Class Note 1998

Greetings, fellow ’98s. While most of us have just begun summer, I heard from a classmate who lives in a land of eternal summer. Ku’ulei (Reyes) Tengan wrote from Honolulu with her first update since graduating! Ku’ulei is married to Ty Tengan ’97 and had just returned from Boston. There she reconnected with Martha Zegarra and her husband by dining at swanky restaurants and attending her first game at Fenway Park, a Boston Red Sox win. Ku’ulei also met with Nidhi Desai, who matriculated as a ’98 but left after her sophomore year to pursue studies elsewhere. Nidhi was visiting from Baltimore. The two returned to Dartmouth, where they reminisced over the fireplace in Pine Restaurant at the Hanover Inn in typical 35-degree April weather. Also on the agenda, Ku’ulei visited her son, a first-year student at Amherst College. Back home Ku’ulei has a daughter who is set to graduate high school in two years.

Kevin Robbins was sorry to miss last summer’s reunion on account of multiple commitments. He and his wife live in McLean, Virginia, with two boys, ages 10 and 12. They recently closed on a farm in Virginia’s wine country, which Kevin described as an escape pod from the crazy fast pace of life in the Washington, D.C., area. The pace stems from Kevin’s work with two businesses that he cofounded in 2009: Wolf Den Associates, a consulting boutique that caters to federal contractors, and Blue Delta Capital Partners, an equity fund that invests in government services companies. In addition, Kevin was recently named to the board of directors of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. Kevin stays plugged into Dartmouth through recruiting for Wolf Den and keeping in touch with classmates. And in other Dartmouth-related news, this summer Kevin will celebrate the 80th birthday of his dad, E. Lee Robbins ’60, with a family trip to the Galapagos Islands and Machu Picchu. Give a rouse!

I’ve been emailing with Joan Ai about her work with the DQ Institute and the World Economic Forum to bring global awareness to digital intelligence. DQ stands for digital intelligence quotient and is a set of competencies that are fundamental for readiness in an era of rapid technological progress. The DQ Institute recently announced the world’s first attempt to define a global standard for digital literacy, skills, and readiness. Joan works to help children and adults thrive in the digital world.

In other professional news, in March the Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood, Washington, named Benjamin Wright its artistic director. The school is a premier international center for glass art education. In the appointment announcement, Benjamin was hailed as having the marks of a visionary to produce inspiring and relevant programming that advances the glass community. For the past four years Benjamin held the position of director of education at Urban Glass in Brooklyn, New York.

Chris Ott wrote that last year he left the U.S. Department of Justice after a long stretch prosecuting white collar and cybercrimes. He is now in private practice—retained to solve problems stemming from the intersection of human fallibility with new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, and ransomware. Chris appreciates the challenge of helping companies avoid problems, rather than his former prosecutorial role of evaluating damages from those problems. Chris encouraged classmates to drop him a line. He recently managed to see Dominic Lanza and Jeremy Donaldson.

I am consistently amazed by the breadth and uniqueness of my classmates’ experiences. Please continue to keep me updated—I love hearing from you.

—Gabe Galletti, 4000 Utah Ave, Nashville, TN 37209; galletti@gmail.com