Bentley University Magazine - Summer 2015

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BENTLEY SUMMER 2015

MAGAZINE

175 Forest Street Waltham, MA 02452 USA

THEN & NOW

FEEDING YOUNG MINDS IN THE LACAVA CENTER

CIRCA 2015

PREPARED YOUR FOOD IS THEIR BUSINESS Plumbing the economics of healthy eating PAGE 8

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Inside a website that cultivates community PAGE 14

Food hubs: a new model with deep roots PAGE 17

Dine like a local in San Francisco PAGE 31

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BEVERLEY EARLE AND JOHN SLOAN

Expanding Vistas for Adventurous Spirits

WELCOME TO THE FOOD ISSUE

“ I had never left the East Coast, never mind the country — but I knew there was so much to see and do in the world.”

— Olyvia Leahy ’16

This issue of Bentley Magazine features alumni, faculty and students who care a lot about what fills your plate and your glass.

Their insights come from all corners of the food and beverage industries, along with less-expected venues such as health economics, tech innovation and cultural studies. So pull up a chair and dig in.

Traveling abroa is something of a family tradition r Beverley Earle and her husband, John Sloan MSFP ’14.

Share your story, feedback and suggestions: magazine@bentley.edu or @bentleyalumni Visit us online at bentley.edu/magazine On the cover: The recipe for our New England lobster roll with lemon-chive mayonnaise is on food52.com.

Our cover model is Tatiana (Casale) Mullaney ’09.

Food styling by Charlotte Davis. Photo by Chris Conti.

As a Bentley professor for nearly 33 years, Bev has taught in C a and France, and lived in Paris for an academic year with her family.

John, a retired architect, traveled in his graduate program and career. Their daughter, Molly MBA ’12, has experienced the cultures of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, China and Costa Rica.

“Travel reinforces that learning is a lifelong activity,” says Bev, the Adamian Professor of Law. “You meet people who may think differently and open yourself up to new viewpoints, not necessarily changing your opinion, but helping you appreciate multiple frameworks.”

Their Earle and Sloan Travel Fellowship extends these benefits to current students. Its first recipient, Olyvia Leahy ’16, went to Iceland in May for a course led by Natural and Applied Science faculty members Robert Ackert and Thom Davis.

“I had never left the East Coast, never mind the country,” says Olyvia. “But I knew there was so much to see and do in the world.”

How right she was. Olyvia circumnavigated the country over the course of 14 days. During excursions that showcased the country’s many unique natural features, she observed the influence of hydrological and geo-thermal forces

on Iceland’s landscape and socioeconomic conditions.

“I’ve learned about plenty of geological phenomena, but it was eye opening to experience things like glaciers, lava fields and geo-thermal pools in person,” says Olyvia, who credits the trip for solidifying connections between her Actuarial Science major and Liberal Studies major concentration in Earth, Environment and Global Sustainability. “Catastrophe modeling is one of the hottest topics for actuaries in property and casualty insurance companies. The more we know, the better we can prepare and plan.”

Her observations speak to what inspired the fellowship donors. “Study and travel abroad helps students get beyond their own neighborhood,” says Bev. “They are opened up to the vastness of the world and often find new motivation to study and work hard.”

YOUR PLANS. BENTLEY’S FUTURE. There are many ways to create a lasting legacy at Bentley. Bev Earle and John Sloan established an endowed fund that provides need-based awards for students to travel abroad. To learn more, please contact Liz Siladi, director of gift planning, by phone (781.891.2475) or email (esiladi@bentley.edu) or visit bentley.edu/giftplanning.

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Contents SUMMER 2015 2 | Between the Lines Contributors 3 | Here Say 4 | ON CAMPUS > Turning tables at Sodexo > Dispatches from TEDxBentleyU > Collected wisdom on crowdfunding

COLUMNS

28 17

8 | Take Two: That doughnut costs more than you think 11 | Five Things: Films that digest culture 12 | Inside Job: Kitchen as classroom 31 | Next Stop: San Francisco on a plate 35 | Family Matters: Feeding a father–daughter connection

FEATURES 14 | Setting a Community Table: Amanda Hesser ’93 17 | Local Color: Matt Tremblay ’03 20 | Cheers! Alumni on their liquid assets 24 | Pop Star: Jeff Martin ’07 26 | The PROfile: Richard Rosenthal ’81, P ’13 28 | C LASS NOTES

24 © (ABC/Kelsey McNeal)

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BETWEEN THE LINES My father learned chef skills at Le Cordon Khaki. Returning to civilian life after Army service in Korea, he went on to command stoves at a handful of Massachusetts eateries. Of course this was 1960s America: Chefs were not yet rock stars among the general public. But dining at “his” restaurant, we kids enjoyed a certain celebrity, trailing Dad into the kitchen to talk shop. In later years, I could impress dinner dates with free appetizers sent to our table by Chef Leo. This issue of Bentley Magazine takes you behind the scenes of a food-and-beverage life. Our featured alumni are accomplished chefs, cookbook and recipe authors, restaurateurs, brewers and distillers, and founders of ventures to elevate your next snack or night on the town. Their diverse stories simmer with a common passion — essential in an industry known for false starts, frequent setbacks and long hours.

One final piece of friendly advice from your magazine team. Our editorial and production meetings, spent mining websites such as food52.com for inspiration, rarely passed without someone exclaiming “I’m hungry … break out the snacks.” Prepare accordingly.

Stay well and stay in touch.

Susan Simpson Editor

CONTRIBUTORS

CHARLOTTE DAVIS

AARON CLAMAGE

KELLY MILLIGAN

SOMERVILLE, MASS.

WASHINGTON, D.C.

ACTON, MASS.

ARLINGTON, MASS.

ATLANTA, GA.

“Food and art are my passions,” says the veteran food stylist, who created a cover-worthy lobster roll without access to a sink, fridge or stove. She arrived on campus toting an ice-packed cooler, toaster oven and toolbox of likely supplies.

“I strive to make food look delicious and accessible without being over-styled and fussy.”

Cover

Photographing alumna Katie Delaney in her kitchen classroom at L’Academie de Cuisine, Aaron learned something of the challenges involved in croissant making.

“Luckily I didn’t have to try my hand at baking, since she gave me a few samples to take home!”

Page 12

The Bentley illustrator and graphic designer went old school to create the art that opens our feature section.

“I’m a purist,” Kelly says of hand-lettering phrases on a blackboard in the Smith Center. “The beauty is in the subtle irregularities.”

Page 13

The journalist and freelance writer credits Amanda Hesser for “helping to legitimize food as an intellectual, aesthetic and business pursuit.”

Assignments for The Boston Globe and others put Kara on the prowl for dining hotspots in Greater Boston. Her go-to condiments are Sriracha sauce and Flo’s hot dog relish.

Page 14

As a kid, Deblina enjoyed trips to village markets while visiting her grandfather in India.

Today she notes the challenge of tracking down locally grown foods. “Talking with Matt Tremblay gave me hope that, through food hubs, we might see more local options in mainstream markets in the near future.”

Page 17

Bentley Magazine is published by Bentley University, Waltham, Massachusetts, and distributed without charge to alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff and friends of the university.

Postmaster: Send address changes to Bentley University, 175 Forest Street, Waltham, MA 02452 USA.

KARA BASKIN

DEBLINA CHAKRABORTY

BENTLEY UNIVERSITY is one of the nation’s leading business schools, dedicated to preparing a new kind of business leader — one with the deep technical skills, broad global perspective, and high ethical standards required to make a difference in an ever-changing world.

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HERE SAY

MAGAZINE EDITOR Susan Simpson PUBLISHER Tiffany Smith WRITERS Kara Baskin Deblina Chakraborty Amy Crawford Steve Holt Joanna Howarth Allyson Manchester Jennifer Spira Kristen Walsh CREATIVE DIRECTOR Claire S. Anderson ART DIRECTION & DESIGN Carol Dirga Sara Jane Kaminski Kelly Milligan DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Chris Conti DIRECTOR Brand and Content Marketing Victor Schlitzer

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Advancement Relations Leigh K. Gaspar DIRECTOR Advancement Communications Michael S. Lynch SENIOR ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Advancement Communications Caroline Cruise

PRESIDENT Gloria Cordes Larson VICE PRESIDENT FOR UNIVERSITY ADVANCEMENT William Torrey INTERIM CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER Valerie Fox

ON THE REDESIGN I just wanted to let you know that the design on the new magazine was fabulous. Everything from the design to the layout and the content. More fun to read; I actually read it. Also I like the matte feel vs. glossy feel much better. Thank you for the hard work.

Ewa Sack ’99 via email I have really enjoyed the new Bentley Magazine from winter 2015! It was great reading articles about former classmates (Class of 2008) and seeing some old professors featured (Andy Aylesworth).

Nicoletta Bartolomeo ’08, MSMA ’09, MBA ’11 via email Like the new magazine … look forward to the following issues.

Franklin Hignett ’48 via email Just read the Bentley Magazine.

Really well done. And featuring samesex couples on your wedding pages made me proud to be an alumnus.

Rodney Cornelius ’99 via Twitter MISSING CLASS NEWS I received my new Bentley Magazine last week and I was very impressed until I got to the Class Notes section.

I was disappointed that there was no mention of my 45th reunion because there was no class information to report. My wife and I will be coming in for the reunion from Naples, Fla., and I felt that my class should have been mentioned. I think 45 is kind of important don’t you?

Howard Lurie ’70 via email Editor’s Note: Marking a 45th reunion is notable indeed! Congratulations to Mr. Lurie and others who gathered for Reunion Weekend 2015 (see page 38).

The Class Notes section includes all news submitted to Bentley by alumni in the months before publication.

Please aid the cause by sending your personal and professional updates via email (classnotes@bentley.edu) or the online form (bentley.edu/ classnotes). We want to see every class represented in these pages.

SAVING THE BIOTECH IPO I read the article “Saving the Biotech IPO” by Kristen Walsh [Spring|Summer 2014, page 11] with keen interest. I currently co-manage the health-care portfolio at Granahan Investment Management, which consists primarily of small cap biotech and med tech names. …

What’s interesting … is the secular shift in the quality of the science/discovery in today’s biotech firms, which I see whenever I visit a biotech company, especially in Cambridge. This improvement in science/discovery … is allowing earlier-stage assets to come to public markets sooner with a greater chance of success. … Further, with the improvement in discovery, clinical trials have become more focused in targeting the correct patient population, which results in smaller, quicker and less costly trials in general.

Sam Singer ’87, MSF ’96; CFA via email

SEARCHING FOR A HERO I wanted to share an interesting note, and seek your help.

While vacationing [in March] in Puerto Rico, my family and I were swimming out toward a blowup slide in the open water of the lagoon by our hotel.

Halfway out to the floating slide, my husband suffered an asthma attack. He was in water over his head, and began to struggle as he tried to make his way back to shore.

I swam to help him, and on the way, a gentleman overheard my cry for help and jumped off the overlook platform and into the lagoon.

A fellow asthma sufferer, he stayed with my husband and kept him calm while I swam to shore to get the rescue inhaler. After he was able to breathe again, my husband informed me that he learned our good Samaritan was from Boston.

Before leaving the lagoon we made a point of thanking him again for his help. I told him that I went to college at Bentley, and he said he graduated from there as well.

His name is Steve, and he graduated in 1999. He says that he currently lives just north of Plymouth. That is all the information I have on him and I was hoping that perhaps you could track down his full name so I can mail him a proper thank you.

Perhaps this could be a note of interest in the new Bentley Magazine.

Heather (Fernsler) Paterno ’95 via email Editor’s Note: Let us know if you recognize yourself or a classmate.

We welcome your feedback. magazine@bentley.edu @bentleyalumni 175 Forest Street, Waltham, MA 02452 BENTLEY MAGAZINE | 3

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FlexTime

PEOPLE >> PROGRAMS >> EVENTS >> IDEAS 4 | SUMMER 2015 4 | SUMMER 2015

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PHOTOS BY CHRIS CONTI

ON CAMPUS

PHOTO BY TASLIM SIDI

>> Thursday, March 26, 7:00 p.m.

About 100 students, faculty and staff showed their philanthropic colors at the Neon Run, sponsored by the Student Alumni Leadership Council to benefit the Bentley Annual Fund.

<< ON CAMPUS

Acquired Taste

Grabbing a meal between classes is standard fare for most college students. Ryan Mailhot and Ziesha Gray see campus dining options behind the scenes. Working for Bentley’s food service vendor, Sodexo, has whet their appetite for a career in food service management.

Ryan Mailhot ’16 MAJOR

Corporate Finance and Accounting

Frontline worker; assisting with event coordination, set-up and pick-up; and student manager. I also did a management internship in summer 2014 in Springfield, Mass., with the Public Schools division of Sodexo to help maintain summer services for families who rely on a school lunch year-round.

MY JOBS

When I was promoted after just one semester, that recognition of my hard work really motivated me to get into the job, and has kept me here to this day. Beyond serving food, I’ve learned that the food service industry provides an experience to customers.

This can happen from the way you cloth a table to the way you greet members at an event.

“AHA” MOMENTS

Seeing the complex corporate structure of Sodexo and what it takes to manage a campus’s food service has piqued my interest toward a career in food service management. My Sodexo managers have been both helpful and inspirational through their talent, poise and generosity, and I would love to model my own career after theirs.

CAREER

RECOMMENDED

MAJOR

Management

Since starting at Sodexo freshman year, I’ve worked at Currito doing line work, cleaning and taking orders. I also work concessions during events at the Dana Center, and help prepare, serve and stock at LaCava Lower Café and Eatery.

MY JOBS

This experience has taught me to have patience, listen and analyze everything in order to best serve customers. Building these kinds of connections is my favorite part of the job. I’ve also learned about the different analytical skills necessary when it comes to making sales; moreover, knowing where things are sold the most and putting products in those places when inventory was short.

“AHA” MOMENTS

CAREER I have an interest in the food business because it is fast paced and there are so many different things to learn. I would love to follow in the footsteps of my Sodexo manager, Jason LaPrade, to be a district manager for Sodexo accounts.

RECOMMENDED

The steak sub at LaCava. I pay for extra bacon, which is my absolute favorite thing in the world.

PHOTOS BY CHRIS CONTI

PHOTO BY TASLIM SIDI

Turkey, bacon and avocado sandwich at Einstein’s, buffalo burrito at Currito, turkey club wrap at LaCava Lower Café and Eatery.

Ziesha Gray ’15

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ON CAMPUS >>

Inspired Thinking

Build genuine relationships.

Jose Gutierrez ’14 Analyst, Morgan Stanley Networking must go beyond employment, business and furthering your career, says Jose Gutierrez, a native of Honduras who studied Finance at Bentley.

His alternative to traditional networking? Build genuine relationships:

» Wear who you are on your

sleeve. Be empowered by your passions off the job, too, because that is what informs your personality and will connect you to others.

» Build human relationships at

the core. The strongest and most effective relationships happen when you reach below the surface. “Peel some layers” and ask unexpected questions.

Who are your personal heroes rather than Is it hot enough for you.

“You will hopefully become a person who is not only a great professional, but a great human being — one who is able to connect with the people around them at the most pure, beautiful and genuine human level.”

Channel natural skills into something you love.

Liz Brown Assistant Professor, Law, Taxation and Financial Planning Turning a natural talent into a career sounds like a no-brainer.

Think again, says Liz Brown.

As a partner and commercial litigator in an international law firm, she was “doing what I had been trained to do for 15 years.

I was at the top of my game.

But I was miserable … and that’s no way to live.”

She advocates self-knowledge — not money, prestige or others’ expectations — as the guiding force in choosing a career.

Her advice:

» Think about what you do

in your spare time that others find valuable.

» Consult friends. Ask the people who know you best to say what you’re good at, then ask yourself whether you like using that strength.

» Analyze your day. What part

of today felt the easiest to you?

Where did you feel a sense of flow?

“You have a unique opportunity to create more happiness for yourself … know what you like being good at and you’ll be amazed how much more successful you are.”

A core team of 17 students joined Kevin Ma ’15 (standing, sixth from left) to put together TEDxBentleyU.

Talk between the lines.

Anchor your life to values.

Don Khoury MBA ’14

Founder, Little Leaf Project

Business Consultant Adjunct Professor, Marketing An expert in nonverbal communication, Don Khoury studies political candidates’ body language and other factors to predict election results.

He identifies three areas that influence how people react, not just at the polls but in everyday interactions.

» Appearance: Color says a lot.

For example, blue indicates future-based thinking; stripes suggest deference to leadership; pink softens a message; maroon equals credibility; red represents attraction.

» Environment: Sound, smell

and even furniture placement are controllable for a certain effect. Outcomes of negotiations, for example, can often be predicted based on where people are seated at a table.

Laura Yates ’13 When Laura Yates decided to live closer to her values, she saw a disconnect between concern for the environment and a high-consumption lifestyle.

Her solution: an 8-foot by 20-foot home built on a trailer.

The so-called tiny house runs on minimal resources, maximizing natural light and using about 65 gallons of water over two weeks. (She has even managed to host six people and a dog.)

“Whatever it is that you value, what would it look like if you expressed your values in everything you did?” asks Yates, who started daily workouts and tightened her budget to reflect other life commitments to health and finance. “What would it look like if all of us expressed our values, our vision, in everything that we did?”

» Body language: Nonverbal

communication such as hand gestures need to be congruent with words. Otherwise, the unconscious messages create confusion and cause people to withdraw.

“Words convey reason. But body language conveys instinct and emotion — and this is what people give more creditability when judging you as a person.”

Watch the talks and get advice from other TEDx speakers, including the founder of clothing line Johnny Cupcakes, at bentley.edu/tedx

PHOTO BY JENNIFER WRIGHT

This spring, Bentley students organized the first-ever TEDx event on campus, led by Kevin Ma ’15 and faculty adviser David Szymanski, assistant professor of natural and applied sciences. TEDxBentleyU attracted about 500 people and featured 13 speakers, including Bentley faculty and alumni.

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<< ON CAMPUS

Kick Starting Success

Online crowdfunding platform Kickstarter brought together 3.3 million people to raise $529 million for 22,252 projects in 2014. The impressive metrics inspired three Bentley PhD candidates to analyze what makes a successful campaign. Tao Li and Joseph Dery (Business Analytics) and Wenxiu Nan (Information Systems), along with faculty advisers Dominique Haughton and David Oury, reviewed about 180,000 Kickstarter campaigns and created predictive models using data-mining tools such as SAS Enterprise Miner, R, Python and Salford Systems. Here’s what they learned: Money talks. The average amount contributed per backer

is a key metric in predicting a campaign’s likely success.

Projects likely to reach their goal had a donation-per-backer of $26 or higher. The success rate increased as the average donation increased, but beyond $100 per backer the probability of success did not rise much.

Set your sights low. The higher its goal, the less likely a

project is to receive funding. According to the team’s analysis, odds of success were: 53% for a goal less than $9,000 57% for a goal less than $4,300

Project genre matters. Campaigns to fund dance

productions, theater performances, music projects, comics or art ventures enjoyed a success rate of 58 percent.

Projects in technology, crafts and design had a 39 percent or lower chance of success, on average.

<30

DAYS

Live in New England. This region notched the nation’s highest success rate — 54 percent — with leading states including Vermont, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

New York and Oregon were also high on the list.

Caught in a Botnet?

Better do this, Quick May 19, 2015 Steve Weisman, professor of law, taxation and financial planning, discusses how to spot phony weight-loss programs and products.

Great News, Class of 2015 May 8, 2015 Professor of Economics Aaron Jackson shares why new graduates have the strongest job prospects in the last 10 years.

d

Wait for the chill. The most successful months of funding were in the winter, when the research team observed a lower volume of campaigns being launched.

Read more at bentley.edu/newsroom/media-coverage

USA Today

PHOTO BY JENNIFER WRIGHT

and descriptions had the greatest chance of success.

The team recommends: n 40- to 60-character title, including spaces and punctuation (The line above has 60 characters) n 75- to 120-word description A Kickstarter’s Guide to Kickstarter, by Nelson de Witt, offers this advice on describing projects. “Good pitches have three essential elements: narrative, credibility and clarity. You don’t need to have all three in your pitch, but a successful project does at least one of them very well.” He cites four questions to answer up front: who are you, what are you doing, why is it important, and what is the money for. (This paragraph of guidance from de Witt has 82 words.)

Shorter is better. The sweet spot for campaign duration is a month or less. The abbreviated time frame pressures backers to donate sooner and encourages others to donate based on recent contributions.

IN THE NEWS >>

Quartz

Keep an eye on characters. Projects with concise titles

Boston Magazine

Prep the Next Generation to Untangle Our Mess April 30, 2015 President Gloria Larson is featured among the 50 most powerful people in Boston.

Business Insider

Stop Apologizing, Learn to Say ‘No,’ and 7 More Tips for Women’s Success at Work May 4, 2015 Betsy Myers, founding director of Bentley’s Center for Women and Business, offers insights to help women get ahead.

The Conversation A Dean’s Plea: Let Students Discover Knowledge Without Pressure to Impress April 29, 2015 Vice President for Enrollment Management Joann McKenna describes how the stress of getting into college makes students less inclined to pursue their passions and explores how higher education can help reverse the trend.

The New York Times

Americans’ Retirement Funds Increasingly Contain Tech Start-Up Stocks March 22, 2015 Professor of Finance Leonard Rosenthal comments on the recent trend of investing in smaller tech companies and the risk posed to retirement portfolios.

PHOTO BY DAVID YELLEN

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TAKE TWO >>

Apple Economics Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 5:30 p.m. You walk into the grocery store, hungry, with little time and money.

Are there economic principles at work that could encourage healthful eating so you choose an apple over, say, a doughnut? Two Bentley experts consider the issues.

THE PROFESSOR Dhaval Dave [DA-vay] is the Stanton Research Professor of Economics and an expert in health economics. He studies the economics of obesity, mental health and tobacco control policy, and health and human capital, including as a research associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research.

THE ALUMNUS Ben Gardner â&#x20AC;&#x2122;88 is the founder and board member of Linkwell Health.

The New York-based company partners with health plans, consumer brands and retailers in offering discounts, coupons and content to help shoppers arrive at healthier food choices.

PHOTO BY CHRIS CONTI

INTERVIEW BY KRISTEN WALSH

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<< TAKE TWO

DHAVAL DAVE: If you think about obesity increasing over the last 30 years, it’s because people are making more unhealthy decisions in terms of what they eat. They are in most cases choosing the doughnut over the apple and they’re not exercising enough to make up for that.

Cumulative decisions are happening over multiple years.

PHOTO BY CHRIS CONTI

What are the prevailing economic principles illustrated in people’s food choices?

DD: Normally when you think about economics, you think about employment and income. But health economics shows that even when people are making decisions that don’t seem to be within the purview of economics, they are inherently guided by economic principles of cost and benefits.

Changing demographic trends play an integral role in the decision toward unhealthy food choices: More labor-force participation by working couples means time constraints have increased and people don’t have the time to cook healthy meals at home; jobs have become more sedentary so people don’t expend as much energy as before; technology in production has favored convenience, which may not always equate to healthy choices. All of these changes, even if small on a daily or annual basis, cumulate over time and one’s life cycle.

The cost of certain foods has actually decreased, including the price-per-calorie of unhealthy food choices with high fructose corn syrup, due to subsidies to the corn industry.

It’s the law of demand: When prices go down, individuals will react by demanding more of that product. From an economic standpoint, there are very valid reasons for these choices.

BG: This obesity epidemic costs the government huge amounts of money. The government’s decision to subsidize corn in the 1970s radically changed the cost-per-calorie and the convenience of foods. Companies jumped on this and are making unhealthy calories not only affordable but hyper-palatable for us.

What are the everyday realities that drive food choices?

BG: Lifestyle is huge. We work with a lot of health plans that say the big issues driving poor food choices are cost and “food deserts” [urban

BEN GARDNER: There won’t be one simple solution.

It’s going to take some individual ownership for people to acknowledge they have responsibility. I also think society can help. There’s a role for business and the government in helping people make the choice between the apple and doughnut.

neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy and affordable food].

But a lot of folks have never cooked a potato before; they wouldn’t know what to do with a piece of squash. They don’t know how to prepare it and they probably don’t prefer the taste because they’re accustomed to the high-sodium taste of fast food. Culture and lifestyle often trump access and price.

DD: That’s a great point. You can’t expect individuals to make drastic changes. You present them with this ideal plate that says half of it should be fruits and veggies, but realistically, it’s not going to happen right away. Policies and interventions that go from Point A to Point C have their work cut out for them; people aren’t going to react very well. Policies that go from Point A to Point B to Point C will have a lot more effectiveness and probability of working. As is true for the problem, incremental changes on the positive side can cumulate and have a strong health-promoting impact over time.

BG: We need to start having a realistic conversation. Too often as consumers, we’re asked to make ideal decisions in our daily lives, like eating fresh vegetables every day or running marathons. We tend to inherently seek perfection. But as we know, “perfect” is too hard and it’s not realistic, so we sometimes don’t even try. I’d much rather see modest, incremental changes in the direction of healthier food choices: Small decisions or changes in behavior are easier to make, and we are more likely to stick with them.

DD: A lot of behavioral economics suggests that most individuals may not act as “rationally” as economists think they do, and you need to take into account everyday considerations. For example, most people don’t make healthy food choices because the cost of doing so is very immediate. If I let go of the doughnut and go for the apple, I’m not getting the satisfaction

that I crave right now — and I’m not going see any nutritional benefit in choosing the apple until years down the line. Linkwell is making it easier by sending coupons for healthier options of foods that individuals are already eating.

Is it fair to say that most people think healthy foods cost more?

DD: If you look very basically at price-per-calorie, the apple will cost more than the doughnut. But if you adjust for nutritional content, the costs start converging. If you also take into account the cost on your health, the cost on your disability, mobility and chronic conditions — that’s a cost to the individual. When you bring those costs into it, then the apple becomes really cheap. The point of economists is that people think healthy food costs more, but only because they are taking a very present-minded approach.

BG: There’s also the issue of preparing food versus convenience. You can prepare healthy foods on par with going out for fast food — if you buy intelligently. We know that convenience is king, and we’re starting to see shifts with grocers doing some of the work for us with prepared foods; there’s an increase in options where it isn’t just the apple or the doughnut, and that’s encouraging. In today’s society, people don’t plan. Nutritionally we’re much better off if we can plan ahead before going to the supermarket; studies show if you don’t have a list and you’re hungry while shopping, you tend to make poor decisions. I don’t think price is the big hurdle in getting us to eat healthy; it goes back to lifestyle.

What interventions stand the best chance of pointing people toward a healthy food choice?

BG: I’m a strong believer that it takes a village.

I’m not a big policy person, but I don’t have any problem with First Lady Michelle Obama creating standards for nutrition. It’s got to happen on BENTLEY MAGAZINE | 9

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TAKE TWO >>

“Whether to eat the apple or the doughnut is your decision.

But there is absolutely no doubt that when individuals make decisions that are bad for themselves, they are also imposing some costs on others.”

— Dhaval Dave Dhaval, does your research point to factors that companies like Linkwell should consider in developing solutions?

DD: Data analysis is a big thing. Ben has done a lot of analysis at the marketing level, in terms of how coupons get redeemed and what the take-up rates are. That feeds into designing effective ways for people to partake in the program, as well as helping insurers see improvement in their bottom line. The fact that Linkwell coupons are targeted toward a specific demographic — say people with Type 2 diabetes — and they are sent by health insurance companies, suggests more value for the individual. Second, it’s all about present versus future. If you arm people with information before they go to the grocery store, the coupons not only slightly reduce the cost, but also give consumers the information they need to stop that comparison between the apple and the doughnut. That’s another nudge in the right direction.

What is the role of personal choice?

DD: Whether to eat the apple or the doughnut is your decision. But there is absolutely no doubt that when individuals make decisions that are bad for themselves, they are also imposing some costs on others; we call these spillovers. So that’s one rationale in which there is a role for someone else to come in and change that decision for the better. As Ben mentioned, it can’t be a completely top-down approach. You have to have a concerted effort that includes the government, corporations, individuals, policymakers, the food and beverage industry, and health-care providers.

The case for a concerted effort is even stronger

when the individual’s choice results from some informational imbalance — for instance, not being fully aware of the nutritional content or long-term costs of what they are consuming — or when they have difficulty changing unhealthy behaviors even when they want to, such as smokers who want to quit.

BG: We all need to be open to getting help from every alternative we can. There’s also got to be some personal responsibility. There’s a shift in society happening. Twenty years ago, parents would have no shame in swinging up to the fast-food drive-through to feed their kids.

Today, if we do go the fast-food route, we’re more apt to hide the fact; there’s a negative stigma.

Society has a role in impacting these decisions.

What prompted each of you to focus work on food and nutritional outcomes?

DD: Most people would say that economics is just money and employment. But ultimately economics is about how people make decisions.

As a health economist I’m very interested in how people make decisions that affect their health. If we understand those decisions a little better, then we can devise policies, interventions and ways to help individuals improve their health — all of which is good for society because there are strong spillovers. I’m fascinated to be able to explain how individuals react, how they respond to external stimuli and also within their own systems, how they respond to cost versus benefits broadly defined.

As a society, our ability to produce depends on human capital, which includes education, work and, importantly, health as well.

BG: I was in health care earlier in my career [sales and marketing] and found it fascinating to deal with people’s health and ultimately their lives. When I went to work for a marketing services company, I saw the power of consumer brands to shape our opinions and even behaviors … it left me asking why this same thing wasn’t happening in the health-care community. At the end of the day, Linkwell was an opportunity to bring the success and power of consumer marketing to bear on encouraging healthy decisions, not just to build a brand.

I’m optimistic. Everybody’s coming along — from the White House to the consumer who is dealing with higher health-care co-pays — to say “I’ve got something to gain here; I need to change this.” That’s when all of these oars on the boat are going in the same direction and we can really start to make some progress.

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PORTRAIT BY CHRIS CONTI

multiple levels and we’re starting to see that it isn’t policy versus commercial. Business can create a healthy bottom line by developing and driving healthy alternatives. Business and U.S. households are feeling the financial pinch of the unhealthy state of our population, through higher health-care premiums and co-pays.

While there’s no particular silver bullet, we’re seeing multiple constituents in society start to push on this because what’s happening isn’t sustainable.

DD: I agree. If I had to say one thing in terms of policy or intervention or how we can manage this trend in obesity, it has to be a concerted comprehensive approach. Employers see the business case in helping employees lose weight, for example, but they aren’t the only stakeholders.

The government should be involved because obesity does impose some external costs on others. Health insurance companies, physicians, individuals, and the food and beverage industry should also be part of the solution. We didn’t become obese overnight, and it’s not going to change overnight either. We should think about it in two ways: First, how can we reduce the current obesity rate among kids and adults; second, how can we prevent obesity from going up for the newer generations? It should be an approach in terms of prevention and treatment.

Of course, there is a tradeoff between policy interventions and individual freedoms in terms of what to consume, and not all commonly proposed policies — for instance, taxes on soda or sugar-sweetened beverages — will be effective. This is where economics can provide guidance on policy effectiveness versus the incidence or burden of policies on different groups.

BG: There have to be environments where stakeholders can have dialogue. I belong to an organization called Convergence, which brings together policy folks, entrepreneurs, USDA, FDA, health plans and companies to discuss the state of nutrition and wellness in America.

When I started Linkwell, it was really all about showing we could make a change by being more pragmatic … to show we could change behaviors and improve risk for health insurers. We have data showing that people with Type 2 diabetes who receive coupons for low-glycemic foods, for example, will not only buy the healthier option but feel better about the health plan because we’re communicating with them in a way they like. You can’t ask consumers to change behavior if they don’t feel valued and part of a conversation.

<< FIVE THINGS

Five Films TO FEED YOUR SOUL

SAMIR DAYAL Professor of English and Media Studies Teaching & Research: International film and culture, South Asian studies, cultural effects of globalization, colonial and post-colonial literature Writing Credits: Books include Dream Machine: Realism and Fantasy in Hindi Cinema and Global Babel: Questions of Discourse and Communication in a Time of Globalization; journal articles for In Media Res, Intercultural Education, Twentieth Century Literature Underway: A book on information regimes in India

PORTRAIT BY CHRIS CONTI

BABETTE’S FEAST (Denmark, 1987) This quiet film by Gabriel Axel richly rewards repeated viewings. It tells of two sisters’ devotion to their religion and their strict minister father — a devotion that requires surrendering prospects for ordinary domestic bliss. Babette opens a window on another, impossibly different world, where the pleasures of food are multiplied by subtler pleasures of community, restrained emotion and unrequitable love.

It’s also the story of one blowout meal.

THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE AND HER LOVER (England, 1989) Deliciously dark, Peter Greenaway’s film forges art out of cruelty, violence and sex — motifs embodied in menacing restaurateur Albert Spica. Yet the film’s main concern is the life force: love, human connection, food.

The characters play out their intimate drama almost entirely within a restaurant, whose baroque scale matches the director’s obsession with art and with the symbolic and materially sustaining power of food.

LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE (Mexico, 1992) Based on a cookbooknovel of the same name, the film by Alfonso Arau is faithful to the Latin American tradition of magical realism.

Tita is frustrated at every turn by her mother and a family custom that dictates a youngest daughter does not marry until her mother’s death.

In despair, Tita discovers a compensatory ability to infuse emotions into the food she cooks, with sometimes exquisite and sometimes alarming effect on those who consume it.

SOUL KITCHEN (Germany, 2009)

THE LUNCHBOX (India, 2013)

Turkish-German director Fatih Akin focuses on the minority or immigrant ethnic experience in modern Germany.

Food is unique in how it connects people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds who would otherwise find little reason to interact.

Akin’s fictional alter-ego is Zinos, who runs the “Soul Kitchen” — a contact zone that brings together a cross-section of Hamburg society over food and drink.

This film about a growing bond of sentiments avoids sentimentality by filtering emotion into food. It presents the unlikely pairing of a widowed and soon-to-retire accountant and a young woman hoping to reclaim her husband’s attention.

Director Ritesh Batra also presents a fine example of a business model: a food-delivery system in Mumbai that earned “six Sigma” status, with a vanishingly small failure rate.

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INSIDE JOB >>

Second Course A year into an auditing career after Bentley, Katie Delaney ’04, MSA ’05 knew the profession wasn’t for her.

She had always loved making food for people, but was it career worthy? A month working in an Italian bakery — for free — led her to a winning recipe: serving as a pastry chef instructor at L’Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, Md., doing private pastry catering, and writing for Southern Living magazine.

CONSUMERS ARE SMART COOKIES In the past 10 years, I’ve seen huge strides in what we — both chefs and customers — know about the science of food. With more knowledgeable and health-conscious consumers, we have to move the industry forward to keep pace. When a trend like gluten-free foods emerges, we have to implement the classic French pastry skills creatively to give customers what they want and still produce something delicious.

LABOR OF LOVE Having multiple jobs in this industry is a blessing, and each fulfills me in a different way. During the past year, I connected with Southern Living magazine through a former student, and have since created more than 25 recipes for their readers. It allows me to be creative and step outside my comfort zone — sometimes they ask me for suggestions on food styling in the photographs and to propose story concepts.

MAKING MAGIC My favorite treat — to bake and to taste — is a really good croissant. It’s hard to find a good one, and even harder to make one yourself. You put together loose flour, sugar, butter, eggs and yeast, then watch as it puffs open. When you get it just right, you feel like a magician.

Caroline Cruise spoke with Katie Delaney for Bentley Magazine.

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ILLUSTRATION BY KELLY MILLIGAN

BAKING EXPECTATIONS It’s our responsibility to instruct students about what their life as a pastry chef will entail. Our one-year course is split in two: full time in the teaching kitchen for six

months, and six months of apprenticeship with a pastry chef. We run classes to mimic real-life kitchen environments, encouraging students to move twice as fast as usual and use both hands equally. They’re also taught how to job search in this industry, which is completely different from an office environment. My job is to set them up for successful employment, not just teach them pastry technique.

PHOTOS BY AARON CLAMAGE

KEY INGREDIENTS Because of the precise and scientific nature of baking, pastry chefs tend to be methodical, strategic planners, who like to break projects into small parts and plan the order in which things happen. These were many of the skills that made me a good auditor. One of the best things a home baker can learn is the formulaic nature of pastry recipes. For example, if you bake a pie and always get frustrated with the crust, you could take a recreational course in dough management. You may not have plans to be a pastry chef, but understanding the science of dough may help your Thanksgiving pies turn out professional-quality.

<< FEATURES

ILLUSTRATION BY KELLY MILLIGAN

PHOTOS BY AARON CLAMAGE

<< FIVE THINGS

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PHOTOS BY JAMES RANSOM, MARK WEINBERG AND BOBBI LIN

PORTRAIT BY JAMES RANSOM

Amanda Hesser in the test kitchen of Food52, which moved to the Chelsea neighborhood of NYC this summer.

<< FEATURES

Setting a Community Table Food52 co-founder is the home cook’s mentor, coach and BFF

By Kara Baskin

I PHOTOS BY JAMES RANSOM, MARK WEINBERG AND BOBBI LIN

PORTRAIT BY JAMES RANSOM

t’s a good time to be a culinary professional. Gone are the days of cooking as a hardscrabble vocation; now, chefs are celebrities and everyday gourmets meticulously chronicle their kitchen exploits and restaurant meals on social media.

Amanda Hesser ’93 is at the delicious heart of it all.

Relatable, candid — and happy to plumb her own life for juicy copy — she helms Food52 with business partner Merrill Stubbs. Their website for home cooks features crowd-sourced recipes; lovingly curated kitchenware; and an oven-warm sense of community. Since launching in 2009, the site has raised $9 million in venture funding and hosts more than 4.3 million unique visitors per month.

The success is a tribute to Hesser’s vision and work ethic, cultivated growing up in the Poconos, near Scranton, Pa., with a family that came together in the kitchen. “My grandmother is a really good cook and my mom cooked seasonally, pickling before it was fashionable,” she laughs.

Hesser has since enjoyed a rise that seems both fairytale and hardwon, from pursuing a scholarship to study in Europe after college to penning several lyrical, lauded books that mix memoir with recipes.

The Cook and the Gardener, for example, tells of her time cooking at a French chateau; Cooking for Mr. Latte is a feisty tale of wooing her palate-challenged husband, The New Yorker writer Tad Friend.

As a dining reporter for The New York Times and food editor at The New York Times Magazine, she brought a splash of sass to a buttoned-up paper, writing about everything from fruitcake (a gift “welcomed like the flu”) to her wedding rehearsal dinner, when her caterer — her caterer! — contracted Rocky Mountain spotted fever. She even starred as herself in the 2009 movie Julie & Julia.

“People now see food as a vital part of their identity and how they live.

They want to know where it comes from,” Hesser says. “They’ve begun to see cooking less as a trade and more as an art form. It’s become more

mainstream and sprung up cottage industries, like raising sheep.

There’s a generation of people who crave this lifestyle as opposed to more traditional paths.”

This reverential spirit infuses Food52, whose aesthetic is empowering, not intimidating. Hesser is a home-cooking evangelist, and the site aims to stoke people’s passion for food and its origins. Here, zealous home cooks comment on and share recipes, post thoughtful queries to a real-time hotline (“What to do with ultra-fresh eggs laid by lovingly raised chickens?”) and shop a curated selection of kitchen tools. One popular feature is “Amanda’s Kids’ Lunch,” a column that chronicles meals she prepared for her 8-year-old twins. If you long to serve your brood something more inspired than chicken nuggets, you’ve come to the right place.

SALAD DAYS The culinary world of 2015 bubbles forth with TV shows, websites, blogs, and recipe-sharing sites of all kinds. Some is quality; some of it’s filler. Food52 is the former: It has won the James Beard Award for best food publication, one of the industry’s top honors. Another leading organization, the International Association of Culinary Professionals, has bestowed “Best Culinary Website” honors for the past three years.

Hesser ranks among Gourmet magazine’s 50 most influential women in food. Her latest book, The Essential New York Times Cookbook, was a best seller and won a James Beard Award, too.

Seeing this résumé, many people are surprised to learn that Hesser didn’t attend an undergraduate cooking school. At Bentley, she majored in Finance and Economics — but also plated desserts at the acclaimed Michaela’s restaurant, now closed. She was smitten.

“This was my first time living close to a major city,” recalls Hesser, who now calls Brooklyn home. “I got exposed to the energy and activity of Boston, and it inspired me. There were so many people who knew what they wanted to do with their lives.”

Thus inspired, she opted to go to Europe after graduation instead of mainlining into banking or consulting. Hesser traces the decision to “a bit of youthful hubris” and her father’s death between her junior and senior years.

“Losing a parent is a huge and devastating change in your life,” she says. “At that time, part of me felt I had nothing to lose by taking a risk, because I’d already lost something much more important.”

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FORK IN THE ROAD With her mom’s blessing, Hesser traveled to Europe during her senioryear spring break and pluckily researched restaurants where she wanted to cook, introducing herself to owners and learning the landscape. Then she applied for a scholarship from the prestigious Les Dames d’Escoffier International, a professional society for women in food. Its scholarships were reserved for stateside schools. Hesser crafted a proposal for a European scholarship — that business background came in handy — and landed funds to attend the elite culinary school La Varenne in Burgundy, France.

Hesser paid her dues working in restaurant kitchens throughout France, Switzerland, Germany and Italy. The education included a year cooking at the Burgundy chateau of La Varenne founder Anne Willan, where tangling with the crusty Monsieur Milbert would inspire Hesser’s literary debut.

In 1997, she was back in the States working on The Cook and the Gardener and writing freelance articles. One day the phone rang. “It was a Florida number … I thought it was a crank call,” she says.

But no, the caller was a bona fide editor at the Times, whose outreach launched her career at the paper, first in its dining section and then at The New York Times Magazine.

Over time, though, Hesser grew restless: There was something missing amid the growing cacophony of food-obsessed voices. She left the Times in 2008 and, a year later, launched Food52 with fellow writer Merrill Stubbs, a bold move at the height of the recession.

“We wanted a site that had a point of view that felt personal, not just a mosh pit of voices,” she says. “Especially with food, people have such an emotional connection. They want to feel why cooking matters. We wanted that connection to be strong.”

But really: Who leaves the world’s most respected newspaper to start a website during an economic crisis? Hesser knew she had to follow her instincts, as she’d done in the kitchens of Europe years ago.

“I felt I’d done every interesting thing I could related to food at the paper,” she says. “I needed to be more entrepreneurial. I was getting too comfortable.”

The business idea was simple yet strategically ambitious. “We wanted to create the first crowd-sourced cookbook in 52 weeks,” she recalls — hence the site’s name. “In centering the concept around a cookbook, we knew we could sell it to a publisher, get a book advance and use it to build our site, while testing whether there was really a company to build.”

As it turned out, working at The New York Times and launching an online startup have plenty in common.

“Being a journalist is great training for starting a company,” she says.

“You use a lot of the same skills: working quickly, being resourceful, efficiently finding the best people to talk to about topics and issues, operating on a very tight budget.”

Pre-existing connections with publishers helped, too. Together, she and Stubbs created a site that reflects their particular brand of entrepreneurship.

“There’s the entrepreneur who can write an idea on a napkin and sell it to an investor for lots of money and then figure out how to execute on it,” explains Hesser. “The other kind is the student who sits at the front of the class, who needs to prove the idea valid. Merrill and I are in that group.”

Choosing the right business partner is a lot like perfecting a recipe — you need balance. Their dynamic, forged over previous years of working together, keeps the business going.

“Starting a business is a very intense experience,” Hesser notes. “In many ways, a successful business partnership is less about complementary skill sets and more about trust and respect.”

Methodically, they tested their idea in beta and proved its worth over several rounds of investment. Hesser calls the process “a mix of measuring true metrics, plus grit and determination.” The cooking community has responded in droves, eager for a hospitable place to connect with and learn from fellow food-lovers.

After several rounds of funding, the company now has 45 employees and keeps growing. This summer, Food52 launches a gift registry and its very own iOS app, showcasing recipes, tips and trends. Hesser is also working on expanding the retail side of the business. This spring, Food52 published Genius Recipes, its first imprint with Ten Speed Press and already a New York Times best seller.

“You have to keep pushing forward with confidence. There’s a lot of competition in our space,” says Hesser. “It’s nice not to have competition — but I also think it’s helpful. It raises everyone’s game.”

Sweet success, indeed.

“People now see food as a vital part of their identity and how they live.”

RAISED ON RISK With parents who had run a car dealership back in Pennsylvania, Hesser knew what it was like to start something from scratch.

“It’s in my blood. I was used to a certain level of discomfort,” she says.

“I had to focus on trying something new that I was enthusiastic about.

I was forced to evaluate what made me happy and that alone, while difficult, was a good exercise.”

WEB: food52.com TWITTER, INSTAGRAM: @food52

AMANDA’S PANTRY ESSENTIALS ADMIT IT: You’re dying to know what’s inside the kitchen of a professional food writer.

Chocolate chip cookies? Cheez Whiz? Only the finest imported white truffles? Here are five ingredients that Hesser can’t live — or eat — without.

1

2

A NCHOVIES IN OIL. “These are my secret ingredient in salad dressings. Anchovies add a sense of richness and salinity, and they go so well with some of my other favorite flavors: garlic, lemon and olive oil.”

F LAKY SEA SALT. Hesser prefers Maldon (from England) or Jacobsen (Oregon).

“A pinch of either one is a great way to finish a dish, seasoning it and adding a little crunch at the same time.”

3

P OMI CHOPPED TOMATOES. “Sweet, juicy and fresh-tasting, these tomatoes are excellent for tomato sauce, Bolognese and braises.”

4

5

PICKLED MUSTARD SEEDS. “OK, perhaps it’s a stretch to say these are an essential, but I’m very into pickled mustard seeds these days. I mix them into dressings, spread them on sandwiches, and serve them with cured meats and pâté.”

C HOLULA. The condiment is indispensable on Sunday fish taco night. “I think of this as the gateway hot sauce. My kids are 8, and it’s gentle and sweet enough for them to like.”

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<< FEATURES

LOCAL COLOR At Unity Food Hub, a full plate for Matt Tremblay ’03

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“ We want to pay the farmer the most the market can bear while also maintaining our profitability.”

I

Story by Deblina Chakraborty Photos by Chris Conti

t ranks among the noblest of mealtime challenges: eating locally produced foods. Best-selling author Barbara Kingsolver chronicled her attempt at doing so in the 2007 book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.

But not everyone can pull up stakes and go live on a farm like she did. As general manager of Maine-based Unity Food Hub, Matt Tremblay ’03 aims to make the joys of eating local more attainable for more people.

“Maine has some of the highest growth in new young farmers,” says Tremblay, a native of the state himself who majored in Finance at Bentley.

Indeed, census figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show a 40 percent increase in Maine farmers aged 34 or younger between 2007 and 2012. Nationwide, the increase was 1.5 percent. “A lot of these farmers and producers are looking for outlets outside traditional farmer’s markets, which are getting more mature and crowded.”

The alumnus and his colleagues at Unity Food Hub help growers find new routes to nearby dinner tables. The organization launched this summer, founded through the Maine Farmland Trust (MFT), a nonprofit established in 1999 to protect farmland. The hub gathers food from Maine-based farms (50 and counting) to distribute through several channels, including farm-share programs, on-site sales, and wholesale avenues like mainstream markets and restaurants.

“It’s good for the farms, but it’s also good for the everyday person,” says Tremblay. “[Consumers] have an opportunity to access food that is fresher, and they’re supporting their local economy as well.”

BACK TO THE FUTURE Food hubs are still fairly new as a concept, but they’re gaining traction.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there were close to 300 hubs operating across the country as of 2013. They vary in structure and business model — ranging from nonprofit to for-profit to some mix of the two — but most, like Unity Food Hub, focus on aggregation, marketing and distribution.

“The food hub concept is basically how our food system worked many, many years ago … its focus was local and regional, but over the years the whole distribution system changed,” he explains. “So really we’re looking back in creating this model to support farmers and provide access for more people to purchase local foods.”

Tremblay arrived at Unity with experience in several agriculturerelated roles. These include assisting farmers as a commercial loan officer at Farm Credit and advising Capitol Hill lawmakers on agricultural policy. He attended L’Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, Md., and, in 2011, joined a startup agriculture-focused nonprofit near Washington, D.C. The venture’s many ambitious goals included establishing a food hub, but it never reached a financial position to do so.

PROMISING PROSPECTS MFT hired Tremblay in May 2014 to get Unity’s food hub off the ground.

Already, his second foray into that world has been a very different experience.

When Tremblay assumed GM duties, MFT had already purchased a former grammar school in Unity (pop. 2,099) to renovate as the food hub’s home base. There was also a business plan. MFT would provide startup and working capital for Unity Food Hub, with a goal of reaching profitability in three to five years.

The building renovation occupied much of Tremblay’s first year on the job. But he didn’t want to wait for an official opening to test their concept.

In fall 2014, he oversaw the soft launch of two food hub programs. One was a grant-funded community farm share for low-income seniors and those receiving Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits, which provided local food at a 50 percent discount. The other program was a workplace farm share, where employees of MFT and another local business could sign up for a weekly on-site delivery of local produce, meat or dairy.

“We learned a lot and it’s really set us up to be in a good place for this upcoming season,” he says. “We’ll be expanding the workplace share program. We’ll continue doing the community farm share, but in a different way going forward.”

One the biggest challenges is logistics, and Tremblay says they’re still fine-tuning how to handle food distribution efficiently and keep costs as low as possible.

“In the food distribution business, whether you’re a large player or small, you’re dealing with low margins and the need for high volumes,” he explains. “Some of the biggest costs of distributing food involve your transportation. And Maine is a big state.”

Setting prices requires a similar balancing act. “We want to pay the farmer the most the market can bear while also maintaining our profitability. This is a long-term proposition. If we try to drive the price too low, then farmers won’t be successful and we won’t be in business.”

Finally, there are the typical challenges of working on a startup, including having to create policies and procedures from scratch.

So far, Tremblay is energized rather than daunted by the many tasks at hand.

“One day I can be considering what our long-term food safety policies are going to be, the next day I’m in the truck making a delivery,” he says. “It’s a good challenge, something new every day.”

LEARN MORE WEB: www.unityfoodhub.com NATIONAL GOOD FOOD NETWORK: ngfn.org/resources/food-hubs

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<< FEATURES

NEW DIGS . . .

The Unity Food Hub moved into a renovated grammar school this spring. Other photos from Freedom Village Farm, one of the hub’s 50-plus local growers.

A FOOD HUB PRIMER IF YOU’RE NEW TO THE TERM “FOOD HUB,” RESEARCH SHOWS THERE’S GOOD REASON. The 2013 National Food Hub Survey, conducted by Michigan State University and the Wallace Center at Winrock International, found that about 62 percent of food hubs began operating only within the last five years. The survey defines its subject as “a business or organization that actively manages the aggregation, distribution and marketing of source-identified food products.” Other highlights: n Median gross

sales for food hubs in 2012 was $324,500

n For 74% of food

hubs, the majority of customers live within 100 miles

n 66% of food

hubs operate without grant funding

n About 50% of

food hubs can accept federal food assistance benefits

n 76% work with

small or mid-size producers either all or most of the time

n The most common product categories

for food hubs are fresh produce and herbs (offered by 93%), meat and poultry (65%) and eggs (60%)

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CHEERS! Alumni on their liquid assets

Peter Chouinard took his career from the oldest continuously operated family winery in the nation to entrepreneurial wine brands, landing at San Franciscobased Bluxome Street Winery.

The urban winery reaches 30-something wine tasters with its convenient location and approachable portfolio of pinot noir and chardonnay from Sonoma’s Russian River Valley.

His must-haves for running a winery? Capital (the wine industry is asset intensive), planning (business is vertically integrated with an average three-year cash

cycle) and scale (margins for each channel are dramatically different).

As for the palate: “The success of the winery involves individuals saying ‘yum’ when they taste our wines,” says Chouinard.

“That, combined with a positive hospitality experience, generates the ability to have fans.”

Capital, planning and scale are winery essentials.

WEB: bluxomewinery.com FB: facebook.com/bluxomestreetwinery TWITTER: @bluxomewinery 20 | SUMMER 2015

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PHOTOS COURTESY OF COMPANIES EXCEPT AS NOTED

GETTING TO YUM Peter Chouinard MSF ’93 Operating Partner, Bluxome Street Winery

PORTRAIT BY JIMFLYNNPHOTO.COM

PORTRAIT BY JAZIEL OJEDA

PHOTOS BY THE BRONX BREWERY/GLENN FAJOTA

By Allyson Manchester and Kristen Walsh

PHOTOS BY THE BRONX BREWERY/GLENN FAJOTA

<< FEATURES

THE ART OF CRAFT Christopher Gallant ’02 Co-founder, Bronx Brewery Co-founding a brewery was a natural next step for Christopher Gallant, who consulted to food and beverage clients at Bain & Company and held an earlier post at Heineken International in Brazil. Today, his business

PHOTOS COURTESY OF COMPANIES EXCEPT AS NOTED

PORTRAIT BY JIMFLYNNPHOTO.COM

PORTRAIT BY JAZIEL OJEDA

CRYSTAL CLEAR Nestor Villalobos ’02, MBA ’03 CEO, Tudor Ice Company

strategy rests on “being an inch wide and a mile deep” with a laser focus on one style of beer: the pale ale. “We craft our beers to be approachable, balanced and high-quality representations of their styles,” says Gallant. “If we don’t brew beers that NYC drinkers will seek out, then nothing else matters.”

“ Beer was meant to be enjoyed with friends, not analyzed.”

WEB: thebronxbrewery.com TWITTER, INSTAGRAM: @thebronxbrewery

In the late 1800s, ice was the second-largest export from the United States (after cotton).

It was his own thirst for “premium ice” that prompted Nestor Villalobos to develop Tudor Ice. To validate the concept, he shared early prototypes with more than 400 bars, hotels and restaurants across the country. Later, he discovered the holy grail for ice clarity: removing excess gases and minerals that make regular ice cloudy. Size is another factor. Tudor Ice’s large-format shapes melt very slowly, preserving a drink’s taste over time. The company is market testing products in Miami-area restaurants this summer.

“The $2.5 billion dollar ice industry in the U.S. hasn’t changed much in over two hundred years,” says Villalobos, whose company name comes from Boston-born Frederic Tudor, aka the “Ice King” of the 1800s. “It is an industry ripe for disruption.”

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“ There isn’t a how-to manual when your company is doing something that hasn’t been done before.”

WEB: drizly.com TWITTER: @drizly

AUTHENTIC SPIRIT Sydney Bouchard ’14 Marketing Manager, Saxtons River Distillery

SPECIAL DELIVERY Bryan Goodwin ’05, MBA ’12 Vice President of Sales and Retail Partners, Drizly

CORE PURSUIT Dan Rowell ’90 President and CEO, Vermont Hard Cider Company Dan Rowell took a leap of faith upon joining Vermont Hard Cider Company in 1996, a time when cider was “virtually nonexistent” in the market. His accounting background and knowledge of numbers helped boost annual production from 300,000 cases to 4 million for the company (home to Woodchuck Cider). Today, large and small players have jumped into cider making — and he welcomes the competition.

“While we have many styles and lead the category in innovation, we always try to stay true to the apple,” says Rowell. “There are over 7,500 varieties of apples, so there are a lot of things you can do to make different ciders.”

WEB: woodchuck.com TWITTER: @woodchuckcider

With just a few clicks on the Drizly website or mobile app, consumers in many U.S. cities can order beer, wine and liquor delivered to their doorstep in about 20 to 40 minutes.

Bryan Goodwin likens the experience to ordering movies and books on Netflix or Amazon, with some clear caveats. It’s imperative, he says, to understand the three-tier system (wholesalers, distributors, retailers) that governs the sale of alcohol, and every state’s specific laws related to alcohol delivery.

“There isn’t a how-to manual when your company is doing something that hasn’t been done before, so you have to be ready to solve problems quickly and effectively,” observes Goodwin. “I’m proud of the way we’re not looking to disrupt an industry, but bring added value to everyone involved.”

A recent $13 million backing from investors opens the door for expansion, as Drizly plans to double its team to 80 and broaden its national footprint to 30 markets.

PHOTO PHOTOCREDITS

BY CHRIS TO CONTI COME

Sydney Bouchard manages and develops events, media, web content, social media, advertising and promotions for a Vermontbased spirits distillery founded on “old-fashioned comfort.”

Marketing on the road is among her favorite parts of the job, and also the most challenging; restrictions and permitting for tastings and festivals, for example, often vary from state to state. She enjoys introducing the public to their not-so-secret ingredients.

“The distillery crafts its sapling liqueur, bourbon and rye with Vermont maple syrup, and infuses its coffee liqueur with Peruvian arabica beans from a local roaster,” says Bouchard. “Everything in our store has a story and a purpose, which helps people who come in understand that this is truly a craft distillery and not just a façade.”

WEB: saxtonsriverdistillery.com TWITTER: @srdistillery INSTAGRAM: @saxtonsriverdistillery

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LOCAL AT HEART Judy McCloskey-Forsley ’84 Treasurer, Shipyard Brewing Co.

PHOTO PHOTOCREDITS

BY CHRIS TO CONTI COME

Judy McCloskey-Forsley and her husband, Fred, started brewing their first Shipyard beer in the early ’90s at Federal Jack’s Restaurant and Brew Pub in Kennebunk, Maine.

Today, she focuses on financials such as cash flow management, operations and equipment purchases for the company, which is ranked the 25th largest craft brewery in the country by the National Brewers Association.

Still, the family-owned business prizes its local roots, with on-site brewing that minds the details.

“We use open-top fermentation to produce English style ales and English malts with no additives or preservatives, as well as Ringwood yeast from England. The water here in Maine is exceptional and perfect for brewing.”

WEB: shipyard.com TWITTER: @shipyardbrewing

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IN THE TANK: BEHIND-THE-SCENES “Are we too young? Are they going to tear us apart?” These were among the questions that surfaced for Jeff Martin upon being invited

to pitch the investors on ABC’s Shark Tank.

The answer to both questions is written in Pipcorn’s success since the episode aired.

Aspects of the show behind-the-scenes might surprise regular viewers. For one, entrepreneurs are kept separated from the

sharks until the pitch is taped. Producers even label their trailers with company nicknames so as not to influence the investors beforehand.

Things unfold over three days: the first is an orientation to the show, including personal consultation on crafting a 40-second pitch;

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Pop Star Story by Steve Holt Photos by Karla Diaz Cano

PHOTOS BY KARLA DIAZ CANO

On starting a business, meeting Oprah and sharks, and the big breaks that have made Pipcorn a snack food phenom

B

efore Jeff Martin ’07 and sister Jen started to make Oprah’s favorite natural snack, wowed investors on ABC’s Shark Tank, and sold $1 million worth of their product in four months, there were moments when an outside observer might think their dream had popped.

“It’s not to say we felt like we had a massive success from day one; it was more that we weren’t going to let it fail,” he recalls. “We just didn’t let that become an option.”

That statement sums up the 29-year-old entrepreneur well. Talking with Martin is to feel, on a visceral level, his passion and optimism.

These and other qualities impressed Shark Tank’s Barbara Corcoran enough to give the company $200,000 in exchange for 10 percent stake.

She calls Pipcorn her best investment in six seasons and lauds the Martins as “phenomenal” entrepreneurs.

Company sales speak for themselves: $800,000 in 2014, quadruple its 2013 total, with $1.5 million arriving just since November. You can find Pipcorn at Whole Foods Markets from New York to Maryland to New England. The snacks are also available online and in a bunch of smaller independent grocers.

THINKING SMALL Just six years ago, the venture was a late-night kernel of an idea hatched on the floor of an unfurnished apartment.

In 2009, Martin was in Chicago helping his sister move. After a day of loading in boxes, the two were starving, but the only provisions they could find were a few pots and pans, olive oil, and several bags of popcorn that Jen Martin had received from local farmers. Its small kernels were reported to be easier on digestions intolerant to traditional popcorn.

“We kept making and eating popcorn until we couldn’t move,” Martin remembers. “We decided we had to sell this.”

Fast-forward almost two years. Martin is among those laid off at UBS during the height of the recession; his sister has returned east with her college degree. The siblings filled out paperwork to manufacture food in New York and began applying to food markets in the city. They had a product name and some flavors they thought worked (sea salt and rosemary were two), but no packaging or branding. Also: crickets from every New York market to which they applied.

“Our parents were getting nervous, I’m sure,” Martin says. But each day, they’d sit together and check off a handful of the 250 tasks they needed to complete before selling their first bag of popcorn. “No matter the challenge, forward momentum is key.”

the second is set aside as a free day; and the third day is for filming.

Most of the entrepreneurs spent their free day locked in hotel rooms scrutinizing every word of their pitch. The Martins chose to rent a car and sightsee in Los Angeles “to clear our

GETTING TO MARKET Break No. 1 was securing a vendor spot at the Smorgasburg market in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They produced 100 bags of Pipcorn for that debut in late April 2012; all but 20 sold.

Smorgasburg is also where the Martins met a scout for Oprah Winfrey’s “Favorite Things.” In November, after several months of product development to meet the star’s exacting standards, Pipcorn premiered on Oprah. Martin calls it a “crazy experience. We still didn’t know what we were doing.”

The sudden spotlight forced the Martins to consider how prepared they were for a rapid influx of orders (at that time, not very). They also learned that national exposure does not necessarily equal more shelf space. Retailers wanted to see sales.

So the two hustled their way onto more prominent shelves at Whole Foods Markets and in the pantries of New Yorkers, through months of grueling store demos across the area. “Our mindset was, if 10 people pick up our bag, maybe two people will buy it, and maybe one person will be a lifetime customer,” says Martin, underscoring the importance of connecting quickly with potential customers, one at a time.

THE SHARKS BITE

By February 2014, Pipcorn sales merited moving into a larger facility, located in East Harlem. Then came the call from ABC producers, who had seen the siblings on Oprah and wanted them to pitch Pipcorn to the Shark Tank investors. It was another difficult but opportune milestone in the product’s short existence, Martin remembers. In the end came their game-changing deal with Corcoran, whom he calls “the only one we wanted to work with.”

The post-Shark Tank sales bump was real — and so were the bumps in the road. Online sales of Pipcorn were $196,000 in the 24 hours after the episode aired on Nov. 14, 2014, nearly matching company sales for all of 2013. Orders poured in from retailers eager to stock the novel small-kernel popcorn. Demand far outpaced production, leading to a two-month lag time in fulfilling some orders.

Growing pains aside, Pipsnacks has netted $1.5 million since November alone, suggesting that Corcoran may have landed a bargain on the company’s initial $2 million valuation. Few emerging companies may get Pipsnacks’ high-profile exposure, but Martin urges every entrepreneur to be on the lookout for their Oprah or Shark Tank. “Find something that can help you get to the next level, and go for those things.”

WEB: pipsnacks.com FB: facebook.com/pipsnacks TWITTER: @pipsnacks

minds of everything Shark Tank, everything Pipcorn.” (They boned up on their numbers that night.)

Despite the nerves, fortune went Pipcorn’s way. Barbara Corcoran invested in the company, but more so in its creators. Her

office is 20 blocks from theirs, and she makes herself and her staff available for advice as needed. “The whole Shark Tank team is unbelievably generous and caring,” says Martin. “There’s a reason people gravitate toward them . . . they’re the real thing.”

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STARTERS Begin with “a committed passion,” Rosenthal says, but don’t skimp on the prep work.

RICH ROSENTHAL ’81, P ’13 fulfilled a teenage dream upon opening a restaurant in his Connecticut hometown of Hartford, in 1986.

Today, Max Restaurant Group (named for his “inspirational” grandfather) is a mini-empire.

Its 10 award-winning establishments serve up classics like hamburgers and pasta as well as more exotic fare — think wood-grilled octopus.

Here, he shares wisdom gleaned from three decades in the business.

WEB: maxrestaurantgroup.com

FIND THE PERFECT SPOT. What makes a good location?

“Lots of rich people living there,” Rosenthal jokes. But in all seriousness, he says, the restaurant needs to be close to where your target customers live or work.

SETTLE ON A CONCEPT. Keep abreast of trends — “farm to table” is hot right now — but also take stock of your competition. In a neighborhood saturated with seafood, an Italian trattoria might make a stronger impression than another lobster shack.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY STEVEN SIMPSON

By Amy Crawford

RAISE THE CASH. Adequate capital is essential, Rosenthal says, especially in today’s competitive market. His first restaurant, Max on Main, cost $300,000 to open — about $640,000 in 2015 dollars. “But it wasn’t as large or elaborate as the way we do things now,” Rosenthal says, noting that his most recent venture, The Cooper in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., required an initial investment of $2 million to open last year.

PHOTO BY LIBBYVISION.COM

THE PROFile

LEARN THE BUSINESS. At 16, Rosenthal got a job bussing tables at a local steakhouse. The food was mediocre, he admits, but minimum wage plus tips seemed like a lot of money at the time, and “for a kid, it was a blast.” After Bentley, he learned to cook at the New York Restaurant School in Manhattan, then spent three years in restaurant kitchens. “It wasn’t my vision to be a chef,” he says. “But I felt if you were going to be successful in the restaurant business, you had to have a clear understanding of cooking and food.”

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MAINS

FINISHES

Every successful restaurant, no matter its concept or location, relies on a few key ingredients.

For the restaurateur whose venture prospers, the rewards are more than financial.

A LEADER IN THE KITCHEN. An executive chef needs top-line cooking skills first and foremost, but that’s not all, says Rosenthal. “Your chef has to understand how important hospitality is,” he explains. “Our goal is to make guests happy.

If it’s 10 o’clock at night and they want scrambled eggs and bacon and we don’t have that on our menu, try and find some and give it to them.”

GRACIOUSNESS CHANNELED. “A good restaurateur needs what we call the ‘hospitality quotient,’ ” says Rosenthal.

Not everyone is born with the trait. But for people like him, seeing guests leave the restaurant happy provides the ultimate satisfaction.

CREATIVE MANAGEMENT. The chef oversees everything “back-of-house,” but front-of-house operations are just as important. At each of Rosenthal’s locations, this is the domain of a “creative and thoughtful” managing partner with a vested stake in the restaurant’s success. “I don’t want a cookie-cutter management style,” he says, “because I don’t want a cookiecutter restaurant.”

PHOTO BY LIBBYVISION.COM

ILLUSTRATIONS BY STEVEN SIMPSON

TOP-SHELF SUPPLIERS. In the past decade, customers have grown increasingly savvy about where their food comes from, Rosenthal says. “They want to know who grows your tomatoes, who bakes your bread, where you get your ice cream.

Then you get into organics, sustainability. People now want better everything.”

TECH TOOLS. “Technology has become a very big thing,” Rosenthal says of computerized systems that can track everything from a plate of truffled fries to gross sales and net profit. The tech mix also includes social media and websites like Yelp. Any Max restaurant guest who posts a critical review receives a personal message or phone call from the managing partner, who works to right whatever went wrong.

COMMUNITY SERVED. Restaurants are integral to civic life, and they’re well placed to give back to the community.

Max Restaurant Group has raised millions of dollars hosting fundraisers for New England nonprofits like Ronald McDonald House, Bay State Children’s Hospital, and the Boys and Girls Clubs. Support for worthy causes offers a psychic benefit for partners and team members, according to Rosenthal. “But we don’t do it so we can feel good. We do it because we have the resources and ability to help — and feel it’s a responsibility.”

PASSION FULFILLED. The restaurant business can be allconsuming, testing people physically and mentally, Rosenthal says. “The hours are difficult. It’s tough when you have a young family … 80 percent of our business is in the evening.” In the early years, Rosenthal made a point of spending any time off with his wife and three daughters (now in their 20s, including Emily, a 2013 Bentley grad). He called on his chef training to create memorable weekend breakfasts and weeknight suppers.

But the stress and sacrifice are not for everyone, he admits. “In the business, we joke, ‘You’ve got to have grease in your veins.’”

ATMOSPHERE. Rosenthal works with professional designers to keep the look and feel of his eateries in sync with the times. “The restaurant I opened in ’86 was the hottest Hartford had ever seen at that point; today it wouldn’t work,” he says of elements such as a hung ceiling, painted walls and carpet. “Nowadays, the tendency is to have paneling, decorative light fixtures, tile and wood.”

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CLASS NOTES Shanell Mosley ’10 (left) and Stephanie Pimentel ’10 rekindle ties at Reunion 2015.

Check out more weekend highlights on page 38. Photo by Brian Smith

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1975 Paul Ben-Susan, Fort Myers, Fla., has been elected a board member of the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW). The organization saves wildlife through state-of-the-art veterinary care, research, education and conservation medicine.

1976

40th Reunion: June 3 to 5, 2016

Dennis Bunt, Charlotte, N.C., published The Couples Cookbook in March 2015.

The book of recipes scaled for two people is available on Amazon.com.

Sarah (Mitchell) Dempsey, Oshkosh, Wash., has joined Lourdes Academy as controller.

1978 Timothy Gove, Durham, Conn., recently retired from the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services as the tax computer audit manager.

The alumnus previously worked for the IRS as a revenue agent, tax shelter specialist and computer audit specialist.

1979 Robert Allen, Bangor, Maine, is included in Barron’s “Top 1200 Financial Advisors” list for 2015. This marks the fourth consecutive year that he has received the honor.

The alumnus is senior vice president, wealth management, at UBS Financial Services.

S

Jewelry manufacturer Frederick Goldman Inc. has appointed Mike Floskis, New York, N.Y., as vice president of finance and controller. Previously, he was executive finance leader at Tiffany & Co. Daniel Keshian MSF ’88, East Dennis, Mass., has joined the Board of Directors for Black Duck Software, which provides solutions in OSS logistics. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for Bentley.

1980 Host Analytics Inc. has hired John O’Rourke, Monroe, Conn., as vice president of product marketing.

1981

35th Reunion: June 3 to 5, 2016 David Bojarczuk, Burlington, Mass., has been promoted to executive vice president/chief financial officer for GFA Federal Credit Union.

Northfield Savings Bank has named Alfred Flory, Barre, Vt., as senior vice president, chief lending officer.

1982 Arnold Shecter, Long Beach, Calif., is now director of new business development at Illumination International LLC.

1983 Joseph Casey, Hingham, Mass., has been named the chief operating officer of HarborOne Bank. The 30-year

No love for leftovers?

The Couples Cookbook,

by Dennis Bunt ’76, offers recipes scaled for dining duos.

industry veteran also serves as executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Peterson Event Services has tapped Michael Kelly, Canton, Mass., as chief operating officer.

1985 Raffi Kebabjian, Watertown, Mass., is president of DJ Raffi Music & Lighting Productions.

Doris Kelly MST ’92, Sudbury, Mass., has accepted a role on the inaugural Learning and Teaching Council at Bentley. The alumna is a lecturer in the Accountancy Department.

1986

30th Reunion: June 3 to 5, 2016

Glen Casey, Short Hills, N.J., has joined American Century Investments as senior vice president and global head of products. His most recent post, with Goldman Sachs Asset Management, was head of product and portfolio strategy, U.S. third-party distribution.

1987 David Guido, Pittsburgh, Pa., has been awarded special designation as a Zig Ziglar Legacy Certified Trainer.

1988 Andres Cabrero, Weston, Fla., has been named chief credit officer and head of commercial credit for Banco Popular North America, doing business as Popular Community Bank.

NES Health has appointed Jennifer (Nogler) Moore, Eagle, Idaho, to the role of chief administrative officer in addition to her post as chief financial officer.

CUR Media LLC has hired Kelly (Butler) Sardo, Glastonbury, Conn., as controller.

A. Mark Zeffiro, Bloomfield Hills, Mich., group president of Cequent at TriMas Corporation, was elected an independent member of the Board of Directors for Atkore International Group Inc. He took on responsibilities as Audit Committee chairperson.

1990 Edward Demeritt, Florence, Ky., is now learning and development specialist for Dorman Products. He previously worked for Iron Mountain.

Gerald Harmon ’MBA, Southington, Conn., has been nominated to the Connecticut Supreme Court

by Governor Dannel Malloy.

1991

25th Reunion: June 3 to 5, 2016 Jeffrey Beauregard, South Windsor, Conn., has joined Arch Exhibits in the role of president.

Jim Furlong, Londonderry, N.H., has been named senior vice president for Fidelity Investments.

Robin Gorski ’MST, Andover, Mass., has joined DiCicco, Gulman & Company LLP, a CPA and business consulting firm, as a tax partner.

Christian Torres Lang, Barcelona, Spain, is a co-founder of financial investment boutique Solventis AV SA. The company recently opened an office in Madrid, joining others in Barcelona and Vigo.

CBIZ Tofias has tapped Leigh Nali MST ’94, Charlestown, Mass., as tax managing director.

1992 Laura Czech married Christopher Pustizzi at the Chatham Bars Inn on Cape Cod. John Furnari, East Falmouth, Mass., was elected to the Falmouth School Committee in May 2015.

Mike Galeucia, Scarborough, Maine, has been elected to the Board of Directors for the Maine Real Estate and Development Association, a statewide organization of commercial real estate owners, developers and related service providers.

The alumnus leads Macpage LLC Consulting Services.

Renee Pugh ’MBA, San Diego, Calif., has taken the reins as controller at Plum Healthcare Group.

Kelvin To, North Weymouth, Mass., was nominated as a FinTech Person of the Year

by Financial Technologies Forum. His patent pending invention for Volcker Rule compliance has been nominated for Best Regulatory Compliance Solution.

Kappa Pi Alpha fraternity members enjoyed an April 2015 reunion on the links in Myrtle Beach, S.C. From left are Robert Rice ’77, MST ’87; Jeff Tardif ’78; James Eastman ’76; Doug Emmons ’76; Dennis Bunt ’76; Ron Wuennemann ’79, MBA ’89; and Mike Duffy ’79.

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1997

Henry Cipriano III MSIT ’09, Canton, Mass., is now client technical architect for IBM.

Nate Gobeil, Scarborough, Maine, was instrumental in orchestrating a partnership between his employer, Chilton Furniture, and the Sabbathday Lake Shakers to produce two Shaker chairs from the mid-19th century.

This is the first time that the Shakers in Maine have collaborated with an outside manufacturer to produce one of their iconic chairs.

U.S. Bank Wealth Management has named David Schiegoleit, Irvine, Calif., to be managing director of investments for the Greater Los Angeles area.

He will oversee investment management for U.S. Bank’s Private Client Reserve team of professionals.

1994 Amy Seybold Burke ’MBA, Boxborough, Mass., has been elected treasurer of the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus. She is a finance consultant for Maura Healey — Attorney General.

Amy Legere, Winchester, Mass., has joined Greenough as PR director, with responsibility for directing the agency’s technology and professional services accounts.

1996

20th Reunion: June 3 to 5, 2016 SageView Advisory Group has hired Kerrie McKeegan Casey to deliver retirement planning services within its Boston practice. She has 19 years of experience in retirement consulting to corporate and not-for-profit plan sponsors.

Linda Harrison ’MBA, Medford, Mass., joined the Massachusetts Department of Revenue as tax examiner 1.

Denise Moroney ’MBA, Waltham, Mass., is the new director of facilities for the Town of Dedham/Dedham Public Schools.

Lindsay (Schlorff) O’Grady, Tyler, Texas, was promoted to operations and practice support from a hospital management position for VetCor. Kristofor Semb, Austin, Texas, is now worldwide LDR leader for IBM. Cindy (Wolf) Valentino, Waltham, Mass., has earned a Master of Science in Financial Services at The American College.

1998 Ken Barrows, Rowley, Mass., has been named vice president, head of products and strategy for Converse.

Keith Champion MBA ’11, East Boston, Mass., has joined Santander U.S. as finance manager III.

1999 Citizens Financial Group Inc. has tapped Melissa Bassett, Winchester, Mass., to serve as national sales manager for Citizens Education Finance, the bank’s student lending business.

Lesley Carvalho, Boston, Mass., welcomed son Roman Michael on June 16, 2014.

As noted in the February 2015 issue of Boston magazine, Gregory McLaughlin, Marblehead, Mass., has been named a Five Star Wealth Manager by Five Star Professional for 2015.

The alumnus is a finance professional with Centinel Financial Group LLC.

Ken Viciana, Marietta, Ga., was named to the board of the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) Data Governance Society.

2000 Philip Lavoie ’MBA, Key West, Fla., is now a concierge for Historic Key West Vacation Rentals.

Brad Sforza MSGFA ’02, New York, N.Y., has been promoted to executive vice president, broking, by Willis Re North America.

2002 Shant Banosian, Waltham, Mass., was named to the Mortgage Executive magazine annual list of “Top 200 Mortgage Originators in America.” The alumnus, who is branch manager for mortgage lender Guaranteed Rate, ranked No. 9 nationally.

Joseph Clifford and wife Kristen, Shrewsbury, Mass., welcomed son Reilly James on January 22, 2015. He joins siblings Reagan, age 6; Maura, 4; and William, 2.

Facebook has tapped Paul Coccovillo, Sacramento, Calif., to serve as controller for virtual reality technology company Oculus VR. His previous employer was Microsoft.

Kelly Navin, Fairfield, Conn., accepted a position as business finance manager for Concentric Health Experience.

Ariana (Hopkins) Pernice joined the Hilton Head Island–Bluffton Chamber of Commerce as vice president of the Visitor and Convention Bureau. She most recently worked for JetBlue Airways as a regional marketing manager and for Blink Fitness, where she managed strategic planning.

2003 Jennifer (Peirce) Davidson ’MSPFP, Dunstable, Maine, has opened a tax service business in southern Maine.

The certified public accountant is licensed to assist individuals, small businesses and trusts with taxes and financial consulting in the state’s lower seacoast area.

Jessica Alario, Boston, Mass., has been named vice president of hospitality public relations for marketing and communications agency 451 Marketing.

Allen DeVincent, Waltham, Mass., is now assistant vice president for LPL Financial.

Andrea (Boutelle) and husband James Doyle, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., welcomed daughter Violet on February 28, 2014.

Bill Mortimer married Jennifer Simmers on April 11, 2015, surrounded by many Bentley friends.

Erik Potts, Stratham, N.H., founder and president of Panorama Wealth Strategies, received the Five Star Wealth Manager Award for the third consecutive year. This past April, The Wall Street Journal featured him among the “Top 10 Five Star Wealth Managers” you need to know.

2004 Kira Abraham MSA ’05 married Kristopher Sullivan on September 13, 2014, in a Vermont ceremony.

Jessica Guevara, Santa Ana, Calif., has been named director of marketing operations for KeyedIn Solutions.

Timothy Matson, Tyngsboro, Mass., is the new chief operating officer for Centurion Auto Group LLC. Sanket Parekh ’MSIAM, Miami, Fla., is managing director for Thesis Ventures, a seed-stage venture capital fund.

Araxie Pena and Kevin Wong ’05 were married on August 16, 2014, in Boston, Mass.

Christopher Wetmore MBA ’11, Reading, Mass., has been recognized among “35 Rising Stars under 35” in Consulting magazine. He is a director for McGladrey.

2005 Liberty Mutual Insurance has named Michael Acquaviva, Belmont, Mass., to serve as project leader, PI Distribution Operations. He has been with the company since graduation.

Angela Fuccillo, Winchester, Mass., has joined Verizon Innovation Center as marketing communications manager.

Red Point Global has welcomed Taiwo Oshodi, Boston, Mass., as technical support engineer.

Nicole Peters and Brian Halloran tied the knot on October 25, 2014, at the New Haven Lawn Club in Connecticut. They celebrated with 16 fellow alumni.

Daniel Quinn, Milford, Mass., has been promoted to aviation company commander for the United States Army.

Northeast Bancorp has appointed Brian Shaughnessy MSA ’06, Woburn, Mass., as chief financial officer and treasurer.

He joins the company from KPMG LLP, where he had worked since 2005.

Jennifer (Tourangeau) and J. Nicholas Slottje MSREM ’09, Hopkinton, Mass., welcomed daughter Margaret Crawford on February 1, 2015.

CNC Software Inc. has tapped Meghan Summers-West as company president. She has been the company’s operations manager since 2009.

Michael Vecchione and Kimiko Tanaka ’08 said “I do” on October 3, 2014, in Boston, Mass.

Kevin Wong wed Araxie Pena ’04 on August 16, 2014, in Boston, Mass.

PHOTOS BY CHRIS CONTI

1993

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NEXT STOP: SPOTLIGHT: KRISTIN FORISTALL ’98

BY JENNIFER SPIRA

As a young girl, Kristin (Manna) Foristall dreamt of running her own business, playing office with a hole puncher and neatly stacked piles of paper. Turns out, she’s just as savvy with a spatula as a stapler.

Today Foristall runs Sweet K, a gourmet cookie company, from her home in Reading, Mass.

Her flagship sugar cookie was named “Best Cookie” by The Readings magazine this year.

“I’ve been lucky; my business has grown by word of mouth,” says the alumna, who left her career as a buyer for TJX Companies when daughter Kaiya arrived in 2009. Son Cameron joined the family in 2012.

Sweet K developed organically, when the tasty treats she whipped up for events inspired custom orders. Her first paid assignment: an Elmo cookie for a child’s birthday party, just months after Kaiya’s birth.

While the sugar cookie is Sweet K’s principal pleaser (her mother’s recipe, with tweaks), Foristall offers spice in fall and chocolate in winter. She generally bakes 20 hours per week, fielding orders via her website and email.

In addition to a Bentley degree in Computer Information Systems, Foristall holds one in retail merchandising from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Her sense of style and color are essential for creating out-of-the-box designs.

“Whatever a customer requests, I always say I can do it,” she vows, applying ingenuity when no cookie cutter fits the theme. “Heart shapes can turn into Mickey and Minnie Mouse, for example.”

Her deft balance of a growing business and full-time motherhood is a point of pride — as is Sweet K’s support for nonprofits such as Understanding Disabilities, Birthday Wishes and Team Marc Strong (Boston Marathon).

Foristall’s most personal donation yet, for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, honors her Bentley roommate Melissa (Zammett) Gonzalez ’98, who twice battled Hodgkin’s lymphoma and is now cancer-free.

PHOTOS BY CHRIS CONTI

WEB: sweetk.net

San Francisco BAY AREA ALUMNI WEIGH IN ON FORK-WORTHY DESTINATIONS. My favorite restaurant in SF is Boulevard. Everything is fantastic, but don’t miss the local Petrale sole and the Berkshire Kurobuta pork prime rib chop. John McPhee ’83 For something a little out of the ordinary, head to Suppenküche for a traditional delicious German meal. A young and hip crowd packs this place to enjoy not only the fine cuisine, but also the more than 20 different beers on tap. Prost!

Jenna (Stordy) Caldwell ’94 The best meal I’ve had in SF was at the Wayfare Tavern. They serve amazing popovers and the fried chicken is simply the best. Make sure you order some sides as well. I recommend the baked mac ’n cheese and the burrata whipped potatoes! Ken Shuman ’97 For a special evening out, or when attending the nearby SF Symphony or SF Ballet, my go-to in the Hayes Valley neighborhood is Jardinière.

Superb food in an elegant setting, with top-notch service. The dining experience is more formal than most top SF restaurants, but the food never disappoints. Marty Skrip ’75 Dinner at The Slanted Door on The Embarcadero, in the Ferry Building. I started with a nice glass of rosé to accompany California yellowtail, and melt-in-your-mouth spring rolls with peanut sauce. The main course: green papaya salad, grass-fed estancia shaking beef, seared day-boat scallops with Chue Farms sugar-snap peas (all to share). For dessert, I got the yummy vanilla bean beignets with sour apple caramel sauce.

Alissa Rogers ’06 One of my favorites is Kokkari, a Greek restaurant. I got to know one of the managers when he came to the U.S. a few years ago. Their lamb prepared on a spit is wonderful, accompanied by roasted potatoes.

For an appetizer, I favor the baked cheese with lemon; and for dessert, either the ice cream or the baklava.

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CLASS NOTES >>

1939 Oliver Derby William Flanagan Jr. 1941 Stephen Gerome Carle Gray Brayton Tompkins 1942 Ralph Day Robert Hoffman 1943 Harvey Grant 1944 Kenneth Fahey 1947 Gardner Cahoon Andre Michaud 1948 James Bougas Slayton Cross Joseph Mazzone 1949 Herbert Gearty John J. Kavanagh Edward F. Lindeman 1950 Charles Kilty 1951 Donald Donnelly Richard George Jr. John MacVarish Henry Bradford Sturtevant John Soucie William O. Taylor Jr. 1952 William Denoncourt Henry Holmes

1959 William Maciorowski 1960 Robert McDonnell 1961 J. Robert Williams 1963 Paul Collins Jr. 1967 William Guinasso Jr. John Savage 1970 Lawrence Falzarano 1971 Brian A. Linthwaite 1972 Paul Kennealy Edward T. Steinbauer 1973 Thomas Voyer 1974 James “Finlay” Barksdale Paul Popoloski 1975 Robert Monette 1977 Lucia Antonellis-Gerace Loretta (Boe) Kurtz Michael Pembroke 1978 Christopher A. Giffin Thomas Sarruda

Ena Kunin, New York, N.Y., has joined GE Capital as real estate valuation manager. She recently earned the Certified Commercial Investment Member designation.

Casey May, Holden, Mass., said hello to daughter Gracie on February 25, 2014. She joins sister Bailee, age 4.

Kevin Osborne, Boston, Mass., joined Openbay, a nationwide online marketplace for auto repair, as vice president of customer development. He was previously employed by AOL. Christopher Quinn, Encinitas, Calif., has been promoted to national pharmacy sales manager with the health-care software company Quantros.

Chirag Shah, Upper Saddle River, N.J., has been promoted to senior vice president, broking, by Willis Re North America.

2007

1985 Christine Holland

Gregory Conklin, New Orleans, La., welcomed son Gregory Paul III on December 7, 2014.

1986 Marcel Badeau Heather (Krass) Lopes

1955 Loren E. Blaisdell James Cotter Jr. Vincent Dimauro Douglas MacDonald

1987 Paula M. Mullen

1957 Wayne Anderson W. Richard Delaney Robert J. Willbrant

Matthew Abrams MBA ’08 married Kristen Kantor on March 29, 2014, at Cruiseport Gloucester, overlooking beautiful Gloucester Harbor.

1982 Peter Petrini

1954 Donald Daigneault Vincent Joyce

1956 William Haldane James Molaskey Robert Woolfrey

10th Reunion: June 3 to 5, 2016

1994 David Silva 2001 Patrick Slattery ’MBA Friends of Bentley Thomas Maggiacomo Former Director, Administrative Systems Jerry O’Connell Professor Emeritus and Former Graduate School Dean

Dave Griffin Jr., Longmeadow, Mass., has received the Certified Insurance Counselors (CIC) designation. The alumnus is an account executive at Holyoke-based The Dowd Insurance Agencies.

Michael Lofrumento, Reston, Va., has been named senior manager, contracts, for Raytheon Company.

Blake Reynolds, Marlborough, Mass., has been elected national president of the Future Business Leaders of America professional division.

Caroline Sissener, Oslo, Norway, is now asset manager for Scatec Solar.

Christopher Sutherland and Jessica Canary ’09, MBA ’13 were married on August 16, 2014, in Plymouth, Mass.

Chris proposed during Jessica’s graduate studies, in front of the library as she walked out of class.

2008 Claudia Alvarez, Brooklyn, N.Y., has joined Time Warner Cable as email marketing coordinator.

Katherine Bimmler married Alex Manoogian on August 2, 2014, at the Danversport Yacht Club. The couple lives in Saugus, Mass.

Ashley (Brooks) de Pujols ’08, MSA ’10 and husband Gerardo, Dominican Republic, are thrilled first-time parents of daughter Aliah Michele, born January 27, 2015, in Santo Domingo.

Ronald Morlock, Richmond, Va., has joined Owens & Minor as contract analyst.

He was previously employed

by Medical Action Industries.

Sarah Pluck, Portland, Maine, welcomed son Austin on September 12, 2014.

Kimiko Tanaka and Michael Vecchione ’05 said “I do” on October 3, 2014, in Boston, Mass.

Adrian Wong is the founder of Beta Burger, a fast-casual restaurant in Boston, Mass.

2009 Jessica Canary MBA ’13 and Christopher Sutherland ’07 were married on August 16, 2014, in Plymouth, Mass.

Chris proposed during Jessica’s graduate studies, in front of the library as she walked out of class.

Brittany (McLaughlin) and Brian Cusick MBA ’14, Beverly, Mass., are proud parents of daughter Meredith Elizabeth, born on December 16, 2014.

The Boston Consulting Group has promoted Devin DiGiovanni, Boston, Mass., to digital marketing project leader. She has been with the company since 2010.

Andrew Kenyon and Lillien Tillapaugh ’12 were married on January 31, 2015, at the Otesaga Hotel in Cooperstown, N.Y. Catherine Lee and Todd Burns were married on September 27, 2014, at Waveny House in New Canaan, Conn. Alumni in the wedding party were William Gormly ’09, Julia Rapacki ’09 and Jeffrey Burns ’11.

Kathryn Lidestri, Ledyard, Conn., has been promoted to financial adviser for Merrill Lynch.

Sharon Reid, Happy Valley, Ore., is associate sourcing specialist for Banfield Pet Hospital. She obtained her Career Development Facilitator certificate in November 2014 through the National Career Development Association.

Garrett Stephen and Pamela Newell ’10 were married on September 13, 2014, surrounded by many alumni from the classes of 2009 and 2010.

A nontraditional cooking process and high customization are on the menu at Boston-based Beta Burger, founded by former Finance major Adrian Wong ’08.

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PHOTO REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE SILICON VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL

In Memoriam

2006

<< CLASS NOTES

SPOTLIGHT: NICHOLAS BELSITO ’08

BY JENNIFER SPIRA

PHOTO REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM THE SILICON VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL

People seeking a top-notch night out are buzzing about BeeLine, a free mobile app from Nick Belsito that’s like having a private concierge at your fingertips.

Launched in 2014, BeeLine delivers prime-time access to popular restaurants and nightclubs in two U.S. cities, with others planned to come online.

Users can pay as little as $3 to get off the queue and into the Royale Boston.

Have deeper pockets? In San Francisco, BeeLine can coordinate your 2011 Bouchard-Finlayson Pinot Noir ready upon arrival at Michelin-rated Chez TJ. “We all want access to the maître d’ and to feel like we’re a regular every time we go out,” says Belsito. “We’re providing that experience to the masses.”

Chic bistros find that it pays to cater to BeeLine users. According to Belsito, the no-show rate for even the trendiest restaurants and nightclubs is 10 percent and 80 percent, respectively. BeeLine clients, however, boast a 99 percent arrival rate and spend an average of 30 percent more than other customers.

Belsito showed an early talent for hospitality at Bentley, leading experiences in the North End and raising more than $20,000 through the annual wine tasting charity event for the Italian Club. Later, traveling for Raytheon in mergers and acquisitions, the former corporate finance major sought out the hottest venues across the globe.

Thus far, Beeline’s primary users are young professionals, predominantly women aged 28 to 42. “The majority of our clients are friends who are going out and just want to guarantee they can have a great time together without hassle,” explains Belsito.

BeeLine just completed a program at Founders Space — named one of the top 10 accelerators in the U.S. by Forbes and Inc. magazines ­— and plans to expand into New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Miami by year’s end.

WEB: beelinenow.com

2010 Thimitrios Andoniades MBA ’13, Cambridge, Mass., is now senior audit consultant at Deloitte & Touche.

Michelle Brouillard married Daniel Rubin on November 15, 2014, in Framingham, Mass.

The groom is broadcast announcer for the Bentley men’s ice hockey team.

Chris Carroll, Swampscott, Mass., is the new head football coach for Lynn English High School, his other alma mater. The alumnus also serves as assistant controller at Mark Richey Woodworking and Design in Newburyport.

Alisha Crete married Pete Browne III on October 11, 2014, on Carolina Beach in North Carolina. The couple celebrated with fellow Falcons Melissa Eleuteri ’10, Katherine (Tibbetts) Hilow ’10, Megan Negrini ’10, and Rebecca Stewart ’11.

Vinay Gokaldas, London, England, is now managing director at Babuntu Asset Management Consultancy.

Megan Higgins and Jonathan Byer tied the knot on May 17, 2014, in Bow, N.H. They were surrounded by alumni including bridesmaid Kristen McMullen ’10.

Prashant Kamath ’MSIT and Kruti Thakkar ’MSF were married on December 28, 2014, in Mumbai, India.

Alexandra Lambert and Stephen Scaringe exchanged vows on September 27, 2014, in Amherst, Mass. The wedding party included groomsmen Erich Bobinsky ’10; Timothy Grovenburg ’10, MBA ’11; Connor Sullivan ’10, MBA ’14; and Jason Urdang ’10; and bridesmaids Melissa (Murphy) Gordy ’10; Jennifer Noce ’10, Carolyn Rogers ’10 and Erica Thayer ’10.

Kaitlin McGrane and Jonathan Michaud MBA ’11 said “I do” on October 10, 2014, in Simsbury, Conn.

Pamela Newell and Garrett Stephen ’09 were married on September 13, 2014, surrounded by many alumni from 2009 and 2010.

Leigh Anne Peckham, Braintree, Mass., is now business analyst for The J. Jill Group.

Thomas Powell, Cambridge, Mass., was designated a CFA charterholder in August 2014.

He is an investment analyst at Daintree Advisors LLC. Vernon Vasquez MSF ’13, New York, N.Y., has joined J.P. Morgan as mergers and acquisitions analyst. He was previously employed

by Bank of America.

2011

5th Reunion: June 3 to 5, 2016

Matthew Boilard, Wilbraham, Mass., has joined A. Boilard Sons Inc. of Springfield — adding a fourth generation of family leadership to the building supplies business.

The Walt Disney Company — Disney Consumer Products has tapped Sucheta Desai, Burbank, Calif., as senior financial analyst, core publishing. She was previously with UTC Aerospace Systems.

General Electric has promoted John Lawrence ’MBA, Albany, N.Y., to senior leader, HR reporting and analytics CoE. Pavlik Mintz ’MBA, Lexington, Mass., has received his Project Management Professional certification.

Kelly Peterson, San Francisco, Calif., has joined Macys.com as marketing analyst, web analytics.

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CLASS NOTES >> 2011, continued

Marla Strykowski, Haverhill, Mass., has been named an associate of the Casualty Actuarial Society.

She is an actuarial analyst at Plymouth Rock Assurance.

Helmut Wyzisk, Orlando, Fla., is co-founder of Earhoox, which produces small attachments to stabilize headphones in a listener’s ear. The company won $30,000 in a pitch competition at South by Southwest in March 2015, judged by Shark Tank investor Daymond John and sponsored by PayPal.

2012

Rose Barsumian, Milford, Mass., has signed on at EMC Corporation as HR generalist.

Her previous employer was Parexel. She recently earned the Professional in Human Resources certification.

ITG has welcomed Christie Basile, Framingham, Mass., as digital marketing specialist.

April Gammal, Westborough, Mass., was recognized with the Rising Star Award by the Massachusetts Society of CPAs. She works in Business Advisory Services at Grant Thornton LLP. Grace Karon, Austin, Texas, has joined Volusion as marketing specialist.

High school pals Tony Khalife, Jake Smith ’11 and Brian Sora have founded the Millbury Future Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that will provide scholarships to Millbury (Mass.) High School seniors on their way to college.

David Aziz, Jon Blackwell, Jonathan Kazarian, and Jeff Sayman, all from Boston, Mass., organized the first Fall Formal for Dana-Farber, held on November 22, 2014, at the New England Aquarium.

About 800 guests attended the event, which raised more than $68,000 for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund, including a portion to benefit the Center for Sarcoma and Bone Oncology.

Kristen Lavallee, Allston, Mass., has joined Liberty Mutual as actuarial analyst.

Inflexxion Inc. has hired Maureen Barlow ’MSHFID, Dorchester, Mass., as senior user experience architect.

Victor Suski, Wellesley Hills, Mass., has opened the electronic gaming café American Video Gaming

Elizabeth Mahoney, New York, N.Y., was promoted to account manager for Spotify. She has worked for the music streaming company for three years.

NewStar Financial promoted Gina McClary, Boston, Mass., to associate. She has worked for the company for three years.

bentley.edu/parentsandfamily

League in Newton.

Lillien Tillapaugh and Andrew Kenyon ’09 were married on January 31, 2015, at the Otesaga Hotel in Cooperstown, N.Y. Chuqi Zeng ’MSA, Santa Clara, Calif., has been promoted to senior associate with Deloitte & Touche LLP.

2013 James (Jay) Barrett ’MBA, Middleton, Mass., has passed the Series 7 Stock Broker and Series 66 Investment Adviser exams. He is a licensed life, accident and health/sickness insurance producer; certified financial planner; and accredited investment fiduciary.

Brian Bramswig, Pleasantville, N.Y., is now sales training manager for HomeAdvisor.

Emily Fiorito, Boston, Mass., is now recruiting coordinator at Putnam Associates.

Matthew Kelliher-Gibson ’MBA, Simpsonville, S.C., welcomed daughter Violet on November 5, 2014.

The alumnus is manager, marketing analytics, at The Gordian Group.

Deirdre Leary MSA ’14, Newport, R.I., is an ensign with the United States Navy.

Amanda Miranda, Revere, Mass., has stepped into a new role as senior associate of Campus Diversity Programs for PwC LLP.

Marc Schwanbeck, North Andover, Mass., has been promoted to financial manager by Graybar Electric Company Inc. Caroline Sullivan, Burlington, Mass., received the Professional in Human Resources certification and a promotion to human resources representative at LogMeIn Inc. in January 2015.

2014 Xavier Acevedo, Hyde Park, Mass., serves as corporate actions analyst for State Street Corporation.

Bottomline Technologies has tapped Rick Booth ’MST, Wayland, Mass., as chief financial officer. He joins the company from Sapient.

Epsilon has hired Robyn Dion, Danvers, Mass., as associate business systems analyst.

Delia Equitz, Newton, Mass., is now allocation analyst for TJX Companies.

Yihui Jiang ’MSA, Belmont, Mass., has joined KPMG LLP as tax associate.

John Maggs ’MBA, Waltham, Mass., has joined Communication Technology Services as human resources generalist and recruiter.

Charlotte Malone, Cohasset, Mass., has been promoted to investment adviser representative for Artemis Financial Services.

She has passed the Series 65 exam for investment professionals.

Bashar Moussallieh ’MBA, Woodbridge, Ontario, won the Massachusetts SBA Small Business Exporter of the Year Award for his company EMSEAL Joint Systems Ltd. Jordan Payson, Worcester, Mass., is now business analyst for UMass Memorial Medical Center.

Travelers Insurance has welcomed Sean Polley, West Hartford, Conn., as market analyst.

Elizabeth (Papp) Putnam, North Grafton, Mass., has been promoted to assistant advertising manager by AAA Northeast.

Matt Schick and Josh Seiden are the respective assistant magic producer and head of the Graphics Department for The Carbonaro Effect, a hiddencamera show centered on magic tricks that airs on truTV. Both are also writers on the magic team.

OnProcess Technology has hired Ishaan Singhal ’MBA, ’MSIT, Waltham, Mass., as senior manager, analytics.

Paul Tarabelsi, Belmont, Mass., is now staff accountant for Hallmark Health Systems.

2015 Former Falcon Brett Switzer has joined the Hull Stingrays hockey team after four years with the Bentley team. The British club is a member of the Elite Ice Hockey League.

AN EVENT ORGANIZED BY FOUR CLASS OF 2012 ALUMNI, including Jon Kazarian (left) and Jeff Sayman, raised more than $68,000 for the DanaFarber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund.

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PHOTO BY CHRIS CONTI

High school pals Jake Smith, Tony Khalife ’12 and Brian Sora have founded the Millbury Future Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that will provide scholarships to Millbury (Mass.) High School seniors on their way to college.

<< FAMILY MATTERS

Sustaining Traditions, Nourishing Families

PHOTO BY CHRIS CONTI

Farm to table.

It’s a global movement promoting fresh, locally sourced food — and for one father-daughter team, it’s their bread and butter.

Nearly every day in Southbury, Conn., Richard Manville ’79 is working his family’s cattle ranch. Depending on the season and weather, he’s mowing and preparing 3,000 bales of hay, mending barbed-wire fences, caring for newborn calves, or exercising his accounting skills for the farm he owns with his brothers, Jeffrey and Duane.

The three saw humble beginnings on these 150 acres, in a little house at the end of a dirt road where they raised beef cattle and tended the family’s vast vegetable gardens. They churned butter, canned elderberry jelly, harvested and sold honey, froze corn on the cob, and pressed apple cider.

“There were lots of things we used to do that you’d say are nuts now,” Manville says of a boyhood that included hunting and trapping.

Today, Manville Farm hosts a herd of 35 white-faced Herefords that are grass-fed at home and in a cousin’s nearby meadow. Much of the meat is kept for their own families, but they are increasingly selling to the public in bulk and in smaller quantities and custom cuts at local farmers markets.

His reward — in addition to plentiful fresh food — is living and working alongside kin.

“It’s tough enough to get along in any business,” observes the 57-year-old. “On this farm, we figure things out together and help each other out.”

His daughter Linda — a 2012 economics graduate — grew up on the farm as well and envisioned a similar career in agriculture.

Instead, she landed at the Connecticut Food Bank, working as an inventory control assistant.

The food bank is part of Feeding America, a national network of 200 banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs that serves more than 46 million people. Donations come from farmers, manufacturers, retailers and the government.

In a typical day, Linda invoices up to 20 trucks, each carrying heavy, towering pallets of food into and out of the warehouse. She helps fill backpacks for schoolchildren so they can feed their family on weekends, and meets with area soup kitchens to glean their needs and preferences.

“I’m happy in this part of the food industry,” she says. “I love that I can work somewhere where I get to feed people, even if it’s not from my own farm.”

Jennifer Spira spoke with the family for Bentley Magazine.

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CLASS NOTES >>

Weddings 3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

1.

2.

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8.

13.

14.

15.

9.

10.

11.

12.

1. Michelle Brouillard ’10 and Daniel Rubin 2. Christopher Sutherland ’07 and Jessica Canary ’09, MBA ’13 3. Megan Higgins ’10 and Jonathan Byer 4. Prashant Kamath MSIT ’10 and Kruti Thakkar MSF ’10 5. Robert Belisle ’10 and Kristin Marconi ’10, MST ’11, whose July 2014 nuptials were noted in the winter 2015 issue 6. Kaitlin McGrane ’10 and Jonathan Michaud ’10, MBA ’11 7. Catherine Lee ’09 and Todd Burns ’09 8. Nicole Peters ’05 and Brian Halloran ’05 9. Laura Czech ’92 and Christopher Pustizzi 10. Michael Vecchione ’05 and Kimiko Tanaka ’08 11. Andrew Kenyon ’09 and Lillien Tillapaugh ’12 12. Garrett Stephen ’09 and Pamela Newell ’10 13. Bill Mortimer ’03 and Jennifer Simmers 14. Kira Abraham ’04, MSA ’05 and Kristopher Sullivan 15. Alisha Crete ’10 and Pete Brown III 16. Katherine Bimmler ’08 and Alex Manoogian ’08

16.

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Reunion 2015

JUNE 5 to 7

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<< CLASS NOTES

DOES YOUR CLASS YEAR END IN 1 OR 6?

Save the weekend of June 3 to 5, 2016 for some reunion fun of your own.

You can even help plan the festivities for classmates and friends by emailing aluminfo@bentley.edu.

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CLASS NOTES >>

Gatherings This spring, the Bentley volleyball team earned “100 Everyday Amazing” honors from Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center.

The award recognizes groups and individuals for inspiring commitment in the fight against cancer. The Falcons’ “Dig Lavender” campaign, conducted on behalf of their longtime head coach, Sandy Hoffman, raised more than $20,000 for research at the Dana- Farber Cancer Institute. Pictured from left: Kristine Mickelson ’10, a leader in organizing the campaign; Joey Pacis, volleyball coach; Mary Lincoln; Sandy Hoffman; Cindy Scott, assistant athletics director; Barbara Stevens, head coach, women’s basketball; and Robert Minetti, senior adviser, Mass General Development, and his wife, Wendy Baker.

CELEBRATION OF SCHOLARSHIP DONORS On Wednesday, April 22, more than 100 alumni, students and friends of the university gathered to recognize the importance of scholarships at Bentley. President Gloria Larson expressed gratitude to donors and congratulated the scholarship students.

Four high-achieving scholarship recipients also addressed the crowd about what receiving a scholarship has meant to them.

SAVE THE DATE

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BEVERLEY EARLE AND JOHN SLOAN

Expanding Vistas for Adventurous Spirits

WELCOME TO THE FOOD ISSUE

“ I had never left the East Coast, never mind the country — but I knew there was so much to see and do in the world.”

— Olyvia Leahy ’16

This issue of Bentley Magazine features alumni, faculty and students who care a lot about what fills your plate and your glass.

Their insights come from all corners of the food and beverage industries, along with less-expected venues such as health economics, tech innovation and cultural studies. So pull up a chair and dig in.

Traveling abroad is something of a family tradition for Beverley Earle and her husband, John Sloan MSFP ’14.

Share your story, feedback and suggestions: magazine@bentley.edu or @bentleyalumni Visit us online at bentley.edu/magazine On the cover: The recipe for our New England lobster roll with lemon-chive mayonnaise is on food52.com.

Our cover model is Tatiana (Casale) Mullaney ’09.

Food styling by Charlotte Davis. Photo by Chris Conti.

As a Bentley professor for nearly 33 years, Bev has taught in China and France, and lived in Paris for an academic year with her family.

John, a retired architect, traveled in his graduate program and career. Their daughter, Molly MBA ’12, has experienced the cultures of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, China and Costa Rica.

“Travel reinforces that learning is a lifelong activity,” says Bev, the Adamian Professor of Law. “You meet people who may think differently and open yourself up to new viewpoints, not necessarily changing your opinion, but helping you appreciate multiple frameworks.”

Their Earle and Sloan Travel Fellowship extends these benefits to current students. Its first recipient, Olyvia Leahy ’16, went to Iceland in May for a course led by Natural and Applied Science faculty members Robert Ackert and Thom Davis.

“I had never left the East Coast, never mind the country,” says Olyvia. “But I knew there was so much to see and do in the world.”

How right she was. Olyvia circumnavigated the country over the course of 14 days. During excursions that showcased the country’s many unique natural features, she observed the influence of hydrological and geo-thermal forces

on Iceland’s landscape and socioeconomic conditions.

“I’ve learned about plenty of geological phenomena, but it was eye opening to experience things like glaciers, lava fields and geo-thermal pools in person,” says Olyvia, who credits the trip for solidifying connections between her Actuarial Science major and Liberal Studies major concentration in Earth, Environment and Global Sustainability. “Catastrophe modeling is one of the hottest topics for actuaries in property and casualty insurance companies. The more we know, the better we can prepare and plan.”

Her observations speak to what inspired the fellowship donors. “Study and travel abroad helps students get beyond their own neighborhood,” says Bev. “They are opened up to the vastness of the world and often find new motivation to study and work hard.”

YOUR PLANS. BENTLEY’S FUTURE. There are many ways to create a lasting legacy at Bentley. Bev Earle and John Sloan established an endowed fund that provides need-based awards for students to travel abroad. To learn more, please contact Liz Siladi, director of gift planning, by phone (781.891.2475) or email (esiladi@bentley.edu) or visit bentley.edu/giftplanning.

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TLEY MAGAZINE

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CIRCA 1980

THEN & NOW

FEEDING YOUNG MINDS IN THE LACAVA CENTER

CIRCA 2015

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Inside a website that cultivates community PAGE 14

Food hubs: a new model with deep roots PAGE 17

Dine like a local in San Francisco PAGE 31

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