Those who have spent time at Darden can testify to the spirit of openness that pervades our Grounds. Though we are known for our rigorous use of the case method, we never forget the human empathy and support required for our students to thrive. When they leave Darden, they are prepared to handle whatever comes next — in their careers and lives — knowing that the global Darden community stands behind them. Possibilities abound.
The faculty both test and encourage. No one has mastered these skills more completely than my predecessor as dean, Bob Bruner. During this year’s Darden Reunion, Bob delivered one final case (Page 18) to mark his retirement after 42 years of service to the School (Yes, it involved some cold calls). Countless alumni and colleagues have discovered new possibilities in their lives thanks to Bob. A consummate scholar, Darden’s most prolific case writer, and the ultimate teacher, Bob never forgets the individuals at the heart of our endeavor.
Another great student-centered, case method teacher is Professor Jim Detert, who studies and teaches leadership. Looking more closely at the lives of individual employees, Jim’s insightful questioning of “quiet quitting” unveiled the rational decisions employees sometimes make to disengage at work (Page 33). This “calibrated contributing,” as he calls it, is a decades-old phenomenon, and understanding it opens new opportunities for leaders to reconnect with their people.
This spring’s grand opening of The Forum Hotel unveiled a welcoming facility designed — and named — with human connection at its core. Whether educational, intellectual, social or emotional, each moment shared here can foster growth. You’ll get a good sense
of what the hotel looks and feels like from the photo essay inside (Page 22), but there’s no better way to experience its unique energy than to stay there. We hope to see you soon.
Innovation is a constant here at Darden, but our goal is to keep humans at the heart of business. When Darden hosted the New Directions in Leadership Research Conference at UVA Darden DC Metro, business faculty from a wide variety of schools discussed the implications of a quantum leap forward in artificial intelligence. A few weeks later, ChatGTP burst into the public consciousness. Now we must begin a long process of reckoning with how AI could affect all kinds of people in all kinds of ways (Page 12).
In fact, I consider this issue to be of such importance that as you read this, I am in the midst of a six-month sabbatical in England, pursuing graduate research and coursework on AI and other current topics at Oxford University’s Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics and Pembroke College. I’m grateful to Interim Dean Jeanne Liedtka, who will serve as dean until I return on 1 January 2024, and all of my colleagues at Darden. Their support has allowed me to take advantage of this opportunity.
At Darden, we are all students. We are all teachers. We are open to the possibilities that come with a lifetime of learning.
SCOTT C. BEARDSLEY Dean and Charles C. Abbott Professor of Business Administration
12
The public release of ChatGPT sent shockwaves through the worlds of business, academia and media. How can humans remain at the heart of business as the AI revolution unfolds?
18
Bob Bruner Retires
Dean Emeritus Bob Bruner offered a powerful “last case” before retiring this spring. Relive the case, his impact and events held to honor him, plus learn how alumni can help support his legacy.
22
Introducing The Forum Hotel
A picture is worth 1,000 words when it comes to the new hotel on Darden Grounds in Charlottesville. Our photo feature highlights the signature spaces that will fuel the Darden experience for decades.
33
Ideas to Action: Redefining 'Quiet Quitting'
Professor Jim Detert wants to set the record straight on “quiet quitting” — what it really is, how we should talk about it, and how managers can help improve employee engagement.
36 Faculty Spotlight: Dan Murphy
98 Jessica and Jason Sinnarajah (MBA ’07)
100 Jayson Lipsey (MBA ’08)
108
20 Questions: Jim Cooper (MBA ’84) Managing Partner, Thompson Street Capital Partners
Fundraising for the Powered by Purpose campaign has surpassed the $400 milestone, marking completion of the campaign’s first phase more than two years ahead of schedule.
“Please join me in celebrating you, our Darden alumni, and our faculty, staff and students for this remarkable accomplishment,” Darden School Foundation Interim President Carolyn Miles (MBA ’88) said during Darden’s State of the School presentation on 29 April. Including matching funds and donations held outside the Foundation to support Darden, the campaign has delivered roughly $500 million of total impact and garnered 70 percent alumni participation.
With the first milestone complete, Darden announced a new theme for the final two years of the campaign: Faculty Forward, highlighting the School’s commitment to further strengthen the capabilities of the world’s best business school professors.
The Foundation will share fundraising results for the 2023 fiscal year later this summer, as well as plans to thank donors for their tremendous generosity and impact during the campaign’s first phase. This fall, the Foundation will announce details for the Faculty Forward phase of the campaign. In this next phase, Powered by Purpose will seek to fund new initiatives and emerging opportunities within the four campaign priorities.
$400M
100%
As of 27 April 2023
$400 million
CAREER AND EXECUTIVE COACHING
EXCLUSIVE NETWORKING EVENTS
PERSONALIZED JOB SEARCH ASSISTANCE
CAREER-RELATED WORKSHOPS AND WEBINARS
Science in business analytics; reaching the $400 million milestone of the Powered by Purpose campaign; and the opening of The Forum Hotel on the Darden Grounds.
At Oxford’s Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, Beardsley will pursue graduate research and coursework in the ethics of data and artificial intelligence; privacy, research and empirical ethics; and the ethics of well-being and disability enhancement.
Dean Scott Beardsley on 1 July began a six-month sabbatical leave to pursue graduate research and coursework at Oxford University’s Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics with the faculty of philosophy at Pembroke College. Until the sabbatical ends on 1 January 2024, Professor Jeanne Liedtka
will serve as Darden’s interim dean.
The sabbatical comes on the heels of eight years of outstanding leadership, marked by achievements such as establishing a strong and growing presence for Darden in Northern Virginia — home base to the Executive MBA, Part-Time MBA and Master of
A design thinking pioneer, Liedtka has been at Darden for 32 years. Stepping into the interim dean role, Liedtka brings experience as a senior leader at Darden who has served as executive director of the Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship, Technology and Innovation, senior associate dean for degree programs, chair of Darden’s program strategy committee and trustee of the Darden School Foundation.
With Professor Emeritus C. Ray Smith (MBA ’58) and family in attendance, Dean Scott Beardsley this spring dedicated the newly renovated C. Ray Smith Alumni Hall.
Smith, a distinguished educator, administrator and visionary leader, played a foundational role in advancing the Darden School during its first decades.
“I think it’s only appropriate that we name this building, the alumni hall, in your name because I can’t think of anybody at Darden who knows more alumni than you and has made a bigger difference in more people’s lives,” Beardsley said to Smith during the dedication.
The renovated Smith Hall — formerly a mix of hotel rooms for the old UVA Inn at Darden and a bookstore — now houses academic, administrative and programmatic spaces to support alumni engagement, online learning and executive education. The building is also home to the Marjorie R. and Frank M. Sands Sr. Institute for Lifelong Learning, Darden Executive Education & Lifelong Learning and the Darden School Foundation.
MBA students celebrated their last day of class in May with the School Was Outstanding Today (S.W.O.T.) Carnival in Wilkinson Courtyard.
TheTop 10 became a familiar home for Darden in the latest round of B-school rankings updates this academic year, exemplified by earning more Top 10 category rankings from The Princeton Review than any other school.
The Princeton Review ranked Darden in the Top 10 in 11 categories, including No. 2 overall for Best Campus Environment, Best Career Prospects and Best Classroom Experience. MBA-focused publication Poets & Quants declared Darden the “winner” of the annual rankings.
In the fall, Darden placed No. 9 in the latest Bloomberg Businessweek ranking of full-time MBA programs, standing out as the No. 1 ranked program at a public university.
Fortune followed with a brand new ranking of full-time MBA programs, placing Darden No. 10 overall and No. 1 among programs at public schools.
Darden earned more Top 10 category rankings from The Princeton Review than any other school.
Financial Times ranked Darden No. 13 among U.S. business schools and No. 17 globally, continuing a climb of more than 15 places in the past five years. The publication placed Darden No. 2 among U.S. public B-schools, No. 1 globally for carbon footprint and No. 3 globally for alumni satisfaction.
In March and May, more than 400 Full-Time MBA students traveled to 16 countries on Darden Worldwide courses. Darden’s Executive MBAs also completed a busy academic year of travel with global academic residencies in Argentina, South Korea, Finland and Estonia, Australia, Morocco, Vietnam, Spain and Germany. Nearly 90 percent of Second Year Full-Time MBA students were able to take advantage of the Batten Foundation Darden Worldwide Scholarship program during their time at the School. All Darden Full-Time MBA students are offered a scholarship covering course fees for one Darden Worldwide Course or expenses for exchange programs and global client projects.
“Doing
in
“Honoring the Traditions of the Past While Confronting the Challenges of the Future” led by Professor June West
“Innovation
“Culture-Infused
Dean Scott Beardsley said Darden had emerged stronger from the COVID-19 pandemic at his State of the School address, held 29 April during reunion weekend.
“We said that if we stayed the course and invested in our strategic priorities, with the support of our community, we could emerge stronger on the other side. And we have,” Beardsley said, “but there is still important work left to do to achieve the mission and full potential of Darden.”
The dean spoke of the need to continue to invest in faculty, particularly as the School undergoes a generational shift and expands to meet growing needs. On a day when the School honored retiring Dean Emeritus Bob Bruner for his 42 years of service, Beardsley emphasized the importance and impact of each of Darden’s worldclass faculty members, and asked the audience to consider what it might take
"We said that if we stayed the course and invested in our strategic priorities, with the support of our community, we could emerge stronger" from the pandemic.
to recruit and retain the next Bob Bruner at the Darden School.
Darden continues to attract incredible students, Beardsley said, noting that more than 1,200 degreeseeking learners are now enrolled in Charlottesville and Rosslyn, Virginia, between the Full-Time, Part-Time and Executive MBA programs and Master of Science in business analytics program. While the Darden student body has set records for excellence in recent years,
Beardsley said the uncertain economy and the total cost of attendance for an MBA makes the decision to pursue a degree difficult for many students.
“We face challenging headwinds to recruit the best and brightest students and to have them leave without the heavy burden of debt,” Beardsley said.
While the ROI of a Darden education remains excellent, scholarships and need-based aid are critical to attract the best students from around the world.
Thanking the alumni for their support, Beardsley noted that even with the initial $400 million fundraising milestone achieved — and $500 million overall for endowments to support Darden, the School has “more to do” before the Powered by Purpose campaign concludes in 2025.
“Darden’s focus continues to be on raising funding to support excellence and position the school for decades of success,” Beardsley said.
— Dean Scott Beardsley
FULL-TIME MBA GRADUATES
135 25
18 STUDENTS RECEIVED THE
EXECUTIVE MBA GRADUATES
FACULTY MARSHALS
PETER BELMI, Full-Time MBA
KINDA HACHEM, Full-Time MBA
LUCA CIAN, Executive MBA
DUAL-DEGREE GRADUATES
RECOGNIZING EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE TO THE SCHOOL OF A NONACADEMIC NATURE
Taiwo
Abiodun
Sarah Morris Boschung
Sukari Ayanna Brown
Emily Ann Corelli
LaShondra Jones Ervin
Daniela
Megan
Peter
Nirali Kansara
Tyler Kelley
Logan Kendall McDivitt
Fanny Mei
Katelyn
Annette
Leah
Martin
91.3% RECEIVED A JOB OFFER BY GRADUATION
88.9% ACCEPTED A JOB OFFER BY GRADUATION $175,000 MEDIAN BASE SALARY
STUDENT GRADUATION SPEAKERS
“We are transformed as much by the doing of difficult things, as by the people we do them with."
“Progress is greater than perfection. Seek progress above all else."
Darden hosted a COVID-19-delayed retirement roast of several longtime Darden professors on 18 May, including Sam Bodily, Bob Conroy, Ed Hess and Elliott Weiss.
Darden professors remain sought-after experts to comment on leading global business issues in top publications. Read a few of their insights from recent features in the media.
Associated Press
Professor Kimberly Whitler has become an annual go-to for the Associated Press as it seeks to dissect the best and worst ads aired during the Super Bowl, one of the most watched live events in the world. While many of this year’s favorite ads leaned into nostalgia, Whitler noted how first-time Super Bowl advertisers tend toward stunts and gimmicks that may or may not pay off with better sales results. “People want to do stunts because stunts get attention,” she said. “But at the end of the day, the ad has to communicate something that’s unique or better about the brand.”
Quartz
Quartz recently examined the friction between employees and employers over return to the office and remote work policies. Professor Melanie Prengler said employees have leverage to negotiate if employers demand a return to the office, and cautioned employers about the backlash they could face. “Just like you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube, you can’t demand remote workers return to the office, at least without making a big mess,” said Prengler. “Having that taken away is painful. I would not be surprised if people felt a loss of trust and respect in their organization.”
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal quoted Professor Jim Detert’s advice on how to lodge effective complaints at work. Detert emphasized that the words you choose when making a complaint matter. He cautioned against making overly definitive statements, such as “It’s obvious we should fix this,” which could alienate someone who doesn’t share that view. He also advised against using absolutes, such as “you never do this” or “you always do that.” With absolutes, Detert said, “You lose credibility because now you’ve sort of exposed yourself as exaggerating or ignoring inconvenient data.”
The Rise of Corporate Feminism: Women in the American Office, 1960–1990 (Columbia University Press)
Professor Allison Elias
From the 1960s through the 1990s, the most common job for women in the United States was clerical work. So how did feminism in corporate America come to represent the individual success of the executive woman and not the collective success of the secretary? Professor Allison Elias argues that feminist goals of advancing equal opportunity and promoting meritocracy unintentionally undercut the status and prospects of so-called “pink-collar” workers. The book charts the trajectory of modern feminism at work, following the political, legal, societal and cultural changes that influenced the nature of secretarial work from 1960 to 1990.
Strategy in the Digital Age: Mastering Digital Transformation (Stanford Business Books)
Professor Mike Lenox
Digital transformation is much more than building the digital infrastructure to gather and process data. It is about understanding how technologies enable the creation of innovative services and products. Covering major topics such as big tech, data analytics, artificial intelligence, blockchain, cryptocurrency, autonomy, cybersecurity, data privacy and antitrust, Professor Mike Lenox outlines a set of original frameworks to help leaders devise their strategies for digital transformation. Readers will learn how to navigate the human dimensions of the transformation and tackle the numerous social and policy challenges raised by digital technology.
Darden’s Institute for Business in Society has partnered with the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative to produce 10 cases focused on the business of sports, highlighting unique leadership opportunities and challenges facing women in leadership.
“This partnership with the Darden School of Business reinforces, and perfectly aligns with, our commitment to equality in the workplace and lays a foundation for future business leaders to learn from the legacy of Billie Jean and other great sports icons,” said Il ana Kloss, co-founder of the Billie Jean King Leadership Initiative.
The first case, “Billie Jean King: Serving Up Leadership,” is now available from Darden Business Publishing. The case offers a short chronological biography of King as she climbed to the highest levels
in tennis and became known for her groundbreaking advocacy on issues such as pay parity for female athletes, outlining the key decision points along the way.
Cases in development consider issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in the National Women’s Soccer League, the Women’s National Basketball Association, USA Gymnastics and Nike. Future cases will focus on mental health, access and membership at exclusive organizations and the formation of the first women’s professional tennis tour.
Bill Shelton (MBA ’93), chief marketing officer of Group1001 and longtime advocate of gender equity in sports, was the catalyst for the collaboration, which furthers Darden’s commitment to inclusive excellence and is a tangible outgrowth of the Women@Darden initiative.
he release of ChatGPT by artificial intelligence company OpenAI sent shockwaves through the worlds of business, academia and media.
Though the trend toward AI is well documented, seeing it in action has reinvigorated debate around some fundamental questions. How should humans focus on remaining at the heart of business as the AI revolution unfolds? Are fears of AI’s abilities to usurp human leadership and ingenuity legitimate?
The rise of generative artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT, may present more questions than answers today, but one axiom for the age of AI is clear to experts in the Darden community: Tapping into essential human qualities like adaptation and collaboration is critical for people to continue thriving in business as AI develops.
Like most major advances in technology, artificial intelligence has been in the
works for quite a while — since the development of the first computers and programming languages in the 1950s. Computer scientist John McCarthy is credited with coining the term “artificial intelligence” in 1955. Aspects of AI have been an accepted part of the average American’s everyday life for years with applications like Grammar.ly, virtual assistants like Alexa, and the emergence of AI-generated videos, photos and audio (sometimes used as tools to spread false information).
However, when OpenAI’s ChatGPT -3.5 emerged, the reaction was different. The possibility of computers being able to learn from experience and context, perform cognitive functions, solve problems and imitate creativity became very real, very fast. Despite a recent scientist-led attempt to pause further development in the interest of treading carefully, most AI observers believe the cat is out of the bag and further surprise
developments are all but inevitable. A leaked Google memo in May, titled “We Have No Moat, And Neither Does OpenAI,” revealed the extent to which that belief is true. The memo stated that people around the world have access to open-source generative AI models, and that the power of many small contributions from the crowd is allowing open-source AI to advance much more rapidly than what Google or OpenAI can deliver with months of work and millions of dollars.
Heading into uncharted territory without a map is overwhelming, but there are a few guiding principles that members of the Darden community can use as a guide.
Though unique, the AI revolution is similar to prior technological revolutions or environmental upheavals. What’s required in the face of great change is adaptation, much as England’s peppered moths evolved from light to dark during the Industrial Revolution to blend in with soot or the rapid shift to virtual work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Change, of course, isn’t easy.
“We know from management scholarship that people often resist change. With change comes feelings of uncertainty. These feelings affect things we care about, such as creativity and openness to new ideas,” said Professor Lillien Ellis, an expert on creativity and innovation.
Successful change often starts with new learning.
Ellis sees much of the rising tension in attitudes toward generative AI stemming from lack of understanding. “Historically, our frameworks for thinking about artificial intelligence have been built by the media,” she said. “Without subject-matter expertise, it’s difficult to understand exactly how this technology works, how we feel about it and the impact it has on the world.” Ellis said that considering the
circumstances, it makes sense many are so edgy about AI, but “what we need is more education on how it works and how to lead the people who work with it. That’s absolutely something we can offer at Darden.”
Successful organizations of the future will be highly adaptive, and “you can't have a highly adaptive organization unless you've got highly adaptive people,” said Professor Emeritus Ed Hess, Batten Executive-in-Residence Emeritus at Darden. Hess, an expert on organizational and individual high performance, has authored 15 books, including Humility Is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age and his latest, Own Your Work Journey! The Path to Meaningful Work and Happiness in the Age of Smart Technology and Radical Change.
Hess said that highly adaptive people “learn, unlearn and relearn at the speed of change.” Highly adaptive learners bring their best thinking, listening, learning, exploring and collaborating selves to work every day. Doing so requires people to take ownership
“Our frameworks for thinking about artificial intelligence have been built by the media. Without subject-matter expertise, it’s difficult to understand exactly how this technology works, how we feel about it and the impact it has on the world."
— Professor Lillien Ellis
of their egos, minds, bodies and emotions, he said. While the business world has traditionally focused on hard skills, skills that enable the highest levels of learning — like critical thinking, reflective listening and emotional intelligence — have become the valuable assets human beings bring to the table that computers can’t (yet).
“We've reached the point now where soft skills are going to be mission critical for human excellence,” said Hess.
“Survival of the fittest is not going to work,” Hess warned, “because the fittest is not going to be any individual going forward. It’s going to be all teamwork.”
Teamwork in the age of AI means with fellow humans but also with AI in the form of humantechnology collaboration. “The question isn’t, ‘Does it replace us or not?’” said Ellis. “It’s, ‘How do we collaborate with it effectively?’ It’s a tool. It is not a replacement for human beings.”
Ellis said leaders should expect resistance to change and prepare to manage it. “That means mindful leadership, designing a healthy organizational culture, and not underestimating the role employees and industry partners play in helping or hindering the growth of an organization when applying these new technologies.”
The degree to which people can successfully collaborate with new AI capabilities is complicated by significant ethical considerations like data privacy, copyright and intellectual property issues, and biases inherent in AI.
AI chatbots’ “hallucinations,” in which they fabricate false information or even a love-struck persona advising the user to leave his wife in one infamous case, are clearly a problem. More subtle complications arise in the realm of bias, which AI tools regularly exhibit in realms such as gender and racial bias. Generative AI’s responses are not based on thoughts, feelings and assumptions like a human's. Rather, it responds based on datasets that come from humans, and humans have biases. Even as technologists work to mitigate these factors, they remain an open challenge to successful collaboration between humans and the technology.
Questions also abound about whether AI's
use of creative works constitutes copyright infringement or intellectual property theft. “The ethics of AI-generated creative work are complex — not just because we don’t fully understand the training models, we’re also still learning about the human side. Is there a human artistry behind generative work?” said Ellis.
Many creative professionals and artists feel violated by generative AI that may use their work without consent as part of the process to create written, verbal or visual composites. Laws written before the rise of AI will be applied to address some messy territory, such as the common prompt to generate something “in the style of” a known artist. At the end of the day, AI feels something like free creative labor, but the dataset it works from originated in very human work. If the humans behind AI’s generative work are not compensated, there may be little incentive for people to create truly new, original work.
For anyone who has seen the “Terminator” movies, AI can cause Skynet to rise up in our collective imagination. However, technooptimists are focused on how to align the capabilities of AI with human interests. Darden alumnus Alexander Shashko (MBA ’17) is a product manager within Google Research working on AI and machine learning. If you’ve ever seen the feature on Google Maps used to find more sustainable routes that use less fuel, you know his team’s work. “I’m trying to be optimistic here,” he said of AI’s impact in the future. “This notion of AI alignment is becoming very important.”
AI alignment seeks to design goals for AI systems that advance what human society wants to achieve. The scary part is that unforeseen consequences are, well, unforeseen. But Shashko feels relatively optimistic about tech’s ability to mitigate unintended negative outcomes, if a thoughtful and deliberate approach is taken to developing AI systems to align with the interests of society.
When David M. LaCross (MBA ’78), founder of Risk Management Technologies, and his wife, Kathleen O. LaCross, made a historic $44 million gift to Darden, they had the School’s role in the future of AI in mind. Part of the investment is
designated toward a future Darden research center or initiative on AI and machine learning. “This may sound like an exaggeration, but I think it will be more impactful on people’s lives than the internet itself,” said LaCross. He sees Darden as uniquely positioned to use the case method to help students and future leaders learn to manage the intersection of AI technology and human interests.
In his vision, students will be able to exercise a high level of discernment regarding the best solution to use for any given problem, manage the transition from raw research to application, and do so in an ethical manner. It’s a tall order, but one that LaCross believes Darden can deliver with its focus on teams, collaboration and group discussion. “That’s how I benefited most from being here,” he said. “It’s a tremendous, learned skill to be able to debate civilly and collectively advance the solution.”
LaCross believes AI will become a specialty of its own at Darden, similar to the finance, marketing and operations tracks.
“I feel very strongly it needs to be embedded into the core curriculum of Darden. I have a sense of urgency about it that is really acute,” he said. “It’s just the magnitude and pace of how the technology is evolving, and how impactful it will be on humans on so many different dimensions. We need business leaders to be full participants in it.”
“The stakeholders of this new technology are humanity itself,” said Professor Anton Korinek. His current research analyzes the implications of artificial intelligence for business, the economy and the future of society.
“How to govern these systems is a decision that should be made by humanity as a whole, not just by a small lab somewhere on the West Coast or by the shareholders of a big corporation,” said Korinek.
Government regulation is in order, and policymakers need to play catch-up. According to Korinek, the first step is to develop the capability to monitor who is training which systems with what capabilities. Then the public and private sectors may be able to have a productive conversation about how to regulate them.
Though Korinek sees himself as an AI
optimist, he urges everyone to take the potential existential threats seriously. Worst-case scenarios like human extinction or, slightly less dramatic, AI taking over all the jobs and the economy imploding, aren’t out of the question. Anyone touching AI, he says, has profound responsibility.
“If you are developing AI,” he said, “you have a real responsibility to ensure that your creations steer clear of these bad outcomes. If you are a business that is actively deploying AI systems, you need to be aware that you are contributing to the process of automation and to the erosion of the value of human labor, and you have the responsibility to actively advocate for systemic reforms that provide people with more security; for example, something like a universal basic income.”
Artificial.
Artificial who?
Artificial you glad I didn’t say ‘AI’?”
— Chat GPT-4 (prompt: Please write me a knock-knock joke about AI)
Amara’s Law, the adage credited to scientist Roy Amara, says, “We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.” If knock-knock jokes are any kind of a bellwether, AI isn’t quite ready for primetime as a replacement for human cognition. “Will it drastically change how we do work tomorrow? I don’t think so,” said Shashko. “But over the next 10, 20 years, will it have more significant effects on the type of work we’re doing? Yes.”
The best advice most experts seem to have when it comes to AI is: Don’t panic, but do keep your head on a swivel. Even the creators of generative AI systems don’t fully understand how the technologies work.
“Researchers are continuously surprised by what these systems can do,” said Korinek. “They’re crossing their fingers and hoping for the best. But it’s not like they fully understand how this works, why it works and what to expect from it next.”
Anne Trumbore, chief digital learning officer of Darden’s Sands Institute for Lifelong Learning, doesn’t look at AI and see a threat to work for humans. She sees a tool that could lift human potential and achievement across the globe through the power of education. Trumbore shared her vision in a recent editorial in The Conversation, republished here in part.
Imagine a private tutor that never gets tired, has access to massive amounts of data and is free for everyone. In 1966, Stanford philosophy professor Patrick Suppes did just that when he made this prediction: One day, computer technology would evolve so that “millions of schoolchildren” would have access to a personal tutor. He said the conditions would be just like the young prince Alexander the Great being tutored by Aristotle.
Now, ChatGPT, a new artificial intelligence-powered chatbot with advanced conversational abilities, may have the capability to become such a tutor. ChatGPT has collected huge amounts of data on a wide range of topics and can pass graduate school exams. As a researcher who studies how computers can be used to help people learn, I think ChatGPT can be used to help students excel academically. However, in its current form, ChatGPT shows an inability to stay focused on one particular task, let alone tutoring.
Suppes was a pioneer of a field called “computer-assisted instruction.” He developed some of the earliest educational software. That software provided individual instruction via computer and led students to have better test results than those who didn’t use the program. I worked for Suppes in developing software and other online programs from 2004 to 2012.
Since then, experiments in building “intelligent tutors” to help students have driven advances in artificial intelligence, social networks and computer hardware. And today, the abilities of ChatGPT to write essays, answer philosophical questions and solve computer coding problems may finally achieve Suppes’ goal of truly personalized tutoring via computer.
I asked ChatGPT why it would be a good tutor, and it responded: “I am a good tutor for a student because I am able to understand and respond to a wide range of questions and prompts, and I can provide detailed and accurate information on a wide range of subjects. Additionally, I am able to communicate this information in a clear and easy-to-understand manner, making it accessible for students of all levels of understanding. Because I am a machine-learning model, I can also provide a large amount of information quickly and efficiently, which can be especially helpful for students who are trying to learn a lot of new material in a short amount of time.”
By contrast, Siri said, “Hmm … I don’t have an answer for that. Is there something else I can help you with?”
Recent research in using chatbots in college courses shows that how chatbots are used is important in encouraging students to learn more deeply. For instance, AI chatbots enabled significant improvements in learning in a graduate course on cloud computing at Carnegie Mellon. These learning gains occurred when these chatbots asked students to build on an existing argument or to provide more information about a claim they had made. In this case, the chatbot asked the student a question, rather than vice versa.
Many educators are worried about students learning less with ChatGPT since it can be used to cheat on assignments and papers. Others are worried about ChatGPT giving wrong answers or spreading misinformation.
Yet the history and research of intelligent tutors show that using the right design to harness the power of chatbots like ChatGPT can make deeper, individualized learning available to almost anyone.
By Dave Hendrick
Professor Bob Bruner gazed out at a full Abbott Center Auditorium in late April during Reunion Weekend, taking in what he described as a “cross-section of the entire Darden community” — current colleagues and those long-since retired; family members, including his “Darden 2050” granddaughter, Charlotte; and, of course, hundreds of admiring alumni who spanned generations.
“The whole world feels like it’s here,” said Bruner, whose titles — University Professor, Distinguished Professor of Business Administration, Dean Emeritus of the Darden School of Business and Senior Fellow of the Miller Center of Public Affairs — reflect his incredible impact. “It’s humbling to get together in a gathering like this and to try to say something meaningful.”
And then, to the surprise of no one with even a passing familiarity with one of Darden’s great teachers and leaders, Bruner had no trouble saying something meaningful.
Bruner retired from full-time teaching at the conclusion of the 2022–23 academic year, leaving an indelible mark on the Darden School, UVA and global business education.
His credits and accomplishments are legion. As a teacher, he is considered a (if not the) master of the case method, ushering students of all ages toward true comprehension as they learned how to learn. He became the most prolific case writer in Darden history. As a leader, he rallied his peers to make a great school greater and to raise quality levels and expectations in countless dimensions.
He was also at the forefront of considering what globalization meant to a school that aspired to impact without borders. International applications soared during his tenure as dean.
Then, after a decade as Darden’s dean, he passed the baton.
Being dean was exciting, Bruner wrote on his blog upon his decision to return to teaching, but it “crowds out
time to teach, research and write very well.”
On Reunion Weekend, Bruner was not going to squander a teachable moment, offering alumni in the room one more case study to discuss, complete with cold calls.
The case, or more appropriately, a vignette, as Bruner called it, involved a leader who had begun to see a dip in consumer satisfaction. Engineers fought with creatives. Production leaders fought with marketers. Suppliers were unhappy. The board expected the new leader to execute a turnaround, and soon.
As Bruner masterfully orchestrated a case discussion for 400 or so of his closest friends, it dawned on many that the organization at the heart of the case was Darden at the moment he became dean in 2005, when then UVA President John Casteen persuaded him to take the reins of the School for “a few months, maybe a year at most.”
The organization he took over was a top-tier business school, Bruner said, making clear that his immediate predecessor, Professor Robert Harris, was a “courageous” leader who warranted status as a hero in Darden history. Harris led Darden on the path to financial self-sufficiency, paving the way for greater flexibility and new programs.
With the flexibility came a shifting era that generated its own tumult. Bruner recalled an initial town hall meeting with his colleagues during which emotions ran high and differences of opinion were deep. The goal of those initial
“Darden has changed. Darden is changing. Darden should change. I think that's what you want. And yet, we hang on to what's important.”
Bob Bruner's 42-year journey at the Darden School demonstrated remarkable innovation and steadfast commitment. Now, as he transitions into retirement, his influence remains vibrant and essential. Support the Robert F. Bruner Fund for Transformational Learning to help Darden recruit and retain the next wave of exceptional educators and facilitate the creation of pioneering teaching materials.
Embrace this transformative journey and contribute to ongoing exceptional education at Darden.
For more information or to make a gift, contact Carter Hoerr, senior adviser and campaign director, at HoerrC@darden. virginia.edu.
meetings wasn’t to highlight the differences, Bruner said, but to decide: “What are we all about?” In other words, what do we want for Darden?
“The theme that I remember quite clearly coming out of that conversation and successive conversations was Darden would be all about teaching excellence, that we were intending to become the world leader in classroom instruction in business,” Bruner said.
The School would remain laser-focused on the learner. “We began as teachers thinking about where the students are and then designed classroom experiences around that,” Bruner said. “We would focus on self-discovery by students of the big ideas in business … and thereby model for the students what it means to learn professionally throughout the rest of their careers.”
What Darden teaches, Bruner said, is how to ask questions, how to build those questions into how to learn, and how — sometimes — to instruct.
The student-centricity that has become synonymous with the Darden experience wasn’t the only culture shift to emerge from those early meetings. A service-oriented culture, one where “if you see a problem, you roll up your sleeves and get after it,” began to suffuse the School. That influence was evident in the swift and efficient shift to virtual learning in March 2020, he noted.
Other early shifts that set the stage for the rise in student satisfaction, career achievement, global reputation and rankings included included a focus on leadership principles, connection to the world of practice and true student engagement.
“We weren't worried about having to be a big school,” Bruner said. “We just wanted to be the best. Bigger is not better. We said better is better.”
Ever humble, Bruner said the accomplishments under Dean Scott Beardsley’s tenure “dwarfed” those under his own but noted the degree to which the values set forth in those early transitionary days continue to allow Darden to adapt and thrive.
“Darden has changed. Darden is changing. Darden should change. I think that's what you want,” Bruner told alumni and peers. “And yet, we hang on to what's important.”
Calling the deanship the most fulfilling experience of his life outside of his marriage and family, Bruner said the satisfaction came not from personal accomplishments and accolades but from witnessing the School come together to move forward in an inspiring way.
“I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I give you my very best wishes and my confidence that the future holds good things for us all.”
By Tom van der Voort and Tira Hightower
When The Forum Hotel welcomed its first guests in April, it marked the conclusion of a major construction project on Darden’s Charlottesville Grounds. But The Forum is more of a beginning than an end for the School.
The purpose-built, LEED certified hotel, operated by Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, allows for a more holistic educational experience — for those traveling to Charlottesville as part of their Executive MBA, Part-Time MBA or Executive Education & Lifelong Learning programs; those visiting for business or pleasure; or those residing here full-time. Comfortable rooms, welcoming common spaces, well-appointed classrooms, two restaurants, an
arboretum and several botanical gardens allow people to share, learn, collaborate and socialize in spaces that promote wellness, mental health and sustainability. Many from UVA, Charlottesville and beyond now find themselves a part of the Darden community, adding to the dynamism of the School. Excess proceeds from the hotel, which is owned by the Darden School Foundation, go to support student and faculty excellence.
We invite you to take a virtual look inside The Forum through this photo essay. More to the point, we invite you to stay with us next time you are in Charlottesville. We’d love to see you. Learn more at forumhotelcharlottesville.com.
The Forum’s grand exterior gives way to a light-filled, comfortable and welcoming lobby. Next to the lobby, the Bruner Case Study offers a relaxing space to read, work or hold intimate gatherings.
The spacious Grove Ballroom and its adjacent corridor bring the natural world inside with generous windows, an event lawn and a botanically themed carpet. The cozy wine cellar, Casa '88, and the Washington Room next door can host tastings, meals and meetings. Opposite: The state-of-the-art Socrates Classroom is one of three classrooms in The Forum. Set up in tiers, the Socrates Classroom is designed to facilitate small-team collaboration. The Oak Boardroom is a learning and meeting space that feels as if it’s outside, with windows on three sides facing the adjacent gardens.
The Aspen Bar, left, is a gathering spot in the lobby for morning coffee or evening drinks. It welcomes visitors into The Forum’s signature steak house, Birch & Bloom, which features small plates, seafood and vegetarian options. Guests who dine in the adjacent L'Orangerie are surrounded by windows looking out on the gardens and can dine inside or outside on an elevated terrace.
With the feel of a neighborhood bar and UVA sports memorabilia lining the walls, The Good Sport is a great place to stop before or after the game — or to watch it on TV. The menu features a wide variety of comfort food and a rotating selection of local brews.
The outdoors are as much a part of The Forum experience as the indoors. To be completed in October, a six-acre arboretum and botanical gardens include water features, an outdoor classroom, access to the Rivanna Trail and more than 1,300 trees.
Learn alongside Darden’s #1 ranked business faculty to gain the skills to lead ethically and with purpose, achieve peak performance, execute on a clear vision, and pursue a differentiated, agile strategy in an ever-changing global business environment.
Apply or nominate your high-potential leaders for our October 2023 program. Contact TEP Director Allison Sellman (SellmanA@darden.virginia.edu) for group enrollment options.
Jim Detert just wants to set the record straight.
Darden’s John L. Colley Professor of Business Administration has spent the last few years reading about a couple of trendy terms in the business world that are really just describing long-standing realities.
“We have suddenly started to use new buzzwords for phenomena that have actually been around for decades,” Detert said.
“Quiet quitting,” a term describing disengaged workers who tackle only the minimum requirements at their jobs, is among the hottest buzzwords in the business world. It was named the phrase of the year in 2022 by The Morning Brew, a daily newsletter designed for young business professionals.
But, Detert said, “We’ve had terrible employee engagement in this country for a long time, well before Gallup started its annual reporting on it in 2000. For more than 50 years, organizational scholars have been documenting why employees are disengaged, why employees have low job satisfaction, why they ‘quit on the job,’ and why they actually do quit.”
Detert says one way to improve the trend is to stop using the term “quiet quitting” and instead call it what it most often is: “calibrated contributing.”
“It’s generally not a compliment to be called a quitter. It’s not neutral. So when we use the term ‘quiet quitting,’ we’re essentially putting the blame on employees. We’re saying they’re lazy, not committed, or behaving selfishly or irrationally,” said Detert, an expert in leadership and organizational behavior. “In many instances, though, employees choosing to fulfill their job description — but no more — are behaving quite rationally. They’re rejecting endless job creep, where they do more and more but don’t see an equivalent increase in their pay, status, fulfilling work or basic respect. They’re simply trying to restore a sense of equity at work — a sense that what they put in matches what they get out.”
Detert wants to describe the phenomenon in a more accurate way with a less derogatory connotation. The author of Choosing Courage: The Everyday Guide to Being Brave at Work believes replacing the term “quiet quitting” with “calibrated contributing” can change the focus and lead to real improvements at the workplace.
“If managers can acknowledge that calibrated contributing is, in many cases, rational behavior in response to the terms of employment they’re offering, then they can start to own the responsibility to do something productive about it,” Detert said. “That might involve improving factors like pay levels and benefits. Or changing some core job characteristics, like granting more autonomy in regard to when and where people work or making people’s work more interesting by expanding its variety or scope of responsibility. Or getting serious about measuring and holding people accountable — including managers and others with high status — for how they treat each other interpersonally.”
Detert said there are countless studies that show how a boss treats an employee and how co-workers treat each other are massive influences on job satisfaction and quitting. Those studies indicate the focus should be on, “What are we doing that’s causing this?” And, then, “How do we get serious about fixing this?’”
“It’s generally not a compliment to be called a quitter. It’s not neutral. So when we use the term ‘quiet quitting,’ we’re essentially putting the blame on employees. We’re saying they’re lazy, not committed, or behaving selfishly or irrationally."
— PROFESSOR JIM DETERT
The New Yorker in its 2022 Year in Review described the rise of quiet quitting as a phenomenon. Starting with a bang on TikTok in July 2022, the term quickly took hold on major print and broadcast media outlets, often often pitting the mostly younger defenders of the principles behind quiet quitting on TikTok against older media pundits who decried the trend as a sign of laziness in young workers.
In Gallup’s survey on employee engagement, Generation Z workers were the least engaged of any age-based demographic.
“There’s always a general tension between owners — and the managers who work for them — and nonmanagement employees of all types in terms of who has control over the conditions of work and who gets more or less of the profits that are produced,” Detert said. “We know that, starting in the 1970s and ’80s, in this country, we have moved toward a much greater share of the spoils going to those at the very top.”
In the United States, attitudinal shifts among those in power, globalization, declining union rates, unequal income distributions, one of the lowest federal minimum wages of any advanced economy and a relatively weak social safety net have all contributed to people feeling less secure and question what they’re getting for all their hard work, Detert said.
So, it’s not surprising that, at some point, workers pushed back.
“What I think happened was the pandemic essentially triggered this breaking point,” Detert said. “I think the pandemic, coupled with decades of things going in the wrong direction for the average employee, led to this recalibration.”
When an employee's efforts to have legitimate complaints addressed go unheeded, Detert believes reducing effort on the job is a defensible response.
However, if an employee never makes an attempt to address the sources of their dissatisfaction, they deny others the chance to improve. So, Detert recommends employees don’t give less without asking the other side to give more first.
“Be clear in your mind about the features of your job that don’t work for you before you determine you’re going to reduce your effort or quit,” Detert said. “At least consider an honest conversation with your boss about what they could change to address core problems, whether those are things like pay, benefits or your work schedule or aspects that affect whether you’re really engaged with your work or feel like you’re a respected part of a high-functioning team.”
As for managers who might sense calibrated contributing among younger employees, Detert said they should remember that the basic needs of humans remain the same across generations. Humans seek belonging, autonomy, and a sense of control, basic safety and self respect. They have a desire to contribute to something bigger than themselves.
“If you, as a manager, are finding yourself saying, ‘Oh, these people today,’ what you probably should be doing is saying, ‘Humans are humans. What’s wrong with the type of work we’re offering, the type of working environment we’re offering? What do we need to do to improve?’” Detert said. “My advice to management is to take a long, hard look at the underlining causes of dissatisfaction among their people, and then do something meaningful about them.”
Using terms like “calibrated contributing” rather than “quiet quitting” is a good start because it acknowledges the legitimate concerns of employees and the need for productive managerial responses.
Professor Dan Murphy’s introduction to the Darden classroom was not exactly what he expected: “They’re jumping on the desks, pounding the walls. They start doing these chants, and I’m thinking, ‘Where the heck am I? What am I supposed to do right now? It sounds like a riot’s about to start in here.’”
At the conclusion of his first semester teaching, Murphy received more evidence that Darden was different: a standing ovation that lasted “a decent amount of time. It was very endearing. It feels like the students appreciate what we do, and the faculty here appreciate the students.”
Murphy came to Charlottesville from Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he earned his Ph.D. in economics and public policy. There, he became immersed in macroeconomics when he found himself questioning some of the field’s basic assumptions. “I had slightly different ways of perceiving the world than the models that we were being taught at the time,” he remembers. “So I tried to work on ways to incorporate what I thought were more realistic assumptions and explore the implications.”
Murphy questioned the notion that responsive markets, where prices and markets adjust to changes in the macroeconomy, eliminate the need for government stabilization policy. If a market were perfectly responsive, the theory goes, the rationale for government intervention completely disappears. In this view of the world, the need for government intervention is proportional to the “stickiness” of wages and prices.
Yet a simple thought experiment led Murphy to realize that even responsive markets can still produce excess capacity. "My experience from various service-sector jobs was that people
preferred to be busy rather than idle on the job. For example, barbers are glad to provide the next haircut, up until they hit capacity of 40 hours a week. My work demonstrated that once this insight is incorporated into a model of the macroeconomy, prolonged recessions can occur even if prices and wages fully adjust to firms' and workers' desired levels in response to changes in the macroeconomic environment."
Indeed, the act of changing from one mode of production to another, more efficient mode has a cost to the people who live and work to create the economy. “Anything that might transition us from working in one sector to another sector takes time because people don’t immediately transition into the productive parts of the economy. That’s sort of a microfoundation for my work on wage and price stickiness.”
Murphy’s ability to connect his models to human behavior is particularly useful in the Darden classroom, where students will need the ability to connect theory to practice. “I think at
its best, macroeconomics derives aggregate implications from individual human behaviors. You observe how people behave, and then you filter out information and decide what to put into your model. The model yields predictions for the types of actions that can mitigate recessions and maximize social welfare.”
“It’s the same when we present a framework to the students,” he adds. “It’s my job to convey what can be technical and obscure in a tangible way. It’s a fun challenge, and I really enjoy that part of the job.”
Murphy’s work led to a new model that foresaw rapidly increasing inflation as the United States economy emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The simple explanation is that people saved a lot, and all of those savings became additional spending in the future. And we had a supply disruption, too,” he says. “It’s not surprising when you think about it that way, but to put it into a macroeconomic theory, into math, we needed a different modeling framework than people are traditionally used to working with. We were the first ones that actually formalized that.”
Murphy’s research at Darden continues his tendency to question and refine conventional macroeconomic theory. On the relationship between interest rates and housing, he’s discovered that low interest rates don’t always benefit low-income people and reduce inequality. “Some of my work suggests that if you keep interest rates low, the rise in home prices can actually increase housing inequality,” he says. “It counterweights the prevailing notion that monetary policy should lean expansionary if you care about inequality.”
Recently, he’s been considering the consequences of property taxes. “There are a lot of benefits to living in dense areas, and there’s a consensus that property taxation is not very efficient. It disincentivizes you from improving your home or building denser structures.”
One alternative, however, is to tax land, not property. But land taxes are rarely implemented, perhaps due to a lack of evidence of their effects. “I’m working with a co-author on showing the empirical benefits of taxing land, rather than properties. Our evidence so far seems to show that, all else equal, land taxes lead to higher density, higher economic outcomes, higher diversity and higher wage growth within a county.”
Murphy clearly likes to think differently and has a wide range of projects and interests, making him a perfect fit for Darden’s individualized and human-centric approach to business education — even if he’s not quite ready to jump on a desk.
I think at its best, macroeconomics derives aggregate implications from individual human behaviors. You observe how people behave, and then you filter out information and decide what to put into your model.”
— Professor Dan Murphy
Hello everyone! Here’s hoping that all of us survived the recent pandemic and all of us are still diligent about following protocols and staying safe going forward. Next year in April 2024, we will celebrate our 65th reunion in Charlottesville!
I spoke to Jeff Robertson, who is quite proud that his three grandsons have become accomplished skiers at such an early age. Two of them are competing on varsity ski teams: one at the University of Colorado and the other at Denver University. The third graduated from Denver University and is now a member of the United States Ski Team competing in World Cup races.
Jeff reported that he and Nancy are busy digging out from under enormous Minnesota snow drifts on their 11 acres. At the same time, they enjoy watching wild turkeys and deer in their back yard. Soon, spring-time efforts will be underway to seed Nancy’s flourishing flower gardens.
While reviewing our upcoming reunion, Jeff mentioned the idea of a Zoom connection at the reunion dinner with those in our Class that are unable to attend. It would be an interactive conference meeting so that we could see and hear one another. It is a great idea. For example, Randy Cabell and Mary Kay are not traveling from their residence at a retirement home in Williamsburg, Virginia, but perhaps they could communicate with us by Zoom.
The concept was reviewed with a member of the Darden alumni staff, who promised to look into its possibility. We will follow up, I assure you.
Jim Daniel reports that he and “the Squirrel” still are wintering in Delay Beach, Florida, and summering in Virginia waters. He is now boating on smaller vessels, as he donated his ocean yacht to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Also, he said he was very much looking forward to our 65th reunion next April.
Theo Herbert is doing well. He is engaged in weekly physical therapy to strengthen himself so that he and Therese will be able to come across the pond for our 65th reunion.
I spoke to Bill Marburg, who is recovering from the loss of his wife, Tineke, last October. Bill is in Mendota, Virginia, and is well cared for by his family and friends and especially his daughter, Chandler. She promised to bring him to our reunion next April.
Bob Blanchard and Ginger sold their home in Amherst, Virginia, some years ago and moved into the nearby family farm, “Kenmore.” Following that, they have relocated to Virginia Beach, Virginia, and now reside in the Atlantic Shores Retirement Community.
Fleming Rutledge reports that husband Dick Rutledge still enjoys Broadway plays, the Virginia Cavaliers at all levels, his family and friends, and the political commentator Fareed Zakaria.
I spoke to Rich Ruedi who mentioned the possibility that his son, who lives in Virginia Beach, might drive him from Decatur, Georgia, to the reunion next year. His son David is a submariner and has retired as a Navy commander from his last assignment. He was an aide to the chief of staff serving the highest-ranking admiral in the U.S. Navy, representing U.S. submarines in the NATO alliance.
Bob Gaines Rgaines379@gmail.com
The Great Class of ’63 celebrated its 60th reunion in Charlottesville, with the weather forecaster providing a glorious spring day for us on Saturday. bracketed by rainy days to highlight the good day. Father Time has taken a toll on our classmates and affected our ability to travel to Virginia, so our attendance was light but included Steve Bachand, Bob Gaines, Huck and Marsha Heintz and John and Trula Wright
The weekend began with our Friday evening Class dinner at Villa Wright, the incredible home of John and Trula Wright. Members of the Abbott Society (for all graduates prior to 1973) were included. Our guest of honor was Lloyd Snook, son of our professor and current mayor of Charlottesville, John Snook. The UVA Virginia Gentlemen stopped by to serenade us with several renditions of classic songs.
Saturday started with breakfast in Abbott Hall, followed by a state of Darden presentation by Dean Scott Beardsley and a case study by former dean Bob Bruner entitled “Case Closed.” Our honored guest at the Abbott Society luncheon was C. Ray Smith (MBA ’58), who started his career at Darden the same year our class entered. The Class of ’63 dinner was held in the new Forum Hotel (the magnificent replacement for the Darden Inn), and then there was an evening of music and dancing, but your class secretary believes that our class eschewed this event for a quieter retreat.
Brunch on Sunday was followed by bit-
Renowned business leader and philanthropist Jim Cooper (MBA ’84) was honored with the Charles C. Abbott Award during Darden Reunion Weekend. The Darden Alumni Association Board of Directors presents the Abbott Award each year to an alumnus or alumna who has made exceptional contributions to the Darden School.
“This is a huge honor,” Cooper said upon receiving the award at Darden’s State of the School address on 29 April. “I’m here because I love this school, and I’m very proud of this school.”
The word “transformational” may be overused to describe the Darden experience, Cooper said, but it’s used so frequently because it remains the most apt.
Demonstrating remarkable financial generosity, Cooper and his wife, Stacey Cooper, are Principal Donors at the Madison Level and members of the Darden Society and Hickory Club. They are also members of UVA’s Rotunda and Lawn Societies. The couple has supported Darden through the James A. and Stacy Cooper Bicentennial Professorship, the Bruner Fund for Transformational Learning, the James A. Cooper Family Fellowship, the James A. Cooper Family Fund for Asset Management, and through significant contributions to various funds and initiatives.
Read more about Cooper in 20 Questions on Page 108.
Comprised of 216 acres in the heart of Keswick Estate Country, Arabelle Farm offers a rare opportunity: A turn-key equestrian property & farm w/ recently refurbished farm improvements & renovation of the impressive, c. 1910 5 bed/5 full/2 half bath residence. Lovely pastoral views in all directions & shaded by massive oak trees. Add’l improvements incl’ 23 stall, center aisle barn w/ 2 apts, 5-bay car garage as well as a 2-bay, oversized machinery garage w/ renovated, 2 bed apt above, 10 paddocks w/ run-ins, & 2 beautiful ponds. The 125’ x 250’ outdoor arena has new footing & there is a 5 acre jumping field. Rebecca White (434) 531-5097 or Loring Woodriff (434) 466-2992. MLS# 640549
23 ORCHARD ROAD • $1,695,000
Extensive architecturally designed renovations have transformed this midcentury classic w/ versatile living spaces & spectacular indoor-outdoor flow. Enjoy the picturesque 1.15 acre setting on private cul-de-sac that adjoins UVA’s Foxhaven Farm w/ miles of nature trails, creeks & fields. Stunning sunroom w/ vaulted ceiling, wet bar & dry set stone fireplace, den, family room & living room each w/ gas fireplace. 5 beds & 4 full baths incl’ primary & 3 add’l 1st floor bedrooms, bright terrace level in-law suite. Classic stone patios & covered lanai overlook the completely fenced backyard. 5 mins to UVA. Punkie Feil (434) 962-5222 or Elizabeth Feil Matthews (434) 284-2105. MLS# 642657
Tre Sorelle was conceived w/ great attention to detail w/ no expense spared. From the cobblestone approach & circular courtyard w/ tiered Italian fountain, visitors are immersed in the otherworldly ambiance of classical design, authentic stucco, Honduran mahogany, heated limestone floors & soaring ceilings. Rooms are bathed in bright, indirect light w/ lovely garden views from every window. Adjoining the courtyard are the saltwater pool overlooking spring-fed pond, kitchen garden w/ charming potting shed, & garage w/ attached greenhouse & inviting guest suite above. 40 mins from Cville & 90 mins from DC. Julia Parker Lyman (540) 748-1497. MLS# 640215
1480 GARTH GATE LANE • $2,495,000
This remarkable 5,500sf residence designed by noted architect Henderson Heyward & constructed by master craftsman John Anderson, w/ copper roof, stone & painted-cedar siding overlooks the permanently protected 175-acre Foxfield Race Course on tranquil & private 5.65-acre parcel. Large expanses of glass along the rear give sweeping pastoral & Blue Ridge views from almost every room of the house. Finest quality materials & finishes incl’ heart pine floors, 10’ ceilings, 4 fireplaces & exquisite crown molding. Extraordinary variety of perennials, flowering shrubs, ornamental trees, boxwoods, mature hardwoods & low-maintenance, fourfalls water garden w/ fishpond. Kristin Cummings Streed (434) 409-5619. MLS# 641912
tersweet farewells, but filled with memories of a grand visit to our school and longtime classmates. Watch for the upcoming Class Notes, which will contain more detail and many pictures of the 60th reunion of the Great Class of ’63.
From Bruce MacAlister, who lives in Richmond, Virginia: “It’s been good times for licensed amateurs (ham) radio folk. In May 2022, the new 11-year sun cycle really got going, the ionosphere really got ionized, and suddenly I am talking to hams in Italy, Spain, and the northern Caribbean. It kept getting better. By September I was working Austria, Slovenia, Germany, and Scotland. Then I got Norway, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, North Wales, Curacao, Aruba, Cuba, Ireland, Turkey, and it goes on to about 56 countries and over 400 contacts. I am hooked. I am not getting all my household errands done and my family and friends are tired of getting Facebook posts on it. I have only been licensed since 1995 and I have never experienced this part of ham radio. Yesterday I heard a Brit and an Aussie talking. The signal was weak, but to get Australia and New Zealand with only 100 watts of power and a 10-meter high antenna is a real achievement. As you can tell, I am addicted and loving it!”
John Marshall wrote: “In January, Ginny and I went to the Netflix premiere of a movie called Dog Gone in Los Angeles, California. It was the number one Netflix streaming movie worldwide for two weeks. The movie was based on a book of the same name written by our son John about Gonker, our family dog. It starred Rob Lowe and Kimberly Williams-Paisley as John and Virginia. It is a happy family movie.” (Lucy and I watched the movie on Netflix and it is delightful!)
In reply for my request for news, Had Tal-
bot opined: “Getting old is no fun! Almost 87 — just the time to take a hard fall which resulted in a cracked femur and limited mobility using a walker. I cannot even play golf for another couple of months.”
Flowers are blooming, birds chirping, and a cold spring has sprung here in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. It’s time to share a few experiences from our class since we were together last year.
Congratulations to the Class of ’70 for their support of committees and organizations on Grounds that had a significant impact on the UVA honor code. Special thanks to Terry Daniels and Greg Robertson. They met with members of the Honor Committee and the Board of Visitors to share concerns about changes made last year and in voting that ended 2 March. The revisions passed with 88 percent voting in favor and 24 percent voting participation.
The vote took place just a year after the last round of changes. These revisions codify multiple sanctions for the first time. The process engaged diverse stakeholders and represented a significant shift from the outcome a year ago.
There is still opportunity to explore how Darden can emphasize and realize the value of honor and ethics within its own walls.
This past winter, Don and Grace Hobson experienced an awesome two-month journey in their motorhome. From Atlantic to Pacific, oh the sightseeing was terrific! They collected 3,500-plus photos, drove 3,200+ miles and visited family and friends along the way.
The highlight was Big Bend National Park in Texas with hiking trails, Jeep driving trails, desert, mountains, three river canyons, birds, plants, javelinas and wild horses, sunrises, and sunsets. Don and Grace were hoping to experience dark sky star gazing but alas … the full moon lit up the sky every night.
If you need any summer holiday travel insights, don’t hesitate to contact Don.
While on vacation on Gasparilla Island, Florida, Lee Hilbert reports that he and Richie had a brief but wonderful visit with Hank and Ginny Bryant at the Bryant’s tennis club in Boca Grande, Florida. It was a great reminder of how old friendships can be easily rekindled.
Lee and Richie just completed an enjoyable 11-day trip to Arizona and New Mexico, fulfilling one of Lee’s bucket list items — to visit all 50 states. He is delighted to report that the Hilbert family continues to enjoy reasonably clear minds and good health.
Lee also expressed his support on the publication of Richie’s second book: Ponderings: Reflections on Scripture, available from Amazon. Mary Richmond Hilbert joins John Booth, Jack Cann, Conrad Hall, Preston Tyree and RC Barnes (deceased) as published authors in the class!
The Jackson (Young) 5 continues to flourish. Paula and I, as well as Liz and her family, visited Margaret for the Christmas holiday in Ardingly, U.K. Paula and Jack continued their annual hiking expedition to Sedona, Arizona. Bill (MBA ’98) has been planning a home addition to be started shortly.
This spring has brought unexpected health challenges, and yet we remain positive mostly due to Paula’s incredible spirit. We wish you all a full and joyful summer!
Jay McDonald
jay@jaymcdonald.com
Bob Moore: Bob is currently CFO of New Horizons Healthcare, a Federally qualified health center in Roanoke, Virginia.
Ken Hutton: “Thanksgiving tradition this year was enhanced with an earlier visit by Gaither and Pam Shaw with their dog Bailey, as we visited Longwood Gardens in all its Christmas glory of poinsettias and lights. My daughter Christie and her companion, Dan, once again created a memorable feast.
“Jeanne, Christie, Dan, and granddaughter Cassedy resumed their traditional New York City visit over Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend. Over spring break, they resume their jaunts to Europe; this time to Italy.”
Ken is still consulting with charitable nonprofits. He is winding up what was planned as a six-month gig. It involves a wholesale analysis of the local affordable housing agency’s processes and procedures while also assisting in the position search for
a new chief staff executive. The job search proved challenging, so the board surprisingly offered Ken a 24-month full-time position.
Jeanne remains focused on her volunteer efforts at the NICU and pediatric sections in the local hospital while also engaging with the local Red Cross.
Jeanne says: “We are looking forward to the May cruise on the mighty Mississippi from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Memphis, Tennessee.”
Scott and Claudia Parker: “Thanks for the thoughtful invitation. Sounds like an interesting and fun trip. Unfortunately, we’ve already booked a trip to Italy earlier in May and expect our grandchildren to arrive when your trip leaves.”
Nick Ceppi: “Well, I wanted to try and make this trip but simply can’t. Because we have the good fortune (or misfortune) of living in southwest Florida, various friends and family will be visiting to escape ‘the nasty north.’
“Liz and I are happily situated in Bonita Springs, Florida (near Naples and Fort Myers), having moved here full-time in 2012. Liz and I have been happily married since second year at Darden. We have two great sons and two grandchildren who are doing well. They no longer call for money and they pick up dinner tabs. A clear marker of progress in all our lives. We came south intending to semi-retire. Liz did so with great success. She has elevated her hobby in genealogy into a real passion and pursuit. She has helped various friends ‘find their families.’
“Me? Not so much. My last job was as SVP of marketing at a pet food company. So, I said to myself, ‘What will you do to stay busy and not become a vegetable who plays bad golf?’ I started a business doing pet food regulatory reviews and product registrations for pet food companies that need outside service support for this onerous task. I put up a website (petfoodregistration.com) expecting nothing. Fast forward three years and I have 15 clients from all over the world and am working 24/7/365 to meet demand. It is a home-based business, which is good. It’s all done via computer and email. It is a ‘careful what you wish for’ story, but I can’t complain.
“I did not become a vegetable, but my golf really sucks now, so I stopped punishing myself. Liz still plays. We did fine with the two most recent hurricanes, Irma (we had to replace our roof) and Ian (no problems), but the locales along the gulf, just a few miles down the road, were really hammered. Sorry, we can’t join you for the reunion. Laissez les bon temps rouler!”
Landon Davis: “Sorry we will miss the reunion and cruise. We have moved to a new address in Richmond, Virginia.”
Landon’s new address is: Landon and Elizabeth Davis
9010 Wood Sorrel Drive
Richmond, VA 23229
His phone number remains (804) 2822119.
Doug Watson: “I won’t be able to attend but am a fan of partying in New Orleans!
“On the news front, not a lot to report other than life goes on with Cindy and me pursuing our teaching gigs. Cindy has taught for over 20 years at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, a few blocks from where we live in New York City. And I have been passing on the finance pearls I learned from Bill Sihler for over 10 years at Pace University. This could go on for a few years before we ‘retire’ and perhaps escape the declining New York City. Tough call!
“Son, Taylor, continues to have fun doing deals for Willis in the D&O insurance space. He’s still married to our fabulous daughterin-law, Carly. Daughter, Katie, works diligently defending taxpayers with the Social Security Appellate Division out in Seattle, Washington.”
In late May, our class had a mini-reunion planned for New Orleans, Louisiana, hosted by Dana and Steve Hansel. It will be a few days of fine dining, storytelling and wonderful events, including a back-of-thehouse tour of Mardi Gras, the World War II Museum, and other surprises. This will be followed by a Heart of Delta riverboat cruise up the Mississippi from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Memphis, Tennessee, with most folks doing the entire trip. Attendees include Linda and Goose Tatum, Susan and Hugh Ewing, Pam and Gaither Shaw, Jeanne and Ken Hutton, Susie and Tom Duke, Dave Meriwether, and Jay McDonald and guest. A fun time will be shared by all!
Goose Tatum reports: “Linda and I are still working and having a good time doing it. We manage three apartments: 24 units in Sacramento, California; 54 units in Manteca, California; and 94 units in Lodi, California. We also manage our former building for Heritage Paper, a 127,000-square-foot building in Livermore, California. Linda and I moved recently to a wonderful home in Reno, Nevada. We have an acre and a half with an 8,000 square feet home that we are remodeling.
“When we came to Reno three years ago, Linda joined the newcomers club and I joined Rotary. I still play golf and ski. We both are in good health and travel a fair amount. We recently took a cruise from Los Angeles, California, through the Panama Canal to Miami, Florida. Hope everyone is doing well.”
Jay McDonald’s book, Strategic Jaywalk-
ing: The Secret Sauce to Life & Leadership Excellence is doing well in hardcover, Kindle, and audiobook. He’s been privileged to be featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, Fast Company, the Business Journals, NBC, and over 2,000 other media outlets.
Clint Bolte, Ned Haley Cbolte3@comcast.net, nedhaley@gmail.com
David Beatty reported on John Millar’s passing on 12 December 2022: “He died last evening at his home in Virginia Beach, Virginia, surrounded by his family of three daughters and wife.
“John did love Darden and was generous. His book published in 2020 was mentioned in recent Darden Class Notes. Entitled, The Wars Among the Paines, it starts out with descriptive scenes from Darden in 1970 and the story of his meeting his wife, then a nursing school student, at Newcomb Hall. Various of our classmates — using badly disguised names — are cited as flirting with her and eventually losing out to his persistence and charm: Larry Killgallon, Marc Christman, Bill Lawson and C.O. North among them. It is a wonderful read.”
Here is John’s obituary: “JOHN M. MILLAR (78), of Virginia Beach, Virginia. John was born to the late John (Jack) N. Millar and Helen R. Millar. John spent his formative years in Danville, Pennsylvania, graduating as valedictorian from Danville High School in 1962. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York in 1966. Following graduation, John deferred his acceptance into Emory University Law School and enlisted in the U.S. Army, completing Infantry Officer Candidate School in July 1967. After a tour of duty at Fort Riley, Kansas, he volunteered for service in Vietnam, arriving at the First Infantry Division (The Big Red One) in July of 1968. During his tour in Vietnam, he was awarded the Bronze Star, the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, Air Medal, and the Army Commendation Medal. For his joint operations with the Vietnamese Army, the Vietnamese government awarded John their Honor Medal and Gallantry Cross with Palm.
“Following his honorable discharge from the U.S. Army, John attended the University of Virginia Graduate Business School (now known as the Darden School), graduating in June 1972 with a master’s in business administration. At the University of Virginia, he met the love of his life, Mary Susan Hinson, a student of nursing. They were engaged the day after their first date and married two and
$4,500,000 | MLS 640107
A breathtakingly beautiful 248-acre Keswick area farm nestled up against the Southwest Mountains. The well-proportioned residence and accompanying outbuildings are sited to take in views in every direction. The home was thoughtfully renovated in 2001, retaining its original character including floor to ceiling wormy chestnut paneling in the study. There are numerous cottages on the property as well as impeccably maintained farm infrastructure including fencing, watering systems, equipment buildings, and road systems. Not under conservation easement but surrounded by protected land. 25 minutes from Charlottesville.
JUSTIN H. WILEY | 434 981 5528
PETER A. WILEY 434 422 2090
$575,000 | MLS 623681
First time ever on the open market, two exceptional parcels with incredible views over Charlottesville and layered Blue Ridge Mountains beyond. These private parcels, perched on the western slope of the Southwest Mountains, offer complete seclusion yet are only 15 minutes from downtown Charlottesville, its restaurants and amenities and UVA. Perfect as a family compound or build on one and sell the other. Please do not drive on property without an appointment..
PETER A. WILEY | 434 422 2090
$ 2,195,000 | MLS 630710
Beautiful 207+ acre farm in a protected enclave of Madison County with incredible views of both the Blue Ridge and Southwest Mountains. The natural beauty and privacy are unparalleled. An attractive farmhouse with a c. 1804 section is perfect as a weekend getaway or guesthouse leaving numerous incredible building sites for a main residence. Additional improvements include a manager’s cottage, a center aisle stable with 8 12 x 12 stalls and finished office space above, garage and good farm buildings and farm infrastructure. An excellent candidate for conservation easement.
PETER A. WILEY | 434 422 2090
$2,800,000 | MLS 640108
Midloch Farm is situated at the center of the Green Springs Historic District, which is one of the most protected scenic areas in all Virginia. The 200 acre, mostly open property has not been available in over 50 years. The 1885 late Victorian farm house sits on a high point over looking pastoral, and mountain views. Improvements include the 3 bedrooms, and 2 baths manor house, which retains much of its original details such as wooden floors, mantels, transoms, and doors. Close to the main house are two cottages, a 1920 guest house with 2 bedrooms, and a 1790 cottage, ideal as a studio, or office. Farm buildings include two barns, equipment/garage shed, and garden shed. A rare opportunity to own a significant farm in a protected area, with a view that will never change. Property is protected by a conservation easement.
JUSTIN H. WILEY | 434 981 5528
$2,500,000 | MLS 638885
Glenwood, circa 1850 located in the Somerset area of Madison county. The 291 acres are mostly open with exceptional soils ideal for horses, cattle, or crops. Pastures have good fencing and automatic waters. The farm has long frontage on the Rapidan River and has a significant stream running through the property. Wonderful views of the Blue Ridge, and South West Mtns at numerous locations on the property. The historic frame house has a brick foundation with two floors above an English basement. The house has four bedrooms, and two full baths, and is in need of renovation. Additional structures include an 1850 summer kitchen, two bedroom tenant house, numerous cattle barns, a cattle feedlot, and equipment sheds. The farm is an ideal candidate for a conservation easement. Located within two hours of DC, and thirty minutes to Charlottesville. Property is being sold in as-is condition.
JUSTIN H. WILEY | 434 981 5528
$ 6,950,000 | MLS 641125
A 100-acre estate on the edge of Charlottesville in the heart of protected Keswick, Springdale is a true opportunity to own a beautiful private farm across Keswick Hall and minutes to downtown Charlottesville. The 6,241 square foot, wellmaintained residence sits perched on an elevated site overlooking a beautiful pond and the surrounding countryside. The mostly open, fenced property with stable, numerous paddocks, six run in sheds, a riding ring, and a manager's house is well suited for horses or other agriculture pursuits. The main house, a well proportioned colonial style brick residence with hardwood floors and good proportions is complemented by a charming guest cottage, pool, and clay tennis court. The farm is surrounded by large estates and is an excellent candidate for a conservation easement. A rare opportunity to own a substantial estate in the center of beautiful Keswick.
JUSTIN H. WILEY | 434 981 5528
PETER A. WILEY | 434 422 2090
a half months later, in January of 1971. John and Mary Susan were married for 52 years and have three daughters, Kristin, Kara and Anne.
“John had a long and distinguished career in commercial real estate and shopping center development, beginning at Jordan Marsh Department Stores in Florida as director of market research and Thalhimer’s Department Stores in Virginia, where he was regional manager of the Tidewater area. In 1980, John began his career in commercial real estate with Goodman Segar Hogan, in Norfolk, Virginia, and in 1988 joined The Center Companies in Minneapolis, Minnesota. John was the executive vice president of mall management at General Growth Properties for the next 12 years. He also held executive vice president positions at Jones Lang LaSalle Retail in Atlanta, Georgia, and Divaris Real Estate in Virginia Beach, Virginia. John volunteered numerous hours to professional organizations, including Urban Land Institute and International Council of Shopping Centers.
“In retirement, John authored a book that had been in the making for over 50 years, The Wars Among the Paines, a historical fiction about the Paine family and the effects of war on generations. The book was published in 2021. John enjoyed spending his time doting on his adored grandchildren, Campbell and Jack, lunching with beloved friends, following his favorite UVA and Penn State sports teams and relaxing in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Wintergreen, Virginia.”
Robert Kibble (Tel: 858-405-1105) thinks he is “85 percent retired. I have now moved to Utah, where my married daughter and now my son (he is half his sister’s age) live. I will be living in a kind of ‘Disneyland for adults,’ which is good since today I have reached the 80th milestone! But, right now I am in Brazil for five weeks. I am at the Salvador Carnival (the oldest Brazilian carnival), Salvador being the first Brazilian capital. Later this year, I plan to be in London at George III’s coronation, then it’s two cycling trips — one in Puglia, Italy, and then in Portugal — but the highlight, I hope, will be attending the Darden alumni reunion weekend in April! I hope to see you and other alums there!”
Larry Killgallon reports: “Not much exciting. Oldest grandchild immersed in the college application process. Has been accepted everywhere he’s applied and has been extended scholarship offers. We will be spending March in Highlands, North Carolina, then taking a transatlantic cruise in April. At the end of April, the Christmans and Lawsons will join us for a mini-reunion weekend at the Catawba Island Club on Lake Erie.
Robert Helms (rphelms1@gmail.com): “Survived the whole COVID-19 shambles reasonably well since we live in Georgia. We were able to go to the mountains of North Carolina for the 2020 and 2021 summers and then back to our house in Nova Scotia, Canada, last summer. We were able to see our son and his family who live in Berlin, Germany, a couple of times: once in Highlands, North Carolina, in 2021 and again in Nova Scotia, Canada, last summer. We still resent the hell out of losing two years of our lives to a nonevent. The only good thing about the two years of limitations is that my golf game got consistently better to the point where I now shoot my age pretty consistently.
“We were able to take the entire family to Valencia, Spain, over Christmas. Our grandchildren had only 10 days’ vacation, so asking them to fly from Berlin, Germany, to Savannah, Georgia, would have been a bit much. Valencia in Spain is a terrific place to go for Christmas: lots to do, lots to see, great food, great wines, great restaurants, lovely weather. We would recommend it to any and all. Every year we spend mid-September to mid-May in Savannah, Georgia. Savannah is a very nice place to live for those months: temperate, good golf, nice people. We spend part of May/June and part of September in Europe visiting friends and family and revisiting places we have been before. Unlike a lot of people, we prefer to return to places we know well to remind ourselves of how much we liked them. Summers are spent at our house in Chester, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Nova Scotia is as pleasant in the summer as Savannah is in the winter, and for the same reasons. So life is back to close-to-normal, with the only clouds being the increasing sense that there are an increasing number of people in the world who are both nuts and dangerous.
“We are sorry to have missed the reunion. Last spring was particularly complicated as our spring trip with English friends kept
getting rearranged. If any of our classmates ever come through either Savannah or Chester in Nova Scotia, they should give us a call and we will get together.”
Bob Oster comments: “2022, at long last, brought retirement to me after 50 years in the securities/investment business.
“In 2022, my wife, Lori, and I enjoyed two cruises that had been delayed by COVID-19. In September we took two granddaughters on a Disney cruise to Alaska. The granddaughters, age 13 and 11, had an unforgettable time. Unfortunately, I got COVID-19 after Alaska and was quite sick. Lori was spared.
“I recovered in time for the second cruise, which was on the Douro River to Portugal and Spain. Lisbon and Madrid are beautiful old European cities with lots of history. Christine and David Beatty joined us on the trip, and we all had lots of fun.
“I am spending more time in Vero Beach as a Florida resident. We still maintain a home in Baltimore, Maryland, but we will be heading to the Thousand Islands in upstate New York in May/June for a big part of the summer.”
Doug Smith reports in from Charlotte, North Carolina: “I do have a few pieces of news to share. First, I missed the last class reunion as my daughter, her husband and I went on a two-week trip to seven national and state parks in southwest Utah. We hiked and explored Zion, Bryce, Kodachrome, Capitol Reef, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Canyonlands and Arches during an adventure that will endure a very long time, even in my fading memory bank! Shortly thereafter we visited C’ville for our first grandson’s graduation … followed only a few months later by a return visit for our first granddaughter’s enrollment! Always love going to Mincer’s and collecting more swag! Lastly, a while ago I played golf locally with friends who had invited another friend … none other than Rixey Todd! Took a while before we realized that we knew each other, even if from a different geological period. Rixey is well and says, ‘Hello!’ That’s it from Charlotte, North Carolina … where the door is always open for visitors!”
Bill Lawson staying active: “We just returned from three and a half weeks at Villa Fregate in St. Barthelemy. The weather was a constant 76–79 degrees Fahrenheit each day. We are in Indianapolis, Indiana, for a month then Longboat Key, Florida, for three weeks. We have had Israel on our bucket list and will be there for 10 days in November, hosted by Jewish friends who have made the trek numerous times. That will be after our summer at our lake house in Charlevoix, Michigan. We sold our Back Cove and purchased a
new Axopar 27, which runs faster, so we can pull our grandsons on skis and wakeboards.”
Jim Murray states: “All is well with Frida and me. We are both in good health and really enjoy living where we do, near two of our three daughters and four grandkids. Our youngest daughter and her two kids live in Mooresville, North Carolina. This is just north of Charlotte in the middle of another NASCAR hotspot. Dawsonville, Georgia, where we live, is one of the others. Bill and Chase Elliott live in Dawsonville, and Bobby Allison lives in Mooresville, North Carolina. Interesting neighbors. Best wishes to you all.”
Chuck Sherer “has been retired for 11 and a half years, after having worked for the Montgomery County, Maryland, government for 31 years. Denise retired 12 years ago. We are both enjoying retirement, doing some volunteer work with an organization called the Silver Spring Village, whose main purpose is to help people stay in their homes as long as possible as they get older. We are always busy and never bored. We travel less than Denise likes, but more than I like; I think travel is very much overrated. I exercise regularly, trying to stay as healthy as possible, keeping in mind the latest notion that flabby muscles are the new sitting (which was the new smoking). Best wishes to all my fellow classmates!”
Ned Haley: “After two and a half years of being mostly homebound due to the pandemic, Fricka and I finally began traveling again last fall. We made our first trip to Kona, Hawaii, together in August 2022, shortly before the volcano erupted. We’ve now visited 49 of the 50 states (Alaska will
be the 50th), though there are still huge swaths of the U.S. we have yet to see! Returning from Hawaii, we stayed over in Washington and Oregon visiting family, including meeting our 2 and a half-year-old grandson for the first time! Later in the fall we spent a delightful week in the Poconos, Pennsylvania. In late January we flew to Spain, where we met friends for a two-week stay that included Madrid, Estepona, Ronda and Barcelona. Being off-season, there were few crowds, and to a person everyone we encountered was very welcoming and clearly appreciative we were there as guests. We appreciate still being able to travel!”
To spread the word about the value of teaching swimming to children in underserved communities, Bobby Ukrop provides an update on efforts to “drownproof Richmond” and is encouraging 1972 classmates to become involved in something similar in their hometowns.
At the 50th reunion, Bobby mentioned that a nonprofit group named SwimRVA was leading the Richmond, Virginia, metropolitan area to make huge strides in providing access and opportunity for underserved families (many of whom were shut out from access to swimming pools because of social policies of the ’50s and ’60s). SwimRVA’s “drownproof Richmond” initiative (in collaboration with the YMCA and NOVA, a local swim club) provides free, weekly swim lessons (during the school day for five to seven weeks) to second graders in 110 public schools in 12 area jurisdictions.
Before the “drownproof Richmond” initiative began in 2012, the only “learn to swim” program in the Richmond area was
operated by the YMCA: 26 public schools in two jurisdictions were served, and there were only 140 varsity swimmers on 7 public high school teams. Today, there are 1,040 varsity swimmers at 26 public high schools, and the size of the teams is growing in high schools in lower income areas.
Learning to swim provides a life skill that can transform lives. The discipline required to become a success in the pool usually results in improved academic performance as well.
Through some high schools’ curriculum, lifeguard training is offered at SwimRVA’s Collegiate School Aquatics Center. This provides the opportunity for an underserved young person to learn how to swim and go on to become a lifeguard, swim instructor, coach or other aquatics jobs.
Still, there is much more progress to be made. If SwimRVA can make a difference here in Richmond, Virginia, something similar could occur in your hometown as well.
At Darden Class of ’72 reunions, for as far back as memory recalls, Ukrop has brought and distributed fresh bakery rolls from his business for all in attendance. He now reports: “White House Rolls® now in 30 states … and still rolling!”
Well, we did it! The Class of 1973 has now officially joined the Abbott Society of the Darden School as well as the Thomas Jefferson Society of the University of Virginia. We celebrated in Charlottesville the last weekend in April with 16 of us present for at least part of the festivities. In attendance were Dave Boyle and Elizabeth, Vince Derr and Sandy, Dennis Dunn and Myrna, George Groves and Jimmie, Linda (Post) Herring, John Kelsey and Pam, John Lert, Pat Lawson, Kyle Lynn and Judy, L.F. Payne and Susan, Pat Phillips and Debbie, Sam Reid and Rosa, Harry Rein and Susan, Tom Robinson, Strother Scott and Evie, and last but not least, Howard Wilkinson and Carolyn.
We gathered at L.F. and Susan’s on Friday night for a fun time catching up. Most, but not all, of us are retired, so there were lots of tales about grandkids, recent or planned travels, etc. L.F. and Tom are partnered in a residential development in Charlottesville. L.F. also reported that he was recently elected to be president of the Former Members of Congress, basically the alumni club of former senators and congressmen. Dean Scott Beardsley visited with us, as did Bob Landel, retired professor who taught us Operations
Management. We were also serenaded by the Virginia Gentlemen.
Due to a prior commitment, Carolyn and I were unable to attend the class dinner in the Rotunda Saturday night, but reports were glowing. Alan Beckenstein joined us for that evening.
As many of you know, there was a reunion committee formed, chaired by Harry, to encourage attendance and giving. The good news is that we passed our giving goal. Some of the committee members were not able to attend the reunion, but who worked hard, were Chris Chapman, Jeff Goodman and Bob Woodworth
In my efforts to gather class notes and encourage attendance, I spoke to or corresponded with several other classmates, some with news to report and some without. Bob Edmonson told me that he is still working, selling real estate in Dallas, Texas, for some 37 years. He has had his hips replaced and cataracts removed and is now set for the next decade. His lake home and visits to see his kids also keep him busy. He says that he sees Pete Weeks from time to time. Dave Goodrich tried very hard to make it to the reunion but had too many obstacles to overcome. He said he still had bad memories about his last exam before we graduated in Charlie Meiburg’s class. I also heard from Rick Dent, Fred Horneffer, Jack Kennard, Mike Woody and Bill Hanzlik. Bill brought me up to date on his Blumaka venture, which I reported to you in the last edition of Class notes. He also has two grandsons who are fairly serious volleyball players, one playing Division 1 at Pepperdine University. That does it for this edition. Let me know what you are up to, and I’ll let the rest of us know.
Mike Mayer
mike.mayer@cox.net
Our 50th reunion is scheduled for 26–28 April 2024 and a group of our classmates is already working on planning for the event. We are hoping that we can encourage at least 50 percent of the class to attend, or “Fifty for Fifty,” about which you can expect to hear more during the coming year. Hopefully, you have all received an up-to-date class roster from Darden. While reading the last issue of The Darden Report, John Light noticed that the Class of ’73 sent out a roster with contact information in anticipation of their reunion in April 2023. Their hope was that recipients would take advantage of the information to contact classmates and boost attendance at the reunion. At John’s suggestion, the roster for ’74 was sent to the class in
March 2023.
Many of our classmates have already committed to attend the reunion. Among them is Don Wheeler, last seen in the winter 2022 issue of Darden Notes enjoying breakfast in Banff, Alberta. Don laments that old age is finally catching up with him and writes that he had knee replacement surgery in December 2022. He was still in physical therapy in March, but hopefully has completed that and will be dancing at the reunion.
Tom Webb says he and his wife, Bonnie, will be at the reunion and is looking forward to seeing the “old gang” there.
Ken Hodge says he, too, hopes to see everyone a year from now.
A recent book release will be of interest to all of you. To quote from the overview: “Authors Gilbert E. Schill Jr., John W. MacIlroy, and Robert D. Hamilton III, have completed their new book Not Exactly Rocket Scientists II: The Totally Unnecessary Sequel: a fascinating work about the shared journey of three lifelong friends as they complete college and graduate school. Two of the authors are University of Virginia law school graduates while the third author completed an MBA at the Darden School of Business. This is a sequel to their first book, Not Exactly Rocket Scientists and Other Stories, published in 2017.
“The headwinds would be fickle and strong, but the three young men survived with an unshakable faith in friendship, a healthy sense of the ridiculous, a lot of luck, and 23 new ‘mostly true’ stories. Readers will travel from a naked beach in Denmark to a bar far above Cayuga Lake, New York, with stops along the way from the Alamo, Texas, to Tijuana, Mexico. They will experience a close call at the grave of Lenny Bruce, curling lessons at a two-star ski resort, and a nerd sherry party. And they will share a little rye whiskey with Jerry Lee Lewis, visit the former room of a world-famous poet, try to navigate the Vietnam draft and still learn how to make a martini properly.”
Rob’s book is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
In a timely note, Bob Wanke writes: “Inspired by Rob Hamilton’s best-selling autobiography, Not Exactly Rocket Scientists and Other Stories, I have labored for years to finally complete my story of a year in Vietnam as a combat marine. It gave me an opportunity to reconnect with the men I served with, sending them my recollections of an event and having them enhance it from their points of view. I’m sure I speak for Rob in saying it was a very satisfying experience reintroducing ourselves to the young men we used to be. I recommend it to all.
“In May 2022, Jan and I finally broke our
own personal COVID-19-enforced avoidance of international travel (except for a week in Montreal, Canada) and visited Florence, Italy, for two weeks. It was a short, but total, immersion in the Florentine culture, art, architecture, and, of course, cuisine.
“And now for the obligatory grandchildren report. Grandson No. 1 is an honor student and a rising football and wrestling star. Grandson No. 2 is also an honor student and a baseball phenom. (Did you know that baseball bats cost upwards of $350?) And Grandson No. 3 required a parent–principal meeting. When asked why he got into a fight, he replied, ‘Well, Billy told me he was going to hit me, so I hit him first.’ Darden needs to reserve a seat for this kid in the Class of 2038.
“Now that I’ve finished my Vietnam story, I can focus more on my favorite hobby … cooking. Let me know if any of you want to trade recipes. Who knows? Never too late to go back to (cooking) school.”
At age 84, Alex Spivey is happy to still be involved in this family’s real estate business. He and his wife, Pat, live in Pawleys Island, South Carolina, and have three adult children and five grandchildren. Alex says their family is very close and spends as much time together as possible at their Garden City Beach, South Carolina, house. He appropriately adds that “life is good!”
Frank Genovese and his wife Susan are celebrating their 52nd wedding anniversary in June and are still enjoying Bonita Springs, Florida, in the winter, and Figure 8 Island, Wilmington, North Carolina, in the summer.
One of our classmates most active in preparing for the reunion is Dick Crawford. He writes: “It has been just four years since I had two open heart surgeries and a stroke in the space of six weeks, which led me to have limited attendance at our 45th reunion a month later. I needed a walker to attend the Saturday night dinner. I am fully recovered now and walk without any assistance. I look forward to seeing many classmates at our 50th next year. I stay busy with Barbara’s and my real estate business and my connections to the University through CAV Angels as chair emeritus. Check it out on its website, cavangels.com. New members welcome.”
Dave Jamison, also working on the volunteer reunion committee, is one of many of our classmates who felt drawn back to Charlottesville. He says: “After nearly 37 years in Annapolis, Maryland, Helen and I are immensely enjoying life in our little ‘bubble’ here in Charlottesville — as our daughter calls it. We have lived for 11 years in Kenridge across the road from the Boars Head and down the road from Regents School of
Charlottesville, the classical Christian school our three grandchildren attend. With Foods of All Nations, Brian’s automotive service and the Northridge Medical Park nearby, what could be more convenient! Twenty minutes west outside Crozet, our son Austin, his wife, Jackie, and their three kids live on 14 acres on the headwaters of the Mechum River. And we have views of the very blue, Blue Ridge Mountains. from where we live! We are blessed!”
Although well past the point where most of us retired, Bob Pride is 74 and still working for Ferguson. He has a new role as enterprise data privacy manager. His team is responsible for data privacy regulatory compliance for the new state laws in California and Virginia. Later this year, Colorado, Connecticut and Utah privacy laws go into effect, so he’s in a growth industry.
Bob and his wife, Pat, celebrated 50 years of marriage last June 2022. Their adopted son (biological grandson) is 13 and trying hard to make Bob a gamer — especially Fortnite and Minecraft. Bob regrets that he’s not too good at it. Their son is doing well and is trying to get taller than Bob, in addition to beating him at video games.
Bob and Ken Hodge had lunch recently. They exchanged remodeling and health care stories while enjoying some pulled pork. They both plan to make the 50th and see their Darden friends (who are now “old” friends)!
Also, still at work and living in Chicago, Illinois, is Sandy Boyce. He and his wife, Vicki, plan to be at the reunion.
Humberto Uquillas sends “saludos” to all his compañeros de clase. He also sent a great photo of two happy grandparents, Humberto and Diana, enjoying their grandson’s 18th birthday party.
Writing from the distant state of Washington, Jim Noeldner says life there continues to be enjoyable. He’s fishing, crabbing, doing community theater and making jewelry when it’s too rainy to work in the yard. While he’s reluctant to leave “the upwind part of the country,” he’s thinking of honoring Darden for the impact it had on his life next year at our reunion.
One of our busiest “retired” classmates is Mike Santoro. He writes: “I have seen Brad Armstrong and his wife Frazier several times in the last year. The latest encounter was at the Virginia War Memorial at a ‘Leadership in America’ event in March. I continue to be very active there, serving now as second vice chair of the Foundation. It was great talking to the two of them and we discussed the upcoming reunion, among other topics. I remembered that I missed most of the 45th because of a direct conflict with my 50th at
VMI and was only able to attend the Sunday Brunch. I am all ‘in’ on the upcoming 50th at Darden.
“In late November 2022, Martha and I made our way back to Charlottesville to reminisce. We met on my 25th birthday in the B-school 50 years ago and marked my 75th birthday touring the Grounds, with a lunch later at Michie Tavern. At the time of our visit, the university was still reeling from the tragedy surrounding the deaths of three football players. They were getting ready for the ‘Lighting of the Lawn.’ We had a nice chat with the woman that supervises the Rotunda and learned about the history of this relatively new event.
“I am in regular communication with Steve Hoard. We remain ‘golfing buddies’ and play occasionally. We have taken a couple of joint lessons at Independence and, to be honest, any improvement from the lessons is, these days, offset by the impact of Father Time.
“Martha and I went to the annual Alan Beckenstein Economic Outlook Breakfast at Jefferson Hotel back in January. Glad to see that this one is back as a live event. Always very interesting. Alan was a first year professor when we were first year students and it is always fun catching up with him. Didn’t see anyone else from our class this year but we did get to meet some other Darden alumni at the breakfast.
“Family is doing well. Both my daughters are successful in their respective careers and both received recognition from their peers in 2022. Mary Catherine won a faculty award at Radford University and Anne was named a Leader in the Law for the state of Virginia.”
Mike is looking forward to seeing everyone in April of 2024.
Brad Armstrong wrote with the terrible news that Russ Rogge had passed away after a fall at his home in St. Michaels, Maryland, in mid-December of last year. The accident occurred in the early morning in the foyer of his home and a Medivac team was unable to revive him. Brad remembers Russ as “one of the truly good guys.” He was a Navy veteran and faithful reader of our Class Notes. In that respect I was saddened to recall that, when Ed Williams died last year, one of the first persons to write about their vivid memories of Ed was Russ Rogge. Brad expects that there will be a celebration of Russ’s life, possibly in June.
On a happier note, Brad wrote: “I am pleased to report that we have raised $750,000 in the Dan Newton Scholarship Fund (enough for a half scholarship), and that the first recipient of the Dan Newton Scholarship has been named — the recipient
is Anubhav Agarwal, Class of ’24. He is from India, graduated No. 1 in his department from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 2010, and worked mostly in a family business and in financial services, most recently for 5 years at the Reserve Bank of India. Clearly really smart, and I will bet is one of the few at Darden with a serious interest in Gully Cricket.”
Brad reports that he is hobbling around a bit on a new knee. He says he and his wife, Frazier, had a wonderful anniversary trip to Spain and Portugal, just before his surgery, when he could still walk. He and Don Wheeler should probably share recovery notes, as both seem to have worn out 70-plus year old knees at about the same time.
Mark Howell mwhowell@msn.com
I begin this issue of Class Notes by revisiting my report to you from last November. At that time, Jim Mixter was posthumously awarded the Harry N. Lewis Distinguished Service Award at the annual Alumni Recognition dinner. This high honor recognizes a Darden alumnus or alumna for their commitment and service to Darden. The award was accepted by Jim’s wife, Lolly Mixter, who was accompanied by their son, Chris. It was an honor for Rick Garnett, Fred Siller, and me to attend this ceremony for our classmate.
Marty Eskridge Arscott let me know that she continues to be active in the hedge fund run by her husband, David. Marty says it is nice to have a bit of a hand in the fire still, though she is happy to be otherwise playing golf, tennis, pickle or whatever when she can. The Arscotts and the Millers (Connie and Scott) get together a few times each year at Hollins reunions and other good visiting excuses. Marty and David have four sons and five grandchildren who give them endless delight. Marty is expecting to do more traveling soon in ‘carpe diem’ fashion. Be sure to send me updates and some pictures!
Bruce Bowers let me know that he and Suzanne are doing well. Bruce has apparently taken to the “kitchen” more often these days. His most recent dish includes some breakfast specialties like buckwheat pancakes. I don’t live that far from Bruce, so I may drop in for breakfast soon!
Tom Comer sent me news that his family celebrated his daughter’s “destination” wedding at the Early Mountain Vineyards in Madison, Virginia, in November 2022. The three-day affair did not allow time for sightseeing, but Tom says the family stayed in Charlottesville. He observed that the town
has not changed a bit since we left in 1975 … Yeah, right!
Rick Garnett and Karen enjoyed a February trip to St. Lucia. The trip included Karen’s siblings and their spouses. The reunion lasted for two weeks on the beautiful island. See the accompanying photo of the beach walk.
Ed Hawfield celebrated his 75th birthday in February. That special milestone was even more amazing since the event was celebrated in the same space in Wilmington, North Carolina, where Ed’s great grandfather (John Hardin) had his drugstore from 1896 to 1932. The area where Mr. Hardin filled prescriptions is now an “event planning” space suitable for weddings, anniversaries and birthdays. Along with friends and five other great grandchildren, Ed had the feeling that “Dr. Johnnie” was looking down and saying, “Welcome back, family!”
Joe Magyar was very kind to send me a photo of Mark Trumbull and Jim Lomonosoff soon after I reported to the class regarding Jim’s passing. Joe noted the photo captured the “good times” at the infamous “Mud Bowl” during our era.
Jim Mckinley checked in from his home in the high desert of southeastern Arizona. This view includes snow topped mountains with ample opportunity to access roads/trails for hiking and riding. Jim says the rains are coming and sorely needed. Jim also has a trip planned to Taiwan, but he assures me that he will not upset anyone in Beijing, China.
Dr. David Schein is working on an audiobook of his current book, Bad Deal for America. Upon completion, the audiobook should be available on Amazon. Dave will keep me updated on his progress on this project.
Fred Siller had a really nice update. Fred and his bride resumed travelling in 2022. In April, they attended their sixth Final Four in New Orleans, Louisiana, and enjoyed the city that knows how to host events such as this. Downside: Fred came back with a very mild case of COVID-19. He notes that he should have expected that with 63,000 people screaming their lungs out in the Superdome and not a mask in site! PS: Fred must be a glutton for punishment as he will return to Houston, Texas, his home for 30-plus years, for the 2023 Final Four!
In September 2022, they resumed cruising. This cruise was the Viking Rhine Getaway with a pre-excursion in Lake Como, Italy, which had been originally scheduled for 2020. Up until two weeks before their departure in September, they were still on the fence as to whether to take it, considering low water levels on the Rhine River in Europe, airport problems, and COVID-19 still around. But they did and it was great.
In early November 2022, Fred made the short trip down I-64 West to attend the award ceremony presenting the Harry N. Lewis Distinguished Service Award to our recently departed classmate, Jim Mixter.
So glad that Jim, represented by his wife Lolly, received this award since Jim loved Darden and dedicated much time to better the school. Jim and Fred attended Darden together, lived in the same Houston, Texas, neighborhood, and toiled for Exxon Mobil their entire careers. RIP, Jim.
Finally, in mid-November, Fred travelled to Las Vegas, Nevada, to watch the Cavaliers play in the Continental Main Event Basketball Tournament and to attend the Adele concert at Caesar’s Palace.
The Sillers wrapped up the year by visiting their children in Nashville, Tennessee, for Christmas. As a part of this trip, they attended the Grand Old Opry for the first time.
Fred is looking forward to staying on the move in the upcoming year.
Since my last edition of Class Notes, the Class of ’75 has lost three members that I communicated to you: Jim Hewitt, Jim Lomonosoff and “Dee” Taylor. We mourn the loss of our classmates and cherish our memories of them while at Darden and afterwards.
My best wishes to the Darden Class of ’75 for your continued safety and good health! I am looking forward to seeing you at reunion 2025! Mark your calendars for April 2025.
Dana Quillen Painterdana21@gmail.com
I received a great response from several of our classmates. What a relief!
Mike Messick sends greeting from Africa: “We still find ourselves in Sub-Saharan Africa — the Kingdom of Eswatini, formerly Swaziland. Still at Pasture Valley Children’s Home, near Nhlangano, with 60 AIDS orphans ages 2–22. Keeps us young. And tired. And as I write this, we now have about 20 children who have ‘graduated’ from the orphanage … and keeping up with them is always fun … and not too different than in the USA. A couple of them are in Diesel Mechanic School. A few are working, which is an accomplishment with 40 percent unemployment here. Several are in tertiary training and vocational/technical school and others are missionaries or are in training to become missionaries. And strange as it sounds, one young man is attending a Serbian university of all places. He earned a scholarship and is now finishing up his second year.
“Many of the ‘graduates’ come back for
a weekend every quarter or so. It is always great to see them, and catch up with their lives, even when usually they ask for a little money. It seems young adults are the same all over the world.
“We have almost no contact with events in the USA, and even though it’s the middle of March Madness as I write on 24 March — no coverage here — unless you want to jump online and deal with the six-hour time difference. No one really knows anything about March Madness, Super Bowl, etc. Such is life. We don’t miss the news, or the sports stuff, we are just having fun with the crisis of the hour. This week’s crisis is a breakout of chicken pox that started three days ago. Fun in a children’s home! Our health remains good, and our spirits strong. Not sure when we will make it back to UVA, but from what I have read, it appears that the Darden School has changed a little since 1975.
“That’s all from this side of the world. Sala Kahle (stay well).”
Gary Newkirk writes from South Carolina: “After 20 years of teaching business stats and operations at Clemson University, I retired in 2008. Kathryn and I lived in the North Carolina mountains for four years, then relocated to Charleston, South Carolina, for five years. We moved back to Clemson in 2020. We looked forward to many social activities with our prior neighbors, but COVID-19 put a real damper on that. Things are much better now. We work at a food bank once a week that distributes 31,000 pounds per month. We also deliver food through Meals on Wheels and bring library books to house-bound elderly. Also active with Cornell School of Ornithology doing bird counts and conservation work. I enjoy reading fiction like Kruger, Hillerman, Cussler, and similar authors.”
Steve Orr is in his ninth year of retirement. He reports: “I love retirement and have not missed work for a moment. I travel frequently with photography as my excuse and passion. Fortunately, I have been all over the world with my cameras in hand and am always on the lookout for new adventures. At my advancing age, I’ve taken up horseback riding. I travel to Wyoming frequently to ride in the Big Horn Mountains. I was scheduled to go to Patagonia, South America, for a trail ride in February, but a hip injury leading to a replacement got in the way. Now recovering quite well. Michelle and I have our primary residence in Maryland and a second home in North Carolina on the water. One batch of our grandkids are in North Carolina, so we see them regularly. Our other batch is in New York State, and they visit frequently. We are blessed to be in good health with good friends and family.
James Cauble writes: “After a long career in corporate finance in Houston, Texas, and London, U.K., I made a complete lifestyle change and am now a cattle rancher in central Texas. I have three herds of Brangus cattle and do my own hay baling. The cattle business is breakeven only in a good year, and after counting my labor as free. Therefore, while having fun, I admit that investing in the cattle business is against what I learned at Darden. As if working cattle is not enough exercise, I find time for 30–50 miles of cycling each week on the local county roads.”
Scott Harris writes: “Betty and I are doing fine in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, for the past 39 years and both of us are still working. I’m a senior vice president in investments for Wells Fargo Advisors in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. The last couple of years have been a very trying time in the investment business. Betty is a real estate sales agent for a local company. She received her real estate license while we were in Charlottesville in 1975 and has been working in it ever since.
“Occasionally, we enjoy time off at Lake Gaston, North Carolina/Virginia, and in Lincolnville Center, Maine.”
Mel Beale reports in from California: “I am keeping busy in my ‘semi-retirement’ new life cycle. I’m still president of the Airport Working Group organization (AWG) which absorbs about 40–60 hours per month. Most recently, AWG filed an official action with the FAA challenging new rules, rates, and procedures that the local commercial airport initiated in 2022, which in our view, adversely affects local communities. It is a complex issue and will take at least a year to come to a resolution. It is a high-profile case and very important to the neighborhoods and the airport general aviation users. Hence, a lot of time. Consulting work, which was intended to be part-time, became intense in Q4 and continues into 2023. It keeps the mental side fresh, and the work can be challenging. The current project is helping a southern California company significantly increase production in a tough labor market. Their munitions products are used in Ukraine and other U.S. military applications, and demand is rising monthly. We are helping them look at the use of automation and robotics to replicate what are now manual manufacturing processes. This is a learning curve for me as I have not worked with robotics in my active career. Guess it proves you are never too old to learn. And hopefully helps the people over there.
“On the personal side, our house had major flooring damage in 2022, and we had
to do significant repairs, replacing, or refinishing all the wood flooring. This meant living in less than half the house for almost four months, finishing just before Christmas. And during this time, Ann had a bout of COVID-19. It was relatively minor, fortunately, but caused us to cancel holiday travel. All is well that ends well. For fun, post pandemic, Ann and I are getting back out a bit. We are going to Kauai, Hawaii, for a birthday trip in January (my birthday) and have booked a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico, (one of my favorite places in the U.S.) for Ann’s birthday in May. A trip to Japan in November is ‘tentative’ as both our passports expired during the pandemic and travel guidelines must be positive. I have been to Japan on business, but never pleasure, so it’s a ‘bucket list’ trip that needs checking off. Any suggestions on unique activities in Japan would be appreciated.”
Lee Kinney Anthony writes: “Here goes a bit ’o news from Bryn Mawr: I was caregiver for my beloved mom for six years and she passed away in January. It’s too quiet around here. I’m looking for gainful employment and I’m excited to see what’s in store. The family includes four kids: a writer, a concert pianist, a marine officer and a Navy SEAL; and 4 grandchildren, all perfect, of course. The classical Christian school we started won the national Henry Salvatori prize for excellence in teaching from Hillsdale College. I love my home in Pennsylvania and love visitors.”
Bill Battison writes: “A lot has happened in our lives since our last regular update.
“In May our daughter, Alix, received her Ph.D. in neuroscience from the University of Connecticut. During our visit to attend the graduation, the conversation turned to visitation. She confessed that now that she had a post doctorate position at Yale, she would not be able to visit us in California for more than a few days, once a year, at Christmas. After an extensive discussion with my wife, Beth, we decided to explore a move back to the east coast. She has put up with me and my 35-year career, first in media and entertainment and most recently in investment banking. We decided, in fairness, that it was now her turn.
“While exploring the environs of Connecticut, I got a call from a longtime friend and client who, upon hearing our plans, invited me to come join him in New Hampshire where he was pursuing a rather expansive development project. So, we proceeded with what I call ‘a left turn during the seventh inning stretch’ and made the change in job, location, habitat, and major cultural reality and bought a home in New Hampshire. After a long life in the warm weather of
Los Angeles, California, it is quite a change. We expect 10 inches of snow tonight, but the people are wonderful and we live in a state with no sales, income or estate tax. The results of the move have been quite positive. Our daughter has been visiting more in the last six months than we have seen her in the last six years. I don’t feel like ever retiring and I hope that this current situation will allow me to continue with that plan.”
Paul Chiampa reports: “Apparently, there was a worldwide pandemic except in the state of Florida since the last time I made a submission to our class notes in 2019. I wonder how that worked out. We were happy to provide shelter to my daughter and her puppy as she zoomed into her job at Citi for almost a year. We really miss the puppy. Not a lot has changed in the meantime. All is quiet on the western front — western Massachusetts, that is. I am still blogging, leading spin classes, officiating at golf tournaments, interviewing high school students and playing golf. My one small brag was that I was the oldest qualifier in the 2020 Massachusetts Mid-Amateur Championship, which is open to players 25 years of age and up. I heard the word ‘sir’ a lot for two days, as in, ‘I think you are still away, sir.’ I did join an online book group for ‘Aging Athletes.’ I figured I qualified for the aging part. We read a book of interest about every two months, and then struggle to remember what we read during our Zoom calls. As a result, we talk about whatever we want to talk about. Often, the discussions become an organ recital. Seriously, we have read some terrific books about dealing constructively with the aging process and trying to stay active. If anyone would like to see the reading list, feel free to reach out. I received a stand mixer for Christmas. That is a pretty good metaphor for where we are. Be well, everyone.”
Bob Byrd sends us a quick update: “Age 81. For my age, I feel grateful. Crellin and I will celebrate our 60th anniversary this fall. Our family is great. All smart and intelligent. I love the Class!”
Thanks everyone for sending us an update. Just think, in three years, we will be gathering at Darden for our 50th reunion. Yikes!
Spring and summer greetings to the Great Class of ’77! Many thanks to all who sent in their updates for this issue. But before getting into our Class Notes, there has been a major improvement on the Darden Grounds … I am very pleased to report that the new Forum Hotel is now open, and it
is fantastic! We have come a long, long way from the old Sponsors Hall we all remember. It is a Kimpton-managed property — and it shows. In addition to being a grand hotel with all the amenities you’d expect, it offers a beautiful five-acre arboretum and botanical gardens. It will certainly make your next visit to Darden and the Charlottesville area that much more special. Lee and I are planning a trip for this fall — come join us.
It is not surprising that our great class is far from being relegated to rocking-chair status. And our most recent class updates reflect that energy. First up is our tireless world-traveler June McCormack who reports: “I have been traveling and hiking a lot all over the world over the past year. To Chile, Argentina and Uruguay last January and February; Israel and Jordan in April/ May; Newfoundland, Canada, in July; Tuscany, Italy, in October; UAE and Oman in November; and New Zealand in January and February. I am now in Bhutan for two weeks after a few days in Singapore on the way here, and I’m heading to nine days in Thailand afterwards. I love being retired and traveling the world. The cultures of each country are so fascinating and the hiking is amazing everywhere. But of course I will be anchored in Maine, mostly, from mid-April through October. It’s my happy place. I moved permanently to Maine from Indianapolis, Indiana, last August. I’ve had a house here since 2006. My son lives close by and I am thrilled to be near them more permanently, finally (when I’m not exploring the world!). Just got word today the UVA is now UV! Kind of crazy, but not a bad idea. It will take time to get used to! Perhaps we can catch up this summer when you are in Maine.”
First, June: your international hiking travels are inspirational! Second, I will definitely see you in Maine this summer. And finally, the “UV vs. UVA” thing was an April Fool’s joke put out by President Jim Ryan in a funny video that went viral … and it fooled a lot of people!
Next we hear from Charlie Scarlett who writes: “All is well with Lori and me in Edwardsville, Illinois, just outside St. Louis. We are loving life on Dunlap Lake and being only an hour from our five grandkids — close but not too close. They range in age from 4 to14 and are the absolute most fun. After selling our homecare business in 2021, I joined Lori as a business broker in 2022, selling small to medium-sized businesses with Transworld Business Advisors. With seven closings under my belt so far, I think I’m going to like this. It’s almost like the best parts of B-school and the cash flow is way better! Lori has been brokering for about four years and she is a natural. She was
spot-on when she suggested I would love it. As we both slowly wind down our careers, brokering is a great way to remain active and contributing while retaining the ability to work (more or less) when and with whom we want. Another exciting development and experience, we are working with the National Park Service to turn my family homestead in Annapolis, Maryland, into a national park/historic site. This has been a fun process and, if all goes well, will be a win-win for all concerned. The politics of this has been interesting and we’ll see how it turns out. We are looking forward to visiting our classmate Jay and Nadege Conger in Los Angeles next month. It’s been too way long! If any classmates are near St. Louis, please look us up. We’d love to see you!”
Charlie: thanks for that invitation and this great update on your family and work happenings. I have no doubt that you will be successful in preserving your family’s amazing historic home, Whitehall. It is such a cool story and I urge my fellow classmates to check it out online. Just Google “The Brandywine Foundation” and watch the impressive Historic Annapolis video with Charlie as one of the main presenters. Writing succinctly from out west in “Sooner-Country,” Pat Tunney says: “I enjoy reading your periodic updates. I have been very happily retired for several years along with my wife, Barbara, in Norman, Oklahoma. The University of Oklahoma provides a great atmosphere for sports and cultural events.”
Thanks, Pat … and we hope you and Barbara can make a trip to Charlottesville this fall to see what a real college football powerhouse atmosphere looks like. Just kidding! About the football that is.
It was great to hear from Ed Morrison, one of our favorite MBA/JDs, when he reported: “Semi-retirement is wonderful. After spending 30 years or so developing a new approach to strategy for collaboration and networks, I am working (virtually, of course) with young leaders all over the world doing really cool stuff. There’s Julio, the minister for production and trade in Ecuador. He’s trying to strengthen markets in his country. Vitor in Brazil is designing an innovation corridor in agricultural innovation outside São Paulo. Ubaldo is a research scientist in chemical engineering and is developing entrepreneurship in Puerto Rico. Then there’s Shane in London who has developed the first standard for carbon consumption for web pages. And Joaquim in Sweden is working with investors on food innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“I teach part time in the Business School at the University of North Alabama, exploring what’s next for business education. Who knew that slowing down could be such fun?
I seem to have gotten my career backward, though. I completed a Ph.D. in economics at 71. (My dissertation explains why the model I developed works.) My friends in Australia set me on the path. A few beers at an Indian restaurant convinced me to follow their guidance. I’m happy I did. It provided me the opportunity to make some more sense of my rather disjointed career path. Not surprisingly, I reached out to my Darden connections along the way. Jay Conger has been enormously supportive. He and I are working together on an article (although I am the slow one). Alan Beckenstein, as always, provided encouragement to me as I developed these ideas. And Jeanne Liedtka, a giant in the field of design thinking, continues to inspire me with her work. Just prior to the pandemic, my wife, Bei, and I settled in Simpsonvile, South Carolina — just outside of Greenville. Our son Lu and his wife, Adair, keep us busy with our two granddaughters, Winnie and Sylvie. You can see how Winnie keeps me in shape with training on the jungle gym here: https://vimeo. com/814433556 … nothing really prepares you for being a grandparent. It is a true joy.”
Ed: thanks for the update on your incredible, multi-national collaborations. And it is clear you are making tangible differences in helping like-minded people all over the world! But … based on the video, it looks like your single best contributions are your “big slide training” capabilities with Winnie!
Speaking of Alan Beckenstein, Ted Gary and I had a nice lunch with him last week while he was visiting family in Richmond, Virginia. Alan was my SBS advisor during our second year and showed considerable mercy to me in that process. I’ve also had a couple of conversations with my old roommate David Lee. He is doing well and splitting his time between his beautiful cottage on Fishing Bay, Maryland, and his home in Williamsburg, Virginia. And it was great catching up with Irving Groves over dinner recently. He was in town for an event honoring him and his family; they are very generous benefactors to Randolph Macon College in nearby Ashland, Virginia. We also enjoyed spending time with Dean Bruner when he came to Richmond for a nice luncheon at the Commonwealth Club honoring him as he is retiring from teaching at Darden.
Next week Ted Gary and I head to Figure Eight Island, North Carolina, and our bi-annual golf trip where we stay with fellow Darden alumnus, Frank Genovese (MBA ’74). As mentioned earlier, Lee and I will be in mid-coast Maine for much of the summer and plan to connect with June McCormack, as well as Joanna Miller-DeZwart and her husband Pieter. Joanna and Pieter have been
navigating the beautiful coast of Maine on both sailboats and powerboats for several years — and we look forward to connecting with them somewhere between Boothbay Harbor and Camden. Of course we would love to have other Darden classmates visit for a glass of wine and the best lobsters in the world! Life is good!
jmbearden@gmail.com
Margot Bearden: “I’ll start with the most recent news, which is that our 45th reunion was fantastic! The weather was mixed, but on Saturday we enjoyed a lovely spring day: sunny, warm, and dry. 21 members of the class attended some part or all of the weekend and we had 30 total attendees counting plus ones! There were lots of opportunities for catching up and a fun-but-relaxed event schedule made for a wonderful time. It sounds ridiculous to be thinking five years ahead, but the 50th promises to be even bigger and better.
“In other news, life for me continues to be on an upward trajectory. Given the kind of year I had in 2022, that’s a low bar — but still I’m very grateful. Transition has turned out to be a remarkably positive experience. I recognize I’m a bit of an acquired taste for many, but I am enormously thankful for the acceptance I’ve received from family and friends. A number of classmates and Darden staff have reached out as well, and I’ll never be able to thank you all sufficiently.
“December 2022 brought our first grandchild into the family (Meredith’s son, Larkin) and he’s enjoying being the center of attention. Like many, Melissa is struggling to navigate return-to-the-office at Capital One, but seems to be managing for the most part. I celebrated the start of the year with a yoga retreat in Costa Rica with friends and came back with renewed spirit as well as excitement to begin traveling again. I hope 2023 continues its positive track. I find myself animated and excited thinking about the future for the first time in years!”
Nick Fina: Nick sent a lovely note along with regrets for the reunion. He included a link to a wonderful video he produced, which I highly recommend watching. He provides an entertaining and thorough update as well as describing what he’s been up to these last years: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lq9xphozcardcd8/dardenVIDEO.mp4?dl=0.
Nick added some short comments: “I did hear back from Brewer Doran, and also from Anne Wood and Linda Fisher. I did the video because it seemed like something a little better than a typical note for Margot to publish. While I didn’t have the kind of high-powered
business career that some of our classmates had, I can look back as an elderly man (76 today) and feel pretty good about my life. What else matters, right? And the people (like the four of you) who I do have occasional contact with are those who matter most to me.
“I host small Zoom meetings every few months with three people I went to junior high school with and several high school friends. Perhaps this summer several of us Darden friends can do the same. I have a Zoom account, so if anyone is interested, let me know and we’ll schedule something. I do best with small groups because of my hearing loss. The meeting that Margot hosted a year or two ago was a little difficult for me to join in — I think there were about 20 folks on that call. Zoom is no substitute for the reunion that I’m passing up, but it’s something that people can do less expensively and more often.
“Best to you all. Tell everyone I said hello.”
Bill Anderson: Bill and Margaret have had a few health issues and continue to be cautious with community exposure, but Bill included a short note prior to the reunion: “Margot, you are so dear to think of us. We have a busy schedule but hope to stop by sometime Saturday morning to say hello to our friends and classmates. It is hard to believe it has been five years since the last reunion. Many thanks!” Bill and Margaret were able to join us Saturday morning at the school for Scott’s address and Bob’s last case. It was terrific to see them even for that short time.
PS: We have hopes that for our 50th Bill and Margaret may be able to reprise their wonderful Sunday brunch from five years ago. It was one of the highlights from that weekend and we hope to keep them in the reunion rotation!
Frans de Jong: Frans rearranged his schedule last-minute in order to attend Friday night activities at the reunion. He looks wonderfully (and distressingly, for those of us of a similar age) much as he did 45 years ago … and still
the same irrepressible and unique personality! You may recall he and his family survived a terrible fire at their home in Charlottesville, but they’ve largely recovered and he stays as active as ever. It was wonderful to see him.
Dave LaCross: As many of you know, Dave and Kathy have reconnected with Darden in a big way, and we were thrilled to see them come east to attend their very first Darden reunion. Dave has been candid about the role the school has played in his life and career, and he spoke graciously and modestly to the class during the weekend. Dave and I had a chance to catch up last fall. He offered me a fascinating summary of his life post-Darden with the intent that it be included in the class-only newsletter. I was so caught up in my various life crises at that time, however, that I failed in publishing it. But I promise to have a new edition out shortly and his thoughts will be included there. His is an amazing story, and it was wonderful to see Dave and Kathy enjoying themselves back in Charlottesville.
Dave Eckert: Dave and Aileen have been frequent attendees at prior reunions but weren’t able to make it this time. He noted in an email: “Mike and Margot — based on the write-up and pictures, the Class of ’78 had a fabulous reunion! Our family/friend’s wedding in Chicago, Illinois, unfortunately took precedence over the reunion. Hopefully see you before five years!”
Pete Homer: I was thrilled to hear from Peter, but his touching note came with bittersweet news: “Margot, I’ve been remiss in letting people outside the family and close friends know that my wife of over 40 years, Jan Wasilewski (Notre Dame BA ’75, Darden MBA ’78), passed away last year after a seven-year battle with ovarian cancer.
“For now, I’d prefer to refrain from talking more about Jan’s life post-Darden. It is still too painful for me to talk about Jan’s death and to think about all her accomplishments, things she wanted to do and places she wanted to travel.
“You may not remember this, but I was also a ’78 graduate of Darden, albeit in the MBA/JD program. As a consequence, during the two-year period you and Jan were in the MBA program, I was only taking a third of my course load at Darden. Although I am a high-stakes commercial litigator, virtually every day of my law practice I apply my training in statistics, accounting, econometrics and financial analysis. My understanding in those areas has been especially pertinent when dealing with expert witnesses. The best part of my job is cross-examining expert witnesses who wrongly assume that, as a mere lawyer asking questions, I will not understand their opinions and analyses.”
Anne Wood Bryant: “It was so good to see you at the reunion! In January, my granddaughter Ivey, her mom Vickie, and I spent four days in Fairbanks, Alaska, chasing the northern lights or aurora. We were extremely fortunate to see them all four nights, with three nights being spectacular. A heavy-duty SUV took us up the mountain for the viewing. We also went ice fishing, snowmobiling and dog sledding and generally enjoyed the cold weather (-10 to +10 degrees Fahrenheit). We found out we could rent all the heavy gear and have it delivered to and picked up from the hotel. So, we stayed toasty warm. It was special to spend that much time with my 13-year-old granddaughter. I liked Alaska so much I’ve signed up for a photography workshop in Yellowstone next January.
“I can’t remember if I have already reported that I went on a nine-day tour of Israel in October 2022. I spent time around the Sea of Galilee and Jerusalem with a night near the Dead Sea in between. Our tour guide fed us Bible and Israel history. It was good, but a lot of information! I floated in the Dead Sea but wouldn’t do it again — it was rocky and muddy to get far enough out to float. I was baptized in the Jordan River — quite an emotional experience. I was already a believer in Jesus but took this opportunity to reconfirm my faith. I went may places where Jesus would have been: Capernaum, Magdala (home of Mary Magdalene), the Sea of Galilee near where He fed the five thousand, Mount of Olives, Garden of Gethsemane, the Garden Tomb, Calgary and more. It was an amazing trip.”
Mark Johnson originally responded with regrets: “Michael and Margo — I deeply regret that Ginny and I can’t make it this year, but we have a family conflict. I am really bummed but will be there in spirit!” As it turned out, he was able to — with some difficulty — rearrange his schedule and attend Friday night’s events. It was wonderful to reconnect! Unlike most of us, Mark continues
to work full-time and professes to enjoy it tremendously. Apparently, it also leaves time for golf, and he seems very content in his life.
Bob Guttman: Bob has been an active and enthusiastic participant in the last several reunions and, as always, is a non-stop source of interesting facts and conversational tangents. He continues to stay very active in the polo world in the Northeast. He promises a more detailed update soon and has many opinions he’d love to share!
Rob Austin: Rob reached out and offered regrets for missing the reunion. It’s been a very difficult year during which he lost his wife, Elizabeth, after a long battle with cancer. She and Rob moved to Charlottesville with the class in 1972 as newlyweds. They celebrated the birth of their first child during our first year. Talk about cumulative stress! He’s recently relocated in Richmond and our hearts and thoughts go out to him in this difficult time.
Tory Blackford: Tory had made plans to attend the entire weekend reunion but was only able to be there for Saturday’s dinner. That said, it was wonderful to catch up and she looks marvelous! She added news via note: “Hi Margot. It has been a quiet winter. I had to cancel a couple of trips due to a broken hip in November 2022. But all is well now, and travel will pick up again. I am planning on a family baptism 18–22 May in Nashville, Tennessee, a wedding in Richmond, Virginia, on 10 June, and then travel to Maine and Boston, Massachusetts, at the beginning of August. I was so sorry to miss our reunion except for the Saturday dinner, but I had houseguests and funeral activities Friday and Saturday. It was good to see you.”
Brewer Doran: Brewer is one of the energizer bunnies in our class. She continues to work full-time as dean of the College of Business at University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. She promises retirement is in sight, but we’ll believe it when we see it. She was also an enthusiastic participant in our recent reunion and stays in touch with Ann Wood Bryant and Judy Glazier.
Karen Juul-Nielsen: Karen and Rick continue their work to make their new home in western Albemarle County, Virginia, their own. They remain very connected to Darden and have “promised” to host an event at our 50th reunion!
Kathy Keyes Hart: due to schedule conflicts, Kathy wasn’t able to be at the reunion, but she and I talked at length beforehand, and she provided an update: “I didn’t realize that you are co-chairing our 45th reunion in April, but unfortunately I can’t make it because of a previous obligation to visit my husband’s family in Florida at that same time. It sounds like the reunion will be fun and, from our experiences at the 40th, I am
guessing that a Saturday afternoon of wine tasting will be a lot more fun than going to the Foxfield Races, where the average age last time was much younger than me! Also, a lot less schlepping involved! Here is some very brief news from me: My daughter Meghan and I just returned from a January 2023 trip to Australia where we spent time in Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Hunter Valley wine region, and Cairns for some scuba and snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef. It felt wonderful to take my first trip abroad since a 2019 trip to Japan. All the best!”
Wiser Brown: Wiser and Debbie moved back to Charlottesville last year and are enjoying being back in town. He’d graciously reached out earlier in the year and was generous in offering his help with reunion planning. “Deb and I will definitely be at the reunion in April, since we can practically walk to Darden from our new home in Charlottesville (this also makes looking for lodging rather easy). I’d love to help the committee with any planning of activities or actual legwork in Charlottesville. My only issue is that we are in Florida until April, but I can work remotely until then. Looking forward to seeing you in a few months, and let me know what I can do.”
Marilyn Johnson: Marilyn has been a reliable attendee at past reunions and she was once again a highlight of the weekend. She provided possibly the most amusing introduction at Friday night’s dinner by confessing to a bit of calendar confusion; she’d actually shown up at Darden the previous Friday night expecting to see the bustle of reunion activity and was very disappointed to find out she was a week early! We were very glad she was able to make it back the following weekend!
Judy Glazier: Judy is a member in good standing of a trio of Darden women (along with Brewer Doran and Anne Wood Bryant) who’ve maintained a close friendship over the years. Having moved to Charlotte after losing her husband, she’s enjoying a slower pace while continuing to paint, visit and travel.
Missie Ludlow: Missie and I have been able to stay in touch in recent years. I’ve suggested that she may have the most active contacts within the class of anyone! Though retired officially, she stays very busy and reported: “Margot — not much of an update. Board work, trips to Las Vegas, Nevada, to see Ben, not much travel until August. Then two trips to Italy and one to Pebble Beach area, California, in late summer/fall. I saw Joan Barrett and Chris Mahoney in Harbour Island, which was fun. Every day is a Saturday when one is retired!”
Bahns Stanley: “Thanks for the note and
glad you are doing well. We finished building a house in Highlands, North Carolina, and would welcome travelers passing nearby this summer. Our daughter Greta deOlano (UVA ’07 Architecture) designed it and would be glad to build one for classmates. Her firm, Summerour & Associates, works throughout the country, but primarily in the Southeast on custom residential construction and hotels/ resorts. I traveled to Scotland for golf in April, and although it was chilly, a hole in one at Royal Dornoch made it worthwhile. Judi and I will go back to Scotland in September for more golf and hiking. Best regards.”
Mark Templeton: Mark and Yvonne were disappointed to not be able to attend the reunion but reported they were in the process of closing on the sale of their west-coast home and simply weren’t able to be in two places at once. You may recall that Mark has stepped back from his late-life career (finally!) and is trying to slow down. We hope he and Yvonne will be able to join us for the 50th!
Linda Fisher: Linda continues to luxuriate in the (almost) post-sale status of her business … but there continue to be last-minute tweaks and complications that prevent her from finally relaxing and enjoying her new position. Notwithstanding that, she’s re-engaged fully with Darden and was an enthusiastic participant in the recent reunion. She’s looking forward to this next stage of her life. As do we!
Mark McGuiness: Once again winning the award for long-distance attendance, Mark and Maria were notable reunion participants all weekend. Mark doesn’t look much different from his earlier self (that’s a positive!) and continues to stay very active in business and life. We so appreciate his loyalty in attending reunions and staying in touch with the class.
Bucky Rulon-Miller: Like many of us, Bucky takes advantage of AI to help in his daily life. I think it’s safe to assume riding occupies a decent proportion of his time, however. His automated email response to my most recent note was: “I’ll be riding most of the day and will not have access to my email. I’ll reply to your message on my return.”
Gino Marchetti: “Sorry we missed the reunion, hope there are pics. We were in southern California at my son Michael’s. This was our third trip since November 2022. In September 2022, his wife died quite unexpectedly. She went to bed the night of 19 September and never woke up. 45 years-old, part-time marathon runner, with no known ailments and a vegetarian. The coroner has not issued a cause of death yet. Go figure. Ten- and eight-year-old sons left
behind. Michael is a busy man. And, while we were there in late October 2022, Kathy broke her collar bone playing with the boys! She’s recovered now, but had several weeks of discomfort. They are in a routine now and things are improving. Best to all.”
Mike Ganey: Mike and Judith may have established a high-water mark with their recent cruise from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Barcelona, Spain, in March and April. It was five (or six?!) weeks including four continents and too many ports-of-call to remember. They seemed to enjoy it even if they weren’t quite sure where they were when they got to Charlottesville for the reunion.
David Charlton: “Margot, I won’t have a new entry in this edition’s mailing. We don’t live such interesting lives, after all. I look forward to the fall issue. We have some new adventures planned.”
Mike Sullivan: Mike and Noanie were once again excited to come east for the reunion. They continue to enjoy retirement in Colorado and stay involved and engaged with family. Like many of us, Mike has survived multiple medical issues and continues to have a remarkably positive attitude. I’ve very personally enjoyed his perspective and insight as I’ve struggled these last few years. It was wonderful to see him and Noanie again.
The complete list of MBA ’78 attendees at the recent 45th reunion is below. As noted, several were only able to attend for a portion of the weekend, but they were all noted and very much appreciated. Thanks so much for making the effort!
Margaret and Bill Anderson, Margot Bearden and Susan Johnson, Tory Blackford, Debbie and Wiser Brown, Anne Wood Bryant, Laurie and David Charlton, Frans de Jong, Brewer Doran, Linda Fisher, Judith and Mike Ganey, Karen Juul-Nielsen and Rick Garnett, Judy Glazier, Bob Guttman, Marilyn Johnson, Mark Johnson, Kathy and Dave LaCross, Chip Louthan, Maria and Mark McGuiness, Steve Mischen, Noanie and Mike Sullivan, Dave Wunderlin.
We appreciate all those who were able to attend and are already looking forward to our 50th!
Peggy Watts Gup, Bill Bunn, Ray Todd alumni@darden.virginia.edu
Mala Bawer is living on two continents. She splits her time between Los Angeles, California, with her adult kids nearby, and Senegal where she and her husband maintain working relationships with local schools.
Linda Long Gordon and her husband, Bill Gordon, are the proud grandparents of Charlotte Grace Gordon (born 28 October
2021) and Kieran Gordon (born 8 March). They are loving every moment of being grandparents! They spend their winters in Naples, Florida, and summers in Stamford, Connecticut, where they enjoy sailing on Long Island Sound.
Sarah Finlayson and her husband, Lindley DeGarmo, moved from Baltimore, Maryland, to Tarrytown, New York, in 2019. Lindley, a Presbyterian minister, took on an interim ministry at the historic Union Church in Pocantico Hills. Sarah has been retired from a wonderful 32-year career on Wall Street and so was up for a new adventure. With COVID-19, their stay extended to almost three years. Another interim posting has landed them in Katonah, New York. In the meantime they have bought and are renovating an apartment in Irvington, New York, with a view of the Hudson, where they plan to live. Her new email is: sfinlayson52@ icloud.com
Shelby Hypes is still writing, still consulting, and still very involved with museum and community work in Salem, Massachusetts. With an artist, a magician, and a Dungeons & Dragons fanatic in the family, no one can afford to have kids. Couldn’t one of them have been an investment banker?
Claire Terry Cterry66@gmail.com
Claire and Ted Terry enjoyed an incredible trip to The Netherlands with friends from their time in Seattle.
Fenton Priest fentonpriest@iCloud.com
Stefanie Paulos sent us an update and a great suggestion: “All is well here in Atlan-
ta, Georgia. I retired from The Coca-Cola Company in 2020 and am enjoying having time to do board work, league tennis and travel. It’s so nice to be able to travel again post-COVID-19. Ron and I had a great trip last fall to Amsterdam, Netherlands; Copenhagen, Denmark; and Ireland, in addition to some trips in the U.S. this year. My biggest challenge these days is training our golden retriever puppy — far harder than anything I did at Coke!
“I have to give a shout out to my fellow study group member, Pat Graney. He received the prestigious YMCA Spirit of the Valley award in Charleston, West Virginia, in December. Cooper, Bert and I were able to help celebrate his accomplishments, so kudos to Pat.
“Speaking of Darden friendships, it was so nice to be able to connect with classmates on the virtual call we had for our reunion in 2021. It would have been better to be in person, but it was good to see folks that I haven’t seen since graduation. It would be great to do more virtual gatherings, since our next reunion won’t happen until 2026. Anyway, with fond memories of Darden, I hope we can keep the connections going. See you in C’ville in 2026!”
Thanks to Rick David for sending this terrific news: “I am pleased to report that my son Julian will be graduating in May from the College, and I will have the opportunity to see him walk the Lawn, as we did 42 years ago. (Has it really been that long?) I remember the day vividly: George HW Bush was our commencement speaker, the ceremony was interrupted by rain, and the PA system was malfunctioning. My parents came from South Africa for the occasion, and my late dad was impressed by the fact that the vice president gave the address! It’s a good memory, and needless to say I will be proud to be there when my son wears the honors of Honor.
“Julian has been networking in his job search with several UVA alumni (including Darden grads) and they have all been extremely helpful to him, as Virginia people are. His twin brother, Nicholas, will graduate from Tulane in the fall (he took a leave of absence for one semester during the COVID-19 crisis). Their older sister, Olivia, got a master’s degree in environmental science from the University of Michigan, and stayed on there for a doctorate. It’s been fun for us to visit them these last four years in Charlottesville; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Ann Arbor, Michigan, and we will get to go to Ann Arbor for another few years!
“Best wishes to all of our classmates. If anyone is around during graduation weekend, it would be great to say hello.”
I was really glad to hear from Jehanzeb Khan: “Since my retirement from corporate life I have taken on two directorship assignments, albeit reluctantly, but they are not very time consuming at all. Most of Kamila’s and my time continues to be spent traveling to Karachi, Pakistan, to meet up with our daughters and grandchildren, as well as keeping up with family and friends, and I tend to disappear once in a while to spend some time on the golf course. Evenings are usually reserved for a swim, walks in neighborhood parks and walking and playing with our dogs Dexter and Khyber.
“Unfortunately, Pakistan is in the midst of a political and economic challenge never before experienced (seems like the case just about everywhere in the world). Anyone involved is trying to keep up with the latest news and ‘trimming the sails’ to keep investments and plans safe under changing rules and conditions.
“We have had a nice, pleasant winter in Lahore, Pakistan, and are now preparing for the hot summer that has already started signaling its arrival.
“I don’t see a return trip to the U.S. anytime soon, but will surely make plans for another trip over the next few years to meet up with friends.”
Good news from Alan Sandler in Arizona: “Greetings from Scottsdale, Arizona, where Jill and I have now lived for 10 years. I am in year five at the Arizona State University Foundation, where I am now director of development for the University President’s Club and a handful of other things. Not sure when my professional ‘use by’ date is, but for now it remains a lot of fun to be working on campus and fundraising for this wonderful university.
“Our kids all remain back east: Gabriel, age 29, is in Washington, D.C.; Jeremy, age 36, is in McLean, Virginia; and Austin, age
39, with Zoe and our grandson Arbor, age 18 months, are in New York City. It’s always a challenge to get everyone together, and this summer we will all head to Cooperstown, New York, for a family vacation. If anyone is coming through Arizona, please let me know!”
You can reach Alan at alanjsandler@gmail. com or (415) 518-2706.
And a special update from Jim Sullivan: “To celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary on 7 May, Lauri and I took the trip of a lifetime ‘Down Under’ in February and March. We cruised New Zealand and then sailed to Sydney, Australia, for the first time. It was a fun-packed, relaxing, fascinating, enchanting, nearly month-long trip to some of the most beautiful places we have ever been.
“What made our tour of New Zealand extra-special was our charming time with one of our Darden classmates — someone we hadn’t seen since graduation — none other than the ever-lovely and uber-gracious Judy Fowler. Judy founded Puriri Hills Winery in 1996. It sits on a sunny set of hillsides on the North Island, about an hour southeast of Auckland, New Zealand. You can find it on puririhills.com. She is aided by her life and business partner, the remarkable storyteller, Phil Nunweek. Not only did they give us the insider’s tour of the vines and the processing facilities, but they treated us to a delicious home-prepared lunch complete with their stunningly good Puriri Hills Rosé and a seductive red called Harmonie du Soir. Superb! Judy, if you’re reading this somehow, please know that you’ve created a lifelong memory. Thank you. It was good to catch up after all these years. We hope to be back!
“We’d also like to thank again the many classmates that reached out to us last year — a most difficult year — after our son Danny died suddenly. We so appreciate you all and are amazed at the love we’ve received from you.”
From your secretary, Fenton Priest: I am
blessed to have more exciting family news: I got married on Veteran’s Day, 11 November 2022! My wife, Tina, and I are living in Virginia Beach, Virginia, a few blocks from the Atlantic Ocean. We went to the wonderful island of St. Lucia for our honeymoon. It is really a special time for us to enjoy life at this stage of our lives!
In addition, my daughter, Elisabeth, was married in December in Peru! Tina and I made the long journey to an amazing resort in northern Peru for the ceremony. It was a fascinating trip to a spectacular wedding, but Peru is also facing serious political challenges. Fortunately, Elisabeth will be living in Spain.
I am still enjoying being a new grandfather. Tina and I are planning more trips to
life-changing experience. It seems many agree. I think it is great for us to stay connected.
Please let me know if you would like to try a virtual gathering before our next reunion, like Stefanie suggested. If there’s interest, we can try to arrange it.
I sincerely appreciate hearing from you all. Take care and stay in touch!
Michael Diefenbach
mike.diefenbach@gmail.com
Salim Abboud’s family celebrated a double graduation last year. In May 2022, his daughter Hania graduated from the UVA with a B.S. in civil engineering with a
and Michelle regularly.
Bill Coogan had breakfast with Franklin Morton last fall at Farmington and Franklin tells him he lives in the same development as Bradd Gold in the Park City, Utah, area. Go figure.
Bill Coogan and his daughter (Darden ’21) had lunch last Thanksgiving week in Austin, Texas, with Connee Sullivan and her husband, Kent. Connee runs a family office in Austin and is very involved in area philanthropy.
Ben Sullivan’s daughter Catherine is at Darden for her second year and will be working at McKinsey in New York City starting this fall. She’s had a wonderful experience at Darden, according to Ben.
Frank Couch added a daughter-in-law in June 2022, but says he’s WAY behind on the grandbaby front.
Proving that old age isn’t for wimps, Frank added a titanium knee in November 2022 and hopes to use it well on his trip to Alaska in June. He’ll be “UnCruising” to Glacier Bay and the surrounding areas, and hopefully, visiting with whales, eagles, and bears. (An “UnCruise” is a small boat wilderness cruise, so he’ll enjoy no fancy buffet spreads.)
Scott Creighton was in C’ville in February, where his brother (McIntire ’74), his wife, Ann, (CLAS ’79) and he attended the lacrosse game against the University of Michigan, and then the barn burner Duke basketball game that went into overtime He had a blast at his first time in JPJ Arena, a bit of a change from his U-Hall memories running the steps for morning swimming workouts!
Scott is still doing digital consulting in the smart home space and splitting his time between New Hope, Pennsylvania, and Palm Springs, California. Scott says, “Also, I’m planning on my 11th AIDS Lifecycle benefit ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, California, in June. The 545-mile ride does get a bit harder every year, but it’s so worth it!”
Your class scribe, Michael Diefenbach, joyfully greeted his fifth grandchild in January. Olivia was born just before Christmas, and she was quite a present! I am now organizing my 50th high school reunion this fall. (Pretty sobering.)
Tom Freshwater marks the 30th anniversary of his return to live in Charlottesville: “Liz and I are quite fortunate that our three children live at an easy commute from C’ville. We have our son in Richmond, Virginia, and our daughters in Alexandria, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.”
Tom and Liz love heading to Richmond to spend time with their first grandchild, Jack, age 1 and a half. They also stay active by spending lots of time at Birdwood and Boar’s Head playing golf, tennis and exercising.
John “Chip” Guinee and Michelle report that being Florida residents has certain advantages, especially enjoying essentially two summers each year. Their two daughters with husbands and two grandchildren seem to prefer Florida to Maryland. (That’s a pretty easy choice.)
John is semi-retired and on boards: a public industrial REIT, a startup residential REIT ETF, a real estate private equity investor, and an environmental nonprofit.
David Harrison had a great visit with Loralie and Curt Mildner recently at his Florida home. Said Dave, “Visits from Curt are rare; he believes Columbus was wrong and when he reaches Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from the Maine Turnpike he might fall off the end of the Earth. Curt’s son Nathaniel is CFO and CIO of Curt’s market research company in Maine. Nathaniel has two young children and an awesome wife.”
David and his wife, Kathy, were given two more grandchildren, one in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the other in Boston, Massachusetts. That gets them to four with the two in Indianapolis, Indiana.
David is teaching MBA students full time online in the Kentucky system, and doing
philanthropic consulting for SCORE, which is part of the SBA — 11,000 former senior executives helping small businesses and entrepreneurs. He’s also on the board of a national construction cooperative that, cumulatively, is the largest roofing company in the United States. He’s doing some consulting too, especially in EOS systems, leadership team coaching and marketing strategies.
He invites us to visit him in Florida at The Villages, the largest retirement community in the United States. It has over 60 golf courses and free concerts every week!
Merle Henkel reports on what he says are answers to “the big three questions of folks our age: Number 1: He’s still alive. Number 2: He cherishes his granddaughter, the absolute cutest baby ever who has him wrapped around her little finger! She and her parents (his younger son and his wife) are down in the Clearwater, Florida, area. Merle’s older son is a firefighter/paramedic in Virginia. Number 3: He’s still working as a CFO/ COO at a K-12 prep day school in Montgomery, Alabama.
We’ve been tracking grandchildren, but Merle also wonders who’s in the “Knee Replacement Club” with him. He got his in November 2022.
Bill Huyett is quite the expert traveler, enjoying trips to Denali and Kenai Fjords in Alaska, United States; the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia; and Switzerland. He and Lauren are restoring a historic house in Concord, Massachusetts, “to stay out of trouble,” says Bill.
Bill is active in several conservation and scientific not-for-profit boards and some company boards. He also teaches an elective course in strategy at Darden for the fourth year students, which gets him down to C’ville a few times a year.
David Kelso’s grandson, “Little Richard,” looks forward to grandkid company this summer. David and his wife, Sara, returned in early April from a seven-day hiking trip in Patagonia, South America. “Used muscles we didn’t even know we had!” David reports.
Dave Martin enjoyed a week-long hiking trip with old undergrad buddies in West Virginia this past October 2022.
Kevin McCarthy reports that Harry Travis was appointed to the board of directors of iCoreConnect Inc., a cloud-based SaaS company with an enterprise and healthcare workflow platform.
Kevin and Harry grab breakfast together about once a month in the Sunshine State.
Kevin’s newest book, TOUGH SHIFT, offers advice to those facing retirement (including his classmates). You can find it at www.TOUGHSHIFT.com.
Catherine Foster welcomed Harry Travis
as a guest lecturer on the topic of digital prescription therapeutics at Columbia’s School of Public Health, where she teaches classes on digital medicine. (No word on whether Harry cold-called her students.)
John Powell, as always, invites all to join him if they’re headed to Jazz Fest.
Suzi Bailey Stone is looking forward to her UVA Class of ’78 (undergrad) reunion in June, and hopes to see her fellow “double-’Hoos” there!
Suzi asks that I formally acknowledge David Kelso’s endowed study group room at the new Darden campus, as she was a proud member of the group. Check out the plaque with their names on it next time you’re in C’ville!
Margaret and Dave Tew enjoyed all the great stories our classmates shared (that he’d long forgotten) at our 40th reunion in April, especially all their kind words about Margaret. Said, Dave, “I was sorry that more of our distaff classmates didn’t make it.” (Go ahead, I had to look up the word too.)
On his drive home to Maine from C’ville, Dave stopped to see many friends, including the Huyetts. Says Dave, “Bill and Lauren have created lovely homes for themselves and their children in historic Concord, Massachusetts, and on Cape Cod. He’s built exquisite replica furniture for display at the local historical society. His barn workshop is something to admire (and for me, envy!).”
Several classmates contributed wonderful thoughts to a “memory book” that Dave’s children put together for his 70th birthday. It has over 100 pages of photos and generous thoughts from more than 50 friends, classmates and family members. He appreciates our contributions very much!
Maureen Young celebrates her sixth year of retirement. She enjoyed a great Christmas with her oldest daughter, Kaitlin, her husband, and two oldest grandsons: Eli, age 3, and Zeke, age 18 months. The youngest daughter, Kelsey, lives in Michigan and works for General Motors (3rd generation).
Kelsey had a son in March 2022, and he got to meet his cousins at Christmas. Eli and Zeke loved their young cousin, but they really loved his cool toys!
Mitch Bland
Mitch.bland@cox.net
All who attended our 40th reunion in April had a wonderful time reconnecting and reminiscing in Charlottesville. It was a joy to be back on Grounds with so many classmates. We kicked off the weekend with dinner at one of Warren Thompson’s restaurants, Ralph Sampson's American Taproom, with a guest appearance from Ralph himself! On Saturday, we heard school updates from Dean Scott Beardsley and took in Professor Bob Bruner’s last case, Case Closed, before his retirement this spring. From there, we split up and enjoyed the beautiful weather at the picnic at Darden, sipping wine at Grace Estate, watching the Foxfield races or at our old Charlottesville stomping grounds. We wrapped up Saturday with a dinner in the Oak Boardroom of the new Forum Hotel.
It was a fantastic time for all, and I hope to see everyone again in five years for our 45th (if not before then of course)!
Debbie McPhillips dashmcp@gmail.com
Greetings from Historic Garden Week in Charlottesville! Or, as it is otherwise known, Historic Amount of Pollen Month! I hope your stash of antihistamines is keeping your tears and congestion under control better than mine is.
Several classmates shared fond remembrances of our class treasurer Edward “Ned” Case, who passed away in January. John Ladany (jeladany45@gmail.com) “had the honor and privilege of being in the same study group as Ned during our first year. He
was such a kind, smart and caring colleague. To me, Ned will always be the embodiment of a ‘renaissance man’ with his vast liberal arts knowledge and love of music, combined with the business skills he developed at Darden and thereafter. I can recall an early operations management case on Steinway Pianos where Ned just nailed the concept that it was all about the quality of the end product.
“Several years after graduation, both Ned’s family and mine were living in Montclair, New Jersey. We ventured out together on a particularly chilly Thanksgiving morning to go see the Macy’s Parade. Coming back and feeling half-frostbitten, Ned and Mary Ann generously warmed us up with a pancake breakfast.
“I know that Ned will be especially missed by all of his Section C classmates.”
The music theme resonated with Tom Holland (tomholland57@gmail.com) as well. He shared that “I remember Ned as the more mature and statelier amongst us. Always with his smile. At the 25th class reunion I remember that Ned was (I think) the first of us to retire. I was impressed that he had taken up the piano, I assumed from scratch, with his new freedom.” Tom has a recording of Ned’s reunion concert, so if you’d like a copy, please reach out to him.
I also heard from Hal Loomis (hal3home@gmail.com): “I was able to attend Case’s funeral, and it was nice bumping into Karen Edwards and Laurel Schultz Quinn, who were there as well. Ned was apparently very passionate about a local food co-op, and reached out to me about 15 years ago to see if I would want to help with another nearby co-op that was in the exploratory stage. (I did so for a while, but handed off my part to another finance guy when I pursued a master’s of finance degree to exercise my brain.)
“As for myself, I am still enjoying retirement. I look forward to my weekly ‘grandpa day’ when I take one pre-K grandson out to a park, zoo or playground for a few hours, and I enjoy our monthly grandson sleepover nights alternating between the two older ones. Ann and I have been traveling more, though we had to cancel our Costa Rica trip this month when Ann had a small stroke the day after Ned’s funeral. We learned that Superbowl Sunday is the best day to go to the ER — it’s empty! Ann is doing fine and is getting back to work slowly as her tiredness abates. On the fun side, our three daughters are enjoying their lives: one CPA/MBA/ stay-at-home-mom, one physician assistant, and one wedding photographer. We have two really great sons-in-law and three wonderful grandsons. I can’t ask for much more than that!”
Judith (Park) Friede (friede99@comcast. net) wrote: “Thank you so much for sharing this sad information. I sent him a message a few months ago, and he never answered me, which I thought was strange. My college roommate has had Parkinson’s for over 10 years, and she is doing amazingly well. I had hoped it would be the same for Ned, but sadly it wasn’t.” She also shared that she and Chuck “are enjoying our first grandchild, who turned one in October 2022. Being a grandparent is the best!”
From Jon Sklar (jbs@spexus.com): “I was sorry to hear about Ned. Way too much of that news these days. I’m happy to share that my oldest daughter is now self-sufficient — mostly. She landed a BD job with Oracle in Austin, Texas, and is loving it. My other daughter is loving Charlottesville and is doing much better in her third year of biomed engineering than I ever could. It is amazing what is in the curriculum these days.
“Professionally, after a sale, I am in a new position building up intelligence solutions for a mid-sized government contractor. It seems like it takes a lot more effort than the last time, but the purchase prices for these companies are amazing. Working towards one more payday before retirement. Debbie and I are enjoying the peace and quiet, and starting to think about where we would like to retire. Exciting times.”
Speaking of retirement, Kent Smith (tkentsmith@aol.com) wrote: “Well, I was perfecting retirement after six years when our Florida healthcare system that I chair came calling. I took over as CEO for the balance of the year to execute a turnaround. 80 percent of all healthcare systems were unprofitable in 2022, and analysts say that 50 percent will be unprofitable in. Giving back!”
Sue Berman (sue@zamkow.net) texted me this update: “I moved to Austin, Texas, at the end of 2018 after 21 years in London. While in London, I cofounded the London branch of Facing History and Ourselves
(facinghistory.org), a nonprofit organization devoted to ‘using lessons of history to challenge teachers and students to stand up to hate and bigotry.’ And when I moved here in 2018, I befriended Dean Johnson and his wife. Unfortunately, they have moved to Long Island in New York. Fiona Roche is visiting me 3–9 May!”
I’ll close in full agreement with Judith and Hal — grandchildren are the best! My 2-year-old OG grandson now has a little sister, born almost two months ago. And of course, I am madly in love with both of them. I’m blessed that they live just over an hour away, so I get to see them often. 100 percent would recommend!
Until next time.
Tom Taylor tomtaylornj@gmail.com
Top billing this edition goes to Mike O’Brien, who sent in his first ever update: “I’ve been in investment banking and banking in Los Angeles, California, and New York City since leaving Darden. I’m living the dream in Manhattan Beach, California, with my wife, Diane, and two sons, who also live in Los Angeles. My wife and both sons are engineers from Georgia Tech, so we have lots of rivalry match-ups in every sport. My older son was a four-year starter at attack on the club lacrosse team. He was awarded 2016 MCLA Player of the Year by U.S. Lacrosse and was inducted into the Georgia Tech Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2022. My wife and I had a ton of fun traveling to Atlanta, Georgia, to watch games and meet great young men and their parents. I’m still a big golfer and member of Los Angeles Country Club where we will be hosting the 2023 U.S. Open. Should be epic. Wishing the best to all of our classmates and their families.”
It’s early spring as this is being prepared and winter activity is prominent for some, including Warren McInteer: “We spend most of the winters skiing here in Taos, New Mexico. Not many alumni here in New Mexico, but luckily I get visits from the next generation of UVA grads, including daughter Caitlin (UVA ’12), son Connor (UVA ’14) and my son’s girlfriend Betsy Sednaoui (UVA ’17) who happens to be the daughter of George Sednaoui (MBA ’86). That is probably as close as I will get to a UVA reunion.”
Jamie Totten writes: “Jody and I have sold our house outside of Nashville, Tennessee, and moved to Birmingham, Alabama, to be nearer to children, grandchildren, etc. Our move was made much more exciting by Hurricane Ian which made landfall 10 miles south of our house in Boca Grande, Florida, just as the packers arrived to begin our move. Fortunately, it came ashore at low tide and we were spared the 12 feet surge that clobbered Fort Myers, Florida. We had to replace a lot of shingles, but dodged a major bullet.”
I enjoyed some fun events with Celia (Vlasin) Martin. Here’s her update on one of them, plus other happenings: “I shared a wonderful get-together with a majority of the Taylors and Martins in February at a nonprofit fundraiser in New York City. I just had a Zoom call catch up with Julie (Tysver) Wurst and Joyce (Fryburg) Rothenberg. They have been traveling, among other things. Julie spent St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland and Joyce took amazing pictures of the northern lights on her recent trip to Iceland. Julie lives in Tacoma, Washington, and Joyce splits time between Nashville, Tennessee, and New York City. Hopefully, they are contributing to the newsletter too. I am helping with CEO succession planning on a nonprofit board on which I sit, and the process has been enlightening. I helped organize a
restoration project in our county park last spring and have a bit of travel in my future. My young adults all like their geographic locations and jobs, so all is good there! They all have jobs or companies that didn’t really exist 20 years ago!”
Speaking of Joyce, here’s her news: “It’s been a good year. I finally got back to France in October 2022, the first international travel I had taken since COVID-19. I spent time exploring Normandy and Burgundy. I visited Mont-Saint-Michel, taking a guided walk on the sands that surround the abbey when the tide is out. I even got to learn and experience how to extract myself from the ‘sable mouvant’ or quicksand that surrounds the abbey. I had a spectacular day there, arriving for sunrise to take photos and staying until sunset to also take photos. It’s a magical place. I’d encourage everyone to visit, but not during the high tourist season. I was there in the shoulder season and was really able to enjoy a day on the island.
“Mace and I spent a fun weekend with Lee and Sherrill (Perk) Bandlow at their lake house in June 2022. Sherrill and I have been trying to have a regular weekly get-together between all of our travels and probably succeed at having lunch, dinner or taking a walk at least once a month.
“Mace and I headed to Iceland in March to chase the northern lights and to do some interesting outdoor activities: hiking on a glacier wearing crampons, hiking to and through an ice cave wearing smaller crampons, riding Icelandic horses, hiking in canyons and visiting waterfalls. It was a fabulous trip AND we saw the northern lights four out of the five nights that we were on our hiking adventure. We’ve put Iceland back on our list to visit in a future summer.
“Needless to say, I continue to enjoy my retirement. I hike regularly and have been exploring Tennessee and North Carolina with my local hiking friends. I’m always working on my photography skills and
continue to love planning a good travel adventure (in case anyone wants me to organize a trip to France …). We’d love to see classmates here in Nashville, Tennessee, or in New York where we still keep a residence.”
I think I mentioned earlier that I got a puppy as a retirement gift to myself last year. The Taylor household hasn’t been that active for years, hoo boy. She’s settled down in the last few months and become a wonderful companion. I’m awed by people like Bob Reeve who must enjoy the chaos of having young dogs running around. Bob says: “We have a litter of seven 2-week-old puppies on the ground. We are headed to Sacramento, California, for our Bernese National Specialty show in early April, ending up in Napa, California, for our anniversary. We’ll visit the hills of North Carolina in July and Ireland in August. It’s good to be traveling again. This is our 30th litter (124 puppies) that we have whelped at our house(s) since we started breeding Bernese in 2005. Lots of experience, lots of dogs shows and champions in almost 20 years.”
Many of you wrote me nice notes regarding the Kaish bench dedication in April. It’s much appreciated. Michelle Weiss sent her regrets, saying: “As I live in northern California, trips for just a weekend are tough. I hope you get a good group and that you all have a great time. Even the mention of Bob Bruner still terrifies me, and I did not have him as a professor!” Joyce Thornhill wrote: “I’m so sorry I can’t attend, we have a longplanned conference in Detroit, Michigan, that weekend — C’ville would be much more fun!” Others who responded include Ann (Hahlquist) Taylor, Bob Magnan, Lisa Jones, Duane Stevens, Naomi Freeman, Allan Vartelas, Follin Smith, Alex Alexander, Mary McCall and Jimmy Rose
I attended a dinner in New York City honoring Bob Bruner and sat next to Jim Groch, who came up from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to join the event. Jim is now
retired and is as busy as ever, which seems to be the case for many retirees. One of his hobbies is woodworking, and he showed me pictures of his workshop and accomplishments. His setup rivals a high school shop room and he’s built some beautiful pieces of furniture.
Last but not least, Betsy Griffith has this update to share with us: “Life is full of ups and downs. Ups: Don and I are about to embark on our 12th speaking cruise with Viking. We’re giving seven talks (gulp!) each on a cruise from Istanbul to London. Downs: Recovering from an oophorectomy — guys, you don’t want to know — that left me with a three-eyed smiley face on my abdomen.” A smiley face is appropriate for Betsy … I found an online bio of her that says, “she loves to make people laugh.”
Hello Class of ’86! Thanks to everyone who sent in updates. Let’s get right to it:
Jack McGowan wrote about his mini reunion in Charlottesville, an epic meeting of some great minds. Jack reports:
“Bob Johnston, Ben Pugh, Mike Ernst and I got together in Charlottesville in early January to catch the Syracuse and UVA hoops game. Kelvin Antil, my Baltimore neighbor and UVA Law Class of ’87, also joined us for the game. Bob Johnston, who now lives in Charlottesville, hosted us at his favorite lunch and dinner locations and served as our local tour guide. Bob’s son Lee is now attending Darden (Class of ’24) and the Johnstons are enjoying being back in C’ville. Ben came in from Atlanta, Georgia, and Mike flew in from Dallas, Texas, … Both Ben and Mike continue to work in real estate and are doing well … In addition to watching the ’Hoos win, the group reminisced about playing basketball/softball back
and
in the day and traded favorite Darden class stories. In the small-world department, it turned out that years ago both Ben and Kelvin worked together briefly on a real estate deal. It was great to reconnect with classmates and catch a game at JPJ … I hope to make it an annual tradition going forward.”
Bonnie Hutchinson Zellerbach did a whirlwind east coast tour, and I was fortunate to see her in Charlottesville! She brought her “BFF,” Suellen Kauffman Blackwood Mary Buckle Searle and her husband, Stewart, were our hosts for a fun Darden evening. I’ll let Bonnie tell the story:
“After 32 years and counting in southeast Asia, I am looking to move back to the U.S. The big question being: where? I’ve more or less narrowed the choice down to northern Virginia, and all my wonderful Darden connections have played a huge role in that decision. This trip, I had a great catch-up with Suellen Kauffman Blackwood and Peter Intermaggio in Lewes, Delaware, and then Suellen and I took to the road and visited Mary Buckle Searle in Charlottesville. Mary and her husband, Stewart, kindly gathered several classmates together on our behalf, so we spent a terrific evening with them and with Teresa Green Cooper; Carol Stepka Carter and her husband, Bob; as well as Bob Johnston and his wife, Frances.
“My road trip also took me up to Alexandria, Virginia, where Mary and I had the privilege of watching Pat Bland Nicklin play the title role in the British comedy Lettice and Lovage, and then on to New York City where I had a chance to see Lisa Genova (MBA ’87) and Jim Kelliher. Jim and I met at the Algonquin Hotel, and we couldn’t stop laughing when the bartender asked if we wanted to charge the drinks to our room … like an old married couple we were! We all picked up as though we’d last seen each other just yesterday rather than 30 years ago.
“I am hoping to connect with a few other Darden friends later in the month, but that news will have to wait for the next installment. In the meantime, I just want to say
how lucky I am to be able to call you all my Darden family.”
Teresa’s note: Ditto what Bonnie said about being lucky. Seeing Bonnie and Suellen after all these many years was so fun, and like no time had passed.
Andy Yeo took time to send news about his new-ish business venture and their national press coverage, and happy family updates. Andy, like many of us, continued the tradition of sending our (often more talented than their parents) progeny to UVA. I may be biased, but more ’Hoos in the world is a good thing. Here’s his update:
“I left Caterpillar with a package in 2015 with 30 years. My wife, Celia, had earlier resigned from Caterpillar after 25 years and started her own consulting business.
“To make a longer story shorter, Celia and I purchased a business, Best Equipment & Welding, in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 2016. We are in the metal fabrication and truck loading dock business. We have had a lot of fun with it. Our team of about 35 people worked right through COVID-19 and we have helped build out the infrastructure that supports the huge growth in e-commerce. In mid-2020 we accepted an invitation to do a short two minute ‘Manufacturing Marvels’ segment on our company on the Fox Business Network Lou Dobbs show. Here is the address for our website where you can see the short clip: bewinc.com/about. Our guys and gals had fun with it.
“Also worth mentioning, we have two daughters and two grandchildren. Our oldest, Caroline, is a lieutenant commander in the Navy and recently finished a master’s at UVA.”
Get your passports ready! By the time you read this, Luigi Bernas and family will have settled into their new home in Vienna, Austria. Congratulations to his wife, Luli, who has accepted an important position there! Read on for Luigi’s update:
“My wife, Luli, just accepted an appointment as ambassador to Austria so we (including our 10-year-old son, Juan Alvaro) will be moving to Vienna next month. We are happy to welcome any classmates who are including Vienna in their holiday or business travel plans in the next 5 years. Vienna has been acclaimed as the most livable city in the world in numerous rankings, so we are looking forward to our move. I will continue my business engagements in Manila, Philippines, via a quarterly commute schedule, but I intend to spend most of my time in Vienna and Europe in general.”
I received an email from my study group buddy, Byrne Murphy, who claims this may be his first Class Notes contribution since graduation. (I find that hard to believe, but
having no contradicting evidence, I have to take him at his word.) Here’s what he shared:
“What a sudden inflection point! 30 years dedicated to importing American concepts into Europe and suddenly, bam! After 13 years living over there and 17 years of commuting there, our four daughters are grown and making their way in the world. PostCOVID-19 we have experienced, in rapid fire: empty nest, house move, new house renovation, sale of company, no long commute. In lieu thereof: more time reading, writing and sailing; more time on Darden-related activities, more focus on trying to make small differences in the world.”
You may all be aware of this, but I recently learned about Be Strong, a foundation established by Roy Moore and his wife, Lisa. Be Strong’s mission is to save and improve the lives of our youth using a peer-to-peer approach to strengthen mental, emotional, and relational health, build resilience and prevent bullying.
Part of my job is to support a mentor program for Charlottesville-area youth, and Be Strong resonated with me. If you are interested, visit their website, bestrong.global, to learn about their work, find resources or offer support.
Sadly, we learned not long ago that our classmate Thorn Landers passed away, and several of you wrote to share your thoughts. My memories of him are of an upbeat, kind and warm person who always made you feel a little better when you saw him. I know he is missed by many.
From Judy Conner: “Thank you for passing this along, Teresa. Heartbreaking. I remember Thorn as such a nice, nice guy. Always smiling.”
Gregory Dyson: “It is always sad to read this news. But, memories are indeed a blessing.”
Roy Moore: “…As for Thorn, he was in my study group. He was ever the poet, always thinking about how someone felt. He had a kind and compassionate soul with a quick wit. I am remiss that we lost touch over the years. His passing is a sober reminder of the importance of letting others know of the way they touched my life. Thorn certainly did. Darden was a better place because of Thorn.”
On those wise words, I’ll close out this set of Class Notes. Stay in touch.
Chris
Padgett padgett60@gmail.comHello Class of ’87! I write this in March/ April, with spring coming on strong here in the Midwest (mostly nice, but also windy and stormy recently). We experienced the St. Louis Cardinals Opening Day game, pitch clock and all … not sure my thoughts about that just yet. Just ahead of my Class Notes deadline I sent out my plea for news and had a wonderful response — so let’s get started.
You may remember from our last Class Notes that Matt Aaron just made it in, with an “on deadline” update call. This time, Matt was first in with news, literally within ten minutes of receiving my email. (I encourage classmates to try and beat that response time in the future!) Matt writes: “Karen Smythe and I got together on opening night of Charlotte F.C.’s 2023 MLS season. Karen’s daughter, Denny, works with the team and set us up with some primo seats! Karen’s husband, Neville, along with friends joined us for a great game. It was fun catching up with the mayor of Red Hook, New York, when clearly more important civic responsibilities need the mayor’s attention!”
John Moffet responded just after Matt with this update: “I was pleased to see Jim Sowers’ account of our common Scottish ancestor (born in 1590) in the most recent Darden Report.”
Long-time reader, first-time responder Rob Veidenheimer shares this news: “After saving up 35-plus years of news, you’ve finally enticed me to respond. All is well up in Massachusetts, where I manage a boutique strategy consulting firm that focuses on the food industry. Despite our enthusiastic extra-curricular activities and my questionable academic performance back in the day, our son Cam has been accepted into the Darden Class of ’25. It’ll be nice to get back to C’ville for a visit and enjoy all that the area has to offer without the cold calls.”
“Last December,” writes Rebecca Silvestri, “Brett and Laura (Lahey) Gallagher and Karen and Jim Sowers visited us in Nashville, Tennessee, for the weekend. We had so much fun … ate a lot, drank a lot, and saw a lot of great music. The picture is from the Pentatonix Christmas Concert at the Bridgestone Arena. The beautiful Karen Sowers was the photographer. As always, it was like yesterday being together, not 35 years later!”
Saving me fact-checking time, here is Jim Sower’s take on both previous posts: “I am going to assume you heard from Rebecca Silvestri. We got to drinking at the reunion and planned a December event in Nashville, and we actually did it. It was a great Christmas weekend with the Gallaghers, the Sowers, and the Silvestris.
“In other news, John Moffett’s son, Kenny, is a first year at UVA, so John and Stacey joined the Sowers’ tailgate for a Parents Weekend football game with John serving his famous Bloody Marys.” And I was just kidding about the fact-checking!
Ken Shea, you are mentioned in the following update from Steve O’Connell: “I recently took on a CFO role with EOS Fitness, a gym company based in Phoenix, Arizona. We have 70 gyms and are adding 15 a year now that we’re post-COVID-19. I’m living in Phoenix part-time and building our team. We would like to access the public markets maybe in 2024. I have a promise from Ken Shea to visit me soon! All Darden visitors are welcome!”
Joel Mangham promised to send me some interesting, “edgier” news for this edition of the Class Notes … and he came back with this worthy response: “Life is good, but the most interesting things are the same things I’ve already told you about. As I get older, I’ll probably freely retell the same stories time
and again, and not care! For now, I feel a small obligation to be interesting, or at least not repeat myself.
“Perhaps the most interesting news is that Margie Fibel and I have stayed connected (we like comparing notes on more crafty/ earthy kinds of things). She is even contemplating moving to Charlottesville from her home in Alexandria, Virginia. We think that’s a great idea!”
I always enjoy the news from Brad Colton, and I often share his current grandkid count with my children. (This future grandad isn’t getting any younger, nor more limber!) Brad writes: “Melanie and I currently have a dozen grandchildren, who we have loved taking skiing in Park City, Utah, with the best snow they have had in thirty years. We also were pleased to have Beth and John Munford over for dinner when they were here skiing.
“Melanie and I have been asked to support the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square for three years. It is wonderful to listen weekly to these amazing singers and support them as we can. I am also on four nonprofit boards locally as we look to make our community better.
“My nephew Brandon, son of my younger brother Steve (MBA ’88), is finishing his first year at Darden.”
Rob Mitchell sends his regards to the class and was sorry to have missed seeing everyone at reunion. He writes: “Life is good for the Mitchells. Although we’re much too young, we’re now grandparents to five children, including identical twin boys who arrived 18 months ago. Two of the kids and their parents live two blocks away, so we see them a lot.
“I continue to play a lot of tennis and try to fit in work around it. On the work front, we recently raised $12 million from VCs and a bank to really accelerate the sales of
our bank software. 100 banks currently use it to help them better manage their banks and inform their boards, and although it’s configured for banks, two of the top technology companies in the U.S. are using it to help their boards of directors oversee their companies.”
Rob has also been busy with his church, where he was the treasurer for almost five years and on the vestry. “Fortunately, I just found someone to take over as treasurer. Betsy stays busy working with a designer jewelry store in Richmond, Virginia, and babysitting the grandchildren. We keep in occasional contact with Peter Gambel, Dave Page and our many Darden friends. All the best to everyone.”
“We’ve got nine grandchildren and I thought that was going to be enough to keep me busy,” writes Seth Barnes. “Last year I tried to retire from Adventures.org, the nonprofit I started 34 years ago. Sadly, my succession plan failed twice — once with an inside guy and once with an outside guy. So, the board asked me to return. I did and have found that I’ve still got gas in the tank, and I enjoy it more than retirement! I’ve been a part of causes I care about like taking truckloads of food into Ukraine and rebuilding neighborhoods in Fort Myers, Florida, devastated by Hurricane Ian.”
In this issue’s “why didn’t I think of that” section, Seth also shared a ChatGPT-written press release about Adventure.org’s Hurricane Ian relief efforts in Fort Myers, Florida. It was pretty accurate, according to Seth. Here’s an excerpt:
“‘Our hearts go out to those affected by this devastating hurricane,’ said Seth Barnes, CEO of Adventures.org. ‘We are committed to supporting the community in any way we can and providing aid to those in need during this challenging time.’
“The relief effort has focused on distributing emergency supplies such as food, water, and hygiene kits, as well as providing shelter to those who have been displaced by the hurricane. The team of volunteers will work closely with local organizations and community leaders to identify areas of need and provide targeted support where it is needed most.”
You may remember from our last issue’s notes that Craig Zarider texted me he would be in St. Louis, Missouri, for Parent’s Weekend at Washington University and hoped to connect. (I live just 10 minutes from there.) Well, we did — I met Craig and Ann for breakfast, and we had a good meal and a great catch up. I forgot to take pictures, but will do so the next time!
I also received an update from Carol Brooks, Johnny Munford and Dick Dahling
— no, wait, that was a fundraising email. (Sorry, couldn’t resist!)
Actually, Dick Dahling did share a brief update at the end of a week of hiking/golfing in Arizona, focused on the major additions to the School: “At the end of April/reunion weekend, Darden’s Forum Hotel will be dedicated and opened. As you know, the Class of ’87 is a major supporter of this effort through its underwriting of the outdoor classroom/amphitheater which is adjacent to the hotel and part of the School’s newly created arboretum.
“Plans for a formal dedication of the amphitheater/outdoor classroom are underway, with a date planned in fall 2023. It will be open to attendance by members of the Class. Stay tuned for more details.”
As I started typing this up, I also caught up with Giff Breed, who, with Bubba Fortner and Bob Smith, is working on a very interesting idea to bring the Class together for some big fun and great benefit to Darden. More to come on this, too. Very mysterious, right?
Finally, after reading Seth Barnes’ ChatGPT press release, I tried to have the AI bot write some additional news about the Class, but it was very evasive, and, perhaps a bit tired: “I apologize, but as an AI language model, I do not have access to current or historical information about individuals or specific classes.”
Then I tried to pin it down on which Darden Class is the best: “As an AI language model, I cannot make subjective judgments or opinions about which Darden Class is the best. All Darden Classes have had accomplished and successful individuals …” (Blah blah blah.)
Perhaps if I were more specific in my prompt (“isn’t the Class of 1987 the best?”) ChatGPT would loosen up and give an honest response … but I couldn’t pin it down. Here’s another response: “While the Class of 1987 may have notable achievements and outstanding individuals, it would not be fair or accurate to compare them with other classes.” Probably true, given how stellar we are!
It finally delivered on a couple of haikus, so we’ll end with them. As always, thanks for all the updates!
Darden Class of ’87, Accomplished and wise, Leaving a lasting impact.
Oh Darden ’87, What news do you have to share? Enlighten us all.
Welcome to the 35th reunion edition of Notes! Looking forward to seeing everyone in Charlottesville in a month. Again, a great notes response. No AI ChatGPT here. Thank you! We are traveling, working, retiring, starting second careers, and relaxing. Donovan Perkins leads the relaxing category. I even received notes from first-timers Rick Coffey and Anne Bahr Thompson. We now have at least two classmates raising chickens. Not sure what to call them. Chicken farmers? Egg farmers? Gardien de poulet? I hope they are all wearing red contact lenses to keep them calm … that’s the chickens, not the classmates. But, with the foxes …
Lots of us still have yearbooks (somewhere). A couple of classmates have books from both years. And, some of us have even dug them out, dusted them off, and looked at the mostly black and white pictures. Finally, at the end of my 10th edition of Notes, I am including the best chips, quips, and their awards for the past five years. To the Notes!
Shelly and I just returned from a trip to Arizona with stops in Phoenix, Winslow, Painted Desert, the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff, Sedona, Cottonwood, Jerome and Scottsdale. An amazing trip. Just enough snow to add to the scenery, but not enough to make it difficult to get around.
We have a busy upcoming travel schedule with trips planned to Charlottesville; Williamsburg, Virginia; Florida; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; Boston, Massachusetts; and Maine. This summer, I will swim in the National Senior Games to be held in Pittsburgh. And, we are heading to the very remote area of Duck Lake, Maine, to fish and search for the ruins of a long lost family cabin complex.
Laurie Alkire Selby celebrates 35th and 40th: “My 40th college reunion is the same weekend as Darden’s. I can’t make Darden this time around. I am sorry to miss, but I will be there in spirit. It sounds like a lot is planned with a good turnout. Also, my husband is retiring from the Navy.”
Laurie, see you at our 40th!
Mark Allen was just in time: “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that K-car photo might date back to the KanBan Rally, a ‘Greatest Race meets some sort of bizarre calculations’ you had to do. I think KanBan translated into ‘just in time’ in Japanese, or something like that.”
Mark, thanks for the trivia! How did we do it without Waze?
Joe Balog travels: “Unfortunately I am going to be in Europe during the reunion on a previously scheduled trip, so I will miss
everyone.”
Anne Bahr Thompson does good: “Only when I consider I’ve been happily married 33 years and have an amazing 31-year-old son can I place our 35th reunion in context! Unlike many classmates retiring, I picture myself working long past the official retirement age. After working in B2B banking, I found my calling leading the consulting businesses for Interbrand. We moved from New York City to London in 2001, lived in the U.K. full-time for nearly ten years and part-time for another nine. Fortunately, we sold our second home in Cowes, Isle of Wight, U.K., (often considered the sailing capital of the world!) in 2019, before the pandemic temporarily stopped ferry service there!
“While in London, I required flexibility for personal reasons and founded an independent consultancy. This laid the groundwork for today … If you’re on LinkedIn, you may have noticed I was in the purpose and do good space well before it came into vogue.
“In 2017, AMACOM/HarperCollins published my book about balancing purpose and profit, and I began an unexpected journey — speaking from Paris to Oman to Singapore, at the UN HLPF, and even for Hot Topics in Marketing at Darden a few times (many thanks to Jack Oakes!). I eventually joined an INGO founded by Peggy Dulany and her father, David Rockefeller. When COVID-19 hit, I felt a strong pull to return to the business sector.
“Last summer I worked with a startup group of cinematographers and gaming experts in Berlin, developing and presenting the English version of ESG training for the financial sector. Today, I’m an independent strategist and advisor — networking, exploring collaborations and helping the IAA (International Advertising Association) advance its Global Sustainability Council. My husband, a former fixed income analyst, is now analyzing, structuring and funding CRE. We live in New York City and our son is a cybersecurity Ph.D. candidate in Boston,
Massachusetts.”
Anne, thanks for the first-time note! Congrats on doing good!
Mike Balok is making-it and losing-it: “My wife, Mary Ellen, and I will be at the reunion. Looking forward to it. Lost my yearbook a while back during some moves.”
Britt Byrne goes lacrosse: “I am still working here at CK and looking forward to my younger son’s graduation from Hampden-Sydney in May. Yes, I still have my yearbook … not on display, but somewhere! My plans to be at the reunion were dashed when my son’s final lacrosse game was moved from Saturday at 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. You all will be just warming up, but I will be there in spirit.”
Britt, enjoy the final game!
Harry Chiam celebrates twice: “My older son Christopher got married twice. Chris and his wife, Veronica, belong to different churches, so we had the first wedding in mid-January at a Greek Orthodox church. Two weeks later we had the second ceremony in an Anglican church. Unfortunately, I will miss our 35th reunion; that’s one of the problems with living so far away. If I get to the U.S., I will let y’all know so we can meet up for a beer. For work, I’m doing more and more stuff on sustainability so together we can save the planet.”
Harry, two weddings deserves at least two beers!
Rick Coffey skis: “Since Darden, I’ve held various positions in the private equity industry. Some of it’s been great, some not so much, in both cases determined by the people involved (should have paid closer attention in OB!). For the last 17 years I’ve been raising capital from institutional investors for private equity funds. My work was ‘traveling with clients, meeting with institutional investors in their offices and participating in get-to-know-you meals.’ As you might imagine, COVID-19 wiped out that model. The industry continues to swoon post-COVID-19 and the recent turmoil in small/regional banks may continue that upheaval. I’ll have to decide in the near term whether to push through the volatility, pivot to a new business model or start an earlier-than-planned retirement.
“Separate from business, my wife, Ellen, and I have had the joy and adventure of raising two daughters: CeCe (Princeton, UPenn Law) and Shana (Cornell, Cornell Vet). CeCe is focused on energy law and the electricity markets. Shana is in a residency program for veterinary surgery. On the downside, two of my sisters have passed away in the last three years, one to early-onset Alzheimer’s and the other to ovarian cancer. Those two losses — in their early 70s — may also tip the scales toward retirement or a different work/leisure balance.
“For recreation, I’ve continued to ski regularly and just completed my 22nd season as a member of the National Ski Patrol. At my local ski area, in addition to weekly patrolling, I teach first aid and skiing skills to patrol candidates. More recently, I started playing golf and tennis, both of which I discovered can be exercises in frustration. I can’t make the reunion this year, but I really enjoyed our 30th and I look forward to our 40th. Have fun!”
Rick, congrats on you and your family’s successes. Condolences on the loss of your sisters. Thanks for the first note.
Steve Colton is still in the Philippines: “I am sorry I will not be able to make it for this reunion. Jeri and I are still serving in the Philippines. Our three-year assignment will finish at the end of June. I will return to my business and plan to spend lots of time getting to know our four grandsons and spending lots of time with the rest of our family. The Philippines is a wonderful country. Our experience here has been wonderful.”
Jerry Connolly trips, blasts, and drives: “Vanessa and I enjoyed the first half of February in Florida. Business, along with visiting a bunch of our dear friends from our Princeton days, filled the trip. I am still having a blast working with early-stage companies and helping entrepreneurs realize their dreams. Now if the market for funding eased a little, we could close a bunch of deals. My family is healthy and doing well. My oldest daughter is moving back to New York after a five-year stint in Denver, Colorado. So, Vanessa and I are excited to have all three of our children within a four-hour drive of Annapolis, Maryland. I look forward to seeing everyone at the reunion.”
Talmage Cooley is in a six-block: “I’m currently splitting my time between working on the gun violence issue through the Gun Violence Project (gunviolenceproject. org), and also writing a TV series with the novelist/playwright Priya Parmar. My twins, Atticus and Rose, will turn 11 in May, and we live in Dumbo, Brooklyn, New York, by the Brooklyn Bridge Park. It’s a funny little six-block neighborhood nested between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges and the river. Great for little kids and quick access to Manhattan.”
Talmage, best of luck with your project.
Paul Diodati empties the nest: “My wife, Carol, and I are doing fine. We live in southwest Florida about 30 miles outside Naples (Ave Maria, Florida) and we are empty nesters. Our seven children are dispersed throughout the country — Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, California, Minnesota, Ireland and Colorado — so as you can see, it is quite a logistical feat to get them all together.
“My daughter Bernadette is dating an Irish man in Dublin. We are looking forward to having a family reunion in Ireland. In the middle of the pandemic our oldest daughter, Cristina, had her first baby girl, Colette — so we are excited to have a granddaughter to spoil. She is two now and we will be visiting her this month.
“I have been at IBM now for 12 years and am working as a risk manager in our QA division inside IBM Consulting. I do risk
reviews and risk mitigations for our largest ERP consulting proposals and contracts. Fortunately, I can do that work from home remotely. My wife, Carol, teaches at one of the public elementary schools in the poor migrant worker town next to us, Immokalee, Florida, helping mostly Latin American and Haitian second graders learn how to read English.
“I don’t know if I will be able to make it to the reunion, but best wishes to you and your family and the Class of ’88 if I don’t get to see them.”
Paul, hope to see you at No. 40!
Don Dunham slows down and props up his foot: “Linda and I had a wonderful fall with lots of travel. In seven weeks, we were out of the country for five weeks. First, a 12-day Canadian Maritime Provinces trip with my extended family. Then, we left for our three-week cruise/train trip to celebrate our 40th anniversary with five other couples. Athens, Greek islands, the Dolomites, up to Venice, Italy, and then another week in Italy. Great time, but five of the seven weeks made us ready to not travel for a while.
“Good thing, as we have just cancelled three trips because I slipped on the Virginia clay on a rainy day and broke my foot above the ankle. Surgery for a plate, screws and pins and no walking for six weeks. I shall be better for the reunion, looking forward to seeing everyone. Feel free to contact me if you are considering retiring back in C’ville.”
Don, thanks to you and Linda for hosting our Sunday brunch.
Lynne Elander goes for a second, has your back, and travels: “I think I’ve sent one up-
date in 35 years. I do read the Notes and love following the careers and lives of my classmates. I won’t be able to attend the reunion, but look forward to reading the post-event wrap-up.
“My story in a nutshell: after nearly 30 years in media/telecom in various roles and various companies, I largely retired from corporate America a few years ago (although I do occasionally get to consult on some cool projects). Then a volunteer role turned into a part-time paid position working on marketing and strategy at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s a nonprofit hospital specializing in the treatment of patients experiencing traumatic brain and/or spinal cord injuries and neurological diseases. So … an obvious career evolution, right? TV-totrauma? But satisfying and fascinating.
“Outside of work, I’ve become an avid-but-definitely-amateur photographer, and use that as an excuse to travel to interesting destinations. I’ll have just gotten back from New Zealand when the reunion is happening, and am working my way through all the U.S. National Parks, so I am planning a tour of the Colorado and New Mexico parks in the fall.”
Lynne, congrats on the second career transition. Enjoy the parks and the photography.
John Gallander goes far and east for concerts: “I continue rehabbing my left arm, hand and fingers and making slow but sure progress. Unfortunately, we will miss the reunion this year as my wife has some previously scheduled music concerts in Vietnam and Singapore, so we will be on an extended trip from late March until early May. All
my best to you and our classmates. Will be rooting hard for our ’Hoos in the ACC and NCAA tournaments soon!”
John, I guess there is always next year to root for the ’Hoos! Enjoy the Far East concerts.
David Gold is making it to the reunion.
Jim Goulden is trying: “I’m attempting to make a cameo appearance on Friday night coupled with my grandson’s (the Mighty Quinn) second birthday down in Virginia Beach, Virginia, that weekend.”
Jim, Virginia Beach … enough said.
Simon Harford sells out and steps down: “Tina and I are looking forward to coming down to Charlottesville for the reunion. We have just sold the biotech, Albireo Pharma Inc., where I was CFO to a pharmaceutical company, so I will have stepped down from full-time work by the time of the reunion. It has been an amazing four and a half years taking a drug for a rare liver disease in kids through development to market in the U.S. and Europe. Now it is time for someone else to take it to the next level.”
Simon, congrats on the sale. Now, let’s talk about some North End pastries.
Marie Heffernan Davidson transitions: “Since my last note in 2021, I have transitioned to part-time work and plan to fully retire by the end of 2023. I’m looking forward to having more time for all the projects I have been postponing for years! Jim and I have taken some trips now that the pandemic restrictions have eased. We went to Montreal and Quebec, Canada, (where we honeymooned 30 years ago) and Paris in 2022. Upcoming trips include Hawaii to visit our Army nurse daughter, Milan in Italy, and Japan. Unfortunately, I do not have my yearbook. I cleared out the case notes a few years ago, and I have a horrible feeling that the yearbook was tossed. I’m still looking for my yearbook. Thanks so much for gathering up and sending these Class Notes, Chuck. I really enjoy reading them and remembering
fun times we had!”
Marie, good luck with all the projects and the yearbook. No luck needed for Hawaii.
Dave Horger is counting his chickens: “We are waiting on our 10 chickens to start laying eggs. Trying to fight inflation with chickens and a garden! Of course, I spent a fortune building a Taj Mahal coup. My cost per dozen eggs will probably be over $100 for the first year! I do have the old yearbooks. I will try to bring them to reunion.”
David, Mary Moser Phillips can help you with the foxes.
Martina Hund-Mejean jets: “Just landed in New York … was in London for board meetings, have a board meeting tomorrow here, and then back to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for the nice weather and more tennis! Our daughter Katarina has graduated from Darden and is working at Dell in Austin, Texas. And our son is working at Mastercard in New York City.
“I saw recently Karen Beyer, together with Carolyn Speer Miles. Karen seems to be doing very well with job and family, she is also engaged at Darden and will hopefully make it to our reunion! On Casa ’88 … it is a bit of a story: my husband, Bruno, was born in Casablanca, Morocco, dubbed locally as ‘Casa,’ and 88 is an obvious tribute to our class. I hope to see everyone soon at our reunion weekend!”
Martina, thanks for the Casa ’88 cellar and the backstory.
Tom Johnstone accelerates: “Yes, I do have my yearbook. It is full of all these really young people. Not sure how they got in there and took our places. We are not going to be at the reunion, but I know that it will be a great time!
“Life in Oklahoma, on the southern plains of the United States, continues at an accelerating pace. We are in calving season at both ranches. The spring calves are about halfway through deliveries with a new crop of babies running around. Winter continues to come
and go, sometimes daily, but the calendar says about one week until the official kickoff of spring. Springtime is the tail end (no pun intended) of our first birthing season, and we will roll into fence fixing, pasture maintenance and working the new calves. Our second calving season will be late summer/early fall. We doubled the size of the herd at the beginning of the year. Good ranchers will tell you to never ask about how many heads someone runs or the size of their spread. It’s a lot and bigger.
“It is not just all work and no play; Cindy will be off on a trip with her sisters to Arizona and then back to western New York to see her mom. She has joined the ranks of bionic adults with a new hip, which has really been a plus for her. I am a full-time ranch hand for large parts of the year, when our oldest son is traveling or off at school for his master’s at Kansas State. (If any of you have watched Clarkson’s Farm, you will have seen some of our challenges … mine in particular.)
“I continue to consult with a senior debt fund in New York. They are a great team and a pleasure to work with. EMT/Firefighter is still my primary volunteer activity and has been a great introduction to the world outside of finance. Our department made about 210 runs last year, so we stay busy. In answer to Chuck’s question: do you still have your yearbook? The answer is a solid yes. I occasionally look back and am amazed that we look younger every time. I stay in touch with George Hashbarger and Jeff and Diana Orr They are doing well.
“It is hard to believe that the Class of ’88 stepped off into the real world 35 years ago. Cindy and I send our best and wish you all a wonderful reunion. Be sure to eat extra burgers and steak.”
Tom, maybe David Horger can help you build your next cattle pen. His chickens are happy in their “Taj” coup.
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to attend the reunion.”
Gib Kerr goes for a second: “I’ve been scrambling this week, leaving tomorrow for Hawaii. I plan to do lots of swimming and snorkeling. My experience as an author has been a blast! I’ve done a lot of radio spots and podcasts, along with speaking engagements. I’m thankful to have some really flattering reviews and am hoping my book will catch fire as the next election cycle approaches. The book is available on Amazon. And yes, I’m working on a second book. Stay tuned. And yes, I still have my yearbook (somewhere in the attic). Unfortunately, I’m going to have to miss the reunion. Late April and early May are very busy times for me here, so I don’t think I’ll be able to get away. Sorry to miss it!”
Gibb, enjoy Hawaii, how could you not? Good luck on the second book.
Steve Krohn sees black and white: “Yes, I have our yearbook. At least I think it’s our class. Bunch of black and white photos of very young-looking people!”
Steve, thanks to you and Jack Oakes for organizing the reunion golf!
Hamid Lalani is thankful: “The fact is that all of us are at least in our 60s, and that means there may not be that many reunions left in some of us. Remember, I was born in India in the ’60s and, based on my life’s demographic expectancy, I am thankful that I am healthy and alive today. I know most of my classmates don’t know me or probably don’t remember me. Hence, I am hoping a lot of you show up in Charlottesville this April. This way we can meet again and you can truly contribute to my memories in the coming years.”
Hamid, you will be enjoying White Spot burgers for decades to come.
Richard Landy is BBQing: “Although I will not be at the reunion this time, a quick update … I hope all is well with you and yours … and that the reunion is a blast! Stay well. My wife, Lauren, and I are looking forward to two celebrations this spring. Our daughter Jenna is
graduating from Cornell, and our son Adam is graduating from NYU Law School. My work in the marketing data business is keeping me quite busy, but this summer looks very promising for a lot of outdoor time including kayaking, biking, hiking, and BBQing.”
Richard, congrats on launching the kids.
Tyler Leinbach builds a dock, part four: “It has been a busy past 12 months. The dock project is proceeding on ‘island time’ (currently 4–6 weeks behind schedule by my U.S. standards but ‘on time’ by my dock contractor’s BVI standards). I have been back and forth four times to the BVI since November to kick-start things, but have been here since early February trying to keep the project moving along towards completion and will be here until late April to try and get things wrapped up then (not sure it will be though). I will probably have to come back down in the summer for final inspection and final payment, but no complaints from me.
“Yes, there has been some other travel in the past year as well. I kicked off the summer with a week in Savannah, Georgia, with some childhood friends in early June and a two-week trip to Ireland and Scotland in July for sightseeing and golf on both islands with some European friends. Got to watch Dustin Johnson, Shane Lowry, and Harold Varner III play a pre-Open practice round in front of us at the Island Golf Club outside of Dublin, Ireland. Suffice it to say, their game is very much different than mine. I did contract COVID-19 near the end of that trip, but my doctor put me on Paxlovid, and I was good to go very quickly.
“Other trips included time in Sandbridge, Virginia; fishing in the Poconos with a childhood friend; time in Pennsylvania with my mother and some childhood friends; several trips to Charleston, South Carolina, where we purchased a small home last April, which is our daughter’s full time residence and our low country ‘getaway spot’; and a late January golf trip to Tampa, Florida, with two London-based friends and one New
York City-based friend (who’s retired but used to work for Martina!).
“Due to a scheduling conflict, Sunshine and I unfortunately will miss our 35th Darden reunion, but we send our best. I hope to be there for the 40th!”
Party on Tyler’s dock! Maybe in a few years.
Geir Lie gives muffins to moose: “Carol and I are adjusting to a more relaxed lifestyle these days and plan to travel more and use our boat in Scandinavia this summer. We now have three grandchildren and really like to spend time watching them grow and develop. We have just come back from a trip to the Portuguese island of Madeira — a mini-Hawaii in Europe — where we enjoyed the treks in the mountains — very different from Norway this time of year. We will celebrate Easter at our mountain cabin with the whole family and really enjoy this mountain area all year round.
“I bought an electric fat bike as an alternative to skiing and it is really a blast when the snow conditions are right. Yes, I have the Pontiac mug, most of my cases (have not looked at them once) and of course I have saved my Darden yearbook. We still have wonderful memories of our time in Charlottesville and will miss attending the reunion this year — the first time I have not come since graduation. We wish the whole Class of ’88 all the best for the 2023 reunion!”
Geir, see you at the next reunion, fat bike, muffins and all.
Bob Lindsey restarts: “I have seen lots of doctors for the last two months for various illnesses/conditions. I did drive to Key West, Florida, in January to go fishing with a good friend, but it was windy with a small craft advisory most of the time I was there, so we worked on getting the boat ready, relaxing, and going out for cocktails and meals. On my flights home, I caught RSV (probably) or the flu (not COVID-19 according to test kits) and I spent three weeks recovering from that. In February, I restarted my pre-
COVID-19 onsite Tai Chi, Yoga, exercise/ stretching classes. My 98-year-old father passed away on 29 November 2022 and I continue to work on settling his estate with my oldest brother. Otherwise, during the weekdays, I watch the markets and trade stocks.”
Bob, condolences to you and your family on the passing of your father. Best of luck with the recovery.
Helen Maher Brownell rocks: “While continuing to oversee my husband Rob’s care (six years ago this June he was diagnosed with ALS), I continue recapturing my post-pandemic concert groove. In 2022, I made it to three Dead & Company shows (Atlanta, Georgia; Red Rocks, Colorado; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). Other notable shows included Stick Figure at Red Rocks, The Lumineers, Haim, Milky Chance, and Keith Urban. This year I will see Dead & Company at least 10 times (Cancun, Mexico; Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Boulder, Colorado; and San Francisco, California).
“Son, Conor, is now in San Francisco and loving it, despite being laid off from SalesForce in January, five months after he started. (He received five months’ severance with full benefits and his 2022 year-end bonus. Not bad for a new hire!). Daughter, Bridget (McIntyre UVA ’22) is in Charlotte, North Carolina, working for Bank of America. In November 2022, Rob (UVA ’83/’85) officially published a wonderful novel, Invention is a Mother. Reviews hail it a modern Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Easiest way to read it is to purchase the ebook version via Amazon. We recently enjoyed separate visits by Carolyn Speer Miles and David Katz.
“I look forward to catching up more with everyone at reunion!”
Helen, congrats on Rob’s book! Dead & Company, ten times! Oh my.
Tom Mihok moves: “Yes, I have the ’87 and ’88 yearbooks. I was section placement rep and was in a few clubs so I knew some second years when we were firsts and bought it.
“I joined JPMorgan Private Bank in late 2022, where I now have a full set of industry-best advisory services for affluent clients. In my last quarterly alumni comments I reported doing financial advisory during the day, teaching at two universities evenings and weekends and working on a startup. For about a year, ending July/August 2022, I was working evenings, weekends and early mornings on the startup that would provide financial advice and education for the 22–55 years old and lower accumulated net worth part of the market advisors avoid with revenue generated by subscriptions. The startup
was a passion project I loved working on but couldn’t find product/market fit, despite my and my co-founders’ industry experience and years of students and others telling me they wanted and would pay for this service. Several classmates helped and provided advice on the startup. Chip Stelljes was especially generous with his time and introductions, Hamid Lalani too. Many thanks to both.
“I’ve transitioned to one job with great tools and colleagues, a well-recognized brand name, fortress balance sheet and a strong network from previous experiences. I’m still teaching personal finance in an online MBA program. I really like the work and my colleagues, and I enjoy still teaching some and promoting my book Optimize Your Resume. By the way, Anurag Sharma introduced me to the online MBA teaching opportunity ten years ago and, through it, we’ve stayed in touch talking over the years about personal finance education and advisory, university education and changes therein, our children and families, online marketing, writing and promoting books, and several passion projects we’ve looked at together. I’m grateful our paths crossed at reunion ten years ago, producing a rewarding and meaningful friendship.”
Tom, congrats on consolidating all of your work!
Mike Mulhern ends at 14 years: “I am not likely making the reunion this year. My daughter moves from C’ville to Birmingham, Alabama, in June. That will end 14 years of having at least one girl at UVA. I do have the yearbook. Daughters no longer use it against me though.”
Mike, the Charlottesville economy hates to see you go!
Tom Neir looking for Gumby: “Not sure that I have either a yearbook or the poor old Gumby outfit. Will look for both. All
may have to settle for fond memories of the Green Guy. Have signed up for the reunion, got most everything I can manage. I am looking forward to the wine event.”
Tom: “Looking for Gumby” sounds like a movie or a book.
Nancy Nyquist Powell still on the river: “Ted and I are planning to attend at least a few reunion events in April, our 33rd wedding anniversary weekend! I’m still working on riverfront advocacy and we are seeing some promising results. The Jacksonville Riverfront was just named as a partner with the High Line Network, co-led by the newly formed Riverfront Parks Conservancy (I’m a founding board member), and the Jessie Ball duPont Fund, who did a study of riverfront activation. Lots of good momentum and substantial funding committed to designing and building destination parks and trails to complement existing and planned developments, but much work to do to fulfill the vision. Jacksonville, Florida, has a solid chance to catch up to peer cities in a few years. Lots of fun to work on this — so different from the corporate world. On the personal front, one of our sons is in grad school.”
Jack Oakes in blue: “I had lunch with Les and Olivia Grayson last week. Tommy started a new job and works remotely, which enables him to travel the U.S. and visit new and old places. Brendan lives in Charlottesville and is focused on becoming an autism advocate. Anna is also in C’ville and started a house cleaning business; she keeps busy with dog sitting, too! Kelly brings smiles to the faces of her students at Trinity School as well as her clients who admire their pet and other portraits.
“I continue to help Fuqua MBA students achieve their career objectives. Though surrounded by Duke blue, I am always rooting for the orange and blue of UVA. I am enjoying the chance to be back in touch with classmates through my work as Class agent and being on the reunion committee. Was saddened to learn of the passing of Professor Susan Chaplinsky who was such a quiet, effective and admirable champion of students and private equity at Darden … she will be missed.
“Like many others, I am pulling for UVA men’s basketball in the ACC and NCAA tournament and am just wondering when that court at JPJ gets named as ‘Tony Bennett’s court?’”
Jack, logo removed, no charge. Happy to do it.
Jeff Orr sends his best: “Yes, I still have my yearbook, not sure when the last time I looked at it was. Unfortunately, I will not be able to make it to the reunion. It looks like it is going to be a great weekend. Give my best
to everyone.”
Steve and Karen Lindseth Parker sell out: “As for yearbooks, we have both. And remember, the yearbook of our second year was, to our knowledge, the first yearbook for a college ever submitted to a publisher entirely on a disc. Thanks to roomie and Apple nut Dave Katz, who convinced a local store to provide special equipment from Apple and designed the whole thing. Sounds easy today but in 1987 that was not a thing yet. I still remember Dave negotiating with the University about the spinning Darden logo on the cover and UVA specifying how far the logos had to be from each other in order to comply with their trademark rules. Bureaucracy!
“Our news this time around is that we sold our industrial distribution company at the end of 2022. Took about 15 months and a ton of work, but we learned we never want to go through due diligence with a private equity firm again. The time seemed right though and after 20 years of the distribution world under our belt, we look forward to more freedom to visit family and friends without the daily responsibility of running a business. Steve will work in 2023 with the new owners for a smooth transition and Karen should wrap up her commitment hopefully by the Darden reunion. After that, a long stint in the mountains sounds good, visiting our three kids out west even better, and some new challenges to spend our time.”
Karen and Steve, congrats on selling the company; enjoy the mountains.
Donovan Perkins relaxes: “It has been a tough two-year period for the world and thankfully things have normalized. I took all my shots and came through OK. I have not heard from Richard Landy for an extended period. Would love to see the face that picked me with his ‘ya mon’ when the pressure was on. Hope all is well with you all, especially those affected by the virus in any significant way.
“I retired early and now spend lots of time on my mountain bike in the hills looking down on Kingston. Might be hard for me to get to the reunion this year as we have big plans this summer!”
Donovan, am on. No red contact lens needed for you.
Mary Moser Phillips notably absent: “Yes, I still have my yearbook. My husband has surprised me with a trip to Tucson, Arizona, for my birthday. So we won’t be at the reunion but will be enjoying ourselves. Grandsons are into flag football and baseball now. Keeps us very busy. I am still singing with the group The Notables. Check out our website: notables-singers.com.”
Mary, enjoy Tucson. Happy birthday. See you at No. 40!
Mark Price gets rain: “Julie and I, along with our mini Bernedoodle, Luna, spent the last two months in Southern California with my mother. Very important to be with her. Tons of rain here, but hard to complain about. Finishing one and a half years at CaringBridge as their CDO, still loving it and feeling like our team is doing good and meaningful work. Teaching marketing analytics to MBA students at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, as well. My various aches and pains seem to have subsided and I am back to Crossfit, spin and tennis.
“Our younger daughter, Hannah, has been accepted into the master’s in Asian studies program at Georgetown and we are super proud of her. Our older daughter, Jessica, got married to a wonderful man in October 2022. Lots of things to be thankful for, especially for health and family.”
Mark, congrats on CaringBridge and the family successes!
Udo Reichling working: “I am living in breathless anticipation of the reunion. The hotel at Darden has predictably not opened yet, but I am going to the Omni as usual, anyway. This year, my daughter is going to
join me from Washington, D.C. Times are changing.
“I am probably one of the few still (sort of) working. I am on a sliding scale towards retirement. Germany is holding up pretty well, the doomsday scenarios have not come to pass. The situation has pulled the curtain from some of the long-term difficulties we have like energy, defense, infrastructure, demographics … The next generation has their work cut out for them. (Jeez, I am beginning to sound old.) Given the shortage of teachers, my wife is currently working more than I do … they are really running flat out. Everything else is holding up as usual. Looking forward to seeing you all in C’ville.”
Udo, breathe, see you in C’ville where the air is fresh.
Mary Roff Long still has them: “Yes, I have both yearbooks. Good times …”
Takashi Shigemori ponders stagnation while semi-retiring: “I have semi-retired from Sumitomo Chemical as of 31 March after having worked for 40 years, with the last job being senior managing officer in charge of Corporate Planning and IT. It gives me a sense of big relief, being offloaded from a heavy responsibility. I have not thought of and prepared for what I should do hereafter, as of today (2 April).
“In retrospect, my work life coincided with the period of Japan’s three decades of stagnant economic growth. 35–36 years ago, in our classes we learned Japanese management systems, but that was a peak time. Sumitomo Chemical did grow, but mainly in its overseas operations. I myself stayed in Singapore for 10-plus years and in Saudi Arabia for 7-plus years, and these countries quickly developed. In that sense, my work could have potentially contributed to their economies.
“On a personal note, my two daughters reside in the U.K., one as a post-doc for cancer research, and the other in a university’s administration. Their generation perhaps finds Japan less inspiring.
“In spite of what I have just written, my wife and I live in Yokohama, Japan, and feel that a stagnant society is not necessarily terribly bad.”
Takashi, no stagnating for you in the hereafter. Congrats on the semi-retirement.
Carolyn Speer Miles says hello to Vietnam: “Really looking forward to seeing so many classmates at our reunion and I know it is going to be a great time back in Charlottesville! I have been here at Darden now for the past two years. As I write this I am leading a group of 34 Darden students on a trip to Vietnam to look at sustainability in a LMIC! Greetings from Hanoi, Vietnam. We definitely missed a trick on these global experiences back there in the late ’80s —
amazing visits every Darden student gets to experience.
“When I am not traipsing the world for Darden, I am back in Charlottesville teaching and for the moment, running the Darden Foundation. The Foundation owns the new hotel, so that has been a little crazy the last year. But it is beautiful and, for those of you who make it to reunion, we’ll get to try it out for our Class dinner. I know my roomie Helen Maher Brownell will be there because she is staying with me!
“Otherwise, all good to report. My three kids are all on different paths: one in special forces as a medic, one in Denver, Colorado, working and snowboarding, and one still in college. No grandbabies yet, but looking forward to that milestone.”
Carolyn, thanks for all of the work you do for Darden.
Chip Stelljes shares: “Yes, I still have the yearbook. Looking forward to the reunion.”
Curt Voges almost into the 20th century: “I plan to be at the reunion and I do have my yearbook from 1988. Donna and I have had a busy few months. In late January our son got married after a two-year COVID-19 induced delay. My daughter-in-law wanted an intimate destination wedding, so a small group made their way to Mayakoba, Mexico, an area about 45 minutes south of Cancun, Mexico. We had great weather, great food and a joyous service. I must admit I was a bit skeptical about Mexico, but the resort was beautiful and secure.
“In mid-February, Donna and I headed to Texas for a few weeks away from snow. We visited friends in Austin and then settled in Houston. While not a typical vacation destination, Donna and I met in Houston before I came to Darden. Houston is the antithesis of where we now live in Michigan. We had great early springtime weather, excellent restaurants and big-city shopping. We reconnected with old friends from our IBM days and really enjoyed ourselves.
“On the presidential reading front, I’m plowing through Chester Arthur and on the cusp of entering the 20th century.”
Curt, keep up the adventurous travel and reading.
Jon Wallace slows down a little: “Jacqueline and I spent the last year settling into a slightly slower pace. I continue to work with the venture capital companies I invested in over the last 20 years and am appreciative for the energy and talent of the management teams in those companies.
“Our son and daughter are pursuing promising careers. Watching them in the early stages of their careers brings back my post-Darden experience in 1988. Darden taught me the business principles I needed for success, and many cases became lessons helping me get through business problems. Sometimes the lessons were improperly applied and, well, I paid the price. Most of the time they were very valuable and helpful insight for the next step in my career. I continue to stay in touch with my section members, especially Jerry Connolly and Geir Lie. My classmates have been invaluable companions in my career. I look forward to many more reunion celebrations!”
Jonathan, you need to write a case or two on those “lessons … improperly applied.”
Keith Watkins zips-it-up: “The past six months, Sherry and I have focused on travel. During October 2022 we took a photo safari to Tanzania followed by Zanzibar. We began on Mt. Kilimanjaro then moved to the Serengeti where we saw the beginning of the great wildebeest migration back to Tanzania from Kenya; too many elephants and zebra to count. We did get close to 93 lions and 3 leopards, although we never saw a rhinoceros because there are only 52 left in Tanzania. Other than four nights in hotels we spent two weeks tent camping. At night, our tents were guarded by Maasai warriors. We were not permitted outside the confine of the zippered tent in the event a hyena or
lion was browsing for a meal! Although we were not permitted to handle firearms, the Maasai did give us a whistle to blow (loudly) if an animal tried to break into our tent. No, we never had to blow the whistle, but we did hear the zebras and warthogs rub up against the tent every night. We capped the Serengeti with five days in Zanzibar on the beach snorkeling and getting to know the natives in the small village next door.
“This month we just returned from a twoweek eco-safari in Costa Rica’s rain forests for Sherry to do her ‘birding.’ (Sorry, not my thing!) She spotted 167 different bird species and too many new plants to count. We highly recommend Costa Rica as it is easy, safe and relatively inexpensive … less than a three-hour flight from Miami, Florida. Our parting gift from Costa Rica, however, was another mild case of COVID-19! We leave in mid-June for two months camping in the fifth wheel in multiple Colorado campgrounds. Anything to get out of the Raleigh, North Carolina, summer heatwaves!
“Unfortunately, we will not be able to make the Class reunion, but we wish all our friends and classmates well!”
Keith, do you have a bird spreadsheet? 167 different birds … that’s a lot of birds.
Steve Wilhoit wading through the stuff: “Unfortunately, Jennifer and I cannot attend the reunion in April. We are caught up getting my father’s house in Virginia Beach, Virginia, ready to sell by the beginning of May. He died in the fall after living 96 independent years. He lived in his house in Linkhorn Park (just behind the old Cavalier Hotel) for 69 years and accumulated a lot of stuff (highlight ‘stuff’). We have been working to clear the house to put it on the market, which has been a chore given we do not live nearby.
“We continue to live in retirement in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, near our two daughters, son-in-law and our two grand-
children. Our days are spent taking care of the grandkids, playing pickle ball and traveling now that COVID-19 has subsided … also, watching UVA sports of any kind whenever they visit UNC or Duke. It’s a tough life.
“Hope the reunion goes well. Sorry, we will miss everyone this time.”
Steve, I’ll take Virginia Beach over Chapel Hill any day.
Leslie Zanetti Schorr sends wishes: “I will unfortunately not be able to attend the reunion but know everyone will have a great time and I certainly look forward to the post-reunion edition of the Class Notes! Best wishes to the class, have a great reunion!”
Scott Ziegler on a mission: “Life is good at home and I am approaching 35 years at Progressive Insurance. I am also thankful for the opportunity to work with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) board as we seek to reduce the number of serious injuries related to auto accidents. You likely have seen car commercials touting their safety ratings — we are the independent third party that does the testing.
“Helping with this mission is deeply personal and rewarding as my brother was in
a serious car accident in his early twenties that left him with a life changing traumatic brain injury. I am encouraged by the thought of helping others (even in some small way) avoid the devastating consequence of a severe auto accident.
“Like many, Amy and I are looking forward to the future … and a new stage of life. As part of that plan, we signed a contract on a new condo in Florida that will be ready in 2025. We will experiment with splitting our time between Virginia and Florida and welcome any advice from those that split time between locations. Excited to see everyone at the reunion — thanks for those organizing and hosting!”
Scott, you have earned that Florida condo. 35 years at Progressive, impressive. Say goodbye to Virginia.
To end, here are my favorite chips and quips over the last five years. Thanks to the 145 classmates who have sent me almost 550 notes and 77,000-plus words. I have really enjoyed getting to know everyone in a great way. There were so many notes to choose from … sorry if I did not mention yours! In a sort of chronological order:
Lee Buckner wins the ambition award: “I picked up cycling a few years ago as a way to
stay in shape (kind of). Started out training for 100-mile events, now resigned to getting 65 milers done in under 5 hours.”
The C. Ray Smith mentor award goes to Gary Marcotte: “My days now consist of cleaning toilets, mopping floors, and talking to the homeless … and wishing I paid more attention to C. Ray Smith. I had no idea how little corporate life prepared one for owning a small business.”
The Udo Reichling consistency award: “Well, what can I say, still no change: same job, same wife, and same house.”
Donovan Perkins gets the “ya mon” be happy and relax award: “My son, Alex, is a ganja farmer and … and … well that’s enough said!”
Bob Lindsey gets a minivan award: “I traded in my two Fords (Mustang Cobra and Escape SUV) for an Audi A6 with a supercharged V6. I think the Cobra was the mid-life crisis, the Audi is just downsizing from two cars to one car to make life easier, but without giving up any of the fun.” Bob, you should have to drive a minivan for a year (or two).
Chris Burk wins the long-term planner award: “I bought a kid’s Darden shirt while at Darden, with thoughts on having a wife-
plus-kids at some point.”
Jim Goulden receives the best memory and memorial award: “I still have both my and Carrie’s HP-12Cs, and I remember paying $124 for mine at Lechmere in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the summer of 1986! I have them in separate locations … kind of like my readers!”
Blanton Hamilton receives the best advice award: “Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever quit!”
Jack Oakes gets the eraser and common-sense award: “Is there a way to Photoshop the Duke logo off my shirt?”
Cindy Yule wins the Darden Class of ’88 Reunion Brick award: “Lord no. I don’t have my HP-12C. Got rid of that brick four years ago when we seriously downsized and moved to Chicago, Illinois. It brought me no joy.”
Cindy, I know it is not your brand.
Steve Biggerstaff wins the Energizer Bunny award: “I find that my HP-12C works just fine if I replace the batteries about every 10 years. Coincidentally, that’s also how my cardiologist describes my new defibrillator.”
Nicholas Stancioff gets the humbleness award: “When I read what everyone else is doing, I’m so impressed both by the breadth and the achievements. It humbles me and I’m gratified at the same time that we, as a cohort, have been privileged to have the ‘Darden experience.’”
Verner Daniel gets the refried beans award: “I have been trying to track Mark Sanford down for a dinner but it is problematic, again, due to COVID-19. He says we will meet for some cheap Mexican food when the coast is clear. And yes, he does mean microwaved refried beans! I do look forward to seeing him and catching up at some point.”
Blanton Hamilton receives the honesty award: “No cases, I barely read them the first time around.”
Cowboy Tom Johnstone strikes back and wins the anti-Chick-fil-A “eat mor chikin” award: “Be sure to eat extra burgers and steak.”
Tyler Leinbach wins best word: peripatetic.
Leslie Zanetti Schorr deserves the pride and excellent advice award: “I have great pride in what my company, J&J, has achieved in bringing a COVID-19 vaccine to the market and its important contributions to help bring an end to the pandemic crisis. Also — mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be lawyers!”
Most organized award goes to Chip Stelljes: “Kept all of my cases in black binders for years … all in chronological order by class.”
Darden Class of ’88 hoarder award be-
longs to Steve Biggerstaff: HP-12C, Darden logo wear, Earl Black & Whites T, Pontiac Darden mug, yearbook … every case in a box somewhere in his house. What else you got Steve? Need some binders?
The most diligent Notes editor is Allison Cryor DiNardo. Thanks Allison!
The Professor Dan Newton succinctness award goes to Robin Doumar for the most effective, shortest, and only note I received from him … a single four-letter word, “Sure” when asked if he would match classmate donations.
Here are a few post-reunion notes: What a great weekend. The hotel delivered and then some, the weather cooperated, and the class turned out to enjoy the events! Thanks to Bret Holden, Don Dunham and Martina Hund-Mejean for hosting. Thanks to the reunion committee for all of their hard work. Lastly, thanks to Carolyn Speer Miles and her staff for putting on a great reunion.
The weekend got kicked off with a Friday afternoon cocktail party at the school. Lots of us attended, including Takashi Shigemori, Carolyn Speer Miles and Chuck DiMeglio.
Another group included Bob Lindsey, Dave Skove, Scott Essley, Jim Beddows, Martha Shenkenberg, Jerry Connolly, and Chuck DiMeglio.
The party then moved to Brett Holden’s farm. Thanks Brett! Professors Mark Haskins and Sherwood Frey joined us for the evening. Mark Haskins shared that, with all of the recent retirements, he is now in the top three of Darden’s longest tenured professors. Mark became tenured about the time we graduated. Sherwood talked about retirement, traveling and the long-running Darden pig roast he stoked coals for. The pig roast started during our days at Darden. The class movie also debuted at Brett’s.
If you would like a copy of the movie, please contact Gina DeMattia at demattiag@darden.virginia.edu. Please respect your classmate’s privacy. Several classmates don’t want or can’t have their images posted on the internet. So please don’t post the movie or images of your classmates on the internet without permission.
The next morning, after breakfast at Darden, Dean Beardsley gave a state of the school address. Needless to say, things are looking very good for Darden. Lots of new faculty, buildings and ambitions. Dean Bruner taught his last case before retiring. The class wandered off to Foxfield, Birdwood, wine tasting, pickle-balling, shopping and lunching for the afternoon. Sylvia Bray Kinsey enjoyed a relaxing view from the Forum Hotel room she named. Thanks Sylvia!
The class got back together for a cocktail
party in Martina Hund-Mejean’s inspired Casa ’88, located in the Forum Hotel. Thanks Martina! What a great wine cellar.
The weather held out and we were able to have a wonderful dinner outside overlooking the new arboretum, frog sounds and all. The dinner got kicked off by Martha Shenkenberg presenting me with an overwhelming number of letters of thanks from classmates. Shelly and I appreciate all the kind words and sentiment. I was also presented, by Jerry Connolly, a pewter pen holder that now sits on my desk. Martha then read Chris Burk’s poem, generated by ChatGPT.
Hamid Lalani followed up with a standup comedy routine where, among other things, he noted the differences, or not, between him and fellow classmate Sharma.
Finally, Hamid too read a ChatGPT-generated poem thanking me for my efforts as secretary.
The UVA a cappella group sang several songs to our class. The finale included a song led by Philip DiMeglio (no relation that I know of …), which ended with the group serenading Carolyn Speer Miles and Helen Maher Brownell.
The rain held off and we closed the weekend with a great brunch at Don Dunham’s house. I presented the Secretary’s Award, an HP-12C glued to a brick, to Carolyn Speer Miles for her leadership in donating the initial tree to our memorial grove honoring our deceased classmates. I picked up the discarded and mortar-covered brick from the Forum Hotel construction site. So, the brick has a little more meaning for Carolyn, given her role in opening the hotel. She says the brick is resting comfortably in her office.
Several classmates wanted to attend the reunion but were unable to make the trip at the last minute, including Beth Moffet, Sam Ruth, Jay West, Simon Harford and Chris Burk. Of particular note are Beth Moffet and Sam Ruth. Beth’s husband, Matthew Powell, passed away a few days before the reunion. Sam Ruth’s girlfriend, Lisa Goodman, passed away a few days after the reunion. Condolences to Beth Moffet and her family, as well as for Sam Ruth and his family.
Post-reunion, Takashi Shigemori took the train to New York City to tour the city and visit Professor Grayson before heading back to Japan.
Helen Maher Brownell sent me a note: “For folks who asked about my double-Wahoo husband, Rob. My Renaissance man wrote a fantastic novel and published last November entirely by voice! (Rob was diagnosed with ALS six years ago.) Authors Bill Burnett (Designing Your Life), Will Leitch (How Lucky) and Dan Marshall (Home is Burning) read and loved the book.”
Rob Brownell’s book, Invention Is a Mother, is available via Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Joe Balog: “As you know I will be in Italy next weekend on a month-long trip. One of my retirement goals includes making longer trips and seeing more of the world than the inside of world capital conference rooms. I will be thinking about our class and especially our international classmates. I will never forget Takashi summarizing an operations case with the famous quote ‘Scrap? We don’t have scrap in Japan.’ I am looking forward to coming back to Darden and seeing our memorial grove and attending our next reunion.”
Jerry Connolly: “I really enjoyed our 35th reunion. The turnout was outstanding; the events were so much fun. I really sensed a great bonding with those who attended. Thank you to all who made the weekend special: from the reunion committee to Bret Holden and Martina Hund-Mejean who hosted special dinner events over the weekend. A special thanks to Jack Oakes, Rob Hanckel and Steve Biggerstaff for putting up with me and my subpar golf game for over four hours on Saturday.”
Jim Goulden: “I caught up with Jim in Orlando, Florida, post-reunion for brunch. Charlotte Pipe is keeping him busy! See you at the 40th, Jim.”
Steve Krohn: “Too funny — I too have met Rick David (’81). Regularly in fact, for over a decade now, at our timeshare industry association’s various conferences. His specialty finance firm assists many in our industry on a project finance basis. I never, ever knew he rode a horse to a Q&A speech before. Rick was amused to know his photo is still circulating.”
Hamid Lalani: “Gina and I were thrilled to spend the weekend with my classmates, most of whom I had not seen in 30+ years. I also got a great kick out of pretending that I was Sharma … though not many fell for it. I did not have to worry about my wife, Gina, at all because all my friends seem to like her more than they like me. I know, you don’t have to keep reminding me — I did marry up! Being in Charlottesville is a special pleasure for us because our older son, Samir, is a Ph.D. candidate at the UVA Medical School.
“After learning about the accomplishments of my classmates, I felt my personal stock had gone up from being associated with them. Just a few name drops:
“I went to school with the two-time governor of South Carolina.
“Another classmate, my ‘friend’ Carolyn Speer Miles, is currently the president of the Darden School Foundation and dedicated
her MBA to saving children as the decades long president of Save the Children.
“And one more classmate, a fellow international student and, like me, a proud ‘Born Again American.’ She has led several Fortune 50 companies in her illustrious career. She generously gave back to Darden and hosted a party at a great spot inside the new hotel on the Darden grounds, Casa ’88. Thank you, Martina Hund-Mejean.”
Hamid, please write a book.
Bob Lindsey: “I had a great time at the reunion talking with everyone, all of whom were so friendly. It was great to talk with Takashi and his wife, whom I last visited in Singapore decades ago, and to meet his youngest, very bright and engaging daughter. Not much is new with me upon my return to Reston, Virginia. I will get my five-year-after-cancer-treatment CT scans next month to check on things.
“Those raft trips were great fun. The old growth forest and the cabins that we stayed at in the West Virginia Park were amazing. I still have fond memories of those trips.”
Bob, best of luck with the CT scans. The raft trip group photo was sent in by Beth Moffet.
Nicholas Stancioff reflects: “How to relate the Darden experience of the last 35 years in as few words as possible? I take a few deep breaths (that reminds me that my favorite workout is still swimming). I started it with Scott Richardson. I remember that when McKinsey presented to us, the partner boasted of the miles he had flown, his gold/ platinum status at the best hotels, and the number of hotdogs he had eaten in airports. I decided that was one job I would not want.
“Instead, I’ve flown non-stop. I’ve flown on the fancy Concorde between New York and Paris, and on dangerous Antonovs over Ukraine and Bulgaria. But no, I have never eaten a hotdog on the job, only with my kids. And I love them.
“Today, I’m married for the fourth time — Laila is a Brazilian who moved to Eastern Europe, motivated like me to discover the land of refugee grandparents. I have three daughters from my earlier marriages. The first arrived a month after our graduation. Eloïse lives in Madrid and makes pottery from recycled materials between consulting gigs; Adelaïde lives in Paris, turns 30, and will deliver low carbon interior architecture designs; while Paüla from Riga, Latvia, age 13, informs me that I’m too old to remember what a teenager is.
“I’m still chasing negawatts while offering residents ‘Safety, Health and Comfort — Guaranteed.’ I travel around Europe lobbying and searching for investors. I suffered a very serious setback when a Swiss fund de-
cided to make a hostile takeover of my tiny fund. We resisted, but at a very painful cost.
“However, having survived, we have found an innovative way to help Ukraine and the Baltics: we have put together a consortium to propose a complete pre-fab solution for repairing, insulating and building new ‘zero Russian gas buildings.’
“As I write this, I remember an event from the last reunion I attended in ’08. Grayson was upset that I was only trading stocks for my own account. Olivia told him to leave me alone and I should do as I want. Well, clearly, I listened to Les: my stocks are gone and I’m still working hard. I’m grateful to Darden, the tools it gave me, and its amazing professors who continue to inspire me.”
Oh, and Tyler Leinbach sent me an update on his island dock … maybe by our 40th reunion…
That’s a wrap. Thanks for taking the time to send me your notes. Thanks to Allison Cryor DiNardo, Karen Lindseth Parker and Shelly for help with editing this edition of Notes. Super job by the reunion committee. I would also like to thank all those who have donated their time, talents and money to Darden. We have an amazing collection of classmates who are providing inspirational leadership to the school and our classmates. Particular thanks to those who have their names posted high on Darden’s walls. An amazing commitment. I know more names will appear soon. It has been a great five years! Thank you for being part of it!
Champe Fisher, Steve Hassett Champe59@gmail.com, shassett@hassett-mail.com
We begin our column with an update on the Class of 1989 Bicentennial Scholars Fund. The scholarship fund initiative was started in the period leading up to our 30th reunion as a solution to Darden’s inability, unlike many other top business schools at the time, to provide funds for need-based financial aid or scholarships. To attract the best students from all walks of life, the school knew it had to establish and develop a program of needbased financial aid and grow its program for merit-based and need-based scholarships. As a result, for the 30th Reunion Giving campaign our Class was asked to consider a gift to the school’s scholarship endowment that would support, in perpetuity, a full-tuition scholarship at Darden. In order to kick start the process, Darden matched our 30th reunion scholarship gift through UVA’s Strategic Investment Fund at $0.50 for every $1.00 contributed. Thanks to our robust response to the school’s challenge and the matching
provided by UVA, we are happy to report that the Class of 1989 Bicentennial Scholars Fund is almost $800,000! It gives us greater pleasure to share with you the scholarship fund’s most recent recipient: Obinna Uche Maduako, Darden ’24. Obinna is a graduate of Abia State University Law School in Nigeria and Vanderbilt University Law School. We are happy to share Obinna’s resume if it is of interest to you; please let us know.
For those who may be interested in giving to the Class of 1989 Scholarship Fund, the form can be found at givecampus.com/ campaigns/20524/donations/new. Search for “The Class of 1989 Bicentennial Scholars Fund” in the designation section.
As an additional update on Darden’s ongoing initiative, the school’s Powered for Purpose campaign is successfully closing and the Faculty Forward effort is underway with a goal of funding a new generation of faculty. The school’s belief is it is just as important to get great faculty as it is to attract great students. The Powered for a Purpose campaign has endowed 28 new faculty chairs and 92 new scholarships. The Faculty Forward campaign is focused on building the faculty for the future through the professors themselves and the support system necessary to allow them to educate and thrive.
If you haven’t participated in either campaign, it is not too late as there are many opportunities to do so — whether it is helping with the Powered for Purpose campaign or participating in the Faculty Forward initiative. Also, as a kickoff to the Faculty Forward campaign, the school is going to honor Bob Bruner, who is retiring after 40 years at Darden.
Thank you for your patience while we provided updates on the critical initiatives for the Class and the School. We want to be sure everyone is up to speed when they arrive
in Charlottesville for our 35th reunion.
Now for the part everyone has been waiting for, the Class Notes:
Elizabeth (Shaw) Crandall writes: “After 17 years in the northwest Chicago, Illinois, suburbs, we moved to beautiful Durango, Colorado. For most of those Chicago years, my husband, Stephen, and I owned and operated a business that helped seniors and people with disabilities stay in their homes. Our team installed stairlifts, wheelchair lifts, home elevators and remodeled bathrooms — all to provide enhanced accessibility. We sold our company to a PE-backed firm focused on creating a national brand, Lifeway Mobility. We are thoroughly enjoying our next chapter in life and all the outdoor activities — from summer hiking to winter skiing. And an added bonus is that both of our sons live in Colorado. Our Darden ‘roommate group’ (Deborah Kelleher Spiers, Kristin Johnson Herendeen, Cynthia Van Vranken Keating, Eileen O’Shea Auen) continues to stay in touch — it’s amazing to think our friendships are 35 years old!”
Steve and Marla Buerk are very proud to share that their daughter Emily, a fourth year UVA engineering student and Rodman Scholar, has earned an impressive award. The merit-based Sky Alland Scholarship is one of UVA’s most competitive undergraduate scholarships. The award recognizes a student who demonstrates leadership, achievement, enterprising spirit, humility and devotion to the University. Hmm … could Emily be Darden material?! Emily will be relocating to New York City to work for Apple as a Software Engineer. You can read more about Emily’s accomplishments at skyscholarship. com.
In this section labeled “Keeping up the with the Ukrops,” we have an update from Scott and Lilo Ukrop: Ned Ukrop (MBA ’22) and his wife Margaret, and Polly Ukrop (MBA ’23) and her husband Kacy Yuhas (MBA ’22) will be working in New York. Look out in the Big Apple! Also, Lilo continues to enjoy teaching the second year reading seminar at Darden under Jacquie Doyle
Please keep the Class Notes coming and remember our 35th reunion is right around the corner.
Heather McGrew, Steve Silbiger heatherjmcgrew@gmail.com, silbigers@ gmail.com
Ashok Bajpai was the first to respond to our call for news. Ashok has been in Singapore for the past four years, working in healthcare. “It’s been great, but also very difficult during
COVID-19, as you can imagine. My kids have also grown up. My son Sid is an investment banker with Scotiabank in Vancouver, Canada, and my daughter Ritika applied for her MBA this year. We have every indication that she will gain admission to Darden, but I think she has her heart set on going to the Rotman School at the University of Toronto. Another generation is where we were when we all met in 1988!”
Larry Selzer is still leading the Conservation Fund, “June will begin my 33rd year. Still going strong and focusing intently on using land conservation to help facilitate the build-out of clean energy infrastructure we need to address climate change. Interestingly, I am working with Bain Consulting and crossed paths with Kara (Van Bremen) Gruver who has been a top leader there for as long as I have been at the Conservation Fund. I connect with Frank Kollmansperger and Rufus Phillips in Richmond, Virginia, where they are great friends with our oldest son, Hank. Our daughter, Ellie, will graduate in May from the master’s program at the University of Southern California Architecture School.”
Speaking of Frank, he shared that the (unofficial) Darden 90 Richmond Running Club, with its two members (Frank and Tom Crowell) is still going strong. Frank and Tom are currently training together for an upcoming 10K (possibly the Ukrops Monument Avenue 10K, which is where Tom and Frank bumped into your humble scribe, Heather, a few years ago when all three ran in the event). Frank writes, “At times, walkers pass us as we run, but it is a special time to talk about life and I treasure it.” Frank and his wife have two boys, Kirby and Matt, who he describes as caring young men who are “off the family payroll.” He also proudly shared that his wife, Mary Cay, ran a marathon in Jacksonville, Florida, in February. Go, Mary Cay, go!
Dee Shupe thanked us for checking in
and asking about her author life-chapter that recently unfolded. “Yes, I wrote To My Dear Friend: The Art of Friendship with my dear friend and amazing artist, Karen Burton. It’s a colorful celebration of friendship told through delightfully illustrated notes written to a friend. I didn’t plan on writing a book yet — a bucket list item, for sure — but I hit the pause button on my emerging fashion design business during COVID-19 and that allowed time for other adventures. As we came out of the pandemic, Karen and I realized we could all use a fun, easy way to reconnect with friends after being separated for so long. We wrote this book as a fun gift book. We hoped for, but didn’t expect, the wonderful reactions we’ve gotten. We are thrilled and grateful that people share their friends’ stories with us and tell us how happy they feel after reading the book. It’s a quick read but it gives the reader the time and space to think about their friendships over the years and the special people that are part of their lives. One reader calls it, ‘a beautiful hug’ and another, ‘the feel-good book we all need right now.’ Check out Amazon for further details.
“For me, the writing process was the feelgood I needed. You remember my husband, Michael? Yep, still together after 35 years. Well, perfectly healthy, he was diagnosed with a congenital heart issue that required open-heart surgery. Everything is great now, but in the hospital and during the stressful caregiving days of recovery, I found escape in the writing world. Thinking about my friends inspired my writing, but more importantly, gave me strength, a smile, and yet another reason for gratitude. As if having Michael alive wasn’t enough, but, hey, more is more, right?!”
But Dee has not stopped there. She is finishing up another fashion design program from Parsons, this one in 3D Virtual Fashion
Design software. Her design business is pivoting toward tennis and pickleball apparel as she now spends a lot of time organizing and playing both.
Dee and Michael are also triple ’Hoo parents! Dee reports, “Our oldest, Sean, is teaching high school English and Music at an at-risk public school in Lexington, Kentucky. He’s married to his UVA sweetheart, Heidi, a veterinarian, and they have our two grandkids: Milo, age almost-3, and Elsie, age 6 months. Our middle son, Brendan, just married his high school and UVA sweetheart, Riley, and they live in the East Village in New York City, working with a fintech startup and a public policy group. Our youngest and last UVA grad, Madeleine, is a subway-stop away from her brother, living in the Williamsburg neighborhood in NYC. She is working in film/TV with the goal of writing for TV and being a showrunner. She headed to NYC as soon as she was vaccinated in 2021, starting at the very bottom as a PA and writing her own shows on the side. She’s now been on set for both film and TV, recently working on the last season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” Dee continues to support literacy as a board member of the Loudoun Literacy Council and she says the work they’re doing in childhood literacy is having a great impact on low-income families.
Michael Larsen and his wife, Sarah, moved to a small farm in Free Union, 20 minutes outside Charlottesville. Sarah has a private counseling practice in Charlottesville and Michael is working on the farm. They have a small herd of Red Devon cattle which he rotational grazes, moving every few days to fresh pasture. They are planting an elderberry orchard and renovating a barn for events and gatherings. Their kids, Caroline, Andrew and Peter, are well. Andrew is overseas in Ethiopia and Peter just graduated UVA. Michael writes, “If anyone is in the area and would like to connect and see the farm, I would welcome the opportunity. We have enjoyed visits from Janet and Jim Lloyd and Peggy and Jeff Tikson since arriving. Hoping to have the Goulds out soon as well, having just bumped into them in Charlottesville.”
At the time we were pulling together the column, Vicky Howell-O’Bresly had recently had two Darden encounters/mini reunions. Vicky continues to lead professional programs at UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering and to teach a lecture series to aspiring innovators — first year through Ph.D. She describes the latter as “a passion project, driven by my appreciation of great speakers at Darden.” For the first mini-family/Darden reunion, Vicky and her sister, CC Kunert
(Darden ’96), traveled to Zululand in South Africa for New Year’s with their children. For a second mini-Darden reunion, shortly before New Year’s, Vicky and Cynthia Ashworth went to Dodger Stadium for Elton’s last stop on the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road tour. (Cynthia has a personal connection to Elton John — something to ask her about at the next class reunion! Seriously, we are all three degrees of separation away from Sir Elton.) Vicky and her husband, Mike, periodically get to Charlottesville and otherwise are thoroughly enjoying living in the Bay Area in California.
Chris Crisman’s wife, Shari, is continuing to teach children with special needs in Florida and helping the family adapt to their new puppy, Lulabelle. Chris transitioned out of traditional corporate work to the world of startups with three different engagements in the U.S. and France, “two of which currently pay me. Hoping to get the third up and running soon.”
Anne Kroemer Hoffman and her husband are succumbing to the lure of the Commonwealth. Anne has been living in Chicago, Illinois, for decades, ever since we graduated from Darden. By the time you read this, she will be getting ready to move back to Virginia. Anne shares, “The youngest of our daughters graduated from high school and toddled off to college last fall. With no grandchildren in sight or even on the distant horizon, my husband retiring from his 30-year career in law enforcement at the end of 2023, and the kids scattered across the country (one internationally) at present, we had some decisions to make. We bought some property in southwestern Virginia in late 2021 and have been building a house there for the last year. It’s now ready for occupancy. We put our Chicago house on the market in March, and it sold much faster than we expected — to the point where we’ll need to rent a place for our last seven months here. (Oops!)
“The serenity and slower pace of life in the New River Valley, Virginia, will be a monumental shift for us. We’ll also need to figure out what is next work-wise — I could keep doing what I’m doing, but I may want to shift gears since my husband will be making a big change. It’s a lot of newness and shape-shifting all at once, and I’m still adjusting to this empty nest business. I hope we’re up for it!”
Gina Galgano Hoagland reports that things are good in St. Louis, Missouri. It’s been almost 30 years since Gina moved there to become the lead entrepreneur at Collaborative Strategies Inc. The firm continues to provide board, strategy and succession consulting to companies and not-for-profits. Her focus is mostly as lead director on
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boards these days and she finds it interesting, challenging and rewarding. Gina and her husband, Lee, are empty nesting as their youngest is a sophomore at Bryn Mawr College and their two older kids have graduated college and are in the working world. “We will be traveling to Charlottesville at the end of April for a wedding of two Darden alumni. A friend’s daughter is marrying her Darden classmate. I am looking forward to returning to Charlottesville.”
Finally, wrapping up our column with a note from scribe Steve Silbiger: “My child, Daphne, went back to school for an MFA in playwriting at the University of Texas, Austin. After gaining some traction as a playwright with their New York City production of Six Years Old, a full-ride competitive scholarship opportunity came up. They applied and it just so happens, COVID-19 shut down the entire theatrical industry in NYC, so there was no hard decision to make to go back to school. As part of a graduating capstone, they wrote and produced a play named Very Blue Light. Set in Marfa, Texas, it is about alien visitation and transgender issues.”
laurel77@comcast.net
Hello Darden ’91! I am not sure if it was the flower emoji in the email subject line or the new email platform Darden created for class secretaries, but thank you to all who shared your news. Makes this job much easier. Awesome to read everyone’s updates. With five pages of notes, I did very minor editing/ deleting.
Tom (Darden ’93) and I are enjoying that quieter time after three teens pass into their early 20s. College, jobs and gap years … it’s a good time. I am a consumer energy advocate/writer, and I tackle reforming residential energy suppliers. We live in Baltimore, Maryland, and often get together with Gillian and Ed Meigs, Tracy and Cotton Swindell, and Mark and Mindy Klausner and so many other Darden friends.
You may recall that John Carrico and Sheri were married at Darden. And sadly, John shares: “I am so sad to share that I lost my wife, Sheri, to early onset Alzheimer’s disease last June 2022. Sheri and I were high school and college (UVA) sweethearts. She was diagnosed at 47, and she battled courageously for 10 years against a disease that has no meds to slow the progression or cure the disease. Alzheimer’s is very cruel when it impacts your parents or grandparents; it is horrid when it strikes someone in her 40s. Sheri is finally whole again and at peace in
heaven. I retired six years ago and was able to dedicate 24x7 caregiving for Sheri since 2016. I was blessed to have been married to Sheri since we both graduated from UVA — 35 years ago. On more positive notes: my older son, Tyler (UVA Commerce ’16), lives in the Marina District in San Francisco, California, and has started a VC firm focused on travel tech and is in his second capital raise. And my younger, Drew, will graduate law school in Boston, Massachusetts, in May.”
Beth Landin: “In February, I retired from my role as executive director of 171 Cedar Arts Center in Corning, New York. Many thanks to my Darden friends who supported this amazing community arts center that is so dear to my heart! I’m happy to be back in my studio painting, and I’m also trying my hand at glass art. The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass is in my adopted hometown and our son Kyle is a full-time glass artist. Our daughter, Lien, and her partner, James Ryan, live in Houston, Texas, where James is working on his Ph.D. in economics at Rice University and Lien is working for an insurance firm. My husband, Mark, and I are looking forward to traveling the world together in the near future! Darden friends, come visit us in Corning and see the beautiful Finger Lakes region of New York!”
Greetings from Alan Goldblatt: “I’ve recently settled into my eighth Washington, D.C.-area company since Darden as CFO of National Cooperative Bank (NCB). I enjoy working for a company that supports cooperatives and communities. My oldest, Zachary, works at the U.S. Treasury in D.C., Allison is on the business side of advertising at Droga5 in New York City, and my youngest, Leo, is dual majoring in sociology and psychology at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. And my wife, Tina, and I live in Annandale, Virginia.”
Jim Kent (my study group friend): “Lisa
(Marshall ’91) and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary in September. Still no grandkids! We’ve traveled a bit more this year … went to the Florida Keys for a week this winter. Also, over the winter we installed a full-function golf simulator at our home. We can play each other and even play internet matches on courses around the country. In April we will be playing our simulation of Augusta National Golf Club while watching the masters. We call our golf experience ‘Mulligan’s Island’ with apologies to the Skipper and Gilligan.”
Jeff Armstrong: “Catherine and I live in Charlotte, North Carolina, and are enjoying the next phase of life with more travel and a growing family. Mark McCall, John Harris and Rick Fogg live close by.”
Philip Gillespie: “My wife, Melinda, and I moved to Memphis, Tennessee, five years ago for a PE gig. After exiting that company, I’ve been a remote PE CFO for the last two years. Since I’m remote, we’re relocating to outside Charleston, South Carolina, in the next two months where I will hopefully find retirement in a few years, or at least that’s the five-year plan. Rob Barnes is visiting Memphis in a few weeks and we will see each other for first time in probably 25 years.”
Rich Lindahl: “I don’t have any momentous updates to share but just to bring you up to speed, my wife, Noni, and I are still living in Chevy Chase, Maryland, where we’ve been since a couple years after Darden. I just passed the five-year mark as CFO of Emergent BioSolutions, a mid-sized pharma company specializing in public health threats. Our biggest customer is the U.S. government, who buys our anthrax and smallpox vaccines and treatments for the Strategic National Stockpile. Our products also include Narcan Nasal Spray for the treatment of opioid overdose. And we have a contract development and manufacturing operations (CDMO) business. Our three daughters are all grown, have launched into their professions, and are enjoying life with their significant others.”
Paul Thomas, a first-time writer: “Not sure I’ve ever written in to the Class Notes, but better late than never. The big news this week is that Sarah and I became grandparents! Sarah and I have been enjoying our first couple years of retirement, in my case after a career in the educational publishing/technology/ services field.”
Tracy Schmidt Swindell: “With our ‘baby’ heading out the door to college this fall, an empty nest awaits, as do delayed house projects and regular visits to the gym to whip this 60-something body into shape for the next phase — may it be long. Give a shout if you are in Baltimore, Maryland!”
Dan Yates: “I just returned from my annual NCAA basketball gathering with 12 fraternity brothers. We have done this for over 40 years. My wife, Maggie, called Saint Maggie for obvious reasons, just got our fifth dog. Nella, a gorgeous border collie puppy, arrived from Ireland four weeks ago. Nella will join Reka in competing with Maggie in herding. We are heading to Northern Ireland in September for the world herding championship. My dinner boat business survived the pandemic, 120 days of riots in Portland, Oregon, and hollowing out of downtown. Our 2023 is shaping up to be a great year.”
Bill Mott: “We’re still living on the farm in Charlottesville. Our daughter Torry, who was born during our second year at Darden, was married at Farmington last July. A healthy Darden contingent came to her wedding. She and her husband live here in Charlottesville.”
Katie Brennan Grammes: “I continue to be the chief operating officer at Brennan Title. We do residential and commercial real estate settlements in Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia, and Delaware. Personally, we are still in McLean, Virginia. Our sons are in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (working for an investment firm), and Phoenix, Arizona (playing baseball).”
Dick Hollington: “Sarah and I happened to have dinner with Anna and Mike Adams this weekend. All’s well in Cleveland, Ohio. We became empty nesters as our youngest, Dickie, is a freshman at Villanova. Our middle son, John, is studying mechanical engineering at Lafayette, and our oldest, Charlie, just started his career in commercial real estate in Denver, Colorado. CW Industrial Partners continues to focus on buying lower middle market industrial businesses. I am looking forward to a normal economy, is that possible?”
Anna Beyers Adams: “Mike and I are still in Cleveland, Ohio, where we have been since we got married right after Darden. We just had dinner on Friday night with Dick Hollington and his wife Sarah, who we are lucky to see quite often. After years in the investment management business and then a bit of a break staying home with my two boys (Trevor, age 26, and Connor, age 27), I have been working in the nonprofit world for the last seven years. As the executive director for the John Huntington Fund for Education, we grant scholarships for post-secondary education, workforce development and apprenticeship programs for deserving students in northeast Ohio. It’s amazing how popular you become when you are giving money away, but it truly has been so rewarding seeing the impact it can have. Mike is still very active in the private equity
world with his company, Cornerstone Industrial Group, that he founded over 25 years ago. We reminisce often about our Darden days and were so happy to get back to Charlottesville while our son Trevor was at UVA. We have had fun keeping in touch with a handful of our Darden friends like Clay Gill, Suzanne Oldham, Rick Fogg, Harris and Patty Jones and Shelton Horsley and hope to see many more soon.”
Pascal Monteiro de Barros: “I have now been six and a half years at Stirling Square, a mid-market pan-European buyout fund as head of Investor Relations. We are currently raising our Fifth Fund, which is keeping me busy and on the road: Europe, Gulf, U.S., Japan. We continue living between London and the Cotswolds, U.K., where I spend Fridays and the weekends. I often go for long walks and have Sunday lunch with my good friend and classmate Casey Norman, who lives very nearby in the country. I have also seen and heard from Guillaume Cuvelier, aka ‘Billy Cavalier.’ I was recently involved in choosing U.K. Jefferson Scholars candidates. Fantastically interesting and rewarding. Two of our candidates made to the finals in C’ville. My eldest, Camilla, just turned 30, which was an eye-opener. Judging by the number of 60th birthday parties I am attending, time is not standing still. I have my eldest daughter living in Lisbon, Portugal, the second in Paris and my two boys now in New York.”
Chris Turner: “I’m currently skiing in Montana with Peter Woodbury and Mark Klausner. My oldest daughter works for an infrastructure PE firm in Copenhagen, Denmark, and my youngest is working for a tech company and is living in Portland, Maine.”
Jay Scott wrote: “I am happy to say that I am currently 95 percent retired from work for pay and expect to be fully retired by the end of the summer. Some projects just won’t quit! That said, I am staying very busy serving on the board of my kids’ school, on the neighborhood board for the Venable district in Charlottesville and, as my family’s primary sports fan, healthcare coordinator, carpool driver, grocery shopper, and chef while my better half, Sarah, finishes her last year of nursing school. Our oldest is 21 and playing basketball for Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, and we also have a high school junior and an eighth grader both making their own marks at school and sports. The pandemic project I mentioned in a prior report — where we tore the roof off of our garage and built a second story (ourselves), thereby creating a studio apartment with a full bath — is now complete. If any classmates need a comfy place to stay during a visit to Charlottesville, the price is right! Just bring a bottle of your favorite beverage,
Scott Crawford: “We are living in upstate South Carolina, in Lake Keowee. We find ourselves spending most days in the spring and summer on our farm in Westminster, South Carolina. We donate most of what we grow to local food banks. I also do an annual fundraiser for RIP Medical Debt — debt relief for financially needy. Linda also stays busy as a board member for several companies. I’ll consult every now and then to stay out of trouble. For fun — fly fishing, brewing beer and spending time with friends and family.”
Mitch Johnson: “I am three years in a marketing role at Vetoquinol, a French company that manufacturers and markets animal health products. I enjoy my role on the marketing team, working with excellent professionals with diverse backgrounds and experiences. I am grateful to continue practicing marketing, and grateful to Darden for providing the tools to begin what is a wonderful business career. My company’s U.S. office is in Fort Worth, Texas, and I am able to work remotely from my home outside Lawrence, Kansas. Technology and tools such as high-speed internet and Teams video meetings enable me to work remotely. When I was at Darden, we did not yet have the internet. Now ChatGPT is in the process of changing everything. Take care, Darden class of ’91. Let me know if you are in Kansas City area and we can grab a coffee, or even better, some KC barbecue!”
John Reisky de Dubnic: “I am time-poor and in an option-rich environment at present with the Cavidi BOLD product launch and multiple renovation projects running full tilt at Vilemov, our historic home 90 km southeast of Prague, Czechia. The situation here is urgent with our one, centuries-old, reliable income source of agri-forest in rapid decline due to climate change and the bark beetle infestation of European forests. To save the estate, we are building up a hospitality business and renovating this 900-year-old country estate. As 13th generation owners, we feel the responsibility and obligation of curating for future generations. It’s a passion project for Johanna and me. I could not do it without her partnership. While I have the tools of experience, sadly I don’t have enough of the Czech language, so, it’s a big challenge! Our children, Amanda, age 22, and Elliot, age 18, are also pitching in and, importantly, learning the family business. Our ambition is to open in summer of 2024, and I welcome any and all of our dear classmates to come and visit our ‘historic home you can stay in,’ a historic B&B and life event business (not a hotel). Find us at vilemovcastle. com. And Rob Barnes has visited and helped
with rehab work.”
Bill Carbaugh: “Biggest update for me is that my youngest daughter, Charlotte, was just admitted to the University of Georgia! Recently had lunch with Peter McHugh and Mark Allen. I’m still working at Guardian Realty and riding the waves of the current real estate market and wondering if commercial office space will go the way of the phone booth?”
Greg Warmuth: “I am still working at American Emergency Vehicles and living in Boone, North Carolina. We’ve been through three buyouts and one IPO. I’ve started a couple of independent sub-corporations, built a couple of factories, and several other things interesting enough to keep my attention for the past 30 years. Between my wife, Donna, and I, we have five kids, three inlaws and two grandbabies. My oldest, Owen, is in the biophysics Ph.D. program at the University of Wisconsin. Don’t ask me what he does — it involves giant magnets and protein modeling. I’ve visited his lab. Real science-fiction stuff. My youngest, Riley, is a freshman at University of North Carolina and thriving. The older kids are busy adulting. Allison works at Duke, Lindsey works as a PA in a neurology clinic in Indianapolis, Indiana, and John works in the family healthcare business with Donna.”
Keith Crawford: “On our recent trip to Savannah, Georgia, to visit my wife’s (Lolly Jelks, UVA M.Ed. ’90) family and friends, I had a chance to see our classmates Connie and Austin English, who recently moved from Charlottesville to Savannah. Look them up if you head that way.”
Asli Eksioglu ake@derinmermerci.com
Greetings from planet Earth! With all that is being lived not only in my lovely country, but also in many beautiful countries all over, breathing life every moment is the most precious … I received only one update for this spring from Chris Tanco. After a long, long time of no news from him, the update was even more valuable.
Chris writes: “After a long and enjoyable career, I decided to retire last May 2022. After Darden, I spent 17 years with PepsiCo/ Yum Brands (Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell), moved 10 times with the company, and in 2007, ended up as chief franchise officer for Pizza Hut in Dallas, Texas. In 2010 I joined 7-Eleven Inc. — also based in Dallas. For the first six years, I was EVP and head of international. The past seven years was a highlight for me as EVP and COO of the $70 billion business, running 14,000 stores and heading up our COVID-19 crisis response on the side. I feel very fulfilled in my professional life and so happy now in retirement.
I use Dallas as a base and spend quite a bit of time in Costa Rica, the Philippines, and visiting the kids in Boston, Massachusetts, and Europe. I serve on four boards, act as an operating partner at a private equity firm, and do senior advisory work.
“My wife, Vicky, is also doing superbly and is still quite active as a spiritual director with an office in Irving, Texas. Our eldest, Jonathan, works for Merlin Entertainment, which owns Lego Land, Seal Life, Madame Tussauds, et al, and is the operations lead for Lego Discovery Center in Boston. Isabel is a licensed mental health counselor working for Magellan Health in Wiesbaden, Germany, and is very busy these post-COVID-19
days, as you can imagine. Youngest son Miko finished his MBA in Barcelona, Spain, and is looking for a full-time job there (in case any of you have contacts there). No grandkids yet but we are still young and not rushing the process. In the meantime, 9-year-old labradoodle Muppet and 4-month-old baby malticavapoo Kylo will do. Now that I have more time, I hope to see old Darden friends if you might be passing through Dallas, Costa Rica, or Manila anytime soon.”
And I hope to see Chris during his visit to Istanbul, Turkey, in June.
I would like to say thanks again to all who wrote/called/sent messages to me about the horrible earthquake in February which destroyed 10 cities (and history, life and so much more) in Turkey. I feel held and always very grateful to be a part of the Darden family. I also want to add that I was very happy and lucky to have had the chance to get together, hug, and share a long conversation with my dear Dianne Prust in Los Angeles, California, in November 2022.
Once again, I want to underline how precious it is to keep in touch and remind you how resourceful, one and whole we feel when we “know more” about each other. So please, please, do spare a few minutes to drop an update (short or preferably longer than very short) for our next Class Notes.
May Ng, Rebecca Kilduff, ngmay2000@yahoo.com, beccaindc@gmail.com
A quick once-every-30-years update from Crane Harris: “Katie and I are empty nesters in Carmel Valley, San Diego, California, where we’ve been for the past 20-plus years. Difficult to imagine leaving at this point, but who knows?! I worked at a biotech startup based in Seattle, Washington, last year, and it is beautiful there … but that whole Cascadian subduction zone thing that is getting ready to wipe out the Pacific Northwest is kind of off-putting.
“Katie teaches yoga at the bluffs overlooking the beach in Del Mar, California, and at various locations in La Jolla. Our eldest, Elizabeth Aston, to whom Katie gave birth the July after graduation (and hours after her water broke in the hallway at Monticello as we toured it with Dan Parsley), is a medical social worker near where she lives downtown. Middle child, Evan, is finishing law school at University of South Dakota, where he is also getting a master’s in peace and justice studies (I love reporting that part). Youngest, George, is scheduled to graduate from Berkeley this spring with an undergraduate degree in econ and a minor in earth and planetary sciences. Lord only knows
what he’ll do next, but we are counting on him to pay all our bills in the near future.
“After a dozen-plus years at Illumina, then three at the San Diego Blood Bank (from which we spun out a for-profit cell therapy supply company), I am now bouncing around various biotech startups, hoping the funding markets pick back up soon. Currently loving ChromaCode and the potential it brings for making genomic testing affordable in LMICs. I play disc golf every weekend I can. Heading out to break a leg in Steamboat, Colorado, this weekend for my first multi-day ski trip in a decade.
“Got to meet up with Laura Curran a couple of months back where, over coffee, she gave me the clearest explanation I have ever heard of change management. Thank you, Laura!”
Donna McAleer: “For the record, I am ready for another season. We have had an epic snow year with more than 400 inches at Deer Valley in Utah. As of the first week in March it was still snowing. We received 19 inches in the last 24 hours, so like all powder hounds, I made fresh tracks in knee deep powder nearly all day. And snow is forecasted for the next 10 days. Yesterday Doug Kaufman posted a picture of mowing his lawn and daffodils blooming. I sent him a picture of having just blown nearly four feet of snow off my deck.
“This 2022–23 season is my 19th teaching skiing at Deer Valley.
“Bicycle Collective, the nonprofit I lead, recently broke ground on our new hub and headquarters. This is a significant milestone for us and is a transformative project. We are committed to building a biking legacy for future generations and providing transportation equity throughout Utah.”
May Ng: “I’ve attended all our reunions except the 25th year, but this one seemed a little more special for me. I left with a heightened awareness of the layers and layers of opportunities our Darden experience provided then and today. The day after reunion was my birthday, and I couldn’t help but think the relationships I developed at Darden and reinforced during the reunion were some of the greatest gifts I could receive.
“It was wonderful to connect with everyone! A few sweet experiences made this reunion particularly special. Ironically, hardship was a common theme; that First Year boot camp philosophy does bear fruit!
“For example, during a short conversation with a classmate whom I didn’t know well, we discovered shared difficult experiences that connected us very deeply and personally. I’m grateful for my new friend. Another classmate thanked me for supporting him
during our challenging first semester by simply just being present. The sweet and explicit gratitude expressed surprised and touched me so. Lastly, Allison Parsley, whom I met for the first time, shared that when she observes Dan and classmates interacting, she sees a ‘pureness’ in the relationships. Allison is so right. It’s a pureness that is so simple, so true, so rare. Thank you Class of ’93!”
Jandie Turner: “My reflections on 30 years post Darden: The education was one thing, but the people made/make my time at Darden one of my proudest accomplishments. Each of you holds a very significant and special place in my life today and for always. We were one hell of a class!”
Debbie Miller: “I found the reunion so special this year. The connection to Darden classmates of 1993 is like no other. The bond we have is unique and likely comes from our shared experiences, both challenges and adventures. I love how reunion gives me an opportunity to connect with both close friends I had at Darden as well as new ones that I get to know more extensively now. It was great to see everyone. Hope to see you sooner than five years.”
Joe Heastie: “The reunion was terrific and I’m super grateful to the committee/ organizers! This was my third (10th, 25th previously) and probably my favorite. Maybe because of the years that have passed or the place where many of us are in life, it felt like the main emphasis was simply on expressing appreciation for what we shared both 30 years ago and in the space between.
Just one amazing moment was with Joel Shalowitz, where he straightforwardly and beautifully expressed appreciation for me and our Darden friendship, and I was able to finally thank him for helping me understand the principle of a Mitzvah soon after I attended Sloney’s memorial service in Boston. There were plenty of other special moments as well. Thanks again to you all!”
Laura Curran: “Highlights from the reunion were visiting with people; hanging out at Sloney’s Pub, the new botanical garden, and The Forum; and brunch. How much fun it was to just chat and catch up?
“Many current and retired faculty came and engaged with our class, including Dick Brownlee, Robert Spekman, Sherwood Frey, Elliott Weiss and Jeannie Liedtka. “We met new faculty leaders — including Yael Grushka-Cockayne, senior associate dean for professional degree programs, and Martin Davidson, Johnson and Higgins Professor of Business Administration, senior associate dean and global chief diversity officer — and learned how they are leading the School forward.
“Alumni Career Services (ACS) put on
excellent programs, which connected many of us at the reunion and throughout the year. We attended ACS events with Donna McAleer and learned more about the Bicycle Collective in Park City, Utah.
“ACS organized sessions on retirement careers/options, where I was able to engage with Naomi Tam, Kathi and Hadi Alsegaf, Donna McAleer and May Ng, learn more about their plans and think about how we can help each other.”
Other highlights for Laura included:
“Realizing how many of our classmates spend time in Colorado and thinking about possibilities to enjoy the mountains together.
“Visiting the Lawn, and the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers, with May Ng.
“Encountering Kim (Brown) Morrish, Bill Shelton and Ed Freeman at the Forum Bar, as they attended the trustees meeting.
“Woody Dunstan shared about his work with refugee resettlement, and we had the opportunity to chat more with Gussie about their years in diplomatic service.
“Trina Bowser and Jandie Turner on a panel discussing how they built their careers and worked through challenges inherent for women raising a family while working.
“Roy Perticucci, Antoine Thomas and Lars Pedersen came from Europe and powered through their jet lag to chat with everyone with gusto.
“Learning more about Maine from James Carnes and his husband, Clark, and New York from Kate Welsh
“Seeing Larry Mueller briefly, before he left for a family event. He was of course there with us in spirit.”
Liz [Breiner] Wetmore: “So impressive that people came from all over to get to Darden. I had not been back to any reunions due to all the kids’ sports and activities, but now that my youngest (I have three girls) is a junior in high school, I made the trip. The Darden campus is really beautiful, and the classroom and facilities are really unbelievable. Definitely a big contrast to the one brick building we had. The Forum hotel is also amazing.
“A group of us took time to walk through the gardens and chat about ChatGPT and other fun things. A common theme I heard throughout the weekend was planning for retirement or next stages of careers — still working, helping society more, but working less and enjoying more. If anyone comes up with a good idea (maybe solving health care, migration and homeless problems or helping veterans), I am sure we could gather an international team of part-time workers with great skills.
“Thanks to Steve and Anne for hosting an evening at their beautiful Charlottesville
home, which inspired us all to get back to Charlottesville sooner and to do some more house decorating! Great to see you all! Best wishes! (PS: You can just ask ChatGPT to provide quotes and citations.)”
Jason Lunday: “As Craig Kerr opined, in some ways, it seemed like we were still the same youthful upstarts we were back then. In other ways, after hearing about peoples’ stories of career and life, it reveals a depth that the experience of time offers. Every subsequent reunion peels back another layer of these career, life journeys, for which I treasure the experience.”
John Castleman: “It was nice to see classmates a few weeks ago. What a fun evening. I am glad that I made the trip down to Charlottesville, if only for a short time. Special thanks to our class organizers. Without all of you, I am sure that only a few would come back. Thank you!”
We have known each other for over 30 years now, and the friendships that have developed run deep. One of the best of us, Damon DeVito, passed away on 14 February from complications following cardiac arrest on 28 January. There are no words sufficient from me, so please take a moment to read this beautiful tribute from Ian Ratcliffe, Tim Gatzulis, Rob Archer, and Tom Klenke as they reflect on their friendship with Damon:
“It’s difficult to describe the beautiful human being that Damon was. Damon was not just a friend to us; he was a brother.
“As his classmates and friends, we have always been struck by his ability to put others before himself. Damon was involved in many positive projects: the Tibetan Refugees, Venture Velocity, TechStars, Glenmore Country Club, and the Corner Fund. What mattered most to Damon was not the recognition, but
the desire to make a difference and improve the lives of those around him. Just a few days before he struck ill, he was up at four in the morning teaching a group of entrepreneurs in Shanghai, China, a testament to his unwavering dedication to his passions and the people he served.
“Damon was an enthusiastic learner, always eager to expand his knowledge and make new friends. He was a champion of helping young entrepreneurs with big ideas build their companies in Charlottesville and beyond. He always made time to listen to their stories, dreams, and ambitions, and provided thoughtful advice and counsel. Damon was efficient and hated wasting time, always getting on with life and not worrying about the small stuff.
“Damon’s passion for golf was wellknown, and many of us were lucky enough to play a round with him. He was an eternal optimist who always expected to make up for any shot that went awry. He was deadly from anywhere close to the green with his vintage brass Cleveland wedge and ancient wooden shafted putter. He never doubted for a second he was going to hit a fantastic shot from the fairway with his green shafted driver, affectionately known as the ‘lizard.’
“Damon’s impact extended far beyond his friends and family. He made meaningful and genuine introductions, connecting many seeking funding with his large network of angel investors and advisors. He was a great teacher, engaging and non-judgmental, nurturing entrepreneurial dreams in their earliest phases.
“Damon was a remarkable dad, always present for his three amazing children, who carry so much of his and Lesli’s creativity, kindness, intelligence, and ability with them every day. His kind and patient disposition complemented his amazing smile and fabulous sense of humor and sarcasm. Damon’s wit was often biting but never intended to hurt anyone or make them feel small.
“But perhaps what we will miss most
about Damon is how he made us feel. He had an uncanny ability to make everyone feel seen and heard, to introduce us to new people, and to connect us in meaningful ways. Every time they were together, every phone call, every Zoom meeting, every text, he made people feel appreciated and valued. Every. Single. Time.
“Damon’s loss is felt deeply not just by those who knew him well, but also by countless others whose lives he touched. Maya Angelou once said, ‘I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.’ Damon made us feel valued, appreciated, and loved, and for that, we will always be grateful.”
Please mark your calendars for April 2024, when we will have the opportunity to meet on Grounds once again for our 30th reunion. Coming together in person will be a great way to reconnect and rekindle the many friendships that we started in Charlottesville so many years ago. We will have only one more edition of our Class Notes prior to our reunion, so I will do my best to share updates from all of you. With love to you all!
Dr. Gina Merritt, Nene Spivy gmerritt@nreuv.com, spivy@aol.com
Darden Class of ’95 graduates are demonstrating how much of the next phase of life they are in — everything from kids going to college, to sunsetting businesses, to adding new business lines, to traveling the globe. We have nearly reached the 30-year mark, and clear milestones are being reported this season.
Jason Kurtz and his wife, Lorra, became empty nesters this year as their twin sons are off to college — one at Indiana and one at Oregon. They’ve had a great time visiting them and traveling quite a bit. Jason has taken a break from his sabbatical to become the interim CEO of Basware, an accounts
payable automation software company headquartered in Finland. Winter months in Helsinki have been rough for him and his family, but they’ve managed to survive and have visited many great places (Copenhagen, Denmark; Munich, Germany; Amsterdam, Netherlands) so far.
In September, Frazier (Holt) Schulman and her husband, Bruce, moved their son into Georgetown University (GU) dorms for his first year. While standing at the elevator, Frazier heard someone call her name. Standing there were Justin and Lenora (Midyette) Hunter. They were moving in their son. Their son was in the same dorm and just down the hall. They were all at Darden together, but Justin and Frazier were classmates at Georgetown. The group had a lot of fun catching up then at some of the subsequent GU events.
Justin Hunter and Lenora (Midyette) Hunter have been living in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, since 2005. They’ve raised two boys there and have thoroughly enjoyed the area, personally and professionally.
Justin and Lenora started a B2B SaaS Company, Hexawise, in 2009. During the early startup phase, they took their kids out of school for a year and traveled around the world to 13 countries while training multinational clients how to use their software. That trip gave them the opportunity to reconnect with classmates Pablo Garcia-Barnetche and his wife, Gabi, in Argentina, and Michele (Montague) Mfuni while she was in in South Africa.
They recently sold Hexawise in May 2022, and they publicly want to thank a few classmates who provided them with helpful guidance along the way, including Jason Kurtz, Tom Roberts, and Richard Maclean They are not yet clear on whether they are retired now. They are thinking through that one a bit. Jason Kurtz’s impressive retire-
ment-and-beer-focused podcast “What’s Next?” is providing them with insightful guidance.
They also recently connected with Rani (Date) Batra and her family in Maui, Hawaii. Justin and Lenora were also surprised and delighted to discover that Frazier (Holt) Schulman’s son happened to be on the same freshman floor at Georgetown University; what a small world, as they say. Their two sons have become close friends. Lenora also enjoyed a wonderful stay with Clayton and Alessandra Rose at their historic home in Bedford, New York, last September and enjoyed catching up with Chris Repetto and his wife, Cassie, as well.
Justin and Lenora hope to visit with other classmates in Europe soon as their eldest son will leave Oxford University this June to start his Ph.D. in mathematics at ETH in Zurich, Switzerland. They invite classmates who are in North Carolina at any point to check in with them and connect.
In line with being overseas, Ali Hurbas is one of UVA’s UAE alumni group members. The group recently hosted Dean Nicole T. Jenkins of the UVA McIntire School of Commerce.
Chip Molloy’s big family news is that “Our son Nick, (UVA ’13, and Darden ’18), just got married in Colombia. Nick’s wife, Rachel, is also Darden ’18. Many Darden ’95ers may remember Nick running around the building as a toddler when we were students.”
Chip and his wife, Susie, are settled in Annapolis, Maryland; however, he’s still spending a lot of time in Phoenix, Arizona, as the CFO of Sprouts Farmers Market. He was on their board for several years and decided in 2021 to jump back in full-time. Susie coaches the women’s distance teams at the Naval Academy. They are enjoying the empty nesters’ life with the kids relatively
close, all living on the east coast.
Leslie Gregg reports that life is moving faster these days. All her “kids” have graduated from college and are forging their own paths. Her husband Dan’s business, Grelen Nursery, which he started a few years before she entered Darden, is now 33 years old and continuing to thrive. His labor of love has grown from the original 50 acres to a large 1000-acre tree nursery. In 2013, Leslie started a small European-style garden shop on the nursery property called The Market at Grelen. In April, her company turns 10, and it, too, has grown into a multi-faceted business that includes a cafe (featuring local food and XSA variety of Virginia beer, wine and cider), a wedding venue, six miles of walking trails, and a pick-your-own fruit operation. In addition, The Market at Grelen manages two nearby vacation rentals (Spotswood Lodge and Boxwood Villa) which complement its wedding business. It also manages Grelen Downtown (a women’s boutique in Orange, Virginia) and The Grelen Depot (their newest event venue also in Orange, Virginia). It’s been a crazy creative 10 years, to say the least, but the expansion has really happened organically as their wedding and retail businesses have grown. Leslie fondly recalls how she dragged her husband kicking and screaming from Chicago, Illinois, to Virginia in 1990, but with all their success in business, it was clearly worth it. Leslie notes if any Darden ’95ers are in the area, look her up for a kabota tour and a glass of wine! Also, check out her website at www.grelen. info.
Onto managing other people’s kids, Dina Mackney took a packing break to update us and let us know she had plans to chaperone a bunch of high school seniors for spring break in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. She noted she was looking forward to relaxing while on the trip. As we know, she was
just joking about the relaxation.
She also shared that she’s been working hard. Business is good but, like for most of us, she has had to adapt to the new normal. Since COVID-19, Dina has had to change how she does business, focusing on her online business (dinamackney.com) and social platforms (@dinamackney). Her largest client, Neiman Marcus, emerged from bankruptcy, but that business, too, has become quite online-focused. This change affects every aspect of the business, from production, marketing and even design. Dina has found that small to medium-sized boutiques are still holding inventory in-store, so she is looking to grow that type of wholesale business. She’d love to grow her direct-to-consumer business more, and it has grown quite a bit since COVID-19, but she has much more to do there.
Lowell Carhart, whose wife, Mia, serves in the United States Air Force, is located at Spangdahlem AB in Germany for the second time for Mia’s final assignment before retirement next year as a lieutenant colonel.
Every month they take their children to some cool place in Europe, Africa, or the Indian Ocean to take full advantage of their closer proximity than back home in Virginia.
On the career front, in addition to the shows in New Jersey; Denver, Colorado; and Tucson, Arizona, Lowell is starting a fourth show; the Honolulu Mineral, Fossil, Gem & Jewelry Show launches on 10 November at the Hawaii Convention Center. It will be the largest gem show in the Pacific region when it debuts.
Liz (Campbell) Bayston’s daughter Margaret Bayston will be a freshman at UVA in fall 2023 — another generation of Wahoos! She looks forward to spending time again in Charlottesville.
She also played tennis last summer with two Darden grads — Claire Bezdek Gochal (MBA ’11) and Katie Roberts Dinneen (MBA ’12). At least two other Darden grads live in Duxbury, Massachusetts, which has approximately 15,000 residents.
Ariel Eckstein and his wife, Kerri, finally made good on their promise to visit Pablo Garcia-Barnetche and his wife, Gabi, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in December 2022. Ariel states that seeing them and their three sons and their partners was delightful. This was part of a long-planned trip to Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay that included some wonderful times in Patagonia, South America. Ariel and his wife became empty nesters last year as their daughter, Sonia, continued her earth science and data science studies at Dartmouth, and their son, Nico, commenced his architectural studies at Tulane. Ariel, Kerri, and Whistler, their mini Schnauzer,
miss the kids but are enjoying newfound flexibility. Ariel is still at LinkedIn and is also studying to become a certified professional coach by this summer. Ariel remains involved with Darden and is dipping his toes into teaching this spring with a mini-boot camp at Darden’s EMBA program in NoVa on building and scaling revenue operations in technology companies. He has also joined the board of the Rye Arts Center and is active in the campaign to build a new arts campus. Kerri is involved in Impact100, a national philanthropic organization working to help build a primary school in Malawi.
In addition to being active with Big Brothers and Big Sisters, they continue to enjoy rowing, cycling, and traveling as much as Whistler allows. They remain extremely thankful for the opportunity to see Darden friends whenever they can and would love to connect with folks in the New York area whenever you are passing through.
Jeff Turnbaugh and his wife, Elizabeth, still live in the Bay Area, California. Leaving the weather and lifestyle is hard despite all of California’s issues.
They had an opportunity to travel, so they took excursions through Europe, Australia, and China. Elizabeth is doing her best to bring some culture into Jeff’s life. His latest role as chief dog walker for their cockapoos incorporates many of the skills he learned in OB, as he engages with a multitude of locals and tourists during their strolls.
Jeff and Elizabeth’s oldest son is finishing his master’s degree at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the other son is attending the University of Chicago.
With the boys in college, they downsized to Tiburon, California, a quaint town just north of San Francisco overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. Jeff encourages Darden classmates, when in the Bay Area, please join him and his wife for a drink and the view.
Yvette Irving happily reports that all is well in New Jersey and she is preparing for track and baseball season with her teen and tween boys. With a long career in banking, she is considering a pivot outside of banking.
Jeff Trump continues to find great inspiration and happiness serving in the church. In last year’s Christmas event, he played “Do You Hear What I Hear” on the guitar at the church’s nativity event. Friends gathered from seven different churches and congregations to participate.
Jeff’s kids are all grown-up and pursuing higher education. Jeff and his wife also recently celebrated their 31-year anniversary with a trip to, guess where … yes, Charlottesville. Jeff is still happy to work at Reynolds Consumer products; this year, he will celebrate his 25th year of working at this
well-known institution. With a bit of free time, he was able to visit the Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta, Georgia, to learn more about those fine automobiles.
Tucker and Catherine (Bohlin) Twitmyer are now empty nesters doing their best to figure out their new normal. Thankfully, they launched Next Nest Advisors four years ago to help families navigate the challenging world of senior living, which gives Catherine an outlet. She’s helped many individuals through complex situations over the last few years while learning how to create a website, launch a YouTube channel, and build a network. She’s even heard from some Darden classmates seeking help along the way — always a highlight for her. A favorite moment came last year when Rani (Date) Batra (a dear study group friend) came through town with her family on their whirlwind east coast college tour. Catherine and Rani picked right up where they left off — she’s thankful to Darden for facilitating this kind of bond between classmates.
Things are busy for Tonny Andersen in Denmark. He’s still working on the sustainability front to facilitate client transitions to a low carbon economy, informed, in part, by an intense six-week Oxford course on sustainability. He still lives in Copenhagen, Denmark, and visited Austria in early 2023 for a great family ski vacation. His 7-yearold son, Konrad, now skis faster than Tonny.
Lynn Atkinson still lives in San Francisco, California, working as the COO of Mainsail Partners, a growth equity firm focused on investments in bootstrapped software companies. She has two teen daughters, one of which is heading to Dartmouth in the fall of 2023. She hopes this may bring her back for east coast classmate visits.
Andrea and Fax Ayres were lucky to have Rebecca Wilson visit in Charlottesville. Rebecca was a guest speaker at a Darden class and participant at the Darden Private Equity Conference in March.
From 10,000 miles away in the Philippines, Román Azanza is still building his regional consulting practice and is now on two boards. More importantly he is enjoying visits with his son who is in his third year at the University of Edinburgh.
Anthony Bailey and Alex Pelizzon met up in Barcelona, Spain, for a great March weekend together with lots of tapas, artisanal vermouth and giggling.
Jen Beindorf shared that she and Anthony are well out in Los Angeles, California. Jen
landed a new job in January as SVP of client services at Impact-XM, a global experiential marketing agency that works with Fortune 500 companies to provide strategy, creative, design, and production for their B2B and B2C events, exhibits, permanent installations, and consumer activations. She’s loving the new company/new job and is traveling around the U.S. On a personal note, Jen is competing in the national women’s tennis tournaments and won the back-draw in late February/early March at the Women’s 50+ Clay Court Nationals in Palm Beach, Florida.
Sue Lipetz Brown is at Siemens, running the compensation team, Americas region, in the human resources department. This year, she’s also stepped in to co-lead the USA human resources function on an interim basis as they seek a new leader. She’s enjoyed the opportunity to work more closely with the businesses and the CEO/CFO in a broader position. Personally, travel has picked up with trips to Munich, Germany; Milan, Italy; and plans for Beijing, China.
Kent Carstater has been CFO of a community bank for the past five years. The bank registered with the SEC in April and joined the Russell 2000. In a down year for bank stocks and the market broadly, they finished up over 40 percent. Kent ran into Michael Plummer at a UVA alumni event in Charlottesville in October 2022. Kent and Mike, with their high school juniors, were attending a seminar, “Parenting Through the College Application Process.” Kent also shared a few calls and emails with Stephan Oppenheimer over the 2022 holidays, talking about the banking industry and related investment opportunities.
John Chapin took his annual pilgrimage to Breckenridge, Colorado, in early 2023 to snowboard. For eight years, he’s been the Computer Science Pathway leader at the Academies of Loudoun, a public magnet school in Northern Virginia. John teaches machine learning, mobile application
development using React Native, and AP computer science. He also received his Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction in integrative STEM from Virginia Tech. John’s twin sons graduated from Babson College two years ago. One works at BAE in Finance and just started on his MBA at New York University Stern School of Business and the other works at Snowflake.
Rich Davis is busier than ever as managing partner of ArgoSat Consulting, specializing in space industry advisory services. He’s also a managing director at Antarctica Capital, a private equity fund focused on digital infrastructure. This fund has made investments in several space companies as well as successfully acquiring a fabless (i.e., fabrication outsourced) semiconductor company through a SPAC. In 2022, the fund purchased a data analytics company called Descartes Labs where Rich is currently serving as CEO. On the family side, Rich’s oldest is teaching English in Korea, his middle child is graduating from Tulane this year, and his youngest will be starting high school next year. Time flies and he misses the simplicity of case studies and dinner at the Biltmore in Maryland!
Andrea DiNunzio started a new role in November 2022 as GM of Luxury Skincare for Coty and is really enjoying it. Andrea had lunch with a few classmates in the city
at Casa Cipriani, which was great fun. Joining her for lunch were Susan Sheehy Malanka, Michele Minton, Kirsten Wallenstein, and Rebecca Wilson. Finally, 2023 kicked off with some good travel: Aspen, Colorado, for New Years Eve; Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Monaco for work; and Miami, Florida, for some sun.
David Edinger and Amy had dinner with Allyson and James Crawford. Bart is in the salmon jerky and related food products business. David also sees Chris Bracken from time to time. Workwise, David won Colorado CIO of the Year in early 2023 as a public sector CIO competing with private sector nominees.
Erik Frederick shares that Neeraj Bhagat has been his coach for a couple years now. Erik is still CEO at Pizzeria Uno and became an empty nester in September 2022. Erik went to Croatia in September 2022 with Christine and John Fruehwirth.
Chris Gilbert still lives in New York City working for a French bank, Natixis, in structured credit. He had a nice dinner with Lori Manise Southe and Andrea DiNunzio in the summer of 2022. He’s married, with two boys aged 9 and 12.
Kent Goeking has been on a transformation journey from management consulting to biotechnology for the past 10 years in Thailand. He’s now primarily a bio-econo-
my consultant to the Thai Government. He also consults for Thai companies wishing to transition from traditional industries into biotech, especially precision fermentation of bioproducts and also conversion of agriculture and plastic wastes into high value products. His new company, Thai Carbon Co. Ltd (thaicarbon.bio), converts waste wood and agriculture waste into biochar — an advanced form of carbon for agriculture, water filtration, and other activated carbon applications. Kent hopes to develop the process to the level of generating Carbon Dioxide Removal Credits (CORCs), which are in high demand as all companies seek to achieve their 2050 Net Zero promises.
Tony Jacobs and Toni got together with Daneil Kuftinec, Robert Kuftinec, Anne Middlesworth, and Mike Bucci for some skiing and snowmobiling in early 2023. Of particular note was Mike’s ability to military press the back of a snowmobile over his head. Tony became chair of the board of trustees of the National Confectioners Association — a volunteer role related to his current position as president of Bazooka Candy Brands.
In February 2022, Mary Jo Lampe rejoined Leidos, one of the companies into which her previous employer SAIC split back in 2013 when she ventured off on her own. She’s now leading strategy for their Defense Business. In January, she helped to celebrate Joe Heaps’s engagement, which turned out to be a celebration of their actual marriage. He quite fittingly married a woman named Joy, and they’re wonderful together! Attendees included: Joe Heaps and Joy Paluska (Joe’s spouse), Joe Hostler, Marci Mueller Mouritzen, Arlene Akbora Sivils, Celia Dallas, Mary Jo Lampe, Tim Heaps (Joe Heaps’s brother), Bill Passer, Luanne Pavco, Robert Kuftinec, Frank Kenefick, John Chrosniak, Steve McCleaf, Adam Tankel, Lance Luttschwager (Luanne’s spouse and MBA ’95), Glenn Mouritzen (Marci’s spouse), Jim Dallas (Celia’s spouse), and
Annemarie Heaps (Tim Heaps’s spouse).
Frank Martien has enjoyed managing his own B2B payments strategy consulting firm, Windward Strategy Inc., since the fall of 2020 and keeps active by jogging 5K per day, sailboat racing weekly, and kiteboarding and skiing on occasion. Laura and Frank’s older son, Craig, is graduating from Williams College and will join the Peace Corps in Montenegro in October. Frank is thrilled his younger son, as a sophomore in high school, made JV sailing. In the winter, he collaborated with Neeraj Bhagat on an Excellence in Leadership series posted on LinkedIn.
Alysia Massop has relocated to Tampa, Florida, and is enjoying the warm weather and less-stressed lifestyle. She also skied for the first time in decades at Vail in early 2023. She finds the hotel business fascinating and continues to persuade friends and family to invest in hotel projects where the perks are great and so are the returns.
Val McMurray just launched her suncare business, Soleil Toujours, at Sephora U.S. online as well as in 150 stores. She also launched a mass market suncare brand, Summer Camp, exclusively at Walmart in mid-2022 through a partnership with SpaceNK. Val’s oldest, Fletcher, is graduating from Middlesex School and starting as a freshman at Colby College in the fall. Her daughter, Tate, will be a senior at Middlesex and her Theo, age 14, will be a ninth grader at the Bronxville School.
Sachin Mehra has been an empty nester for more than a year and has tried to take full advantage of it with some fun travel. His daughter graduated last year and now lives and works in Manhattan, New York. His son is a sophomore at Villanova and loves it. Sachin is coming close to completing his 13th year at Mastercard and has joined the board of Salesforce.
Ed Molchany is expanding and preparing to move into a new and bigger office across from Dulles Airport. He had a great time
skiing and snowmobiling in Breckenridge, Colorado, in early 2023.
Carrie and Bill Nosal celebrated their 30-year wedding anniversary in early February with a two-week trip to Anguilla. They stayed at two stunning resorts, bookending a three-day private sailing yacht charter — with their own captain and a personal chef — sailing around the islands of Anguilla and St. Maarten/St. Martin. Bill is approaching his third year at Bloomberg leading M&A and investments with the Strategy & Corp Dev team.
Al Patel took a new job as the CMO/ CDO of TruGreen, which is owned by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. He’s been working for private equity companies for the past six years and continues to reside in Chicago, Illinois, with his wife and three high school aged children.
Rob Rector just continues to build Experi, his family is all good, and he’s glad that travel has rebounded strongly since COVID-19.
Meme Scherr hosted Andrea Ayres, in town for a business trip to San Francisco, California. Meme joined Aclima as their CFO in 2022.
Arpan Sheth has completed 20 years at Bain. His eldest is at Case Western in his junior year; his middle son is a junior in high school; and his youngest is a freshman in high school.
For Vince Talbert, 2022 was the year of transition to retirement. He and Deb moved to Punta Gorda on the west coast of Florida and are building a house. Vince commends Punta Gorda as a great small town with excellent pickleball facilities. He’s been assisting Pickleplex with a strategic plan, playing pickleball, and planning what to cook for dinner. Meanwhile, Deb has been contemplating acquisition of a local bookstore. Their oldest, Katie, graduated Washington University in 2022 and is now a research assistant at Cornell, specializing in environmental science. Their youngest, Sarah, is a
sophomore at Northwestern after spending her first year at Boston University. Sarah has considered being a screenwriter with a backup plan for human-centered computer interaction design.
Matt Tice recently assumed a role as Chairman of ADHD Australia, an organization focused on advocacy and support programs for people with ADHD, their families, caregivers, and local community support organizations. Otherwise, he is running a small-ish strategy consulting business.
Tom Warren is approaching his second anniversary leading the commercial go-tomarket activities for a small volunteer management SaaS provider based in Washington, D.C. It has been an exciting two years with the company — as they’ve grown revenue by nearly four times. With the worst of the pandemic behind us, Tom is getting back into business travel mode and will attend approximately 10 industry events in 2023. He’s had the pleasure of seeing Dana and Dave Blair recently while he and Tina spend more time in Annapolis, Maryland, as empty nesters. Tina works at a nonprofit connecting people in need with mental health providers across Maryland. Their older son is finishing his third year at the Naval Academy and is a member of the football team. Their younger son is in his first year at Stevenson University where he is studying marketing and playing varsity tennis.
Dan Yu encourages all of us in the class of 1996, post pandemic, to get out and go!
It’s hard to believe a year has passed since our 2022 reunion. The next one is 2027, which will be here before you know it. See you in Charlottesville!
We still have several “Sasquatch” classmates, those rare individuals who remain at
the same company they started with after Darden, including Tayfun Basar, who remains at ExxonMobil; Steve Collins, who is still with the Prudential Capital Group; David Cooper, who started and remains at Bain as a partner; Tom Lacy, who started and remains at Robert W. Baird & Co. as managing director; and Jim McIntyre, who remains at Merck as VP, head of global business development at Merck Animal Health. In the end, however, there will only be one Sasquatch left. Who will be the last?
The rest of our classmates continue exploring various industries and roles. Brian Acord is a great example of a lifelong learner who continues to seek out new adventures. He has resided in the Salt Lake City, Utah, area for the past 20 years and has a host of irons in the fire, including serving as a lacrosse trainer, lacrosse and ice hockey coach, podcaster) executive and adjunct professor at Salt Lake Community College. Brian mentors several startups at any given time and currently teaches the Everyday Entrepreneur Program for refugees and other underserved communities. The podcast, titled “Strangers You Know” (www.strangersyouknowpodcast.com), provides “a safe space for diverse people to share their unique stories so all of us can broaden our worldviews, break down echo chambers created by social media algorithms, understand different perspectives, embrace commonalities, and grow closer together.” Take a listen. Digging deep into the memory banks, you may recall that Brian served as the editor of the Darden 10-K for 1995–96, which was staffed by Chris Murphy, Clark Dees and Karen Castellon. If you are traveling in Utah, Brian extends an open invitation to his home.
Jay Caver Reese and Mark Reese shared that their daughter has chosen Vanderbilt University for her college career. Congratulations to the whole family and Go Commodores.
Simon Constable continues his freelance
writing efforts with an impressive list of magazines, periodicals and newspapers in both traditional and social media forms. As perhaps a sign of desperation, he reached out to Mark Bridgers and Tony Ruffine, among others, to discuss the energy transformation and electrification of the U.S. economy. Tony spoke to solar photovoltaics and Mark spoke to battery-powered utility trucks and overthe-road trucking potential.
Henley Green Sims visited with Karen Castellon in Charlottesville, where they shared a walk from the Corner and reminisced about their time at Darden. Henley’s daughter, Pippa, will attend UVA in the fall. Henley’s and Karen’s connection goes all the way back to Darden Day 1, when they shared the same learning team with the fabulous Jim Brady, Andy Greene, Brett Richey and Kevin Schuyler … a trip down memory road.
Gibboney Huske and Jim Meneeley served as co-chairs for Reunion Giving for our 25th reunion. Our class was honored by Darden for our combined reunion attendance and giving efforts, in particular the Class of 1997 Scholarship that we established to help a next gen student. Congrats to Gibboney, Jim and the entire 2022 reunion committee including Brian Bednar, Jack Benson, Angela Black-Macon, Brad Blonkvist, Mark Bridgers, Chuck Brown, Nadine Burnett, Karen and Ted Castellon, John Cox, Carolyn Deng, Jason Jordan, Rob and Melissa (Van Royen) Kyle, Myra Lee, Deirdre McCaffrey, Gee McVey, David Mikita, Kari Pitkin, Georgina Price, Uday Singh, Michael Skelps, David Tayman, Brad Vandevoort, Joe Walsh, and Cliff Yonce.
Thank you as well to all the Class of ’97 classmates who participated in the Darden Day of Giving on 12 April 2023. Our class took fourth place for our participation in Day for Darden, which is a stellar effort. Regarding Gibboney, she is off to a new
venture for 2023 after shutting down her firm, SkipJack Global Capital Management. Her new venture is sensitive and Gibboney has sworn us to secrecy. However, we can share she is working on reshoring a U.S. manufacturing venture … keep your eyes peeled!
Jeff Lax completed the 2023 Boston Marathon, in addition to an “Around the World” marathon series, which he capped off with runs in Tokyo, Japan, and Berlin, Germany, where he and wife, Ann Marie, ran together. In less vigorous pursuits, Jeff is a member of a Darden Wordle group on Facebook in which Jeff, Julie Steckel, Rob Coury and Karen “compete.” They invite all interested classmates to join. Karen describes the daily challenge as: “We spend a decent number of outings in Club 4, but we also have moments of self-reported brilliance and/or luck.” We should all be so lucky as well as competent at SAT vocabulary!
Gavin McFarland joins Henley Green Sims in having a daughter accepted at UVA to the class of 2027. Gavin still lives and works in New York, and says, “Looks like I’ll be happily visiting C’ville more often, at least for the next four years. And in a fun coincidence, she and I will have reunions on the same years (not that she wants me to be anywhere near hers!).”
Steven Marks checked in from Brooklyn, New York. Some of you, like me, may recall playing ultimate frisbee or softball in our First Year, when Steven was an uncatchable rocket on the field or rounding the bases. After seeing the notes on Tracey Lake’s athletic accomplishment in the most recent Class Notes, Steven reported: “In March, I achieved USATF Masters All-American Status in the 60-meter sprint. My time was not remarkable, but it is elite-level for the
age group. I run indoor track at The Bronx Armory, a great old school facility, and it was special to run my race where my oldest daughter, Pearl, also runs track for her high school team. The 60-meter is all about power and explosion coming out of the blocks, and I definitely echo Tracey’s sentiment that squats are an excellent training regimen for that type of race. I’ve suffered through various recurring lower-leg injuries over the last 20 years, so I can't do much running when training for actual running competitions. I do all manner of weight- and strength-based exercises. New York-based folks, please reach out if you’re into fitness. I’m always looking for new approaches.” Keep the speed and the dream alive!
Dave Mikita reports in from Atlanta, Georgia, where he serves as president of international and retail channels at FOCUS Brands.
Jim Meneely, our Class Agent, is co-managing a Houston, Texas, and New Yorkbased private equity firm called White Deer. The firm invests in service, equipment and infrastructure companies in both new and traditional energy markets. “We are on our third fund and hope to raise our fourth over the next 12 to 18 months. Familywise, my wife Jen, and I celebrated 20 years on 17 April. Needless to say, she is a very patient woman. We have a wonderful 16-year-old daughter, Morgan, who is starting to think about college. A trip to C’ville is definitely on the list.”
Some of our classmates have been world travelers, perhaps none more so than Dana Leff Niedzielska, who splits time between Bulgaria and the U.S. Dana reports the following: “The Darden ’97 meet-up continued at the annual JP Morgan Healthcare conference in San Francisco in early January. Despite the torrential rains that week, Dana, Stacy Coen, Bill Stilley and Dave Eichler had a fun time with a drinks reunion, catching up on work and personal lives, and exploring opportunities to work together in their day jobs. We missed Clark Dees, who had a work emergency that evening and Tim Gallagher, who was not able to make the trip this year.”
Lourenco Norton de Matos checked in. “All good here. I’m still at Prudential Private Capital in Atlanta, Georgia, where I’ve been for the last 16 years. I frequently interact with Steve Collins (Sasquatch), who has been with Prudential Private Capital since graduation. Enjoying empty nesting, with one daughter (Emily) graduated and working in Chicago, Illinois, and one daughter (Georgia) a sophomore at Scripps College. Hobbies have migrated to mountain biking and lake sailing here in Georgia. All visitors
are welcome.”
KIP Pagach shares some more evidence of our rapidly aging class: shoulder hardware! The result of a recent skiing trip with both daughters, Jordan and Kendall, in Beaver Creek, Colorado, KIP brought back more than happy memories. Younger daughter Kendall was serving as a ski instructor during the 2022–23 winter in Beaver Creek and older daughter Jordan and KIP went out to see her. “My fall was just before noon and resulted in multiple collar bone fractures, a ski patrol sled-ride down the mountain to the Beaver Creek Clinic for X-rays and then a transfer to Vail Hospital for out-patient surgery.” KIP has recovered quickly and was even bold enough to return to Beaver Creek in February, March and April. More power to you! A quick update on KIP’s children includes the following: Kendall (18) is in her gap year following high school graduation last May. Her current ski instructor job followed a gig on the chain saw crew, living out of a tent for three months while volunteering for the Southwest Conservation Corps, and clearing public lands around Durango, Colorado. Kendall has earned certifications as both a Level 1 sawyer and as a PSIA-certified ski instructor. Nice additions toto her resume. Jordan (19) has taken a more traditional post-high school path and is in her second year at The New School in Manhattan, New York.
We have not heard from Allen Pogorzelski in a while and he is on an exciting new venture: hiking the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail. For those of you not familiar with it, the trail is similar to its cousin, the Appalachian Trail, and runs from the Canadian border to the Mexican border, covering 2,653 miles along the spine of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges and peaks at over 13,000 feet at the highest point. Allen has intermittent contact, and we are looking forward to his next transmission of progress and position. Keep pounding.
Vicki (Johnson) Raimey left a long and storied career at Turner/ TimeWarner/ WarnerMedia/ Warner Bros. Discovery that began in 2006 and reports in with involvement in two new ventures. At Credenza (www. credenza3.com),Vicki serves as COO and is “building the future of digital rights management. The technology creates a universal ID or single view of the user across domains (digital, device, linear and/or physical), building an integrated ecosystem that helps clients enhance fan engagement and revenue opportunities.” Got that? Vicki is also with Macrodemic (www.macrodemic.com), where “we aspire to create, incubate and collaborate on tech solutions that optimize business operations and unleash the magic of sports and
live events.” Vicki still lives in Atlanta. It is a brave new world and Vicki is carving a path. Even though she’s technically a 1998 class member, we count Kathy Reardon, who completed her First Year with us, as a member of our class. Some of you might remember that in the 2017 reunion, a quorum was formed and it was resolved “that Kathy Reardon (MBA ’98) and Brett and Debbie Ritchie (MBA ’98), due to their First Year experience, will forever more be considered a member of the Class of 1997 and invited to all future events.” Kathy reports in from Nashville, Tennessee, and is still working with Dollar General. She also just returned from the Turks and Caicos Islands with her girls and some of their friends. Sounds like a great trip!
In terrible news that we previously sent a separate email about, Robert Rose passed away on a business trip in early November 2022. Rob and his wife, Stacey, attended our 25th reunion in April 2022. Rob is survived by Stacey, in addition to Katie Rose, who is mother to his three children, Casey, Kelly and Ryan. We wish for solace and comfort to the family for this tragic loss. Classmates Scott Bass and Nate Kredich and their wives were present at the celebration of life in Dallas, Texas. Rob was the Section C representative to the Darden Student Association in First Year.
On another sad note, Mario Wanderley and Kim Soloman’s son, Nicholas Solomon Wanderley, passed away in a car crash in March 2022. He was 17 and a junior in high school. The family has formed a foundation (www.nsw.foundation) to honor Nicholas.
We heard from Mia (White) Wills and Joe Zalis, among many supporters of the Day for Darden. Joe provided an update: “I’m in the Richmond, Virginia, area and recently retired from a career in finance and operations; and, as Darden’s alumni career services puts it, I’m considering my ‘second act.’ I recently got together with Ron Green and saw a UVA men’s basketball game.”
Last and perhaps least, the 2023 Bridgers Crab Fest, the 25th annual, is planned for Saturday, 12 August 2023 in Raleigh, North Carolina, and all Darden classmates are invited again this year! Add it to your calendar.
With that, we close this addition of Class Notes and remind everyone about joining both our LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/ groups/2066360/) and Facebook groups.
Todd Lattimer was the latest class member to join Darden 97 group on LinkedIn. We currently have 137 members of our class connected via LinkedIn and would love to collect the rest of you so join up.
Bill Young wyoung44@gmail.com
Where did 25 years go? Between the raindrops on Friday afternoon and Sunday morning, we enjoyed a spectacular reunion weekend in Charlottesville. Our reunion coincided with the opening of the new Forum Hotel and a celebration of Bob Bruner’s retirement after 41 years of service to Darden.
Peter and Dana Harris hosted a picture-perfect evening at their home on Friday night, including a cameo from Bob and Bobbie Bruner. Roy Dykes brought the old yearbooks to make sure we could see how we’ve aged, even though Susan Bowen tried to go incognito with her new hair color.
Saturday brought a lovely afternoon at Grace Vineyards for most of us. No judgment, but Brad Jordan, Greg Dawkins, Rahul Kapur and Eric Hansen snuck off to play the new and maybe not-improved Birdwood. Next was dinner on the back patio of the Forum Hotel overlooking the arboretum. The evening ended with a band under the big top in the courtyard up the hill.
Classmates from as far as the west coast (Matthew Scher, Peter Elliman and Susan Bowen) to just up the street (Peter Harris, Taylor Cole, Paul Reeder, James Mackey, Bill Stone, Tom Rhodes and Silas Byrne) joined to share old memories and create new
ones. Special thanks to Chris Wixom and Fernando Merce for chairing the reunion committee.
PSA: There’s always time to make a reunion gift. If you tag the Class of ’98 gift, you’ll get a match from the school.
I apologize in advance for what I’ve left out, as you’ll be getting my perspective. Please drop me a line with any extra updates to include next time. I’ll start with a few stories close to Darden:
Bill Stone drove over the mountain from his farm in Augusta County, Virginia, the alternate HQ for Mountain Lumber. He offered up his barn for a wine tasting as a rain option. He’s got five years to get ready since the weather cooperated this year.
Taylor Cole continues in private equity, but it sounded like he’s spending as much time coaching his kids’ soccer teams as he is working.
From closest to farthest, Matt Scher is one of the latest to join the parents of next gen ’Hoos. He made the trek from Seattle, Washington, to see us with the added bonus of seeing his son (who is just wrapping up his second year in C’ville) and daughter (who came down from New York City). College-age kids was definitely a hot topic.
Greg and Mary Ellen (Maher) Dawkins are about to double up at University of Michigan with their second child starting in the fall and just one left at home. Greg has a small investment banking firm focused on sports investments.
David Galper is about to wrap up one tuition; his oldest will have graduated from Colby College by the time you read this. David has a second child at Franklin & Marshall College. He has a small advisory firm that helps private equity backed companies with IPOs, follow-on offerings and block trades. He’s even developed a bit of expertise in hair removal (laser and waxing) from two of his clients. You never know what you’ll learn at a reunion.
New York and the suburbs were well
represented. In addition to the Galpers and the Dawkins, Brad Jordan, Luke Fichthorn, Warren Estey, Chris Hiland, Nathan Dupree, Jim Spencer and Rahul Kapur made their way south from the Big Apple. Maybe next time they can carpool.
We were able to pull Alec Bocock off the ski slopes in Salt Lake City, Utah, and get Kristen Debeer from outside of Boulder, Colorado. While not at the reunion (he was visiting a daughter after a semester in Spain), Mike Benzian spends most of his winters skiing in Breckenridge, Colorado, just up the way from his daughter at UC Boulder. His son Max was there too after graduating from UVA last spring, until he tore an ACL this spring.
Unfortunately, I have all too much advice to give him after three torn ACLs for me. I’m still stubbornly playing tennis.
I’m struggling with segues so here are a few miscellaneous notes in no particular order.
Rebecca Carpenter and Eric Hansen made their way from Washington, D.C. Rebecca is leading an urban agriculture venture called Sprout, and Eric is running an experiential marketing firm. Their son is wrapping up his first year at Christopher Newport University.
Ken Monroe rode over from Richmond, Virginia, for lunch on Saturday and to register his attendance. He sped back before I could corner him on his life updates.
Andrea White is leading the charge for kayak safety across Georgia, and is ready to roll out the welcome mat for anyone getting to the Atlanta area.
Caroline Worrall is contemplating trading her focus on cycling to prep for the world triathlon championships in Spain in two years. We’ve volunteered to be on the cheer squad as long as we don’t have to compete.
Kirsten Brown swung down from Washington, D.C., where she’s started an awesome new part-time career that I’ll let her share (it comes with sweet travel benefits).
Marcien Jenckes is committed to his work
at Comcast but was prepared for the cold call when I asked him what he was doing for fun. Number one: he’s working on his sommelier certification. Number two: he’s playing some golf. And number three: he’s getting more hands-on working their horse farm outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. If you need a split rail fence repaired, he’s your guy.
Daniel Lee wants credit for attending his first post-Darden reunion. He’s spending more time at Darden as he’s volunteering at the Alumni Career Center and helping alumni who want in or out of management consulting. It also gives him a chance to visit his daughter who’s a ’Hoo finishing up her third year at the Comm School.
Chris Wixom gave a quick plug to check out Alumni Career Services and all of the other available Darden resources for lifelong learning. He recently completed a six-week class on “Designing Your Life” and is putting some of the lessons to work with a career change. I’m on the waitlist, so if you’re interested in what that next chapter might look like or how to make the most of your current chapter, I’d encourage you to reach out to Darden.
The latest Bill Young update is that our daughter is headed to Cincinnati this summer to intern with GE and hopefully catch a free meal from Kristin Van Scoy. If all goes to plan, we’ll have graduations next spring at Georgia Tech and UVA (fortunately, two weeks apart). We’re working through the good sandwich generation stuff in building an apartment for my mother-in-law in lieu of the garage. On the tougher side, we’re working through some tough health stuff with my dad, Jack Young (MBA ’70). Apologies to those I missed from this reunion. Consider this an invitation with five years to prepare for those of you who missed out.
Silvia Ethel shared the following: “I’m doing well! Still living in Sao Paulo, Brasil, (jealous of your adventures in DK), working in consulting (digital marketing and data science: super exciting!). I actually haven’t traveled much lately, mostly because of my father’s weak health, but hopefully will manage to spend some time in Europe in the fall.”
Wei Jin and family moved back to the U.S. and are now settled down in Charlotte, North Carolina, after spending over 12 years in Asia. Wei looks forward to catching up with friends from Darden.
Nels Nordquist writes: “My wife, DJ, and I still live in Alexandria, Virginia, and are well. We’ve been healthy and happily busy with work and family. I’m now on Capitol Hill as majority staff director for the House Financial Services Committee, national security subcommittee, still focused on international economic issues like CFIUS, export controls, sanctions, etc. (A lot of China-related stuff.) DJ is serving on some corporate and nonprofit boards and working at a think tank; she was a fellow at Darden for the last two years, so she got to know their amazing Washington, D.C., facility as well as to get back to C’ville a few times. Our kids are good, too — our oldest (with whom DJ was pregnant at our Darden graduation!) finished undergrad in 2021 out in California and now lives in New Jersey. Our son is a college junior, also probably headed toward grad school. And our younger daughter is a high school junior, still at home and worrying about college applications. As for Darden folks, the main person we see is my sister’s husband, Carter Houghton; we spent New Year’s with them in Dallas, Texas, and our main connection to UVA these days is their daughter, a second year in the nursing school. Warm regards to everyone; come see me if you’re on the Hill!”
From the desk of Tina Opie: “Fred and
I are about to be empty nesters because our youngest is heading off to Howard University to play Division 1 lacrosse in the fall. Now, both of our children are playing lacrosse in college! Fred and I have been practicing for this moment by having a Friday morning/ day date for about ten years. Woot woot! I released my book (co-authored with Dr. Beth Livingston), Shared Sisterhood: How to Take Collective Action for Racial and Gender Equity at Work, and we are really proud of how the book is helping people and organizations change to be more equitable for all people. I’m also giving talks in and outside of the country about leadership, culture change and all things OB! Fred and I celebrate 23 years of marriage in July. (Yes, y’all were right when you said that we were more than friends!)”
Karan Capoor has been traveling around quite a bit. Karan reported that the Capoors are fine in Chevy Chase, Maryland. Karan recently took “early retirement” from the World Bank, but continues to advise them and others on climate action, decarbonization and sustainability. His daughter, Anya, is a high school junior and they are going on college tours, including UVA! Karan had lunch with Shravani Bagchi and Aman Chowdhury (MBA ’98) in Gurgaon, India, heard from Prof. Tina Pittman and got a nice message from Jill and Jeffrey Dixons who are in Los Angeles, California. Karan and his wife also met up with Marc Eichman and his wife, Bianca, in Columbia.
And speaking of Shravani Bagchi: “It’s a big year for us as my son is going to college in the fall this year. He will be making his decision in a month or so and once that happens, I will also make sure I get going on our reunion. Can’t believe it will be 25 years!”
Stephen Wu reported that he had an opportunity to meet with Ichiro Suzuki and some friends in Kyoto, Japan, while on vacation. They had not seen each other since the graduation 24 years ago. Ichiro was kind enough to treat them to a great dinner. Stephen also shared the following: “Not a whole
lot to report since my way-too-early retirement in early 2022. I consider this a self-imposed sabbatical and rebirth of some kind. My son got into University of California Irvine computer science last year. My daughter is a happy sophomore at Northern Arizona University. I have taken about a dozen trips all over the country and the world. I am about to go to Japan next week to hopefully see some cherry blossoms. I am actively volunteering for a couple of nonprofit organizations. I am an advisor and relationship manager for a mentoring program at Asian Corporate and Entrepreneur Leaders, a national nonprofit leadership development program. I have been serving as vice president for the Metropolitan Youth Symphony in Arizona and soon will transition to the treasurer role. They are all interesting new opportunities for me. I’m still stretching myself to explore new things.”
Monin Adam made the following declaration “I will be sharing tons of info on my whereabouts, of course, when we meet and can’t wait to hear from you guys! It’s been an interesting ride so far and in the end I’m truly grateful to God for the beautiful journey since graduation …”
Scott Aronson sent in the following: “My wife, Jacquelin (MBA ’00), our children, and I have completed our goal to visit all 50 states as a family. We began when our youngest child was a month shy of his second birthday; now, Jack, Jayne, Joseph, and Howe are all teenagers! This past March, we traveled to Hawaii (Oahu, The Big Island, and Maui) to complete and celebrate our family adventure! We explored our country’s national parks (with our children earning numerous Junior Ranger badges); toured state capitol buildings; and visited families of Darden classmates, including Terry Plath (Minnesota), Hector Arcaya (Washington), Jim South (Virginia), and Seth Webber (Maine). We picked fresh blueberries (Michigan) and cherries (Washington) and mined for diamonds (Arkansas) and star garnets (Indiana). We enjoyed the Dixie Stampede
(Tennessee), Fort Worth Stockyards Rodeo (Texas), and Medora Musical (North Dakota). Highlights included surfing (California), whitewater rafting (Montana), sand railing (Oregon), glacier climbing (Alaska), and bicycling down Haleakalā volcano (Hawaii.) Our final excursion was outrigger canoe surfing. This ancient Hawaiian activity was especially meaningful as our guide talked about the importance of ‘ohana,’ or family, staying together, pulling together, and always supporting one another. After our decade-long adventure traveling the United States of America, our family has countless stories and photographs upon which to reflect and appreciate. We are so grateful for God’s protection and provision as the six of us explored our big and beautiful nation together.”
Kim Walzer mentioned that all is good with her and her family. Kim and her husband, Matt, will soon be empty nesters, though she mentioned that their two fur babies will ease the transition. Daughter Natalie is a junior at University of California Berkeley and loving it. Son Jayce will find out this month where he’s heading off to college next year. On the work front, Kim was promoted to service line leader last year at Kaiser Permanente, Orange County, California, where she leads a team of managers that oversee areas including strategic planning and projects, business intelligence and transformation, care experience, physician development, access, and virtual care. Never a dull moment for Kim.
Prasad Vuyyuru shared that after living in their current house for 18 years, they recently moved to a new lakefront home. “It has nice lake views all around and we would love to host if any Darden folks are traveling to the Dallas, Texas, area. My son completed undergrad in computer science from University of Texas Austin recently. He is planning to start work in August in New York City. Now that we are empty nesters, my wife and I are
planning to travel. First destination is Turkey in July this year.”
I am still in Copenhagen, Denmark, with my family. We got to meet up with Meredith Tutterow as planned when she came to Copenhagen last fall. I also had a great visit here with Hector Arcaya and his family last November. I recently started in a VC bootcamp of sorts with Antler.co. It has been an interesting experience, and I am learning a lot — though I am not yet sure what will come of it.
And yes, the 25th anniversary of our graduation is coming up on 26–28 April 2024. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible there. The new Kimpton Inn at Darden is open and taking reservations! Go to www.forumhotelcharlottesville.com/.
Please continue to share your updates with both Bob Loria and me whenever you can.
Erin McCool Byrczek has been living in Warsaw, Poland, for the last year, working for Pfizer and leading the vaccines business there. With a recent organizational change, she now has both the vaccines and internal medicine (primary care) businesses. It’s been a challenging but great learning opportunity for her and for her family. As the assignment winds down later this year, they plan to return to NYC to continue the adventure!
Five years after “retiring” from Capitol One, Jen McEnery Finn is excited to be working on a PropTech venture to make smart home tech (thermostats, lights, sensors, etc.) more easily accessible, particularly to rental communities. After 15 years as an angel investor and advisor, she is finding it super fun to be on the other side: building something that can have a big impact. They launched a few pilots of their software platform last year, raising their first round, and were recently accepted into Lighthouse Labs, an 11-week
accelerator program. It is now officially game on!
In January Alex Whittemore became a senior advisor at Summit Partners after over 15 years on the front lines there. He is looking forward to spending a lot more time with his family before pursuing whatever new challenges come his way.
More interestingly for us, he has been able to see, talk to, or play tennis or golf with a number of Darden friends over the past year, including John Loverro, Jeff Maxwell, John Tye, Cheairs Porter, Littleton Glover, and Dave Zug (MBA ’01). He is happy to report that all of them are thriving both personally and professionally.
Ryan Knauss and family are doing well, with one daughter now at University of California Davis and the other a junior at Los Altos High School. Ryan’s wife, Tina, retired from PwC this past summer but is now actively working with a few startups in a CFO capacity. Ryan is still at VMware … now approaching 16 years. In Darden related news, Ryan highlighted a great discussion and lunch he had with Dean Emeritus Bob Bruner during his recent preretirement trip to California.
Kerry Davenport Fitzgerald and Kevin, along with Katie, age 15; Jack, age 12; and Ryan, age 10, are still in Connecticut living and working. They recently went on two great trips that have been on the list for years: skiing in the French Alps over Christmas and exploring and experiencing Costa Rica during February break. Both were amazing, with the kids at such fun ages to enjoy the adventures. They also bought a house in Ireland (in Kevin’s home area) where they visit a few times each year and Airbnb the rest of time.
Heather Heaton Wiederholt, Serena Matsunaga, Arabella J. Pollack, Linsley Gates Carruth, and Deana H. McCreery joined Valerie J. Camillo for an epic 50th birthday bash at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, last January. As
a highlight, Valerie joined Debbie Gibson (’80s pop sensation) on stage during a rousing birthday concert. The group enjoyed celebrating Valerie’s half-century milestone and over two decades of friendship.
Trina Rogers jones_trina@yahoo.com
In addition to updates, for this issue of notes I asked you to send me your favorite spring break and travel destinations. Read on to see our classmates’ answers and reflect on this: how great is it that most of us still get to enjoy spring break?!
After ten years at Hilti North American, Jason Janning made a move back to U.S. industrials to join ITW where he is leading the U.S. commercial refrigeration business. His family celebrated with a spring break ski trip to Davos/Klosters, Switzerland.
Marvin Dyke wrote, “We did a ski trip in Park City, Utah, for spring break. Snow was plentiful and the weather was great — sunny and felt warm despite being reported as 25 degrees Fahrenheit. I highly recommend the destination, but I’m guessing the skiers out there already know that.
“Our family is going on ten years in Austin, Texas — the longest I’ve lived anywhere in the U.S. We are doing well; my wife and I just celebrated our 17th anniversary, and my boys are growing up quickly — 11 and 13! However, I just changed jobs and headquarters is in Southlake, Texas, 15 minutes from DFW airport. I’m there most weeks so if any classmates are in town or have a long layover at DFW, it would be great to link up. I tried my hand at a healthcare startup last year in the cardiology space and, unfortunately, it crashed and burned. I’m now a few weeks into a new job as president of a plasma collection company called ImmunoTek. We develop plasma collection centers for
biopharma companies in need of plasma as a raw material.”
Chris Smythe was happy to announce that he and Sarah are officially empty-nesters as both of their boys are now in college. William is a third-year student at UVA and David is a freshman at Princeton. He wrote, “We are still living in Norfolk, Virginia, where I am involved in the world of home medical equipment and Sarah is the director of admissions at Norfolk Academy. And because she works at a school, we still get spring break. This year it was an adults-only trip to Jamaica for some sun and rum punches. I see Jim and Elizabeth (Wells) Shumadine frequently in Norfolk where Jim continues to destroy me in tennis on a regular basis.”
In other empty-nester news, apparently unable to have a life phase that doesn’t involve the care and feeding of others, Ann Nicholson got a puppy! His name is Tip and he looks forward to seeing you on Grounds.
In addition to being learning teammates, Ann and Erika Herz both have kids attending UVA’s engineering school. They enjoyed taking Tip on a walk on a local trail this spring. Erika is still living in Charlottesville and enjoying her work at the UVA Office for Sustainability. She still gets to work with Darden quite a bit. (New 2030 sustainability goals are on the website.) Electric buses are coming to UVA this fall, which reminded her of the good old days of working at UTC Fuel Cells with Mark Mauss and Chris Berl, given the bus program they had there.
Erika had the pleasure of Charlottesville visits with the families of Brandon and Jennifer (Spillane) Hayes, Steve and Sarita (Talwar) Finnie, and Porter Smith and Alex Cannon. She also had a phenomenal time visiting Catherine (Culkar) Leavell in Colorado doing some cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and lurking around her family’s old house near Boulder. Her new project is learning to play tennis: “I just joined a local team and will be keeping the kinesiology tape makers in business with all of my little muscle tweaks and minor injuries — a new one every week!”
Scott Walsh reported that all is well in San Diego, California. He is still consulting on sustainability issues, splitting his time between clean transportation work with ICF and other sustainability projects as an independent consultant. His wife, Sasha, is still prosecuting bad guys, and their boys are both heading to college this summer — one to start freshman year at Colorado School of Mines and one to a summer program at New York University. He wrote, “I’ve had some great travels over the past year, including visits to Miguel Palacios, Ren Yuthok,
David Zug, and Grant Brown. This summer I’ll spend three weeks backpacking through California’s High Sierras with my son. San Diego is every bit as awesome as they say it is — come visit!”
Molly (Hill) Patten sent glowing comments about Porter White’s annual holiday party and recognition of his wonderful support for the D.C.-area Darden community. In addition to the fabulous host, Molly celebrated with Mike Ashford and Wendy Bolger, Steve Maiden, Chris Lown, and a lot of other Darden grads at the party.
Finally, your trusty scribe Trina (Jones) Rogers narrowly avoided getting snowed in with Coleen (Sullivan) Curry, Elizabeth (Wells) Shumadine, and Christine (Butcher) Wilson in Buffalo, New York, this winter. I also enjoyed a trip to visit Jim and Elizabeth (Wells) Shumadine where I survived a 5 a.m. run with Elizabeth and a stunning defeat of their son Sam in the video game NBA 2K. I split spring break with my family between the snowy Utah mountains (15 degrees Fahrenheit) and the sunny North Carolina coast (75 degrees Fahrenheit). I’m continuing to enjoy the adventures of life with kids in college and elementary school; Liza is finishing up her freshman year at Auburn, and Cate and James are in first and third grades. Thanks to all who submitted updates for this issue, and we look forward to even more next time!
Flip Pidot flippidot@gmail.com
Matt Kaness joined a new venture as CEO of GoodwillFinds Ecommerce Inc., a new re-commerce platform and marketplace in partnership with the Goodwill Network. It's Matt's first time since Darden working in the nonprofit space, and he's finding it quite gratifying to contribute to such an amazing mission. He invites everyone to check out their new marketplace at goodwillfinds.com and let him know your thoughts.
Kevin Klau writes to let us know the Class of ’02 is well represented on main grounds these days, as several class members have children who are currently enrolled at UVA. Fabiola and Adam Carter (Mason), Lori and Ashby Hackney (Claire), Frances and Mark Hutto (Walker) and Kevin and Erin Klau (Sydney) have all enjoyed being together tailgating for UVA football. Go Hoos!
Lauren Macleod, Graham Beatty, Meg Nesbitt lgmacleod@gmail.com, gbeatty@heidrick. com, megnesbitt@hotmail.com
From Veena Rao-Mirmira: “I recently joined a med tech startup called Portal Instruments based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which has been a great opportunity to work in an early stage company and help lead them to submitting for FDA clearance and conducting launch preparation activities. Raghu and I moved to Chicago, Illinois, from Indianapolis, Indiana, about 18 months ago. We love living in the city of Chicago and are enjoying being empty nesters. Priya, 26, is finishing up a Ph.D. in molecular engineering at the University of Chicago and Anjali, 22 (yeah, the cheeky baby that you all remember) is graduating undergrad from the University of Chicago in June and is taking a couple of gap years to prepare to apply for medical schools.”
From Brian Hughes: “The Hughes family is growing up fast! Our oldest daughter is a sophomore in college and adulting well. Our oldest son is a senior and wrapping up an action-packed year before heading off to either college or a service mission in the fall. And we are in the midst of nonstop kid activities, all the time. We call it ‘joyful chaos.’ I got to take our family in October to spend time in Paris, where I did my service mission before Darden. After five years at a tech company, I tried my hand at consulting for a while and recently joined a fast-growing client company full time to lead finance for them. I'm
excited about the company and the opportunity to build an amazing future.”
From Eric Gregg: “Bre and I had a wonderful time connecting with friends at the Darden 20-year reunion. We were thrilled to be joined by the other ‘youngsters’ of the class, Aron Grodinsky and Jeremy Shinewald and were especially thankful for the contributions by their elder classmates, Carey (Douglas) Delia and Lindsay (Vaughan) Kalaw, who used their advanced wisdom and age to ensure The Forum bar had at least a few bottles of wine for the after-party. All kidding aside, loved seeing all of you and love you to pieces!”
Speaking of Lindsay (Vaughan) Kalaw, she took a new role at Biogen in Weston, Massachusetts, leading strategy and planning for the omnichannel excellence team. She and her team are responsible for building customer-centric digital experiences for health care professionals and patients across Biogen's therapeutic areas. Lindsay and her family live in Needham, Massachusetts, where she runs into Brad Donahue on the soccer fields and meets up with Jeremy Shinewald, who lives nearby, for coffee.
For those that attended the reunion, thank you for joining us. There’s really nothing quite like a spring weekend in Charlottesville, surrounded by friends and the reminder of the amazing experience we were able to share 20 years ago. Many of us had a special treat on the Saturday morning of reunion weekend, where we were able to see Bob Bruner’s final case – ‘Case Closed’ – and got to re-experience the magic of the case method. As one might expect, Bob’s final remarks were filled with a nod to those behind him and those ahead of him in the dean’s chair. If you didn’t get to see it, Bob posted a link on his LinkedIn in May, where you can access the video. The school is in amazing hands with Scott Beardsley, but Bob left an unbelievable legacy.
In the spirit of acknowledging service to Darden, Anand Stanley (one of the original
class secretaries) and Graham Beatty did an amazing job as reunion committee co-chairs. They shared their gratitude to the committee that delivered an amazing turnout for our class. We had 65 class members registered for the reunion, which was 20-30 percent higher than similar classes. Kudos to this team for getting so many people to come back.
Reunion Giving Co-Chairs:
Graham Beatty, Class Secretary
Anand Stanley
Reunion Committee:
Aaron Laufer, Event Host
Scott Beall, Jennifer Dresback
Charles Leddy, Jerry Peng
Veena Rao-Mirmira, Jeremy Shinewald
Ashley Tagtachian, Santiago Tagtachian
Lindsay Vaughan Kalaw, Vivian Yu
Additional thanks and congratulations go to volunteers taking on new assignments. Effective immediately, Anand Stanley and Santiago Tagtachian are new class agents. And Meg (Nesbitt) Brennan is joining as class secretary.
Jill Lewandosky
jill.lewandosky@gmail.com
It’s your new Class Secretary here, and I will do my best to fill these pages with exciting news for the Class of ’04. I write these from Walnut Creek, California, while Stella, age 8, and Teddy, age 5, keep themselves busy. Who knew when we moved here in 2015, we’d still be here eight years later. I’ve been at Cloudflare for the last four years, after almost 10 years at Bloomberg. When your internet breaks and you see the Cloudflare error page, I can do nothing for you. But please reach out, tell me your error code, and send me a note about what you are up to so I can include you in my next round of notes.
I caught up with Uday Gupta via Zoom, and the conversation turned to next year’s reunion. This is timely, because it sounds like
Joseph Parkhill and Sarah Gulla are also thinking ahead to spring 2024 and the need for a location-scouting trip. While gathering these notes, I’ve had plenty of folks comment about the fact that it’s been nearly 20 years since we graduated. Mark your calendars for next April!
Sarah also noted she had some yummy sushi with Lesley Curry down in Atlanta, Georgia. Sounds like business travel is back overall, and I hope to see more of these types of updates next time.
Jason Kaufman reports in from Washington D.C. His son, Sam, started as a firstyear math/computer science double major at UVA. Sam plans to spend the next year studying abroad in Tokyo, Japan. Jason and his business partners launched a minority growth equity fund focused on the national and cybersecurity space. Am I the only one thinking that I couldn’t compete with kids these days? Go Sam!
Kazu Izumiya and Shu-wei Wu sent me an email from Japan. They took their twin boys to a birthday visit at the Anpanman Museum (Anpan is a Japanese sweet roll filled with red bean paste). The same Anpanman character existed when Kazu was a boy just a few years ago (we don’t admit our age here), and every single kid in Japan loves this character. Their daughter, Sumika, age 11, let her brothers enjoy the birthday with the Anpanman characters.
Markus Kritzler shared he doesn’t have a lot of updates, just a lot of work. After corporate life at Holcim, he returned to Mexico City, Mexico, and back to M&A with a local boutique firm, Rion M&A. He also took up the expert witness practice and has had to present oral testimony already. The one positive about this is the trips he’s made and the classmates he’s seen. His first trip took him to Lisbon, Portugal, where he caught up with the greatest host of all time, Pedro Monteiro. He also saw Antonoaldo Neves while Antonoaldo was between roles. Antonoaldo has since taken on the role of CEO of Etihad
Airlines. The second trip took Markus back to Washington D.C., where Guillermo Cisneros took him and Travis Massey through a plethora of bourbons, whiskies, and other assorted malts. Keep up the travels, Markus, we love the reports. And Markus is waiting to get more Darden visitors in Mexico City.
Kaylan Bartholomew had a full circle moment, as she was back in the classroom virtually at Darden for a business class. She said she was probably as nervous and excited as she was for her first class over 20 years ago, because this time she was the subject of the case. One of her former professors reached out with the idea and the case was published last year. She sat in awe as she listened to the students thoughtfully articulate whether she should stay in banking or leave. Jennifer Huggins joined her in the classroom. When she’s not thinking about cases, she’s planning vacations; Kaylan will be meeting up with Jennifer for a vacation soon and promised me an update.
That’s all the news for now. See you in Charlottesville next year.
ToTran Nguyen totran05@gmail.com
John Lake has taken on the role of CEO of Cornerstone Engineering, a civil, land development, energy, and regulatory firm based in Bakersfield, California. The company is growing rapidly and gaining a reputation as the “go-to” firm for clean energy and carbon management projects in Kern County, an emerging region for next-era energy production. John shares, “My role at Cornerstone comes on the heels of successfully launching Kern Venture Group in 2018, the first venture capital fund in the central San Joaquin Valley of California, where I will remain as a general partner. My wife and I have also been busy running our SeedCore Foundation focused on supporting entrepreneurship, private Christian schools, and local charities.”
Joe Miller’s family has established the Joe Miller Memorial Endowment at Charlotte Country Day School in his hometown. Each year the endowment will award a scholarship to a student who displays leadership qualities, academic achievement, and, above all, a great love of life. Joe lived each day as a celebration of life and continues to inspire us. Darden alumni may also support this tribute to Joe by making a gift (of any amount) to the Joe Miller ’95 Memorial Scholarship here: charlottecountryday.org/about/support/ endowment-capital/endowment-form. Use the drop-down menu to choose “Joe Miller ’95 Memorial Fund.” Or make a pledge by
contacting Robin Furr at: robin.furr@charlottecountryday.org
Coleman Bigelow has published “In Rare Cases and Other Unfortunate Circumstances,” his first collection of flash fiction, with Alien Buddha Press. Find more at InRareCases.com.
Ellie Off Pomeroy ellie.off@gmail.com
Hello Class of 2006! In this edition of Class Notes, I have some of my own to share. My husband Peter and I (Ellie Off Pomeroy) welcomed our second child, Penelope Augusta Pomeroy, on 30 March. On the work front, I have been leading marketing at Every Man Jack, a private equity-backed men’s personal care company in Marin County, California, for the past year and a half. In other news, I am very late in reporting Brian Ehrig’s professional and personal updates. He has taken a new role at Kearney as the global lead partner for the fashion and luxury business. He also celebrated his recent marriage to Francesca Bressi at a party in Brooklyn, New York, with a number of classmates, including Adam Ganz, Grace Garry, Jim Roche, John Huntington, Kirk Tashjian, Vinni Trehan, Ken Zamkow and Pravin Chandiramani.
Weinong Wu’s son just finished up his first year at UVA! He enjoys the challenging and eye-opening student life there, still exploring interest in computer science, biology and commerce. Weinong plans to make it back for his son’s graduation and Darden reunion in the summer of 2026. He is currently working with Allergan Aesthetics China, a franchise of AbbVie, as its head of corporate affairs. He has been with the company for almost five years.
Michael Kuntz is still in Tanzania, living at the base of Kilimanjaro, running a small solar-finance-agriculture business. He writes, “It's been a roller-coaster, but the beat plays on, eight years in. My wife, Jennifer, is work-
ing on agroforestry with a vanilla company and creating our own forest one sapling at a time. My 6-year-old (Hattie) and 3-year-old (Georgia) are thriving here, but also excited for us to spend July in Wilmington, North Carolina, where we'll be visiting their grandparents. Wishing all a healthy summer!”
Eric Thome continues to build the angel investing community in Charleston, South Carolina, with VentureSouth. He joined one of his investors’ startups, Into the Ideal, this winter to help lead the team to build a life-coaching platform. Eric is still active in education reform efforts in the community after losing his race for school board for Charleston County last fall. Also, he will take the helm of the board for Red Cross in the Lowcountry this summer and is excited about supporting the work for disaster relief, blood drives and more. Eric’s family is growing and active with the oldest girls participating in sports and after-school activities. He and Eloise’s family of five recently expanded with a golden doodle puppy!
Ande Jenkins started a new job in March as the head of partner development for Collegis Education. Collegis is based in Chicago, Illinois, and provides technology strategy and services for higher education. He had his second daughter, Emma Anderson Jenkins, and moved to Maryland (regretfully as it is not nearly as cool as Virginia).
Andrew Gonce writes, “Happy to share that we’re still in Raleigh, North Carolina, (wife, son and me) and still working for a generics pharma company. In my spare time, I think about how to fix the broken U.S. Gx industry. I also caught up with Dan Dammerman and Jason Lund for a few beers in town recently.”
Xingcheng Hua reports, “I was grateful to be invited by Professor Tim Laseter to visit Darden and give a guest lecture on the Fintech industry. It was fun to visit beautiful Charlottesville in spring! I was also happy to connect with Bing Han, his wife Sarah Wang (MBA ’05) and their son when they
Before Class of 2007 classmates Jessica and Jason Sinnarajah met at Darden, each had an early moment when they knew the School was right for them. For their relationship, the moment of realization came later.
They first met on Grounds in April before their First Year, but it took some time to become close friends during that year. The couple didn’t begin dating until their Second Year when “something clicked” between them.
“Our relationship was really built on a strong foundation of friendship,” Jessica says. “Not everyone can say that.”
Their growing love for each other was part of everything coming together at Darden in terms of network, career and, of course, a relationship. Fit was something they both found in their careers after Darden, as well.
For Jessica, her ability to empathize led her to talent acquisition and talent management.
“I had not intended to go down that path, but I ran a [profit and loss] business, and I absolutely hated it. But I had this knack for connecting with people, for understanding what they wanted to do with their career, or their education, and how it might all fit together.”
Those skills have helped her in roles in business school admissions at the University of California-Berkeley Haas School of Business, two boutique search firms, internal executive search and now the startup Turing, an AI-powered tech services company.
“There is a need to have a match in terms of experience and business objectives, and in terms of personality and style, so that executives can get along even when they disagree,”
she says. “But the other piece is really digging into the things they are not asking for in an executive and understanding their business very, very well.”
Jason’s career has been varied and geographically diverse, with stints as a senior business executive at Google, Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Guardians, The Weather Company, Ziff Davis and, most recently, the National Football League’s Buffalo Bills.
At every stop, he’s put his high-level business operations skills to work to generate opportunities for his companies and their partners.
During his time in media with Ziff Davis and The Weather Company, he managed partnerships with Apple, Google and Facebook and expanded both companies through M&A opportunities. Most recently with the Buffalo Bills, he oversaw business operations for the team during the last three seasons. “Throughout the 15 or 16 years since I’ve graduated,” he says, “the Darden degree has really helped me because of the adaptability, being able to think on my feet, think through multiple solutions, and figuring out how to work in different work environments.”
The Sinnarajahs time after Darden has also been marked by continued service to the School and a sense of appreciation for the education and the power of the Darden network.
“I think the vast majority of us would attribute a lot of our success in our careers to what we learned at Darden,” Jason says. “And I think it’s really important to remember that. The network is really strong, it’s very vibrant, and no matter how you give, it’s really important.”
— Tom van der Voort
were visiting the national and state parks in Utah during spring break. I'm planning on meeting Yinghua Zhang in a couple of days, too! I have come to appreciate the beauty and vibrant entrepreneurial environment here in Utah, which has the highest percentage of startups headquartered in the state to make ‘unicorn’ status. Invitation is to all to come and visit.”
Ryan Davis, Heather Danforth Hill, Alice Ganier Rolli ryandavis07@gmail.com, HeatherRaeDanforth@gmail.com, aliceanna@gmail.com
Matthew Eubanks and his family moved from California to Louisville, Colorado, seven years ago and are enjoying the great outdoors and all the area has to offer. In 2021, Matthew decided to embrace the Search Fund/ETA (entrepreneurship through acquisition) model to get back to his roots running a small company. He left his role at Cisco and raised funds to search full-time for a company to buy. In April 2022, Matthew closed on the purchase of a 20-year-old Colorado cybersecurity company called DirSec. He’s now running it as president and looking to grow the business both organically as well as through additional acquisitions.
Harald Kruse reports, “I’ve been living in Sydney, Australia, now for just over a year with my wife Amelia, our nearly 2-year-old son Jack, and our dog Tamarama. We’re loving it! It’s a fantastic place to live and grow our family, and, of course, Amelia’s family is here. I’m still running Global Charter Services (dba Buster.com and BusBank) from here, and working closely with classmate Haniff Jackson, our CFO. If anyone comes through Sydney, please drop me a line — I’ve had college friends and former colleagues already come Down Under on business so it’s just a matter of time before some Darden friends come through.”
And news from one of our class secretaries: Alice Ganier Rolli has announced her campaign for mayor of Nashville, Tennessee. She intends to put all of what she learned in Colley’s General Managers Taking Action to serve the citizens of her hometown through this period of hypernova growth. In addition to her business experience with Charlottesville-based WorldStrides and other private companies, she has served as assistant commissioner in economic development in the administration of Tennessee governor Bill Haslam and as special assistant and later campaign manager for now-retired U.S. senator Lamar Alexander. The election is 3 August — you can keep up and contribute at AliceRolli.com.
Liz Boehmler, Haniff Jackson and Aaron
Watt hosted a virtual happy hour for Alice’s campaign. It was a great way to catch up! In addition to Liz, Haniff and Aaron, joining were Harald Kruse from Sydney, Australia, Nathan King, Matthew Marcinek, Katherine Neuenfeldt, Julie Vianello, J.Y. Brown and Kelly Greenhaur. The conversation ranged from recent tech-layoffs (and case studies in what not to do), to Katherine’s newest medical device technology, Nathan’s work recruiting nurses for the national nursing shortage, and more.
Got news? Please send contributions anytime to the Class of ’07 notes by emailing HeatherRaeDanforth@gmail.com, RyanDavis07@gmail.com, or aliceanna@gmail.com
Pratyush Kumar
pratyush@gmail.com
The Class of ’08 enjoyed Darden reunion weekend with nearly 90 classmates in attendance. They had the unique honor of Professor Ed Freeman joining the class for their Friday night class event at the Bradbury, which was aptly named “Dinner with Ed.” Highlights on Saturday were Professor Bob Bruner’s last lecture in the morning before the class dispersed to enjoy the Foxfield Races, an afternoon at Grace Estate Winery or a picnic on Grounds. Finally, ’08 classmates came together under the tent on Flagler for a final celebration. To everyone who was able to attend, we hope you enjoyed being back together for a wonderful weekend!
Davina Myers
davinajmyers@gmail.com
It was incredible being back on Grounds to celebrate our 15th milestone reunion in April with so many members of the class in attendance! We dearly missed those of you who were unable to attend, so here is a rundown of the highlights.
We kicked off the weekend with our
class reunion at the beautiful new Forum Hotel, including a special “homeroom” led by Barbara Millar to hear life and work updates from each of our classmates. We also had great turnout from our original EMBA 2008 faculty. We ended the evening with a surprise appearance by the UVA a cappella group, the Virginia Gentlemen. On Saturday we heard school updates from Dean Scott Beardsley and took in Professor Bob Bruner’s last lecture, Case Closed, before his retirement this spring. A group of us spent a gorgeous afternoon in the countryside at Grace Estate Winery. Finally, the weekend ended with a dinner in Saunders Hall, followed by an evening under the stars outside in the courtyard.
I hope everyone marks their calendars for the final weekend in April five years from now for our 20th!
Elizabeth (Breyer) Bowman, Neal Pavlic lizziebreyer@gmail.com, pavlic16@gmail. com
The Minneapolis-area Darden crew managed to get 100 percent attendance at a gathering of all the current Darden ’09 residents: Lizzy and Noah Hirsch, Brett and Sara Brohl, Meredith (Miller) Englund, Liz and Scott Clemente, Lauren and John Mc-
Namara, Susheel Tenguria, and Elizabeth (Breyer) Bowman, hosted by the Brohls. It was great catching up and seeing how much the group has grown since Darden with the addition of many spouses, kids and pets!
After ten years leading the Green Financing Business and as head of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) at Fannie Mae, Chrissa Pagitsas began a new set of professional adventures. She says, “This included publishing my book, Chief Sustainability Officers at Work. I captured the insights of chief sustainability officers and heads of ESG on how to lead credible, successful and profitable sustainability strategies at Fortune 500 companies such as Amazon, Procter & Gamble, Owners Corning, and BlackRock. One of our very own, Katherine Neebe (Darden ’04), chief sustainability officer at Duke Energy, is featured in the book. In addition to the book’s publishing this April, I launched my own strategic advisory firm, Pagitsas Advisors, to guide C-suite leaders and board members on how to launch their own ESG strategies. Public speaking, teaching and board roles also fill my time. If you’re passing through Washington, D.C., let me know so we can reconnect.”
Speaking of visiting the D.C. area, Lauren and John McNamara recently stopped by during spring break to see Jackson Castle-
When Jayson Lipsey (MBA ’08) accepted a summer internship at Parkway Properties — now Parkway Property Investments — the summer before college, little did he know he would end up as the firm’s CEO one day.
Lipsey credits Darden’s signature take on stakeholder theory for fundamentally changing his outlook. He sought an MBA after working in real estate at Parkway Properties for five years. At the time, he felt ready to continue his education, and he noticed the MBAs on the executive team’s resumes. Plus, he saw an opportunity to be close to his younger brother, who was finishing up his last two years at UVA as a football player.
The Darden experience turned out to be more than a resume boost.
“My view prior to Darden was probably not dissimilar from many people who basically view the role of business as creating profit for its shareholders,” he said. But encountering stakeholder theory in Professor Ed Freeman’s class changed his fundamental outlook. In every leadership role Lipsey took after Darden, he tried to define stakeholders and maximize value for all of them. He found using this mindset to guide important decisions led to a more thoughtful company and more deeply engaged teams. “For me, it has become the single foundation for how we run our company. And that came from a First Year ethics course.”
Lipsey said he was also heavily influenced in his approach to teams and hiring at Darden by Professor Jim Clawson. Leadership lessons from Darden became more relevant than ever when Lipsey returned to Parkway Property Investments as CEO in 2022 after a stint in private equity.
“There’s a profoundness to the responsibility of leading well,” he said.
He reconciles the pressure and responsibility by viewing his role as helping teammates succeed. “The real joy is in serving my teammates,” he said. “They're smarter than me. They're more capable than me. They're certainly more talented than I am. I think once you, with humility, accept that, it really makes your job clear.”
Lipsey also considers it his responsibility to use his position to make the world a better place. He is pursuing this mission in his professional life through real estate development and redevelopment that serves communities well. As a philanthropist, he’s supporting his goal by supporting the resources at Darden that helped reshape his view on the role of business.
“As a [Darden] alumnus, I’m probably most passionate about doing everything I can to support the Darden ethics program, specifically the Institute for Business in Society, because I know what a profound impact it has had on my life, on my career and how I view the world.”
— Molly Mitchellberry and his wife, Michelle, at their Virginia home.
John Imbriglia writes, “Greetings from Connecticut! All is well here. On the work front, I recently left the fintech business I helped start, iCapital, after almost ten years and have joined a small growth equity firm, Platform Capital Management, as a partner. I’m excited for a new challenge! On the home front, our boys Jack, age 8, and Charlie, age 5, are doing great. We are trying to get them down to UVA soon to plant the seed. We often see Ben and Lara (Kagan) Port, as well as Katherine (Nedelkoff) Ritchie, who both recently moved to Darien, Connecticut. Please reach out if your travels take you to Fairfield County!”
Jackie Grace, Kyle Power, Meredith Valentine jacqueline.grace@gmail.com, kylepower11@ gmail.com, valentine.meredith@gmail.com
Myles Burnsed and Jen; Claire, age 6; and Natalie, age 2, have enjoyed their first full year as “farmers” after purchasing a farm in Crozet, Virginia. When not developing renewable energy projects across the country as vice president of Strategic Developments at EDF Renewables, Myles and family can often be found fly fishing for trout, playing with the family’s beagles (Sam Snead and Rory McIlroy) and breaking things with the tractor on the farm.
James Freedman Aponte married Nur-e Farzana Rahman on 22 October 2022 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Fellow Darden alumni Oscar Rodriguez, Elvis Rodriguez, Jonathan Strauss and Melisa Vis joined the Puerto Rican-Jewish-Bangladeshi-Muslim celebration. The newlyweds currently reside in Campbell, California, with their two boys, Ari and Eric.
We are sad to report that Peter Rouse passed away peacefully in Sydney, Australia, on 14 February. Peter bravely fought aggressive colorectal, bone and, finally, liver cancer for almost 11 months. His family was at his bedside. Peter was 44.
The following note was written by Peter’s father, John Rouse, on 14 March:
“Looking back, Peter really loved his two years at Darden. He enjoyed the challenges of the MBA program, the quality of faculty staff, the great company of many in the class (and especially those in section E) and the good life afforded by living in Charlottesville. He also much enjoyed watching the Virginia Cavaliers football team, the Foxfield races and attending the many other social gatherings.
“When Peter graduated in 2010, he was a recipient of the Darden Faculty Award for Academic Excellence. Before he died, Peter
talked often about going with his family to the Darden Reunion Weekend in 2025.
“After Darden, Peter pursued a successful business career. He initially worked in management consulting in Australia and the Middle East, and then in senior management roles for several major Australian companies in the logistics space. For the past two years Peter was the national head of Line Haul for Australia Post.
“Peter will be remembered for his many achievements in life. More importantly, he will be remembered for the great person he was and for how good he made those around him feel, whether they were family, friends, work colleagues, teammates, or the many others that crossed his path.”
One of Peter’s closest friends wrote this soon after Peter died:
“Peter has left us all with a gift — a blueprint for life — an example of how to be better, how to seize the day, how to live with courage and compassion, and how to be a good man and live a good life. This is what we should all be grateful for.”
Peter leaves behind a loving and devoted wife, Kate, and three gorgeous children: Georgia, age 7, Henry, age 5, and Edward, age 3.
Anthony Anticole, David Bonenfant anthonyanticole@gmail.com, david.bonenfant@gmail.com
Congratulations to Lynnette Crowder on her new role as chief human resources officer at Mill Rock Packaging Partners! While she greatly enjoyed her time playing in the sandbox at U.S. Silica, Lynnette felt pulled back to her manufacturing roots. With her 20 years of experience working for global manufacturing leaders in paper (International Paper), cars (GM), and packaging (WestRock), it’s no wonder Mill Rock is ecstatic about the newest addition to their C-suite.
Fellow classmates of Dan Roche are keenly aware of his gift with the written word. He decided to share this gift with the rest of
the world via his newly published book, The Total Beginner’s Handbook for Doing Business with the Government. One of the customer reviews put it best: “What Dan Roche has delivered is a masterclass in writing how-to guides: clear, concise, complete, and <gasp> entertaining.”
Christopher Mehalic chrismehalic@gmail.com
The EMBA Class of 2011 extends a warm salutation to the entire Darden community and offers a few brief updates from some of our classmates:
Pete Frostic, never one to overstay his welcome in a town, has pulled up his circus from the big skies of Bozeman, Montana, and relocated to the big waves of Oahu, Hawaii. He’s graciously extended the invitation for visits to the entire Darden community beyond just the Class of ’11, provided, of course, that visitors sign an affidavit acknowledging the superiority of the EMBA Class of ’11 above all others.
Though a delayed update, it’s nevertheless noteworthy that Todd Pearson was appointed president and COO of Saul Centers Inc., a NYSE-listed real estate investment trust headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. Todd has had a decorated and committed career with the organization, having been with the BF Saul companies since 2005.
Trip Darrin, after years of adding Taylor Swift tickets to his online shopping cart only to fail to finalize the transaction, finally attended the concert. After some discussion as to whether this update qualified as newsworthy, Trip reflected, “Listen, Dave Schmidle got printed for presenting a case on the merits of The Foo Fighters and I want to present my counterpoint in defense of all the Swifties in the broader Darden family.”
Dave Schmidle accepted the role of chief of staff, corporate advisory services with CFA Institute based in Charlottesville.
Michael Vaudrey, a brilliant and prolific
engineer, recently took up the hobby of high-tech weather ballooning. He reports, “I’d been making progress with my research and all had been going well until I recently lost contact and positioning with a couple of units somewhere between Montana and Alaska.” When asked for a comment for the benefit of anyone impacted by the rogue units, Mike remarked, “my bad.”
Courtney Johnston courtney.johnston@gmail.com
I’m excited to share a recent update from Laura Terry, who’s had an eventful 2023 with her family. Laura showcased her exceptional leadership skills by spearheading the acquisition of Jefferson Vineyards for Monticello. Soon after, Laura, her husband, and their 13-year-old boys made the bold move to South Carolina to embark on a new professional adventure. Laura will continue to work in the nonprofit sector, shifting her focus from history to a dynamic blend of academia, entrepreneurship, and industry.
Laura’s eldest son is thriving in his second year at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Amidst all the changes, Laura and her family have found joy in cheering on both UVA and West Point football teams, particularly enjoying traveling to watch the annual Army-Navy game and creating lasting memories together.
We appreciate hearing about our classmates’ achievements and experiences. Keep the updates coming, and let’s continue to support each other as we navigate our personal and professional journeys.
Deanna de Arango, Janet Schroeder deannadearango@gmail.com, janetaschroeder@gmail.com
Andrew Luse lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Joanna, and three boys: George (age 5), Matthew (age 3) and Tommy (age 1). He is a partner at McKinsey & Co., leading the Manufacturing Technology practice in North America.
We had an amazing time back on Grounds for our 10-year reunion! I think I speak for all of us by saying that our class has a special bond, and a love for one another and Darden. It felt like almost no time had passed as we all came together to frequent our old stomping grounds like Trinity, Bodos and Pippin Hill. It was incredible to hear about all the amazing accomplishments achieved over the last ten years (which comes as no surprise!), and also watch our little ones quickly become friends. Special shout out to our classmates who came from overseas, including Marek Benko, Pedro Simoes and Nuno Carepa! And a huge thank you to reunion chair, Hillary Lewis Murray, and committee: Palmer Curdts, Merritt Osborn, Jeff Tang, Jim Thomas and Peter Vilkins. I’m already looking forward to the next one!
Joshua Newell, Elisabeth Wright josh.newell@gmail.com, elisabethbwright@ gmail.com
Jim Koehr just completed his 23rd year of coaching high school swimming with another VISAA Division II Girls State Championship. That is the sixth for his girl’s teams, and combined with four for his boys teams it is his tenth overall.
Keith Krut switched from leading Talent Strategy and People Analytics at NASA to leading Analytics and Enterprise Architecture at the National Gallery of Art, where he continues to learn about creative leadership through transformation and emerging uses of data and technology.
Margot Sakoian, Himanshu Singh margotsakoian@gmail.com, himanshu.tevotia@gmail.com
Rohan Poojara and Garima Sharma welcomed their second daughter, Miraya Poojara, on 18 February. Big sister Aaria is thrilled to bits and loves playing with her own little doll!
Sonja Pedersen-Green, Archana Rao sonja.pedersen.green@gmail.com, archana. rao.c@gmail.com
In addition to leading B2B Marketing Data Science at Expedia Group, Helena Cho has been expanding her career as a keynote speaker and workshop facilitator. She helps marketing executives and entrepreneurs get unstuck by discovering new ways to analyze their own data. Her topics include marketing and data strategy, the Asian American experience, and her journey as a working mother in tech. Feel free to reach out via email at helena@hellohelena.io to book her for your next event!
Adrienne Brewbaker, Kelly Gerhardt, Saranya Sundararajan afbrewbaker@gmail.com, kelly.gerhardt@ gmail.com, catchsaranya@gmail.com Diego Conforte was excited to be back at Darden for its conference on technology in emerging markets.
Elizabeth Goldstein, Jessica Pearson lizgoldstein15@gmail.com, jessica.obradovic.pearson@gmail.com
Hi everyone! I hope all is well. We have a few updates to share with you — enjoy!
Christopher Alleyne: “I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as manager of global private equity services at Accenture!”
Jo’Andrew Cousins: “Happy to share that I recently joined Mary Washington Healthcare and I’m working with Chris Newman again!”
Brendan Miniter: “I have taken the position of superintendent — the CEO role — of Great Hearts Texas, a growing charter school network with more than 10,000 students in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, area and in San Antonio, Texas. In other words, I feel like I am living one Darden case study a
day as we confront both business challenges and the joys of working with students. Please drop me a line if you are in Dallas. I would love to see you.”
Jessica Pearson: “On Friday, 31 March, I spent half the day with two sections of the EMBA ’24 class discussing change management at Sands Family Grounds in Rosslyn, Virginia. Lynn Isabella invited me to participate as the case protagonist for the second of two LO classes. It was great to be back in the classroom and experience the case method again!”
Andrew Zasowski: “It has been a great experience at Mount Sinai Innovation Partners. Not only was I immersed in the biotech licensing and company creation space, I also had the privilege of working under exceptional leadership and as part of an incredibly collaborative team. I am excited to take the next step in my growth and join the Scale Facilitation team as a managing director of transactions and valuation. In this role, I will be working immediately to enhance the value of Recharge Industries and all our portfolio companies.”
Gabriel Legendy, Amy Menendez glegendy@gmail.com, amy.b.menendez@ gmail.com
Amy Menendez and Steven Menendez (MBA ’18) welcomed their second child, David Henry Menendez, on 11 January. Charlotte is a proud big sister.
Nathan Uldricks, Jana Burnett Nathan.uldricks@gmail.com, jana.burnett4@ gmail.com
Glenn Cann is transitioning to the next phase in his life. He has significantly reduced his work hours and responsibilities and is spending much more time with family and in charitable service — and he loves it. He and his wife, Claire, spent the entire month of
September vacationing in the Michigan upper peninsula and all across New England. At 65, this new work/life balance seems right and, with God’s grace, his family will continue to prosper. Life is good.
Dona Edwards gave a TEDx talk titled “Adapt to Life’s Curveballs with Fashion!” She highlights the urgent need for more fashionable clothing and shoe options for people with disabilities. Drawing on her own experience living with scoliosis and enduring a major spinal fusion surgery that resulted in limited mobility, she provides world- changing ideas meant to shift the fashion industry and society in the right direction, to create more ways for people with disabilities to really live in every facet of their lives. She also joined the Board of Directors of Meals on Wheels of Charlottesville/Albemarle and is excited to be part of such an important organization dedicated to serving meals to the ill, aging and convalescing residents of the Charlottesville/Albemarle area who find it difficult or impossible to prepare meals for themselves.
Jessica Forman and her husband, Mark, welcomed their second child, Kennedy Nau, on 10 October 2022. Kennedy is absolutely enamored with her big brother, Grant. Their family now resides in Vienna, Virginia.
Nathan Uldricks was elected and sworn in as the chair of the Pine Township Board, a local office, in his native Porter County, Indiana. He completed training to become a certified firefighter, which he does as a volunteer. Finally, he was accepted into the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue Young Leaders Program, which aims to strengthen long-term bilateral relations between the U S and Australia.
Amanda Fox amanda.j.fox.1@gmail.com
Brian Ribera shared the following note: “Ski season is upon us and the Ribera family has been on the mountain most every weekend. The kids have been doing well; Rylan made
the Dean’s List and is on the speech and debate team at college, Ronin and Rourke won their basketball tournaments, and Ellie performed in the big school theatre performance.”
Brian continues to run the 501(c)(3) Military Mobility,which provides resiliency training to veterans in need and also contracts with the military/government. He has been asked to give a presentation in experimental learning at the Global Education Benchmark Group (GEBG) conference in Washington, D.C., this coming April and has been speaking to corporate groups about leadership development and team building.
Nishal Sodha joined 4G Capital in Nairobi, Kenya, as their product portfolio manager in January. Now based back in Nairobi, he is excited to be part of a high-impact, B-Corp certified organization with regional and international growth aspirations.
Collin Bauer, Lauren Hansen, Kali Samuel, Collin.bauer@gmail.com, lehansen23@gmail. com, kalimcfarland12@gmail.com Davis Willingham and his wife Katherine welcomed their first baby on 15 October 2022 — Eleanor “Nell” Marr Willingham. They are loving life with their new addition on the west coast!
Marlon Brevé and Katie Reynolds welcomed their first son, Marlon Jonathan “MJ” Brevé. MJ was born on 19 October 2022 in Denver, Colorado.
Kali McFarland Samuel and her husband Ryan welcomed their daughter, Madelyn Hazel Samuel, on 14 January. The family is still living in Washington, D.C., and enjoyed introducing Madelyn to everyone at reunion this year!
Rachel Becker and Nick Molloy were married on 19 February in Cartagena, Colombia — the bride’s mother’s home country.
Peggy Bermel mmbermel@gmail.com
Maggie Wagner and Kevin Minogue were married on 10 December 2022 in Charlottesville. A large Darden crew was in attendance to celebrate Maggie Wagner and Kevin Minogue, including Leigh Feldmann (MBA ’18), Brennan Fox, Lex Utt, Taylor Sankovich, Genna Moderhack, Morgan Kelly, Sophie Rudolph, Peggy Bermel, Sally Ra, Courtenay Selden, Amanda Joseph, Clay Callaway, Cait Pearson, Hugh Matney, Gordon Stewart, Alex Ott, Kate Laxson, Allison
Yarborough, Caroline Rose, Caroline Rubin, Emmett Morse, Pat Adams, Owen Miller, Devon Pagoaga, Derek Whelan, and Tom Kellogg.
Justin Masters is excited to move to Charlottesville this July with his partner, Sara Verhalen, and son, Luca,to put down roots. He would love to say hi to anyone passing through town! Especially if it is coffee at Mudhouse.
Emmett Morse married Julia Sykes on 25 March in Watercolor, Florida, surrounded by family and friends.
Alex Ott and his wife, Lauren, welcomed their first child, Nora Lane Ott, into the world on 31 January. All three are doing great, and Nora can’t wait to meet everyone at next year’s reunion!
Gordon Stewart and his wife, Alexandra Abington, welcomed Henry Edward Stewart into the world on 10 March. Mom, dad and Henry are doing well — they are settling into their new life in Carroll Gardens in New York City and are grateful for the support of Millie (their golden doodle), family, and friends (many of whom are Darden grads) as they navigate being new parents!
Terrell Fuller, Charlotte Gage terrell.fuller@gmail.com, charlotte.jean. gage@gmail.com
Katie Labetti and her husband, Andrew Olesen (MBA ’14), welcomed twins, Evelyn Anne and Lucas Andrew, on 18 October 2022. Older sister Eleanor, age 3, is totally in love with her baby siblings.
Steven Gilleland moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, and is working remotely for a govtech company.
2020
Jordan Hart jchart92@gmail.com
Mary Murphy and Becket Marum welcomed daughter Nina Frances Murphy Marum on 16 February.
Jordan Hart and Henry Casserley were married on 25 February in Connecticut. Christopher Skinner and family are continuing to enjoy life in London and Europe more broadly. Recent highlights have included travelling to Austria (Vienna and Salzburg) for a chilly but exciting holiday season, having family visit over Christmas and New Years, and catching up with Christopher’s parents in Antigua. Professionally, Christopher has had a busy six months closing L.E.K.’s first-ever major acquisition of a digital consultancy (“Hi Mum! Said Dad”) and growing the digital practice more generally, while continuing to work as a senior consultant in strategy.
Karen Henneberger karen.henneberger@gmail.com
We hope everyone is enjoying their start to 2023. Can you believe we’re over half way to our five-year reunion for our class? Seems
like just yesterday when we were together for in-person classes before the pandemic. We hope everyone is doing well. Some exciting news from our classmates includes:
Eric Tillman and his wife had their first child, Titus Patrick Tillman, born on 8 August 2022.
Amy and Paul Kohnstamm, and their son Leo, welcomed daughter Isla Blake Kohnstamm to the family on 30 November 2022! Amy is already back to work.
Becca and Stephen Leff welcomed baby Bennett Alan into the world on 5 December 2022 at seven pounds, seven ounces. Mom and baby have been doing great and successfully made it through the Boston, Massachusetts, winter! Stephen reports Bennett has been reading (and trying to eat) many books and plans to apply to Darden next year as he has taken to the case study method.
Ryan Aldrich writes that the Aldrich family welcomed daughter Valerie Blake on 29 January. She looks forward to her Darden graduation in 2047. (Yikes, that’s a long time.) Valerie joins her three sisters in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where Ryan was just selected for command of an operational Navy jet fighter squadron. (Go Navy!)
Olivia Zhou writes that she completed her first half-marathon in March. Way to go Olivia!
John Schwarz shared a job update. He is now working as business development/capture lead with Amazon Web Services. Congratulations!
The Darden School offers its condolences to the families of the following individuals whose deaths have been reported to us in the past six months.
William Finley Campbell (MBA '73)
Edward Ralph Case (MBA '84)
Alexander Kenyon Chapman (MBA '77)
Damon DeVito (MBA '94)
Edward Grant Dinwiddie (MBA '58)
Karen Henneberger has decided it is time to hang up her shipbuilding hard hat and retire from her job at Naval Reactors. As of April, she is the CEO and co-founder of 7 Rules Consulting and hoping to land a few corporate board positions.
Hope everyone is well and look forward to hearing more great news from all of you.
alumni@darden.virginia.edu
Over 100 members of the Class of 2022 returned to Grounds for their one-year reunion. The Friday night class event took place at a familiar spot for many, Crozet Pizza at Buddhist Biker Bar. Highlights on Saturday were Foxfield (where the class could finally be invited into the alumni tent!) and gathering together under the tent on Flagler Court for a final celebration.
alumni@darden.virginia.edu
The Executive MBA Class of 2022 had a great turnout for their oneyear reunion with over 70 classmates coming to Charlottesville in April. Professor Yael Grushka-Cockayne hosted the class on Friday night. Some members of the class went to Foxfield on Saturday while most of the class spent the afternoon at Grace Estate Winery. The weekend concluded with the class under the tent on Flagler. Court for a final celebration.
James Kegebein Dunton (MBA '62)
William F. Garrett (TEP '82)
George C. Garris, Jr. (MBA '75)
Gordon Rea Herring (MBA '70)
James Arthur Hewitt, Jr. (MBA '75)
Thomas Hickman (EMBA '08)
R. Almont Holloway (MBA '61)
Walter Steuard Jensen, Jr. (MBA '73)
Louis Wimbish Lacy, Sr. (MBA '66)
Thorn James Landers (MBA '86)
John M. Millar (MBA '72)
G. Gilmer Minor, III (MBA '66)
William J. Mitchell (MBA '65)
Arno P. Niemand, Jr. (MBA '58)
Thomas Allen Paine (MBA '81)
William Moore Parham (MBA '69)
Russ C. Rogge (MBA '74)
Robert N. Rose, Jr. (MBA '97)
Peter Kenneth Rouse (MBA '10)
James Price Royalty (MBA '67)
Joseph H. Santarlasci, Jr. (MBA '73)
Winarto Tan (GEMBA ’17)
William Dewitt Taylor (MBA '75)
Kevin Michael Twillman (MBA '81)
Jane Ann Wasilewski (MBA '78)
Eliot P. Williams (MBA '66)
Jerry C. Wilmot (MBA '62)
Mary Murphy (MBA ’20) and husband Becket Marum with their new daughter, Nina Frances Murphy Marum. Christopher Skinner (MBA ’20) and his family visited Austria during the 2022 holiday season.The five leadership boards of the Darden School of Business are composed of more than 150 distinguished leaders who serve as an innovative force in the advancement of the Darden School throughout the world.
(Listing as of 30 June 2023)
CHAIR
Martina Hund-Mejean (MBA ’88) Retired, Mastercard International, Inc.
VICE CHAIR
Frank M. Sands (MBA ’94) Sands Capital
IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIR
Robert J. Hugin (MBA ’85) Retired, Celgene Corp.
Scott C. Beardsley University of Virginia Darden School of Business
H. William Coogan Jr. (MBA ’82) Retired, Firstmark Corp.
James A. Cooper (MBA ’84) Thompson Street Capital Partners
Charles R. Cory (MBA/JD ’82) Retired, Morgan Stanley & Co. Inc
Guillaume M. Cuvelier (MBA ’91) Davos Brands LLC
Robert G. Doumar Jr. (MBA/JD ’88) Park Square Capital LLP
Debra Draughan (MBA ’84) The Process Management Group, LLC
Frank S. Edmonds (MBA/JD ’95) Covey Hill Capital Management
Arnold B. Evans (MBA/JD ’97)
JP Morgan Chase & Co.
Richard B. Evans Darden School of Business
John D. Fowler Jr. (MBA/JD ’84) Wells Fargo Securities LLC
Catherine J. Friedman (MBA ’86) Radius Health
John W. Glynn Jr. Glynn Capital Management
Kirsti W. Goodwin (MBA ’02) Tower 3 Investments
Peter M. Grant II (MBA ’86) Anchormarck Holdings LLC
Owen D. Griffin Jr. (MBA ’99) Northfield Medical Manufacturing LLC
Yael Grushka-Cockayne
University of Virginia Darden School of Business
Elizabeth Hagood (MBA ’89) Retired
Michelle B. Horn (MBA ’95) Delta Air Lines
Robert L. Huffines (MBA ’92)
J.P. Morgan
Rosemary B. King (MBA ’91)
Global Heritage Fund
Mark J. Kington (MBA ’88)
Kington Management LLC
Naresh Kumra (MBA ’99)
La Rochelle Ventures Limited
David M. LaCross (MBA ’78) Morgan Territory Brewing
Douglas R. Lebda (EMBA ’14) LendingTree, Inc.
Lemuel E. Lewis (MBA ’72) Iv Media LLC
Nicole McKinney Lindsay (MBA ’99/JD ’00)
Mastercard International, Inc
Amanda Lozano (MBA ’09) Spoke Sciences Inc.
Paul Mahoney
University of Virginia
School of Law
Richard A. Mayo (MBA ’68) Game Creek Capital
Sachin J. Mehra (MBA ’96)
Mastercard Worldwide
Donald E. Morel Jr. (TEP ’97) Progenitor Capital LLC
Kim B. Morrish (MBA ’93) Ground Control Ltd.
J. Byrne Murphy (MBA ’86) Kitebook Partners Limited
Adair B. Newhall (MBA ’09)
StepStone Group
Patrick A. O’Shea (MBA ’86) ICmed LLC
G. Ruffner Page Jr. (MBA ’86) O’Neal Industries, LLC
William H. Payne II (GEMBA ’22)
Coalfield Strategies
C. Evans Poston Jr. (EMBA ’17)
Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP
James E. Ryan
University of Virginia
William Q.O. Shelton Jr. (MBA ’93) Group 1001
Erik A. Slingerland (MBA ’84) EAS International S.A.
Robert W. Smith (MBA ’87) Retired
Shannon G. Smith (MBA ’90)
Abundant Power Group
Susan Sobbott (MBA ’90)
Ogilvy
Mark J. Styslinger
Altec Industries Inc.
Bruce R. Thompson (MBA ’90) Bank of America
Joaquin Rodriguez Torres (MBA ’01) Princeville Global
Lilo Simmons Ukrop (MBA ’89) University of Virginia
Darden School of Business
Steven C. Voorhees (MBA ’80)
Jimmy Jianzhong Wei (MBA ’02)
ImaGene Pharmaceuticals
CHAIR
Warren F. Estey (MBA ’98)
BMO Capital Markets
PRESIDENT
Patrick A. O’Shea (MBA ’86) ICmed LLC
Kristina M. Alimard (MBA ’03)
University of Virginia Investment Management Co.
Yiorgos Allayannis
University of Virginia Darden School of Business
Christine P. Barth (MBA ’94)
Mary Buckle Searle (MBA ’86) Strategic Thought Partners
Sandhya K. Chhabra (EMBA ’17)
Albemarle Endocrinology PLC
Jerome E. Connolly Jr. (MBA ’88) J. Connolly Financial Consulting LLC
Andrew G. Crowley (MBA ’11) Markel Corp.
Richard P. Dahling (MBA ’87) Fidelity Investments
Christian Duffus (MBA ’00) Fonbnk Inc.
Michael J. Ganey (MBA ’78)
Ira H. Green Jr. (MBA ’90) Simmons Energy
Evan A. Inra (EMBA ’08)
Amazon Web Services
Kendall Jennings (MBA ’12) Accenture
Kristina F. Mangelsdorf (MBA ’94) Visa
Taylor H. Meyer (MBA ’13)
Goldman Sachs
Douglas T. Moore (MBA ’80) Goedeker’s
Betsy M. Moszeter (EMBA ’11) Green Alpha Advisors
Richard J. Parsons (MBA ’80)
Elvis Rodriguez (MBA ’10) CBRE Group, Inc.
Nancy C. Schretter (MBA ’79) The Beacon Group
David A. Simon (MBA ’03) SRS Capital Advisors Inc.
Jason Sinnarajah (MBA ’07) Buffalo Bills
Henry F. Skelsey Jr. (MBA ’15) Connected Travel LLC
David L. Tayman (MBA/JD ’99)
Tayman Lane Chaverri LLP
Shaojian Zhang (MBA ’99) CITIC Capital
CHAIR
Michelle B. Horn (MBA ’95) Delta
Indy Adenaw (MBA ’08) KAYAK
Danielle Eesley Amfahr 3M Company
Stuart C. Bachelder (MBA ’06)
DaVita Kidney Care
Mazen G. Baroudi EY
Kelly Becker (MBA ’08) Schneider Electric
Mark S. Bower (MBA ’02) Bain & Company
Adam P. Carter (MBA ’02)
WestRock
William S. Cohen (MBA ’07)
Bank of America Private Bank
Robert E. Collier (MBA ’10)
ChemTreat
Sean M. Corrigan (MBA ’05)
The Walt Disney Company
D. Lynnette Crowder (EMBA ’10) U.S. Silica Company
Daniel A. Dougherty (MBA ’94)
Wells Fargo
Richard C. Edmunds (MBA ’92)
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Sarita T. Finnie (MBA ’01)
Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals
Joseph B. Folds (MBA ’91) OFD Foods
Theresa O. Frankiewicz (MBA ’87) Crown Community Development
Ivy L. Ghatan (MBA ’09)
Sunil K. Ghatnekar (MBA ’92)
Marcien B. Jenckes (MBA ’98)
Comcast Corporation
Harry A. Lawton III (MBA ’00) Tractor Supply Company
Marguerite M. Longo (MBA ’08)
Johnson & Johnson
H. Whit McGraw IV (MBA ’07) S&P Capital IQ
Fernando Z. Mercé (MBA ’98) Melissa & Doug LLC
Diem H. D. Nguyen (MBA ’01)
Xalud Therapeutics, Inc.
Ann H. S. Nicholson (MBA ’01) Corning Inc.
Daniel E. Polk
Humana
Abby A. Ruiz de Gamboa (MBA ’04)
Deloitte
Joseph V. Schwan (EMBA ’13)
Baxter International Inc.
Thomas J. Steenburgh University of Virginia
Darden School of Business
Scott A. Stemberger (MBA ’04)
The Boston Consulting Group
Eric M. Swanson (MBA ’08) Veho
Edward W. Valentine (MBA ’93) Harris Williams & Co.
Gerrud Wallaert (TEP ’18)
BrightMark
Meghan A. Welch (MBA ’10)
Plaid
Steven D. Williams (MBA ’06) Delta Air Lines
Gary R. Wolfe (MBA ’92) Wells Fargo Securities LLC
CHAIR
Alex R. Picou (MBA ’89)
J.P. Morgan Private Bank
VICE CHAIR
Nicole McKinney Lindsay (MBA ’99/JD ’00) Mastercard International, Inc
William S. Chichester III Target Stores, Inc.
Paige T. Davis Jr. (MBA ’09) T. Rowe Price Co.
Jacqueline Grace (MBA ’10)
Beam Living
Ray R. Hernandez (MBA ’08)
NowSecure
Octavia G. Matthews (MBA ’89) Aramark Global Business Services
Tiffani C. Moore (EMBA ’16) U.S. Government
Caroline D. Schoenecker (MBA ’11) Deloitte
Rhonda M. Smith (MBA ’88)
California Black Health Network
Cynthia K. Soledad (MBA ’02)
Egon Zehnder
Deborah Thomas (MBA ’89) Somos Inc.
Daniele M. Wilson (MBA ’11) Google
CHAIR
Naresh Kumra (MBA ’99)
La Rochelle Ventures Limited
VICE CHAIR
Joaquin Rodriguez Torres (MBA ’01)
Princeville Global
Marcos P. Arruda (MBA ’02)
Zilor
Jennifer E. Chick (MBA ’08)
Hilton Worldwide
Christine H. Davies (MBA ’09)
Poligage
David R. Frediani
Cyber Special Ops, LLC
Janeth Gomez Gualdron (GEMBA ’17)
Capital One Financial Management
Wei Jin (MBA ’99)
Prudential Financial Corporation
Shawn Liu (MBA ’05)
Richard K. Loh (MBA ’96) Ploh Group Pte. Ltd.
Todd R. Marin (MBA ’89)
Blue Ox Ventures
Lois M. McEntyre (MBA ’95) Intuit Inc.
Rajan J. Mehra (MBA ’93)
March Capital
Agustin Otero Monsegur (MBA ’06)
OM Invest
Pascal Monteiro de Barros (MBA ’91)
Stirling Square Capital Partners
Nikhil Nath (MBA ’00)
NSQ Advisory
Agustín Otero Monsegur (MBA ’06)
OM Invest
Antonio U. Periquet Jr. (MBA ’90)
AB Capital & Investment Corporation
Hagen Radowski (MBA ’91)
Porsche Consulting Inc.
Yudhono Rawis (GEMBA ’16)
Mayra A. Rocha (GEMBA ’16) Project M Media
Arpan R. Sheth (MBA ’96) Bain & Company
Nishal Sodha (GEMBA ’17) Global Hardware Ltd.
Alok Vaish (MBA ’97)
Servify
Jing Vivatrat
Franklin Templeton Investments
Jeffrey J. Yao (MBA ’01)
Hai Ye (MBA ’04)
McKinsey & Company
Aprivate equity professional for the past 30 years, Jim Cooper (MBA ’84) founded Thompson Street Capital Partners in 2000 and is the firm's senior managing partner. In 2012, he was part of an all-local ownership group that purchased the National Hockey League’s St. Louis Blues, overseeing that franchise’s Stanley Cup victory in 2019.
Recipient of the 2023 Charles C. Abbott Award for his exceptional contributions to Darden, Cooper has been a constant leadership presence for the School and the Darden School Foundation. He has served on the Darden School Foundation Board of Trustees since 2011, including as chair. Currently, he serves as chair of the Foundation’s Powered by Purpose capital campaign. Cooper believes that a successful campaign will not only keep the School’s current wave of momentum going but position it for the next 50 years of success. Cooper’s board service has also included roles at First Banks Inc., St. Louis Children's Hospital and the Community School.
Learn more about Jim Cooper, what keeps him up at night, his views on investing amid a shaky economic landscape and why he became an NHL owner in this edition of 20 Questions.
1. What was your first job? Driveway sealer. I had to start at 4 a.m. because of the heat and the tar would burn your skin. It compelled me to study hard to get an office job.
2. What’s the best advice you have ever received?
A grad student in my fraternity took me aside and told me an MBA would look great with my engineering degree. I am not sure I would have known that otherwise.
3. Whom do you most admire?
My father. He passed away two years ago. He worked full time to get through college and then saved enough to make sure his children would never have to do that.
4. What motivates you? That has changed over time. Decades ago, it was to learn as much as possible, then for a while it was to earn as much as possible. Now I’m in the give back mode.
5. What is your “superpower”? Extreme rationality.
6. When and where do you do your best thinking?
In a car with no passengers.
7. What’s been on your mind lately? How will interest rates affect the private equity business.
8. How do you recharge? I sit in front of a fire with a hockey game on.
9. What’s your motto? Lead, follow or get the _____ out of the way.
10. How do you deal with conflict? My first instinct is to deconflict.
11. What characteristics do you look for in people? Loyalty.
12. What makes you feel hopeful? About anything, people have predicted societal or economic gloom and doom for decades. It hasn’t happened.
13. What is your favorite cause? Education as a means to lift people out of poverty.
14. If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
Ketchum, Idaho. It’s a few years off still.
15. What do you lose sleep over?
Early morning plane flights; fear of oversleeping has me awake hours early.
16. Which class at Darden impacted you the most?
I hated what was called Organizational Behavior. It was too squishy; too much play acting. However, I constantly use what we learned in my daily life.
17. What’s your favorite Darden memory? We had a blowout party in February of my First Year after two weeks of difficult classes and a series of exams. It was a tremendous release of tensions. At least I sort of remember it.
18. Interest rates are rising. Banks have failed or been bailed out. Stock markets are wobbling. Some economies teeter on the edge of recession. We’re in a complicated investing environment. As a private equity professional, what’s your philosophy for times like these?
It’s a good time to sit on the sideline to see how things evolve.
19. You’re a member of an all-local group that owns the NHL’s St. Louis Blues. What drew you to hockey franchise ownership? I played growing up and early in adulthood. I had friends whose fathers bought the St. Louis Cardinals and I saw how much fun they had. The Blues have brought our family great memories.
20. As chair of Darden’s Powered by Purpose capital campaign, you led a successful effort to reach the initial $400 million fundraising goal. What are your initial thoughts on what this milestone has meant and will mean for Darden?
Given it is nearly triple the last campaign total, it’s a pretty big achievement for Darden. Lots of people contributed to the success: the dean, the staff, alumni. The amazing thing is how broadly the financial support was in the alumni base.
DARDEN ALUMNI RECEIVE A 30 PERCENT DISCOUNT. USE ALUMNI30 WHEN YOU REGISTER ONLINE. For up-to-date information on upcoming programs, please visit darden.edu/ee-fall23