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Alumni Spotlight Phil Knisely (MBA ’78
Coming Home to Darden: Phil Knisely (MBA ’78) Reconnects
For many years, Knisely’s engagement with Darden was limited to recruiting. He has reconnected in full force and was recently elected vice chair of the Darden School Foundation Board of Trustees. Knisely considers his days at Darden key to his business successes. “Many people talk about their time at Darden being transformational, and I’m no exception,” he explains. “Darden honed my work ethic and appreciation for seeking diverse inputs in building a consensus.” Darden also taught him how to inspire by, he says, focusing “organizations and individuals on what needs to be done, not what you think you can do … It’s not enough to just create a vision of where you are trying to go; you have to empower people to get there.” Of leadership, Knisely declares, “The best leaders I’ve come across all have one thing in common — intellectual curiosity. They know they don’t have all the answers, and their interest in people, businesses and processes makes them lifelong learners.” After more than 30 years in corporate strategy and manufacturing, Knisely retired from a full-time position with Danaher Corporation last year to become a consultant for the company and to work with Clayton, Dubilier & Rice — a leading private equity firm — as chairman of one of its portfolio companies. Knisely, 57, and his wife, Pattie, have been married for 28 years and have three daughters: Anne Marie, Marissa and Kate. The family splits its time between Chicago, Illinois, and Hilton Head, South Carolina. But life isn’t all about work for Knisely. “We just returned from a safari to the Masai Mara in Kenya with our daughters,” he says. “We went for the animals but fell in love with [the] Masai people. Great family trip.”
training? And it sounds like you may well be Broadway-bound!)
Also checking in from Dallas, Mike Mische writes to inform us that he is “Still down here in Irving-Groves-III-land, saving (sorry I mean shutting down) the banking system. I have been ascribing to the Administration theory to: “never let a GOOD crisis go to waste.” Volumes and closings are off slightly and the FDIC is preparing and acting (scaling back) like it is over. But 800 banks remain on the bad bank list and almost 200 are on the very bad list. We have closed about 75 banks YTD and expect to close “fewer” for 2012. You can do the math. Are we done yet?? I manage a group of 36 to 39 accountant and item processors supporting the FDIC cash management team for AP, cash receipts, reconciliations and looking for escheated monies failed banks have sent to the states over time. I have been notified that they will execute the second annual extension of the contract until November 2012.” (Mike — it is good to know that at least one Darden person is involved in making things better … and making a living doing it! Congrats on that!)
As for me, it has been 385 days since my company was acquired by a large, Paris-based international company. They (foolishly!) wanted me to stay on … and it has been, as they say … “interesting.” I thought I had escaped bigcompany activities … but not so much these days! Fortunately, as often as possible, I get to hang with our classmate Ted Gary! Ted and his great three boys are doing very well and occasionally he makes the trip back to Charlottesville to help Frank Genovese (MBA ’74) teach a class at Darden. I also heard from Joanna Miller DeZwart and her husband Pieter. Her news involved sailing excursions in Maine between lots of successful recruiting activities! Congrats again Joanna! So … maybe next year??? I also heard from Greg Reisinger recently. He and his wife Vanessa had a fantastic trip to Africa and came back with some great memories and incredible photos! Greg, you should send some of those pics on to Darden, as they display photos from alums and students in the hallways! And our own Class Agent Mike DeCola continues to provide dedicated service to the school as he serves on the Darden Board of Trustees. Mike really is a force at the School, and should you wish to know more about ways you can help the School continue its success do not hesitate to give him a call. Thanks Mike for all that you do … for our Class and Darden!
Now, unfortunately, I have to pass on some bad news to our class. It is with great sadness that I have to let you know that two of our classmates, George Stradtner Jr. and Steve Sell, have passed away. George died November 13, 2010 and Steve passed away on June 4, 2011. I’m sure many of you have fond memories of these two and if you want to send a note to their families you can contact the Alumni Relations Office and they will be able to help you. I am sorry that you are just getting this sad news now and I will try to forward this type of information through e-mails in a more timely fashion. All of these updates are the reminders that life is precious and short … and that love, family and friendships are to be treasured. I know that our Class of ’77 has been blessed with all of that … and more. As we are about to enter our 35th reunion year (gasp!), I hope all of you will try to make a special effort to venture back to Darden and Charlottesville April 27-29, 2012. So please mark those dates in your calendars now … and you will be hearing more about that incredibly fun event in the very near future! And if you need another reason to attend … rumor has it that Jesse Crews will be bootlegging in some home-grown special wine! Thanks to all of you that contributed to these notes here and I hope to hear from more of you soon … just drop me an e-mail anytime and I will make sure it gets into the Spring Notes. Bon voyage!
1978
Phil Knisely is featured in “New Members Elected to Darden School Foundation Board” on page 5 and in an Alumni Spotlight (this page). ANN WILKERSON ANNWWILKERSON@COMCAST.NET Yes, it has been 35 years since we were shinyfaced First Year students at Darden, but Missy Ludlow says she is definitely not that old and has reminded Bunker Snyder, Joan Barrett and Bill Haggerty to stick to her story. Missy has started a new company in Cincinnatti — West Capital Advisors LLC — to provide outsourced advice to corporations that wish to invest in venture capital. Their first client, a local bank was just signed. Missy is continuing her education at Xavier to get her master’s in theology. She says she is not sure where that will lead but that she loves it. Her son Ben, a senior at Dartmouth, spent the summer in Las Vegas as a reporter for Poker News, covering the World Series of Poker.
Fooling around on his new iPad gave Kevin Ramundo an excuse to e-mail his news. He has lived in Dallas about seven years as communications vice president with Raytheon but just became a Mavericks fan after they won the NBA championship. His two oldest are in col-
lege: Ben is a senior at Georgetown and Anna is a sophomore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Kate is in high school and spends lots of time with her horse. Kevin says he and Anne are interested in property in Charlottesville, such as a small horse farm, as they would like to be closer to D.C., and he asks anyone with ideas on the market to let them know.
Anne Bryant and H.B. spent eight days in June in Utah touring the national parks and experiencing spectacular scenery and perfect weather. They saw Bryce, Zion and Capitol Reef and then crossed the state to the Golden Spike Historic Site. As railroad buffs and collectors of railroad memorabilia, they wanted to see where the first transcontinental railroads came together.
Many of our class notes editions have news of grandchildren, but when was the last time we had baby news from one of us? Murray Holland wrote to announce his marriage last year to Kim, a pilot for United Airlines, and they have now welcomed baby boy Harrison Holland to the family. At this writing in September, he is five months old and already on a trip through the South Pacific. Murray says he is the happiest he’s been in his life.
Nick Fina received my e-mail while having lunch at Panera, and reminded me TANSTAAFL. His bill was $9.97 for the record; not free, but reasonable.
Beginning his fourth year as dean of the business school at Wake Forest, Steve Reinemund and Gail are enjoying Winston-Salem, N.C. Board positions at American Express, Walmart, Exxon and Marriott keep Steve challenged. Their youngest son, Kevin, is a senior in high school, so they have one more college search drill to complete. Chrissy is a freshman at Furman, only three hours away. Eldest son Steven lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Cristina. In April, Jonathan married Kate Kennedy in the chapel at Stanford, where both had graduated from business school.
Jim Reynolds is still at Total Comfort Solutions, a commercial mechanical service company in Columbia, S.C. His young partners are now running the business, as Jim gets to devote more time to education and workforce development through the S.C. Chamber of Commerce. His daughter, Kathryn, just moved to Denver and is pursuing a career in theater management. Jim and Judy spend as much time as they can at Pawleys Island on the coast, and they send best wishes to all our classmates.
From Geneva, Switzerland, Charles de Mestral continues as CEO of Toronto-listed Winstar Resources Ltd., which is an oil and gas exploration company working mostly in Tunisia. Charles reports, “As we all know, we just had a revolution in this country. Winstar’s operations were essentially unaffected by these events. We were very supportive of this Tunisian change of regime.” Charles also updated us on his three sons. His first, Olivier, born in Charlottesville in 1978, godson of Vernon Himebauch: Olivier began his career as a banker in Geneva and was very successful at it but decided nevertheless to quit banking, and he became a saddle maker three years ago. He is happy to be now fully busy with his two main hobbies: leather work and horseback riding. He and his wife, Stéphanie, who is an executive vice president at BNP Paribas, live about 15 minutes away from Charles and Françoise near Geneva. Their second son, Louis, born in 1979 in Geneva, godson of Cullen Coates: Louis got married to Julia last July and they live in Geneva. Louis studied law at Geneva University and is a lawyer on the Geneva bar, working in the Swiss law firm Pestalozzi. Julia is currently working for the relatively challenging admission to the Geneva bar.
Their third son, Gabriel, is working in Paris for Swiss Chemical company Firmenich (perfumes, etc.), after having worked with L’Oreal and then for Firmenich in Shanghai. Gabriel had studied economics at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and business at Bocconi University in Milano. Charles’s wife, Françoise, continues to be very involved with the Geneva Opera. She is the president of the donors circle and has just been appointed to the management board of the opera.
Literally going to the dogs is our Class Agent Mike Ganey, who became marketing director for the 127-year-old organization the American Kennel Club. In Mike’s own words: “It’s the dream marketing role: great values and mission, a perfect fit with my experience, and a chance to build a strategic marketing function from scratch. Plus I can bring my (future) dog to work after she/I pass obedience and basic agility. If anyone needs tips on purebred dog breeders, raise your hand and I’ll be glad to help ‘retrieve’ your information.”
The highlight of the summer for my family was Paul McCartney’s concert at Wrigley Field. Despite 100 degree heat, Paul played to his fans for three hours with no break. Lindsay Jane and Courtney agreed it was the best concert they’ve seen. Keith and I also spent a long Labor Day weekend in Montana where we fished, hiked, golfed (okay, I rode on the cart) and took lots of photos of Old Faithful and Big Sky scenery.
I am astounded by the diverse interests of our classmates and hope you are, too. Please answer my next e-mail request for news and add your own amazing bits to our ongoing class notes.
1979
Peter Kiernan is featured in “New Members Elected to Darden School Foundation Board” on page 5. Kirby Adams is featured in an Alumni Spotlight on page 42. BILL BUNN WBUNN@ZOOMTOWN.COM PEGGY WATTS GUP WATTSGUP@GMAIL.COM RAY TODD TODDR79@ALUM.DARDEN.EDU Nick Tensen reports, “Kathy and I spent several years in Seattle. We were running a furniture business out there and at one time we used it as a venue to host Darden recruiters entertaining potential candidates. Once we started to get grandchildren on the east coast we made plans to move back. The trick was to find a new job, sell a couple of houses and move during the height of the recession. Well, maybe it wasn’t the height of the recession; now I realize it was more like the beginning.
“Anyway, the kids were in New England, so we searched for something from New Jersey to New Hampshire. Anywhere would be closer than Seattle. As luck would have it, a couple of months after moving back, I found something only a half hour from the kids. So now we’re living in Boston’s north shore, and I’m working in Tewksbury, Mass., as the vice president of finance and administration for a cable installation company. The best news is we just bought a four acre farmlet in Hamilton, Mass., with tractor, chickens, gardens and hopefully bees. So, I’m as happy as a pig in s***; children and grandchildren close by, a job, still playing basketball and a place to transition into my next career — farming. Hope everyone is doing well!”
Katherine Mull reports: “I am still in North Carolina and planning to move to Richmond, Va., where my daughter lives. After almost five years of building capacity for a growing nonprofit, I resigned my position as executive director of the Dan River Basin Association in the spring of 2011 and have been enjoying life, with more time for walking in the woods, running the rivers and just chilling on my deck while waiting for my house to sell. Did a ‘bucket list’ trip to the Grand Canyon — down the Colorado River in a dory to Phantom Ranch to hike out up to the South Rim. Also doing a lot of reading and thinking about the next great adventure of my career.”
Jim Magill reports: “Never the one to slow down. Got back from consulting in London on agency mergers at Thanksgiving and founded Cibo with two other younger partners. It’s like a digital leaning agency but with more senior people, technologists, strategists and integrated programs from platforms, to advertising. So far so good with 34 people in San Francisco and some great clients like Dolby, Union Bank and Seagate. Carlie (born day after graduation) married this past summer in Montana and is living in Missoula with her local grown husband. Erin left Pixar after four years and credits on Ratatouille and Toy Story 3 and is now in graduate school at American Film Institute in Los Angeles studying production design. Anne is still building the Grace Magill Project at Edgewood, and thanks to many people our ‘assessment tool’ to help schools recognize their deficiencies in mental health education is being adopted by the state and feds for more pilots and national replication. I am still managing 20-plus days of skiing, mostly in Montana, and a bit of tennis.”
Renee Anne Shirley reports: “I’m alive and kicking — still single, but now very involved in
