Class Note 1987
Issue
Nov - Dec 2018
Class president Tracey Salmon-Smith has had quite a year. First, she and her husband celebrated 20 years of marriage (a milestone my husband and I reached this year as well). Then Tracey changed jobs and became a partner at the law firm of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, continuing her work defending financial services firms out of its N.Y.C. and New Jersey offices. As a bonus, she will be able to visit her daughter, Avery, at Villanova University every time Tracey travels to the firm’s Philadelphia home office. But Tracey’s “most thrilling” news is that daughter Gabi will be joining the class of ’22, giving Tracey “even more reasons to travel back to dear old Dartmouth.” Tracey’s advice to Gabi (and to herself if she could do it all over again) is to “be open to possibilities, challenge yourself, and embrace what is front of you.” That sounds like sage life advice for all of us!
More good advice on making the most of one’s college experience comes from Matt McIlwain: “Embrace diversity of thought, follow your passions, and invest in lifelong relationships.” Matt’s daughter Madison just graduated from Dartmouth this year, and his two sons are in college and high school. Matt is managing director at Madrona Venture Group, a venture capital firm, where his “focus on investing in companies innovating in computer science and data science increasingly intersects with the amazing innovations happening in biological and chemical sciences.”
This past June, Matt became the chair of the board of trustees of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, a Seattle-based nonprofit institute conducting research to improve prevention and treatment of cancer and related diseases. Since joining the board in 2013, he has helped “the Hutch” broaden its relationships with the Seattle-area technology community. As Matt explained, “My passion for finding cancer cures faster is a product of life experiences. My parents were both cancer survivors for many years—my dad passed away a few years back—and we have so many close friends who have been touched by cancer.”
On a class-wide note, head class agents Peter Murane and Karyn (Wienski) Calcano thank all who gave to the 2017-18 Dartmouth College Fund. We once again beat our fundraising goal, bringing in $1,972,000 against our goal of $1,700,000. “For a year-after reunion effort this is excellent, and the College is very happy with our class,” said Peter. However, we can improve our participation: Thirty-five percent of our classmates contributed, which is lower than our 40-percent goal. Toward that end, Peter and Karyn are expanding their class agent team. My favorite part of volunteering as a class agent is the fun of connecting and chatting with the classmates on my list, many of whom are friends, people I know and like, or both!
Contact Peter (peter.murane@brandjuice.com) or Karyn (karyn@calcanocapital.com) if you would like to become part of the effort, and you, too, might run into a few old friends along the way.
—Laura Gasser, 746 17th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94121; marcklaurag@aol.com
More good advice on making the most of one’s college experience comes from Matt McIlwain: “Embrace diversity of thought, follow your passions, and invest in lifelong relationships.” Matt’s daughter Madison just graduated from Dartmouth this year, and his two sons are in college and high school. Matt is managing director at Madrona Venture Group, a venture capital firm, where his “focus on investing in companies innovating in computer science and data science increasingly intersects with the amazing innovations happening in biological and chemical sciences.”
This past June, Matt became the chair of the board of trustees of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, a Seattle-based nonprofit institute conducting research to improve prevention and treatment of cancer and related diseases. Since joining the board in 2013, he has helped “the Hutch” broaden its relationships with the Seattle-area technology community. As Matt explained, “My passion for finding cancer cures faster is a product of life experiences. My parents were both cancer survivors for many years—my dad passed away a few years back—and we have so many close friends who have been touched by cancer.”
On a class-wide note, head class agents Peter Murane and Karyn (Wienski) Calcano thank all who gave to the 2017-18 Dartmouth College Fund. We once again beat our fundraising goal, bringing in $1,972,000 against our goal of $1,700,000. “For a year-after reunion effort this is excellent, and the College is very happy with our class,” said Peter. However, we can improve our participation: Thirty-five percent of our classmates contributed, which is lower than our 40-percent goal. Toward that end, Peter and Karyn are expanding their class agent team. My favorite part of volunteering as a class agent is the fun of connecting and chatting with the classmates on my list, many of whom are friends, people I know and like, or both!
Contact Peter (peter.murane@brandjuice.com) or Karyn (karyn@calcanocapital.com) if you would like to become part of the effort, and you, too, might run into a few old friends along the way.
—Laura Gasser, 746 17th Ave., San Francisco, CA 94121; marcklaurag@aol.com