THE KINKAID SCHOOL
chasing around our 20-month-old son Dean who keeps my husband Robert and I on our toes!”Shannon Feste Werme and her husband Les are looking forward to the arrival of their third child (a boy!) due November 5. Big sisters Blair and Anna can’t wait to meet their baby brother.
to Dubai, and another partnering and opening restaurants with Tony Vallone, we have a lot to talk about! Not to mention, a classmate who is transitioning from maraschinos to marijuana… And that’s just the start.
Traci Thompson White and her husband Caperton are living in Dallas with their baby boy Payton, who is 9 months old and keeping them very busy. In addition to being a mom, Traci owns her own interior design firm, Traci White Designs, which serves clients all over Texas and the surrounding states.Your other class correspondent Alyssa Gardner Kilpatrick and her husband Brian are working on a major addition and renovation to their house in Houston. Having a construction site for a backyard calls for some major creativity when it comes to entertaining their busy 1½-year-old son Foster. In December, they will welcome a second baby, due 12/13/14 (which would be a very cool birthdate!) They are excited to get a break from the construction chaos while they travel to Antigua and St. Paul de Vence this summer.
In May, Brett Simchowitz is finishing medical school in San Francisco and will be starting as a resident in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He is still loving being a dad to his son Jonah, who is now 18 months.
Finally, I (Michel Miller Mullett) am still living in Houston and working as the Client Services Manager for Thompson & Knight LLP. My husband Philip and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary in March, but our biggest news of the year was the arrival of our baby girl Charlotte Alice on May 4! Philip graduated from the MBA program at Rice University on May 16 and will start his new career in oil and gas investment banking with Bank of America Merrill Lynch in late July. I’ve LOVED having him home with Charlotte and me during my maternity leave. In August, I will return to T&K and will begin my term as the President of the Kinkaid Young Professionals Organization (KYPO), which I am super excited about! Many thanks to all of the Class of 2000 girls who wrote in this year! We look forward to hearing what the guys are up to in the winter magazine. In the meantime, we hope everyone will mark their calendars for Reunion Weekend (April 24-25, 2015)! Lauren Leavitt Griffin has graciously offered to host our class party in her beautiful home, and we can’t wait to celebrate our 15-year reunion. If you haven’t already done so, please update your current contact information on the Alumni Portal on www. kinkaid.org so we can ensure all of the reunion details reach you!
2001 Lindsey Boyd
Houston, Texas lindseysboyd@yahoo.com Catherine Gutermuth San Francisco, California cgutermuth@gmail.com What a year for the class of 2001. With the birth of five little Falcons (two of which are twins), two classmates starting a company and selling it to Vimeo, one moving
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Here’s the rest:
Congratulations to Blair Swick Andres and her husband Jon who had a baby girl on April 16, Emily Brooke. They moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, in October and so far are enjoying it (although they miss their family and friends). Blair and Jon have a couple of trips up north and to Texas this summer/fall that they are looking forward to. Following a move to Del Mar in sunny SoCal, Stacy Soefer is transitioning from maraschinos to marijuana as Director of Marketing for CDx Life. Michael Constantiner is still living in NYC and happily married to both his wife Laura and business partner Matthew Rosenberg. While he hasn’t had a kid yet, the company Matthew and Michael started together, Cameo, was acquired by Vimeo in March (so he guesses he is a proud father in a way). If that wasn’t enough, he is also a partner in the startup coffee company, Parlor Coffee, which was recently selected as one of the top 38 coffee companies in the US. Echoing Michael’s accolades, Matthew Rosenberg is still happily living in New York now that the bleakest winter in the history is over (and he sold his company to Vimeo). In his free time he rides his bike, practices yoga and lives relatively carefree. Robert Callaway is living in Dallas and working in capital markets for a start-up real estate company, Invitation Homes. His group won “Structured Finance Deal of the Year” for 2013, which was very exciting (even though he didn’t know they were nominated or such an award even existed). Kavita Rao’s company Karmagraphy is now a full-scale entertainment company servicing private and corporate clients all over the world, which in turn has kept her busy traveling and choreographing. She produced, directed and choreographed a full-length live dance spectacular last year and is in the process of selling it. She hopes to bring the show to Houston next year and spend time visit family and old friends. Besides work she continues to love LA, her home since Kinkaid days. Fortunate to have just opened his third restaurant with his business partner Tony Vallone, a steakhouse at I-10 and Gessner named Vallone’s, Scott Sulma reports all is great in his professional life. Their casual Italian restaurant in Tanglewood, Ciao Bello, has been receiving tremendous acclaim, and they just celebrated 49 years at Tony’s. Personally, he
has a great home in the Heights and couldn’t ask for anything more.
Congratulations are in order as Katie is pregnant with their third child, a girl, due in August.
After business school, Leila Rastegar moved out to the Bay Area to get tucked into the start-up world. In January 2012, she teamed up with a recent Stanford PhD grad with a groundbreaking technology in the genetic sequencing space. From a base of two people, they’ve grown the company (GenapSys Inc.) to over 40 people over the last two-and-a-half years, and raised over $50M in venture financing. It’s been a crazy but exciting ride for Leila! She married her fiancé Edoardo in June, and then moved to London after the honeymoon. If any of you come to London, Leila hopes you will look her up!
Currently in McAllen, Texas (aka The Valley), Stuart Pradia is working with the Houston Rockets D-League affiliate the RGV Vipers as Director of Basketball Operations.
Iman Houston Farrior has been enjoying parenthood with her husband James as her twin daughters Marli and Demi approach their first birthday at the end of the summer. Between managing a bustling residential and commercial real estate practice, her business consulting company, Lasso Enterprises, and a mediation practice in which she mediates business and family disputes, her days involve few dull moments! Congratulations to Laura Sheedy who graduated with a master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies from Baylor College of Medicine in December. After passing her boards, she accepted a PA position with Bellaire Dermatology Associates and is enjoying her new career! Sarah Herder Nathan received her MBA from UT last May. Since graduating, she moved with her husband to Houston, where she works as a management consultant for Booz & Company specializing in energy. Hayley Dickson and her boyfriend Scott are living it up in Santa Monica, California. Although she admits she’ll always be a Texan at heart, she enjoys long walks on the beach at sunset in the perfect SoCal weather. Hayley is still at FremantleMedia International where she is Vice President of Television Acquisitions & Development (translation: she licenses television programming from the US and sells it worldwide). She just moved into a new apartment with a great guest bedroom and invites all Falcons to come to the beach for a visit! While remaining on Navy active duty, Tyler Scharar is leaving San Diego in August to head to Stanford for a Masters of Civil Engineering, with his wife Teresa. Jennifer Steen Black and her husband are living in Houston. They bought their first house and rescued a two-year old Bichon mix this year. She still works as an attorney and is doing great! Ash and Heather Lawrie Shepherd are living in Houston and have two kids now: Cammy (3) and William (1). They love spending time with the kids! Katie and Johnny Forney are doing well and are very busy with their two boys. Charlie is 5 and began Kinkaid this past year. William (3) attends First Steps Montessori School.
Robin Lowe Clarkson is still living in Houston and working as a corporate and transactional attorney. Steve and Robin had a baby, Jack, in December. Between work and Jack, Robin doesn’t have time for anything else! Chris Carlberg recently joined Austin’s largest ad agency, GSD&M, as a senior art director. He’s currently working on national campaigns for Walgreens, Goodyear and Chipotle. He’s also a new homeowner (just two minutes drive from South Congress). Oh, and he’s super happy that his sister Kirby Carlberg ’04 is now living in Austin too. Walker Averitt is still in Houston and really enjoying her “early 30’s”. She was promoted last July 2013 to Department Administrator in Breast Medical Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center. She loves the opportunity to work for such a fantastic, world-renowned cancer center. However, she is looking forward to a summer vacation sometime in the very near future! Otherwise, everything else is status quo. Katherine Campbell Van Steenburgh moved to Dubai this year with her husband Philip and their baby boy Campbell. They have been settling into life with a new baby and life in a new country. Barrell Barbour Jones has been living in Dallas for the past two years. Barrell and her husband Jacob welcomed Iverson Rhoda “Ivy” in September. Mark Frachtman’s tutoring company, Math Geeks & Science Freaks™, is in its fourth year of business and growing strong. He has also launched an SAT/ACT prep company called Test Preppies™ which guarantees higher scores on each exam. Mark is continuing to pursue his hobby of composing and producing music and plans on publicly releasing tracks later this year. And finally, I, Lindsey Boyd, adopted an adorable mixed mutt in April and named her Willa. I stay busy working at Pennebaker managing annual marketing plans and projects for clients such as Nine Energy Service and PULSE Network. When I’m not working, I’m on the water with my fiancé David and planning a November wedding!
2002 Ariana Nizza Chapman
Houston, Texas ariananizzachapman@gmail.com Ted Sangalis Long Island City, New York tsangalis@gmail.com