ALUMNI NEWS
lar weather, as well as to indulge in a Tex-Mex meal with Scott Lambert. Elizabeth Rozell Borski and her family are moving to Spring Valley, where they will be diving into their new pool! It’s the only place to be in Houston in the summer. To catch all the latest with LJ Wiley, check out his blog at the following www.chefmomentum.blogspot.com. Katherine Howe’s second novel, The House of Velvet and Glass, came out in April. It will be in paperback next March, and in the fall while she swings through Houston, she will be the featured guest at a Kinkaid Alumni Reception on November 12. Meanwhile, life in Ithaca proceeds apace. Kate reports she is too much of a wimp for country living, so after only a year they are selling their house and moving closer to the university. If any classmates would like a comfy family retreat in the Finger Lakes, she will gladly cut them a wicked deal. Kathryn McCarter is working at Pecan Street, Inc. as Programs Manager for the Pike Powers Commercialization Lab in Austin. In April, she completed the MS 150 for the first time, as part of the Clean Line Energy team. Way to go, Kathryn! After six years of what was to be a six-month assignment, Noel Merainer is still in Hong Kong where he has been working for Marriott International. He is currently responsible for development planning for the Asia Pacific. Essentially, his team figures out where Marriott International is going to grow next (Bangladesh, Fiji, Maldives and Mongolia are recent additions to the list). He covers all brands including its luxury subsidiary, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. What’s really great about Noel’s career story is that it all started during his Senior year Interim Term placement, where he had his first hotel work experience at the former Ritz-Carlton in Houston. There was a lot of excitement at the time because the Company was just starting to go international and open its first hotel in Asia. Today, they have about 20 amazing RitzCarlton hotels open in the region and about 20 more under construction. Of all the projects Noel works on, these are particularly special as each new Ritz-Carlton opening takes him back to that part of his Kinkaid experience. He is grateful to have had the experience and clearly has been hooked ever since 1995. If you happen to be traveling in Asia, drop him a line! John Barksdale is living on an Ur-
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ban Farm in Austin, and I am green with envy, and ready for a road trip to meet his menagerie. His chickens, Waylon and Ozzie are still laying plenty of eggs. He has recently added bees to the mix of urban farming in their West Campus neighborhood. He has a mature hive of about 60,000 in the side yard. According to John, “Beelive it or not…bees are lower maintenance than chickens, and I would recommend them to anyone.” If that’s not enough, he has been brewing beer, gearing up for mead once the honey is ready to harvest. Once he masters beer and mead, the plan is to move on to wine. Clearly, plenty of side projects are keeping him busy outside of the office, where he is still at CBRE, building a real estate empire. Gillian and John also added to their family, Isla Skye was born in April and joined big brother Johnny (two years old). As for my family, our daughters Marguerite and Camille will be entering the first grade. We enjoy our own urban farming, with two silkie bantam chickens, Poulet and Darth Vader. Sadly, we have not been as successfully with bee-keeping as the Barksdale family but attempts have been made! I wish everyone a safe and happy summer.
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Erin Jones Brown Houston, Texas erinjonesbrown@gmail.com Emily Mitchell Covey Houston, Texas emily.covey@gmail.com Lisa Ansari and husband Amir love being parents to their baby boy Jordan, who is nine months old. Lisa is working at Martin Preferred Foods, and Amir just finished renovating his bar, Eighteenth, which is on Bissonnet and Kirby. Debbie Blumberg is getting married in June in Connecticut. She is marrying Jonathan Adler (not the famous designer), but a native Brooklynite attorney, who also has a Grammy! Anne Marie Vollero Thompson will serve as Debbie’s Matron of Honor. The couple is excited to honeymoon in St. Lucia. Kinnison Dunkum Bryan reports that the only thing that seems to be staying the same for her family is that they’re still living in southwest Austin! Her store, Baby Bugaloo, is coming up on four years in business and has added a sister store, gro, at the Hill Country Galleria in Bee Cave. Her oldest son,
Colton, just finished Kindergarten and was selected to play for the Oak Hill All Stars T-ball team. Her son Chance just turned four and is looking forward to pre-k, still at Jardin de Ninos Spanish Immersion Dayschool, and his first season of T-ball this fall. The biggest surprise for the Bryans, however, is that Kinnison is expecting her third child, due to arrive in early December! She says, “It just goes to show that you never know what God has in store!” Kelli Roosth Cooney is still the Director of Administration at Arnold & Porter LLP and her husband Jim is an Assistant Attorney General with New York State. Their daughter Olivia just finished her first year of preschool at All Souls School and she is thrilled to be a big sister to baby Jamie Aaron, who is now seven months old (born October ‘11). The Cooney family loves hanging out with Kinkaid ‘96 alumni families and their children in NY, including the Moses family (Alexis Lipshultz), the Mogavero family (Whitney Weems), the (Stephen) Shapiro family and the (Bob) Hay family. Chris Cunningham is still in Dallas, building his solo tax law practice and raising his eight-month-old son Staiger with his wife Wynne. Kristen Bell Farman and husband Tucker are still living in DC. Their daughter Lindley is 16 months and they’re expanding the family even more with a baby boy who should be arriving on July 17th. Betsy LaFuze Gill is still living in State College, Pennsylvania, where her husband Tom works at Penn State. Betsy works part-time as a Speech-Language Pathologist at a nursing and rehab facility and spends the rest of her time at home with her daughter, Melissa (“Lissy”, three years old on June 9), who will be joined by a baby brother any day now. Lissy is currently recovering from open-heart surgery she had in April. Jason Goldstein just completed his dissertation colloquium, and he is embarking upon a research year. He is also working on a couple of publishing opportunities, including one for a Cézanne exhibition. John Holland took over as Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago MillerCoors beer distributor in the summer of 2011 after leaving Houston at the end of 2007 where he practiced Maritime Litigation at Locke Lord. Along with the Miller Brewing Co. and Coors porftolios, the company also sells Heineken, Corona, Guiness, Sam Adams and
the majority of craft beers. They’ve been named a top 10 Craft Distributor of the Year the last two years. John is also actively involved as a Director in the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago and Hull House/ Metropolitan Family Services and serves as an employee Trustee overseeing the local Teamster’s Pension and Health & Welfare Funds. John and wife Kate and their “very cute and active kids,” Caroline (six), George (three) and Avery (one), live in Deerfield just North of Chicago. They spend much of their time in Southern Wisconsin sailing, fishing and enjoying the outdoors (when its not too cold). Will Houstoun reports that his wife Jennifer gave birth to their second child, a boy, on April 5th. Rock Alen Houstoun was born on the same day and in the same hospital as Carter Rogers, son of Beth Allen Rogers and husband Todd. Small world! Will took three months off from the working world, spending most of that time working on cutting his golf handicap in half, but has now started work again with Lockton, the largest privately held insurance agency in the world. He’s looking forward to the next stage of his career. Lauren Roemer Morgan and Brad Morgan welcomed son Bradley on April 16th! Congratulations! Their daughters Lindsey (four) and Lillie (three) are loving having a new baby in the house! Alexis Lipshultz Moses is trying to enjoy some summer fun and sun before baby number two arrives in early July. Alexis’s daughter Waverly, now three, starts nursery school in the fall and may have a tough time adjusting to sharing the spotlight with a little brother or sister. Good luck, Alexis! Kristin Kirk Nelson married Ryan Nelson in November. Congratulations, Kristin and Ryan! In January, Kristin began working as a senior attorney with Beckmen, Cherkassky, Dean and Associates, doing title work. Maya Buryakovsky Pomroy and her husband Matt love being parents to Madelyn, who she reports is four and a half going on 25, and their newest addition Emma Margaret, who was born on 11-1111. Maya is still working at her toy store and enjoying life as a busy working mommy! David Rench and his wife Missy welcomed their second daughter, Lauren Caitlyn Rench, on October 18, 2011. ihiji, the start-up company that he co-founded, continues to