The Sunday, November 18, “The Boss” featured in the “Business” section of The New York Times was none other than Michelle Valensi Stacy. (I recommend googling the piece.)


Michelle is president of the Keurig unit of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. Keurig makes machines that change the way many of us consume coffee. In 2008 711,000 single-serve brewer containers were sold in the last three months of the year; in 2011 4 million were sold in that holiday period! Michelle’s story, titled, “Stepping Back to Lead Better,” is an inspirational story of a business leader whose path to the top was helped, not hurt, by her decision, especially on two occasions, to put family first. At Dartmouth Michelle was a religion major, an unusual springboard to the boardroom.


Jeff Lyon’s youngest daughter, Jill ’13, is set to graduate in June. His oldest, Kate ’05, lives in N.Y.C. and has worked for many years at ABC; Amy, class of 2007 at Cornell, was a three-year starter in basketball and has worked in retail for many top sports franchises; and Jason ’10 is climbing the business ladder in Stamford, Connecticut. Jeff is a serious hiker who has climbed Mount Moosilauke 30 times. He is ready for June to harvest his organic garden, as the last of 16 years of Ivy League tuition checks begins to bear fruit.


Former alumni magazine intern made good: Brad Brinegar, the proud CEO of McKinney (recently named the most effective independent advertising agency in the world by Effie Worldwide), was thrilled that last July South Korea’s Cheil Worldwide acquired the Durham, North Carolina-based agency. The firm’s terse motto of “Listen, Provoke, Love, Simplify, Believe” now ends with “Tuhon,” Korean for the relentless drive to achieve extraordinary results despite all obstacles.


Johns Hopkins’ Larry Appel, M.D, M.P.H.,received notification of a sterling honor last fall: membership in the Institute of Medicine for his landmark research in preventing heart disease, stroke and kidney disease. Larry is convinced that an essential way to bring down the mortality rate of disease is for the patient to take charge of his health as much as possible. Larry’s M.D. is from NYU and his master’s in public health is from Johns Hopkins. Congratulations on your innovative approach to research and your well-deserved honor, Larry.


The travel bug first bit Jeff Lelek during the language study abroad in Blois in spring 1975. Coming out of a two-year retirement, Jeff is relocating from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to Moscow, where he will work for TNK-BP (the third largest oil company in Russia and 10th largest private oil company in the world). Farewell, Jeff…do svidaniya.


November news but still compelling: Our class of 1977 congratulates president-elect and classmate Dr. Phil Hanlon. Michigan’s loss is Dartmouth’s gain.


—John T. Bird, 1920 Chateau Circle, Apt. 306, Birmingham, AL 35209: (205) 276-4609; jtbird.com@gmail.com