl Systems, Inc. With headquarters in Houston, Texas, GeoControl Systems is a certified HUBZone firm provid ing engineering, technical and logistical services in support of NASA and the Department of Defense. Larry began his new role at GeoControl Systems in January 2018.

Karan Sihota was engaged to Aishwarya Raju on February 10, 2018 in Dallas. They are ex cited to plan their wedding and even more ecstatic to start this new chapter in their lives.

president of MidstreamInvestment Banking at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey in its Energy Group.

Sukh Kaur moved to San Antonio to work for City Education Partners as a portfolio manager overseeing investments.

In Memoriam

Robert and Kristianna Foye are very sad to announce that their oldest son Robert, 19, passed away acciden tally on January 13 while attending Trinity University in San Antonio.

“He was an amazing person who brought so much love to our family and he will be missed dearly. Thanks so much for everyone’s thoughts and prayers and concerns,” Robert shared. His son’s full obituary can be found in the New York Times on March 12.

A scholarship fund has been founded in his name, and donations can be made through PayPal at: https://www.paypal.me/ RobertLawrenceFoye

Amelia Rai, who graduated in 2009, passed away in December 2016. She was 43. She was preceded in death by her mother, Amy Rai, and was survived by her husband David Ru tishauser, daughter Maya, father Edward, brother Edward (Maria), and sister Anthea (Narendar).

Special Mention Ed Coles ’18, Crownover Scholar and new father, shared a snap of sleeping twin baby girls Charlotte and Jenny.

Photos: 1. Mark Means (’92) 2. Dan Tinker (’04) 3. Leonardo Esteban (’10) 4. Alexandra Leigh Brooks, daughter of Lauren Brooks (’10) and husband, Nathan 5. John Ofi eld (Rice ’84, MBA ’11) and Jacky Noons with their marriage certifi cate 6. Lorie Clements (’11) 7. Leila McKinley Alonso, daughter of Isaias Alonso (’14) 8. Robert Foye (’90) and family

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Improved

AND IMPROVED AND IMPROVED