Jones Journal -- Alumni Magazine of the Jones Graduate School of Management, Rice University

Please send comments to:
Deanna Sheaffer, Editor
Director of Alumni Affairs
Jones School of Management - MS 531 Rice University
P.O. Box 1892
Houston TX 77251-1892
e-mail:JGSalum@rice.edu

Class Notes

Classes of '70s and 80s

Classes of '90s

Classes of '00s

70’s and 80’s

Tim Griffy (MAcco ’80) is now the area managing partner for Ernst & Young for the southwest area. Tim, his wife, Missy, and their two children have resided in Dallas since graduation and “Tim’s meteoric rise has continued unabated within the firm,” states classmate Peter Schwab (MAcco ’80).

Peter Schwab (MAcco ’80) is now a senior managing director for E&Y Capital Advisors, LLC, a 100% owned broker/dealer subsidiary of Ernst & Young. He is the national director for restructuring advisory services and capital markets, two of the three services EY Cap provides. Last year, Peter completed a stint working for the bank group on the restructuring of Daewoo in Korea. More importantly, though, he commuted each week to Korea so that he could continue to coach Kirsten and Katrina’s fall soccer teams as well as basketball in the winter. A long commute but well worthwhile. He also was able to address the Class of 2002 as one of the final speakers for orientation week this past fall (which was quite an honor) and catch up with Dr. Zeff. Jeanette, Kirsten, Katrina, and Peter currently live in Glenview, Illinois.

Peter has also kept up with classmate Karen Schmidt Nakahara (MAcco ’80) and her husband, Osuka, who are back in the Philadelphia area and thrilled to be there. Osuka has left his position at Trammell Crow and is teaching at the Wharton Business School. Karen has her hands full with Alex, Mark, and Kira but is enjoying being back East after living in Dallas.

Jim Davidson

Jim Davidson (MBA ’87) is back in Houston after extensive travel and work overseas. He is now raising funds for several business ventures set in a new country in East Africa. He also breeds pedigree border collies. More info on Jim is available on his web site www.awdal.com.

Chris Kreidler (MBA ’87) resigned in 1994, after seven years with Boone Pickens’ deal team, and took a couple of years off to catch his breath and smell the roses. Writes Chris, “I was lured out of my semi-retirement (foolish me!) in 1996 by the Pizza Hut division of PepsiCo and took on the challenge of building and leading a domestic M&A team. PepsiCo spun off Pizza Hut, KFC , and Taco Bell a year later, into a new company, Tricon Global Restaurants, which immediately became the largest restaurant company in the world. The year 1999 will long be remembered as one of my most exciting. On Valentine’s Day, at a small, spontaneous ceremony in the backyard of my home in Dallas, I married Karen Martin, my patient and understanding girlfriend of 2-1/2 years. A week later, Karen and I jumped on a plane and moved to London where I undertook the role of leading Tricon’s M&A function and growing our three restaurant brands across Europe. Karen, a HR professional, was hired quickly by William M. Mercer, an international HR consulting group. In October of that year, we invited 50 friends and family members to join us in Beaver Creek, Colorado to witness our “real” wedding and had a fantastic week. In February 2001 and after two exciting years in Europe, Karen and I have come home to Dallas. My new role with Tricon is a combination of leading the M&A function worldwide and acting as a senior member of the finance function. (Try putting all of that on a business card!) Karen sifted through a number of attractive offers and chose to become a consultant with Towers Perrin. While our experiences in Europe were great, we’re happy to be back. I would enjoy catching up with former classmates. Whether I am home or on the road, I can be found at chris.kreidler@tricom-yum.com.”

Insik Jeong (MBA ’88) writes “I’ve been sort of out of contact for many years. After getting a doctoral degree in business administration (USC), I got my job at the City University of Hong Kong. After about two years of teaching there, I moved to my hometown, Taegu, Korea. I am planning to move somewhere else again soon, but where? Let me stay in touch from now on. I miss you, all my friends and classmates! Email me at jeong@kmu.ac.kr ”

Evelyn R. McFaden (MBA ’88) has been named chief technology officer for OFS Portal. Evelyn will provide overall technical oversight and guidance for OFS Portal and will have primary responsibility for the successful development and execution of Portal’s technology plan. She will also serve as the technology liaison between OFS Portal and its members, marketplaces, alliances, and other members of the management team.

Rosemary Bruins (MBA ’89) spent 10 years with Mars Inc. in several European countries, both in financial and marketing functions. She recently went back to school at the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA) in Paris/Strasbourg, France. This is a school for French civil servants. Since her graduation in 1999, she has been working for Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) as director of government and industry affairs. If you would like to reach her - tel. +31.20.6489413.

Michael Chevalier-White (MAcco ’89) joined Paragon Advising in Houston after over 11 years with Ernst & Young LLP in Houston, Phoenix, and New York City. The investment bank of Paragon Advising was formed in calendar 2000 to provide corporate finance advisory services to the service and equipment companies of the energy and other process industries. Paragon Advising specializes in M&A and related private financing. Michael’s new e-mail address is white@paragonadvising.com.

Clifford Freeman (MBA ’89) founder of start-up information technology company Amphicles is launching a Web-based software package, Rate-of-Change software, to help small and medium-sized restaurant chains speed up one of the most cumbersome tasks facing them — the labor-intensive business side of the operation. Cliff said the company plans to roll out the technology in the southwest first, through agreements with resellers, and then expand. He says the system ultimately could be used worldwide.

90’s

Gary Abdalla (MBA ‘93) has moved out of the Big 5 and has joined the consulting firm Hill Schwartz Spilker Keller LLC, where he will be providing business valuation, intellectual property valuation, and litigation consulting services.

Brian Patterson (MBA '93) with wife Juany and daughter Lindsay.

Brian Patterson (MBA ’93) is currently vice president of business development for Systems West. He previously worked for Accenture for 5 1/2 years and was a manager with Accenture prior to joining Systems West in October 1998. He and his wife, Juany, have a 9-year -old son, Michael, and a 6-year-old daughter, Lindsay.

Scott Clark (MBA ’94) was one of the “lucky” who was laid off from Dell in February. Since then, Scott has taken a position at a management consulting firm specializing in high tech. Scott says the best part of the transition was being able to stay in Austin!

Robert Lawton (MBA ’94) and his wife proudly announce the birth of their daughter, Molly, on October 28, 2000. She lightly tipped the scales at 2 pounds, 11 ounces. They spent the next several months in the NICU feeding and caring for her and watching her grow. She’s now home and nearly topples the scales at 10 pounds. Robert currently works as a senior programmer for McDermott, Will & Emery in Chicago as of December 2000.

Michelle Cisneros (MBA ’94) and her husband, Tim Ruch (MBA ’99) celebrated the birth of their son, Mason Alexander, on November 16, 1999. Michelle works at Enron and Tim is at El Paso.

Amy Oates Fitzgerald (MBA ’95) is now director of field marketing for PepsiCo. and has relocated to Denver, Colorado with her husband, Bill.

Helen Hansen (MBA ’95) got married in September 2000 to Keith Lehman, an owner/partner of APC Consulting. She left Context Integration in October to become COO for MilestonesNetwork.com and The Social Book. MilestonesNetwork.com is a philanthropic website where people can make online donations to charity in honor of a special occasion, person, business relationship, or holiday and send a personalized acknowledgement card to the honoree. You can also shop with over ninety national retailers and have one to twenty percent of the purchase benefit your favorite non-profit—at no extra cost. The Social Book, the leading resource guide for charitable organizations and supporters of non-profits throughout Houston, contains a listing of every premiere gala and event held, with each subscriber kept up-to-date throughout the year with quarterly mail-outs of new event listings. They are looking forward to expanding this service to other cities throughout the upcoming year.

Chip Hawkins (MBA ’95) and his wife, Dawn, proudly announce the birth of their daughter, Grace Elizabeth, on January 4, 2001.

Madison Helen Imparato

Rob Imparato (MBA ’96) and his wife, Rita, proudly announce the birth of their daughter, Madison Helen, on January 25, 2001. She weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces and was 21 inches long. Rob and his family reside in the Cayman Islands.

Erik J. Simon (MBA ’96) is now director of business development at Switchboard.com, one of the few dot-com’s favorably positioned in the current declining market place. Erik and his wife, Angie, have a 19- month- old daughter, Korinna, and a son, Xander, born May 31. They live in Framingham, MA, a suburb of Boston.

George Walker, MBA '96

George Walker (MBA ’96) has joined Interfit Health as vice president of business development, where his day-to-day responsibilities include expanding the business by building affiliate relationships, developing strategic alliances and partnerships, as well as overseeing all marketing and public relations efforts. Prior to joining Interfit, George has held positions in the healthcare and technology arenas with companies such as Compaq Computer, Belmont Corp, and BMC Software. George also served as president of the JGSAA.

Fran Vallejo (MBA ’96) has been promoted to assistant treasurer from strategic transactions and planning manager at Phillips Petroleum Co.

Jeff Fetzer (MBA ’97) and his wife, Julia Ingram Fetzer (MBA ’97) proudly announce the birth of their son, Nicholas Owen, on March 25, 2001, weighing in at 8 pounds, 7 ounces and measuring 20 1/2 inches.

Loren Rosenberg (MBA ’97) and his wife are expecting their second child in September. They have a daughter, Lucie, who just turned two on March 20, 2001. Loren works for Mirant Corporation in Atlanta.

Michael Tandhasetti (MBA ’97) has relocated to Philadelphia for his role as investment manager for BlackRock Financial Management’s equity funds.

Mark Williamson, MBA '97

Mark P. Williamson (MBA ’97) left EDS in October 1999 to accept a position as vice president of business development for an internet technology company headquartered in Shenzhen, China (30 miles west of Hong Kong). After the March 2000 stock market crash, Mark successfully led the effort to change business models and reposition the company into a web-based software product developer. He now lives in New York City as of January 2001. Mark married Susan Wilson in Houston last November.

Brian Engleman (MBA ’98) has been promoted to director, business development for CESI. Catalytica Advanced Technologies, merged with another subsidiary, Catalytica Combustion Systems, to form Catalytica Energy Systems, Inc. (CESI) on December 15, 2000. This new entity was spun off from the parent company prior to the sale of the parent, Catalytica, Inc. and the remaining subsidiary, Catalytica Pharmaceuticals, to the Dutch company DSM. He is working on developing new businesses for Catalytica, leveraging off of the catalytic combustion technology the company is commercializing for gas turbines. This technology essentially prevents the formation of nitrogen oxides (or NOx), which are smog precursors. However, the big news for Brian is his marriage to Shahin Shabahang, which occurred in Palo Alto, CA on September 1, 2000. Barry Kendrick (MBA ’98), Steve Stenhouse (MBA ’98) and their wives took time from their busy schedules to fly out from Houston to attend. Brian and Shahin honeymooned in France and are living in Los Altos, California.

Pierce Owens (MBA ’98) has been promoted to principal, corporate risk management at El Paso Energy.

Simon Chan (MBA ’99) just jumped into the over-heated San Francisco Bay Area real estate market and bought a house. Simon feels like he is getting his money’s worth from his Rice MBA and is applying what he learned from finance, e.g., interest tax shield, leveraged investments. He is also the SF Bay Area alumni leader and has helped host several events this spring. Check out http://alumni.rice.edu/regions/sfbay! Simon is a business operations manager at Compaq in Cupertino, CA.

Cindi Howson (MBA ’99) had a wonderful year and a half with Deloitte & Touche, but her husband’s job recently took them to Midland, MI (the children love the snow!). “It’s forced me to take that entrepreneurial risk, and I am doing independent IT consulting. I’m excited to have had two articles published by The Data Warehouse Institute and presented at the Hyperion user conference in April. Given that Midland is a small town in the midwest, I was surprized and happy to meet another JGS alum here, Kathy Rightor (MBA ’91).”

Jeffrey Lin (MBA ’99) is now a financial analyst at Agilent Technologies. Jeffrey has moved from Dallas (Sabre) to Boston for his new position. If you would like to get in touch with Jeffrey, feel free to email him at jeffrey_lin@agilent.com.

’00s

Lisa Beckman (MBA '00) and her husband, Randy, are the proud parents of a baby boy. Rayne Simon Beckman was born December 21, 2000.

Michael Current (MBA ’00) and his wife proudly announce the birth of their daughter, Phoebe Nicole, on February 21, 2001. She weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces.

Ashley Elizabeth Diano

Giovanni Diano (MBA ’00) and his wife, Allison, recently celebrated the first birthday of their daughter, Ashley Elizabeth Diano on March 10th.

Matthew S. Gallaher (MBA ‘00) accepted a position as product line manager with Elastic Networks in Atlanta, GA. Elastic Networks (ELAS) is a provider of next generation IP-intelligent Ethernet technology.

Diana Garcia (MBA ’00) married David VanHorn (MBA ’00) on November 18, 2000 in Houston. Diana works with JP Morgan Chase as an equity analyst while David works for Deloitte Consulting as a senior consultant. They reside in Kingwood.

Laurent Viola (MBA ’00) is the marketing manager for Consumer Segments at Questia Media Inc. He is responsible for different programs including customer conversion and customer retention and loyalty. Questia is an online library – for more information go to www.questia.com.

Tricia Mitchell Kim (MBA ’01) was awarded the Rice University Women’s Resource Center Impact Award for service to the campus and community, involvement and participation in student life and activities at Rice and beyond, and for working to make a positive impact by raising awareness of women’s issues and serving as a role model in the empowerment of women.

Shauwyn Smith (MBA ’01) has created a red-hot family business that is looking to make itself a household name – Smith’s Hot Paradise Habanero Salsa is finding its niche in the fiery foods industry. Shauwyn, along with his father Carwyn Smith and cousin, Lee Smith, head up ATA International, a company formed around the spicy sauce. The trio manages marketing, sales, and distribution for their only food product. The idea came in 1997 and after winning many awards at food shows and festivals, when an initial partnership with a manufacturer fell through, the company tapped Creative Foods in San Antonio as the manufacturer in 1998 and attracted several specialty shops.