Chris Fitzgerald: My daughter Katie, born at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in September 1990 (the beginning of our second year at Wharton), just entered college this year at nearby Villanova University. Although she’s grown up in four different countries, she’s now fulfilling a dream of returning to Philadelphia. In the meantime, Joanne, I and our three other children are now in our fourth year living in Monroe, Connecticut, and I’m VP and General Manager for Latin America & Caribbean Operations for Pitney Bowes in Stamford. I can be reached by e-mail at christopfitzgerald@yahoo.com.
Tate Garrett: I recently started a new job at Kaplan Higher Education, as Executive Director of Business Development. Kaplan is a leading global provider of educational services for individuals, schools and businesses. A subsidiary of The Washington Post Company, Kaplan had 2007 revenue of more than $2 billion. In my role, I will lead a Mergers and Acquisitions team which will buy campuses, online education companies, and technology companies that support Kaplan’s businesses, as well as evaluate ideas for new businesses generated by Kaplan employees or partners. I am very excited about this new position. I won’t have to worry about fundraising, as I have access to virtually unlimited financial resources here. I will still get to read lots of different business plans on a regular basis, and I will still get to help launch some start-up businesses.
Jose Moulin Netto: My family, Christiane, Carolina (14) and Gabriel (9), and I still live in Rio. Our new family member is Bambam (2), a beautiful and extremely energetic golden retriever who we visit every weekend in our small house up in the mountains. I am still with Kaiser Associates, an international consulting firm but, nowadays, my role is basically to develop client relationships. I have been involved in several voluntary environmental and social activities. In 2007, a friend and I founded the Brazil Green Building Council.
Lutz Braum: I am now at PayPal and glad I left the banking industry (although my last employer, Wells Fargo, seems to be the only bank still doing OK). I am heading up customer marketing and am responsible for motivating its 60 million US customers to use PayPal more often. And although the office is on San Jose, I have no intentions of leaving SanFrancisco, where I live with my girlfriend Jane and German shepherd Kearney.
Jeff Kiker: Aside from creating Facebook groups, I’m now a fulltime student at NYU (because I just really missed midterms and projects). This Fall I started a one-year program for nonprofit management which will lead to….something in nonprofit, corporate sustainability, or social entrepreneurship, I just haven’t decided which yet. So if anyone knows anyone at the Gates Foundation, let me know!
Sauro Nicli: As of August 1st, 2008, I have transferred back to Switzerland (Geneva) after 8 years spent in Asia. I am still with McKinsey & Company. My family – Marie-Christine, Solenne (11), Chiara (8) and Salome (5) – are all doing well and enjoying being back home. If anyone is visiting Geneva, let me know.
Grant Wilson: In September we left the Sydney beaches for a 4 month sabbatical in the walled city of Lucca in Tuscany. Our children (12, 10 and 3) are all attending local Italian schools and my wife Lea and I are taking italian lessons. The motivation was to immerse ourselves and our children in another culture and another language. So far so good. Lucca is an amazing 16th century town and everyone has welcomed us. The kids can now order gelati in Italian and we can order a cappuccino. Pretty good for aussies. Looking forward to catching up with Massimo and Elena Armanini and their family and also with Ed and Jane Cappabianca. If you’re in Tuscany, please come and visit.
Steven Pinsky: My first book is scheduled for release by the end of November. In true Wharton Follies fashion, it is a satirical self-help manual called “Win-Win My Ass! The Practical Guide to Climbing Today’s Corporate Ladder.” It is a humorous (I hope) look at the tricks and tools used by today’s upwardly-mobile professionals to hasten their ascent up the corporate ladder. Look for it on-line. If you can’t find it, e-mail me at spinsky@winwinmyass.com.
Angela Durham: After 17 years on Wall Street consulting internally with leadership teams and coaching executives, I’m now at Wyeth managing the global diversity function. It’s a pivotal time in the pharma space given increasing growth overseas and the changing regulatory landscape. It’s also a good time to transform the function and align it with talent and the necessary innovation for continued growth. With the Board and Executive team clearly engaged, I’m looking forward to some exciting changes on the horizon.
Dawn Hines: Classmates Natasha Quist, Anna Nekoranec, Cyrille Arnould and I are involved in an exciting new venture, Aventura Rural Enterprise Fund, whose investments target some of the most impoverished regions of rural Africa. In addition to providing a financial return to investors, our investments improve the stability of food production in Africa and boost the earning potential of smallholder farmers. I am a co-founder, and Anna (Managing Director, LBK Capital), Natasha (Director West Africa, Oxfam) and Cyrille (Head Investment Africa, European Investment Bank) are advisors to the fund. We are organising a trip to Senegal in 2009 to visit current and potential investments (e.g. agricultural production & management firm, farm equipment rental company, rural credit & insurance facility, and maternity & family clinic) and any of you who are interested are welcome to join. You can reach me at dhines@aventurainvest.com.
Amanda Tepper: I’m now on board at AllianceBernstein as a Senior Portfolio Manager on the Value Equities team. I’m at headquarters, 1345 6th Avenue. My new email address is Amanda.tepper@bernstein.com, and my new phone number is 212-969-6022. I look forward to keeping in touch with you, and to better market conditions soon!