Class Notes -- Cohort B 1992
Summer Issue
For publication: July, 2003
Written:
Denise Aranoff-Brown
(Cohort B!) writes the following,
“Chris and I are expecting son #2 in August some time. Brother
Jeffrey will be almost 3 and is looking forward to someone to beat up on other
than our dog. I'm still at Chevy Chase Bank and just recently
"celebrated" my 5th year. If someone had told me 5 years ago
what I'd be doing here now, I'd have laughed myself silly. Chris and I
are also celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary in May with a trip to the
Caymans. I will be my own flotation device for any snorkeling.”
Bradford Richardson (cohort ???) is excited to report that his move to
be VP (International) of USANA Health Sciences over 5 years ago has been very
exciting. Due to very strong growth, USANA was the 3rd best performing stock on
all 3
Doug Propp's Company, Atlantic Television, just completed
production work for RDF Media and FHM Magazine on the reality show Bikini
Heaven. Atlantic was responsible for coordinating the multi-camera finale
to the show in Miami Beach hosted by Carmen Electra with performances by Shaggy
and Holly Valance. Other recent productions include an interview with
Bruce Springstein for 60 Minutes
Debbie Roy Crumpler (Cohort M) reports the following: “Unlike all those
who've moved out of consulting, I've recently gone back "in". I've
been working part time since mid-November. I'm working for myself! I've
been consulting for 3 different clients out of the house about 3 days a
week. It's great money and very fun! I'm going to continue to ramp up my
own business as the girls (my 4 year old identical twins, Erin and Nicole) are
only a little over a year from Kindergarten! Time flies.... Wyatt, my
husband, is still with American Airlines, at least at the time I wrote
this! He continues to take salary cuts but we're scraping
by. We don't want to leave
Debbie’s comment about
consultants moving out of the profession refers to my own informal analysis –
also called Mother-in-Law Research: Based on two data points, there seems to be
a shift away from consulting among Wharton alumni. Dana Michael left
Ernst & Young to accept the position of Vice President of Risk Management
at Swiss Reinsurance, which is located in
As for me, I am currently working as a Corporate
Marketing Director (pro temps) at Hachette Filipacchi Media. As part of
Hachette’s Integrated Marketing Group, I work on key accounts for seventeen
magazines including Road & Track, Car and Driver, American PHOTO, Elle,
Elle Décor, Elle Girl and Woman’s Day, as well as Hachette’s special
interest and custom publications. In my sparse spare time, I teach “Principles
of Sales” at the
I look forward to hearing from you at Karen@KarenLevine.com! Please visit http://www.karenlevine.com/wharton
for previous notes.
Spring Issue
To be published April, 2003
Written January, 2003
From Akiko
& Jim Gordon: After 10 long
years, Jim left JP Morgan Fleming at the end of August. He is now at Federated
Investors, working as Head of Quantitative Research & Analysis. Since
Federated has two offices, in downtown NYC and in
Akiko has been working with RB Investment
& Consulting, a small private equity firm started by one of her old
friends. Though she enjoys her responsibilities as chief Investment Analyst,
the business environment has been quite tough. When Akiko traveled to
In May, we went to
We still play golf almost every weekend as
long as the weather allows us to do it. This year we spent more time practicing
at driving range in
From Ann-Mara
and John Lanza: Nathan is now 2.5,
and he is lots of fun! He has continued to impress us with his
speaking ability and has developed a real musical ear...Which brings me to my
"recession job." Some of you know that we bought a new house in
January: a nice colonial, in need of updating. Our goal was to sell our old
house and be in the new house by September 1. So much for good
intentions.... After multiple delays, and nearly losing my sanity, I
fired the [contractor] at the end of November. Now, I'm functioning as the
GC. Our new goal is April 1. In the meantime, we are heavily
invested in real estate.
From
Brian Werther: Work wise, I have been consulting for Rainbow-media. Home
life - we had a baby boy at the end of November -- Shane Benjamin Werther. - 21
1/2" long, 7lbs, 10 oz
Jim
Shuman is teaching Finance at
Fordham and consulting. Doug Propp
officially tied the knot in December.
John
Bachmann is now a Vice President at
United Management Technologies. UMT offers a consulting service combined with
proprietary software to align company strategies with their budgets,
determining the highest priorities for spending. John joined UMT in June. Also,
he and his wife recently purchased a home in
Noreena
Hertz popped by my living room on
January 17th – not in person, however, but via the Charlie Rose
Show, Time-Warner Cable and my friendly Panasonic television.
As for me, I am teaching four classes at the
Katharine Gibbs School this semester – three finance sections (could it be that
I learned more than marketing at Wharton?) and one macroeconomics class
(leveraging that undergraduate degree!). I hope to return to teaching at NYU in
the fall, particularly in light of my favorable student ratings which included
a 6.5 out of 7 for enthusiasm and for showing interest in students! While I did
not shed tears before distributing the teacher evaluation forms (those who took
entrepreneurial management know what I mean), I did bring candy (consumer behavior)
and express my interest in keeping in touch and serving as a resource (Scott
Ward’s marketing class)
I am also serving as marketing consultant to
Teacup Software, a company which develops plug-ins and customized solutions for
users of Adobe In Design. Oh, and I’m still looking for that dream job – you
know, the one that provides health insurance.
I look forward to hearing from you at Karen@KarenLevine.com. Please visit http://www.karenlevine.com/wharton
for previous notes.
Winter Issue
To be published: January, 2003
Written:
My how time flies when you’re trying to stay
afloat in a white-collar recession. Maybe I should go to B-School to wait it
out. Darn! Already played that card. Perhaps a PhD…. Nah. No Walnut Walk for PhDs.
Debbie Roy Crumpler dropped an e-mail this
August when she realized that the two of us share a birthday. While I shared an
Entenmanns chocolate cake with 30 close friends at
Back in
As for me, I’ve returned to academia as an
Adjunct Professor of Marketing at NYU’s
I look forward to hearing news from you!
Please visit www.karenlevine.com/wharton
for past submissions.
To be published October, 2002 (Fall, 2002)
T’was the season to reunion, and what a
reunion it t’was! Unfortunately, I attended only the events of Saturday evening
and Sunday morning due to a previously planned trip to
In any case, the evening festivities at the
waterfront museum were really lovely, and we had a hearty turnout from the
classmates of cohort B. Those at dinner, dancing and - for some -- late night
cocktails included Akira Yamamoto, Alistair Campbell (thank you for breaking
in the dance floor with me!), Jim Shuman, Joan Adams, Kathryne Lyons, Michael
Ippoloto, Paul Ryan, Rob Vaughn, and Will Gardenswartz. Rob Vaughn is
married. Will Gardenswartz is married and expecting his first child this
fall. Paul is living on the West Coast (a bit more temperate than
Kathryne Lyons and Jonathan Teplitz (Cohort __) are married
and living in
Recently Kathryne was quoted in the Wall Street Journal and Crain's
Joel Hall and Brad Karasik were also spotted at reunion, though,
unfortunately, not by me. Joel and his family are living outside of
Though I missed the daytime activities, I
was told they were a fun and thought-provoking – and, for some, punctuated by
nostalgic (and thirst quenching) trip down Walnut Walk... As for
thought-provoking, Jeremy’s Siegel’s economic lecture inspired a stirring
economic debate over drinks. This led to a discussion of the fact that a group
of Wharton MBAs would debate the economy over drinks and turned to a stimulated
attempt to identify the musical artist whose music was played in the bar.
Conversation turned more serious when Mike
Ippoloto mentioned that he had checked out of a World Trade Center hotel
minutes before the attack on September 11th. Joan Adams then
shared a chilling account of her experience. Living downtown, she found herself
drawn toward the towers after the first plane hit – caught in a wave of New
Yorkers unable to comprehend what was going on. Closer and closer she came
until the first tower collapsed spewing furniture, debris and the unspeakable
above her head like a tornado. Suddenly, she was running away – along with so
many New Yorkers who ran blocks and miles without realizing. So many of us have
personal and wrenching stories. So many of us continue to suffer financially,
emotionally, sympathetically, logistically. Yet once again, I pause to thank
Doug Propp's (Cohort ) company, Atlantic Television, recently won
several awards for their Discovery Health Channel documentary "Breaking
the Code." The film won the prestigious Cine Golden Eagle Award as well as
a World Medal at the New York Festivals and the Communicator Award of Excellence.
(You may remember Doug as the "original phone guy".)
I recently enjoyed celebrating the birthday
of Lorrie King (cohort ), who hosted an extraordinarily elegant
gathering at an art gallery in
As for me, I continue to wrestle with the
unpredictable and unprecedented state of our economy, punctuated by an especially
high rate of unemployment here in
My most recent vocal engagement was on July
7th at the Montauk Theatre Productions Cabaret Americana, where I
sang two songs. On June 8th I sang "Maybe This Time!" for
alumni of the
Please visit http://www.KarenLevine.com/Wharton
for past submissions.
To be published July, 2002 (Summer, 2002)
Written:
Welcome to Zachary Raymond Hage, who was
born on Tuesday, January 29th. He is healthy and is absolutely delighting
parents Beth and Joe Hage (Cohort J). You can meet Zachary at http://zachhage.homestead.com – or in
person at reunion in May!
In addition to Joe, Beth & Zachary, I’ve
heard from Whartonites, including Rob Vaughn, Tom West, Gene Metzger,
and Alister Campbell, who look forward to getting back in touch this May
at our tenth. Sounds like the place to be!
Joan Adams wrote in from
Doug Propp's (Cohort ) company, Atlantic Television, recently won
several awards for their Discovery Health Channel documentary "Breaking
the Code." The film won the prestigious Cine Golden Eagle Award as well as
a World Medal at the New York Festivals and the Communicator Award of Excellence.
I had the pleasure of seeing Mark
Samuelian at what seems to have become an annual celebration, first at
Citrus on the West Side and then – for the past two years – at Mark’s swanky
East Side digs. (The fact that every time I go to Mark’s apartment, there is a
bartender and wait staff leads me to the empirically-based conclusion that they
must be full-time employees…) Mark is a Partner at Accenture Consulting. (Was
this year’s event a subconscious celebration of Accenture’s timely separation
from Andersen? I wonder…)
While I did not have the pleasure of seeing Noreena
Hertz, I did enjoy a local phone call with her during her visit to
the States to promote her book Silent Takeover -- Global Capitalism and
the Death of Democracy. A huge best-seller in
Brian Bollen of Amazon.co.uk issued the
following review: "The Silent Takeover might be thought of as something of
a contradiction in terms. In the world of modern mergers and acquisitions,
hardly a single transaction goes by without noisy comment from every
conceivable angle. But the Takeover here is of an altogether different order,
referring to the takeover of the planet itself rather than a business rival.
Did you know that of the world's largest economies, 51 are now corporations and
only 49 are nation-states? You do now.
"Noreena Hertz gives an evocative and
highly readable account of economic change over the past two decades. Such
material in the wrong hands can be stultifingly boring, but this is fast and
accessible, personal, almost intimate. The reader is left in little doubt of
the author's view that not everyone benefits from the capitalist dream (the
work is, after all, subtitled Global Capitalism and the Death of Democracy).
‘The 20-year neo-liberal experiment that began in
One would expect to see the names of Rupert
Murdoch, Ted Turner, Time Warner, General Electric and McDonalds in any review
of the rise and rise of the corporate giant. But Big Brother, Buddha, 2001: A
Space Odyssey, the Ku Klux Klan and Soylent Green? Noreena Hertz, once an
investment banker in
The way we are governed is changing. Government has less and less power to
influence our lives, whilst the private sector has more power than ever to
control our lives. This title predicts a time when we can make more of an
impact through our pockets than through the ballot box.
A number of Wharton Alumni have joined me in
my career networking and support group. These include Dana Gross, WG ’93
(currrently working as a consultant with A&E Networks), John Bachmann,
WG ’94, Julie Cheu, WG ’01, Michael Ross (WU), Sophie Ross,
’01, Steve Bennett and Michael Benjamin.
Please visit http://www.KarenLevine.com/Wharton
for past submissions. See you in May!
Spring Issue -- April, 2002
1/15/02 10:30 PM
Donald Soares got married on September 29th in
Scott Scovel (WG'92)and his family are fine,
after a close call during the attack on the
Similarly, Mike Ippolito (WG'92) had a close
call at the World Trade Center. He checked out of the Marriott World Trade
Center hotel, less than 1 hour before the attack. Then, as he was leaving, his
car stalled and he had his battery recharged under the canopy of 1 World Trade
Center, finally driving away, just moments before the attack began. Mike is a
Partner at Deloitte & Touche consulting, based in Manhattan.
On December 4th, the New York
Business School Club sponsored the All-MBA Soiree at New York’s Manhattan Club.
Wharton was the best-represented school there, making up a significant portion
of the nearly 400 attendees. ‘92ers at the soiree included Alan Wolf, Dina
Weitzman, Doug Propp, John Buggie, Karen Levine and Nicole Suder.
The gala was a networking event as well as a benefit for selected New York
charities. Karen Levine had the pleasure and honor of leading everyone
in "God Bless America" as well as singing several jazz and Christmas
standards.
Brandon Burgess (Class of 9?) was named Executive Vice President of
Business Development for NBC. Brandon, who previously served as Senior Vice
President of Business Development, will continue to lead NBC's Corporate
Development and International efforts, overseeing strategy, negotiation and
execution of NBC's worldwide transactions and ventures. He will now report to
Bob Wright.
"NBC’s continued commitment to growing our business makes Brandon’s role
within this organization more important than ever, and by adding him to my
executive team, we’re putting an increased focus on business development at the
highest levels," Wright said. "Brandon has been instrumental in NBC’s
development in the past few years, and I am pleased to recognize his many
contributions to this organization with this well-deserved promotion."
Brandon has held his current role with NBC since 2000. In prior positions as
Chief Financial Officer for the NBC Television Network and Director of Business
Development, Burgess was instrumental in many of NBC's domestic and
international strategic initiatives. His many accomplishments during his tenure
with the network include the restructuring of NBC’s investment in Rainbow
Media, the implementation of the strategic sales and operating
relationship with Paxson, and the targeting and negotiation of the recent $2.7B
Telemundo acquisition. Burgess will continue to act as NBC integration leader
for this important acquisition, working closely with NBC’s President and COO
Andrew Lack and Telemundo management.
See you all in May!
Winter Issue -- January, 2002
10/15/01 5:27 PM
Cohort B is blessed in having lost none of
its family to the events of
Michael Purves (Cohort J) is "pleased to announce the birth of our
children, Alexander and Juliane. They had a rough start having been born quite
prematurely, but are now home and doing well." Ah, Michael, your good news
is very welcome. As is the news that Joe and Beth Hage (Cohort J) are
expecting their first child in February. The economy may be slowing down, but
Wharton grads continue to produce!
Lorrie King and I had a lovely lunch at the architecturally famous Conde
Nast cafeteria this August. Lorrie's product, King of Shaves, was recommended
by Lucky Magazine's Beauty Editor Jean Godfrey June.
Bruce Loeb (W '86) recently became Vice President of Marketing for
Pokemon. How cool is that!
I have created an archive for these submissions. Please visit
www.KarenLevine.com/wharton. Aside from that, I have little to report but hope
to have something more exciting in the next issue!
Fall Issue -- October, 2001
Has it really been three months since my
last submission! So much has happened in my professional life that I’ve hardly
had time to collect Wharton gossip. Fortunately, Akira Yamamoto sent me
an update: "I am currently working for the Phoenix Global Investments, a
Japanese subsidiary of Phoenix Home Life in Hartford. This is a start-up
experience, and I have enjoyed this job. My responsibility is a global asset
allocation of the security investment advisory service. My family is fine. My
daughter will play a major roll in an opera production this fall."
I also received info from Juliet
(Stubican) Sjöborg, who wrote, "I visited Lisa (Colacurcio) Cahiere
[Cohort B Wh 92] in
In July, in London other news from Wharton 1992 grads, Catherine Claydon
and Stefano Iamoni are doing the London-Milan commute. Catherine is
still at Goldman Sachs in London and was made Managing Director last year
working with commodities. Stefano works for a fund in Milan so is often on the
road. David Barney dropped in from Geneva where he works with hedge
funds and manages lost of money. I am still at the EBRD (European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development) after 9 years. After a 3 year stint in Croatia,
I'm back in London making investments in Eastern Europe and the CIS in
Agribusiness (Fast Moving Consumer Goods). Balancing work with family life
(Sofia age 3 and Claës age 1) remains ever challenging!! Everyone is looking
forward to summer when we will reunite in the South of France for sun. London
has had the most rain this spring in the last 200 years!
Arnold Holle [Wh 1991] recently changed jobs from Goldman Sachs to UBS
Warburg to work in their consumer products group in investment banking. He and
his wife, Denise, have twins boys Max and Adrian (4 years old) and recently
added a new baby boy to the family."
I did get to see John Buggie (Lauder
’92) and Cynthia Fotheringham (Graduate Program in Energy ‘92) recently.
In fact, they treated me to a fabulous dinner at a hot new restaurant that John
just had to try – which was very lucky for me and Cynthia! Cynthia tells me
that Terry Tao, who recently visited NY from her home in the San
Francisco Bay Area, is doing very well there (Terry is no longer with
Netscape).
I’ve also exchanged e-mails with Doug
Propp, whose fabulous TV production talents I hope to utilize in my new
role as Marketing Director for Lucky Magazine – but more about that later. Lorrie
King, President and Chief Executive Officer for Knowledge and
Merchandising, Inc. has been working with key client King of Shaves, many of
whose products make use of the hot new cosmetic ingredient – tea tree oil – an
ingredient recently touted by Conde Nast’s Lucky Magazine – but more about that
later…
I recently met Michael Wolfson
(Wharton Undergrad) at New York’s Drip Café. Michael is working at OffitBank
Wealth Management Bank, a company which does not yet allow business casual, but
that’s another story really.
I’ve also had the pleasure of meeting Dana
Gross (WG ’93), who read about me right here in Wharton Magazine and wanted
to learn more about the NY Cabaret Scene. Dana attended my May 30th
show at Don’t Tell Mama – followed by dinner at the illustrious John’s
Pizzeria. John Wilson (WG ’93) who was visiting
Resourceful recent grads Christie Smith
& Julie Cheu (WG ’01) looked me up in the directory of
Wharton Alumni and contacted me to discuss careers in media. Christie
subsequently landed a marketing position at Time, Inc.
I had the pleasure of seeing Mark Samuelian
at a splendid catered bash at his new Upper East Side apartment. Mark has
recently been made Partner at Accenture Consulting.
As for me (Karen Levine), I recently
became Marketing Director for Conde Nast’s LUCKY Magazine, the new magazine
about shopping, and love my new career!
Summer Issue -- July, 2001
4/19/01 7:28 AM
From Denise Aranoff-Brown:
"Chris and I welcomed our son, Jeffrey Claire Brown, into the world on
September 7, 2000. He's now… quite the big guy -- finally sleeping through the
night! I returned to work full-time at Chevy Chase Bank after my 12 weeks
leave. I'm VP of Marketing Services for the Home Equity Division, which covers
everything from marketing to direct and phone sales, training, processing and
customer service. Chris (Tuck grad) is building his own financial advisor
business. I wait for the day I can reclaim our basement (currently being used
for his office). We still love living in the Washington DC area & invite
all classmates to use our house as base camp for any DC excursions.
Kyle Alpern happily married Alan Rabinowitz on September 3, 2000. She…
relocated to Dallas where Alan is a head lawyer type for Motel 6. She is
in-between jobs as she gets them moved into their new home & establishes
her Wharton/Texas connections.
Scott Scovel is still at AMEX doing some cool Internet, corporate card
thing. He and wife Alison have a baby daughter. Keb Brady also is still
at AMEX in Finance. He and wife Annette have two girls. At last
conversation, Brian Werther was still working at Cablevision on Long
Island & occasionally getting up before dawn on Sundays to play a 6:30am
intramural ice hockey game at a rink somewhere out on the Island."
I (Karen) have actually had the
opportunity to see Brian Werther (and his wife Stephanie) on several
occasions in past months – at a New York Wharton Club volunteer meeting (sans
Stephanie), at Doug Propp’s documentary screening, and at John
Buggie’s festive birthday celebration, … I look forward to seeing more of Brian
who was recently promoted to Vice President of Strategic Market Planning at
Cablevision
Other Wharton/Penn alumni spotted at John
Buggie’s birthday fete were Peter Benda, Forrest Cannon (I-Banking),
Gautam Chand, Cynthia Fotheringham, Lorrie King (President/CEO of
Knowledge and Merchandising, Inc. – currently working with Ted Baker’s King of
Shaves), John Levitsky, Kathryne Lyons (VP at Jones Lang
LaSalle), Diane McGrath, Greg Pfeiffer, Doug Propp (Atlantic
TV) and Jonathan Teplitz
In addition to celebrating a milestone
birthday, John Buggie is very pleased to report that he accepted a new
position with Strategos inc., an innovation strategy consulting firm founded by
world-renown business thinker and author Gary Hamel, and has been elected
Partner and Director of their
corporate imagination, bringing creativity and discipline to the challenge of
creating new business models and invigorating existing business models. They
help companies such as Nokia, Shell, Applied Materials, and many others to
develop contrarian, game changing ideas, to elaborate these ideas into
commercially viable business propositions, and to accelerate the cycle time
from idea to action. Gary's new book "Leading the
Revolution"(published by Harvard Business School Press) "is a great
read" and continues the kind of fresh, innovative thinking first
discovered in "Competing for the Future".
From Akira Yamamoto: "I left Arthur Andersen last November and took
a position of EVP at the Phoenix Global Investments in
Michael Purves continues his career in investment banking at
Merrill Lynch working on telecommunications.
After running into Julia Hoo at
several Wharton networking events, my own piano bar event, and the Five O’clock
Club, we exchanged e-mails and now see each other quite often, particularly at
meetings of K-Net, a career & networking group I recently created.
From the Class of 1991, I received exciting
news from Noreena Hertz: "The book that I have been working on for
the last couple of years - The Silent Takeover - is being
published in the UK on around April 15th. (Other country versions/languages
coming out later this year). I hope very much that you will read the book
itself, but if you would like to get a sense of my argument, you should look at
the piece I [wrote for Sunday, April 8th's] Observer in which I
laid out my general case… the Observer's website is
www.observer.co.uk and my article will be posted there…" From The
Observer: "Noreena Hertz is one of the world's leading young
thinkers, whose agenda-setting new book on corporate power is already sparking
intense debate on both sides of the Atlantic. In this remarkable special essay
for The Observer she argues that governments' surrender to big
business is the deadliest threat facing democracy today."
As for me (Karen Levine), I have just
accepted a Vice President position with Telmar Worldwide, the world's leading
supplier of media planning software and support services. I will be responsible
for national sales and marketing of their multi-media optimizer. This product
-- Integrated Marketing Communications or IMC – fuses syndicated data across
media (broadcast, print, radio, Internet…). The first tool of its kind, it
helps planners allocate their media budget across these different options. For
more information, please visit www.Telmar.com
or give me a call!
Spring Issue -- April, 2001
1/11/01 8:36 AM
Sajai Krishnan is a Partner at Booz-Allen & Hamilton –
according to Booz-Allen’s magazine.
On December 13th, I was part of a standing
room only audience at Tribeca Film Center Screening Room, where I viewed, Doug
Propp's latest work, "Breaking the Code: The Race to Uncover the
Secret of Life", a fascinating investigation into the human genome and the
future of medicine. Doug's company, Atlantic Television, produced the program
in association with the Discovery Health Channel and it was broadcast in
December. Other Whartonites spotted in the audience included: Joe Hage
("accompanied by his stunning wife" -- cohort J), Brian Werther
(cohort G) & his stunning wife Stephanie and Noelle Nicholson (cohort H)
& her stunning husband.
At the end of January, I was honored to help
celebrate the birthday of John Buggie (Lauder) along with Penn Grads
such as Forrest Cannon (cohort __), Cynthia Fotheringham
(Graduate School of Energy), and Diane McGrath (Lauder '91). On February
first, John joined Strategos, the global strategy innovation firm founded by
Gary Hamel, as a Director and Partner. After nearly two years with Cap Gemini
Ernst & Young's Strategy practice, John is very excited about the
opportunity to set up and lead their New York office.
In November, I got to see John Wilson
(WG ’93) during a visit to the U.S. from Sydney, where he has been living and
working for the past year. And in January, I got to see Paolo Alberoni
(cohort __) during a visit to New York from Milan
Bruce Loeb (WU '86) and his new wife Ann (Penn '86) were
spotted in the lobby of the Beacon Hotel following an amazing performance by
Paul Simon at the Beacon Theater. Bruce & Ann further graced me with their
attendance at my housewarming party on the first of January. Indeed, I recently
moved into my sixth NYC apartment!
Other than that, I continue to work at NBC,
nearing my third year and enjoying myself immensely. I'm also working on a new
cabaret show, which my musical director Paul Trueblood affectionately calls,
"Songs not about Love". Meanwhile, I continue to perform, "A
Girl You Should Know", most recently for the Inkomon.com social group at
Rose's Turn here in New York. For more information, please visit
www.KarenLevine.com. I look forward to hearing from you! Class Notes – DRAFT…
STILL IN
Winter Issue -- January, 2001
10/17/00 10:33 PM
You may recall that several years ago, I
reported an apparent relationship between Bob Kirtley’s (Cohort ??)
whereabouts and the likelihood of unusual weather disturbances – flood, heat
wave, etc. Perhaps Rob is Wharton’s own Harry Potter… In any case, Rob’s realm
of influence seems to have expanded to aviation equipment… Specifically, on
Tuesday, September 19th, while I was comfortably finishing my
journey back from the Sydney Olympics aboard an American Airlines jet from LA
to JFK, Bob was meeting with his LA client and identifying a need to develop
expertise in Six Sigma methodology and train some black belts at Deloitte
Consulting, where Rob is a partner. Unexpectedly, the pilot on my AA….
From Peter Smith (cohort ??): I have
finally made the decision to try something that I have been talking about for
at least five years (if not longer). It became official last Friday when I
signed the offer letter to join Application Networks, a small pre-IPO company
in Menlo Park, CA. My start date was October 2, so I was recently faced with
the daunting task of cleaning out my apartment of eight years (and all the
accumulated junk therein). I'll be sure to forward my new contact information
once I get set up on the west coast. The email address above will work for the
next week or so, but after that you should send me email at psmith3@yahoo.com.
I hope this finds everyone well. Cheers.
As for me, I had a fabulous birthday
celebration at an Italian garden cafe in my neighborhood, surrounded by 30 of
my closest friends (affectionately known as FOKs) including Cynthia
Fotheringham (Graduate School of Energy?) and Wharton’s original phone guy
-- Doug Propp (cohort ??). (I was pleased to get some time with Doug in and
around his Ultimate Frisbee championships & tours!) I’m still at NBC and
was thrilled to experience the Sydney Olympics this September. (I knew I’d make
it to the Olympics someday!) What a incredible experience – thanks in great
part to the local hospitality of John Wilson WG ’89 – who made sure I saw all
the relevant sights and took full advantage of the strong U.S. dollar! As for
cabaret, I took, "A Girl You Should Know" to
Fall Issue -- October, 2000
7/13/00
This from Alister Campbell:
"Thought I would take a second (while the baby's asleep) to send you a
quick e-mail update... Work has a been a non-stop blast for me over the last
two years.
And from Ann-Mara & John Lanza
(cohort K): "We joyously announce the arrival to our home of Nathan George
Benson Lanza, born
Doug Propp (cohort G) organized a wonderful Wharton get
together at Nancy Yaffa’s downtown "Screening Room". Attendees
included: Brian Werther & his wife, Peter Smith, Karen
Levine, Doug Propp, Jim Shuman, Akiko Gordon …
Brandon Burgess (WG ’95, cohort D) has been named head of Business
Development at NBC.
As for me, I had my
Spring Issue -- April, 2000
01/16/2000
I begin with an update from Akira
Yamamoto (Cohort B): "The Year 1999 [was] a very exciting and
challenging year for my family and me. In reality, I should call it a year of
keep-on-going (sounds like an Energizer Bunny?). I was totally absorbed in
operas, symphonies and ballets in NY till June. Then, a big blow! I had to go
back to
Last quarter it was Doug Propp's (cohort
G) Ultimate Frisbee team, and this quarter, it is Diane McGrath's (WG
'91, Lauder) internet venture! Why read the Wharton Alumni Notes when you can
track alumni in The New York Times! On November 4th, The NYT
Circuits section cover story "Van Gogh Print or Original Oil: The Web has
It" featured Diane's venture PaintingsDirect.com and included a photo of
the CEO and two paintings from the site.
Not to be outdone, Joe Hage (cohort
??) had his "Broadway debut" on December 8th. Joe won a Bernadette
Peters-sponsored silent charity auction and received a walk-on role (no lines,
"blink and you'll miss me") in Annie Get Your Gun. The
experience included advance costume preparation, makeup, a bow with the
company, and loitering backstage during the show -- "a once in a lifetime
thrill!"
Doug Propp (cohort G), diligent supporter of Wharton Alumni in
the arts not only attended Joe's debut but publicized it heavily on the web. I,
myself, owe gratitude to Doug not only for attending several of my performances
but for using his magical video editing skills to develop a demo that resulted
in an offer to perform in Cairo at a party for senior executives of the
Egyptian American Bank. Doug, who is CEO of Atlantic Television transformed 40
minutes of poorly lit, horribly framed home footage into a professional demo
Rumor has it that Noelle Nicholson
(cohort ??) is engaged. Congratulations! Noelle works for Maxwell House in
White Plains, NY and lives in Stamford, CT. "Rumor" also has it that Beth
Lorge (nee Marx) has had her first child -- at least that’s my assumption
based on her state of pregnancy the last time I saw Beth… Congratulations to
Beth and her handsome husband!
Though I have not seen Ann-Mara
(cohort K) or John Lanza (cohort ??) in months, I did find a lovely note
from them along with flowers and yummy leftovers when I returned home from
Thanksgiving. I recommend them highly as houseguests and hope to have them
again soon - when I am around to enjoy their company! In the meantime, I
console myself with reading about them in their annual holiday newsletter
(a.k.a. the Wellesley Wombat) where I learned that they had a recent two-week
vacation in the Hawaiian islands highlighted by a visit to the Arizona Memorial
at Pearl Harbor, the purchase of matching (his and hers) Hawaiian outfits, a
walk across hardened lava fields to see brilliant orange flowing lava beneath
the setting sun and a helicopter ride over Kauai.. Back in
Cynthia Fotheringham (Energy Management and Policy) also fed me recently,
this time a home cooked ham dinner at a small gathering at her home. Also
spotted at this gathering was John Buggie (Lauder), who is currently
working for E&Y and recently finished leading an Internet strategy project
for the CEO and Executive Board of a $23 billion health care conglomerate! His
work related to concept development, partnership prioritization, financial
modeling and prototype development ---all in 8 weeks!
When not being fed by classmates, I’ve been
hitting the NYC restaurants. Cynthia Fotheringham, Mark Samuelian (W
’90) and I traveled to East 6th Street for authentic Indian; while Cynthia,
John Buggie and I hit Route 66 on the west side for basic American brunch
fare; that is where we spotted Jordan Foster.
No new news from Noreena Hertz (’91),
but I have received enough e-mail to know she is still living and working in
As for me, I continue to work at NBC
(working on and off with Brandon Burgess ’95, D) and to pursue my
musical side career on
Even my audience got a good review:
"She drew an appreciative audience," and so I can not thank you all
enough for your support. Wharton Alumni who attended the show at Judy's
included: John Buggie, Doug Propp, George Goldberger (W’ ??), Bruce
Loeb (WUG) and Cynthia Fotheringham. Please visit my new website
www.KarenLevine.com for more info!
Winter Issue -- January, 2000
10/16/1999
I am embarrassed to say that I have
pitifully little to report this quarter. L (Please send news!!!!!) I did see Daniel
Goggins (Cohort __) carrying a baby I assume to be his own and evidently
running errands near Fairway Supermarket on the
Additionally, and perhaps more exciting, Doug
Propp's (Cohort G) ultimate frisbee team won the world championships in
Scotland this past August. The team was even written up in the Sunday New York
Times in October. (So, go on-line and check it out!) Doug has his own
television production company, Atlantic Television, and continues to "build
an empire." The company has recently added a Webcasting unit to its
operations.
I recently enjoyed Indian Food on
Jurg Weber (cohort __), who is living in
I have exchanged phone calls and e-mails
with Mark Samuelian (WG ‘90) and actually saw him at my show in
November… Mark is with Andersen Consulting
I continue to work with Brandon Burgess
(WG ’95, cohort D) here at NBC. He and I are working on tracking music usage by
the Network and preparing for upcoming negotiations with our vendor. (We look
forward to implementing all we have learned from Professor Robert Shell, whose
lecture we attended in October!)
I am thrilled to hear that classmates are
actually following my cabaret career through the Wharton Alumni Magazine! Who
knew! I guess that Marketing degree is paying off! Anyway, fans and other
interested parties can now receive additional information from my website:
www.KarenLevine.com. I performed a new show, "A Girl You Should Know"
in November at Judy’s Cabaret, a lovely supper club here in
You can contact me with updates and/or to
find out about my cabaret happenings at KLcabaret@aol.com
or Karen@KarenLevine.com or by
phoning 212-579-3065.
Fall Issue -- November, 1999
7/16/99
From Joel Holl, living outside of DC:
I am still at Nextel, having lots of fun in a rapidly growing company. Sonia
and I now have baby boy, Nicholas, who will be a year old in November. He is
our first, and it is a wonderful experience.
I recently ran into Steve Shuman,
entertaining out of town relatives on the
From Peter Smith (cohort J), who is
living in NYC: For those of you who haven't heard, I've finally quit my job (or
at least I tried to - more on that in a second). Judging by all the job-hopping
I've heard and read about over the past seven years, I am confident I am one of
a small number in our class who is still in the same job since graduation.
However, I recently came to the conclusion that I needed to change my career
track and, as such, decided to quit my job and take some technology-related
courses at
From John Buggie (Lauder), living in
NYC: As many of you may already know, I [left] A.T. Kearney after four very
rewarding years…. Beginning July 19th, I [joined] Ernst & Young LLP as a
Senior Manager (Principal) in their Strategy Consulting practice, called the
Strategic Advisory Services Group. This practice focuses on creating and
developing high value added growth strategies for large companies within a
variety of industries such as consumer products, pharmaceutical and healthcare,
telecommunications, information services among others.
From Ann-Mara Scheff Lanza (cohort
K), who is living in
Doug Propp (cohort G) threw a lovely party in July to celebrate
the inauguration of his production company Atlantic Television's Corporate
video unit.
I have had the opportunity to see Jurg
Weber, who stopped off in NY for lobster at the Palm on his way to give a
speech in
In addition, I had dinner with Mark
Samuelian, working at Anderson Consulting. We took advantage of the first
warm day this spring at got an outside table at Isabella’s on the upper west
side.
I’ve seen Diane McGrath (WG 91 --
living in NYC – in theory…) on line and hope to meet her for lunch when she is
not traveling on business a la this e-mail in July: "Love to, but I'm just
back from Venezuela and off to Germany today. Can we try for July 14…"
While Diana had the pleasure of
seeing Noreena Hertz (WG 91) on a recent trip, I’ve exchanged only
e-mails and phone calls with Noreena since my last update. However, I
have been able to follow her career in the press as Noreena wrote the
cover story for the June 21st New Statesman (the voice of the British
intellectual left). The article, "Better to Shop than to Vote"
concludes as follows: "Politics has gone on sale; consumer politics is the
real new politics we are buying, not the false new politics of devolution,
coalition or proportional representation. A fundamental change is happening. As
the century turns, politics as we have long known it has grown too old to
rejuvenate. Politics is dead - long live the consumer." Noreena is associate
director of the Centre for International Business and Management at the Judge
Institute of Management Studies,
I am currently working closely with Brandon
Burgess (WG ’95, cohort D) here at NBC, where he is doing great things as
Finance Director for the Network. In also ran into Sabina Feldman, who
is selling ad space for Fitness Magazine (WG ’95)
I was thrilled to have strong support from
Wharton Alumni at my cabaret debut in April. Nearly 200 people came over the
course of 5 performances including: Ann Mara & John Lanza, John Buggie
& Cynthia Fotheringham (Penn Graduate Program), John Bachmann,
Bruce Loeb (WUG), Peter Smith, Doug Propp, Dana & Barbara
Michael and George Goldberger. Since April, I have performed the
show for the Whole Food Project (a non-profit organization benefiting people
with AIDS), in Southampton, NY (for a Hadassah fundraiser and social event) and
in Montauk, NY (for Montauk Theatre Productions).
This Fall, I will be performing at Judy’s
Supper Club from October 23-November 18th (one Saturday, three Thursdays and a
Sunday brunch). Judy’s is a wonderful new club in
You can contact me with updates and/or to
find out about my cabaret happenings at Klcabaret@aol.com
or by phoning 212-579-3065.
Spring Issue -- July, 1999
4/14/99
Joan Adams is living in NYC and working as an independent
consultant. Joan comments on the glamour of consulting… "Let’s see, one
client has me running back and forth to
Jurg Weber (cohort ??), living in
Doug Propp (cohort G) produced a TV special that aired on
WCBS-TV in
I had a lovely dinner with Paolo Alberoni
at Limoncello in the Michelangelo Hotel, which is Paolo’s home away from home
when he is in New York – very Italian!
John Buggie was spotted at an intimate housewarming party on the
upper west side, where, rumor has it, he made a love connection just in time
for Valentine’s Day… Rumor also has it that John has left A.T.
Akira Yamamoto was spotted at the New York Philharmonic – on his
way to a superb performance of "Bolero." (I now see what Bo Derek was
talking about.)
Brandon Burgess (WG’ 95 Cohort D) recently joined me here at NBC
Television Network. He reports that since graduation and prior to joining NBC,
he was working at Pepsi in
Brandon reports the following WG ’95 European tidbits: Gilberto Pozzi,
Frederick Winssinger, Philippe Cibelly, Anas Chakra -- four expensive golf
memberships with mixed results: Gilberto's handicap sliding due to minor
distractions -- Goldman and son Matteo (Dani & G. -- congratulations!);
Frederick holding tight as scratch golfer, but growing "family
portfolio" time consuming; Merrill still pays for Philippe's sunk golf
balls and luxury Paris business hotels; Annas - best convertible BMW on golf
course and most eligible bachelor in the lineup.
John Bachmann hosted a wonderfully elegant egg painting party just
before Easter – with German Sesame tunes as the background music care of Diane
McGrath.
I continue to exchange e-mails and phone
calls with Noreena Hertz but have not had the pleasure of seeing her
since last writing. Noreena is working in
As for me, I recently had my solo cabaret
debut at
I look forward to hearing from all of you
(and seeing you at my performances…) I can be reached via Klcabaret@aol.com, by phoning 212-579-3065
or by writing 170 W. 74th Street, 809, NY NY 10023!
Winter Issue -- January, 1999
10/15/98
Thank you to classmates who have provided me
with wonderful updates in electronic form! As I am in the process of moving my
home and my office and am in the midst of
From Denise Aranoff Brown: "I
left AMEX in March and started a new job as Vice President Marketing for the
Home Equity division of Chevy Chase Bank, which is a regional bank located in
the DC area. The job is different and challenging after 6 years at AMEX, but
I'm enjoying the new business and new opportunities.
Chris (husband) and I decided we wanted to
relocate out of the NYC area, so this opportunity fit in well with our plans.
Chris is starting his own business as a financial planner and wanted to be
somewhere where he felt there was a lot of opportunity. I also wanted to move
out of our cramped condo into a house -- one that we could afford and wasn't
the size of a shoebox, like you can get in NJ these days. We are also both
closer to our families down here.
Anyway, we moved into our new house [in
September], after 6 months of commuting weekends between NJ and MD. We [had] to
unpack upwards of 180 boxes!! I'm anxious to find all our DC/Baltimore
classmates. Let me know if you have any ideas or email addresses.
Other updates of note: Chris and I attended Scott
Scovel's wedding at the end of May to Allison Regan. It was a lovely
wedding in a beautiful
Akira Yamamoto writes that he recently found himself commuting
"with Tim Carr to the city. In the morning train, I see him and sit
together (replacing Dawn, his wife, who recently got a new job in
Gene Metzger e-mailed me to share his newfound enjoyment in
From John Buggie: Hey! "Did you
catch our Wharton alumni club advertisement in the Wall Street Journal
promoting the upcoming event I've been organizing called "Career
management in Cyberspace" ,featuring the CEO of the Wall Street Journal
interactive edition, Korn Ferry's Futurestep and respected columnist Pat
Criscito this Monday, October 19th at the Hotel Inter-Continental? Promises to
be a great event.
Other update news includes... August trip to
the Saint
Look forward to seeing Wharton alumni
friends passing through NYC…. And… went to an amazing Birthday party at Karen
Levine's right after a towering fire of a historic synagogue near the Citicorp
building where I work [Central Synagogue, the oldest in NYC]. Fortunately the
only flames we needed to worry about were those lit candles on Karen's cake.
[we won’t say how many, but I did blow them all out in one breath… then again,
I am a singer and a swimmer]"
An "anonymous" or at least
print-shy classmate reports that Seth Grady and Veronica will be
marrying in
And from Karen Levine (i.e., me): For
those of you who are familiar with my ongoing search for an apartment -
related, in fact, to the ongoing threat of eviction, I have finally been
evicted and, FINALLY, found a (seemingly) permanent home (at least it's
legal…). As of Columbus Day, 1998, I have discovered the upper west side and
set up home at
My work abode remains at 30 Rockefeller
Plaza, i.e., NBC, where I have the all too intriguing title "Black
Belt". Though my job (and my title) have remained somewhat constant since
June, I am indeed in the process of moving to my third office this year - with
the expectation of moving again in another month - this time up a flight to the
48th floor!
To maintain the moving theme, I've been
moving from piano bar to piano bar here in NYC, performing at such venues as
the Duplex, Don't Tell Mama, Rosie Too!, Eighty Eights, Danny's and Mimi's
since last I wrote. In fact, I was invited to perform at the farewell party for
Ben Martini, 85 years in the business and the composer of the theme song for
the Honeymooners! Numerous Wharton/Penn folk have joined me for these informal
performances including: John Bachmann, John Buggie, Cynthia Fotheringham
(Penn Graduate Program in Energy Management), Diane McGrath (WG '91), Elaine
Mechanic, Dana and Barbara Michael, Doug Propp, and I expect to make
my formal cabaret debut in March, and I hope you will join me.
In the meantime, do send updates to me at
the above address or via the phone wires to klcabaret@aol.com
Fall Issue -- October, 1998
7/20/98
Hmmm… little to no news from Cohort B. I
did, however, run into a number of Whartonites at the Manhattan Penthouse,
location for this year’s Wharton Dinner Dance. Hmmm… maybe that’s why I ran
into so many… naaah. Anyway, among the well-dressed Penn-men and women were Michael
Kustra (cohort K) and his wife. Michael has returned to NYC, where he is
now Vice President, Strategy, with Morgan Stanley. I also saw Diane McGrath
('91), Tom Courtney (??) and his fiancée Vien, John Bachmann (??) --
who later made it to my piano bar outing at the Oaks in the Village – and John
Buggie (Lauder).
Reports John Buggie, "I’ve moved
into a great new apartment on the top floor of a three story townhouse on the
upper East side. Took a lot of looking but finally found it through a diligent
search of the NYT advertisements. The Wharton Alumni Club is continuing to
develop nicely. We recently hosted a presentation by Glenn Sykes of CD&P
describing the new career resources available to alumns. I [was] off to
Doug Propp (cohort G) also made it to a piano bar outing, this
one at Mimi’s in mid-town. Doug is in post-production for a television special
on internet-based companies. [HELP, DOUG, I LOST YOUR TEXT. IS THIS ACCURATE?]
Though it's been months since I've spotted Akira
Yamamoto on the streets of
point two incomes, two kids, stay home a
lot! Although we did leave the girls with their grandparents for the first time
and enjoyed a trip to
Speaking of
And speaking of piano bar outings, I had the
extreme pleasure to see Ann-Mara (cohort K) and John Lanza in
NYC,
Speaking of NYC, I spotted John Wilson
('93) at the really cool upstairs bar at Le Colonial, the lovely outdoor tables
of Isabella's on the west side, and the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. I've
also had the lovely experience of seeing Noreena Hertz ('91) -- the hot
new writer -- on a brief layover here in NYC. Noreena is working on a new book,
about which I'm at liberty to say… well… nothing.
As for me, I've left Deloitte & Touche
Consulting Group/Braxton Associates for a position at NBC Network Television.
With a long term local "assignment", I've had the opportunity to
focus on my music and my social life. And life is good! If you'd like to hear
more - on a regular basis -- drop me an e-mail, and I'll put you in my piano
bar mailing list. In the meantime, send personal updates to me at
klcabaret@aol.com or phone me at 917-796-3843 (cellular). (No home phone, as I
may be moving in October...)
Summer Issue -- July, 1998
4/17/98
I had the pleasure of seeing Will
Gardenswartz for a brief but sumptuous dinner on his way from
Peter Smith (cohort ??), Doug Propp (cohort G) and I
ventured downtown to Tribeca to dine at the Tribeca Grill and then take in this
year’s Wharton Follies. A good time was had by all – even my friend Charlene,
who joined us for the festivities without ever having set foot on the Wharton
campus. The show was really excellent this year – tight production, excellent orchestration
and entertaining cameo’s from a number of professors including our own Anjani
Jain, who was wheeled on stage in a Hanibel Lechter (sp?) outfit in retribution
for his new course allocation scheme. For those of you who don’t know, spots in
courses are now traded on a NASDAQ-like market, replete with all kinds of
arbitrage opportunities for any good (or lucky) Wharton student. While at the
theater, I had the pleasure of running into Nancy Park (WG 95?), who flew in
from
Doug Propp, whose Propp productions has been churning out some
very good work and getting good display on the major networks and on PBS gave
us the following quote (via e-mail, of course): "I was the phone man, back
in the days when the phone was cutting edge technology, now I'm the net man…. I
think internet telephony is where it is at."
Ann-Mara Lanza (cohort K) and her husband John graced me with a
weekend visit this spring. We took the town by storm, hitting The Hourglass
(restaurant row) for dinner, braving the TKTS line for ½ price tix to the
Scarlet Pimpernel, and venturing way up town to see a the choreography of a
college classmate of Ann Mara (Alvin Ailey troupe! Not bad for a Brownie!). Ann
Mara is doing well as an independent consultant in the Boston area and, as
her own boss, finds time for her wonderful marriage, the renovation of their
new house, and singing (and soloing) with a local chorus.
This update from John Buggie
(Lauder): "Things are great with me. I am currently working on a Return on
Marketing Investment strategy assignment for a Fortune 500 consumer package
goods firm in the
On the business school front, John
became an Officer of the Wharton Alumni Club of NYC in charge of career
development. The club has been very active, and he is excited to become further
involved. He writes, "This spring we arranged for Donald Trump to speak to
a packed conference room at the Intercontinental Hotel about his rise and fall,
and rise again. It also began several new exciting initiatives, which should
help those new to the job market and those looking to switch careers. We
published a 15 page guide for finding careers in NYC to be made available to
those people attending our networking meetings every third Tuesday of the
month. We also began a program of speaker presentations called ‘Day in the Life
Series’, where MBA professionals talk to alumni about their typical day on the
job and describe what key functional skills are necessities for excellent
performance. Beyond the resumes, this program illustrates what qualities are
needed for successful career entry and advancement. Speakers this spring
included Brian Allain, Director of Internet Initiatives for Lucent."
On March 28th, John attended the
First Worldwide Lauder Alumni Reunion held at the Museum of the City of New
York hosted by Shiv Khemka (WG'90) and Janifer Burns (WG'86).
Caught up with Colin Watts (WG'91), now a Director at Nabisco, Ben
Bystrom (WG'91), who is moving to Japan with Moody's, Christine Bourron
(WG'95), who started an internet trading firm selling paintings over the web
and others. "Great time." On a personal note, John has been
trying to improve his skiing. Traveled to Vail in March and Tremblant (
I have exchanged e-mails and/or phone calls
with a number of other classmates including Akira Yamamoto, still toiling and
culturing away here in NYC, Terry Tao (cohort H), "Netscaped" to
San Francisco, where she recently spoke at the International Business Forum of
Silicon Valley, a network of international business executives (indeed, people
out West are paying to hear Terry speak! I never realized what a bargain I was
getting), Gene Metzger (cohort ??), inspired by my foray into the
cabaret scene to take in a show in Chicago, Burt Rhea (cohort ??), a
colleague here at Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group, Paolo Alberoni
(cohort ??), now back in Milan, and Noreena Herz (WG ’91), back in London?,
and Tom Courtney (WG ??), entrepreneur extraordinaire
I have had opportunity to see John Wilson
(WG ’93), who has returned to NYC from some time abroad and resumed his career
as industry analyst in mining and Latin
As for me, my local assignment has allowed
me to focus some time on my musical pursuits. I have made my piano bar outings
into a regular event with 50-odd people on my mailing list and some subset
joining me each time. (Lance Levine (WUG) recently ventured to see me sing at
the Limerick House on
Do drop me a note to tell me about yourself
or express interest in one of these outings: klcabaret@aol.com,
Spring Issue -- April, 1998
Ah! The news is starting to roll in from
those long lost cohort-mates... Writes Keb Brady, "I got the latest
edition of the Alumni ‘class update’ (the only part I ever really read), and
figured I ought to 'fess up to my existence. Like the venerable Denise
Aranoff-Brown, I am also still (5 years, but four different jobs) with
American Express. As of the moment, I am the director of marketing finance for
All the way from Peru (via the internet, of
course), Fernando Dasso writes, "after receiving the Fall 1997
issue of the Wharton Alumni Magazine and noticing that Cohort B has not had any
news from since 1992, [hmmm... perhaps a slight exaggeration, but I hope it
encourages cohort-mates to send me news!!!!!] I report the following: Ines
and myself are happily living in
I have received e-mails from our own Harish
Mysore (Dallas) and Will Gardenschwartz (still in
I saw Diane McGrath (Lauder ‘91) as a
featured speaker at a panel discussion on careers in media during the Wharton
Women in Business conference in November. Diane is with the Children’s
Television Workshop, where she is Director of International Licensing for
As for me, I’ve remained here on
Send news via e-mail to klcabaret@aol.com or
by phone: 212-436-5183 (w) & 212-838-6043 (h) or mail:
Winter Issue -- January, 1998
Will Gardenschwartz is engaged!!! and living with his fiancée in
While staffed on a project in
Bob Kirtley (Cohort K?) was promoted to Senior Manager by
Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group. Though we work for the same company, I
have had the displeasure of seeing very little of Bob as he has,
until recently, been in continuous transit between his Chicago home and his
Terry Tao (cohort H) made it out to NYC for a wonderful dinner
at the new restaurant La Candela, fittingly befitted with tens of candles,
candelabras, etc... not to mention really great food. Terry was looking
incredibly chic in her new couture following a day of shopping downtown. Terry
is working in strategic planning with Netscape in
Doug Propp (cohort G) made it to mid-town for my birthday party
in August. Doug (a.k.a. phone man) continues to work as an entrepreneur and
reported recent work on a TV pilot.
I ran into John Buggie (Lauder) at
Akiko Gordon (cohort G) reports that she and her husband, Jim,
went to
Burt Rea (WG 91, cohort D) was promoted to Senior Manager
with Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group. Burt is specializing in Deloitte
Consulting's Change Leadership practice out of the Parsippany,
Sameer Patel (WG ??) has joined the Braxton/Strategic
Transformation Service Line at Deloitte & Touche Consulting Group.
This from marketing professor Pete Fader:
"I'm still crunching on the scanner data like always, but am beginning to
branch out a bit into other industries, especially music. Lots of cool data
there, lots of interesting managerial problems, and lots of incredibly naive
managers who need lots of help (with the exception of the few Wharton grads, of
course), but won't admit it. It's been a great experience for me so far, and
I'm interested in hearing from Wharton grads in the industry."
(This update by request of Doug Propp.) As
for me, I’m in the process of seeking my 6th NYC apartment. Isn’t NY real
estate grand! Someday, I’ll write a book on the apartment search... with
additional chapters on the job search, the search for the significant other
(who’s not afraid of intimacy)... the search for a good parking spot, group of
4 seats together in a NY movie theater, good hotel in an exotic vacation
destination, available frequent flier seat to get there, perfectly ripe banana,
birthday gift for the successful Wharton Grad who has everything and, of
course... the perfect black and white cookie. Send news (or answers) via e-mail
to klcabaret@aol.com or by phone: 212-436-5183 (w) & 212-838-6043 (h) or
mail: